This originally started out as a selection from some of the reviews I've written or prepared for other publications in recent years. I'm also adding more material as I get round to it - check it out regularly for further updates... Like on the other pages, CD catalogue numbers are listed along with contact details for the more "off the beaten track" items.
When I come across releases from American bands like this I find myself heartened. With the current mainstream things can seem pretty melancholy from a quality rock fan’s point of view, but when you still have grass-roots releases like this one there is definitely hope for the American music market.
The Affair are made up of three multi-instrument playing guys from Ohio and they actually have another couple of independent releases that preceded this one. Everything about their music shouts "AOR" in a way that’s blatantly refreshing. No hiding behind alternative sounding mixes or anything crossover ready this guys know what they want to sound like and go for it!
"Weight of the World" is good melodic rock start with a slightly Robert Berry prog influence and just one aspect of the band. Second song "Take no Prisoners" is more indicative of their approach with the muscle of a more melodic Giant and the tight song structure of Stan Bush. The Affair also know how to vary tempos well on these twelve songs as the Night Ranger-ish power ballad "Just to be with you" proves on one side, and the Axe meets Journey meets Survivor harder rocking "Miranda" points out from the other extreme.
There is a clear Journey influence on "No Goodbyes" and also on, one of the standout tracks to these battle weary ears, "You Belong to Me" which also has elements of House of Lords and Le Roux as well!
While I might be comparing The Affair with lots of other bands it’s just
because I feel they are of sufficient quality to be mentioned in the same breath
as some of the bands that define the finer moments of AOR. For an independent
release this stands up very well, and if we can have more bands emerging from
the USA with a similar sound and attitude then there is real hope for the world
after all!
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AGENT- Same (Escape Music ESM009, 1996)
Agent are a very fine AOR/melodic rock outfit that were the first signings to the then newly founded Virgin Canada label in the mid-1980s and released their Jeff Baxter produced, debut in 1986. Virgin Canada proved to be less than the best label in the world and in spite of offering and promising the band much, failed to deliver in abject fashion and even at the time of the original release it was not easy to ferret out copies. Tracks for a second album were commenced with Jim Vallance producing but Virgin fell apart and singer Rick Livingstone jumped ship and has since appeared with The Best, Eclipse, and Storming Heaven.
But now it’s a decade later and Escape Music have "sort of" re-released the album with a bonus track ("Just between the Two of us"). When I say "sort of" I mean that the tracks from the original debut have been re-recorded and now feature the vocals of Troy Reid.
Without wanting to start a conspiracy theory debate, musically it sounds exactly like the original release! It sounds more like a very slight remix to me that a complete re-record. Even new boy Troy’s vocals sound spookily like Rick Livingstone and it’s only on synchronised listening between the CD and the original vinyl that the differences are noticeable. Maybe the similarity in vocals is just because the singer is having to walk in Livingstone’s footsteps exactly, on the bonus track he sounds different and, perhaps, even better that Livingstone.
But don’t this distract you - this is one great AOR album that never got
the level of attention it fully deserved at the time. Tracks like "I can’t
Hold Back" (like a hyper refined version of Honeymoon Suite), the urgent
pumping guitars and sweeping wash of keyboards on "Can’t Stop" and
the vigorous Loverboy/Streetheart cross-over of "Surrender" are
nothing short of superb. Agent actually featured in the very first paper version
of AOR Basement in 1986 (a dubious distinction if ever I heard one!) where I
managed to describe them as a "glorious mixture of people like Aldo Nova,
Surgin’, and prime-time Foreigner" while also describing the album as
"a treasure throve". That’s still very true, so check it out now...,
and look out for a full new album which is just around the corner.
Contact: Escape Music, 4 Cavendish Court, Dean Bank, Ferryhill, Co. Durham,
DL17 8PY, Great Britain. Tel/fax. 44-1740-655675
click here to e-mail Escape Music for more details
ALIEN- "Best & Rare" (Virgin/Intercord ALIENCD 1, 1997)
Isn't it interesting how time can change your perception? This was brought home to me vividly when I received a copy of the double compilation CD "Best and Rare" from these Swedish melodic rockers. At the time Alien emerged on the scene in 1987 with their first demo I was vaguely impressed, but by the time their debut album came out in 1988 I really could find nothing particularly interesting about them, and the remix the album got for the American market seemed to make it even worse, even more faceless despite the average domestic hi-fi system being able to better to make sense of it thanks to a more restricted dynamic range. Sure half the world was proclaiming them as the perfect AOR band and a holy grail waiting to be found, but everything I heard from them was painfully average and lacking in any real identity of its own (not unlike many of the other Swedish bands from around the same period, bar Easy Action), and even their name was a cliché. If that wasn't enough they covered a Bee Gees song which gave it a cabaret feel!
