The Big Prize | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | February 14, 1986 | |||
Recorded | 1985 | |||
Studio | The Boogie Hotel, Long Island, NY & Little Mountain Sound, Vancouver, BC | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 44:17 | |||
Label | WEA Canada / Warner Bros. | |||
Producer | Bruce Fairbairn | |||
Honeymoon Suite chronology | ||||
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Singles from The Big Prize | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
The Big Prize is the second album by Honeymoon Suite, released in 1986. It featured four hit singles, including the band's biggest hit in the U.S., "Feel It Again," and "Bad Attitude," which was notably featured in a sequence in the final episode of Miami Vice 4 years later. In 1990 the album was certified Triple Platinum in Canada (in excess of 300,000 copies sold) by the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association). [2]
The album cover features a newly married couple having their picture taken by some tourists at Niagara Falls, Honeymoon Suite's hometown. The photo was taken on the Canadian side of the Falls.
Following the release of this album, the band won the Juno Award for "Group of the Year" and was also nominated for "Album of the Year" in 1986.
In a 2008 interview, Honeymoon Suite's guitarist Derry Grehan said "I think our best record was The Big Prize." [3]
Following the success of their debut album and a subsequent two-year tour, Honeymoon Suite wrote much of their next album on the road. The Big Prize was produced by Bruce Fairbairn with assistance from fellow Canadian Bob Rock and featured the trademark 80s sound of rock guitars interlaced with keyboards.
The first single "Bad Attitude" was written by guitarist Derry Grehan, and according to singer Johnnie Dee "Derry was playing this lick for a long time and eventually wrote this song around it. The chorus wouldn't come together for us until Bruce Fairbairn helped us out. The lyrics kinda summed up our feelings at the time."
The second single released was "Feel It Again," written by keyboardist Ray Coburn. This tune became the band's first, and only single to date to crack the Billboard Top 40 Chart in the States. It was also extremely successful at home in Canada.
The third single was the power ballad "What Does It Take" and was originally written on a Fostex recorder at a gig in Sarnia, Ontario. The song was added to the soundtrack for the movie One Crazy Summer .
It was Bob Rock's production work on this record (specifically as an engineer) that is largely credited with helping him get noticed by Jon Bon Jovi. Rock engineered Bon Jovi's massive break-out album Slippery When Wet , which was a major launching point in Rock's engineering and producing career. [4]
All songs written by Derry Grehan except where noted.
The following singles were released from the album, with the highest charting positions listed.
# | Title | Release Date | CAN | Hot 100 |
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1. | "Bad Attitude" | Dec. 17, 1985 | - | - |
2. | "Feel It Again" | Jan. 24, 1986 | 16 | 34 |
3. | "What Does It Take" | June 3, 1986 | 21 [5] | 52 |
4. | "All Along You Knew" | 1986 | 65 [6] | - |
Chart (1986) | Peak position |
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Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [7] | 7 |
US Billboard 200 [8] | 61 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada) [9] | 3× Platinum | 300,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Slippery When Wet is the third studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released on August 18, 1986, by Mercury Records in North America and Vertigo Records internationally. It was produced by Bruce Fairbairn, with recording sessions between January and July 1986 at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver. The album features many of Bon Jovi's best-known songs, including "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Livin' on a Prayer", and "Wanted Dead or Alive".
New Jersey is the fourth studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi, released on September 19, 1988, by Mercury Records. The album was produced by Bruce Fairbairn and recorded at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The album was the follow-up to the band's third album, Slippery When Wet, and reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart in its second week of release after debuting at number eight. It remained at the top for four consecutive weeks and was Bon Jovi's last album to do so until Lost Highway (2007).
Keep the Faith is the fifth studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi, released on November 3, 1992, by Mercury Records. It is Bon Jovi's last studio album to feature all five original band members as bass guitarist Alec John Such was dismissed from the band in 1994. It is Bon Jovi's first album since 1985's 7800° Fahrenheit not to be produced by Bruce Fairbairn. The album was produced by Bob Rock and was recorded at the Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia. Keep the Faith marked a change to a "more serious interpretation of the band's pop-metal groove". It is also Bon Jovi's longest album to date, clocking in at 66 minutes.
Crush is the seventh studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released on June 13, 2000, by Island Records. It was produced by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Luke Ebbin. The album marks the longest timespan between studio albums for the band, with five years between the release of These Days (1995) and this album. After the initial plan to team up with producer Bruce Fairbairn fell through because of his death a year earlier, Bon Jovi and Sambora hired Luke Ebbin to update their sound with a smattering of loops and impressive arrangements.
Honeymoon Suite is a Canadian rock band formed in 1981 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The band's name was a nod to the fact that Niagara Falls is the unofficial honeymoon capital of the world.
