Top 10: April Wine Songs

It’s always bittersweet when these Top 10 retrospectives double as in memoriam tributes. This is unfortunately the case with today’s list, which pays tribute to April Wine frontman, guitarist, and songwriter, Myles Goodwyn, who passed away over the weekend at 75 years old. Ironically, it was earlier this year that after nearly 55 years with April Wine, Goodwyn stepped down due to health issues. To say this man left behind a catalog of stone cold classics would be an understatement. His contribution to hard and heavy music is immeasurable and his talent will be deeply missed. With our horns held high for this Canadian king, we now present to you our Top 10 April Wine Songs.

10. “Love Has Remembered Me”

Like many ’70s bands, April Wine spent the better part of the ’80s navigating their way through an ever-changing musical landscape. By ’85, fresh faced, extravagant glam metal bands dominated the scene, relegating an act like April Wine to cult status. It didn’t help that by this point, the “band” itself consisted Goodwyn and fellow vocalist/guitarist Brian Greenway, accompanied by a slew of session musicians. The end result was April Wine’s 12th studio album, Walking Through Fire. Amidst this collection of commercialized rockers was a soft AOR ballad entitled “Love Will Remember Me”. Although musically not far removed from what peers Chicago and REO Speedwagon were doing at the time, it’s far more memorable and rewarding, guaranteed to pull on the heartstrings of even the toughest headbangers.

9. “All Over Town”

1981 was an excellent year for April Wine. Hot off the heels of playing the iconic Monsters of Rock Festival at Castle Donnington, the rejuvenated Canadians responded to the burgeoning NWOBHM scene with the heaviest outing of their career, The Nature of the Beast. This album took the catchiest, volume crankin’-ist, and hard rockin’-ist moments of their last two albums, First Glance (1978) and Harder…Faster (1979), and boosted them tenfold, starting with this banger of an opener. “All Over Town” grabs your attention from the get go, kicking you in the teeth with that heavy lead riff and those lethal Thin Lizzy-esque twin lead guitars, the latter of which we’ll be talking more about later. No doubt about it, Greenway and Gary Moffet were locked in on this album, with Goldwyn occasionally joining in for a triple axe attack!

8. “Just Between You and Me”

The ’80s were the decade of the power ballad. It didn’t matter if you played hard rock, heavy metal, glam metal, AOR, or something in between. Hell, even the thrashers got in on the trend by the end of the decade, but that’s another discussion for another day. Having released no shortage of ballads throughout the ’70s, it’s no surprise April Wine used this advantage to their formula in the early ’80s, scoring the biggest hit of their career with “Just Between You and Me”. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always found something painfully nostalgic about this tune. It’s as if Goodwyn took the chord progressions and melodies of an old Roy Orbison song and delivered them with a hard rock twist. Brilliance on this level deserves to be recognized on a Top 10 list.

7. “Weeping Widow”

April Wine’s early albums are quite the mixed bag. You’ll have a run of the mill AM pop rocker, followed by a singer/songwriter style ballad, followed by THIS. April Wine’s heavy metal fate was destined from the beginning. While bands like Sabbath, Purple, and Heep were still laying down the genre’s ground rules, April Wine responded with the colossally doom driven “Weeping Widow”. Kicking off their third album, Electric Jewels (1973), “Weeping Widow” is sung by on again, off again April Wine bassist/singer, Jim Clench. His clean, high pitched vocals against a soundscape of brash metallic riffage makes for one of the finest ’70s metal hymns you’ve never heard of. Put this on between the likes of Pentagram and Lucifer’s Friend. You won’t hear much difference!

6. “I Like to Rock”

Writing a hit record is one thing. Writing a timeless anthem is another beast altogether. April Wine did exactly this with the opening track off Harder…Faster (1979), “I Like to Rock”. I remember hearing this on the radio at a young age (roughly 10 or 11 years old), blasting it as loud as I could whenever 97.9 The Loop (R.I.P.) or 104.3 JACK FM (also R.I.P.) would throw it into rotation. Of course, I’d eventually pick up the album itself, but there was something magical about hearing a song like this make its way through the airwaves. To this day, the closing interpolation of The Beatles’ “Day Tripper” riff and The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” riff gives me thrills. All these years later and the mission statement remains true: “I Like to Rock”!

