ARTICA - As It Should Be (1995)

MelodicRock / AOR band with pomp touches, Artica delivers the good.
With a singer ala Steve Augeri but more nasal, great choruses and pompous keys, we can find very good songs here like 'It's over', 'Fantasy' or the precious ballad 'Will Carry Me Home' (pay attention to the lyrics).
Originally released in '95, this is the remastered 2005 edition with a bonus and different cover.
Good stuff.

1. Take Me All the Way 3:35
2. It's Over 4:18
3. Your Love Will Carry Me Home 3:55
4. You're Still On Your Own 4:31
5. Hold On 5:30
6. Fantasy 4:07
7. Girl of My Dreams 4:45
8. Since Loving You 3:57
9. One Night 4:39
10. Let It Show 3:56
11. System Of Justice 4:54 (Bonus)

John David Martin: lead vocals
Robby Moore: keyboards
Mark Adrian: guitars
Roger Fiets: bass
Chuck Baker: drums, percussion


ARTICA - As It Should Be

AOR TREASURES - The Soundtracks Vol.2

After the succesful soundtrack compilation, now VOL.2, full of rarities, more 'rock oriented' than strictly AOR, but with the soundtrack-aorish spirit intact.

First track is the wonderful JOHN FARNHAM song, only featured in the movie "Savage Streets", awesome AOR.
CHRIS THOMPSON (wonderful voice) rocks with "It's Not Over" (also recorded later by Starship).
DWIGHT TILLEY's song from the rare "Heavenly Bodies" is a killer.
Both JOURNEY tracks are only available in their respective soundtracks (pretty rare ones).

"Armour Of God", sung by action-star JACKIE CHAN in cantonese language, its a very classy typical AOR-movie-song, pumpin' and thrillin' rythm, and rare as cold hell.
STUBBLEFIELD & HALL performs the main theme of "Best Of The Best", another fantastic tune and rarity.
Cult film "The Warriors" has an excellent DESMOND CHILD song, a very hard to find soundtrack.
GLENN JONES' "Youngblood" track is a delicious classic sound AOR, after repeated listens, it grabs in your head forever.
AUTOGRAPH make 'You Can't Hide From The Beast Inside' exclusively for this terror movie (Fright Night), you can't find this track in any band's album, a shame, because its a monster, and maybe the best song they ever recorded.
"National Lampoon's European Vacation" track "Back In America", by the short-lived band NETWORK (ex members of LE ROUX), features the lead vocals of Terry Brock (later in STRANGEWAYS).
Here you have the very rare original full version running 3:37 min.

A bunch of cool songs, very rare most of them, more than 70 min. of music, vbr , artwork, enjoy...


01 - John Farnham: Nothing's Gonna Stand In Our Way [Savage Streets]
02 - Chris Thompson: It's Not Over [Playing For Keeps]
03 - Rick Springfield: Don't Walk Away [Hard To Hold]
04 - Alan Jordan: Mind To Mind [Scanners II]
05 - Dwight Twilley: Keep On Working [Heavenly Bodies] (Rare)
06 - Journey: Only The Young [Vision Quest] (Rare)
07 - Jackie Chan: Armour Of God [Armour Of God] (Very Rare)
08 - Jimi Jamison: I'm Always Here [Baywatch]
09 - Red Rider: Lunatic Fringe [Vision Quest]
10 - Stubblefield & Hall: Best Of The Best [Best Of The Best] (Rare)
11 - Glenn Jones: Talk Me Into It [Youngblood]
12 - Desmond Child: Last Of An Ancient Breed [The Warriors] (Rare)
13 - Autograph: You Can't Hide From The Beast Inside [Fright Night] (Rare)
14 - Fiona: Let The Good Times Roll [Hearts Of Fire]
15 - Le Roux: Back In America [European Vacation]
16 - Mammoth: Can't Take The Hurt [A Nightmare On Elm Street 5]
17 - Mike Reno: Whenever There's a Night [Dream A Little Dream]
18 - Tom Kimmel: Tryin' To Dance [Disorderlies]
19 - Journey: Only Solutions [Tron] (Rare)

AOR TREASURES Soundtracks Vol.2 OPTION 1

AOR TREASURES Soundtracks Vol.2 OPTION 2
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AOR TREASURES - The Soundtracks Vol.1

Remember the days when you went to the theatre to enjoy a good action movie? Sometimes had a weak story, poor acting, but always entertaining plus killer music.

