[.ca] First Glance

April Wine Rocks:
FIRST GLANCE is the first of three consecutive masterpieces for April Wine. The first two tracks, "Get Ready For Love" and "Hot On The Wheels Of Love" are a one-two punch, and the rest is great, too, but the album's centerpiece is "Roller." This is one of the first April Wine albums you should get.

NOT THE FIRST!:
April Wine has been releasing records since 1971, so, this definitely wasn't their first album. This was April Wine with what would prove to be their most successful line-up, though! To me the major loss was Jim Clench to BTO, but this album proved they would be alright without him. With Myles Goodwyn at the controls they released the album that would break them into the U.S. market with a vengeance for a change, unlike their earlier releases with Big Tree Records and their Aquarius Imports. This is a serious album aimed at the AOR market of the late 70's and early 80's when hard rock was taking the world by storm and outselling all other types of music. April Wine showed their stuff with my favorite "Silver Dollar", "Roller", "Hot on the Wheels of Love", "Rock and Roll Is A Vicious Game"(10 years to get to this point proved that) and "Get Ready for Love". I don't want to say they rode in on the coat tails of Rush, Triumph, Mahogany Rush and others, but their timing was impeckable with this exceptional release. So, even though this is not April Wine's first U.S. release it is the first one into wide spread airplay. This is a definite plus to any collection. If you want to try some fine Wine this is a great place to start and if you'd like some vintage Wine I would say look for Electric Jewels. If you are completely new to April Wine try a Greatest Hits or live album to discover what you are missing to see if it is time to become a Wine connoisseur.

How did I miss this band?:
Great guitars, drums and vocals. I should have been listening to these guys instead of Journey.

First Glance:
April Wine's 1978 release First Glance is an excellent collection of rockin' tunes. All nine tracks are enjoyalble. Roller is the most memorable of the songs, of course with its killer riff. Also notable is Rock n Roll is a Vicious Game. If you enjoyed their biggest American hit 1981's "The Nature of the Beast" you'll enjoy this one as well. Worth tracking down on vinyl or old cassette.

Certainly not their first release!:
I wanted to correct the review, below, which states that this was their first album. I believe it was their ninth! It was pre-dated by: 1971 - April Wine 1972 - On Record 1973 - Electric Jewels 1974 - Live 1975 - Stand Back 1976 - The Whole World's Goin' Crazy 1977 - Forever For Now 1977 - Live At The El Mocambo First Glance, along with Stand Back and Harder, Faster, is a high-point in April Wine's career. Good up-tempo rockers and power-ballads...if you're into that kind of music.