OK, so you all know who Desmond Child is right- you don’t? Well if you do jump down to the next paragraph and for those who don’t know Desmond Child is - shame on you. Child is a member of the songwriters hall of fame and rightly so, as he’s had over 70 top 40 hits in the states and was responsible for helping break both Bon Jovi and Ricky Martin into the big time and has worked with everyone from Kiss, Ratt , Cher, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper and a whole host of other artists who have sold records by the millions.  But before all that he was member of Desmond Child and Rouge in the late 70’s and Runners In The Night was the band's second album from 1979, one that has been virtually unobtainable on CD until this fully re-mastered disc was released. The band featured no less than four lead vocalist leading to a very layered sound, and this particular release saw five tracks performed by Child, and the rest performed by the girls.

Now Runners In The Night is nearly thirty years old and it’s fair to say that in the late 70's it was a bit ahead of it’s time musically, but sonically it’s very much of it’s time but thankfully he re-mastering process has delivered a  vast improvement over the old vinyl versions. Musically it’s a blend of disco and rock, Kiss’s I Was Made For Loving You is not a million miles away from what Child was trying to achieve here and whilst that song went on to sell very well this album didn't and the reason for that I’ll leave with Mr. Child:- "We were doing something very different and urban, combining dance and Latin rhythms, rock and roll, punk, all with singer/songwriter-style lyrics. We weren’t understood by our label, and there was a lot of pressure on us at the time, so we ultimately broke up in 1980."  Succinctly put!

As an album Runners In The Night shows Childs roots and hints, in more than one way, as to what was to come in the future and whilst many hold this album in high regard, and in some respects it's easy to see why, it’s  an album that has aged badly over the last thirty years so overall Runners In The Night is a release for completists only.

Dougie