THE TRUTH - Weapons Of Love (1987)

The last album (1989) from British rockers THE TRUTH was featured at this blog some years ago, now one of you requested their previous and record, "Weapons Of Love".
This 1987 release was an unexpected success in America, with the title track reaching #7 on the Rock single charts and general Billboard Hot 100. Three songs from the album were also used in the great sci-fi movie 'The Hidden', and other in a Miami Vice episode.

The music packed in "Weapons Of Love" is commercial radio-ready rock with clean vocals, precise guitars, fine synths typical from the era, and an overall polished production sound.
Helped by ex-Mr. Mister drummer Pat Mastelotto and keyboardist Paul Fox (XTC), the only stable and founder members Dennis Greaves (Lead Vocals & Guitar) & Mick Lister (Vocals, Guitar) recorded a bunch of highly enjoyable '80s tunes here.



At places on this album The Truth bring to mind Mr. Mister, others the likes of Michael Learns To Rock, the lighter side of Honeymoon Suite, etc.
Good 80s album.


01 - Weapons Of Love
02 - Winterland
03 - Until It Burns
04 - The Edge Of Town
05 - Cover Up My Face
06 - Respect
07 - Come On Back To Me
08 - This Way Forever
09 - Another New Day
10 - Soul Deep Fascination

Dennis Greaves: Lead Vocals & Guitar
Mick Lister: Vocals, Guitar
Dennis Herring: Guitar, Keyboards, Programming
Pat Mastelotto: Drums
John Pierce: Bass
John Van Tongeren, Paul Fox: Keyboards
Pat MacDonald: Harmonica
Davey Faragher: Backing Vocals




THE TRUTH - Weapons Of Love (1987)- HERE
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Updated July 14, 2019

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FROON - Froon (1988)

Requested in "Request & Fill Corner" section...

Formed in the first half of the '80s, most the musicians involved into German band FROON had previously played for the Nina Hagen Band, and later formed SPLIFF, a successful rock&pop group that recorded several albums and sold more than 1 million LP's in Europe.

FROON's style can be compared with their comrades CHANNEL 5 (already posted in this blog), PANDANCE or VELVET PARKING: Hi-Tech AOR with high doses of adult stylized European pop/rock.
All these guys are competent players, this debut album "Froon" sports a really good production, and packs some good, ear candy songs.



"Froon" isn't my favorite album from this musical genre, but it was requested by a reader and posted here because it's mega-rare and almost impossible to find.
This is the CD edition, featuring extra tracks originally released only as single b-sides.


01. Missing pieces
02. Mountains
03. 200 Guitars
04. Love like law
05. Overboards again
06. Bobby Mugabe (beatbox mix)
07. Time machine
08. Lie
09. Happy doomsday
10. Black and white and blue
11. Then *
12. The spirit is willing *
13. Booby froons the fan *
* only on the CD edition

Lyndon Connah - Vocals
Reinhold Heil, Lyn Pocker - Keyboards
Bernhard Potschka, Maria Wang - Guitar
Manne Praeker, Marvin Speisebecher - Bass
Gavin Harrison - Drums
Mark Pound III - Percussion
Herwig Mitteregger - Quad cymbals
Randy Rym - Synths


FROON 1988 - HERE
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PIONEERS - In A State Of Rock (1984) restored audio

Signed by major label Mercury, Norwegians PIONEERS released this debut LP "In A State Of Rock" in 1984. The album has become a piece of interest because PIONEERS feature into the line up guitarist Torstein Flanke, future founder / member of STAGE DOLLS.
Their musical style was the incipient Scandinavian Melodic Rock / AOR sound of the mid-Eighties; anthemic poppy choruses ready for the arenas, something that catapulted Europe to stardom two years after.
You can say these guys were 'Pioneers' indeed.

There's songs like the mid-paced 'Walk In The Moonlight' or the commercial melodic rocker 'With A Girl Like You' which are straight pop-rock tunes destined to radio airplay. However "In A State Of Rock" delivers much more than your typical Scandy fluff.
Tracks like 'Pioneers' and 'Number One' offer more rocking guitars, on 'Pictures Of You' experiments with melodic new wave, and 'Pictures Of You' is an atmospheric ballad.

As far I know "In A State Of Rock' made it pretty well in Norway, but the group disbanded pursuing different interests. Flanke founded STAGE DOLLS and got success worldwide. You can hear some of his skills as songwriter / guitarist here.
Never pressed on CD or reissued, this is a clear LP vinyl-rip, cleaned and audio restored by myself.
A rarity.