OK, you're probably wondering where this long winded ramble through a Scotsman's hazy memory is leading, but with the release of the Alien compilation I have discovered that there was something genuine and worthwhile there after all. Maybe my perception has been changed by the excruciatingly painful state of the mainstream these days, or maybe its just because the Alien compilation presents a lot of their stronger songs from their demo days which got ditched in favour of tracks from first album producer Chris Minto for some strange reason. The tracks with original singer Jim Jidhead are definitely the pick of the bunch, but later cuts from the more recent albums have admirable facets too.
Anyway, I can recommend the Alien compilation with my hand on my heart - there's some very fine melodic rock here, if you're already a fan of the band you'll find plenty of rare and unreleased tracks, and if you've never heard them before it's an excellent place to start. They should be a staple element of most melodic fans' diets..... If they'd only managed to dump the pointless cover versions they could have been really been something as the delivery of their own numbers shows significantly more conviction and commitment.
As I've said, all the songs are good, and on first listen this
strong sense of consistency can wash over you. But there's enough depth there to
keep you coming back for more, and finding it, on repeated listenings.
Contact: Escape Music, 4 Cavendish Court, Dean Bank, Ferryhill, Co. Durham,
DL17 8PY, Great Britain. Tel/fax. 44-1740-655675
click here to e-mail Escape Music for more details
Certainly a very competent slice of late '80s melodic hard
rock, which is of high quality though a little workmanlike. A little more
variety could have also helped as tracks like "Why Me" and "My
Turn" end up being a little boring - check it out though....
Contact: Escape Music, 4 Cavendish Court, Dean Bank, Ferryhill, Co. Durham,
DL17 8PY, Great Britain. Tel/fax. 44-1740-655675
click here to e-mail Escape Music for more details
This release does have some limitations though. The tracks
sound like scarcely much more than demos and it would be really intriguing to
hear what heights the band could have reached if more finances had been
available for better production. I also think that John David Martin's vocals
are a little one dimensional, but those could easily be down to the mix making
them sound more "dry" than they really are. Could be a band to watch
if they get the right support and backing.
Contact: Artica, P.O. Box 15455, North Hollywood, CA. 91615-5455, USA, or AMS
Records, 886 North Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena, CA. 91103, USA.
click
here to e-mail the band for more details
AUTOGRAPH-"Missing Pieces" (USG Records 37651-422, 1997)
Most of this release is actually made up of demos of material for the fourth Autograph album. Unfortunately RCA/BMG let the band go without proceeding further with it and they fell apart though vocalist Steve Plunkett has since resurfaced as a solo artist (with one CD to his credit) and as producer of a number of other projects (including Autograph soundalikes Sic Vikki). Now don't jump to any inferences all the tracks presented here might be eyed as demos but they still sound more accomplished than many of the indie albums being released at the moment. I guess that's a function of the days when major labels were fairly supporting melodic rock.
all right, so what's on offer: "All Night Long" seems to be basic guitar rock with sharp production and a huge drum sound. No keyboards, and I guess you can see that the band were trying to reconcile their sound, at least just a little, in an effort to hang on to their record deal. It's not bad but it's a little different from their previous albums. "Heartattack" is well and truely heavy, somehow it ends up sounding like an AOR version of AC/DC (!) mixed with commercial Mr. Big - it's a rip-roaring song that's invigorating and very 1980s sounding.
"When I'm Gone" and "I've got You" bring keyboards back into the sound and would be perfectly at home on either of the first two Autograph albums. There's a hint of the more inventive moments of Def Leppard running through both tracks as well - two excellent AOR or radio rock songs made for halcyon days!
Considering that this is mostly various unreleased tracks the quality is very high. "Sanctuary" is another of those "AOR AC/DC" outings injected with Autograph's commercial, and even poppy at times, instincts. But this isn't just about the band heaving up their approach - "Love Comes Easy" - is probably the most yielding track Autograph ever cut and is not unlike Stone Fury's "Life is too Lonely". Only "Sweet Temptation" sounds a little inert and sounds a little underdeveloped, even if its potential is obvious.
