Tag Archives: AOR

Album review: PAUL SABU – Heartbreak & Only Child

Posted on September 7, 2020 by jason

Rock Candy Records Remasters [Release date 07.08.20] From the moment he burst onto the disco music scene in the late seventies, the legend that is Paul Sabu has been inundated with accolades… “best this…”, “best that…”, but he never truly … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts, Reissues | Tagged album, AOR, Classic Albums, classic rock, Heartbreak, melodic rock, Only Child, Paul Sabu, review, Rock Candy | Leave a comment

Album review: FORTUNE- The Gun’s Still Smoking Live (CD/DVD)

Posted on August 24, 2020 by andynathan

Frontiers Records (Release Date 07.08.20) One of the most heart-warming and unexpected comebacks of the last few years has been that of cult eighties AOR sters Fortune. It’s fair to say their comeback in 2016 at Rockingham Festival stole the … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts, DVD REVIEWS | Tagged album, AOR, Fortune. live album, Larry Greene, Mark Nilan, melodic rock, Richard Fortune, Ricky Rat | Leave a comment

Singles review: DREAMS OF AVALON – Under the Gun & Young Wild Hearts

Posted on August 16, 2020 by jason

Two teaser tracks released over the last month by Joachim (Astral Doors) Nordlund’s Melodic Rock band, Dreams Of Avalon. The full album “Beyond The Dream” is due for release at the end of August, by the Metalville label. It’s unadulterated … Continue reading →

Posted in All Posts, Single and EP reviews | Tagged AOR, Astral Doors, Dreams Of Avalon, Joachim Nordlund, melodic rock, review, singles, symphonic rock, Under the Gun, Young Wild Hearts | Leave a comment

Album review: ARCTIC RAIN – The One

Posted on August 14, 2020 by jason

Frontiers [Release date 07.08.20] Arctic Rain’s music is gloriously reminiscent of the melodic rock genre’s more hypnotic moments. On most tracks, you can tell that they have been thumbing through a dog eared copy of the Eighties’ AOR Blueprint. Doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts | Tagged album, AOR, Arctic Rain, Frontiers, HEAT, melodic rock, review, rock, Survivor, The One, Treat | Leave a comment

Album review: LIONVILLE – Magic Is Alive

Posted on August 2, 2020 by jason

Frontiers Records [Release date 07.08.20] Fourth album from Lionville, an emphatically Westcoast Rock band. Each new release confirms that guitarist/songwriter Stefano Leonetti couldn’t have found a more suitable front man than Lars (Work Of Art) Safsund. What this celebrated vocalist … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts | Tagged album, AOR, Frontiers, Lars Sasfund, Lionville, Magic Is Alive, melodic rock, review, Stefano Leonetti, Work Of Art | Leave a comment

Album review: SIMON SAYS – Spin This

Posted on July 26, 2020 by jason

Escape Music [Release date 14.08.20] Bit of a musical curio in Simon Says, a band who hail from Greenfield Park, Quebec, Canada and were formed from the ashes of Spectrum and Rawx. ‘Spin This’ was originally released back in 1991, … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts, Reissues | Tagged album, AOR, April Wine, Escape Music, melodic, Queen, Queen Flash, re-issue, review, rock, Simon Says, Spin This | Leave a comment

Album review: MARK SPIRO- 2+2=5: Best of + Rarities

Posted on July 21, 2020 by andynathan

Frontiers Records (Release Date 10.07.20) Mark Spiro is probably best known as one of those outside collaborators who in the late eighties and early nineties sprinkled their songwriting gold dust to give the added touches that turned potential singles into … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts | Tagged 2+2=5: Best of + Rarities, album, anthology, AOR, collection, Dann Huff, Julian Lennon, Mark Spiro, melodic rock, Michael Thompson | Leave a comment

Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD) July 2020 – September 2020

Posted on July 4, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Compiled by Jason Ritchie January – March 2020 April – June 2020 July 1st DOMINATION BLACK ‘Judgement IV’ Pride & Joy Music THE QUIREBOYS ‘A Bit Of What You Fancy’ (re-recorded debut album) 3rd WEATHER REPORT ‘Live In London’ Angel … Continue reading →

Posted in All Posts, NEWS, Upcoming (Tours & Releases) | Tagged 20/20, album, AOR, August, Bluray, CD, DVD, heavy rock, July, melodic rock, metal, New releases, progressive, rock, September | Leave a comment

Album review: KANSAS – The Absence of Presence

Posted on June 30, 2020 by andynathan

Inside Out Records [Release Date 17.07.20] Kansas are an object lesson in regeneration and renewal for veteran bands. Having been around since 1974, many feared for their future when lead singer Steve Walsh retired in 2014, but continuing with a … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts | Tagged album, AOR, Kansas, Phil Ehart, Progressive Rock, Richard Williams, Ronnie Platt, Tom Brislin, Zak Rizvi | Leave a comment

Feature: Albums that time forgot – RANSOM – Trouble In Paradise

Posted on June 12, 2020 by andynathan

MTM (1997) As alternative sounds ruled the roost in the nineties, musical styles that had ruled the previous decade were out of fashion and none more so than the melodic rock/AOR scene which was driven completely underground. In pre-Facebook, YouTube … Continue reading →

