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AOR HEAVEN ::: N E W S L E T T E R ::: 28/05/2021 |
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Howdy melodic rockers,
No bigger delays with lost parcels
etc. recently, just the usual drama with "so called
record companies" which simply can't deal with their
business.
This belongs to the new Tim Montana
album "Long Shots" - this guy is quite big in the US and
on a big country label, but they don't have product
available in time of the official release date !
Even more ridiculous is the next
delay of the new Midnite City Cd - now they have moved
it back to June the 25th - needless to comment !
Also the new Rock Candy stuff
(Avalon, Silent Rage) has been postponed back over here
to June, the 18th - it's a mystery how this can happen !
In this case we better concentrate on
the stuff which is available - two great titles from
ROXVILLE and TOBB plus the Gideon's Army re-issues -
high quality stuff !
wishing you a great week
Georg & Monika
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AOR HEAVEN RELEASES:
MICHAEL FURY - Affairs In Babylon
(digitally remastered)
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A: 11 € |
B: 13 € |
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Myles Hunter (ex Avalon Canada), bassist Martyn Jones and guitarist Rob Kennedy founded MICHAEL FURY (named after a character in James Joyce’s short story, “The Dead”) in 1979. They did the predictable round of club gigs throughout Canada until split up in 1983. Hunter met keyboard wiz Howard Helm (ex Zon) one year later and start to play with him the songs he has been written. Together decided to call Kennedy and Jones back, and with the addition of drummer Dave Mihal reform MICHAEL FURY. An initial demo was picked up by a local small label and the result is “Affairs In Babylon”, released in 1984.MICHAEL FURY toured constantly throughout the country, but they began getting an identity crisis as people mistook the group name ‘Michael Fury’ for Myles Hunter himself. To compound matters the label tried to push the band as a solo act. This didn’t sit well to the group (Hunter included), then a major US label offers a deal to the band and they bought back the rights to the album and signed a new contract. The disc was re-mixed and re-recorded for the most part, and modified with new songs, “Affairs In Babylon” was re-issued under the band name REFUGEE, with new drummer Brian Doerner (Helix). For the re-release of “Affairs In Babylon” under the Refugee moniker, 5 tracks were replaced by 5 new ones, but those 5 original songs were excellent, too.
Initally only released on vinyl and cassette this mega classic Canadian AOR classic get finally released on CD as a limited edition of 1000 copies incl. liner notes by Dave Reynolds and a remastered sound by Anthony Panacci. |
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Listen: https://youtu.be/CxK0jrF-Ypc |
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PROUD - Second Act
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A: 11 € |
B: 13 € |
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Swedish outfit PROUD, founded as BURN in 1982, with their second album - 37 years after their debut “Fire Breaks The Dawn“ (1984). “Second Act“ is classic melodic rock like it’s probably almost only possible in Sweden. The material offers a warm sounding production. Two original members are still on board. The guitars foremost but also the versatile voice of Anders Magnell bring the eighties back to life as well as the massive amount of keyboards do. Just check out ear-candy like “Broken Dreams“, “Crying In The Night“ und “Dangerous“. Mix and master by Erik Mårtensson (ECLISPE).
MARTIN STARK |
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Watch: https://youtu.be/5dB7qhEaBRA |
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TUPLE - Welcome To Hell
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A: 11 € |
B: 13 € |
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TUPLE is Tommi „Tuple“ Salmela (v, TAROT, LAZY BONES). Keyboard-driven melodic hardrock with elements of glam and certain parallels to WIG WAM, THE NIGHT FLIGHT ORCHESTRA or even RETURN. But this guy from Finland is able to push the limits of the genres aside here and there a little bit. Examples would be the popish “Hold On To Me“, the duet “Survive“ with BATTLE BEAST frontwoman Noora Louhima or the rock club anthem “Pride“, which will make you dance. The songs are loosely connected lyric-wise and take the listener on a trip to Aspen, Colorado in the 18th century. TUPLE has absolutely come to stay and “Welcome to Hell“ is rather heavenly than hellish…
MARTIN STARK
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Watch: https://youtu.be/esNjHZuDsWk |
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EXPECTED NEW RELEASES !!