Also thrown in to round things off is the original demo version of "Turn up the Radio" - yes it's much rawer and much less polished than the version on "Sign in Please", but it's still a melodic rock classic. I'm glad they changed the chorus using "tape machine" rather than "radio" in one of the lines is very cumbersome and the use of the phrase "you know what I mean" is one of the biggest clichés of all time.
At the time Autograph seemed to have the reputation of one-hit wonders trying
to recapture the same success, but in retrospect that is hugely unfair. This
collection of demos shows genuine depth and consistency. I think it's this
consistency and strength that stops this release from being an exercise in '80s
nostalgia and a valid current release in its own right.
Contact: USG Records, Hasstrasse 7a, D-90431 Nuernberg, Germany. Tel 49
(0)-911-9937813, fax 49 (0)-911-9937816.
A strong workman like effort that will have a lot of value to
fans of melodic hard rock whose diet has been meagre of late. Barth’s
influence on CITA also shines clear from this release and the 1990s version of
Axe doesn’t sound too unlike a seasoned and matured of that fine band.
Contact: Major MTM Music, Upplandsgatan 17C, 1 tr, S-11360 Stockholm, Sweden.
Tel 46-8-338270 fax 46-8-328602.
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here to jump to the NEH Records home page
click here
to jump to the MTM homepage
To be honest, I’d normally be totally against reviewing a "Best of" release from anyone, it’s always much better to track down the artist’s individual albums. However, in the case of Bad Boy I’ll make an exception: hardly anyone outside of Milwaukee will have heard of them and the tracks are taken from their three independent releases which were not that easy to find even at the time of release. They did have two earlier major label releases in the late 1970s on United Artists - 1978’s "The Band Milwaukee Made Famous" and the far superior "Back to Back".
The first three cuts are from the "Private Party" album which came out in 1981. Actually it’s my least favourite of all their releases as it is really quite forced hard rock and the title track even sounds like a mixture of Cheap Trick and The Godz! But wait to you get to track four - "Something Ain’t Right" from 1984’s "Electric Eyes" - and you’ll find a band that had developed by a considerable measure and expanded there sound in a very systematic way and taken melody much more to heart. To me it’s the best song they ever recorded, intensely melodic, yet spiky and hook-laden: thinking man’s hard rock, with AOR overtones and a sound clearly defined as their own. "Cheat on Me" from the same album is almost as good and constructed with real precision.
By the time you reach track seven you’ve reached 1986 and the "Girl on the Run" EP which is initially represented by "She Can (Drive you Crazy)". All the tracks on that EP were fine old-school US melodic rock. Start listening to Montrose in 1973, but in the oven until the mid-1980s and this is what you get! Saxophones are also used a couple of tracks from the EP which then bring the direction closer to the US band Adrenalin.
Another four new recordings are also included. "Gotcha!" and "Sex Thang" are much better produced than the other two. The later in particular is studious melodic rock, while the former might have some old-fashioned tendencies but is still cool.
If you’ve never heard Bad Boy this is clearly a good place to start, yet if
you’re an established fan there’s enough new material and the kudos of
getting some of the older songs on CD to make it a very worthwhile additional to
a collection. Oh, and don’t worry prolonged exposure does not turn you into
one of those cheese-head people!
Contact: Sergeland Records, P. O. Box 672216, Marietta, GA. 30006-0037, USA.
Baldwin’s got to be quite a pillar of the northern New Jersey AOR scene over the years through his work with Tradia and Voices and before that Aerrage. While a new Tradia album is also on the way, in the interim Baldwin has done a solo album with heavy Tradia involvement - using its rhythm section and producer Don Sternecker (who also is closely connected with The Brandos who continue to release interesting albums in Germany).
Baldwin’s vocals have always reminded me of someone. However, until this solo album I never realised who. "Open up", the first song gives it away as you can see that he sings like a less sugary sweet Dennis DeYoung. The song itself is rather similar to DeYoung’s work on his "Boomchild" solo album and is mature and clever at the same time. It’s actually quite a surprising direction, judging by his work with Voices I was expecting an all guns blazing approach - but this is even better and gets close to a more Styx influenced version of Tradia.
