TOYS OF JOY - One Of These Days (1990)

Requested by one of you...

Hailing from Denmark, TOYS OF JOY is basically a duo formed by songwriters Henrik Launbjerg and Hans Egestorp, who recorded the single 'When The Rain Falls' at the very end of 1989.
The band got signed by a local label and subsequently released a full album titled "One Of These Days", regarded as one of the finest debuts of the year. The CD soon becomes out of print and since then collectors piece among AOR fans.

On these smooth tunes, Launbjerg / Egestorp captured the truly essence of American FM radio soft AOR better than many native US musicians. The absolutely outstanding opener "Watching Your Moves" remains in my book as one of the better 'feelgood' AOR songs ever.
The breezy, sophisticated 'Some People' is another personal favorite. Is there Mr. Mister playing here? Very, very close in sound & style.
Launbjerg's voice reminds me of Richard Page: perfect pitch and tone, an underrated vocalist with tons of class.

'When The Rain Falls' is a magical ballad, a lot like a Jay Graydon's Planet 3 track. Perfect song and melody. Then you have "Can't Get Nobody Else", with its intelligent guitar arrangements is pure class. Then "Let It Out" is a catchy, sing-along tune with a huge chorus, what a great song!
In fact, the whole "One Of These Days" is fabulous with terrific & beautifully arranged songs and a 10/10 production job.



Recently Toys Of Joy's original indie label has resurrected this little masterpiece with a fresh reissue, and here I am bringing it to you @ maximum quality.
I can't recommend you "One Of These Days" enough.
It's High class AOR. Just don't miss it.


01 - Watching Your Moves
02 - Hold On
03 - Bring On The Night
04 - One Of These Days
05 - Some People
06 - When The Rain Falls
07 - Can't Get Nobody Else
08 - Make A Difference
09 - Let It Out
10 - Leaves

Henrik Launbjerg: vocals
Hans H. Egestorp: guitars, keyboards, programming
Morten Bolvik: keyboards
Steffen Qwist: guitar
Lars Elswing: bass
Jakob Iisager: drums


TOYS OF JOY - One Of These Days (1990)
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MICHAEL WHITE and THE WHITE - ST (1987) [digital reissue]

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

American born Michael White started his career at the end of the seventies as member of underground L.A. bands such as 'The Boys' (alongside pre-Dokken George Lynch and Mick Brown), 'L.A. Rocks' with W.A.S.P.'s Randy Piper, and in Nikki Sixx's pre-Motley 'London'.
Looking for a more classic sound Michael formed 'The White', his own band.

Mixing originals with Led Zeppelin covers, the group toured extensively throughout North America, and at the mid eighties White signed a deal with Atlantic Rec. for an album to be recorded in Germany with producer Mack (Queen, Billy Squier) behind the desk.
Alongside his band, many well names contributed with the recording (although uncredited in the credits), as Danny Bilan (Moxy), Randy Piper (W.A.S.P), Alan St. Jon & Bobby Chouinard (Billy Squier).

"Michael White and The White" was released in 1987, but a bad promotion and the explosion of the L.A. Metal scene sank the disc.
Occurs that Michael White plays classic rock heavily influenced by Zeppelin and vocalist Robert Plant in particular. On many parts throughout the album, Michael sounds like a Plant's clone. And a good one.
It's true, some songs here (and the general atmosphere) definitively have a Zepp style, as the rocking "Matriarch", the beautifully orchestrated slow tune "One Good Turn" or the spacey "Psychometry" (where White, apart from Plant, recalls Kingdom Come's Lenny Wolf). This isn't a bad thing, on the contrary, all these tracks are magically written and performed.

But Michael White and The White also plays commercial '80s American Melodic Rock here; the catchy "Fantasy", the keyboard filled "Radio" or the incredibly smooth "I Know You Need Someone", one of my favorites here.
On the radio friendly "Deja Vu", White goes AOR-rock, and "Dirty Dancer" rocks with a melodic sense.

