12/09/2025
SPIN OF THE DAY - Wanna hear one of the greatest Hard Rock/AOR albums ever made that most people aren’t even aware of? Then get yourself a copy of this record (or at least check it out on streaming). NIGHT OF THE CRIME is the second album by Phoenix, Arizona band Icon. They were formed in 1979 by school friends Stephen Clifford (lead vocals), Dan Wexler (guitar) and Tracy Wallach (bass), along with Dave Henzerling (guitar) and John Covington (drums), originally going under the name The Schoolboys. After releasing an independent EP, Henzerling and Covington would leave to form their own group, with guitarist John Aquilino and drummer Pat Dixon replacing them. The band eventually landed a record deal with Capitol Records, who released their self-titled debut, produced by Mike Varney (who was originally keen to sign them to his own Shrapnel Records), in 1984. The album was a decent chunk of early 80’s metal in the vein of Judas Priest, that performed just well enough to get a follow up release. However, a series of unforeseen events were about to throw some monkey wrenches into that happening, with the story behind them remaining untold for decades, What should have been the album that made them superstars, mentioned alongside the likes of Def Leppard, Bon Jovi or Whitesnake, instead dropped with barely anyone knowing about it. More on the whys of that in a bit.
For fans of the genre, NIGHT OF THE CRIME is a masterpiece of an album. While their debut was solid, this album was a quantum leap forward in substance and style. It blew my mind the first time I heard it in 1985, and still sounds just as fresh and exciting to me now as it did then. If ever a record had sure-fire Platinum success written all over it, this was certainly one of them. The sounds of the album - from the songs, to the performances, to the arrangements and production - are all there. You like powerful, emotive singing? Vocalist Stephen Clifford is your guy, delivering a wealth of range on delicate ballads to full on throaty screams, and everything in between. The harmony vocals employed by the group are just as fantastic. Is great guitar playing your thing? May I present to you the team of Dan Wexler and John Aquilino, who share lyrical, dueling call and answer style solos, as well as glorious dual harmony leads, with Wexler also providing many of the album’s synth sounds via a guitar synthesizer. Acoustic or electric, these two deliver is spades. Perhaps the rhythm section is what you dig? Again, you get that in fine form here, with bassist Tracy Wallach laying down some tasty lines (even applying a fretless on occasion) and drummer Pat Dixon hammering the skins with thunderous tempo, rolls and fills. All of the band captured by producer Eddie Kramer with enough room in the mix by Ron Nevison to breathe in a way that everyone shines. How about the songs? You could basically throw a dart and have it land on almost any one with it having the potential to be either a straight up hit, or at least worthy of single potential. Catchy, hook filled tunes with memorable sing-along choruses abound from the album opener “Naked Eyes” on. With its jaunty keyboard intro, right away the band are signaling this album is not going to just be a repeat of the debut. Tracks like excellent “Danger Calling” and “(Take Another) Shot At My Heart” as well as “Raise The Hammer” absolutely should have been huge hits. If you like it a bit heavier, than the driving “Out For Blood” (exploding out of its guitar instrumental intro) or “Whites Of Their Eyes” will get you there. On the tender side, you’ve got the sophisticated power ballad “Frozen Tears”, and mid tempo tunes like “Missing” and “Hungry For Love”, which wrap a cutting edge inside a velvet veneer. The only minor misstep comes from the album closer, "Rock My Radio", that despite the obvious ham-fisted attempt at getting radio play via its chorus, is still a decent track. If anything NIGHT OF THE CRIME was perhaps ahead of it’s time, boasting all the elements of the sound that almost all of their contemporaries would be trying to deliver in the years that followed, specifically in 1987-88. So why didn’t it happen?
Just as Icon were getting ready to work on their second album, their A&R rep Carter decided he was going to leave Capitol Records. With their main backer there now gone, the label almost considered dropping the band, but was convinced by the group’s manager to give them one more shot, especially as money had already been allocated to make another record. The label agreed, but on the conditions that they use a more known producer, and come up with material that had more “hit” potential. To aid them in this, the legendary Eddie Kramer was brought in to produce, with added song doctor Bob Halligan Jr., a guy with a hearty finger in the pulse of commercial success, helping with the writing. Everything was going great, with the songs and performances coming out brilliantly. However while Kramer did a fantastic job capturing the recording of the material, his initial mix of the album was thought to be to raw and rugged, and not quite the radio ready sound the label and band were looking for. Enter to the picture Ron Nevison, who was then brought in to deliver to the record the kind of commercial sonic sheen he had become known for, which he did in spades. With things back on track, the next bombshell is about to drop on the band. Singer Stephen Clifford delivers the news that he is leaving. During touring behind the previous record, he had been living the “rock & roll lifestyle” perhaps a bit too much. In an effort to clean up his act, he had become a born-again Christian, and decided he could no longer go on the way he had, and didn’t feel comfortable being in a situation that might sabotage his new life choices. This of course does not sit well with the label, who question how they are going to continue without their singer. The band assures Capitol they can find a new singer before the album comes out, and still live up to their obligations. After many auditions, they do, in an unknown named Jerry Harrison. They set up a showcase for the label to assuage any doubts, and initially the show is going down great. However during an in-between song break Harrison decides it would be funny to start playfully bad mouthing the label and the execs from it on hand. Unfortunately, they do not share his sense of humor. Within days the band’s manager is notified that while the record will still be released (as it was already in the schedule pipeline) the band are being dropped by the label, and no further money will be spent promoting the band. This means no money for videos, tour support, or anyone to hype the record to radio and MTV - the latter two both being critical to any band’s success, especially in this time period. Essentially the album was dead on arrival. All of this unknown to me for many years, I instead went on wondering why I wasn’t hearing any of this brilliant album on the radio. Listening to it on repeat, I conjured up imaginary videos for the songs in my head, due to the lack of any real ones existing. I’ve now spent 40 years championing this record to anyone willing to listen, and probably still will until the day I die. It’s absolutely a desert island style disc, and in my all-time Top 20 of albums I continually return to year after year.
