DAVID CARL BAND - Can't Slow Down (1998)

What you got when Jim Peterik is involved into your music? Great Melodic Rock.
And that's what we find in DAVID CARL BAND's album "Can't Slow Down".
A US Midwestern-born songwriter, singer and guitar player, David Carl moved to California to make his dreams come true. He met no-other than Survivor's Jim Peterik and both started to write songs together in the early '90s.
Even more, Peterik agreed to co-produce "Can't Slow Down" and play some keyboards.

The classic '80s Survivor feel flying over the entire recording. Just check title track "Can't Slow Down", the anthemic "Insatiable", or the Jimi Jamison sounding ballad "Arms Of Love" that belongs to the '80s soundtrack movie' category.
Carl's vocals are smooth and very melodious with a Eric Martin-like color on some cuts - check "For Jackie" for proof.
There's some REO Speedwagon on the delicious "Love Is Like Heaven" (lovely chorus), a pinch of Extreme on "Crazy Love", and Loverboy on the AORish midtempo "Trapped".



David Carl Band's "Can't Slow Down" is quite unknown outside Melodic Rock circles, and one of the best recordings released in the second half of the '90s - true 'dark ages' for the genre.
It's a trademark Jim Peterik record, full of melodies and smooth choruses.
Very good one.


01 - Innocent Kiss
02 - For Jackie
03 - Trapped
04 - Arms Of Love
05 - Love Is Like Heaven
06 - Crazy Love
07 - Can't Slow Down
08 - Dreamin'
09 - Insatiable
10 - Make Love Shine
11 - Hungry Woman
12 - Cost Of High Livin'

David Carl - lead and backing vocals, guitar
Bill Ozzello - bass, backing vocals
Randy Peterson - drums, percussion
Jim Riley - guitars, backing vocals
Jim Peterik - keyboards on track 1
Barb Unger - keyboards on tracks 4, 7, 12
Lou Depasqua - keyboards on tracks 5, 6, 11
Scott May - keyboards on tracks 8, 9, 10
Mark Zelden - keyboards on tracks 2, 3
Barry Sperdy - sax on track 2




DAVID CARL BAND - Can't Slow Down (1998)
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JIM PETERIK and World Stage (2000)

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

One of the living icons from the American Rock scene, through the years JIM PETERIK has written / co-written some of the most memorable songs from the genre: 'Vehicle' by the Ides Of March (on which he sang lead vocals), the entire Survivor catalogue from 1980-1993 (he was co-founder and keyboardist) including 'Eye Of The Tiger', hits for .38 Special, Sammy Hagar, Tommy Shaw, John Wetton and countless more.
Since the middle nineties Peterik founded 'World Stage International Records" to professionally record his penned tunes and offering them to other artists, as well help new talents to raise into the spotlight.

At the beginning of the new millennium 'Jimbo' released this album simply entitled "Jim Peterik and World Stage", featuring long time friends such as Don Barnes of 38 Special; Johnny Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd; Dennis De Young of Styx; Cathy Richardson of Love Janis; Buddy Guy; Tom Keifer of Cinderella; Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon, Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger and a lot more.



This is a wonderful collection of songs spanning Peterik's enviable ability to write diverse rock music ranging from Melodic Rock to Classic Rock and all its variants.
As special bonus, I have added "Armageddon", written & recorded by Jimbo & World Stage for the famous movie of the same name but it wasn't taken by the film producers.
A must have.


01 - Fade To Blue (Don Barnes)
02 - Can't Say It Loud Enough (Johnny Van Zant)
03 - To Miss Somebody (Dennis De Young)
04 - Diamonds For Stones (Cathy Richardson)
05 - Vehicle (Buddy Guy)
06 - Zig Zag (Tom Keifer & Rick Neilsen)
07 - Changed By Love (Don Barnes)
08 - We Wish (David Carl & Jeff Boyle)
09 - Working Blue (Anthony Gomes)
10 - Antenna (Margaret Becker)
11 - Eye Of The Tiger (Jeff Boyle)
12 - Between Two Fires (Kevin Cronin)
13 - 'Till It Shines (Henry Paul)
14 - Long Road Home (Kelly Keagy)
15 - From Here To Hereafter (C. Richardson) [bonus track]
16 - Armageddon (Jim Peterik) [non album bonus]

