Tuesday, March 18, 2014

STEPHEN CRANE - Kicks (1984) restored audio

STEPHEN CRANE - Kicks (1984) restored audio
Requested in "REQUEST & FILL CORNER" section...

STEPHEN CRANE used to play in a band called Baby at the end of the seventies but his opportunity as solo artist arrived in 1984 by the hand of the major MCA label.
Stephen's debut "Kicks" was produced by Jai Winding (Le Roux) who also played keys, and no-other than the great Steve Lukather. In fact, all TOTO guys were involved in the recording including groove master Jeff Porcaro on drums.
We also find Richard Page (Mr. Mister, Pages) and AOR guru Tom Kelly (I-Ten, Van Stephenson, Survivor) doing backing vocals, together with brilliant session guitar players such as Duane Sciacqua, Joey Brasler and Ray Pannell.

The multitude of guitarists has an explanation; "Kicks" for the most part is a guitar driven AOR / Melodic Rock album with a 1984's radio friendly sound. And on most tracks, we found three different six-string axeman playing together in the same song.
Crane's pumping bass lines add even more muscle to the tunes, and his sometimes raspy but melodic vocals reminds you a cross of a young Brock Walsh, Van Stephenson on the calmer moments and Paul Sabu on the edgy.
There's not a single weak track here, going from hooky and catchy numbers like "Headed For A Heartbreak", "Joanne" or the urgent "Victims Of Love", to more AORish cuts such as the Toto-esque "Back On My Feet Again" (featuring a killer Lukather solo) and the Van Stephenson sounding "I'll Take Care Of You".

STEPHEN CRANE - Kicks (1984) restored audio back cover

Criminally ignored not only by MR / AOR fans in general - but also by the industry as it never was released on CD - "Kicks" is one of the best records in the genre from that era.
This is my own vinyl-rip with restored audio done by myself, including artwork. I humbly think you won't find a better rip of this one anywhere.


01 - Headed For A Heartbreak
02 - Joanne
03 - Kicks
04 - All My Love
05 - Victims Of Love
06 - I Can't Wait
07 - Back On My Feet Again
08 - I'll Take Care For You
09 - Sooner Or Later
10 - Crying Don't Look Good On You

Stephen Crane - Vocals, Bass
Steve Lukather - Guitar, Farfisa Organ, Backing Vocals
Duane Sciacqua, Joey Brasler, Ray Pannell - Guitar
Jeff Porcaro, David Crockett, Jody Cortez - Drums
Jai Winding, James Newton Howard - Keyboards
Steve Porcaro - Synthesizer, Programming
Tom Kelly, Richard Page - Backing Vocals
Produced by Jai Winding & Steve Lukather




STEPHEN CRANE Kicks - restored audio
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10 Comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW !!!
LONG TIME WAITING FOR HAVE A GOOD LISTENIN' OF THIS ONE :))

THNKS A MILLIOJN FOR THIS
WAITIN' FOR THE FILE \0/

SnoW

Nitderock said...

Otra de esas gratas sorpresas que sabes ofrecer, gracias maestro y amigo, saludos

CLOUD FORCE said...

thanks for this album!total masterpiece!!

Anonymous said...

Impresionante,esta musica es matadora,colma mis expectativas.
Gracias,necesito mas como esto para
pader vivir..........el sabio

aorheart said...

AWESOME ALBUM !!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND GREETINGS !

AORHEART

JC_AOR said...

Yes great post (-: Love it!
Thanks so much for your efforts on this on Camel, amazing sound!!
Cheers,
JC

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot for this, the quality is amazing.

Sergej said...

Please could you reupload this album?
Thank you.

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Scott Wilson said...

any chance of reuploading this one