The similarity to DeYoung also appears in the lyrics which have a thoughtful retrospectiveness about them and are presented directly and efficiently. It’s certainly not cloning or anything like that, it’s just that Baldwin is displaying the same impressive qualities as the Styx mainman. Baldwin also seems to have been previously keeping his keyboard abilities displayed here are excellent, particularly on "You are There" where they are opulently layered.
Baldwin also seems to be a master of writing slower songs and ballads and embodies them with real scale and majesty. Even when he’s at his most balladic, like on "I Don't know" his songs have real impact.
I was expecting something good from this release but, to be honest, I wasn’t
quite prepared for it to be this good! Maybe the overall pace could have a
little more variety, but the high quality of each individual musical moment
makes up for that instantly. A quality, true AOR project all round with fine
songs, good production and qualities like refinement and decorum wherever it
turns.
click
here to jump to the Dave Baldwin homepage
Sherwood Ball obviously likes striking while the iron is hot as it doesn't seem to have been long since his first album - "White Light" - came out.
Overall the sound is similar to White Light but the approach is a bit more eclectic. In particular a little more R&B influence is brought in which tends to bring the sound quite close to a superior version of some of Jimmy Barnes' work, in other places it's like a more beefy version of Bill Champlin.
On the whole, the songwriting is much more mature than on "White Light" and also much more consistent, rather than trying to cover several different bases. The listener gets a definite impression that this is what Sherwood wants to do, and the songs really do sparkle for it, particularly the Ian Thomas/Daryl Braithwaite like "Living the Moment". Sherwood's vocals are also more consistent throughout and generally sound a little like Stan Bush but with more depth.
A very impressive progression and an album that will quickly win your
affection. Good work all round.
Contact: Quintessential Records, Box, 1055, Studio City, CA. 91614, USA.
click
here to jump to the Sherwood Ball home page
Overall it's a genuinely worthy, high quality release: rocky
enough to please mainstream rock fans yet with smoother elements and subtle
construction which will appeal to fans of more westcoast music. A nice effort -
here's hoping for more!
Contact: Ball Records, Box #1055, Studio City, CA. 91614, USA.
click
here to jump to the Sherwood Ball home page
The songs are simple and crisply delivered and Be Sharp are
similar to The Outfield in the way they travel a well worn path, yet still
manage to create their own sound. Here and there a couple of the songs are a
little on the polite side, but viewed as a whole it's a sterling effort!
Contact: Be Sharp, 72 Cromwell Avenue, Cheshunt, Herts., EN7 5DW, Great
Britain. Tel (44)-1992-624961
click here to e-mail the band for more details
BLITZ DYNETTE- "Stuck on Standby" (Blitz Dynette, 1995)
Straight away I have to tell you this isn’t an atypical CD for AOR Basement to review! Pennsylvania-based Blitz Dynette are more of an R&B band than anything else, with a horn section to boot, but are still worthy of some serious attention from AOR fans. The term "AOR" implies a huge musical spectrum anyway and a wide appreciation of different musical styles is always to be admired.
The first track is always a good place to start (!), and the Dan Hartman written "You’re my No.1" has that honour here. This is good stuff, more like westcoast-tinged R&B than pure R&B not unlike some of Bill Champlin and Jay Graydon’s solo work. The production is also right up there, not overly so, just like a killer live sound where you hear everything right up front. Take away the horns and this is actually a very westcoast AOR song. And I’ve yet to mention the best aspect of the band: Amy Simpson’s vocals are just superb - damn sassy in fact!
I think that if you like people like Bobby Caldwell, Steely Dan or even
Chicago you’ll understand why this is an admirable album. All the songs are
interesting but "Last Time I’ll Ask", sung by guitarist Forrest
Brown, is the most AOR (not surprisingly enough it’s the track with the least
horns on it), and the closing "Too Much Time" wouldn’t sound too out
of place on a Toto or Joseph Williams album. An interesting project that’s
worth at least hearing, Amy Simpson is a real find and work on a second album is
already underway.
Contact: Blitz Dynette, P.O. Box 897, Carlisle, PA. 17013, USA. Tel. (717)
249-6325
click
here to e-mail the band for more details
Blood Red Flower is a new band led by the urbane Canadians Phil Naro (ex- Talas and Chain Reaction) and ex Simon Chase guitarist and sometime Triumph collaborator Silvio Simone. Both therefore have a fine lineage in the tradition of Canadian melodic rock.
