The AOR Heaven Classix series continues with the re-issue of Just-If-I "All One People" released in 1993.
Led by Neil 'Noah' Shilkin and featuring Mike Reno (Loverboy) on vocals and Neal Schon (Journey) on guitars.
Digitally remastered by Chris Lyne (Soul Doctor) and incl. liner notes by Dave Reynolds it's available through www.aorheaven.com.
MAX CARL is one of the US’ most known song-writers who also has been actively playing & singing in various bands including THE NEW BREED BLUES BAND, various Jazz Rock/ Fusion bands during the 70’s together with Tommy Bolin, 38 SPECIAL and, most recently, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD. Additionally to this, CARL was involved into numerous soundtracks for movies such as ‘Police Academy’ & ‘Short Circuit’ and performed as session player for artists such as Elton John, Don Henley, Molly Hatchet, Glenn Frey, Bette Midler & Kenny Loggins.
“The Circle” is CARL’s third solo album, the first one released under this name, and originally was issued on vinyl only on MCA Records in 1985. Produced by Peter Hauke (CRAAFT, KARO, TONY CAREY, SUPERMAX), this long play offers all trademarks an 80’s AOR lover is looking for: soaring vocals, catchy melodies & hooks, pumping drums, crunchy guitars and a huge amount of sometimes yet bombastic keyboards on stellar tracks such as the uptempo-driven tunes “Radical Prodical”, “Night Train Roll” and “A Cold Shot”! The title track “The Circle” was featured on the soundtrack of the American 80’s teen movie “Weird Science” directed by legendary John Hughes. Both the single and video clip for this track became hits in the US.
Yesterrock in co-operation with Universal Music Germany now is re-leasing this sought after AOR gem for the first time on CD and with a re-mastered sound.
Line-up: Max Carl (Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards); Jimmy Haslip (Bass); Volcker Barber (Synthesizer), Christian Selke & Eddie Taylor (Saxophone); Andreas Becker, Helmut Bibi & Reinhard Besser (Guitar); Eddie Zyne & Otto Fuss (Drums); Tony Carey (Back. Vocals)
BACK IN the 1980s the female musical domain was mainly restricted to disco or pop... exactly where you would have found Teri. Signed to the flamboyant Casablanca label, her recorded output had consisted of two thoroughly unremarkable albums before the label and new management had the vision to rethink this approach. Focussing on her phenomenal vocal range she was soon cutting one of the great, if undiscovered, melodic rock albums of the era. Recruiting some of the best west coast rock musicians, including Steve Lukather, Steve Porcaro, Mike Landau, Ritchie Zito, and Mike Baird, the album explodes with pure melodic mayhem. Sharp, yet ballsy, every track is pure dynamite just like Pat Benatar and Heart.
Rock Candy Records is pleased to re-released 2 FM masterpieces in its catalogue.
"INDISCREET", FM's debut album, originally released in 1986, was instantly hailed as a genre classic. A work so carefully crafted and expertly executed that it was immediately identified as an equal of, if not even better than, the majority of US acts that had dominated the AOR scene. Containing gorgeously melodic songs and benefitting from precise arrangements, the results were breathtaking. Of course, many of the accolades were attributed to Steve Overland’s wonderful vocal delivery. With a one-in-a-million rasp, his voice evokes classic British singers such as Paul Rodgers, Robert Palmer and Rod Stewart in addition to American soul masters such as Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye. Truly, he is one of the world’s greatest, yet unheralded, vocalists.
"TOUGH IT OUT": FM’s DEBUT album, ‘Indiscreet’, set the scene perfectly. This was a British band with their eyes set firmly on the American market, playing music equal to, if not superior, than masters of the craft such as Foreigner, Journey and Survivor. That they had not earned a significant sales foothold was shocking but it only fuelled their resolve to come back out swinging with the stoically titled, ‘Tough It Out’.
