Premonition

This has always been one of my favorite albums....now I have it on CD! So glad that I found it at Amazon!

Way back when, actor Sylvester Stallone was smart enough to ask Survivor to write a pumped-up theme song for

Chevy Nights, from the Premonition LP, was one of the first Survivor songs to get airplay. Its still a favorite. One story has it that Sylvester Stallone loved Premonition (especially the song Poor Mans Son) and became a Survivor fan, eventually asking the band to write a song for his new Rocky movie; Eye of the Tiger, probably the bands biggest hit, turned out to be that song. Survivor guitarist Jim Peterik was a member of The Ides of March, which had a #2 hit in 1970 with Vehicle.

I remember hearing Poor Mans Son on the radio in 1981 and wondering who that was, really liking it. Id never heard of Survivor and would not hear of them again - until the next year. 1982s Eye Of The Tiger was a huge hit, as well all know. What we all seem to miss is the original issue dates of these albums; Premonition was released *before* Eye Of The Tiger. It was *re-issued* after Eye hit it big. If you find the LPs, look at the release numbers on them - Premonition came first. Yet many fans thing it was the second album. Thanks to some good San Francisco rock station, which has long since gone blander than tofu and/or been bought by Clear Channel, I *knew* who Survivor was, sort of, when they made it big. So, it was neat to see a case of commercial redemption, where a band was able to follow on a hit album by re-issuing their earlier material after it was ignored. Premonition is mandatory in any Survivor fans collection. Its raw-edged David Bickler stuff. It manages to capture a great deal of the teen male angst that they tried to appeal to. While its not the work of art that Foreigner was, it belongs next to it.

When Sylvester Stallone was looking for a new song for ROCKY III he listened to this album. Survivor had finally made the top 40 with POOR MANS SON. Im sure he had no idea just what would happen when he asked them to write the theme song. So I guess you could say that if not for this album, the words EYE OF THE TIGER would be nothing more then words form a script. What we have here is a great album of rock. From the opening riff of CHEVY NIGHTS to the b-side of EYE, TAKE YOU ON A SATURDAY, this album was self produced by the band,(just look at the album cover) which means no CORPORATE ROCK here. Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan wrote all of the songs. Every one of them finds way to tug at your heart. The haunting HEARTS A LONELY HUNTER (which by the way is my favorite) to the rock n roll fantasy LIGHT OF A THOUSAND SMILES (which is something everyone of us has done at least once in our lives) not to forget the homecoming tear jerker RUNWAY LIGHTS this album will make you feel good when you listen to it.

Survivors second album Premonition is the first Survivor album which carries the very sound that we are familiar. Their self-titled debut album is a good album with a bunch of great rock. But the album as a whole sounded too varied to grasp the image of the band. Kind of a Know-it-all all hits collection pop rock band. They failed to impress a large number of music fans and I think it was Jim himself who was not satisfied with the album. But with this second album they surely acquired the banner something unique and impressive. Part of the reason this album became excellent probably came from Jims collaboration with Sammy Hagers solid rock track Heavy Metal. It was in 1981, the word heavy metal was still not a household word. I can imagine Jims mumbling heavymetal, heavymetal...while producing this album and he was confident that style of rock would dominate. A light of Thousands Smiles served as a prophcy as the word premonition was taken from the lyric of this track. Take You On A Saturday is one of the highlight of this album-- very tight heavy track which might overwhelm die-hard Kiss fans. But what Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan tried to do in this album is to create the style of Heavy Metal not for rocks sake but with mass appeal. With the mission on their shoulders Survivor as we know it finally launched and the album became a small success in the U.S. with excellent tracks such as Chevy Nights, hits like Poor Mans Son, and Summer Nights. Recommended for all Survivor fans, 80s heavy metal rock fans, Sammy Hager fans, and Europian MHR fans.

This release definitely shows more maturity and songwriting prowess than the first album. Cuts like Runway Lights, Poor Mans Son, Summer Nights and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter are some of the better cuts, but all are first-rate. I regret that in my area of the country there was no promotion of this album when it was first released, so it took all these years and the internet to stumble upon this great album.

The first four songs, which were Side 1 (back when there were records with sides), are, to my mind, one of the greatest pure pop music album sides ever. Summer Nights is grossly overlooked when people think of the great songs of the decade -- I have to believe that Kid Rock had it rattling around in his brain when, almost 30 years later, he visited the same thematic terrain in All Summer Long, but without anywhere near the vulnerability and wistfulness that makes the Survivor track so indelibly great.

Premonition is the second album by American melodic rock/AOR band Survivor originally released in 1980, reissued in 2010 by Rock Candy Records. Premonition, was an additional step towards the identifiable Survivor sound, bringing to front more of their melodic essence while retaining a good deal of the hard rock style of their debut. Premonition was also the first album to feature the established rythm section of bassist Stephan Ellis and drummer Marc Droubay along side founders guitarist Frankie Sullivan, keyboardist Jim Peterik and singer David Bickler. The album as expected opens on such rockers as Chevy Nights, Summer Nights and Poor Mans Son followed by such pomp AOR tunes as Runway Lights the epic Light of a thousand smiles and Love is on my side. There is also the power-ballad Hearts a lonely hunter built on an unconventional but absolutely stimulating guitar/keyboard melody, which serves as an early verification that Survivor belong to an artistic league of their own. While most would consider Vital Signs, When Seconds Count and Eye of the Tiger as the ultimate Survivor albums, Premonition has more than enough musical depth and substance to challenge their most popular works. If you are a fan of pomp-adult oriented rock you can not go wrong with Remonition.

I bought Premonition after hearing Take you on a Saturday on the radio (about 200 years ago!). At the time, Omar, the owner of our local record shop, East Of Suez, had to order it in. It has remained one of my all time favorite recordings. I wore the record out, and had to replace it on cassette. When that finally wore out, I suppose I had moved on to other music...but I always remembered it fondly. It came to mind about a month ago, and I was THRILLED to see that it had been re-released. I ordered it, and it has not left my CD player in the car for a solid month. I popped that baby in, and it took me back....I listen to it, and Im 16 all over again. Take you on a Saturday is still my favorite song on it, but Summer Nights is a close second. There really isnt a bad song on this recording. I remember when Eye of the Tiger came out, and how I recognized Dave Bicklers singing on it; I knew immediately that it was Survivor....I was already a fan. Thanks for all the awesome memories!