The second release from Idle Cure doubled down on their first album. Hard rock rifts and vocals return to give us another great hard rock album. This album featured improved lyrics and slightly better vocals, likely due to improved engineering. In fact I would say the entire album had improved engineering. The album did not include original guitarist Chuck King, who had left to co-form the band Shout. It appears that David Huff (White Heart) providing the drumming for the album and the drumming on the album is very good. It nails that Arena Rock sound from the 80’s.
Tracklist
1 – Just Believe It – 3:49
2 – Barter Mercy – 4:18
3 – Frontline – 4:06
4 – So Many Faces – 3:36
5 – Hungry Hearts – 4:02
6 – One For The Money – 3:30
7 – How Long – 3:55
8 – Runnin’ – 4:01
9 – Draw The Line – 3:19
Credits
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Band [Idle Cure Is], Guitar [Guitars] – Mark Ambrose
Band [Idle Cure Is], Keyboards – Pete Lomakin
Band [Idle Cure Is], Vocals – Steve Shannon
Co-producer [Co-Produced By] – Tim Heintz
Design Concept [Cover Concept By] – Idle Cure
Engineer [Engineered By] – Dave Jahnsen
Musician [Additional Musicians], Backing Vocals – Bill Baumgart, Bob Carlisle
Musician [Additional Musicians], Drums – David Huff*
Musician [Additional Musicians], Keyboards – Tim Heintz
Musician [Additional Musicians], Lead Guitar – Tim Pierce
Musician [Additional Musicians], Saxophone – Eric Marienthal
Photography By – Michael Seeley
Photography By [Back Cover Photo By] – Eddie Huff
Producer [Produced By] – Bill Baumgart
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Frontline Records
Copyright (c) – Frontline Records
Distributed By – The Benson Company
Published By – Broken Songs
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia
When this album was released I was a total metal head and something like this was totally off my radar. But by 1991 I started to mellow out and was aware of Idle Cure since their song “Pray” was included on the NOTEBORED compilation album. Someone at the church I was attending let me listen to “Tough Love” and I got hooked on the entire album. Everyday for a month I would put this CD on and play “Ultima: Avatar” on the NES.
My favorite track is “Hungry Hearts” since it reminds me of the song “Frankie & The Knockouts – Sweetheart” which was the style of music of my teen years. Other standout tracks are the first three: the epic “Frontline”, “Just Believe It”, and “Barter Mercy” as well as the deep cut “One For The Money”.
On a side-note I saw Whiteheart live in Erie during their “Read The Book, Don’t Wait For The Movie” tour. The lead guitarist got off the stage, stood on some empty seats and did his solo right in my buddy’s face who at that time was just starting to learn electric guitar. He tried to take in what he was seeing as much as he could.