LOVERBOY – Keep It Up [BGO digitally remastered]

Another request from some time ago and not easy to find, here’s the other 2-in-1 CD remastered reissue of LOVERBOY third and fourth albums: “Keep It Up / Lovin’ Every Minute Of It”. You can find “Loverboy / Get Lucky” at 0dayrox too.
Following up their first two multi-platinum albums, with third effort “Keep It Up” Loverboy continued their road to 80’s arena rock / AOR superstars.

Despite “Keep It Up” spawned 4 hit singles and went platinum, this is one of the less known Loverboy albums and yes, you guessed it, one of their best.
Not only in the songwriting department, but also in its purest first half of the ’80s AOR sound / production.

I always divided “Keep It Up” in two parts: the first 4 songs are typical feel-good AOR with the catchy ‘Hot Girls In Love’ being the highlight and the killer ‘Strike Zone’ showing a more ‘rocking’ side.
Then the remaining 5 cuts represents the more consistent material Loverboy ever placed into a single album.

All these are true gems, starting with the superb ‘Queen Of The Broken Hearts’, which in my opinion is the best Loverboy song of all time, a more complex animal than anything recorded by the band before. It’s the surprisingly observant tale of a woman reluctant to fall in love that plays out over a hook-laden midtempo tune that plays off meditative guitar-laden verses against a synth-driven chorus that suddenly accelerates the tempo to an almost dance level.

Then there’s Doug Johnson’s hypnotic keyboard riff in ‘Prime Of Your Life’. I always loved this song and still is one of my ’80s favs. Combining AOR hooks with a lush instrumental treatment, this track is pure class.
You also have an elaborated approach on ‘One Sided Love Affair’ built on stately, almost classical synthesizer riffs, a song which I found very Foreigner-like at their best.
‘Meltdown’ is another tune in this artsy vein: it’s a slow rocker that merge the heaviest guitar riffs on the album with layered synth parts reminiscent of Rush.

“Keep It Up” is Loverboy’s most consistent album. There’s hooks aplenty, but also wonderfully crafted compositions arranged and performed with care. Production is top notch, handled by talented guitarist Paul Dean and master Bruce Fairbairn (who also co-wrote a couple of songs).
The fact that “Keep It Up” has been quite hard to find in recent years makes this BGO remaster even more appealing.
A MUST for anyone who is into ’80s AOR.

01 – Hot Girls In Love
02 – Strike Zone
03 – It’s Never Easy
04 – Chance Of A Lifetime
05 – Queen Of The Broken Hearts
06 – Prime Of Your Life
07 – Passion Pit
08 – One-Sided Love Affair
09 – Meltdown

Mike Reno – Lead Vocals
Paul Dean – Guitar, Vocals
Doug Johnson – Keyboards
Scott Smith – Bass, Vocals
Matt Frenette – Drums
Nancy Nash, Maggie Ryder – Background vocals
Jean Piche – Synthesizers

BUY IT
www.amazon.com/Loverboy-Keep-Lovin-Every-Minute/dp/B000HT3KFQ