"Cautionary Tale", the opening track, is therefore a mild shock as it sounds much more topical than I'd expected. Somehow, it mixes melodic rock in a contemporary almost psych/alternative format. What stops it from sounding too alternative is Phil Naro's proper rock voice. There's some clever use of strings, but the oh so modern snare drum sound borders on the absurd.
By "Stand inside you Mind" and "Celestial" I'm finding my feet with the material a bit better. Brawny guitars and vocals begin to remind me of what Von Groove was trying to achieve on its second album "Rainmaker" (Koch, 1995). Hints of a more heavy Open Skyz are also apparent, but I'm still not too sure about the drum sound which begins to feel quite claustrophobic. "Yes it Pays" grabs my attention as well with its nice groove - maybe an accurate comparison would be a wild mix of It Bites and Dream Theatre! The closing "Break Free" probably does the most for me as it is far and away the most atmospheric cut on offer.
Overall it's a little one-tempoed. It clearly should be a stepping stone
between the modern mainstream and proper (!) melodic rock. But I suspect it will
do more to draw current alternative fans to harder rock rather than the other
way round. Not a perfect album but a gallant effort to keep melodic rock
commercially viable in the current music arena. I’m not sure if I’d like a
follow-up in a similar vein though….
Contract: Unplugged & Wired Music, Davisville Postal Outlet, 1881 Yonge
Street, P.O. Box 48025, Toronto, Ontario, M4S 3C6, Canada.
Click
here to jump to the bands homepage
Can’t say that I’m a fan of this Germany band, who’ve been around since the late 1980s, in any shape or form. Like many other German bands of the same era they were too derivative for their own good and were as about exciting as an evening with an insurance salesman. But listening to this new release, I obviously missed them coming of age as suddenly they sound pretty good….
Almost with this in mind, the first cut is called "Wake up"! Their previous efforts are quickly forgotten thanks to some imaginative hard rock which gets closer to the approach of Autograph or Firehouse than any of their own German contemporaries who never break away from sounding European. "Just to say we Did" follows like a heavier version of "Too Hot to Sleep" period Survivor. By fourth song "Lay your Heart on the Line" they’re practically glowing with maturity – showing that they can mix being heavy with clever and thoughtful arrangements. "Good or Bad" is as heavy as they get, which is close to Von Groove’s first album even if it seems to be lacking a proper chorus.
"Rebel Soul" is not a perfect effort, however, as a couple of
tracks verge on the boring and tedious and the "Dixie/Wild Dixie"
partnership is truly pointless. Overall though, a surprisingly good effort from
a band I’ve obviously been severely underrating.
Contact: LZ Records, Postfach 101050, D-85010 Ingolstadt, Germany
Coleman Brice is the singer from southern New Jersey melodic rockers Phantom’s Opera - he himself told me that his solo album was a bit "out there" so who knew what to expect!
Colie’s first presentation is "Empowerment" which is sort of spacey and reminded me of Billy Thorpe’s "Children of the Sun" project. But it really just serves to usher in "Beyond" which is..., interesting! After some initial stupefaction I can describe it as challenging melodic rock, exploring a direction I’ve heard very few go in before - somewhere between Prophet, Jan Hammer, Frozen Ghost and Billy Idol! Quite a bold statement in fact. The songs that follow all twist in ever more directions: "Evil Ways" has a dark and deep soundstage; "Fear!" is nothing short of avant garde melodic rock; and "(Awakening)" is a cool instrumental.
Colie spirals in even more directions by the time he gets to "Crooning in the Afterglow" and "Dolphin Suite" which move into New Age territory Yanni and Tim Timmermans would be proud of. "Why?" even sounds like Jonathan Cain’s Higher Octave releases in that its not unlike the soundtrack music for the Red Shoes Diaries! "Against the Grain" is one of my favourites as it sounds similar to Glen Burtnik’s recent work. The only real disappointment is "Life’s Journey" which is just too modern sounding and gets too close to being alternative.
You know I’m not sure how many people could get away with presenting such a
varied package as this and pull it off without sounding pretentious - but Colie
some how does it. He proves he’s a talented multi-instrumentalist and as
someone prepared to move in challenging directions. Some parallels with Kip
Winger’s recent studio work strike me as they’re both prepared to be
artistic and create textures of colours and feelings after a hard rock
background.
