STARFIRE

STARFIRE does not stop. And next week, there is a brand new live DVD coming out. Here is the trailer... http://youtu.be/cn-ot50sbYY Drops September 28th.

Thanks! We do, too. It's an amazing venue and we're anyone in attendence will have a great time.

FYI...

Just bands from those years or new bands with that sound? I would recommend Line of Fire, Fire Tiger, Britannia, Station and, naturally, my band if you're open to new bands with that late 80s/early 90s sound. There's also Lionville if you haven't heard of them before. Their 2nd CD is especially West Coasty.

The very first music video from my band STARFIRE, "Cat Walk" the new single from the upcoming album due out September 30th on Dynasty Records: The Way I Am. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq_JG_E_4bo Please "like" and share, won't you?

Figured I'd reply to the existing thread with my own review rather than start a new one... For the Genre: ***** (5/5) Compared to the Era: ***** (5/5) Summary: Just three words for this one… Oh. My. God. I love the classic rock act like the next guy… Treat, Stan Bush, Nelson, Whitesnake, Night Ranger, Journey, Grand Illusion. When they can pull it off, and pull it off right, not caving into the stripped down tendencies of the dark decade (you know, the 1990s), I’m usually thrilled with the results. However, there’s only so many late 80s and early 90s Rock Candy releases I’m going to be interested in because I’ve heard it all before. My library is an extensive collection of what used to be Top 40, hard rock by the likes of Living Colour, Winger, Ratt and others. I don’t feel the need for any re-issues or more classic bands like Warrant or Styx to try to make a come back. It’s almost depressing to see my childhood idols in their 50s and sometimes 60s still try to rock it. I want to see guys my age, in their 20s and 30s, doing what I love. Heavy drums, hard rock guitar, intricate solo work and soaring, harmonic vocals. Apparently, Sweden is the answer to my prayers because Oh My God, Work Of Art—the next big thing out of the Scandinavian country—delivers every single piece of what my ears have craved since I was a little boy wearing out my father’s Quiet Riot cassette tapes. Left-handed guitarist, keyboardist and main composer Robert Sall teamed up with drummer Herman Furin years ago in music school according to their website. However, it wasn’t until they landed upper-stratospheric vocalist Lars Safsund that Frontiers would cut a deal with these guys to bring us their debut album, which I’m about to purchase due to the genius it brings in its own right. To be clear, there is so much right with this release that I hardly know where to begin. I can try to start with the fact that out of 12 songs, I love 11 of them. It’s an album for true lovers of Album Oriented Rock. Specific examples of that include the way “Eye of the Storm” seamlessly blends into “Until You Believe” or the way the clearly Toto-inspired “Fall Down” transitions into Castaway. Then there is the production exemplified by the absolutely enormous sound on the final track, “One Step Away” and on “Never Love Again,” which gives a die-hard 80s-rock fan like myself the sonic power we’ve been so utterly hungry for in new music for years. Then there is the highly creative single “The Great Fall” that when you close your eyes, you can imagine a dark arena with the lights coming on one at a time as the song gets ready to begin. It’s so catchy, just like “Nature of the Game” or the lead-off track, “The Rain.” So many songs on this disc make you want to sing along, like “Call On Me,” which is my absolute favorite on this CD for some reason—I wouldn’t call it the heaviest track, it’s just so catchy. Another sing-along ear-worm is the remarkable “Emelie,” by Sall and inspirational lyricist Hanif Sabzevari and further enhanced by the great low-end work by bassist Henrik Linder. Even though there was a huge number of people that worked on the production, from Safsund running the mix on six of the tracks and the other six by Bo Reimer to the local mastering hero Mats Lindfors mastering the record, it comes out like a solid piece of work. And I was so happy that Frontiers didn’t go cheap, and provided purchasing fans with a gorgeous jewel case with outstanding artwork by Mr. Carl-Andre Beckston. Even today, two years later, this CD has been spinning in my car almost non-stop since the moment it arrived in the mail and I can hardly think of a finer musical purchase that I’ve made in recent times. No one who loves Melodic Rock will regret getting this one. It’s an instant classic.

