CoronaVinyl Day 407 (H): Longer Fuse by Dan Hill

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "H," and among the many albums in my most recent haul from my neighbor were three Dan Hill albums.  Today, I listened to his third studio album, 1977's Shorter Fuse.

Before today, I knew next to nothing about Hill or his music.  Turns out he's a Canadian singer-songwriter whose father was an activist and whose siblings were writers.  Hill got a record contract with RCA when he was still a teenager, but then was able to break that contract when RCA wasn't doing much to advance his career.  He switched to the Canadian label GRT, on which he released his debut album in 1975, then Hold On in 1976, and Longer Fuse in 1977.

Longer Fuse is mostly soft pop, sometimes bordering on soft rock, sometimes syrupy and schmaltzy, and nearly all very mellow.  It contains Hill's biggest hit, "Sometimes When We Touch," which was co-written by Hill and legendary Brill Building songwriter Barry Mann.  It topped the Canadian pop chart, went to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Australian pop chart, and went to #4 on the New Zealand pop chart.  I'm sure in 1977, plenty of babies were made to "Sometimes When We Touch."

He continued releasing music in the '90s, and he had another Top 10 hit in the U.S. in 1987, with "Can't We Try," a duet with Vonda Shepard that reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. That kicked off a string of five Top 10 songs on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart between 1987 and 1991 for Hill.  He also won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1996 as the co-producer of Celine Dion's album Falling Into You (which is also one of the best-selling albums of all-time).  Last year, Hill was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Crazy"
This one is a little peppier than most of the songs on the album.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "Longer Fuse"
The title track is a nice, soulful soft rock song, presumably referring to his wang.