Contact: Colie Brice, 1710 Tanglewood Court, Helmetta, NJ. 08828, USA
Telefax (908) 251-4561
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here to e-mail the Colie for more details
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here to jump to the Colie's homepage
Broken Voices seems to be a side project from Little River Band leader Graham Goble. But it appears to start from a reference point of LRB’s best albums "Playing to Win" and "No Reins" (i.e. the two with John Farnham singing) and not some of its poorer more recent albums.
In "Lessons of Love" the LRB connection from the "No Reins" period is clear but there’s something more to it as well. While being vaguely poppy it’s more overtly AOR than LRB. The production also reeks of quality and sounds big budget while also being layered in the same way that Trevor Rabin’s solo work is. Every sound is big, but there’s still lots of space around the individual instruments. "Halls of Justice" shows you what that somethingelse is, as it gets closer to Rick Springfield rather than LRB. These qualities of being poppy yet powerful, and direct yet engaging continue throughout the whole album and it’s very hard to find a poor song anywhere
Vocalist Susie Ahern is a real find and has superb range to the point where
she sounds like a genetically engineered combination of John Farnhan and Pat
Benatar! Overall luscious textured, very melodic, dynamic, enthralling and
completely uplifting with its huge depth...
Contact: Thoughtscape Sounds, 115 North 10th Street, #3A, Fort Smith, AR.
72901, USA. Telephone (501) 783-6868, Telefax (501) 646-6217
click
here to jump to the Thoughtscape web site .
At other times they move in a more complex, atmospheric
direction and don't sound unlike German outfit Zeno: operatic hard rock. They
have some superb intros and then like to attack the listener with huge slabs of
guitar work! Could be an interesting band to watch in the future, but I still
think they need to work on the vocals some.
Contact: The Burnpool, 4313 Valley Fair Street, Simi Valley, CA. 93063, USA.
click
here to e-mail the band for more details
click
here to e-mail the band's publicist
The other nine songs are diligent efforts and display the
same variety that appeared on "Heroes and Zeroes" particularly on
"Woman’s Point of View" which could easily be an out-take from that
second album. From the Tom Cochrane-esque "Roar", through the poignant
mid-paced AOR of "Don’t give Up on Me", the Beatles influenced
"Local Hero", and "Love (and Love Alone)" with its eclectic
chorus the talent of a great songwriter is evident. The only downside is that
"There’s a Hero in Every Heart" sounds a little cheesy. The fact
that these are demos recorded over a period of time rather than all at once
gives you the feel that you’re sitting observing in a craftsman workshop and
its an enriching experience.
Contact: Major MTM Music, Upplandsgatan 17C, 1 tr, S-11360 Stockholm, Sweden.
Tel 46-8-338270 fax 46-8-328602.
click here to e-mail Glen for more details
click here
to jump to the MTM homepage
The highly vitriolic "Johnny Comes Home"
(co-written with Kasim Sulton) is probably my personal favourite - the
instrumentation is a bit unusual but it's a helluva song! Overall this is quite
a challenging musical statement from Glen, he's really stretched his songwriting
here and found a sound all his own. If you know what a good song is, you'll be
right at home in Palookaville.
Contact: DEKO Music, 2 Engle Street, Tenafly, NJ. 07670, USA or Warbride
Music, P.O. Box 296, Milltown, NJ. 08850-0296, USA.
click here to e-mail for more details
I think "this is an essential purchase" is a very
much overused phrase - so let's put it another way - if you're a fan of quality
AOR and melodic rock and you don't have a copy of "Stranger Things have
Happened" you'll be missing out to a serious degree.... Germany'sLong
Island Records have also released the band's first "Not So Innocent"
album on CD with the addition of 3 extra tracks, so watch out for that one also.
Contact- Bystander, 67 Greenwich Drive, Jackson, NJ. 08527, USA. Telephone
(732) 833-2178 Fax (732) 833-2178.
click
here to e-mail the band for more details
If crisp, well balanced AOR with fine use of sharp guitars and
crystalline keyboards are up your street, then you’ll feel right at home in
this neighbourhood.
Contact: Major MTM Music, Upplandsgatan 17C, 1 tr, S-11360 Stockholm, Sweden.
Tel 46-8-338270 fax 46-8-328602.
click
here to jump to the MTM homepage
BILL CHAMPLIN- "Live - Mayday" (Champlin Records/Intercord CR001, 1997)
While all of Bill Champlin’s solo albums have had some excellent moments, they’ve always left me vaguely unfulfilled. Sure there’s always some great songs, but they never seem totally consistent and the odd weaker track lessen the effect of the good for me. Maybe he just tries to cover too many bases on his albums....