Journey ECL1PS3 (2011) Frontiers Records Produced by: Kevin Shirley For the Genre: ***** (5/5) Compared to the Era: ***** (5/5) Summary: With a fresh, accessible sound, ECLIPSE is an epic sonic journey. By now, everyone should know that Journey can bring the goods. A veteran group with its original founding band leader, primary guitarist and composer Neal Schon still at the helm, writing and recording in San Francisco since before the poser days of the late 80s MTV scene on Sunset Boulevard, he’s still doing it the right way in the California bay area. Masterfully recorded with the great Kevin Shirley in Berkeley, California and in Nashville—the Live Session Recording Capital of the World—this disc is like owning a museum masterpiece in your own home. Disregard Frontiers’ el cheapo “Digipak” cardboard packaging and awkward slip-disc center packaging; between the outstanding artwork and delightful photography, this record is still worth purchasing physically. This isn’t hyperbole; I’m purchasing this one on Vinyl! Why not? There is NO filler on this album! Ordinarily, an album—especially by our favorite classic rock artists—kick off the set with a great lead off track, like Night Ranger’s “Somewhere in California,” only for each subsequent song more anemic than the last before eventually petering out; perhaps there is a nice hard hitting track somewhere near the end, but by then, you’re wishing you just streamed it over Spotify instead. Not Eclipse. Right after “City of Hope”—which is a freaking epic song with its huge vocal sound throughout, heavy guitar work and solid percussion work—come even more hook-healthy, groove-centric songs like “Chain of Love” or the intensely urgent “Edge of the Moment.” Then, there has never been a more Journey-sounding songs than the hard hitting “Ritual,” or “Tantra,” a dramatic, sweeping orchestral-backed piano ballad intro to the majestic rock supporting Arnel Pineda, who—in my opinion—should have been the end of the you- know-who should re-unite with the band “debate.” It’s over. It’s dead. It’s done. Arnel Pineda is the voice of Journey, and that is one of the songs that cements this reality into existence permanently. I call Eclipse an epic sonic journey for a reason; a song like “She’s A Mystery” makes this record anything but a nostalgic throwback release from a classic rock band; that track could have been released by any new, great band. It’s modern, but not annoyingly so. Schon’s layers and layers of acoustic and electric guitar work forms a handcrafted tapestry of sound fit for a long drive along the coast of California. This along with “Venus,” the great reprise of the end of “To Whom It May Concern,” a wonderful gift to the listener, and the avid fan of Album Oriented Rock.

I thought I posted this but I can't find it, so, here it is. If this is a duplicate, feel free to let me know and delete it. Worlds Collide (2010) Unruly Child Frontiers Records Produced by: Bruce Gowdy & Guy Allison For the Genre: ****- (4/5) Compared to the Era: ***** (5/5) Summary: Artistically sophisticated, even if it is lacking in a few areas. The thing that first struck me about this record is the excellent production quality, which is something that is far from par for the course. Whether we are talking about independent releases or major RIAA productions, a clean, crisp and clear mix is not something anyone should take for granted. In particular, I was extremely happy with the drum mix, which is rare. I almost never like the drum mix, even on some of my all-time favorite albums! The good news persists with the fact that there are a number of very catchy songs like “When We Were Young,” which has a lot of attitude to get started but then takes you higher with a magical sounding chorus in the middle sections. Another winner was “When Worlds Collide,” a song with a sound that could have made it a staple on rock FM radio throughout the late 1970s and 80s. “Life Death” was one of my favorites because in spite of the kind of its dry sounding 70s-era Styx-like chorus, the main hook on that track is heavy and deep, with a groove that hits you in your stomach. I couldn’t get enough of it. “Very First Time,” to me at least, sounded like a very radio-friendly track that could have found a home on the charts in nearly any era throughout the last 40 years with a terrific vocal performance, clean and simple production, and an up-beat arrangement to match. Not every song on the album is a winner, though. For example, “Read My Mind” has an excellent beginning but goes in a direction that, to me, didn’t seem quite right. I’m sure others will disagree, finding it emotional and compelling—but it didn’t have that effect on me. Furthermore, I was also disappointed with Frontiers’ choice to go with the cardboard wrap on this record. Especially since the great Hugh Syme did the graphics art. This was one of those albums where a full jewel case with a CD booklet would have been preferred. As it stands, my recommendation stands at just buying downloads of a few of the better songs on this album.

