MICK POWELL - Long Overdue (1993)

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

This one is a real treat.
"Long Overdue", the first recording by American multi-instrumentalist MICK POWELL was released privately in 1993, in extremely limited copies.
Much sought after by AOR / Melodic Rock rabid collectors, "Long Overdue" contains 12 tracks in the pure '80s style of the genre.

Although the 'cult status' of this kind of rarities not always go by hand with quality, Powell managed to craft a really good bunch of tunes here, well performed, arranged and produced for an indie.
Songs like the hooky opener "Save This Love" or the gloriously melodic "Fade Away" are strong AORsters in the Stan Meissner vein, then the catchy hookline of "Overnight Success" recalls the first Brett Walker.
The keyboard driven "Masquerade" seems extracted from any eighties Stan Bush disc, "Everything She Wants" has a typical Loverboy Canadian AOR imprint all over, while the dreamy "Someday I'll Be Over You" is adorned with nice orchestrated synths.
There's a couple of flaws in the weak ballad "Hourglass", but we have another two solid compositions on the catchy uptempo "I Can't Keep Holding On To Love" with all that '80s magic, same with the radio-friendly "Let The Light Shine Down No Me" (it is correct, no typo here).

"Long Overdue" is an obscure, unknown yet good indie US Melodic Rock / AOR private recording packed with lovable '80s styled melodic songs.
Uber Rare.


01 - Save This Love
02 - Overnight Success
03 - Let The Light Shine Down No Me
04 - Hourglass
05 - Masquerade
06 - Can't Change That
07 - Fade Away
08 - Everything She Wants
09 - Someday I'll Be Over You
10 - I Will Always Be There For You
11 - I Can't Keep Holding On To Love
12 - Long Overdue

Ken Sutherland: Lead & Backing Vocals
Bob Catalano: Bass
Mick Powell: Lead & Backing Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Drums

MICK POWELL Long Overdue
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REQUEST & FILL CORNER 12

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 →
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Check this section regularly.
You'll find many links uploaded by readers, not present in the main blog...

Help each other people!


and don't forget to check out ARCHIVES:

ARCHIVES PART 1

ARCHIVES PART 2

ARCHIVES PART 3

ARCHIVES PART 4

ARCHIVES PART 5

ARCHIVES PART 6

ARCHIVES PART 7

ARCHIVES PART 8

ARCHIVES PART 9

ARCHIVES PART 10

ARCHIVES PART 11

take a deep look at the end of each part...

JOHNNIE DEGIULI (Honeymoon Suite) - Songs In Dee (2004)

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

Honeyoon Suite was without a doubt one of the finest Canadian Melodic Rock / AOR acts during the eighties, being their founder, singer JOHNNIE 'DEE' DEGIULI, the man behind those lovable melodies.
HS returned the last decade with a couple of albums, but the general new sonic approach disappointed most the fans. In-between, Johnnie managed to release his debut solo album titled "Songs In Dee".

In this CD we find many tracks that easily could have been taken from the early works from Honeyoon Suite, although sonically Johnnie goes here for a guitar-rich Melodic Rock blending electric with acoustics, Hammond B3 organs and earthy drums.
Together with Dee in the studio were his HS band mates Ray Coburn on keyboards and Derry Grehan on guitars (the other responsible musicians of the 'classic Honeymoon' style) so the fine musical melodies are granted here.
Also other legendary Canadian icons like Rik Emett (Triumph) and Kim Mitchell (Gowan, Max Webster, solo) went into the recording sessions to provide a couple of guitar solos enriching the album's quality.

Songs like "Seriously", "Buch 15" or "Everybody Falls" indeed display that mid-eighties AOR nerve through charming melodies and Dee's special way to phrasing.
Catchy numbers as "Holiday", "Out Here" and "How" are more Melodic Rock oriented, the latter with an unmistakable Honeymoon Suite feel, while softer moments can be heard on the solo Richie Sambora-like "Setting Sun", the midtempo "The Light" and the extremely melodic closer "Life" (love the chorus), one of the highlights of this very good and complete album.


