At 66, with purple hair and slightly dandyish attire, it might be easy to ridicule Jim Peterik. The Chicagoan wouldn’t give a damn if we did, and nor should he. Peterik has composed some of the most enduring and biggest selling songs of all time, including Survivor’s Eye Of The Tiger (along with that band’s guitarist Frankie Sullivan).
Post-Survivor – he left them in 1996 – Peterik and vocal sidekick Toby Hitchcock have carved a 14-year career as Pride Of Lions. Their fifth studio set is crammed with songs that only Peterik could have written. In some ways he’s the Jim Steinman of melodic rock, his pompousness immediately recognisable. Articulated by Hitchcock, one of the best and most versatile singers around, Peterik has found a voice to do the material justice.
Among the defining moments here is Freedom Of The Night, a song that’s dedicated to late bandmate Jimi Jamison and is worthy of Survivor themselves.