I already have tickets. Just gotta get a room and plane tickets... It'll be great to meet up. I'm also very interested in cross-promotion with you guys. The few of us NEW US AOR acts there are have to stick together, heh.

Where are physical CDs sold in the major cities in Australia these days locally? Are there any Internet CD stores based in Australia? I'm curious because I spend a lot of time trying to understand the reach of music distributors.

(Before I begin, just want to say it's good to be back. Been a way a really long time sorting out some stuff in my personal life and wrapping up some academic work. Hope to be around a lot more...) For the Genre: ***-- (3/5) Compared to the Era: ****- (4/5) Summary: A solidly produced debut release slightly suffering from a split personality. I’ll be honest. It took me a really long time to get around to this album. It took me too long to appreciate some of the things Perfect View was trying to do on this release. I did give the CD a fairly high rating due to the high quality mix, the excellent musicianship on the part of the band and that the songs were relatively catchy, but, make no mistake. This is not a record that is going to grab you by the lapels and force you to pay attention to it. Hold Your Dreams can be compelling at times, but not consistently so. The songs are sometimes ethereal and mysterious and then they can be obtuse and predictable with feigned emotion. Perhaps this is my bias shining through as I grew up in the 80s as an American in Los Angeles where bands like Motley Crue and RATT virtually invented the style; you can’t fake swag and I feel at times like some of the songs tried to do exactly that. If the the recordings and some of the songs hadn’t have been so good, the attitude coming off like a copy and not original in any way would have definitely given this a lower rating—especially on the “for the genre” category. Let me start with the matter of intensity. “A Better Place” ends up being a great song but not what I would have kicked off the album with—a kind of Journey-esque drum line and piano pattern for the intro and seems to go nowhere from there; at least, until the chorus. The chorus is Really good, and felt really well thought out. “Closer” is decent song with that AOR sound we really love as classic rock fans and I have no real complaints about this one at all, except I would have sequenced this one later on the CD also. The album seems to really find its guts with the third track, “One More Time,” The keyboard arpeggios are a bit overdone in what was supposed to be the grand, climatic moment of the solo but I feel that was its one blemish; channels a bit of Fates Warning on this one with its exquisitely executed vocals, drum pattern and Iron Maiden/Queensryche-inspired guitar line, this is one of my two favorite songs on the album. Another favorite is “Believe,” with its creative introduction and tasteful keyboard lead line, the vocals are genuine and compliment the song really well and the excellent solo section—all instruments combined—are the icing on the cake. “I Need Your Love” is my other favorite song on the album, with a nice fist pumping intro—majestic keyboard work with a great swelling start. My next favorite song cannot be found until the ninth song, the title track, “Hold Your Dreams,” which again channels more of the Fates Warning/Queensryche/Iron Maiden sound/feel that Perfect View really does pull off very well; it’s a very creative song, excellently sung and sufficiently heavy. The final track on the CD, “Where’s the Love” I would have sequenced earlier on the disc, perhaps right after “I Need Your Love”—it’s very heavy, well thought out, highly melodic and just plain sounds good. “A Reason to Fight” is a decent ballad, but I really would have made it the second to the last track on the album because it brings the energy level way, way down at its low speed tempo; it eventually becomes intense like Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing”—better in some ways, namely the solo—but still very slow. Ironically, one of my least favorite tracks is “Run,” which does not suffer from a sluggish tempo at all but the obligatory motorcycle engine revving sound effect at the beginning is pretty uninspired and contrived in my opinion, and the rest of the song just kind of powers ahead with very little thought except for some guitar parts toward the end. The downhill slide continues on “Showtime,” which tries to do what “Hold Your Dreams” did with the very creative, thoughtful instrumental portions but then switches over to an interpreted form of the glam/sleaze thing from the late 1980s. Another track like that, only worse, is “Don’t Turn Away,” trying way too hard to grab that circa 1990 RATT cheesy “swing metal” feel. The chorus is pretty good and the really good guitar work in parts keeps this song from getting eliminated from my playlist when playing back the entire album, but it was not a good sign of things to come. Another song like this one was “Speed Demon,” my least favorite song on the CD to be completely certain. This review may sound like I’ve heavily panned this release as barely worth purchasing but I cannot overemphasize the mix is beautiful and the musicianship is beautiful. This is a good sounding album to the ears, and was worth my money. I just felt like some tracks could have been left off the CD, or at a minimum, re-arranged, but this is what can happen with a self-produced album. There isn’t an industry expert hanging around saying, “hey maybe this song doesn’t need to be six and a half minutes long, eh?” That’s kind of the fun of indie rock, though. It’s a little experimental. It’s not always predictable, or at least, it shouldn’t be. But that’s why it’s a little disappointing when bands hold themselves back by being predictable. Paying homage to your heroes is admirable and one of the reasons why we all either make or love listening to Melodic Rock, and I’m definitely not one of those jerks that believe they need to “get out of the 80s sound” in order to be viable. Big drums and articulate guitars are a good thing. It’s just that we don’t have to settle for tired arrangements, contrived sound effects or fake sleaze. More songs like “Where’s the Love” and less songs like “Speed Demon” on their next album will guarantee a purchase from me.