Jim Peterik - Guitar, Percussion, Lead Vocals
Mike Aquino (Mecca), Jeff Carlisi, Pat Buchanan - Guitar
Mike Brignardello, Clem Hayes, Mark Hill, Bob Lizik - Bass
Ed Breckenfeld, Steve Brewster - Drums, Percussion
Danny Chauncey - Keyboards, Programming
Christian Cullen - Keyboards, Organ, Wurlitzer
Jimmy Nichols - Keyboards, Piano, String Arrangements
Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) - Guitar on 6
Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick) - Drums on 6
Don Barnes - Lead Vocals, Guitar, Mandolin
Margaret Becker - Lead Vocals
Jeff Boyle - Lead Vocals
David Carl - Lead Vocals
Kevin Cronin - Lead Vocals
Dennis DeYoung - Lead Vocals
Anthony Gomes - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Cathy Richardson - Lead Vocals
Kelly Keagy - Lead Vocals
Tom Keifer - Lead Vocals
Buddy Guy - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Johnny Van Zant - Lead Vocals
Bob Bergland - Sax
Joel Hoekstra - Guitar, Talk Box
Cathy Braaten, Yvonne Gage, Robert W. Johnson - Backing Vocals
... and a lot more




JIM PETERIK and World Stage
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SURVIVOR - Ultimate Rarities

Reposting this one by request, some pretty rare tracks inside.

The other day I was messin' with some SURVIVOR demos on my player, and thought: why do not make a rarities compilation? The AOR / Melodic Rock Kings deserve it.

We have here a lot versions of their mega-hit "Eye Of The Tiger" all of them never commercially released, such as Dave Bickler doing it acoustically, the Jimi Jamison version, an instrumental, etc.
Amongst these rarities there's three tracks recorded with Irish shouter Robin McAuley (proposed to be Survivor's lead singer), the only known recorded version of "Velocitized" (later done by Mecca), and various extended mixes (all performed by Survivor).
As movie soundtrack collector, I love the "Burning Heart" & "Eye Of The Tiger" mixes only heard in the film Rocky IV, never released on any format and heavily edited from the DVD as source.
Of course are included here the exclusive songs only present into the Greatest Hits releases 'Ultimate Survivor' (2004) and 'Greatest Hits 2' (1993), and the track recorded for The Karate Kid soundtrack: "The Moment Of Truth".

Talking about the GH exclusive tracks, in the spring of 1993 Peterik and Sullivan reunited with original lead singer Dave Bickler and started recording new songs, two of them, "Hungry Years" co-written by Bickler, and "You Know Who You Are", were included into the re-vamped 'Greatest Hits' from 1993. Both only appeared there.
And the 2004 compilation 'Ultimate Survivor' featured three interesting new cuts: the previously unreleased "Rebel Girl" (outtake from Survivor's first self-titled album), "Rockin' Into The Night" also originally discarded as the song was given to .38 Special (which made a hit with it), and "Summer Nights [Long Version]" different from the 'Premonition' vinyl LP.



A mammoth 20-track SURVIVOR compilation myself-made for all of you, AOR / Melodic Rock fanatics. Includes artwork.


01 - Eye Of The Tiger 
(Rocky IV Movie Version)

02 - Rebel Girl (prev. unreleased)
(1st album outtake - from Ultimate Survivor 2004)

03 - Summer Nights (Full Length Version) 
(from Ultimate Survivor 2004)

04 - Rockin' Into The Night (prev. unreleased) 
(from Ultimate Survivor 2004)

05 - Eye Of The Tiger
(Jimi Jamison Version)

06 - You Know Who You Are 
(new track GH 2 - 1993)

07 - Hungry Years 
(new track GH 2 - 1993)

08 - The Moment Of Truth 
(Karate Kid soundtrack)

09 - Eye Of The Tiger (Instrumental)

10 - Burning Heart 
(Ultraburn Version)

11 - I Can't Hold Back 
(Live in Tokio 85 - bootleg)

12 - Eye Of The Tiger 
(Dave Bickler Acoustic Version)

13 - One Step Ahead Of A Flame 
(demo - Fire Makes Steel sessions)

14 - Velocitized 
(only version recorded ever - Live)

