Search - Firefall :: Elan

Hello, Camp Curry !!!

PHILIP S WOLF | SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CA. USA | 08/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Every summer night at 9PM, the firefall was tossed over the huge cliff at Glacier Point, in a certain National Park in California. But, the last summer they did this was 1969... but somebody in this band must have seen it because they named this great group after that event.

"Elan" was the third release by Firefall and by this time they were on AM Radio with the hits "You Are The Woman", "Cinderella" & "Just Remember I Love You". FM Radio found them cool enough with "So Long" & "Mexico".

The band always had an ying / yang thing goin' on between the Ballads of Rick Roberts that earned them big sales and radio airplay and the harder rocking edge of the songs of Larry Burnett that recieved more critical aclaim and audience approval.

The big hit here is "Strange Way" that reached #11 on the pop charts and the band was riding high with all the excess that was afforded a 70's Rock Band. "Elan" was this band's most sucessful project and went platinum.

Along with "Strange Way" , Rick does his ballad thing on "Count Your Blessings", "Anymore","Goodbye I Love You" & "Sweet Ann", he teams with Jock Bartley to write "Sweet and Sour" which "surprise" became another hit single.

Larry Burnett has his moments here with "Wrong Side of Town","Get You Back", and does his own ballad with "Baby".

"Winds of Change" is a Bluesy Rock Song written by Rick but sung by Larry and it is the final song from the original record. But on this Re-issue there are three "Bonus" tracks that were recorded for "Elan" but space limitations kept them unreleased all these years. "Headed For A Fall" is here in a sparse acoustic arrangement and this one had a major overhaul before it's offical release on the LP " Undertow". The other two are from Larry and they are good, the bluesy "New Man" and the edgy tale of an assassin "Sharpshootin' at the Senator" that caused a riff with their Record Company who would not release it.

"Elan" along with "Luna Sea" are the best works from this great band and in a couple of years things would start to fall apart but right here Firefall was indeed on top of their game and producing great work... HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!"