For their second album FM were taking no chances. Arming themselves with new management and a real producer in Neil Kernon (Autograph, Michael Bolton) and topping off their determination by collaborating with some great songwriters (including Desmond Child) they constructed an album of serious potential. Originally issued in 1989, it takes all the excitement of their first album but infused with top notch production and an energy that suggested they weren’t going to take any prisoners. Mixed by Nigel Green (Def Leppard), the album contains eleven stunning slices of melodic AOR, including such crowd pleasers as ‘Don’t Stop’, ‘Bad Luck’ and ‘Burning My Heart Down’. As always, Steve Overland must be credited for his superlative performance.
EU five CD anthology from the Smooth Jazz/Pop singer/songwriter Michael Franks. Together with Steely Dan, James Taylor and Christopher Cross, Michael Franks is one of the original sculptors of the West Coast/California sound. His musical alchemy is unique: Jazz, Pop, Funk, Bossa, Soft Rock and Fusion.
In 38 years and 18 albums, he has collaborated with the greatest Jazz and Pop musicians and has created some of the most memorable West Coast in the process. This box set offers the best of Franks' output on five CDs. The first four disc are separated into different themes.
The fifth CD contains the rare live recording from Michael Franks with Australian band Crossfire. This 73 track box set contains hits, fan favorites, rarities and so much more.
Rhino
DAKOTA’S DEBUT came out all guns blazing, sporting an AOR coat of armour and brandishing a much heavier, almost quasi pomp rock sound that invited comparison to the likes of Toto, Le Roux, Trillion and Styx. That they were great songwriters was an added bonus, making tracks such as ‘If It Takes All Night’, ‘Crazy Love’ and ‘Restless’ sound like hit singles in the making; a truly superlative slice of period perfect AOR.
DAKOTA’S ‘RUNAWAY’ marks a high point in mid eighties melodic AOR. Radio friendly yet aggressive enough to punch home a message, the album set the tone for years to come, laying the foundations for the likes of Survivor, Mr Mister, Bon Jovi and many more.
For more great reissues, visit RockCandyRecords.com!
Bobby DeBarge (keyboards), Greg Williams (keyboards) and Jody Sims (drums) collaborated in the Ohio-based funk band White Heat in the early 70s. After recording an album in 1975 produced by Barry White, the trio left the band, enlisting Philip Ingram (vocals),Bobby and Tommy DeBarge (bass) and Eddie Fluellen (guitar) to form First Class.
Jermaine Jackson discovered the band and helped them to secure a contract with Motown Records and produced their first album titled Switch, for which they were renamed to Switch. The band’s dance-orientated brand of soul proved to be popular in clubs and discos, and they enjoyed three major hits in the late 70s, ‘There’ll Never Be’ (Top 10 R&B charts), ‘I Call Your Name’ and ‘Love Over And Over Again’. They were unable to break into the mainstream pop market however, and decreasing returns for their efforts led them to quit Motown in 1982.
Philip Ingram left and went on his own, followed by Bobby and Tommy DeBarge to join other members of their family group DeBarge. Percussionist/vocalist Renard Gallo and Gonzales Ozen and keyboardist Attala Zane Giles were their replacements. Meanwhile, Switch moved to the Total Experience label cutting the album “Am I still your boyfriend” and scored a belated UK hit with ‘Keeping Secrets’ in 1984.
Visit vinyl-masterpiece.com to listen to Switch albums and get your copy.
LODGIC was an American AOR group which consisted of some of the finest musicians from this musical genre including Mike and Billy Sherwood on vocals & keyboards and vocals & bass, and Jimmy Haun on guitars & vocals. They existed between 1977 and 1987.
Recorded in 1985, ‘Nomadic Sands’ was their only album being produced together with David Paich, Tom Knox and Steve Porcaro, and originally only released on vinyl on A&M Records. Next to the obvious influences by Yes and Toto, the band at the time also implemented sounds similar to the likes of Go West, Saga and Peter Gabriel. After the split of LODGIC, Michael & Billy Sherwood together with Guy Allison formed WORLD TRADE; later on the members appeared on many productions including albums by Yes, Unruly Child, The Doobie Brothers, YOSO, The Key, Sheryl Crow, Air Supply and Cher. Yesterrock with the help of Universal Music Germany now is re-releasing this sought after AOR gem for the first time on CD.
