Hold Your Fire (1992)

This group took first prize in the 1991 Bon Jovi for a Day Sweepstakes (Power Ballad Category) with the hit single ''Love of a Lifetime.'' Firehouse's delivered-in-time-for-lucrative-summer-touring follow-up to its platinum debut, Hold Your Fire, finds lead vocalist C.J. Snare and associates already reduced to formulaic retreads of their formulaic retreads. To wit: two mid-tempo wailathons (the title track and ''Reach for the Sky'') utilizing the ever-popular Bad Girl motif to simulate ballsiness; the two slow ballads (''When I Look Into Your Eyes,'' ''Hold the Dream'') utilizing acoustic guitars to simulate earnestness; and the obligatory ''anthem'' (''Rock You Tonight'') utilizing Queen-y screech-harmonies to simulate roots awareness. And talk about symmetry: The first song says, ''I will shoot you down in the blink of an eye,'' while the last one states, ''In the blink of an eye you could throw it away.'' Which reminds me — what ever happened to Loverboy? D