"Michael White and The White" is a really good album in my book, including finely crafted songs, much better than you can appreciate at first listen. Production is truly good, with a slick '80s sound and a classy vibe.
The album was released for the first time on CD -remastered- in 2003 (now out of print) with the legend 'and the White' on the cover.


original album cover

This file is the 2007's digital only re-issue called 'LP version' (?), featuring on the cover Michael White's moniker alone. There's a flaw on the track "Psychometry" around 3:18 min. (it happens on all the copies distributed of this reissue), but does not affect the listening experience.
A praiseworthy album, pretty unknown and hard to find.


01 - Fantasy
02 - I Know You Need Someone
03 - Bring On The Night
04 - Matriarch
05 - One Good Turn
06 - Psychometry
07 - Deja Vu
08 - Jumpin' The Fence
09 - Radio
10 - Dirty Dancer


Michael White: Lead & Backing Vocals
Claus Heuser: Guitars
Phil Bolenz: Guitars
Rick Dellefield: Keyboards
Steven Wissnet: Bass
Curt Cress: Drums
Session musicians (uncredited);
Danny Bilan (Moxy): Drums
Bobby Chouinard (Billy Squier): Drums
Scot Gaines: Bass
Alan St. Jon (Billy Squier): Keyboards
Randy Piper (W.A.S.P.): Guitars
Paul Vincent (Meat Loaf): Guitars


MICHAEL WHITE and THE WHITE
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21 SUMMERS - 21 Summers [reissue original mix +3 bonus]

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

Chicago based 21 SUMMERS was a curious band for sure. Perhaps not for their music - a mix of melodic rock / power pop and AORish new wave - but for being the world's first 'video band'.
21 Summers was created by guitarist & composer Reid Brody who in the mid-80s worked at a post-production video studio in Chicago. Brody thought at the time that video-clips and MTV were the future in music industry, and he founded 21 Summers with this idea in mind.

Indeed, still unsigned and never having played live, 21 Summers put together a five-song video demo - not just 4-track tape like all bands - highly professionally made including computer effects, a must for the era. So Brody, instead of distributing an audio-cassette tape to all record companies, armed with his videos, went directly to MTV.
The band was selected for the MTV's "Basement Tapes" competition where new unsigned bands presented a video for a 'video battle'. Winner would get a record contract with Elektra and music equipment.

21 Summers qualified for the finals, but didn't won. However, a record label from Denmark 'MEGA Records' were very interested in the band and they secured the release of the self-titled LP "21 Summers" in Europe.
But the label wanted a more 'punchy' sound so the album was remixed and the guitar solos - performed by a soon to be famous player (more on this below) - were put higher in dynamics.

Anyway, this "21 Summers" featured here is the original 1985 mix, finally made available at the band's website some time ago. This is a little more 'sweet' than the Danish 1986 (LP only) release, delivering a strong new wave feel that many American bands were experimenting with in the mid-Eighties.
In one way or another, "21 Summers" never did much for me... it's a cool album with some good songs, nothing spectacular.

This "21 Summers original mix", apart from the different cover art, includes 3 tracks not present in the 1986 Danish LP: the poppy 'Let It Be Linda', and the dance mix / extended versions of 'Come Closer' and 'I Am the One', two of the best songs on the album.

21 Summers were an unlucky combo in all aspects. Reid Brody also designed an innovative guitar for the era: the 'dual mode guitar', consisting of two opposite necks (one 6-string, the other 12-string) at either end of the guitar body with a belt pivot to spin the instrument and change the neck. This created a great visual effect.
The guitar is pictured on the album cover (click on it for bigger size).

In 1982 Brody presented his double-guitar to Dean Guitars for a possible signature model, but it was rejected under the statement 'your guitar is a carnival item!'
Few months later on MTV in the famous video for the song 'Legs', ZZ Top was playing spinning guitars much like Brody's. Guess who made that guitars for ZZ Top... yes, Dean Guitars.



