FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
37 years ago yesterday, Helix to the Long Way to Heaven with their fifth studio release!
On November 9, 1985, Helix released their fifth full-length studio album Long Way to Heaven via Capital Records.
Background:
This album was their third for Capitol Records, and there were bigger expectations from the band after the success of the previous Walkin' the Razor's Edge (featuring the hit Rock You). The first single was Deep Cuts the Knife, co-written by Paul Hackman and Bob Halligan Jr. The song received heavy airplay in the U.S., gaining "double breaker" status, and in Canada was added to heavy video play on MuchMusic. Q107 in Toronto had the song riding at No. 1 for several weeks on their Top Ten at Ten.
Their first tour to kick off the album was in Sweden where they became the first Canadian rock band ever to tour that country extensively. For this they achieved their first No. 1 album in that country.
(Helix, live in Helsingborg, Sweden, June 1, 1985)
Returning to North America, Helix toured with Accept and Keel, as well as headlining dates. They also played odd one-off dates with Meat Loaf and Heart. While headlining in Newfoundland, a local band called Kaos opened for Helix. This band featured Rainer and Cindy Wiechmann, who joined Helix 19 years later in 2004, on lead guitar and backup vocals respectively.
The second single released from the album was The Kids Are All Shakin', a song inspired by a fan letter from Poland. The album went platinum in Canada and they headlined their first Canadian tour with the Headpins as the supporting act. The Long Way to Heaven album was released for the first time on CD in September 1999.
In an interview with Full in Bloom, Helix vocalist Brian Vollmer talked about the album;
“Long Way to Heaven was Helix’s third album on Capitol/EMI US. After the huge success of Walkin’ The Razor’s Edge, we were catapulted to a new level-In Canada we ended up doing our own headline tour. Our first two EMI albums had been huge in Scandinavia, especially in Sweden, so we decided to take the show there first to work out the bugs. Lenny Stoute came over from Metallion Magazine and wrote a long article on the tour. We played inside the Arctic Circle and sometimes only put the lights up to keep warm, seeing as we were playing “in the Land of the Midnight Sun.”
Side Note:
There was a remix made of The Kids Are All Shakin' which was used in the music video. The audio track was not available for purchase until the Helix Deep Cuts compilation of 1999.
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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