PERENNIAL - IN MY DREAMS (1986, JET CITY RECORDS)
Chris Malone - vocals
Schuyler Duryee - guitars
Randy Nelson - bass
Mark Welling - drums

Background
I'm not sure how this ended up in my collection since late 80's 'Hair Metal' has never been my thing, but what the heck I'll give it a go. Perennial were from Seattle, Washington and while little information is available on the group's history drummer Mark Welling is still active in the music scene. Trainspotters will be interested to know Welling was in a heavy progressive group with pre-Queensryche Geoff Tate called Babylon and after Perennial, joined up with Christian heavy metal favorites Bloodgood. The status of the other three members of Perennial is unknown and I am not sure if this was the band's only release or not. I'm sure someone reading this more conversant with this style and era will know and give us the scoop, but what of the music?

The Songs
Browsing over the lyric sheet, this is pretty positive stuff and almost religious in nature yet musically, Perennial are everything a big hair fan could want. A little bit of Ratt minus the sleaze in the title track and the stunning cover of Conway Twitty's 'It's Only Make Believe' comes close to Poison circa 'Look What the Cat Dragged In' with its bouncy 'glammy' pop vibe. Fun stuff and how many bands do you know have had the balls to cover Twitty and get away with it? 'Gonna Be Alright' again has a Ratt flavor while 'You're The Ones' takes on the Dokken sound and succeeds. Yet in the end and to be perfectly honest, side two is just more of the same with highs and lows and sounding like every arena rocker of the time which is the problem I have with much of this style and period in hard rock.

In Summary
Perennial had the musical chops and a cleaner moral approach to their lyrics but lacked the ideas to separate themselves from the pack. Perhaps with a big time producer and major label backing they could have competed with second rates like Firehouse, Britny Fox and Trixter, but would probably been lost in the shuffle like everyone else, bound for cut-out bins everywhere.

Track Listing:
01 In My Dreams
02 It's Only Make Believe
03 Now You Know
04 Gonna Be Alright
05 You're The Ones
06 I'm Down
07 Pass It On
08 Middle Of The Night
09 Wish I Knew
10 Rose Without A Thorn

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