ROXVILLE - Fallen From Grace (digi pack)
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B: 12,5 € |
B: 15 € |
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Formed ten years ago and after some line-up changes, British melodic hard
rockers ROXVILLE solidified in 2017 and starting to materialize the dream of
their first album. Titled “Fallen From Grace“, this is a cracking 13-track CD
plenty of ’80s US influences from the genre with an updated sound akin the
Scandinavian new wave. There’s killer riffs, massive choruses and a maturity
rarely seen into a debut CD. Jamie Sloane’s lead vocals soar all over, Chaz
Jones’ George Lynch-like solos kick some serious ass, they have a huge rhythm
section recalling White Lion / Black N’ Blue best era, cool keyboard slashes,
and a fantastic production in the best Michael Wagener fashion circa 1987. Both
thumbs up for this great release !
watch:
https://youtu.be/qZyK9TwWK-E |
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TOBB - Overrated
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B: 13 € |
B: 15,5 € |
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Called by their fans ‘the Norwegia answer to TOTO’, TOBB (which original name
was The Original Bullshit Band) already pleased us way
back in 2015 with their album“True To Our Sound” (featuring Bill Champlin
guesting at one song). Six years later the Norwegian big band (8 band members
incl. horns- and trumpet player) is back on track with "Overrated". which is
pure eargasm for every serious west coast AOR lover !Think PROMOTION (which is
pre-GRAND ILLUSION) meets their fellow countrymen LAVA and add a good dose of
CHICAGO and you can easily imagine how "Overrated" sounds like. Both thumbs up
for a killer west coast AOR release !
listen:
https://youtu.be/I0gNDyFHAXo |
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GIDEON'S ARMY - Grace
(digi pack, digitally remastered)
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B: 13 € |
B: 15,5 € |
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With
3 studio recorded efforts; "Rock And Roll For Your Soul" (1982), "Warriors Of
Love" (1985) and lastly "Grace" (1990), Gideon's Army stayed together for about
16 years or so with various personal changes. The band made a huge impact with "Warriors
Of Love", but with no formal distribution many people never got their hands on
the now high dollar collectible vinyl of this legendary classic rock release.
This problem continued with their third and final album, "Grace" (1990), which
was a killer melodic rock release of the highest order, but copies were almost
impossible to find. Fans of Idle Cure, Novella, Petra, Sweet Crystal and early
nineties Guardian will be in love with this phenomenal album !
listen:
https://youtu.be/qC3re4BzPj8 |
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GIDEON'S ARMY - Warriors Of Love (digi pack, digitally remastered)
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B: 13 € |
B: 15,5 € |
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Gideon's Army was a San Francisco Bay Area based combo formed
at the end of the 70s which played extensively the US west coast mostly as part
of the white metal movement. Yes, Gideon's Army was a Christian band, but they
were a different beast than Stryper, Whitecross or Petra. Their sound and style
has more in common with Night Ranger, Idle Cure,
Aviator, Icon, etc, combining hooky melodic guitar riffs with tons of keyboards
and swirling synths over a catchy hooklines baggage. In short: "Warriors Of
Love" (1985) is an awesome mid-eighties ear-candy US Melodic Hard Rock / AOR
album. First time ever on CD incl. a great remastered sound this is utterly
essential stuff for 80s AOR lovers.
listen:
https://youtu.be/SiFbiIQ58nI |
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NEW RELEASES IN STOCK!!
HELTER SKELTER - Sinsational -The Hollywood Stories (digitally remastered)
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B: 12,5 € |
B: 15 € |
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L.A. based glamsters Helter Skelter
were promised as the next big thing from the Sunset Strip. They had a classy
look, worked hard and sold out shows at The Troubadour, Whisky and the Roxy,
with their songs lying somewhere between the pop-rock savvy of Poison and the
hard rock of White Lion. Sad but true they only recorded two three track demos
on tape. The CD will feature the entire material recorded by
the band in 1990 and 1991 (6 tracks) plus three live bonus-tracks, all carefully
remastered, and enriched by the usual 16 pages full colour booklet featuring the
complete story of the band and tons of unseen pics, press-cuts and gigs’ flyers.
Vol. 10 of the "Lost U.S. Jewels" collector series, strictly limited to 500
copies.
listen:
https://youtu.be/JBOK9LPh9N0 |
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BJATO - Crazy Game Of Love
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B: 13 € |
B: 15,5 € |
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After the
acclaimed debut album "At Last", the talented and unique "Backman Johanson and
The Others" (BJATO) are back, and thrilled to announce the release of their
follow up album "Crazy Game Of Love". BJATO'S music is well known for its West
Coast Rock/AOR style. With a strong emphasis on well-arranged songs and
chorus's, this new album has an exciting line up, with many of the musicians and
singers who worked on the "At Last" album returning. This includes TOBB lead
singer Frode Vassel and also BEYOND IMAGINATION singer Viktor Johansson amongst
many other well known Scandinavian AOR- and West Coast musicians. Perfectly
produced this is high quality stuff for all West Coast AOR lovers.
