Premonition

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.

It seems all of us Survivor fans have our favorites, huh? I really enjoy this CD, but I cant quite put it up there with their first one, Eye Of The Tiger, or Caught In The Game. I bought the Premonition record back in college. Im not sure when I bought it relative to their other material, but it was definitely after Eye Of The Tiger, Vital Signs, and Survivor, and possibly after When Seconds Count and Caught In The Game. It was either right before or right after I got a CD player, and since this was on record, it was at a disadvantage. I found it in the bargain bin, just like I found the debut record. I had been floored by the debut album, so I had high expectations for this one. I had heard Take You On A Saturday before, since it was the B-side to the Eye Of The Tiger single. I played the record, thought it was pretty good, but not as good as the first one. And I didnt put this one on a tape for the car, and I didnt play it as much since I was playing more CDs than records back then, and I kinda forgot about it until recently. Since it is now on CD, I figured it would be a good way to complete my Survivor collection. I bought the debut CD a couple of weeks before buying this one (along with Caught In The Game), and Ive been playing all my Survivor CDs ever since then. This one definitely has more of the signature Survivor sound than the first one, and its pretty close to Eye Of The Tiger and Caught In The Game. The main reason I put this one below the others is because to me this one lacks multiple songs that are really great. Take You On A Saturday is my favorite - it really rocks - but its the only one on this disc that would be on my list of all-time favorite Survivor songs. I would really give this CD 4.5 stars, but what the heck, Ill give it five because I really do like Survivor, and this is a good CD. I just never gave the record enough of a chance to grow on me years ago. If you like Eye Of The Tiger, which is the most likely album that most non-die-hard Survivor fans would have from the pre Vital Signs era, chances are youll like this too. If youre just starting to build a Survivor collection, Id start with either Eye Of The Tiger or one of the greatest hits CDs to see if you like the Dave Bickler era material. If so, then Id get this one once you know you like Eye Of The Tiger and Caught In The Game. Also get the debut CD - it doesnt have exactly the same sound as Premonition or the other two, but it is really good.

I have to say this is probably the most consistent Survivor album and Ive heard them all in the Peterik years. Not a bad track on it. The lead track Chevy Nights is a little cheesey just because to the title/chorus but still solid. The ballads are excellent. Of course if you dont like ballads you probably wont agree. There are a handful so if they are not your thing beware (Hearts a Lonely Hunter, Light of a Thousand Smiles, Runway Lights) I had this on LP as a teen and dont remember liking it as much as I do hearing it on remastered cd. Its generally the other way round. You hear something years later and think wow this is bad. Not the case. Summer Nights is total Journey and Runway Lights sounds very much like Lights off of the Styx album Cornerstone. Even in the harmonizing. Take You on a Saturday is a very good rock song as is the hit Poor Mans Son. Totally forgot about Love is on My Side. Another solid rocker. All in all great blend of rockers and ballads that make a truly standout ALBUM. Highly recommended!

HOW DO YOU COMPARE SURVIVOR WITH DAVE BICKLER OR JIMI JAMISON??? YOU CANT, THEY ARE 2 DIFFERENT BANDS... THE ORIGINAL SURVIVOR HAS HARDER EDGED SONGS AND JIMI JAMISON HAD THE BIGGEST HITS & THE BALLADS... I THINK CAUGHT IN THE GAME IS THE BEST DAVE BICKLER ALBUM RECORDED... EVERY SONG IS GOOD FROM BEGINNING TO END, THERE ARE NO FILLERS ON THIS ALBUM, CAIUGHT IN THE CAME WAS THE FIRST DAVE BICKLER ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT, I HAD MY DOUBTS AS I HAD JUST BEEN INFECTED WITH VITAL SIGNS, AND BOY WAS I WRONG CAUGHT INTHE GAME WAS A GREAT ALBUM, I LOVED IT INSTANTLY... I HAVE READ ALOT OF REVIEWERS WHO FAVOR JACKIE DONT GO, AS THEIR FAVORITE, I HAVE TO AGREE ON THIS ONE... BUT AGAIN I CANT SINGLE OUT 1 SONG AS BEING BETTER THAN ANOTHER... I NEVER STOPPED LOVING YOU, READY FOR THE REAL THING, WHAT DO YOU REALLY THINK?, HALF LIFE ALL GREAT SONGS, AND JUST AS GOOD AS JACKIE DONT GO, THE HARD ROCKIN TITLE SONG CAUGHT IN THE GAME... THIS IS A MUST FOR ALL SURVIVOR FANS...

Survivor is the most under-rated band in history. Ask most people who they are and you get the same response. They sang Eye of the Tiger. However, that wasnt the only song they ever sang!! These guys were true American rock, before the age of MTV. Bands who write and play their own music are always higher on my list. Jim Peteriks song writing was awesome and Frankie Sullivans guitar playing was perfection. I agree they were better with Dave Bickler, but I think it was more because that time period was their original music when they were new and fresh. Over time, the well of great tunes seems to dry up, it happens to everyone.

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.

This was one of my favorite 80s cds. Just a great feel good effort. Great melodies and vocals from Dave Bickler. I felt like Survivor went bubblegum after he left. This one had at least 4 potential radio hits and never got any air play. That sort of thing started happening alot after MTV cranked up and injected cancer into the american music scene. This cd rocks. You definitely wont be sorry you bought it. Their first cd is very good as well.

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.

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.

Have this album on vinyl in storage in another state. It still is a great album. The writing is great and the melodic, hard-pop rock sound is still there. Performances still stand through. I used to see them at shows during this period-before eye of the tiger. Production is also superb- No 1980s frills, nor 70s muffling (where everything sounded like like someone was holding a towel on the instruments). This is before Survivor became the sappy power ballad band with jimi jameson in the mid to late 80s (hey Peterik was great at writing that stuff, but we already had enough if those). survivor was best, to me, on the albums that no one heard mch of-the ones before stardom= Survivor (first album with 20/20 and somewhere in America) and this, as well as rebel girl.....they also wrote rockin into the night, and hold on loosely for 38 special during this period.....