Frozen Ghost: Rising from the ashes of Sheriff

The cover of Frozen Ghost's 1987 self-titled debut album.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Ghost_(album)

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They have an odd place in Canadian music history.

They were a band formed from the ashes of Sheriff, seeking success of their own. Yet, maybe a year after their debut, and just when they were getting established, inexplicably a song by their old band caught fire and rolled all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Such is the life of Frozen Ghost.

Should I See

It was the spring of 1987 when a new band, capitalizing on the opportunities offered by Canadian content regulations, debuted featuring a song with an overtly political message.

Railing against censorship, Frozen Ghost released their debut single, “Should I See” off the album simply titled, “Frozen Ghost”.

My biggest memory of this song is dropping off my best friend Chris Vining at his house in Coaldale. This song was playing on the radio and he just started belting it out at the top of his lungs in his driveway. As he walked to his house he would turn back and look at me every time he sang the phrase, “should I see”.

That single would peak at number 27 on the Canadian charts, and actually hit the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. going as high as number 69. It would be their only single to chart in the Hot 100, although it went all the way to number 4 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

For their efforts, Frozen Ghost won a Juno in 1987 for “Most Promising Group of the Year”. Their video for “Should I See” was also nominated for a Juno for “Best Video of the Year”.

Chart success

They would release two more singles in 1987, the ballad “Promises” which was probably my favourite song of theirs, and “Yum Bai Ya” which was distinctive primarily for its title.

Another album followed in 1988, called “Nice Place to Visit” which yielded three more singles.

“Round and Round” was their highest charting single at number 19 in Canada and number 44 on the U.S. Rock chart.

“Pauper in Paradise” went to number 24 in Canada, but was notable for me for another reason. In Grade 12 I had written a play I called “The Prep and the Pauper”, that featured a lot of contemporary and pop music. So a few different friends suggested I used “Pauper in Paradise” in the play. It really didn’t apply other than using the word “pauper”.

“Dream come true” was another ballad, that went to number 34 in Canada.

The band put out one more album in 1992 called “Shake Your Spirit”, that produced their biggest chart success, a single called “Head Over Heels” that went to number 16 on the Canadian chart.

Echoes of the past

Inexplicably, in 1988 a song that Sheriif recorded called, “When I’m With You”, caught fire in the United States and went all the way to number one.

Caught between the past and present, Arnold Lanni and Wolf Hassel were unable to truly capitalize on the success of “When I’m With You” – they could not reunite Sheriff or perform “When I’m With You” as Frozen Ghost.

Sometimes the music gods have a strange sense of humour.

Parting thoughts

After I finished writing a few weeks ago, I Googled Frozen Ghost on my phone before bed and kept coming upon songs mentioned in various reviews of their first album that I had forgotten about.

Then I looked at the actual song list from their debut album and it all came flooding back.

I had a copy of that album. I borrowed my good friend Chris Jesswein’s tape and synchro-dubbed the entire album onto a blank TDK tape then wrote the name of each song on the back. It still sits in a case of tapes in my new garage.

I actually listened to that tape a lot, especially after I got my first Walkman and walked around the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton. Each song played in my mind as I read each song title: “End of the Line”; “Truth in Lies”; “Beware the Masque”; “Time is the answer”; “Love Like a Fire”; “Love without Lies”; and another favourite as I recalled, “Soldier’s Cry”.

It left a far bigger impression on me than I originally thought.

Then I went on YouTube and listened to their first album a few times while I did some work in my office. I found myself singing along to virtually every song on the album.

Again, I wondered how they never caught fire because their lyrics were thoughtful and their music was soulful.

In the end, at least for me, Sheriff may have turned out the best single, but their successor Frozen Ghost turned out the better body of work.