1. Hi-Energy
2. Annie
3. Walk In The Moonlight
4. Pioneers
5. With A Girl Like You
6. Today
7. Pictures Of You
8. Number One
9. Pictures Of You

Knut J. Dahle - Vocals
Torstein Flanke - Guitars
Bard Svendsen - Keyboards
Morten Skaget - Bass
Steinar Krokstad - Drums




PIONEERS - In A State Of Rock (1984) restored audio
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PARTLAND BROTHERS - Electric Honey (1986)

Call 'em Rock&pop, Lite AOR, mainstream FM Rock, whatever you want; but to sum up, PARTLAND BROTHERS debut LP "Electric Honey" is a true definition of the mid-Eighties sound. To be more specific, the 'Canadian Sound'.

Founded by, indeed, brothers G.P. & Chris Partland, the main characteristic of this band / duo is their twin melodius harmony vocals (both sing lead), and of course, the pristine production design. Handled by Vini Poncia (Kiss, Tycoon, Adrenalin) and Jim Vallance (Bryan Adams), the album's sound is crystal clear.

Among the musicians involved into the recording, there's Ken "Spider" Sinnaeve (Loverboy) on bass, Richard Evans (Rik Emmett Band) and Gerald O'Brien (Zappacosta) on keys, Anton Fig (Kiss, John Waite) on drums, and many other seasoned cats.



Musically, songs like 'Outside The City' (my favorite including awesome synths), midtempo 'Best Love', the elegant ballad 'Reason', or the Vallance-produced 'One Chance' were written with FM Radio play in mind.
'Soul City' become an unexpected hit single in Canada and reached the Top 30 on Billboard Hot 100 Chart in the U.S. This earned the Partland Brothers an extensive tour all over North America.
The band continued all over these years, still active today.
Cool, nice '80s music.


01 - Electric Honey
02 - Best Love
03 - Soul City
04 - Heat Up The Feel
05 - Outside The City
06 - That's The Way It Will Be
07 - Walk With Me
08 - Reason
09 - This One's For You
10 - One Chance

G.P. Partland - Lead & Backing Vocals, Percussion
Chris Partland - Guitar, Lead & Backing Vocals
John Bride, Simon Brierley, Domenic Troiano - Guitar
Ken "Spider" Sinnaeve - Bass
Anton Fig, Greg Critchley. Matt Frenette - Drums
Richard Evans, Gerald O'Brien - Keyboards
John Johnson, Jimmy Romeo, Earl Seymour - Horns
Kelly Partland, Colina Phillips, Shawne Jackson, Sharon Williams - Backing Vocals
Produced by Vini Poncia & Jim Vallance




PARTLAND BROTHERS - Electric Honey
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10 P.M. - Life At... 10 P.M. [remastered] (1995)

Requested in "REQUEST & FILL CORNER" section...

"Life At... 10 P.M.", the one and only album from Norwegian act 10 P.M. is an obscure, indie release much sought after by collectors fetching sidereal prices at eBay.
10 P.M.'s style is Euro AOR but not flooded by fluffy keyboards / sweet choruses known from Scandinavian acts. Their music tends to be more elaborated and expansive, with three of the tracks here around the 6-minute mark. This also suppose a slightly progressive orientation, yet on the lighter side of the spectrum.

With that in mind, "Life At... 10 P.M." features really interesting compositions such as title track, midtempo 'The Last Note' (perhaps the best song here), 'Tears In The Night', and the short, acoustically based 'Tears In The Night'.
On the more commercial side, and adding a touch of melodic hard rock we have 'Easy Come', 'Bridges', 'Leaving The Body', or the heavier 'Time Can Tell'.
There's also listed as bonus track a full length version of the title track including additional guitar solos and piano arrangements.

While "Life At... 10 P.M." isn't a catchy, 'instant AOR' record, it's a quite interesting opus. The problem with this album is the disparate production, and at places, the mix, something understandable as it was recorded on a very scarce budget at hand on previously used analog tapes.
Not so long ago it was reissued with a 'remastered sound' where several flaws were corrected, like tape hiss, buried bass lines, etc.
This is the "Life At... 10 P.M. / Remastered" version, rare as hen's teeth.


01. The First Sunrise (intro)
02. Easy Come
03. Life At P.M. [radio edit]
04. Bridges
05. The Last Note
06. Leaving The Body
07. Time Can Tell
08. Future Dreams
09. Tears In The Night
10. One Track Jack
11. Tears In The Night
12. Life At 10 P.M. [full length – bonus track]

Henning Glommen: vocals
Patrik Olsen: guitar
Tommy K.: keyboards, piano, bass
Fin Nass: drums




10 P.M. - Life At... 10 P.M. [remastered] (1995)
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ALPHA - Alpha (1987)

This one was featured here years ago, after a request I am revamping the post because it's a really good one and hard to find.