But this live album really crystallises his not inconsiderable talent in sharper fashion. Before I go any further I have to mention the production - this is probably the best live sounding album I have ever heard! It’s an audiophile treat, if you want to hear how real live music should sound then this a premium reference point, and some of the playing is arresting. It’s very intimate as well, the crowd sounds like a very small, select group of friends and their reaction, and indeed comments, add to this feel - this is as close to having a concert in your front room as you’ll ever get, while also testing the resolve of your hi-fi system.
To me this is just how westcoast AOR should be heard, in it’s most real, vital form with genuine presence rather than being over produced and ending up overly polymerised and the subject of some Japanese only release. There’s quite a spread of songs from Bill’s solo albums and other sources too (such as "After the Love is Gone" from the seminal Airplay album), plus some that also feature his wife Tamara on lead vocals too. Bass, drum and organ solos are also included, and while my instant reaction to their inclusion would normally be over self indulgence, they do actually work well and add to the overall effect decorously.
I give this a very high testimonial - certainly good for what ails you!
Contact: Champlin Records, 19528 Ventura Blvd., Box 170, Tarzana, CA. 91356,
USA.
click
here to jump to Champlin homepage
With thirteen tracks on offer the quality varies a little, but
even where the songwriting is weaker, the sound of the band is still great! In
places the production is also a bit sober, but somehow this just leaves the band
to do the impressing all by themselves. While not as totally special as their
first album this is still a very fine release and a definite worthy addition to
any pomp rock fan's collection.
Contact: Pacemaker Entertainment Ltd., Box 65065, Nepean, Ontario, K2G 5Y3,
Canada, or Escape Music, 4 Cavendish Court, Dean Bank, Ferryhill, Co. Durham,
DL17 8PY, Great Britain. Tel/fax. 44-1740-655675
click here to e-mail Pacemaker for more details
click
here to jump to the Pacemaker Entertainment homepage
click here to e-mail Escape Music for more details
CITA evidently aren’t ones to be caught in the act (sic) by resting on their laurels as they’ve issued a follow up to their debut ("Relapse of Reason") in double quick time…. While the period of time between the two releases is relatively short, the further development of the band’s music is clear.
Overall the sound is more intrinsically melodic than the first album, though the same dramatic use of light and shade is still there going strong. The songs are all potent, and an album with no real fillers is level of consistency few reach even after much more experience.
This is hard AOR as it should be: firm, stabbing guitars, layered vocal hooks, and textured keyboards. This is also definitely hard rock for the thinking man, the guitars might be well heavy but the song always remains in control and there are surprises all over the place. Just as you think a track’s going to be a standard hard rock anthem it twists in a direction you don’t expect. Comparisons are never easy with these guys but imagine Lou Gramm’s Shadow King crossed with Zebra (without the ultra-high vocals) and you might be getting there.
The bonus track of "Cold Sweat" tripped me up as it’s a cover of
the old Thin Lizzy song which I wasn’t expecting at all - it works well though
and fits in perfectly with the rest of the album. Bobby Barth has to get some
big marks for his production efforts too - he seems to have really captured the
power of the band without diluting it at all or letting it inundate everything
in its path. It looks increasingly like CITA could have the future of hard AOR
in their collective hands!
Contact: Major MTM Music, Upplandsgatan 17C, 1 tr, S-11360 Stockholm, Sweden.
Tel 46-8-338270 fax 46-8-328602.
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here to jump to the CITA home page
Available
in US on NEH label, click here for more details
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It's always hard to describe the Tom Cochrane sound. Maybe
its like a more complex, less hard-boiled John Mellancamp, with an ardent,
committed, and distinctive vocal delivery along with clever lyrics. The big
difference this time around though is that things are much more guitar driven
and a bit more "rootsy" at times. A quality release from an enduring
talent that should be more widely recognised outside his homeland of Canada.
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here to jump to Tom Cochrane's home page
Overall it is indeed a very hybridised approach, but it
really grows on the listener and is well worth tracking down….
Contact: Blue Slash Production, Box 66632, Stoney Creek P.O., Stoney Creek,
Ontario, L8G 5E5, Canada. Tel (905) 664-2832 fax (905) 664-8970.