A lot soundtracks are gems in its own right.Love those pumpin' and thrilling tunes, AOR fueled machines with real emotion.

This new compilation comprises some of my favs, mostly rare and unknown, again, the best sellers (Rocky, Cobra, etc) are out here, but I can assure you that all the tracks are fantastic.

The Alan Tam (an asian artist) is a real AOR gem and pretty unknown, only this one worth the download.

Also the Terminator is rare, 'cos the score is easy to find, but the original with this tune is long time out of print (monster song).

Few people knows about the Joe Lynn Turner performance in The Heavenly Kid film (a rarity and forgotten one).

More than 70min. of music, vbr, myself made artwork.

Enjoy, listen and go to your record store and buy one of these awesome soundtracks...

01. Alan Tam: Midnight Rider [Armour Of God] (Very Rare)

02. Stan Bush: Never Surrender [Kickboxer]

03. Joe Torono: Stand On Your Own [No Retreat No Surrender]

04. Moving Pictures: Never [Footloose]

05. Mark Free: (To Be) Best Of The Best [Best Of The Best II]

06. David Hallyday: Oh La La [Baywatch]

07. John Farnham: Break The Ice [RAD]

08. Mickey Thomas: Sing [Sing] (Rare)

09. Tim Capello: I Still Believe [The Lost Boys]

10. Nick Gilder: Footsteps [Youngblood]

11. Tahnee Cain & Tryanglz: Burnin' In The Third Degree [Terminator]

12. Black Roses: Paradise [Black Roses]

13. Mike Reno: Chasing The Angels [Iron Eagle II]

14. Stan Bush: The Touch [Transformers The Movie]

15. Fee Waybill: You'd Better Wait [Dream A Little Dream]

16. 3 Speed: Wind Me Up [RAD]

17. Joe Lynn Turner: Heartless [The Heavenly Kid] (Rare)

18. Greg Allman: I'll Be Holding On [Black Rain]


AOR TREASURES The Soundtracks Vol.1 - Updated May,2015

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TORINO - Customized (1988)



Another brillant AOR / rock band from britain.
Strong rockers with incisive keyboards, soaring vocals and pretty good production.
Never released on CD (a shame), this album became a hard hunt in underground AOR circles. No fillers, just killers.
I've decided to post this album here after the rip-off from different sites of my original upload to other blog some time ago.
Decent transfer to digital, enough to enjoy this gem.

1. Out Of The Fire
2. Steal My Thunder
3. Somewhere
4. Can't Let Go
5. Boys Go Wild
6. Call Of The Wild
7. Take My Heart Away
8. Dance Crazy
9. Never Surrender

Stuart Fox Vocals
Paul Diamond Bass
Brian Dixon Drums
Barry McKeown Guitar



This album is reposted HERE

VAN STEPHENSON - China Girl (1981)

The rare and hard to find Van Stephenson.
His first album in the small label Handshake Records, sadly never issued on CD.
At this time (early '80s) Van was writing hit songs for artists from the Nashville scene (e.g. Restless Heart) and the songwriting in 'China Girl' follow these roots.
Mid-westcoast sound, with some late 70's AOR feel.
Think Eagles meets Pages, classic.
His voice is brilliant here, as always (listen 'New York, Hold Her Tight', awesome).
Very good and polished production.
Vinyl-rip nicely done.

1. You′ve Got A Good Love Coming
2. Looks Like A Loser
3. Seeing Is Believing
4. China Girl
5. Weekend Warrior
6. I Would If I Could
7. Tonight The Love's On Me
8. Hotter In The Night
9. New York, Hold Her Tight
10. Lion In The Night

Van Stephenson: Vocals, Guitars
Wayne Perkins, Kenny Mims: Guitars
Larry Baxton: Bass
Mike Hanna: Keyboards
Shane Keister: Synthesizers
Joe English: Drums


RE-POSTED HERE
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AOR TREASURES - The Light Years 89 - 93

Now covering the 'Light Years' 89-93, those years were glorious, making the AOR / Melodic Hard Rock genre mainstream.

Easily I can do 10 best of only with the excellent albums publicated in 1989, but again, in this compilation, the chosen bands didn't make it, even in that brillant era. After '93 the dark ages arrived...