Visit Yesterrock website to get your copy of LODGIC and other great releases including Boulevard, Dare, etc...
The Strand was a Classy AOR band of L.A. formed by Moon (Rick) Calhoun (Lead vocals), Scott Shelly (Guitar), Dean Cortez (Bass), Peter Reilich (keyboards) and Kelly Shanahan (Drums). Their self titled LP was released in 1980 and produced by Toto's Jeff Porcaro.
Moon Calhoun later joined Michael Thompson Band and worked with Jeff Paris on their "Moon Over Paris" project.
The Strand will finally be re-released on cd, august 22nd by Rock Candy Records and it's a very good news!
The story of KOH by Bruce Gaitsch:
“In 1989 I was working closely with Alan Kovac, Richard Marx's manager at the time. He told me he was releasing a new Poco album and by the next summer the band would need an opening act for their tour. If I wanted to put a band together we could have a deal (he would manage us) and an opening spot on their tour. He knew Kelly Keagy from Night Ranger was available since they had just broken up. So we had our drummer vocalist. George Hawkins Jr. (Kenny Loggins, John Fogerty) joined after Timothy B. Schmit, who played bass and sang on the early King Of Hearts demos, left to rejoin the Eagles. So we had our bass player vocalist. At the time Richard Marx and myself produced the song “(Everybody's Gotta) Face The Music” with Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon on lead vocals for a movie called “Sing”. We were looking for a backing vocalist with a voice that was higher than Richard's, so Tommy Funderburk (Airplay, Boston, The Front) got the job and he delivered an impressive performance. I asked Tommy if he was interested in joining a band and so we had our lead singer and my main writing partner.Tommy and I had also been writing for his solo deal which didn't happen even after an amazing showcase at the Roxy in June.
Tim Pierce on guitar, Randy Jackson on bass, Mike Baird on drums, CJ Vanston on keys and myself. The band was set...we recorded the basic tracks at Capitol Records studio B with David Cole (Bob Seger, Richard Marx, Jamie Kyle) engineering, producing and mixing. We finished the recordings at my home studio Frantic. David mixed at Lion Share in Hollywood and the record was finished. Wally Traugott mastered the record at Tower Mastering...he mastered several vinyl pressings of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" as well as Boston's first two albums and most of Bob Seger's records. Then things started to get exceedingly difficult as personal problems between the band and management caused Alan Kovac to quit, so we lost our manager and Chrysalis who had paid for our recording and signed us based on Alan's involvement backed out of the deal and the record was never released. A year of hard work and deep emotional commitment was thrown away in a minute. I was furious. Kelly and George went on working with other acts touring and Night Ranger eventually got back together.
They both live nearby here in Nashville now and we have started a new band. The Emotional Rex. We are writing our new project now and will record it soon.Tommy Funderburk and I went on to re-record a lot of the record and some new songs and put it out as a duo in Japan, Europe and South Africa. We even played 2 shows with a makeshift band in Stockholm, Sweden. So now we get to re-release the original record and you all get to hear how great the project was.I hope you enjoy the music and can feel how intent we were on making a super high quality project.I still get chills from "King Of Hearts" as well as "Lovin' Arms"...
”King Of Hearts “1989” album is a prime example of great song writing and amazing musiciansship, in addtion to the great talents in the band “1989” includes songs co-written by Amy Sky and Chris Farren and it also features Jeffrey “CJ” Vanston (Richard Marx, Steve Lukather, Peter Cetera), Bill Champlin (Chicago) and the two (former) Eagles members Randy Meisner and Timothy B. Schmit.
After being shelved for almost a decade “1989” was first released in 1999 in Japan only. The Japanese edition is long out of print and has become a sought after item. With the current release through Avenue Of Allies all AOR and Westcoast fans will have the great chance to add the King Of Hearts debut album to their collections. The first pressing comes as a limited Special Edition in a jewel case with an individually numbered additional slipcase and an extensive booklet including lyrics, new liner notes by Bruce Gaitsch and previously unpublished pictures from the recording sessions.
(Words: Bruce Gaitsch & Gregor Klee)
