Songoftheday 5/20/14 - What's the matter with the way we look? Surely it's not the end...

Cock Robin - "When Your Heart Is Weak"
from the album Cock Robin (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 3

Toay's Song of the Day is by the modern rock group Cock Robin, who started out as a quartet in San Francisco under lead singer, main songwriter, and guitarist Peter Kingsbery and female lead Anna LaCazio in the early 80s. They released their self-titled debut album in 1985, produced by progressive rock musician Steve Hillage, and the first single from the project, "When Your Heart Is Weak", was a spacious-sounding yet emotional rock song that sounds like it came from the scene in the cover art, and Kingsbery's voice reminded me of Roy Orbison just a tad...

While "When Your Heart is Weak" was a moderate hit in America, reaching the top-40 on both the pop and rock charts in August of 1985, the single and album was massive across Europe, where it reached the top-10 is France and Germany. While this would be the band's only time on the American singles chart, their follow-up single, "The Promise You Made", even did better overseas, topping the chart in Belgium and going top ten in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. They even appeared on the British charts at #28. After losing half the band to be just the core of Kingsbery and LaCazio, Cock Robin's second album After Here Through Midland was released two years after their debut.  With John Mellencamp's producer Don Gehman at the helm, the album continued their western-style new wave that captivated me, as well as Europe, with the lead-off single "Just Around The Corner" reaching the top-20 in all the countries they hit with "The Promise You Made" and adding Italy and Sweden to the mix. In 1990 the duo released their third effort First Love/Last Rites, and had a couple of top-40 hits in France with "Worlds Apart" and "Straighter Line". They split up shortly after that, but have reunited recently for tours across Europe, where their fanbase lies.

I can tell you I was a huge fan of the group, especially their second album. I would play it incessantly in my proto CD walkman back in the day walking to work; it took me to a grander, more picturesque mindspace. And even more, their music hasn't aged a bit compared to the new wave of the time, and their first two album remain in my fave LPs of the decade.

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Here's Cock Robin live in concert in Germany...

I had bought a copy of the 12" single back then, which had this dance mix of the song...

Lastly, here's Cock Robin reunited in 2012 in France...


Up tomorrow. New Wave star duo are looking for cherubim.