For their 1984 album “Restless,” the Bellamy Brothers took a new approach. Burned out on California and Nashville, as far as recording was concerned, they headed to North Miami Beach to work at Criteria Sound Studios, a facility that opened in 1956 and has yielded nearly 120 gold and platinum albums. The studios credits include records by pop stars Julio Iglesias, Expose and Crosby, Stills & Nash. In fact, several of the musicians, arrangers and engineers on “Restless” worked directly on pop albums by the Bee Gees and Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine. The Bellamys’ co-producer, Steve Klein, also maintained ties to the studio.
Klein was an engineer at Criteria and had worked on several of the early John Cougar albums. He served as co-producer with Howard and David on the “Restless” album. The guys took their time making the record, several weeks in fact, because they wanted to take it easy, relax and enjoy the beach. The Criteria studio in Miami was the perfect place to do that.
