This is one of the first records I ever remember buying. There was this great little music store in the small town near where I grew up and unfortunately, they were going out of business right around the time I started having enough allowance to actually buy music, but on the bright side, they had slashed their prices so my measly pocket money went considerably further. I remember my mom handed this album to me and said "You like Corey Hart, right?" Well, I had never really thought much about it before, but I did love his song "Sunglasses at Night," and of course "Never Surrender" had been played to death on the radio but I still kinda liked it, so I bought this album, probably for about $1 or so.
I had this strange habit when I was a kid of amassing music but not listening to it. I think I might have listened to this record once or twice back in the day. I probably played "Never Surrender" a few more times, and I distinctly recall the chorus to "Komrade Kiev," but other than that it just didn't really stick with me.
Looking back, I find in general that a lot of Corey Hart's music is very subtle and at the time, when I was a weird kid delighting in obscure early electronica records by The Human League and the Icelandic art-rock of the Sugarcubes, Corey was probably just "too mainstream" for me! It's funny to realize that now, especially because musically and vocally he's actually very similar to one of my favorite female solo artists of that time - Tiffany.
Lately I've been on a Corey Hart kick, going back and reliving the albums of his that I had before and discovering all the ones I missed, and this album sticks out as being one of the more overlooked ones. Although I find the A-side of his debut, "First Offense," to be nearly flawless, side A of "Boy in the Box" is pretty damn good as well. Because the title track was not a big radio hit I never thought too much about it, but now it's been stuck in my head for a week or so and I've been enjoying it. I actually was prompted to change the way I thought about this song a couple years ago when reading one of my favorite pieces of music bloggery ever, the Bottom Feeders: Ass End of the 80's series from Pop Dose. Unfortunately, Corey is the butt of many jokes at Bottom Feeders, as the guy who writes it has a serious beef with him. One of the (many) things about Corey that annoys him is the way he switches the numbers five and six in the lyrics to this song. But the 80's were all about quirky lyrics and music and "Boy in the Box" has the perfect combination of quirkiness, paranoia, and funny synth music mixed with powerful dance beats and it all wraps up to something I really enjoy.
"Eurasian Eyes" is a great ballad on the album which is similar to other Corey Hart ballads, but a little darker and more unique than "Never Surrender," which of course was Corey's biggest hit ever here in the states event though you hardly ever hear it now.
Side B is actually better than I remember it being but Corey always seemed to do better A sides than B sides. I do really like "Everything in My Heart" but it's another ballad, and he tends to be a little ballad-heavy. I would have liked at least one more quirky synth rock number similar to the title track, although "Silent Talking" is pretty close.
All in all, probably the best early-era Corey Hart record, just slightly better than "First Offense."
Rating: OOOO (Four out of Five O's)
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