A few bands here were reissued, but mostly remain out of print.

Maybe you can say: 'hey, some tracks here are hard rock' or something like that, to me, all are keyboard and guitar driven AOR.

60min. of music, 320K vbr, artwork.

A nice collection IMHO.

01 - Mystery: Keep On Rollin'

02 - Nova Rex: Alone Tonight

03 - Alien: Tears Don't Put Out The Fire ('89 version)

04 - Surrender: Never

05 - Chase: You Will Be The One

06 - Sharks & Whales: Dreamer's Lane

07 - DC Drive: Don't Let Get You Down (Radio Version)

08 - Fighter: Nice Guy

09 - Worrall: Shadow Of A Lie

10 - Bite The Bullet: Change Of Heart

11 - Bryan Hughes Group: Who's Gonna Love You Tonight

12 - Stranger (Germany): Fighting For Your Love

13 - Eye (USA): It Might Rain

14 - Hiroshima: Broken Heart

15 - Evenrude: Never Say Die

AOR TREASURES - The Light Years 89 - 93
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AOR TREASURES - The Golden Years 86 - 88

Here it is, guys and gals, the first blog best of.

Comprising great tracks, some well known, some not, from the AOR - rock golden era between 86 - 88.

I think all tunes are outstanding, representing these magic years with justice.

Of course I left-off the obvious megakings like Survivor, Strangeways, etc.

The focus here is pointed to exciting stuff ignored by major labels.

Some of 'em were reissued recently due to demand for GOOD music.

Hope all these albums see the light in CD format or other digital platform someday (some tracks here are vinyl-rips, no CD release at the moment).

60 min. of pure AOR, 320k vbr, normalized and vinyl-restored for your pleasure.

Myself made artwork.

Enjoy.

01 - Aviator : Can't Stop

02 - Beau Geste : Don't Go

03 - Alien : Go Easy (Orig. Version '88)

04 - Urgent : Runnin' Back (For More)

05 - Beau Coup : Somewhere In The Night

06 - Dominoe : Here I Am (Orig. Version '88)

07 - Hybrid Ice : Secret Dreams

08 - Mama's Boys : Waiting For A Miracle

09 - Glory : Never Stop (Orig. Version '88)

10 - China Sky : Turn On The Night

11 - Outside Edge : Heaven Tonight

12 - Le Mans : Love Lies

13 - Stallion : Helpless

14 - Moritz : Break It Up

15 - Peroux : Summertime Memories

The Golden Years 86 - 88 NEW LINK

SAFIRE - Safire (1995)

Australia never was a prolific land for AOR bands, but some good outfits come out from the land of Oz.

Safire is one of 'em, they play an infectious melodic hard rock / AOR music.

This 6 track only CD keep you interested from start to finnish, with catchy songs.

Great production for an indie release, now out of print and very hard to find original.

Give this a listen, you will love it.

1. Now You've Gone 3:35

2. Love Conquers All 4:30

3. After the Rain 4:39

4. In Your Eyes 4:34

5. Set You Free 4:10

6. White at Night 4:53

Steve Martret: guitars, backing vocals

Jason Old: lead vocals

Aaron Suter: keyboards, backing vocals

Mozz Walters: bass

Bill Georgio: drums

SAFIRE EP

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EXPORT - Living In The Fear Of The Private Eye (1986)

Export was an UK band in the same ligue as STRANGEWAYS, RIO and similar.

AOR at its best, with great choruses and keys here and there.

The guitar-man is the monster Steve Morris (HEARTLAND, SHADOWMAN, NEWMAN, GRAND ILLUSION, etc).

All songs are fantastic IMHO, very well played and produced.

1986=What a year!

Incredibly, this little gem never was released on CD, but no problem, this vinyl-rip sounds million bucks, you must hear this pristine rip!

Myself made artwork included.

Highly recommended.

1.Living In The Fear of The Private Eye

2.No Escape

3-Runnin' Back (For More)

4.Airwaves

5.You Make Me Wanna

6.Closer To You

7.Tear Me Apart

8.Summer Nights

9.Can't Say No

Harry Shaw – Lead Vocals

Steve Morris – Guitars

Chris Alderman – Bass

Lou Rosenthal – Drums

This album is reposted HERE