"Always" by Firefall

Song#:  1302
Date:  01/15/1983
Debut:  91
Peak:  59
Weeks:  13
Genre:  Soft Rock



Pop Bits:  After their 1980 album "Clouds Across the Sun," Firefall fell apart. Members were leaving for solo careers (or rehab) and diminishing returns combined with mounting debt caused their label, Atlantic, to drop the band. That could have been the end of Firefall, but original member Jock Bartley decided to keep going and created a new version of the band. They resigned with Atlantic and issued the album "Break of Dawn." This first single got off to a slow start and was able to notch some noticeable weeks on the chart, but in the end it failed to make any real impact. It would be the band's final pop chart single. They would continue to tour and record a few more albums over the years with Bartley remaining at the helm.

ReduxReview:  The band sounds like they are going for broke on this power ballad. It's got soaring vocals, a wailing sax, and a chorus that practically whacks you over the head. With a few changes, this might have been a good song for a hair metal band. I can hear that the band was trying to change it up and move forward with the times (sounding slightly like the revamped Chicago), but it just wasn't connecting with listeners. It's a good effort, but by this time the band was past its prime and the future was not looking so bright.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Before forming Firefall, Jock Bartley was the guitarist for the Colorado hard rock band Zephyr. That band is known for one of its original members, renown guitarist Tommy Bolin. Zephyr was Bolin's first signed band and he stayed with them for two albums. Bolin would leave the band and go on to join the James Gang and Deep Purple while doing his own solo projects. When Bolin left Zephyr, Bartley was hired as his replacement and played on the band's third album. Bolin would later die from an overdose in 1976.

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