North Coast (album)

North Coast
Studio album by Michael Stanley Band
Released	Fall 1981
Recorded	Suma Recording, Cleveland, Ohio (April–May, 1981)
Genre	Rock
Length	49:20[1]
Label	EMI America
Producer	Michael Stanley Band and Eddie Kramer for MSG Productions, Inc.
Michael Stanley Band chronology
Heartland (Michael Stanley Band album) (1980) North Coast (1981) MSB (album) (1982)

North Coast is an album by the Cleveland based Michael Stanley Band, which was released in 1981. It reached #79 on the Billboard charts and included the hit Falling in Love Again which reached #64 on the Billboard charts hot singles list. It was the second major record for the group on their new label EMI America. The album title refers to the often used local term for Cleveland, America's North Coast.

Album origin

For the first time in their existence, a record label were anxiously awaiting a follow-up album by the six year old group and that record label was the recording industry heavyweight label EMI America.^[2] Following the explosive success of the breakout album Heartland (Michael Stanley Band album), Stanley, Pelander, Raleigh, Markasky, and Gismondi gathered at the Suma Recording studios in Cleveland, Ohio to market that success into another collection of "solid rock" tunes, as Stanley always put it.^[3] Producer Eddie Kramer who had previously worked with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Kiss (band) and the Jimi Hendrix Experience was brought on board to add new dimensions to the group's already heavily layered sound. His expertise and knowledge of production can be heard throughout the album. The LP record was mixed at the Electric Lady Studios in the East Village of New York City. It has been said by reviewers and Stanley himself that the album best approximates how the band sounds when it is performing in concert. There is truth to this assessment, even though the songs were new for the band at the time, they play them with gusto and bravado. Several songs became standards in their sold out concerts for years to come.^[4] Ever present is a great wall of sound as defined by legendary music producer Phil Spector. There are not only the customary MSB sax licks, bass thumps, and guitar solos, but amble keyboard, drums, and other unique sounds that are not quite identifiable but do add to the color of the notes.

The songs

The album kicks off with the self-effacing Northeast Ohio saturated In the Heartland which talks about the typical life of a midwesterner in America and how everything really matters takes place in the Heartland. This was also a nod to the album which launched the roller coaster adventure that the band would ride for the next three years, the seminal MSB offering, Heartland (Michael Stanley Band album).

The next two numbers group keyboardist and song writing machine Kevin Raleigh's When Your Heart Says It's Right and Stanley/Pelander's Somewhere in the Night, along with Stanley's Heaven and Hell became standard favorites at the band's epic live performances to sold out crowds in the midwest states.^[5]

One of the most ambitious tracks on the record was the seemingly New Wave sounding Chemistry which talks about the importance or perhaps the mistake of having too much chemistry. It could be construed that Stanley and company are not talking about the goodness of chemistry but rather the erroneous conclusion that chemistry is always a great path to advancement be it in love, biology, or industry. The ambiguity of the track makes it all the more intriguing.

The hit

The only geniune hit to come from an album filled with solid midwestern rock was Falling in Love Again which is another love song from group leader Stanley and keyboardist Bob Pelander that did manage to hit #64 on the Billboard magazine charts. The B side was Does It Hurt. There was another single that coupled When Your Heart Says It's Right with Stanley/Pelander's Victim of Circumstance but this failed to chart.

Track listing

The band lineup

Michael Stanley - Guitar, Vocals

Gary Markasky - Lead Guitar

Kevin Raleigh - Keyboards, Vocals

Michael Gismondi - Bass

Tommy Dobeck - Drums, Inside Moves

Bob Pelander - Keyboards, Vocals

with Rick Bell on Saxophone

References