15 - Reach 
 (demo - Robin McAuley vocals)

16 - Eye Of The Tiger 
(demo - Robin McAuley vocals)

17 - Fire Makes Steel 
(demo - Robin McAuley vocals)

18 - Burning Heart 
(Rocky IV Instrumental Movie Version)

19 - Eye Of The Tiger 
(Ultrasound Long 12 inch version - DJ vinyl only)

20 - Eye Of The Tiger 
(Dave Bickler vocal trax)

Dave Bickler, Jimi Jamison, Robin McAuley - lead vocals
Jim Peterik - keyboards, guitar, vocals
Frankie Sullivan - guitars, vocals
Dennis Johnson, Stephan Ellis, Klem Hayes - bass
Marc Droubay, Gary Smith, Kyle Woodring - drums


SURVIVOR Ultimate Rarities
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JIM PETERIK - Lifeforce (2009)

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

Jim Peterik last project 'Lifeforce' has generated controversial reactions from his fan base.
Best known for his rockin' work with Survivor, Pride Of Lions or Ides Of March, Jim explains what is the reason that such a rock legend now starts his first soft-smooth jazz project:
" My wife of 35 years, Karen, and I have been huge fans since day one of Pat Metheny, David Grusin, Spyro Gyra, Keiku Matsui, Acoustic Alchemy, Basia and so many more. Writing and performing this style myself is just a natural progression from fan to artist. "

Jim defines 'Lifeforce' as "jazz that rocks", and I can't agree more with him.
This disc straddles between soft rock and smooth jazz rock without belonging totally in either genre.
As usual, Peterik has putting together a solid group of musicians into his new adventure: the captivating vocals of Lisa McClowery, the refined guitarist Mike Aquino (Pride Of Lions, Mecca), sax legend Steve Eisen and many more well known session musicians.

The album revisits several of his biggest successes, "Vehicle", "Eye Of The Tiger", "The Search Is Over" (beautiful duet), "Secret Of The Way" (great instrumental version, originally recorded with Pride Of Lions), giving himself and his partners the opportunity to fly into a new territory.

Jim: " Of course, writing rock comes naturally to me, but I've been amazed at how natural the LIFEFORCE music feels to me as well. Not just the reworking of some of my earlier rock numbers, but also the brand new jazz-soft rock compositions.
Lisa's contributions, both in songwriting and in her gorgeous vocals, are amazing. I'm really enjoying this, and can see carrying on both musical lives for a long time. "

I've included as bonus track a different mix of "Vehicle" not appeared in the disc.
Listen this one open minded, and most important, with open ears, here's many many arrangements and melodies to enjoy for a long time.


01 - Joy
02 - Lifeforce
03 - Vehicle [Ides Of March, new version]
04 - Unconditional Surrender (feat. Lisa McClowry)
05 - Ghost Orchid
06 - Eye Of The Tiger
07 - The Search Is Over (feat. Lisa McClowry)
08 - Secret Of The Way [Pride Of Lions new vers.]
09 - Morning Song (feat. Lisa McClowry)
10 - Interrupted Melody [Pride Of Lions new vers.]
11 - Morning Song (Instrumental)
12 - Vehicle [Ides Of March new vers. different mix]


Lifeforce:
Jim Peterik: lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion
Lisa McClowry: lead, duet and background vocals
Mike Aquino: guitar
Steve Eisen: saxophone, flute
Klem Hayes: bass
Christian Cullen: keyboards
Ed Breckenfield: drums, percussion
Guests:
Scott May: keyboards (3, 6)
John Larson: trumpet (3)
Nick Colionne: guitar (2)
Sharay Reed: electric upright bass (9, 11)
Larry Gray: acoustic upright bass (5)
Larry Milas: drum programming
Chuck Soumar: percussion



JIM PETERIK - Lifeforce

AOR TREASURES - Extended Versions 2 (The Camel's Hump)

Another "extended" installment.
I don't own some of these vinyls, so you get them as they are, all above 192Kbps or better, I have restored all tracks, suppressing the cracks and clicks successfully (I think...).

Aerosmith's Love In An Elevator (Elevator Mix) was released as vinyl promo only, not for sale. I really enjoy this funny mix.
Maybe you don't like ZZ Top goes-to-techno stuff, I think their 80's remixes are awesome. Two of them here.
Joal (german female hard rockin' babe) has released a very good album in the late 80's, this is a very rare and great extended version, only 12''.

