Premonition

The first four songs, which were Side 1 (back when there were records with sides), are, to my mind, one of the greatest pure pop music album sides ever. Summer Nights is grossly overlooked when people think of the great songs of the decade -- I have to believe that Kid Rock had it rattling around in his brain when, almost 30 years later, he visited the same thematic terrain in All Summer Long, but without anywhere near the vulnerability and wistfulness that makes the Survivor track so indelibly great.

I bought Premonition after hearing Take you on a Saturday on the radio (about 200 years ago!). At the time, Omar, the owner of our local record shop, East Of Suez, had to order it in. It has remained one of my all time favorite recordings. I wore the record out, and had to replace it on cassette. When that finally wore out, I suppose I had moved on to other music...but I always remembered it fondly. It came to mind about a month ago, and I was THRILLED to see that it had been re-released. I ordered it, and it has not left my CD player in the car for a solid month. I popped that baby in, and it took me back....I listen to it, and Im 16 all over again. Take you on a Saturday is still my favorite song on it, but Summer Nights is a close second. There really isnt a bad song on this recording. I remember when Eye of the Tiger came out, and how I recognized Dave Bicklers singing on it; I knew immediately that it was Survivor....I was already a fan. Thanks for all the awesome memories!

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.

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.....

Way back when, actor Sylvester Stallone was smart enough to ask Survivor to write a pumped-up theme song for

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.

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...

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.

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.