Even more, guess who was the soon-to-be-famous guitar solo's player on "21 Summers"? A guy credited in the LP under the name Mike Batio.
Yes, the guitar shredder later known as Michael Angelo (Batio) and famous for his... double neck guitar.
Brody's best idea was stolen by various, and he never received the credits despite of patenting his spin guitar. And regarding the videos predating the LP / cassettes / CD in the future, he was not overly wrong. This idea was discussed by various record companies after MTV exploded.
But they had a problem: portability. VCR's were too much heavy!
Rare


01 - I Am the One
02 - Little Girl
03 - Linger
04 - Come Closer
05 - I Am Missing Elaine
06 - Let It Be Linda [extra track]
07 - Walk Away
08 - Tumbling Down
09 - Once in a Lifetime
10 - Dream
11 - We All Get What We Want in Time
12 - Come Closer (Dance Mix) [extra track]
13 - I Am the One (Dance Mix) [extra track]

Kevin Friend - vocals
Reid Brody - guitar
Justin Niebank - bass, keyboards
Haim Brody - drums
Mike Batio - guitar solos




21 SUMMERS : 21 Summers [reissue original mix +3 bonus]
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DOUBLETAKE - So Many Roads (1993)

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

This Austin, TX band DOUBLETAKE one and only rare album "So Many Roads" (private release) has fetched ridiculous prices at auction sites in the past. I have mixed feelings about this one. Sometimes gets me bored, sometimes I enjoy most the tracks.
They sound like a mix between FIREHOUSE, WORRALL and TALL STORIES to give you an idea, but not so 'commercial'.

The good thing about this Doubletake album is the interesting song structure based on melodic rock of course, but not the typically that you expect.
"Living In A Black And White Movie" has an articulated bridge sounding dangerously grunge, however it's very melodic and the song works.
But "Julia" is a great tune, one of the highlights here, highly melodic with tight vocal harmonies and strong guitar parts. A very, very good song. "People" is better than you might think at first listen. Acoustically layered, sounds a lot like NELSON. Good one.

"Mistake" is a simple rocker but skillfully arranged, again, different from the usual in this genre. Title track "So Many Roads" is a slow-motion tune with very nice guitar solos and a sax part that fits the tune perfectly, complementing the 6 strings. I like this one, to listen with a bottle of bourbon at hand.
With a very good and accurate production for an indie, the band took almost a year to record this disc, and everything sounds polished, well mixed and mastered as well.



"So Many Roads" was re-issued not so long ago, but ironically the transfer sounds flat compared to the original press by BillPaso Records.
This is a CD-rip from the original 1993 release (not 1997 incorrectly announced in the reissue), including artwork.
Rare.


01 - Intro
02 - Living In A Black And White Movie
03 - She's Got The Love
04 - Julia
05 - People
06 - She's Hopin'
07 - The Call
08 - Mistake
09 - I Can't See Tomorrow
10 - Night Games
11 - Don't Wanna Dance Alone
12 - So Many Roads

Brett Axelson - Lead vocals, bkg vocals, guitar
Mark Russell - Guitars, keyboards, bkg vocals
Brent Samperi - Bass, percussion, bkg vocals
Paul Schulz - Drums, percussion, bkg vocals
guest musicians:
Joe Morales - sax on 'So Many Roads'
Chip Bolan - keyboards
Theresa Tyll - girl on phone
John Viehweg - percussion, bkg vocals




DOUBLETAKE - So Many Roads (1993)
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MICHAEL O'BRIEN - It's About Time! (2001)

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

Michael O'Brien had his moment at the end of the '80s when he sign a deal with a major label subsidiary to release his first solo album. The self-titled debut was a great solid AOR cd with killer tunes, being one of the ballads a minor hit.
At this point I should clarify that this Michael O'Brien is not the Christian artist with the same name.
He's overly often confused because the CCM singer also released his debut in 1995 self-titled, that's why 'our' O'Brien debut is also known as 'Oceana' (the subsidiary label name) to avoid misunderstandings.

The truth is that 'our' O'Brien disappeared as main artist from the face of Earth during the Nineties.
Seems Michael has concentrated his efforts as booking agent, songwriter & recording engineer in his own recording facility, and meanwhile tracking down on tape his music.