This CD blew me away. I actually can't get with this guy's vox (it's an acquired taste, I guess). I'll have more to say about this album soon, though. The songs are absolutely amazing and the guitar work is some of the best I've heard in the last twenty years, easily.

I couldn't make it to the June 2nd show but when they added the 9th, my wife decided to buy me tickets for my birthday. :-) They sounded good but I was cognizant of backing tracks. The "drum solo" by Alex Van Halen was pretty surreal--more backing audio and video tricks than him doing his thing, but they're in their late 50s so it's kind of a remarkable he's beating out songs like Chinatown and Hot for Teacher still. His brother Eddie sounded much better last night than he did the first time I saw him back to DLR In Los Angeles or even the time before in San Jose in 2004 with Sammy Hagar. He has hit timing, Hot for Teacher wasn't a hot, sloppy mess like it was when I saw him try to play it with DLR in '08... Wolfgang also sounded pretty good, especially on backing vocals. In fact, him and his dad were doing MOST of the singing. David Lee Roth was just screaming and talking most of the time, and the while looping the same corny 23 Skidoo dance routine. It was good to see the jumps and high kicks have yet to be retired, even at their age. They played all the hits, but also included some highly pleasurable deep cuts like "Women in Love" so "true" Van Halen fans could feel special that the band shows they still care about them. The new tracks are actually really good though, too. "Chinatown" is killer, "The Trouble with Never" is very melodic and has a great classic VH sound but I personally wished they had have played "Big River" instead of "Tattoo." Much, much better song. The crowd was largely what I expected. Life long 95.5 KLOS listeners; the motorcycle jacket 'n bandanna, tattooed goatee wearing Anglo Saxons that normally show up for a Van Halen or Motley Crue gig. There were several younger people there, too (including kids; theirs, I'm assuming). It's great to new a whole new generation of rock fans are going to learn about and appreciate great electric guitar players like Eddie. There were a few killjoys, though. Some arrests, even a couple of ambulances showed up outside. A grand ole time was had by all. ;-) For the first concert I've had the pleasure of attending in far, far too long (probably four years at least), I sure am glad this was it. The crammed quarters where my wife and I sat notwithstanding, I had a crazy good time. It's just so good to listen to Eddie play live while he's still doing it.

I am probably going to just buy the MP3 from Amazon as oppose to getting the whole CD. I should have done that with a couple of releases I bought this year. - Dairenn

The second album does sound quite a bit like the first one. It is a good sounding album but compared to some of what Frontiers was releasing in 2010, it fell short for me. I guess I should be happy that someone other than Robin Beck is providing female vox on AOR releases in these times, but I can't imagine spending north of $11 on an Issa CD and for that one I paid over $17.

