Check out the new concept album from Rusty Shipp!
Check out the new concept album from Rusty Shipp!

JFH Music Review


Idle Cure, Idle Cure
CLICK COVER TO ENLARGE

Idle Cure
Idle Cure



Artist Info: Discography
Album length: 8 tracks: 35 minutes, 4 seconds
Street Date: 1986


READER RATING:   


The mere mention of the Christian music of the late '60s and early '70s inevitably conjures up images of free-spirited Southern-Californian hippies or big-city street performers strumming beat-up acoustic guitars as they set Biblical passages to folk and pop music. Over time, though, much like its secular equivalent, the music of that era began to migrate from its early, counter-culture origins to something entirely more hospitable to those in the mainstream record-buying public. Indeed, by the end of the first half of the '80s, arena-oriented rock and metal acts were all but ruling the roost on the Billboard singles and album charts, and those in the Christian music camp rushed to offer fans of those genres an alternative to their non-Gospel-oriented counterparts.

Some Christian acts were fairly easy to categorize. Barren Cross, for example, sounded a whole lot like Iron Maiden. X-Sinner made no secret of their love of AC/DC. And, before they went full-on arena rock at the dawn of the '90s with the landmark Beyond Belief record, the guys in Petra were a fairly convincing doppelganger to the boys in Styx. Other artists, like the Southern Californian quartet Idle Cure, were a little harder to pigeonhole, as evidenced on the band's self-titled debut effort, which hit the shelves in 1986 just as the hair metal phenomenon was truly hitting its stride.

"Come Alive" was almost surely inspired by plentiful listens to the title cut from Def Leppard's High 'n' Dry record. The chugging guitar riffs of "Breakaway" owe a similar debt to Autograph's 1984 Top 40 pop-metal hit, "Turn up the Radio." And the slightly tamer and glossier "Overdrive" is pulled from the same book shelf as "Runaway," Bon Jovi's first-ever single which hit the shelves way back in 1983.

On the tamer side of the coin, "Silent Hope" fits somewhere between the radio-friendly pop of Mike + the Mechanics' "Silent Running" and Knee Deep in the Hoopla-era Starship. "Take It" probably could have slipped in on just about any of Peter Cetera's early solo albums (minus the vocals, of course) with most of his fans being none the wiser. And one listen to "Feeling the Heat" - a dead ringer for the prototypical '80s movie soundtrack song, if ever there was one - would probably be enough to make Kenny Loggins secretly wonder why he didn't write it first.

At the time the debut album was released, more than a few critics derided the band for borrowing so liberally from the bands that influenced them. In a backhanded sort of way, though, this may well have been one of the Cure collective's greatest strengths. Indeed, while the bulk of their CCM pop- and rock-loving peers were summarily dismissed as simply lesser versions of the artists they so closely modeled themselves after, front man Steve Shannon and his cohorts were one of the few groups who actually proved that they could churn out hard-rocking ditties that were every bit as good as (and, in some cases, even better than) those of their mainstream contemporaries.

While its eclectic approach may well have guaranteed that the debut Idle Cure project appealed to a wider fan base than successive efforts, it also leaves it feeling just a tad unfocused. To be sure, it wasn't until the band began to concentrate more exclusively on hard rock-oriented material that they truly began to come into their own - a migration that reached its pinnacle at the dawn of the '90s on 2nd Avenue, the foursome's third, and most convincing, album. Still, even with its scattershot nature and one or two lightweight ballads factored into the equation, the freshman undertaking was still an engaging, high-spirited effort that pointed to a group that would soon deliver something truly spectacular.

- Review date: 5/8/15, written by Bert Gangl of Jesusfreakhideout.com



(JFH Sponsor Spot)

Check out JFH's Lloyd in his first-ever childrens book!

 


. Artist Info: Discography
. Record Label: Frontline Records
. Album length: 8 tracks: 35 minutes, 4 seconds
. Street Date: 1986
. Buy It: iTunes
. Buy It: Amazon.com
. Buy It: Amazon Music (MP3)

  1. Breakaway (4:00)
  2. Silent Hope (4:05)
  3. Take It (4:41)
  4. Feeling the Heat (4:15)
  5. Come Back to Me (4:08)
  6. Overdrive (4:34)
  7. From the Heart (5:01)
  8. Come Alive (4:24)

 



Leave a Comment

 

 

go to main Album review page
go to Album review archive

 

 

                 
Check out JFH's Lloyd in his first-ever childrens book!

Search JFH



This Friday, June 27, 2025
ALBUMS
7eventh Time Down We Praise You [BEC]
The Browns 25th Anniversary: Better Days Ahead [StowTown]
Franni Cash Wild Child - EP [Capitol CMG]
Matt Crocker interlude [Anotherland]
Jimmy Fortune Songs of an American Dreamer [Gaither]
Roxanne Grace Road Trip - EP [DREAM]
JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise The Live Reunion: Washington, DC [James Town]
Kutless The Seventh Seal - EP [BEC]
Evvie McKinney It Ain't Over - EP (independent)
Rusty Shipp Capsized Empire (independent)
SEU Worship A Forgiving God [Provident]
The Shimmering Carnelians The Doorway (Version 2.0) (independent)
We Are Messengers A Thousand Times - EP [Curb]

SINGLES
Anchor & Braille Rattlesnake - Single [Equal Vision]
ANTHNY imposter syndrome - Single [Provident]
Blanca Right On Time - Single [Curb]
Landry Cantrell & Elenee sunshine & rainbows - Single [DREAM]
Eddie Clark Never Content - Single [Syntax]
Colony House Atomic - Single [Roon]
Megan Danielle Preachin' To The Choir - Single [Provident]
Drea LP & OnBeatMusic Don't Try Me (DTM) - Single [Syntax]
ELI GABLE Glory Bound - Single [Capitol CMG]
Joseph Habedank Running to Me - Single [Daywind]
Lonnie Hunter Flow (Like A River) - Single [Uncle G]
Kashh Kade HELP - Single [Syntax]
KB x KEANU Keanu's Song - Single [Provident]
Tasha Layton Singing In the Dark - Single [BEC]
Tasha Cobbs Leonard The Hand That Keeps Holding - Single [Motown Gospel]
Claire Leslie Thank God I'm Not Alone (from Claire's Phone) - Single [Capitol CMG]
Tim Lovelace Celebration of America Medley (feat. Charlie McCoy) - Single [StowTown]
Lecrae Tell No Lie (feat. Jackie Hill Perry) - Single [Reach]
LO Worship The Perfect Love of Jesus - Single [Integrity]
Patrick Mayberry Thank The Lord - Single [Provident]
Michael Monroe John The Baptist (feat. Chris Renzema) - Single [Provident]
Alexander Pappas A Great Awakening / Un Nuevo Despertar - Single [Integrity]
PEABOD Summer in Seattle - Single [RMG Amplify]
Rave Jesus Walk On The Water Remix (From The Chosen) - Single [Provident]
The Rocky Valentines Nat Song - Single [Velvet Blue]
Tommy Royale, gio. Like Dat - Single [Capitol CMG]
Saints In Exile & Cutright My Dead End (ft. Jeannie Ortega, Luc DiMarzio, Jericko) - Single [Syntax]
Emilie Weiss Take Care (Studio Sessions) - Single [BEC]

DVD
Jimmy Fortune Songs Of An American Dreamer DVD [Gaither]

Next Friday, July 4, 2025
ALBUMS
Chad Cory America [DREAM]
Tenielle Neda The Way Of Love [Wings]

SINGLES
Christian Back Now - Single [DREAM]



For all release dates, click here!
 

Check out depositphotos for royalty free images