Frank wrote this for the fabulous Hi-Fives album, "Get Down".
To be on a lake fishing with the Hi-Fives is an experience that would enrich the life of any man. I know because I've been lucky enough to share many tranquil hours on a lake with them, fishing, dreaming, philosophizing, and generally learning what life is all about. The Hi-Fives feel their emotions very deeply, and have the courage to express them in no uncertain terms, whatever the consequences. Years of hard experience have taught them how to lift the veil that obscures some of life's grimmest realities; they know how to reach within and grasp the mysterious truth, and hold aloft its wriggling body for everyone to see. Above all, they know when to remain silent, when words would only obscure the truth about life's bitter and terrible majesty. It's a lesson I've learned time and time again: go fishing with the Hi-Fives, and you'll catch more than fish. If only the great leaders of the world were to have such an opportunity, perhaps there would be hope for us after all.
Well, forget it. It's not going to happen. But I bring it up to demonstrate just how remarkable these Hi-Fives really are. For the world of the Hi_fives is a world of contrasts. One moment, we find them sitting calmly, their backs against an old hollow tree, idly whispering their homespun words of wisdom into the void; you'd never guess that that very evening, however, they will bound onto a stage in some fashionable nightclub, cavorting under the bright lights as legions of gyrating, stylish young people degenerate to the beat of their soul-wrenching love songs and state-of-the-art rock and roll. Underneath it all, however, despite the unbridled frenzy of their live performances, John, Chris, Gary, and Steve are simply well-dressed and well-behaved young men who just happen to be pop stars. How well-dressed? Well, it's not uncommon for an unwitting fan, milling about before one of their sold-out concert appearances, to mistake one of them for a waiter. How well-behaved? Well, likely as not, the Hi-Five in question will then scurry off to the bar without missing a beat, returning shortly with a drink, a bow, and a smile. They are the kind of boys a girl could bring home to mother (though she'd probably prefer to keep them to herself.)
Social critics and the guardians of the public trust have professed themselves to be mystified by the strange power these young men seem to hold over their young fans. I'm not mystified. I think it's because the Hi-Fives approach pop music in much the same spirit as they approach fishing, and the result is that the kids come to dance, but they leave having learned a little bit about themselves in the process. The Hi-Fives are just like everyone else, only more so. In fact, they are so much like the rest of us that they feel the same things we feel, only twice as hard. You say: "That's silly. No one can feel my pain more than me, or laugh half as heartily when the seed I planted becomes a flower." Well, my friend, there's the crux. Most of us know only what touches us and we try as hard as we can to keep those things we fear or don't understand from getting too close. But not the Hi-Fives! Accept their invitation, dig their groove, people and you won't either.
As for the Hi-Fives unique "sound," how to describe it? What is it? Where did it originate? There's some indescribable something in the make-up of the "sound" (indescribable because it's a "feel"... an emotion... rather than a specific set of notes.) It's really not like any one style of the past, but more like a blend. Does it resemble early basic rock? No-- not unless that's where it got its spontaneity. Rock? In name only. Pop rock? Nope, though someof the Hi-Fives free-wheeling riffs are reminiscent of this era. The Big Beat... yes, the Hi-Fives have the big beat- but not the plink-plink. Are they punk? Well, they're good punk, but they're not evil. Now we know the ingredients: spontaneity, free-wheeling riffs, rock, a beat. There's oneother ingredient, and it's probably the most important one. It's something the Hi-Fives didn't borrow from anyone or anything. It's a definite, happy "free feel" that's always in their performance, and this is what flashes that subliminal neon sign to the listener... "It's the Hi-Fives!! It's the Hi-Fives!!!." It's kind of hard to explain, but you'll know it when you hear it.
As always, Lookout Records brings you music the way you like it-- performed by leading artists, backed by exciting arrangements and dynamic orchestrations, and recorded with the newest techniques-- a combination that can't miss. Add the Hi-Fives, and you're cookin, baby, with gas. Life begins as a panorama of limitless possibilities. As time passes, we watch helplessly as, one by one, these possibilities wither away with clock-like regularity. Before too long you're left with nothing but who you are and a dark, lonely space inside that you'd rather not examine too closely. It's all part of growing up. But while you're staring helplessly into the void, ou might as well be listening to some great rock and roll, and the Hi-Fives are the perfect soundtrack for every stage of the process of degeneration. In all my years as a famous show-business personality, I've never seen anything quite like them. You may never have the chance to go on a Hi-Fives fishing trip, but once you experience the magic in these grooves I guarantee that you, like me, will not be able to forget them. And like legions of other fans, you'll wake up each morning asking yourself: "Who are these Hi-Fives, and what are they doing in my head?"