In 2001, after 11 years since his debut, "It's About Time!" was published via a very small indie label. The rockin' AOR is gone, this is a very mellow Adult Contemporary disc, mostly a ballad album.
"Change Your World", "I Never Let You Go" and "Thank God For You" are gentle AORish tunes with very nice guitars (acoustic and electric) and subtle keyboards. Think Nelson's 2nd album.
"The Angel For You", "So Far Away", "Why" are extremely soft ballads, really really light. On "Sacred Town" Michael goes for the acoustic style, while "Still On My Mind" is very poppy.
The remake of the Beatles' classic "Let It Be" is surprisingly good, isn't a song easy to cover successfully.



"It's About Time!" is an album light as a goose neck feather, very calm and personal. Even the production is tiny (not thin) on purpose, giving to all instruments the necessary room to be clearly heard.
A real 'personal' recording: all songs & tracks performed, written (minus 1), produced, engineered & mixed by Michael O'Brien.
Some songs are simply beautiful.
As most indies out there, this is an extremely rare, out of print album.
Thanx to my friend totalaor for this one!


01 - Change Your World
02 - I Never Let You Go
03 - The Angel For You
04 - Let It Be
05 - With You
06 - So Far Away
07 - Still On My Mind
08 - Why
09 - Sacred Town
10 - Thank God For You

Michael O'Brien : Vocals, All instruments


MICHAEL O'BRIEN - It's About Time
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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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SAGA - Wildest Dreams (1987) USA edition

Canadians SAGA are one of the more long-lasting bands still active, with almost forty years in the business and the same amount of records to their credit. And better than that, Saga never has released a bad album.
Saga's foundation always has been progressive rock yet with a distinctive, melodic touch. They always cleverly
slightly tweaked their sound at different stages of their career to fit the times, without selling out the identity of the band.

During the '80s Saga infused to their polished sound a strong Melodic Rock feel complete with swirling keyboard lines and catchy choruses. For their seventh studio album, Saga signed with Atlantic Records with the aim to finally conquer the US market.
"Wildest Dreams" is the more commercial Saga album ever, with a huge, bombastic, big budget glossy production handled by guru Keith Olsen. 

With stylings reminiscent of Mr. Mister and a mature Starship, but also the typical Canadian sound of the era (Frozen Ghost, Glass Tiger Honeymoon Suite) the album is plenty of great poppy AOR tunes.
All songs are good with title track amongst my favorites including the elegant "Chase The Wind", "Don't Put Out The Fire", "Angel" and the breezy "Only Time Will Tell".

Despite its quality and the many potential singles "Wildest Dreams" went quite unnoticed in the US, but the album sold really well in Saga's more successful markets like Europe and their native Canada. The CD become a rarity for many years as Atlantic refused to give the rights to the band for a reissue.



This is a rip from the USA edition (the hardest to find) which sounds million times better than the European press by BMG/Bonaire. I don't know why, but I have tested many copies of the latter and they weren't bright as this Made in USA by WEA Manufacturing Inc.
I added as bonus "Perfect Stranger", the song recorded by the band around the same time for the motion picture 'Johnny Be Good', a track never appeared into any Saga album (and a quite rare soundtrack).
Enjoy Saga's "Wildest Dreams" - one of the first albums recorded DDD - a true product from the second half of '80s.


01 - Don't Put Out The Fire
02 - Only Time Will Tell
03 - Wildest Dreams
04 - Chase The Wind
05 - We've Been Here Before
06 - The Way Of The World
07 - Angel
08 - Don't Look Down
09 - Perfect Stranger (Johnny Be Good OST)

Michael Sadler - vocals, keyboards
Jim Crichton - bass, keyboards & synthaxe
Ian Crichton - guitar, shadow midi guitar systems & synthaxe
Curt Cress - drums, percussion


SAGA Wildest Dreams (1987) USA edition
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JOHN WARREN - One Heart (1990) + bonus

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

As promised, here's JOHN WARREN's "One Heart", the follower of the recently posted 'Private Motion'.
Even more AOR oriented than its predecessor, "One Heart" delivers stupendous melodic tunes on "The Chosen Few" and "Rain Down On Me" in the vein of Steve Overland's FM, soft Westcoast tracks like "Another Side Of You" or "Show Me A Way" and his usual Hi-Tech numbers in "Don't Give Up" and "I Get This Feeling".