ALPHA was an American band previously known as Aura which used to have guitar wizard Chris Impelliteri as member.
Their one and only release is this obscure and pretty hard to find self-titled album from 1987, which despite the indie production and being a trio, the record sounds terrific with a polished sound.

After an intriguing and spacey intro, "Throwin' It All Away" blast your speakers with a classy mid-eighties uptempo AOR melody. A really good song with great keyboards all over, solid guitar licks and a catchy chorus. The interesting thing about this band is the harmonic dual lead vocal job of Jon Quinn and Brad Sandlin.
"Run For Your Life" is a pompy-AOR track featuring a marvelous parping keyboard line. Love this kind of songs.
"To The North" has some lite-prog influences, with a style / sound that brings to mind '80s Rush. I really like the way guitars are played, somehow like a violin with a dense tone, very melodic and original.
The canadian style is also present on "In Sync", but this time definitely AOR. Again, lots, lots of keyboards and clever arrangements. You never get bored with this band.

On the semi-ballad "Let The Music" they mix acoustics with electricity with taste. Excellent vocal harmonies and awesome clavinet-keyboard sounds on this one. Awesome track.
Last number "Let It Go" starts climatic with a melodic in-crescendo, a remarkable guitar job by Brad Sandlin (check the intricate arrangements) and a superb solo.




ALPHA is a little gem, sadly running only 7 tracks (6 if you exclude the intro), but if good and short, twice good.
Seems this LP was reissued on CD some time ago with the addition of newer tracks, but it's impossible to find / purchase because only was available through the band's website, now defunct. If you have a copy, please share it with us.
Anyway, this is a rip from vinyl at maximum quality. The LP was terribly wasted, but I am very happy with the restoring result. It took me hours to get it fine, specially track 2 which had a click noise every three seconds.
Good and Rare.


1 - Intro
2 - Throwin' It All Away
3 - Run For Your Life
4 - To The North
5 - In Sync
6 - Let The Music
7 - Let It Go

Jon Quinn - Vocals, Bass, Keyboards
Brad Sandlin - Vocals, Guitars
Randy Jason - Drums


ALPHA 1987 - restored audio
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BRIAN ISLAND (Canada) - ST (1989)

Requested by Kissmar...

BRIAN ISLAND (real name Brian Cowieson) is a Canadian bass player and vocalist. The man has played with many local acts, written songs for other artists and scores for movies & TV shows.
He was part of the cult cancon AOR band Prototype which released a very good album back in '83.

For his one and only solo album, Brian required the services of his old partner in Prototype, guitarist & producer Dan Lowe.
Lowe, inventor of an enhancement method for stereo recording (named Q-Sound), also contributed on guitars and songwriting.
This recording sounds million bucks indeed, with excellent instrument separation and crisp edge.

Island's style is Hi-Tech AOR with high dosis of adult pop. A playground where the likes of Stan Meissner, Gowan or Stan Meissner hang out.
All the songs on this disc are catchy and highly enjoyable, featuring strong bass lines, very very good guitars and cool keyboards.

If you are fan of high quality Hi-Tech, perfect recording techniques and compact, glossy sounds, don't miss Brian Island.
This is a mega-rare CD, as far I know, only released in Canada.
Thanks Adriana!


01 - In spite of what you do
02 - Treat me like a lover
03 - No surrender
04 - Walk on water
05 - I'm your hero
06 - Night after night
07 - Major motion
08 - When you lose your love
09 - Draw the line


Brian Island: Vocals, Bass, Background Vocals
Brad Steckel: Guitar, Background Vocals
Brent Saks: Guitar
Amin Bhatia, Ted Alexander: Keyboards
Jerry Adolphe: Drums
Dan Lowe: add. Guitar
Backup Vocals: Martha Cobb, Debbie Hughes, Georgina Skebo, Deanna Dubbin





BRIAN ISLAND (Canada)
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REQUEST & FILL CORNER 22

From now, all request & fills goes in this post Comments.
If you need an album or a single track, request it here, if you have it, be kind with other readers, upload the file and post the link here as well.
Access to this page will be placed at the right column ------>
(the "CLICK HERE" neon sign)
It will be opened in a new window.

Check this section regularly.
You'll find many albums uploaded by readers, not present on the main blog ...

Help each other people!


and don't forget to check out ARCHIVES:


ARCHIVES PART 18

ARCHIVES PART 19

ARCHIVES PART 20

ARCHIVES PART 21

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