There was some troubles with the release of "Songs In Dee" at the very end of 2003: it was retired soon and then made officially available the next year but poorly distributed by a small Canadian label.
So it passed unnoticed for the major AOR/MR audience and still remains unheard by many fans of the genre, not to mention the CD is almost impossible to find these days. And believe me, it worth every bit of it.
Quite Rare and Very Good.

01 - Seriously
02 - Holiday
03 - The Light
04 - Everybody Falls
05 - Out Here
06 - How
07 - Setting Sun
08 - Buch 15
09 - Train
10 - Life

Johnnie Dee Degiuli - Lead & Background Vocals
Rob Laidlaw - Bass, Guitar, Background Vocals
Derry Grehan - Guitar
Ray Coburn - Keyboards, Hammond B3
Randy Cooke - Drums, Percussion
Rik Emmett - Guitar
Kim Mitchell - Guitar
Timothy Welsh - E-Bow, Guitar
Peter Nunn - Strings
Tara Slone - Background Vocals

JOHNNIE DEGIULI Songs In Dee
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GRACE (Sweden) - Ingen Kan Alska Som Vi : The Complete Recordings (1988-89)

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

GRACE was a short-lived Swedish band mostly known for his European hit "Ingen Kan Älska Som Vi" ("No One Can Love As We Do"), the main theme from the movie of the same title.
The group was formed by singer Krister Linder (aka Chris Lancelot), Claus Bergwall on guitar, bass player Janne Persson, keybordists Mikael Lundgren & Erik Holmberg and 'Drutten' (Roger Hansson) on drums.
All these fine musicians recently returned into the scene under the name Bad Radiator with a delicious album, except singer Krister Linder who still continues as solo artist.


Grace only officially released the single "Ingen Kan Älska Som Vi" in 1988 and the promo-song "Half Of Me" the following year before disbanding.
But there's a bunch of tracks composed and performed by the band for the aforementioned movie soundtrack.
All this rare material at excellent quality is compiled here for you to enjoy, a collection of Scandi lite AOR tunes with a clean sound and stylized arrangements.
And something for those who miss my soundtrack compilations... :-)


1 - The Deal
2 - Marionetter
3 - Ingen Kan Alska Som Vi
4 - In And Out Of Love
5 - 3.09
6 - RuM
7 - Half Of Me
8 - The Deal (demo version)

Chris Lancelot (Krister Linder): Vocals
Claus Bergwall: Guitar
Janne Persson: Bass
Mikael Lundgren: Keyboards, Vocals
Erik Holmberg: Keyboards
Drutten (Roger Hansson): Drums



GRACE (Sweden) The Complete Recordings
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DAN HILL - Love In The Shadows [Japan CD version] (1984)

Re-posted as requested. Hard to find album and even more in its CD version. Get it while it's hot, it won't be featured again.

Renowned singer-songwriter Daniel Hill born in Ontario, Canada, of US parents. He studied guitar in his teens, leaving high school at 17 to work as a songwriter for RCA.
Through his career has won a Grammy, five Canadian Junos, five SOCAN Awards for outstanding radio airplay, six ASCAP Awards and one BMI Award for airplay in the USA.

As solo artist is mostly known by smooth L.A WestCoast hits, but around 1983 he couldn't resist the sound that was ruling the airwaves.
"Love In The Shadows" is his more AOR, 'hip' album to date. The title track is a nifty, radiable poppish AOR tune with clean guitars and compressed drums. "Helpless" is another AORish tune adorned with quirky keyboards, a truly '84 'soundtrack - type' song.
You can't deny the quality of the syruped ballad "In Your Eyes". Cheesy, yes, but awesome. Next, "Just In Time" is an infectious pop in the Alan Gorrie or Adrian Gurvits mood. The WestCoast / AOR ballad "You Pulled Me Through" contains the greatest Hill's vocal performance on this album. Deep and emotional.

The AC (Adult Contemporary) AOR "Where You Gonna Run To" is pure class, followed by "Something Ain't Right" were Dan sounds like AOR masters Maxus. "Don't Know Where It Comes From" is a wonderful and inspired ballad focused on electric piano and filled with ethereal synth orchestrations.
"Thru To You" ups the tempo again, a great keyboard driven AOR track, simple but effective, in the Little River Band style. Last track, the slow "Old Lady Song" features another inspired performance by Hill, with real strings in the background.
As bonus, I've added the 1994 version of "In Your Eyes" (duet with Rique Franks). This song became an international smash hit for George Benson, also to Jeffrey Osborne whom recorded his own version in 1986.