5. “Roller”

Who would’ve thought the song that’d break April Wine internationally would be a rowdy boogie metal ode to a degenerate gambler of a woman? Nobody, not even April Wine themselves. As history had it, that’s exactly what happened. Tommy Shaw of Styx heard the song, immediately fell in love, and approached the band about opening a run of dates on the Pieces of Eight Tour. This would eventually catapult “Roller” to #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and subsequently, #5 on our list. For the past 45 years, “Roller” has closed out nearly every April Wine show since, guaranteed to get the crowd on their feet, clapping their hands, and singing along. Talk about a gamble that paid off big!

4. “Crash and Burn“

One doesn’t necessarily associate April Wine for their brute force and proto-thrash tendencies. And yet that’s exactly what we’re treated to on “Crash and Burn”. Arguably the heaviest song in the April Wine catalog, “Crash and Burn” is a blistering slab of early ’80s speed metal, chock full of violent riffing, self-destructive lyrics, and a career defining performance from drummer Jerry Mercer. At the time of recording, Mercer was in his 40s. It’s hard to believe this was considered “old” by rock n’ roll standards, but this was the ’80s after all. Despite his age, Mercer plays with the same bombast and youthful vigor that would inspire the likes of Dave Lombardo and Gene Hoglan a few short years later.

3. “Before the Dawn”

I’ve long said that Brian Greenway was April Wine’s secret weapon. While it’s easy to focus on Goodwyn’s monumental talent (and rightfully so), every now and then, Greenway would sneak in with a song of his own that showcased his musical and writing abilities. There’s no better example of this than “Before the Dawn”. One of the finest ballads in metal history, “Before the Dawn” is an epic display of melodic heaviness, boasting musical tropes not far removed from the NWOBHM scene. The guitars are blatantly metallic, the vocal delivery is passionate, and the balance between soft and heavy passages are a thing of genius. It was hard keeping this off the #1 spot.

2. “Ladies’ Man”

Behold: The Def Leppard High ‘n’ Dry formula two whole years before High ‘n’ Dry. Leppard are quick to namedrop the likes of AC/DC, UFO, and Sweet amongst others as influences. And while I don’t doubt that for a second, how on earth can somebody listen to this song, then Leppard, and not hear a direct relation? The arrangement, the guitar tone, the vocal delivery, the lyrics, the bridge: I could go on, but Leppard took the “Ladies’ Man” formula to a T and laughed ALL the way to the bank with it. Good for them, but let’s also acknowledge it was this rough and ready band of Canadian rockers who laid down the foundation.

1. “Sign of the Gypsy Queen”

I’ll be the first to admit labelling a cover as a band’s “greatest song” is a ballsy move to say the least. That said, chances are you’re reading this right now and saying to yourself, “This is a cover?! I never knew!” Well, it’s for good reason; the original sounded like this. Let’s not kid ourselves folks. April Wine took an oddball psych folk tune that was OK at best and turned it into a hard rock masterpiece. Everything about this song, from those twin guitar harmonies to that breezy atmosphere and everything in between, is absolute perfection.

If I’m to add a personal anecdote (and I will), I’ll never forget being 12 years old and going to the Wisconsin Dells with my family for our annual summer vacation. The entire ride up, I listened to “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” and Riot’s “Outlaw” back to back at least a few dozen times. I’m certain I was jamming Whitesnake, UFO, and whatever the latest Skeletonwitch album was as well, but it’s those two I remember the most. At this point, it had been 30 years since “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” came out and I was completely under its spell. Fast forward a lifetime later and this is still the case. Long live Myles Goodwyn, long live April Wine, and long live their greatest song, “Sign of the Gypsy Queen”.