Anthem 1982 / 2025
Denizens of Ontarian heavy scene expand their debut longplay to belatedly celebrate its unbelievable anniversary.
Coney Hatch
By the early ’80s Canada had had its fair share of hard rock bands, but such top-notch entertainers as APRIL WINE and TRIUMPH, even ANVIL, were lacking something the new decade required: juvenile energy – something CONEY HATCH provided with much panache. Yesterday’s teenagers, these four Torontonians managed to forge a missing link between NWOBHM grit and Californian glam, and although the collective’s legacy can look rather scant – three studio records released during the team’s initial phase and one in 2013, plus a couple concert documents – that link holds the difficult-to-grasp forty years later. Progressing towards their status as national treasure, the quartet would embrace the mandatory commercial sound further on, yet the group’s first album has retained the original force which reeled the listeners in back in the day and hasn’t lost any of the sonic vim and melodic allure which made the platter sound fresh then – and now.
Presenting a perfect sonic balance between merry aggression and effervescent effusiveness, opener “Devil’s Deck” and the piano-rippled “Hey Operator” – which are voiced by Carl Dixon and given blues-tinged swagger by Steve Shelski’s guitar – may marry heaviosity to pop appeal typical for the period, but cuts like the perennial favorite “Monkey Bars” and “Stand Up” – which see bassist Andy Curran at the fore – feel surprisingly economical in their bottom-end sway and barebone rifferama. This is why the equally infectious single “You Ain’t Got Me” seems a bit superficial in its harmonically scintillating drive, while “Love Poison” and “No Sleep Tonight” ride deliciously simple rock ‘n’ roll licks with a lot of sweet abandon. Still, the streamlined “We Got The Night” hides vocal grandeur in a six-string assault that Dave Ketchum’s mighty drums direct toward catharsis, whereas the powerful “I’ll Do The Talkin” goes for an almost disco groove, and “Victim Of Rock” adds handclaps to the ensemble’s catchy sound palette.
The band never once overplay their hand, however, and not for nothing they not only left the tellingly titled metal piece “Sin After Sin” in a rough demo form but also discarded the fantastic “Dreamland” and “Where I Draw The Line” – all three appearing as bonuses here – which would deservedly take pride of place in the Ontarians’ stage repertoire, as suggested by a live report on the second disc of this reissue. Preserved for posterity at Cleveland’s Agora around the time of the album’s release, the full-length set is a testament to the foursome’s strength as performers, with eight out of ten “Comey Hatch” numbers delivered in a no-frills fashion – defiantly so in the absence of the record’s two hits. Not youngsters anymore, the veterans do those classics today, rewinding the time their debut stood the test of – but it’s good to hear the old gems again.
****2/3