"Love In The Shadows" obviously, it's on the lightweight side of the AOR genre. Production as usual on Dan Hill albums is top notch, and the musicians involved done their job with class.
"Love In The Shadows" is real hard to find, as never has been released in the USA. Even more rare is this Japanese-only CD version.
A collector's item.

01 - Love In The Shadows
02 - Helpless
03 - In Your Eyes
04 - Just In Time
05 - You Pulled Me Through
06 - Where You Gonna Run To
07 - Something Ain't Right
08 - Don't Know Where It Comes From
09 - Thru To You
10 - Old Lady Song
11 - In Your Eyes (duet with Rique Franks) [bonus]

Lead and Backing Vocals, Keyboards – Dan Hill
Guitar – Neil Chapman, Mike Francis
Guitar, Keyboards – John Lewis Parker
Keyboards – John Sheard
Bass – Tom Sczcesniak
Drums – Jørn Anderson
Drums [Steel] – Dick Smith (4)
Percussion – Dick Smith
Strings – Dick Armin
Backing Vocals, Piano – John Sheard



DAN HILL Love In The Shadows CDrip
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PAUL BLISS - The Edge Of Coincidence (1997)

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

Keyboardist PAUL BLISS has a vast musical background having played with artists such as The Moody Blues or The Hollies to name a couple, and wrote songs for big names in mainstream music.
In the late seventies Paul cut a couple of good albums with the Bliss Band, and meanwhile recorded his own songs during the eighties.

In 1997, Bliss selected the best of these tapes and released by himself "The Edge Of Coincidence". All these tracks were recorded at different stages during the '80s, with detailed production and pure sweet AOR feeling.
You can't go wrong here; you have songs co-writen with Steve Kipner, Peter Beckett and his former Bliss Band guitarist Phil Palmer.
Perhaps you've heard some of these tracks performed by other artists, such as "Castles On Quicksand" by Think Out Loud (Beckett/Kipner's band) or performed by the 'California Dreams TV series' cast (featured on this blog in one of my AOR TREASURES - The Soundtracks compilations), while the lite AORish "If Love Is Out Of The Question" was made popular by Celine Dion.
Both Bliss takes here are more AOR oriented of course.

My favorites are the Canadian AOR inspired "One In A Million" (check the video below) and the awesome midtempo "Chicago", resembling other Cannuck artists as Paul Janz or Ian Thomas.
But all tracks sums quality like the L.A. WestCoast groove of "Heartache To Heartache" and "How Do I Survive?" and the smooth arrangements in "Unsung Heroes" and the elegant ballad "Musical Pictures".
More Canadian influences can be heard in "Valiant Heart", "Hand On Your Heart" and "Innocent Eyes". Other cuts go more poppy but really well crafted.


Although released by Paul Bliss is the nineties, "The Edge Of Coincidence" is a pure exponent of the '80s. Some guest singers add variation to this album, as said, well recorded and mixed.
The quality here was soon picked up by Japanese label Cool Sound, but this HQ rip was taken from the original, self Paul Bliss release.
A real musical 'bliss'

01 - Castles On Quicksand
02 - Heartache To Heartache
03 - How Do I Survive?
04 - Musical Pictures
05 - Chicago
06 - Rio
07 - I Used To Love The Radio
08 - One In A Million
09 - Valiant Heart
10 - The Eyes Of A Child
11 - Hand On Your Heart
12 - Unsung Heroes
13 - If Love Is Out The Question
14 - Telepathy
15 - Law Of The Jungle
16 - Innocent Eyes

Paul Bliss - vocals, keyboards
Phil Palmer - guitars
Susie Benson - vocals (Track 4)
Micky Feat - vocals (Track 9)
Jackie Rawe - vocals (Track 13)
Ian Palmer - vocals (Track 14)
Sharon Campbell - backing vocals




PAUL BLISS The Edge Of Coincidence
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