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Upcoming Gigs & Albums
Latest Album Reviews
Latest Gig Reviews
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Gig review: BRAVE RIVAL – The Stables, Milton Keynes, 14 March 2026
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Gig review: A VERY SPECIAL EVENING OF MOTT THE HOOPLE – Riverside Studios, London, 27 February 2026
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Gig review: EMERALD MOON – Le Marquee, Peyrignac, Dordogne, SW France, 7 March 2026
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Gig review: MILKFEST, Indigo2, London, 1 March 2026
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Tag Archives: AOR
Upcoming: New releases (CD/DVD) July 2020 – September 2020
Compiled by Jason Ritchie January – March 2020 April – June 2020 October – December 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 … 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
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Album review: KANSAS – The Absence of Presence
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
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – RANSOM – Trouble In Paradise
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
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Album review: INTELLIGENT MUSIC PROJECT – Sorcery Inside/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
Album review: CPR (Crosby Pevar Raymond)
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
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Album review: LAURA BRANIGAN – Self Control
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
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Album review: ONE DESIRE – Midnight Empire
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
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Album review: DENNIS DE YOUNG – 26 East, Volume 1
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
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Album review: FM – Synchronized
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
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Album review: PAUL SABU – Sabu/Kidd Glove
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
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Album review: CHRIS ROSANDER – King Of Hearts
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
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Feature: Bands that time forgot – BAD COMPANY (1986-1996)
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
Feature: Albums that time forgot – NEAL SCHON – Late Nite
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
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, AOR, Bob Marlette, interview, Journey, Late Nite, melodic rock, Neal Schon, review, Santana, Sheryl Crow
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Album review: CHAMPLIN WILLIAMS FRIESTEDT – 2
Black Lodge [Release Date 15.05.20] In that genre of the softest and smoothest AOR given the shorthand ‘West coast’, CWF are something of a superstar collaboration. Former Chicago singer and keyboard player Bill Champlin and Joseph Williams, singer with Toto … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, Champlin Williams Friestedt, Chicago, CWF, Michael McDonald, soft rock, Toto, West Coast
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Single reviews: THE DARKER MY HORIZON, MILTON HIDE, ALLAN CLARKE, CWF, THE LICKERISH QUARTET
THE DARKER MY HORIZON Carpe Diem Another band utilising their lockdown time wisely are the Darker My Horizon, who made the video with help from their fans with all proceeds going to the NHS charities. Nice riff-tastic tune with lyrics … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Single and EP reviews
Tagged Allan Clarke, AOR, classic rock, CWF, folk, Jellyfish, melodic rock, Milton Hide, modern rock, New releases, pop, power pop, review, rock, singles, the Darker My Horizon, The Hollies, the Lickerish Quartet, Toto
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Feature: Albums that time forgot – ELEKTRADRIVE – Living 4
Valery Records (2009) Elektradrive is one of the more significant Hard Rock/AOR bands to emerge from Italy. At the very start, in 1983, the name of the band was Overdrive and they had a four-piece line up without keyboards; after … Continue reading
Posted in Albums that time forgot, ALL POSTS, FEATURES
Tagged album, AOR, Elektradrive, hard rock, Italian, Italy, Living 4, melodic rock, review
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Feature: Call Collect – An introduction to NIGHT RANGER
Andy Nathan favourites Night Ranger remained a largely USA-based phenomenon until their reformation in the late 1990s. Their UK gigs from 2011 onwards would make grown men cry… When Night Ranger played their first-ever headline show in England at the … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, Call Collect, FEATURES
Tagged AOR, Brad Gillis, feature, introduction, Jack Blades, Jeff Watson, Joel Hoekstra, Kelly Keagy, melodic rock, Night Ranger, review
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Album review: ZON – Astral Projector/ORPHAN – Salute
Rock Candy [Release date 20.03.20] ZON – Astral Projector + 4 The band members’ post Zon experiences are arguably more colourful than their brief, 2 album grab at fame and fortune. And yet, the 1978 debut, “Astral Projector” promised so … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged album, AOR, Astral Projector, melodic rock, Orphan, pomp rock, re-issue, review, Rock Candy, Salute, Zon
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News: QUEEN, MARILLION, HELLOWEEN, DEVIN TOWNSEND (April 2020)
Hawklords release a new live album ‘Hawklords Alive’ on May 29. Marillion have started work on a new album during the current lockdown and are posting regular updates on their social media. Pattern-Seeking Animals (who feature current and former members … Continue reading
Album review: THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA – Aeromantic
Nuclear Blast [Release Date 28.02.20] One of the unlikeliest phenomena in the rock world in recent times have been the Night Flight Orchestra, their reputation and exposure growing over what is now a five album career. Many artists have drawn … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged Aeromantic, album, AOR, Arch Enemy, Bjorn Strid, Night Flight Orchestra, soft rock, Soilwork
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Album review: RETURN – V
AOR Heaven [Release date 27.03.20] Classy Norwegian four man melodic rock band, Return, released their fifth album in 1992. That year, the rock’n’roll world shifted on its axis, and a lot of great melodic rock albums suffered commercially as a … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Reissues
Tagged album, AOR, AOR Heaven, Chris Lyne, Dave Reynolds, melodic rock, re-issue, Return, review, V
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Gig review: ROMEO’S DAUGHTER – Nells Jazz and Blues, West Kensington, London, 29 February 2020
February 29th in a leap year is, by tradition, the one day where a woman can propose to a man. So there was a neat symmetry that a rare gigging opportunity on this day was for a band both named … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged Andy Wells, AOR, Craig Joiner, gig, Leigh Matty, melodic rock, Romeo's Daughter, Steve Drennan
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Album review: NEWMAN – Ignition
AOR Heaven [Release date 27.03.20] Steve Newman formed the band Newman way back in 1997, with the last Newman album ‘Aerial’ released in 2017. Since then he’s been busy writing songs with the likes of Toby Hitchcock, joined the band … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, AOR Heaven, hard rock, Ignition, melodic rock, NEWMAN, review, Steve Newman, Toby Hitchcock
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News: KANSAS, FISH, HEATHEN, OZZY, BRIAN WILSON (March 2020)
Ozzy Osbourne’s latest album ‘Ordinary Man’ debuted at number 3 in both the US Billboard and UK album charts. Fish is now hoping to release his long-awaited final studio album ‘Weltschmerz’ in July. Carcass have named their new album ‘Torn … Continue reading
Posted in Album News, ALL POSTS, Band Entrees & Exits, Festivals & Large Events, Gigs and Tour News, NEWS, Re-issues/special editions, RIP
Tagged AOR, Brian Wilson, classic rock, Fish, gigs, Heathen, Kansas, March 2020, melodic rock, metal, news, pop, rock, tour dates
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Album review: WAITING FOR MONDAY – S/T
Frontiers [Release date 14.02.20] Few bands are less famous than their producer. Walter Ino, 6 years with Survivor, touring keyboard player with The Babys, and currently holding down lead guitarist spot with The Eagles of Death Metal, produced this self … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, AOR, debut, DENNIS DeYOUNG, Jeff Scott Soto, melodic rock, review, Waiting For Monday, Walter Ino
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