Posted in Albums that time forgot, All Posts, FEATURES | Tagged AOR, Don Cromwell, Eddie Money, melodic rock, Ransom, Tommy Girvin, Trouble In Paradise | Leave a comment

Album review: INTELLIGENT MUSIC PROJECT – Sorcery Inside/Life Motion

Posted on June 12, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

INTELLIGENT MUSIC PROJECT V - Life Motion

Intelligent Music [Release date 12.02.20, 24.12.18*] There must be something in the Bulgarian water. One time Uriah Heep vocalist John Lawton has also used that country’s musicians in recent years and actually appears on the first two ‘Intelligent’ releases. This … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts | Tagged album, AOR, Carl Sentance, Intelligent Music Project, John Payne, Joseph Williams, Life Motion, melodic rock, Milan Vrabevski, review, Richard Grisman, Ronnie Romero, Simon Phillips, Sorcery Inside | Leave a comment

Album review: CPR (Crosby Pevar Raymond)

Posted on June 7, 2020 by jason

BMG [Release date 21.07.20] Guitarist, songwriter and vocalist David Crosby is quite a legend, all historic drug and alcohol issues aside, being a founder member of folk rock/country rock pioneers The Byrds, he has recorded with Crosby & Nash (former … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts, Reissues | Tagged albums, AOR, country, CPR, CSN, David Crosby, folk, James Raymond, Jeff Pevar, melodic, pop, re-issue, review, The Byrds | Leave a comment

Album review: LAURA BRANIGAN – Self Control

Posted on May 30, 2020 by jason

Cherry Red Records [Release date 05.06.20] In other circumstances, it would have been reported that Branigan’s untimely death in 2004, aged 52, brought a sparkling, hit filled career to a tragic end. But in fact, while that was true, she’d … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts, Reissues | Tagged album, AOR, Cherry Red Records, dance music, Laura Branigan, Leonard Cohen, melodic, MTV, pop, re-issue, review, Self Control | Leave a comment

Album review: ONE DESIRE – Midnight Empire

Posted on May 20, 2020 by andynathan

Frontiers Records (Release date 22.05.20) Three years ago young Finns One Desire suddenly emerged with a very impressive first album which made many people’s end of year melodic rock lists. It has taken a long time but they hope to … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts | Tagged album, Andre Linman, AOR, Jimmy Westerlund, melodic rock, One Desire | Leave a comment

Album review: DENNIS DE YOUNG – 26 East, Volume 1

Posted on May 19, 2020 by andynathan

Frontiers Records (Release Date 22.05.20) This album marks a welcome rock comeback for former Styx singer Dennis De Young. For much of the time either side of his departure from the band he seemed more interested in Broadway inspired or … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts | Tagged album, AOR, Dennis De Young, Jim Peterik, Julian Lennon, melodic rock, Styx | Leave a comment

Album review: FM – Synchronized

Posted on May 18, 2020 by andynathan

Frontiers Records [Release Date 22.05.20] It’s now a whole decade since FM returned to stay with their comeback album ‘Metropolis’. Though from time to time they look back, rerecording ‘Indiscreet’ and most recently celebrating ‘Tough It Out’s anniversary on the … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts | Tagged album, AOR, FM, Jem Davis, Jim Kirkpatrick, melodic rock, Steve Overland | Leave a comment

Album review: PAUL SABU – Sabu/Kidd Glove

Posted on May 14, 2020 by jason

PAUL SABU – Sabu Rock Candy Records [Release date 24.04.20] 1980: After building a name for himself as a producer of slicked back, funk-lite disco music, Paul Sabu took an out-of-the-blue offer from MCA Records to record a melodic rock … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts, Reissues | Tagged album, AOR, Kidd Glove, melodic rock, Motown, Paul Sabu, re-issue, review, Rock Candy, Sabu | Leave a comment

Album review: CHRIS ROSANDER – King Of Hearts

Posted on May 10, 2020 by jason

AOR Heaven [Release date 26.06.20] Christian Rosander is a 22-year-old musician and songwriter from Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Since he was 14 years old, he’d been writing songs in the AOR/Melodic and Westcoast genre. To be fair you’d been pretty certain the … Continue reading →

Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), All Posts | Tagged album, AOR, AOR Heaven, Chris Rosander, King Of Hearts, melodic rock, review, synth pop, Toto | Leave a comment

Feature: Bands that time forgot – BAD COMPANY (1986-1996)

Posted on May 7, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

For most, Bad Company conjures up the classic seventies line-up fronted by Paul Rodgers and with Mick Ralphs, Simon Kirke and Boz Burrell. The eponymous and classic first album yielded a handful of airplay and chart hits and set the … Continue reading →

Posted in All Posts, Bands that time forgot, FEATURES, INTERVIEWS, Radio interview | Tagged 1986-1996, AOR, Bad Company, Brian Howe, classic rock, Dave 'Bucket' Colwell, feature, hard rock, interview, melodic rock, Mick Ralphs, review, Robert Hart, Simon Kirke | Leave a comment

Feature: Albums that time forgot – NEAL SCHON – Late Nite

Posted on May 6, 2020 by GRTR! HQ

Columbia [1989] Years ago there was a very good record store in the Liverpool area and with a branch in my nearby shopping bolthole Chester. Penny Lane Records yielded a fine selection of import albums at a reasonable price. It … Continue reading →