Title track "One Heart" is an elegant midtempo AOR, while "We Danced All Night" reminds you those mid-eighties soundtrack catchy songs.



Added as bonus, two unreleased tracks: another song recorded by Warren for the television medical drama 'General Hospital' entitled "Into The Fire", and the private demo "I'll Come Around", a ballad in the 'John Farnham' style.
Very Good stuff - Out Of Print.

01 - Rain Down On Me
02 - I Get This Feeling
03 - The Chosen Few
04 - Another Side Of You
05 - Hard World
06 - We Danced All Night
07 - The Rules Of Her Heart
08 - One Heart
09 - Show Me A Way
10 - Don't Give Up
BONUS:
11 - Into The Fire [GH OST unreleased]
12 - I'll Come Around [private demo]

John Warren - Lead and Backing Vocals
Andrew Gold: All Instruments, Backing Vocals
Joe Turano, Rosemary Butler - Backing Vocals



JOHN WARREN One Heart + bonus

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PRiSM - Small Change [remastered + bonus] (1981)

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

PRiSM were one of Canada's AOR pioneers for sure. The band never found a stable line-up, but all their recordings are prime examples of quality melodic rock, with an accentuated AOR inclination with each record released.
In 1981, presumably by the band's new label (Capitol) wishes, original singer Ron Tabak was fired, replaced by Henry Small for the 6th album wisely entitled "Small Change".
It was not only a change at the mic, but also in the general musical approach, more commercial and radio friendly AOR.

For this matter, external songwriters and future super stars were brought in, like Jim Vallance & Bryan Adams contributing the lead single "Don't Let Him Know", a wonderful fluffy AOR tune with a killer chorus. Both Vallance & Adams also wrote the brilliant AOR ballad "Stay", very much in the REO Speedwagon style.
"Turn On Your Radar" is classic, lightweight CanCon mid-tempo AOR, the punchy "Hole In Paradise" is pure Melodic Rock Heaven, and "Rain" a dreamy ballad with great atmosphere.

The Bruce Turgon (later in Shadow King and Foreigner) penned AOR rocker "Heart And Soul" keeps you moving with style, in the intense "When Love Goes Wrong" Henry Small sounds like a young Mark Free, while Prism does a very cool rocking rendition on Jimmy Rodgers' "In The Jailhouse Now".
The album ends with the Foreigner / Sheriff sounding semi-ballad "Wings Of Your Love", adorned with pianos and nice bluesy guitars.


Although it scored a couple of US Top40 singles and went platinum in Canada, "Small Change" incredibly wasn't properly released on CD by Capitol years after.
The now defunct -and great- German label ATM picked up the challenge and released this (and follower 'Beat Street') on CD for the first time in 1997 (there's also a Renaissance reissue) including 6 bonus tracks.

These are the prev. unreleased "Cadillac Club", the rocking "N-N-N-No!" from the previous recording and four alternate takes / mixes from the main album. Honestly, I hear few differences, the most noticeable are the louder guitars on "Heart And Soul".
All are included here in my file, but the main "Small Change" is ripped from the rare promotional only, special limited edition, remastered version. There's only few copies of this one on vinyl and CD.
Classy!

Limited Edition remastered:
01 - Don't Let Him Know
02 - Turn On Your Radar
03 - Hole In Paradise
04 - Rain
05 - When Will I See You Again
06 - Heart And Soul
07 - Stay
08 - When Love Goes Wrong
09 - In The Jailhouse Now
10 - Wings Of Your Love
ATM label bonuses:
11 - Cadillac Club
12 - When Will I See You Again (Alt. Version)
13 - Heart Ans Soul (Alternate Version)
14 - Stay (Alternate Version)
15 - Rain (Alternate Version)
16 - N-N-N-No!

Henry Small: vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards
Lindsay Mitchell: guitar, vocals
Allen Harlow: bass
Rocket Norton: drums


PRISM Small Change remastered
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