Maybe the Good Guy's Gonna Win Review by Joe Viglione [-] Two years before Harry Maslin produced Boston's Nervous Eaters for Elektra, the keyboard player for Andy Pratt branched out on this solo disc

 

Maybe the Good Guy's Gonna Win Review by Joe Viglione [-]
Two years before Harry Maslin produced Boston's Nervous Eaters for Elektra, the keyboard player for Andy Pratt branched out on this solo disc. There are some heavy players on here, from Greg Hawkes of the Cars to the legendary Tom Scott. There are some great pop tunes written by Andy Mendelson, but the comparisons with his former bandleader go beyond their sharing the same first name. This sounds like a lost Andy Pratt album. Mendelson sounds so close to Pratt vocally that you'd think they are brothers; Pratt's voice is better, though, and his material has also stood the test of time. Still, tunes like "Hold On" and "Sweet Persuasion" have great pop sensibilities. This is perfectly crafted music -- a little too perfect at times -- and Mendelson's voice is a paradox; it is not up to the standards of the playing, leaning more toward the new wave that was happening in Boston when this album was released (on a label best known for Melissa Manchester and Barry Manilow). It's a strange mix of adult contemporary pop with a street vocal. Where the Dwight Twilley Band pulled it off, Mendelson only almost does. "Outside My Window" is truly unique, a perfect tune for Art Garfunkel's solo albums being released around this same time period, and very much like Garfunkel's solo hit "Breakaway." It is too bad that Mendelson broke away from Pratt's ensemble. They had an energy and multiple major label albums, along with a minor hit single that generated interest. This album would have been dynamite if it had been made for a publisher to promote these tunes to other artists. If Pratt let Mendelson open for his shows and somehow kept him in the band, history may have been kinder to the fine music in these grooves. Maslin's production is full-bodied here, and superior to his homogenization of the Nervous Eaters, perhaps because he engineered that record as well, and Richard Mendelson did the engineering chores here. Richard also co-wrote one song, "We All Fall Down." The two brothers would eventually buy the Cars' studio, Syncro Sound, which the Cars purchased from people involved with the G-Clefs, at a time when the first Aerosmith album was tracked at Intermedia (to add a little more Boston rock & roll history to this mix). The Mendelson brothers were important elements of the scene, and command respect for their skills. As with the aforementioned Nervous Eaters, Andy Mendelson needed to be able to stretch his talents out over four or five albums. There are some very fine moments here; "Lifetime Woman" has some highs, but there are also flaws that Pratt could have fixed very nicely. Had they collaborated on this project, it might really have been something special. "Fire in the Night" is indicative of the merits and the problems with the album: It has a strong, strong hook but needed verses of equal power. Respectable, entertaining, but not quite there.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/maybe-the-good-guys-gonna-win-mw0000877887