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here to e-mail Terry for more details
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here to jump to Terry's home page
Stephen Christian is a young guitarist from Arizona, but on his debut release there are a couple of accustomed names. Cosmopolitan bass player Greg Chaisson plays on all tracks as well as acting as producer, and Dan Wexler from Icon also makes some guest appearances.
The first two tracks leave me somewhat grumpy. "Got to find a Way" doesn’t seem sure what direction it’s going in. Yes, it does use an interesting sort of bluesy guitar sound, but the song lacks real solidity and is let down by less than plausible vocals. "Dreaming" is inflicted with the same problems as the vocals really don’t cut it and are not helped out by overly bustling lyrics.
No need to abandon all hope yet though, as "Got to Choose" is much better, musically: quite AOR, but with a strong late 1970s midwest rock influence, almost like early Legs Diamond or Angel without the keyboards. "Slave to the Rhythm" isn’t bad either but follows a different direction and comes away feeling like an under-funded version Warren Haynes’ Gov’t Mule.
The rest of the tracks tend to meander rather like the plot of a 1970s American road movie. I also find that the lyrical content holds back many of the songs, as they just don’t get you sufficiently involved.
More positively though, Christian does prove himself to be a
tractable guitarist, but he needs to develop in a more consistent direction and
explore his songwriting much more. On this release his limitations as a singer
and lyric writer are rather obvious, but if he can rein in his more creative
moments and mold himself around those he could go on to better things.
Crown of Thorns second album "Breakthrough" seemed to lose the pace their debut release created in Europe. I thought both were decent releases though both were much more straightforward than I expected from a band featuring Jean Beavoir.
Starting off with the title track here, I’ve never heard these guys sound so interesting before and there seems a renewed emphasis on melody and a real rounded power. "Live and Die" adds embellishing keyboards and is very AOR, and easily personable as a result. This is pure and simple melodic rock with a slightly dark feel and a stomp-athon of a drum sound, even if the mix is a little imprecise in places.
"Motorcycle Loretta" is more down and dirty and is much more like what I associate with Crown of Thorns, sort of like a heavy Autograph mixed with Kiss. Even with a simple backbone it’s given a clever structure as "Creed of Love" further points out: this is old school melodic rock that wants to make its point in an overall context rather than making a quick surface effect and then leaving you hollow. The definitely not-PC "Cold Blooded Bitch" could easily have covered well worn ground, but navigates its own course and has a deep quality.
Favourites to me are "End of the Road" and, particularly, "Wasted Prime" where keyboards are again injected more prominently to bring the sound much more into a pure AOR sphere.
Crown of Thorns seem to have renewed depth and fresh quality. I don’t
always go much for the relatively heavy stuff, but this is so well and cleverly
presented that it really gets under your skin much more than most. An album of
uniform quality rather than just being a couple of great tracks and a few
fillers.
In the US a different version is available from the band direct which also
includes the bonus tracks from the Japanese version and an exclusive track too.
Some of my European peers have given me luminescent reports on this German three piece in the past, but this is the first time I've been exposed to them. "On the Way back Home" is the opener I was really startled by the quality of the keyboard and guitar linkage. Fine memories of some excellent German bands like Tokyo, Balanx, Dominoe and early Craaft came to mind instantaneously. Musically it's superb, but the vocals (which are also rather high in the mix) are shabby and very wearying.
It seems to have been a feature of many German bands over the years that they just can't cut it in the vocal department - and Crystal Maze are heeled by the same block. For instance, on "Don't Say Never" the vocals are hugely over stretched and sound so European and, well, naff! It's a real shame as well as with a singer like Michael Flexig (Zeno and Echo Park) Crystal Park would be a rip-roaring melodic rock band with sturdy guitars and lots of varied keyboard sounds. Think of Skagerack or Treat with the added bonus of Saga keyboard textures and you get quite close to the band's sound. Out of the twelve songs offered only two are poor: the chocolate-box like "Hold Me" and the woefully plagiarised "Here's Lookin' at You". Though the thoughtful "It makes me Understand", the well structured "Just 'Not Married'" (despite its terrible title) and the excellent "Good Old Friend" make up for the low points.
I think this is still well worth investigating further, they might get away
with the poor vocals in their domestic market - but to be taken seriously
elsewhere they will have to be bettered in the long-term.
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Copyright © 2004 Ian McIntosh, AOR Basement, all rights reserved
Most recent revision
Monday February 22, 2010 - originally created November 1995.