13 comments

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  DavidMedsker

  1 year ago

  I really did say "Who the hell is Jimmy Harnen?" when I read this. And then I heard the song, and instantly recognized it. Funny thing, though: all I could think of while it was playing was Eric Cartman singing "Swiss Colony Beef Log."
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  DwDunphy

  1 year ago

  Hell, for all these years I thought it was another Jack Wagner softee.
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  Ted

  1 year ago

  We are long overdue for the "Popdose Guide to Jack Wagner". The man is an 80's AOR / CHR under-rated legend.
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  Steed

  1 year ago

  yeah baby! I love "Where Are You Now?" One of my favorite ballads of the decade for some reason. This is a damn fine album. Damn fine.
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  David_E

  1 year ago

  Who the hell is Jimmy Harnen? On "Where Are You Now," he's Michael W. Smith.
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  terje

  1 year ago

  You're too kind, Jeff. No, really, you are. But why the hell is this album already in my collection? Have I actually... bought it?
  
  It's so funny the way he belts out HELLO!!! HELL - O!!!!! on the first song. Way to go, Jimmy! You made it through the hard times, you kept on going strong with your fire burning inside and everything, and you return to say HELLO! HELLO!!!! (is that all you can say after all these years, Jimmy?) HELLO!!!!!! (ok, ok, ok)
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  MDavies

  1 year ago

  Yes!
  
  Growing up in the Wilkes-Barre area, I eventually realized that the local media was prone to announcing that some local band was bound for nationwide success, or had actually achieved nationwide success, or was building on their legacy of nationwide success, despite none of this being the case. I found it hard to believe that the incredibly wussy one-hit-wonders the Buoys and Jimmy Harnen would be followed up by bands like the Badlees (who sounded exactly like Hootie and the Blowfish, but less predictable and more likely to use folk instruments) or Solution A.D. (the poor man's Collective Soul) actually making good on their major-label deals. Therefore I was surprised a decade later when it turned out that the Badlees did have one song that WAS played extensively on the radio OUTSIDE the Wilkes-Barre area.
  
  Then of course a Wilkes-Barre band became one of the biggest bands on modern-rock radio (Breaking Benjamin) without the local press mentioning them hardly at all, because they don't play the kind of music that anyone over age 20 likes.
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  thefxc

  1 year ago

  Yeah, having also grown up kinda-near Wilkes-Barre in the late 80s I remember the Synch phenomena. (Every station from Philly to Scranton was looking for the Next Hooters; I thought it would be Bricklin or Tommy Conwell.) The local top 40 station (WKRZ) played the crap out of "Where Are You Now" before they were signed to a contract. Then Synch signed to Columbia and the station playing the "new" version, which was much slicker and AC--read "worse"--than the demo version. It was bizarre to see it become a bona fide hit a few years later...
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  MDavies

  1 year ago

  Also, Harnen was really from Nanticoke, as I remember. Nanticoke being famous as the site of Luzerne County Community College, and the Pennsylvania "city" which declined fastest in population in the 1990s (from something like 12,000 to 9,000). The most desolate main street I've ever seen.
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  CarlosRamirez

  1 year ago

  I'm just waiting for a John Parr post at this point. Keep em' coming Jeff!
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  DwDunphy

  1 year ago

  Can't Fight The Midnight, huh? That alone is the reason why the thing didn't sell. Imagine bringing this up to the counter where the cute girl is prepared to ring you up... "Can't Fight The Midnight, huh?" she toys. "Good luck on trying to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade this year! Rainbow power!"
  
  Yeesh.
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  rwcass

  1 year ago

  Jimmy Harnen, you are no Henry Lee Summer! But I do still like "Where Are You Now?"
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  Cherie

  1 month ago

  wow, I remember Synch well. Growing up in Williamsport, PA - I used to go to "The Factory" an under 21 dance club in Williamsport weekly and occasionally to the Wilkes Barre location. Synch appeared a few times and they were fabulous. I just thought about the good ole days and was putting a CD together to listen to and while doing a search, I thought about Synch and the Where Are You Now song. What a hit! Jimmy Harner - what a voice!
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