Issa Sign of Angels (2010) Frontiers Records Produced by: Ronny Milianowicz, Tim Larsoon & Tobias Lundgren For the Genre: *---- (1/5) Compared to the Era: *---- (1/5) 7 “Issa” is a project by Serafino Perugino—the president of Italian Melodic Rock record label Frontiers Records—and brings Uli Kusch on drums, Nobby Noberg on bass, Peter Huss on guitar and Tim Larrson on synthesizers with contest-winning vocalist Isabel Oversveen, a glamorous looking singer that graces the front cover of this debut release. Whether browsing the photographs throughout the CD booklet, watching the music video or listening to the music, it is clear that Perugino’s primary objective with this project was to make a record Frontiers could market in the North American music market by cloning Avril Lavigne. If female-fronted rock with cynical lyrics is your forte, this will be your album. However, if you are looking for songs that are optimistic about love, you can buy the 7th track, “Unbelievable,” and stop right there. After listening to this album several times in a row, I ended up enjoying at least half of the songs on the disc once I was able to mentally filter out Issa’s nasally vocals and the whiney lyrics. The raw feeling of the music with often mono guitar tracks and rough, heavily compressed drum tracks reminded me of early Mötley Crüe, including the gratuitous motorcycle sound effects on “Flying High.” I think my favorite thing about this album is Nobby’s deepy, throaty, heavy technique, with thick plucking and lots of string rubs. Great examples of that are on songs like “As I Live and Breathe,” “How Will I Know,” “River of Love” and “Falling Angel.” Nevertheless, I had to give this album a lot of chances to appeal to me because it took a long time for me to appreciate some of the better aspects of the record. I was bored to tears by the opening track, “Angels Crying” and what could have been a sexy song in “I’m Alive” ended up being, really, anything but for a lot of reasons. I usually don’t care about lyrics at all but if the music is unimaginative and deliberately produced in such a way as to suggest the most important musician on the song is the vocalist, then I end up focusing on the least appealing aspect of the record. Specifically, I thought the endless use of barre chords on the guitar tracks and the irritating synthesizer were a particularly unfortunate combination. Perhaps if the compositions weren’t so bland and generic on the majority of the material recorded for “Sign of Angels,” I could have given this a better rating. However, I have to say, this is the most disappointing release I’ve ever purchased with the Frontiers Records imprint.

Stan Bush Dream the Dream (2010) Frontiers Records Produced by: Holger Fath For the Genre: **--- (2/5) Compared to the Era: ***-- (3/5) Recorded in Sherman Oaks just six miles away from where I live—and released on the same day as the debut live performance in Studio City just a few miles away featuring my own band, Stan Bush teamed up with long-time partner Holger Fath and legendary bassists Matt Bissonette to record “Dream the Dream.” This is an album that if you like John Waite, or classic Foreigner, will certainly not fail to delight. Bush is a master at songs designed to inspire images of overcoming obstacles, fighting for love, and being victorious. While the exterior artwork might not be much to look at, I appreciated not only the great imagery in the booklet to accompany the CD, but also the cool photos of the man himself, Stan Bush. My favorite song on the CD was “More than a Miracle,” because unlike the other tracks, it’s really peppy and energetic with catchy vocals, and intense composition. My second favorite would have to be “Love is the Road,” because the chorus is so emotional, inspirational and hopeful. “Two Hearts” is another song just like that, although it seemed a bit melodically disjointed to me, a common issue I had with the majority of the material on this album. For example, I loved “I’m Still Here” but it really sounded like two songs that were cut and pasted together that only had the tempo in common, which is too bad—because this one got a lot of spins in the car when I finally listened to it. My favorite thing about this album is that it did open with a very strong track: “Never Hold Back.” It is so inspirational, and it makes you feel good to listen to it, no matter what mood you’re in. “Sam’s Theme (The Touch)” was quite clearly an attempt to get onto the soundtrack of the 2007 “Transformers” movie and that’s unfortunate because it sounds truly awful. The only thing worse than today’s American rock bands is when someone from the 1980s-era tries to go for that sound (like on any album Warrant recorded after 1990). I’m sorry that track got on this CD because it is hardly representative of Stan Bush—not his tone, not his vocal style, his songwriting style, or anything else. It should have been a bonus track included as a free download to better promote the record. The other issue is that I think I would have produced this album much differently. “In My Life” is the only song that had drum tracks that sounded the way they should have for the whole album—grand and full of tone. In fact, I would have ended the album with that song instead of “Sam’s Theme.” “The Touch” and “You’ve Got the Power” on the soundtracks of The Transformers: The Movies and Sailor Moon are Stan Bush’s claim to fame—just follow him on Twitter and Facebook. As it turns out, he has been a prolific AOR rock recording artist, dating back to 1983 on CBS Records, which is not news to anyone who’s into melodic rock. What probably is, is the fact that Stan continues to write and record new music and even his most lackluster tracks sound better than anything I’ll hear on FM radio here in Los Angeles.

