Woman Enough

Hey Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew has got "Woman Enough" by Alias spinning right now from that long-awaited second album Never Say Never, and this one carries a story that feels pure rock and roll through and through. Alias cut the tracks for Never Say Never back in 1992 at places like the House of Music in West Orange, New Jersey, Platinum Sound up in Mississauga, Ontario, and a couple of rooms in Los Angeles. The plan was for it to roll out as the follow-up to their self-titled debut that had already gone gold in the States and platinum in Canada. Then the whole music landscape shifted with grunge taking over the airwaves and the labels deciding that polished hard rock and AOR was suddenly yesterday's news. So the masters sat on the shelf for close to eighteen years until early 2009 when the band finally announced the release, and it hit the streets in March of that year on EMI Canada and Angelmilk. The title Never Say Never fits the tale perfectly, because the guys never really walked away from the idea.

What makes "Woman Enough" extra interesting is that it leads off the whole record, clocking in at four minutes and thirty-one seconds, and it was written by Freddy Curci, Steve DeMarchi, Baker, and Dei Cicchi. Before the Alias version ever saw daylight, House of Lords singer James Christian had already recorded three of the songs from these sessions for his own 1994 solo album Rude Awakening, including "Pleasure and Pain," "The Warden," and "Woman Enough." That last one only turned up as a bonus track on the Japanese pressing and later on the expanded Frontiers reissue in 1999. A few other tracks from the lost album also got reworked and showed up on Freddy Curci's solo project Dreamer's Road in the mid-nineties, but most of the material stayed in the vault until the official drop. Fans who had been trading rough copies or hearing bits and pieces over the years finally got the full picture, and reviews from melodic rock circles noted that tracks like "Woman Enough" leaned a little harder and more energetic than the big ballads that had defined the first record. It still carries that classic Alias polish, with Curci's voice out front and the guitars and keys locking in the way longtime listeners remember from the Sheriff and Heart connections.

Speaking of how Alias got going in the first place, the roots stretch back to Toronto and the band Sheriff. Freddy Curci and Steve DeMarchi had been writing and playing together since the late seventies in Sheriff, scoring a hit with "When I'm With You" that actually re-entered the charts and went to number one in the States years after the original group had already split. When the other Sheriff members moved on to Frozen Ghost and weren't interested in a reunion, Curci and DeMarchi kept writing and eventually built a home studio in the DeMarchi family basement so they could keep demoing songs on their own terms. In 1988 they linked up with three founding members of Heart who were looking for a new project: guitarist Roger Fisher, bassist Steve Fossen, and drummer Mike Derosier. That combination of Canadian songwriters and Seattle rock veterans turned into the supergroup Alias. They signed with Capitol and released the debut album in 1990, which delivered radio staples like "More Than Words Can Say" that climbed to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Waiting for Love" that also charted strong. Curci has said in interviews over the years that Alias never really broke up so much as the industry moved on, and that he and DeMarchi were always the core who could pick it back up whenever the time felt right. That is exactly what happened when the demand from fans and the occasional live appearance kept the name alive long enough for Never Say Never to finally appear.

You can check out the band's official presence over on Alias on Myspace, where the catalog still lists material from Never Say Never among the tracks. For fans keeping the conversation going, the ALIAS band fan club on Facebook continues to share photos, old interviews, and updates tied to the original lineup and the later releases. Freddy Curci keeps an active page at Freddy Curci on Instagram where he posts about new singles and looks back on the catalog that includes the Alias years. The whole thing is a reminder of how many great records from that era got caught in the crossfire of changing tastes, and how a handful of dedicated players and patient listeners can bring them back into the light. Over here at THE ZOO we love digging into those deep cuts and the stories behind them, so stick around while the Zoo Crew keeps the rock rolling for all you Zoo Freaks.