listen:
https://youtu.be/9cx26etYzu4 |
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STEVE EMM - First Strike
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B: 12,5 € |
B: 15 € |
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From the same label which brings us
all those fantastic Lost U.S./U.K. jewels re-issues comes this Italian singer /
songwriter. After many past and present collaborations
with underground bands in the Milan area, the talented multi-instrumentalist
Steve Emm (aka Stefano Mainini) last year decided to start his own Hard Rock/AOR
project, simply called after his name. After a self released EP in 2019 he
caught the attention of Steelheart Records which gave him the chance to record a
full album. "First Strike" is a clear hommage on the glorious sound of the 80s
AOR- and melodic rock era. Steve Emm might not be the next Mark Free, but he
sings with power and passion and the album should find a good home.
watch:
https://youtu.be/5AaMW0yCLk4 |
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LOU
GRAMM - Question And Answers
(3 CD box set, digitally remastered)
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B: 27 € |
B: 33 € |
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Lou Gramm released his debut solo
album, "Ready Or Not", in 1987. Produced by Pat Moran with Lou Gramm, it
featured the hits 'Midnight Blue' and 'Ready Or Not' among a collection of songs
that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Foreigner record. Lou also found
time in 1987 to record a track for the soundtrack of teen horror flick, "The
Lost Boys". His second solo album "Long Hard Look" (1989) followed the success
of his debut, it was produced by Peter Wolf and contained the hit single 'Just
Between You And Me', making No.6 in the U.S. Hot 100. The third disc contains
different remixes, maxi versions and and the collectible "Questions and answers"
radio promo interview.
watch:
https://youtu.be/7cRdgIZgobs |
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BLOODBOUND - Creatures Of The Dark Realm + DVD (digi pack)
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B: 14,5 € |
B: 17,5 € |
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Melodic power metal from
Sweden. BLOODBOUND absolutely deliver with album number nine, too. Probably a
little bit less heavy than the previous efforts but still all their trademarks
are on board. You get mighty anthems (“Gathering Of Souls“) as well as faster
songs like “Eyes Come Alive“. “Creatures Of The Dark Realm “ is finest stuff for
lovers of Scandinavian melodic metal. It definitely needn’t always be HAMMERFALL
or SABATON! Horns up!
MARTIN STARK
watch:
https://youtu.be/jARzdT3S_cw |
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KENNY MCGEE - Heartless Daze One (digitally remastered)
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B: 12,5 € |
B: 15 € |
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After achieving his newfound fame
with JULLIET, Kenny McGee would not slow down. He wanted to broaden his horizons
further and found the perfect opportunity to do so shortly thereafter. A great
opportunity would return Kenny home to Florida where he began his solo career
with the band HEARTLESS, a band deep in the rock and roll tradition. HEARTLESS
would pack clubs night in and night out and record countless never-released
songs. Critics and fans argue this is Kenny’s best music he has ever recorded.
First time ever on CD and even stronger as the Julliet stuff - think CINDERELLA,
GREAT WHITE and cohorts. Digitally remastered by Rob Colwell.
listen:
https://youtu.be/NVSib9Cdh4A |
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KENNY MCGEE - Heartless Daze Two (digitally remastered)
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B: 12,5 € |
B: 15 € |
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After achieving his newfound fame
with JULLIET, Kenny McGee would not slow down. He wanted to broaden his horizons
further and found the perfect opportunity to do so shortly thereafter. A great
opportunity would return Kenny home to Florida where he began his solo career
with the band HEARTLESS, a band deep in the rock and roll tradition. HEARTLESS
would pack clubs night in and night out and record countless never-released
songs. Critics and fans argue this is Kenny’s best music he has ever recorded.
First time ever on CD and even stronger as the Julliet stuff - think CINDERELLA,
GREAT WHITE and cohorts. Digitally remastered by Rob Colwell.
listen:
https://youtu.be/NVSib9Cdh4A |
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ALIADOS - Get Off My Life |
B: 12,5 € |
B: 15 € |
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Time for another exotic release, this
time we're talking about the band Aliados from Peru. They're in the business
since 1996 with three albums in their discography as following : "Abre Tu Alma"
(2000), "Aun" (2005) and "Luz" (2016). The first album has been released on a
major label (Columbia) and "Get Off My Life" is now their first release with
English lyrics on Kivel records. The five piece from Peru pays hommage to bands
like Bon Jovi and Gotthard with their catchy melodic rock sound, but their songs
are more or less just average at its best and by judging the usual issues with
the lead vocals from such exotic countries this is not really on the priority
list for melodic rock lovers.
listen: https://youtu.be/BXylqvZERcg |
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KING COMPANY - 06/25
DEVILS IN HEAVEN - 06/25
EYES (SE) - 06/18
KENS DOJO - 06/11
STYX - 06/18
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