Sherwood and Kaye have gone off to work on a new project now, CIRCA: but I wonder what Kimball is doing now. There was a collaboration with Jimi Jameson which sounds AMAZING (CD is in the shopping queue) but now Jameson has announced his return to Survivor.

Yoso Elements (2010) Frontiers Records Produced by: Billy Sherwood For the Genre: ***-- (3/5) Compared to the Era: ****- (4/5) I really felt like I got my money’s worth on this album: two CDs, the original album with 6 out of 12 tracks I truly enjoyed, nice artwork, and songs filled with Tony Kaye’s delightful synth work, Bobby’s legendary vocals and the extremely underrated production, composing and arrangement of the great Billy Sherwood. Great examples of his production come on fantastic tracks like the opening number, “Yoso” – very lush with everything coming together at just the right moments. “Walk Away,” which not only achieves the same things but does so with a simple yet delightful bass line and using Jeff Porcaro’s Rosanna-shuffle. Great examples of arrangements come on songs like “Path to your Heart” and “Where You’ll Stay,” the latter that really channels the great songwriting styles of composers of the 70s. Another song like that is the final track, “Return to Yesterday” which is very Yes-like in its acoustic emphasis. One of my favorite songs for how it was produced was “Come This Far.” Elements comes packaged as a double-disc Digipak; and, while I usually dislike paper-board bound compact discs, the dual-CD jewel cases are so fragile and awkward to handle, I actually like how much easier it is not break the packaging to get to the other disc. On this release, the disc consists of a live performance that is a mix of Yes and Toto songs, much like the name of this supergroup—consisting of Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye and multi-instrumentalist Billy Sherwood, and ex-Toto frontman Bobby Kimball. The booklet provides all the lyrics and credits and lots, and lots of photos of the trio—in the studio, in the woods, on a photography studio set, etc, etc, etc. For some reason, MelodicRock.com didn’t much care for the artwork on the cover but I actually liked it a lot. I wish they have had explored the concept of what they were doing more instead of all the extra pictures of the guys. It is unfortunate that Yoso is now defunct; I hear they wrote additional songs for a follow-up record, but things have been interesting between Bobby Kimball, Toto, Frontiers and, I suppose, Kaye and Sherwood—to say the least, which is a shame. I was a big fan of the live footage I saw of their performance of Cinema/Owner of a Lonely Heart and, “Walk Away,” one of the finest tracks on this album.

The Murder of My Sweet Divanity (2010) Frontiers Records Produced by: Daniel Flores For the Genre: ***** (5/5) Compared to the Era: ***** (5/5) You can’t go wrong with Swedish Metal whether it’s the incomparable Kee Marcelo from Europe or the legendary Yngwie J. Malmsteen, they took what we were doing in L.A. and took it to a whole new level of technical proficiency, sonic clarity and musical intensity with classically-influenced passages and Divanity is no exception to this. On their debut album, The Murder of My Sweet unleashes its brutal assault with “No Evil” which comes with all of the face-melting fury of a mid-2000s American metal record but with the audio excellence for which European hard rock has come to be known. Drums with balls, and understated yet appropriately-mixed guitar tracks support the cinematic orchestral section that provides the epic feeling you are watching a Hollywood Blockbuster. “Follow the Rain” is the foot-stomping, fist-pumping head-banger that I’ve yearned for since “Bring me to Life” by Evanescence. I’ve been so addicted to this song, I’ve been playing it at least 3-4 times a day, every day, for a week. You just have to hear it to understand why. The only problem I had with the product was Frontiers’ choice to go with a silly-looking DigiPak. These things are probably suitable for press kits or other promotional materials that might be included as part of a magazine issue. However, in my opinion a full-length, retail release should never be packaged like this. They do, however, make up for this by providing an enhanced CD, which includes video from “Bleed Me Dry.” Although, quite frankly, I enjoyed the video of “Follow The Rain” on their official Myspace profile more. Throughout this record, you will hear shades of everything from Queensrÿche to Queen but this is definitely an album with its own identity. It isn’t rehashed 80s nostalgia, and it isn’t raspy, screamy or whiney. In short, buy this album. Once you listen to it, you'll know why I said to!

