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This was the fifth studio album from the band. Survivor had four previous albums, resulting in one monster hit in "Eye of the Tiger", which owed most of it's success to Rocky III, and a few singles that barely charted. So the band was poised to be a hard working one hit wonder, and then they made Vital Signs. This album produced three top fifteen hits that have become staples of eighties radio, and gave the band momentum in the era of arena rock.
The first hit was "I Can't Hold Back", released towards the end of 1984. It's done with the trademark Survivor style, a slow build to the eventual burst of guitars at the chorus. Like most of the songs on the album, it has a lot of energy, and made a great workout song. This song planned at number thirteen on the Hot 100, but made it to number one on the Top Rock Tracks charts for three weeks.
The second hit carried a similar sound, "High on You". This song gave the band their second top ten hit, reaching number eight, a few notches above what the first single did.
The biggest hit was actually a ballad, "The Search is Over". This one hit number four on the Hot 100, but was on top of the Adult Contemporary charts for four weeks. This song showed their versatility, after the high energy of the first two songs. It's a truly great ballad, that continues to get steady airplay on Adult Contemporary stations, and more importantly, was just barely edged out of being my wedding song, by decree of my wife. But it still gets my vote.
"First Night" continues along the vein of the first two singles, though it stalled at number fifty three. Like much of the album, the band has a knack for turning down the energy of a song, then suddenly ramping it back up. The rest of the songs on this way too short nine song album are unmistakably from the same sessions, as most of it has a similar feel and sound, which is not a bad thing in this case. They clearly found something that worked, and stuck to it. Tunes like "It's the Singer Not the Song" would not be out of place on top forty radio stations from the time. What's more, it really gives the album a nice flow, it maintains a high energy without any jarring clunkers. "Broken Promises" is every bit as good as "First Night", and could have had some chart success, had the record company played it's cards right.
This is clearly the best album Survivor ever produced, and that even includes Greatest Hits packages. Those albums are forced to include lesser songs to cover a career, but this is an entire album that has a beginning, middle and end, and each piece is as good as the others. This is an excellent album, I highly recommend giving the whole thing a sit.
The first hit was "I Can't Hold Back", released towards the end of 1984. It's done with the trademark Survivor style, a slow build to the eventual burst of guitars at the chorus. Like most of the songs on the album, it has a lot of energy, and made a great workout song. This song planned at number thirteen on the Hot 100, but made it to number one on the Top Rock Tracks charts for three weeks.
The second hit carried a similar sound, "High on You". This song gave the band their second top ten hit, reaching number eight, a few notches above what the first single did.
The biggest hit was actually a ballad, "The Search is Over". This one hit number four on the Hot 100, but was on top of the Adult Contemporary charts for four weeks. This song showed their versatility, after the high energy of the first two songs. It's a truly great ballad, that continues to get steady airplay on Adult Contemporary stations, and more importantly, was just barely edged out of being my wedding song, by decree of my wife. But it still gets my vote.
"First Night" continues along the vein of the first two singles, though it stalled at number fifty three. Like much of the album, the band has a knack for turning down the energy of a song, then suddenly ramping it back up. The rest of the songs on this way too short nine song album are unmistakably from the same sessions, as most of it has a similar feel and sound, which is not a bad thing in this case. They clearly found something that worked, and stuck to it. Tunes like "It's the Singer Not the Song" would not be out of place on top forty radio stations from the time. What's more, it really gives the album a nice flow, it maintains a high energy without any jarring clunkers. "Broken Promises" is every bit as good as "First Night", and could have had some chart success, had the record company played it's cards right.
This is clearly the best album Survivor ever produced, and that even includes Greatest Hits packages. Those albums are forced to include lesser songs to cover a career, but this is an entire album that has a beginning, middle and end, and each piece is as good as the others. This is an excellent album, I highly recommend giving the whole thing a sit.