27. Elevator
Artist: New England
Album: Walking Wild (1981)
Todd's role(s): producer, engineer, guitar
Writer(s): John Fannon
The song: New England was managed by the same guy that oversaw the career of KISS, and two of its members went on to form the metal band Alcatrazz, but by the time of their third and final album, the Todd Rundgren-produced
Walking Wild, they were dabbling in new wave, especially on its penultimate track "Elevator".
"Elevator" is peppy and poppy, with energized guitars, bumping rhythms and the kinds of harmonies commonly heard on Utopia records. It fits in perfectly with the cavalcade of power pop-oriented new wave bands of the time. Only the guitar solo hints at the arena-rock sound of their previous albums. With better marketing and decision-making, this could have been a hit. (It was the B-side to an inferior song, "DDT".)
The album: As with many AOR acts formed in the '70s, New England (based in Boston, naturally) named themselves after a geographic region, but unlike Boston, Kansas, Chicago, America, etc., mass success eluded them, the closest they came being their debut single, "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya," which cracked the bottom of the Top 40. They were managed by Bill Aucoin, who helmed KISS, and opened for that band, but none of KISS' success rubbed off on them despite Paul Stanley co-producing their debut album. Sonically, their first two albums resembled Queen more than anyone else, which made sense given that they were co-produced by Mike Stone, who worked on the first six Queen albums.
With their original approach gaining no traction, for their third record, New England brought in Rundgren and ditched the Queen-like intricacies for a more streamlined sound. But success continued to elude them, and singer/guitarist John Fannon left the band soon after the album's release, effectively ending its run. The other three members formed a short-lived band with Vinnie Vincent called Warrior, which recorded some demos but dissolved after Vincent replaced Ace Frehley in KISS. That prompted bassist Gary Shea and keyboardist Jimmy Waldo to form Alcatrazz with Graham Bonnett, former vocalist for MAD 2 artist Rainbow, former Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr and a Swedish guitar hotshot named Yngvie Malmsteen. After Malmsteen left to hotshot on his own, he was replaced by Steve Vai, whom we have already seen in this countdown.
Note: To the extent this record was marketed at all, it was probably marketed as new wave.
You Might Also Like: "Get It Up", an obscure cut from this album about flying in a hot air balloon, which consists of nothing but piano, synth and vocal and is probably the most Queen-like track on the record, is by far the most popular New England track on Spotify. Why? Because a band called Sensity World reworked it as a EuroHouse song and took it to #1 in Spain in 1995.
https://open.spotify.com/track/3Nd41wvVOjMlmxbwgdGiJp?si=a2375053ee5f49a6