W.E.T. (2009) Frontiers Records Produced by: Erik Martensson For the Genre: ****- (4/5) Compared to the Era: ****- (4/5) With fresh arrangements that have modern tendencies but preserve the spirit of melody-driven music, and excellent instrumental performances, this debut collaboration between Work of Art’s Robert Sall, Eclipse’s Erik Martensson and Talisan’s Jeff Soto Scott is a record that ought to be getting heavy rotation on American FM rock radio stations. Better than just about anything on the Billboard Top 100 US rock songs, these tracks are evidence that the heart of rock and roll now lives in Europe. Legendary vocalist Jeff Scott Soto does a simply flawless job of delivering everything a heavy AOR record needs: power, melody, and soaring energy. Some songs do a better job of showcasing the guitar work than others, but whether it is the outstanding rhythm section on amazing songs like “Invincible” or “Just Go,” or the great solo work on “Comes Down like Rain,” there is a lot to love. Perhaps the greatest strength of this album is the incredible arrangements and song composition of many of the tracks, especially ones like “If I Fall,” “My Everything” and “Running from the Heartache.” The production on this album is also incredible it’s very loud but also clear and you can hear everything. The vocal effects are tasteful yet they’re there—it doesn’t sound like you’re in a closet with the vocalist with their lips six inches from your ear like in a lot of bigger releases. I love the way the bass and drums sound on this album and you can tell a lot of thought went into just about every moment of this album, especially the way tracks like “One Love” and “One Day at a Time” blend into the ones that came before or after, respectively. Besides Dennis Ward, Martensson is very clearly the top producer in AOR and Melodic Metal. You really get your money’s worth when you buy the CD not only because of the nice artwork and the full lyrics that come with the disc, but the inclusion of an Internationally-playable DVD, featuring videos of “One Love,” “Comes down like Rain,” and “Brothers in Arms.” No, they clearly didn’t spend a million dollars on it like Will Smith’s “Miami” but they’re far more enjoyable and it’s awesome watching Jeff, Erik and Robert do their thing.

Voices of Rock High & Mighty (2009) AOR Heaven Produced by: Chris Lausmann & Michael Voss For the Genre: **--- (2/5) Compared to the Era: ***-- (3/5) There are some highlights on this disc, without question. You get shimmering production—plenty of heavy bass grooves, big drums, tight guitars, crisp synth work and clean, clear vocals across the board. You get fairly enjoyable arrangements, particularly on tracks like “Shame on You,” “Lay you Down to Rest” with Mitch Malloy and “Tonight” by the incomparable Joe Lynn Turner. As a song, “Into the Night” fell short for me but vocalist for “The Eternal Idol” by Black Sabbath, Tony Martin, sounds as great now as he did two decades ago, and gives you a reason to listen to this song. But tracks like “Dirty Games,” “In the Heart of the Young,” and “Rock Me” had some of the worst backing vocals I’ve ever heard on an AOR release; they’re just so weird. “Rock Me” and “Dirty Games” try to go for that 80s-style sleazy glam and falls really short and I’m not sure if it’s because Paul Shortino is more bluesy than he is a Vince Neil-style glam singer or David Reece sounds like he is talking when singing on “Dirty Games.” It just didn’t work. “Down the Drain” is the worst example of the lack of imagination on this CD: forgettable drums on a bland song with painfully contrived lyrics made worse because Paul Sabu’s vocals suffered from clumsy delivery that sounded very strained. “Only 4 Ever” is much better but the music is just so forgettable, and in a genre where melody is just as important as the vocals and lyrics, it’s really only as good as your garden-variety Billboard Top 40 rock song from the United States. Perhaps the weirdest thing about this CD is project producer Michael Voss’ cover of “Maniac.” It’s actually not bad, but the minute you hear it, you’re asking yourself, “why?” Covers are already a dicey proposition, even when you’re good, everybody loves you, and you’re selling a ton of records and shows. Sometimes it works out when you have the chops, like Joe Lynn Turner on Sunstorm’s debut CD for a song like, “Night Moves.” But I can think of so many other songs that could use Voss and Lausmann’s treatment that would have come across much better, like Head Games by Foreigner. I’m dying for a much heavier rendition of that song. I had really high hopes for this CD; I couldn’t wait to buy it when I found out about Joe Lynn Turner’s involvement and when I heard “Shame on You” on one of the Melodic Rock Facebook pages I follow. But sadly, it didn’t end up being the winner I hoped it’d be. And though the artwork is not bad, even that is marred by the use of that cheap-feeling and looking DigiPak packaging. The best recommendation I have would be to buy a couple of the MP3s from your favorite online digital downloads retailer, and burn your own mix disc.

