DAN REED NETWORK Vintage Group Poster Last One

Description

LARGE , approx. 2 Feet X 3 Feet POSTER In -  New condition.
Long Out of Print.
Dan Reed (born February 17, 1963,
Portland, Oregon
) met Dan Pred in high school in Aberdeen,
South Dakota
, and after a time pursuing music studies at
Northern State University
, the pair returned to Portland and formed the Dan Reed Network in 1984. In 1986, they made their first recording, a six-track EP called
Breathless
which spawned a No. 1 single, "Steal Me", on
Z-100
in
Portland, Oregon
.
The lineup at this point was Dan Reed on vocals and guitar, Brion James on guitar, Melvin Brannon II on bass guitar, Dan Pred on drums, and Rick DiGiallonado (formerly of Portland platinum rockers
Quarterflash
) on keyboards. The band's diverse ethnic and musical backgrounds (Reed is of German, Hawaiian, and Native American ancestry, James is of Jamaican ancestry, Brannon is African-American, Pred is Jewish and DiGiallonado is Italian-American) were reflected in the music, which, though discernibly
hard rock
, was blended with soul, funk, and jazz arrangements. DiGiallonado, who was married with one child, was replaced by Portlander Blake Sakamoto on keyboards; Sakamoto, of Japanese heritage, had returned from Los Angeles where he had been playing with future Atlantic Records artists Dear Mr. President (lead singer Julian Raymond moved on to be vice president of Capitol Records).
The Dan Reed Network made a name for itself with the live performances.
The Washington Post
described the band in one performance as "easily charming its ... audience with an unlikely brand of heavy metal-ish rock sharpened by junk funk and plenty of rock 'n' roll theatrics," and that "the Network's strength lies in its infectious temperament."
A "polished" debut
The band signed to
Mercury Records
with the aid of
Derek Shulman
(who was enjoying huge success with
Bon Jovi
and
Cinderella
), and were managed by legendary concert promoter
Bill Graham
. In winter 1987, the group released an eponymous debut album which was produced by Bruce Fairbairn (who had worked with
Bon Jovi
) and was engineered and mixed by
Mike Fraser
at
Little Mountain Sound Studios
in Vancouver. They released their first single "Ritual", which peaked to No. 38 on the
Billboard
Hot 100
.
The
Dan Reed Network
album received positive reviews, not the least of which being a four-star write-up from the notoriously hard-to-please
Rolling Stone
magazine
. Most reviews lauded the band's ability to blend elements of heavy funk with a gritty rock edge peppered with pop hooks, pulled together in an '80s radio-friendly production.
Rolling Stone
wrote that "Producer Fairbairn deserves a nod for adding just the right amount of pop polish where it's needed," and giving even the weaker songs on a strong album an appeal. Still, while
People
magazine's review of the album as being "polished to a brassy sheen" saw the glass half-full, some music critics saw Fairbairn's pop-savvy commercial production as minimizing the band's funk grooves and heavy rock guitar.
Newsday
(New York) said "the songs don't stand up to repeated listenings due to Bruce Fairbairn's absurdly pristine production ... Fairbairn, best known for recordings by
Loverboy
,
Aerosmith
, and
Bon Jovi
, is a master at neutering hard rock and rendering it antiseptic." The
Washington Post
approached the issue with a constructively balanced context, comparing the Dan Reed Network's debut album to its live performances, saying, "numbers such as 'Get to You,' irritatingly synth-heavy on the record, were played with enough soul and engagingly invidious guitar to redeem them."
The poor promotion of the Dan Reed Network's debut album impeded the band's traction in the
United States
market.
Def Leppard
's album
Hysteria
(1987) was having disappointing sales at Mercury/Polygram and the label was pulling support from new artists to focus on saving the British rock band's return to the scene. Ironically, it would be
Def Leppard
's managers Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch who would offer the Dan Reed Network the final leg of the
Hysteria
tour in the
US
if they would switch to their management company, Q Prime. The band was initially reluctant to jettison Bill Graham, but by the beginning of 1989, they signed with Q Prime and the band enjoyed its greatest success.