Search - Touch :: Touch (Coll)

Glad to see this one finally on CD!

Raymond C. Ruether | Oklahoma City, OK United States | 07/06/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Before I get started with this review, one word of caution: most of the reviews listed for this album are in fact for a different self-titled album (released in 1969) by another group named Touch (both albums were probably crossed together on the Amazon site, hopefully someone at Amazon will rectify this). This is TOUCH, a 1980 release that received quite a bit of airplay on AOR (album-oriented rock) radio stations back in the early 1980s (this album features a gorgeous woman on the cover playing a futuristic chess game against a robot hand). TOUCH was a New York-based band led by Mark Mangold. Their sound can best be described as power rock, with well-crafted songwriting and plenty of soaring harmony vocals. Two of the songs here made the middle reaches of Billboard's Hot 100: "(Call Me) When the Spirit Moves You" and "Don't You Know What Love Is" (the latter of which garnered most of the AOR airplay). The rest of the album is also quite solid ("So High" is another standout and "could have been" hit), and there are two bonus tracks that were not available on the original LP: "My Life Depends On You" (the non-LP b-side of the "When The Spirit Moves You" single) and a live version of "Don't You Know What Love Is". Unfortunately the band concentrated on touring in Europe (including a well-documented performance as the first band EVER to play "Monsters of Rock" at Donnington Castle, be sure to see the essay for the story of one band member's unfortunate encounter with a bee before their encore!) and barely toured the States, resulting in little promotion for the album which ultimately faded fairly quickly. Nowadays most classic rock stations pass over much of the music we enjoyed on AOR radio, so it's great having this overlooked gem available on a reasonably-priced import CD."