We can agree to disagree on whether or not it's fair to compare genre's but I've never been a big fan of micro-splitting "rock" into a ton of different genres. The fact that we even have to call it "melodic rock" to distinguish it from stuff like Coldplay and Kings of Leon is already annoying to me because it all used to be Just rock, or Just metal. Metal and rock now mean a sound completely different than it once did. So my "compared to the era" rating is about a specific album and how well I think it holds up against the rock--as radio stations and Billboard magazines define it to be--released out of the same year. I chose to take that approach primarily because I wanted to actually highlight very specific differences that, to some, might be a good reason to check out these acts that get little to no exposure in the United States, whether in print or on the air. Not too long ago, I happened to discover these acts and am trying to spread the word because the more fans the genre can get as a whole, the better for existing fans, the bands that make the music and the producers and labels that record and distribute it. In addition, I do this as someone who, like a lot of us in the United States, had all but written off rock as dead (when Creed was the best we could do in the early 2000s, it's hard not to draw that conclusion). Classic rock radio continues to thrive because people still prefer that sound in their rock. Music fans young and old go to the shows when those bands go on reunion tours. These artists' songs end up in movies, commercials, and everywhere else. But here's the thing... Finding all these newer releases now has been a much needed breath of fresh air, because as much as I love my 1987 copy of Winger and Whitesnake, or No Rest for the Wicked by Ozzy in '88--I've heard these albums thousands of times before and it's nice to be able to listen to new music but made the way I like it. I'm hoping others who are hoping to find the same thing will find that out through websites like this and reviews from participants like me so that they, too, can experience the same sonic relief. :-)

Goran Edman's track was horrible, heh. Easily my least favorite which was a bit disappointing, because I loved the way he sounded on Yngwie Malmsteen's "Eclipse." To clarify my "compared to the era" grade, it's my way of saying how much better (or worse) the CD is compared to non-AOR/Melodic releases from the United States out about the time of this album's release. With a 4/5, I'm saying I consider "Voices of Rock" to be appreciably better than the majority of American major label, mainstream releases from the year 2007. I created that separate evaluation because, in my opinion, even a bad (say "2 star" or worse) Melodic Rock album is almost always much better than American Top 40 rock. I say almost because I've heard a few CDs released by so-called MR/AOR bands that were, honestly, not better than a US album from the same year. I find it more fair to compare releases from the same year (or years nearby) than those of an entirely different decade because they were never intended to compete with future/past recordings.

Voices of Rock MMVII (2007) AOR Heaven Produced by: Chris Lausmann & Michael Voss For the Genre: ***-- (3/5) Compared to the Era: ****- (4/5) I’d recommend this CD to anyone trying to introduce somebody to the awesome world of AOR and Melodic Rock. Modern, sleek production but with all of the attention to detail that made metal and hard rock from the 1980s as incredible as it was. Excellent guitar work, powerful drums and vocalists that really sing the music. While a compilation featuring different artists, all of the music was new and original. The songs were arranged, composed and written by Lausmann and Voss with additional performances by Tommy Denander and Angel G. Schleifer—the lead guitarists on “Underloved” and “Voodoo Woman” respectively. Bertram Engel performed all drum tracks. The amazing artwork and excellent typesetting was by Ingo Ertl and the incomparable Carl-Andre Beckston; one more thing that makes this album worth physically owning. My favorite tracks, from least to most were Steve Overland’s Slip Away, Johnny Gioeli’s Phoenix Rising, Terry Brock’s Nightingale, Harry Hess’ Irresistible, Robin Beck’s Underloved and James Christian on Voodoo Woman. I seriously cannot play the last two tracks without turning up the car stereo volume VERY loud. They are amazing tracks.