Balance – Balance
Rock Candy Records
www.rockcandyrecords.com
Rating: B-
Unlike many
melodic rock bands that never made it, Balance actually has a
high level of talent, skill and songwriting ability. Many of
their contemporaries, who failed to hit the big time, lacked at
least one of those components, but Balance actually had it all
and still failed to make it.
Best known
as a melodic rock band that contained Bob Kulick, Balance
offered much more than the guitarist’s influence. The
three-piece band also featured Peppy Castro and Doug Katsaros,
who each went on to have varying success in the music biz.
Signed to the powerhouse management company Leber/Krebs
(Aerosmith, Ted Nugent) the band appeared to be on the brink of
taking over the charts yet never lived up to their potential.
The debut
single “Breaking Away” quickly climbed to # 22 on the US charges
in 1981 but fell back down just as fast. The band never got
another chance and internal disruptions crept in and the band
dissolved after just one more album. It is a shame as “I’m
Through Loving You” and “No Getting Around My Love” were great
songs and if the latter has been the first single then this band
may have lived up to their potential. “Fly Through The Night”
belongs in the ‘shudda been a hit’ category and is the strongest
song on the album.
This one is
for fans of AOR in the flavor of Toto and the poppier side of
Styx and Foreigner.
- Jeb
Wright
