ROXUS - ROXAS ; The Paris Sessions & More

Aussie band ROXUS fronted by singer Juno Roxas was without a doubt one of the best Melodic Rock acts ever emerged from Down Under. They only released a full length album, an EP and some singles, but all these include some real gems in the genre.
Someone requested here a supposedly 'unreleased 2009 album by Roxus', but it never existed, at least not recorded that year.

In 2010 vocalist Juno Roxas announced a series of shows in Melbourne and other Australian cities performing the band's classics and some songs written back in a day but never presented to the fans.
So there's no 'new 2009-10 album', but a bunch of great songs never heard / published before: "The Paris Sessions".
The title does not refer to the French city, these are demos recorded and produced under the supervision of AOR icon Jeff Paris tracked down in America at the beginning of the '90s, where Juno Roxas moved later to pursue a songwriter career.

Some of these tracks surfaced some time ago amongst collectors and fan websites, but I assure you not with this audio quality, besides we have here many songs never presented in the world wide web before.

Take as example the great Melodic Rocker "Love Me, Do Me" with a really Americanized sound, which somehow reminds me Damn Yankees. Or the re-worked long version of "Body Heat" (a winner) with the 'Jeff Paris treatment'.
Another rarity is the original demo of the band's biggest hit "Where Are You Now", featuring Robin Randall (Mark Free, Venus & Mars) and Steve Hopkins (Mark Free) on keyboards, while James Christian (House Of Lords) and the superb Diana Dewitt (Venus & Mars) did backing vocals. This version is far superior than the finally appeared in Roxus' album / single.

And we have more from the Paris Sessions: killer rocking, melodic unreleased tunes such as "What You Don't Know", "Stop Playing With My Heart" or "Invisible Man".
To make it more juicy, I have included into the file more rarities; the hard to find original '89 single version (Australia only) of "Stand Back", the b-side "Borderline", unreleased live versions of "Bad Boys" and "All Right Now" (Free cover) which I believe were recorded at MTV studios, and even a Juno Roxas' performance from the 1987 movie 'Mull' (never released soundtrack).
Very good stuff, a true collectors item directly from my archives.
Enjoy!


01 - Love Me, Do Me (Jeff Paris session demo)
02 - What You Don't Know (Jeff Paris session demo)
03 - Invisible Man (Jeff Paris session demo)
04 - Body Heat [long version] (Jeff Paris session demo)
05 - Stop Playing With My Heart (J. Paris session demo)
06 - All The Way (Jeff Paris session demo)
07 - Don't Stop (Jeff Paris session demo)
08 - Where Are You Now (original demo ft. J. Christian)
09 - Borderline (Where Are You Now b-side)
10 - Stand Back (Aussie original '89 single version)
11 - Spaghetti Wire (unknown session)
12 - Body Heat (unknown session)
13 - Bad Boys (Live - unreleased)
14 - All Right Now (Live - unreleased)
15 - Juno Roxas Hold On (from the 1987 movie Mull)


ROXUS/ROXAS ; The Paris Sessions & More
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MARK FREE - Hidden Treasures Vol.3 'The Ballads Collection'

Vol.3 featuring a beautiful selection of Ballads, like the awesome midtempo "One Heartbeat" written by the mighty duo Judithe and Robin Randall, later recorded by VENUS & MARS for their 2nd album 'New Moon Rising' (already posted in this blog).
"The Night Has A Way" was penned by David Tyson and Christopher Ward, producers and songwriters for Alannah Miles. One of Mark Free favorites on his own words. This great tune was recorded later by NIGHT RANGER and GARY MOON for his solo album (posted here as well).
"If You Give Your Heart" is one of my personal favs, almost a lullaby song.
On "I Wish Was There With You", Mark sounds like John Waite, while "Hopelessly Lost" is a monster AOR tune.

Many tracks originally had a very low signal and lots of tape hiss noise, I've tried to enhance Mark's vocals to the maximum.
Artwork, tracklist and song selection by Plattenpapst.
Vol.4 : 'The Pop Collection', coming soon...





MARK FREE - Hidden Treasures Vol.3

VENUS and MARS - New Moon Rising (2003)

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

Do you miss how HEART used to sound in their glorious '80s years?
Got an aspirin for you...
This fantastic duo comprised of Diana DeWitt & Robin Randall, has released a couple of wonderful albums that makes them heiresses of the throne.
While the very good debut is more rough and direct, 'New Moon Rising' is a bible of polished Melodic Rock with capitals, top class songwriting, superb musicianship and clear production.

Diana DeWitt's melodic sense, out of this world intense voice, goes from powerful rockers to smooth ballads like a fish in the water.
She wrote songs with Robbie Buchanan, Dennis DeYoung, Barry DeVorzon, Giorgio Moroder, David Pack and countless more, as well did vocals arrangements, duets & backing vocals and co-writing songs with people like BJ Thomas, Robert Tepper, Mickey Thomas, Mark Free, Michael McDonald, etc., and numerous movie songs & commercials.
Her partner Robin Randall, displays a skilled keyboard training and stellar songwriting ability.

All these songs were written by them between 1984/1998,
some recorded by other artists like MARK FREE (The Last Time, Dying For Your Love) or JAMES CHRISTIAN (Leave Well Enough Alone).
'Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight' in example, was penned by Robin in 1984 and later recorded by STARSHIP.
Also included here is the wonderful ballad 'Bless A Brand New Angel' featured on the television series BAYWATCH.

Originally released only in Japan (1998), it was reissued via their own USA label in 2003 with 2 different tracks and cover art.
Highly Recommended


01 - Dancing on the highwire
02 - Leave well enough alone
03 - Bless a brand new angel (from Baywatch)
04 - Killer love
05 - The last time
06 - One heartbeat at a time
07 - Last chance cafe
08 - Making out like a bandit
09 - Wanna wanna
10 - Accident'ly on purpose
11 - Tomorrow doesn't matter tonight
12 - Dying for your love
13 - If you only knew (USA only track)
14 - Two beers high (USA only track)


Diana DeWitt : vocals, songwriting
Robin Randall : keyboards, songwriting
Judithe Randall : songwriting
Tony Sciuto, Troy Dexter, Brian Young : guitar
Sylvan Balduc, David Hughes, Guy Marshall : bass
George Perilli, Guy Marshall : drums
Michael Hanna : keyboards, songwriting
Celin Nell, Annie Livingston, Mark Free : backing vocals
and many, many more...


VENUS and MARS - New Moon Rising
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