Another rarity is White Lion's classic 'Wait', looong version, with much more guitars (WTF are you Vitto?) and some effects added. As far I know, only UK release.
Romeo's Daughter was a superb band, you'll love this rare maxi-single version, supermixed.
A hard to find Foreigner extended remix, very well done.
Another FM (UK) classic remixed, maybe better than the original version.

The Noiseworks version is very cool and veryyy extended.
Device has released a critical acclaimed hi-tech / lite-AOR albums in the mid eighties, this song version is pretty rare, maybe too much 'poppy' for your tastes, but after a couple of listens you will love this tune. I have done a little miracle restoring this vinyl.
Heart remix is completely different from original one. Nice.

As 'bonus', not exactly an extended Survivor track.
This is a little gem, Dave Bickler's final vocal trax used in Eye Of The Tiger.
Taken from the original multi-track recording, with all the overdubs ready to the final song mix. Listen carefully, you can hear in some parts, subtle at the bottom, the backing instrumental track, and at the end, the vocal guidance metronome. These artifacts were removed in the mastering process, of course.

Remember, all these tracks are official remixes, original material performed during the recording sessions, not third hand adds or DJ work.
Check the tags of each song, I've added full release info, catalog number, and original artwork.
You can extract all artwork covers with your favourite tag editor.

01 - Aerosmith - Love In An Elevator (Elevator Mix) 6:14

02 - ZZ Top - Velcro Fly (Extended Mix) 6:38

03 - Joal - Rock That City (Extended Version) 4:55

04 - Dominoe - Angel Don't Cry (Rock Mix) 5:15

05 - White Lion - Wait (Extended Version) 6:05

06 - Romeo's Daughter - Don't Break My Heart (Ext. Version) 5:54

07 - Foreigner - That Was Yesterday (Extended Remix) 6:15

08 - FM - Bad Luck (Extended Version) 5:22

09 - Noiseworks - No Lies (Extended Version) 5:25

10 - Device - Hanging On A Heart Attack (Dance Mix) 7:21

11 - ZZ Top - Legs [Metal Mix aka Special Dance Mix] 7:45

12 - Heart - There's The Girl (12'' Remix) 7:20

13 - Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger (Dave Bickler vocal trax) 3:20




ENJOY Extended Vol.2

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AOR TREASURES - The Extended Versions (The Camel's Hump)

In the 80's, when a disc was released, in addition to the singles, the fashion was also launch an extended version, often as "B-side".
AOR / Rock bands were not absent to this trend (which often allowed them to enter the discotheques).

Many people find these versions annoying, detracting the originals beauty.
I think that my selections are really good, the producer's job bring new life to the songs, adding in some items new arrangements / tempo, discarded guitar solos (a very good ones), or simply an alternative mix of what might have been the official album version.
You'll be surprised by strange HEART's song ending, the crazy GARY solos (don't give the man room to play!), the completely 'new' version of WAITE's classic, or the syncopated ZZ TOP mix (I love this version).
But the most successful is the FM track, in my opinion, better than the original.

All these versions contains only original material performed during the recording sessions, not third hand adds or DJ's crap.
Some tracks aren't easy to find, and mostly only have been released on vinyl.
All were decrackled and declicked to get the best quality possible.

FM - Someday (Extended Version) 5:29
Survivor - Burning Heart (Ultraburn Version) 5:07
Gary Moore - Friday On My Mind (Extended Version) 6:10
Dominoe - Here I Am (Maxi Version) 5:16
John Waite - Missing You (12'' Version) 6:15
Heart - What About Love (12'' Long Version) 5:26
Foreigner - Say You Will (Extended Version) 5:24
Brian Spence - Hear It From The Heart (Extended Version) 6:06
Vixen - Edge Of A Broken Heart (Extended Version) 6:36
Judas Priest - Turbo Lover (Hi-Octane Mix) 7:22
ZZ Top - Sleeping Bag (Original Extended 12'' Mix) 6:14
John Parr - Restless Heart (Extended Version) 6:18

+70 min, artwork


Extended Versions Vol.1 - option 1


Extended Versions Vol.1 - option 2
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