Bruce Earl Fairbairn was a Canadian record producer. He was active as a producer from 1976 to 1999, and is considered one of the best of his era. His most successful productions are Slippery When Wet and New Jersey by Bon Jovi, Permanent Vacation, Pump, and Get a Grip by Aerosmith, The Razors Edge by AC/DC, and Balance by Van Halen, each of which sold at least three million copies. He was originally a trumpet player, then started a career as a record producer for Canadian rock band Prism. Fairbairn won the Canadian music industry Producer of the Year Juno Award three times. He produced albums for many well-known international artists such as Loverboy, Blue Öyster Cult, Bon Jovi, Poison, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Scorpions, Van Halen, Chicago, The Cranberries, INXS, Kiss and Yes. His style was notable for introducing dynamic horn arrangements into rock music productions. Fairbairn died suddenly on May 17, 1999, due to unknown causes.
Pump is the tenth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith. It was released on September 12, 1989, by Geffen Records. The album peaked at No. 5 on the US charts, and was certified septuple platinum by the RIAA in 1995.
Robert Jens Rock is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician, best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, the Tragically Hip, the Cult, 311, Our Lady Peace, Bryan Adams, the Offspring, Michael Bublé, Black Veil Brides, David Lee Roth, and Ron Sexsmith.
Cross Road is the first official greatest hits album by American rock band Bon Jovi, released on October 11, 1994, by Mercury Records. The album contains hits from all previously released albums from their debut, Bon Jovi (1984) to Keep the Faith (1992). The album also features two new tracks: the hit singles "Always" and "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night", as well as a new, updated rendition of "Livin' on a Prayer" entitled "Prayer '94" available only on the North American versions.
"Bad Medicine" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Desmond Child, and was released on September 3, 1988, as the lead single from the band's fourth album New Jersey. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, Bon Jovi's third single to do so, and became a top-ten hit in Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
John Richard DeGiuli, known as Johnnie Dee, is a Canadian rock vocalist best known as the lead singer for the rock band Honeymoon Suite. Dee and guitarist Derry Grehan formed Honeymoon Suite in Niagara Falls, Ontario in the early 1980s. Together they produced five studio albums and numerous hits including songs such as "New Girl Now" and "Feel It Again" which were both featured on the Miami Vice TV series. In 1986, Honeymoon Suite won a Juno Award for "Group of the Year" and was also nominated that same year for "Album of the Year".
Little Mountain Sound Studios is a music recording facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, it was the most successful recording studio in Western Canada and the home for many years to producers Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock. It recorded albums by Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Metallica, Bryan Adams, Mötley Crüe, David Lee Roth, Loverboy, and the Cult, among many others. In the mid 1990s, it became part of Vancouver Studios, which eventually evolved into Greenhouse Studios, where albums by Nickelback, k.d. lang, Default and Queensrÿche were recorded.
"New Girl Now" is a song by the Canadian rock band Honeymoon Suite. It was written by Derry Grehan, and released as a single in 1984, from the album Honeymoon Suite. The single reached No. 23 in Canada and No. 57 in the United States.
Dermot Fergus "Derry" Grehan is a Canadian guitarist best known as a member of the rock band Honeymoon Suite. The band was co-founded by Johnnie Dee, keyboardist and vocalist Brad Bent, and drummer Mike Lengyell in 1981.
Honeymoon Suite is the debut album by Canadian rock band Honeymoon Suite, released in 1984 on Warner Bros. Records. In 1990 it was certified Triple Platinum in Canada. All four singles - "New Girl Now", "Burning in Love", "Wave Babies" and "Stay in the Light" - were also certified Gold in Canada.
Clifton Hill is the seventh studio album by Canadian pop metal band Honeymoon Suite, released in late 2008. It is the band's newest studio album since 2002.
The Circle is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi. Released on November 10, 2009, the album was produced by John Shanks. The album debuted at number 1 in several countries, including the U.S., where it sold 163,000 copies in its first week.
Racing After Midnight is the third studio album by Canadian pop metal band Honeymoon Suite, released on March 8, 1988. In 1989 the album was certified Double Platinum in Canada. It is also the only Honeymoon Suite album to feature Spoons keyboardist Rob Preuss.
"Feel It Again" is a song by Canadian hard rock band Honeymoon Suite. Written by the band's keyboardist, Ray Coburn and released in 1986 as a single from Honeymoon Suite's second album, The Big Prize, the song was the band's first top 20 hit in Canada and was also the band's biggest stateside hit, reaching #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending May 10, 1986. It remains Honeymoon Suite's only top 40 hit in the U.S. to date.
Monsters Under the Bed is an album by the Canadian hard rock band Honeymoon Suite, released in 1991. The band was now a trio, consisting of Johnnie Dee, Dermot "Derry" Grehan, and returning keyboardist Ray Coburn.