2025 Classic rock / AOR Journal Vol. 1

Alice Cooper - Easy Action. 1975 Warner Bros (LP) (1970). It's true what they say when folks tell you this is nothing like the Alice Cooper you know. Musically this is a post psych, early prog, slightly jazzy release. If the songs were more memorable, I'd probably hold onto it. Apparently the band hadn't found their glammy hard rock sound yet, one they were to create on their next album Love it to Death.(Jun)

x - Cricket. 1979 Z-Brah (LP). Grabbed this out of a garage sale and it was strangely the only thing of interest in their stack. Signed copy of a private press rock album from Los Angeles is an immediate purchase for me. Guess the homeowners may have known the band in some way and the signature was for them. In any case the music displayed here is Female Fronted AOR (FFAOR), a subgenre that's become popular is recent years. Musically it's too brash for Yacht Rock, too rigid to be disco or boogie, and too AM poppy to be FM oriented. The songs are OK but mostly standard issue efforts looking for hits. Not near as charming as, say, Airborne. This is a very professional looking release. The band had a full management team and must have thought they were backing the winning horse. However, this horse was a loser and the LP was the only thing the label released along with a single (both cuts are from the album). No fame and fortune here. 2.5 stars. (May)

New England. 1979 Infinity (LP). I've been reading some very positive reviews about this album, some saying it's one of the great examples of late 70s AOR. I'm very much into that sound of late, so I thought this might be a good time to revisit the LP. And this copy has been signed by all four members of the band, giving it some value (maybe). I say revisit because I'd heard it real time when a buddy bought the album. I'm not entirely sure of the track we both liked but I think it was 'Shoot', which not coincidentally is also the heaviest thing on here. The one song that receives the highest praise is 'Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya' but I would not have liked that back then, and most certainly not now. In hearing the album throughout again for the first time in 46 years, I'm not swayed anymore now than I was when I was 14. The LP also draws in the prog rock crowd since it has an inordinate amount of mellotron for an album such as this. But not as much as Small Wonder, one of those obscure AOR albums I do appreciate today. New England comes from the time when many bands took on regional, city, or state names as their moniker. No takers for Scranton however. (May)

Brian Eno - Before and After Science. 1977 Island (LP). As I've mentioned before regarding Eno, his albums are unpredictable and generally fall under the guise of "art rock". Before and After Science is no exception to that motif. My observation is that Brian Eno pretty much got to do whatever he wanted to, and today is highly praised for his innovative approach to various kinds of music. I think a lot of artists would have had a similar trajectory had they been afforded the same freedom Eno received. Good for him though, because he took full advantage of it. Before and After Science is another mixed bag of before-its-time New Wave, before-its-time New Age, electronic music, Roxy Music stuff, and whatever else he could cram into 40 minutes. As is usual with him, each side is very different from the other. I'm going to let this go and take the profit, but if I find a cheapie CD out there, I may hold onto it. (May)

Head East. 1978 A&M (LP). Another $1 record. I was in the mood to go as fast as I could through my budget finds and get them into the show boxes. But this title caught my attention. Hey, not bad at all! I had little expectation for it, but it's solid Midwestern AOR with a hard rock punch. Not sure I heard enough to keep, but these guys showed up for this title and earned their place in the late 70s FM landscape. (Mar)

John Mayall - A Hard Core Package. 1977 ABC (LP). Later era Mayall trying to keep up with the times by adding a little funk. But it's still blues rock all the way. Stayed true to his principles, especially considering it was the late 70s, and I think this would be a fine album for loyal fans. Too straight up for me, but not an unpleasant listen. (Jan)

Ten Years After - Cricklewood Green. Chrysalis (CD) (1970). Generally considered their best album, the first two tracks hold out promise this is going to be a heavy psych winner. But it eventually bogs down into the blues, and even country music. It's not until the last track that my ears perk up again. Seems Ten Years After had a lot of influence here in North America, as you can hear this sound in a multitude of obscure major label bands from the same time frame. A good album, but nothing more for me. (Jan)

Billy Squier - Emotions in Motion. 1982 Capitol (LP). Squier is another character who dominated the radio in my high school years. He had a unique sound that brought 80s production techniques to 50's rock n' roll revivalism. He was much better at it than his female counterpart Joan Jett. Not so bad on the whole, and a decent ride at the memory theme park, but everything here is wide brushstrokes lacking in any kind of nuance. Similar to the cover painting. And not just anyone can claim that Andy Warhol painted your portrait. (Jan)

x - One Aisle Over - Live @ UAS 2-28-09. 2009 private (CD). Got this for free from a local shop. Couldn't find it in Discogs so why not try it? Sounds like a more modern version of Fleetwood Mac. Naomi Hooley's voice is a reasonable facsimile of Stevie Nicks. What we used to call Adult Contemporary music I suppose (maybe they still do). You will hear bands like this occasionally playing at some upscale bar / hotel in the ritzy Colorado mountain towns such as Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge, or Telluride. UAS is the University of Alaska, so same kind of regional identity. Not really for me. Would be 2 stars on RYM. (Dec 2024).

Other albums heard but not reviewed: Jefferson Starship - Dragon Fly (Mar); Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Deja Vu (Apr); Supertramp - Crisis? What Crisis! (Apr); Neil Young - Live Rust (Jun); ELO - A New World Record (Jun); ELO (1971) (Jun); Roxy Music - Manifesto (Jun); Idle Cure (Jun).

* - Keeping for the collection; x - Not in RYM

2021 Classic Rock / AOR Journal Vol. 4 - Complete

*Utopia - Ra. 1977 Bearsville (LP). A throw-in on an online deal (Nov). For some reason, I didn't embrace Utopia's second album like I did the first. It's a really odd mix that Rundgren has going here. It's a bit glammy like Queen and ELO at times. But there's some hardcore prog still going on - way out of fashion for when this was released. And of course, as noted eblow, Utopia did in fact embrace pop radio shortly thereafter. But this is unique enough to hold onto, for the short term anyway.

***The following came from a large CD drop at a thrift shop (Oct):

Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets. 2004 Virgin (CD) (1973). To me Brian Eno is something like David Bowie. Not the music content, though while in art rock mode, there are some similarities, but more in the fact that you really never know what you're going to get with him. And his debut definitely fits the "art rock" tag which is a style of music that I never truly embraced. For one, it's hard to define, so it's not always an indication of the music you will hear. Exhibit A would be Here Come the Warm Jets. For the first few songs, I was trying to figure out if I was going to sell it online, in a bulk sale, at the record show, etc... I mean, I'm not keeping it, right? Then comes the second half. Whoa, this is really quite good after all. It's unique, which is a +1 in my book, and probably will keep it here longer than normal. The CD is a dull commodity, and I'll keep an eye out for the LP, which will be tough to score. 

R. Stevie Moore - Phonography. 1998 Flamingo (CD) (1976). I wasn't quite sure which genre to put this in, but this section is sort of my "catch all" grouping. Moore's debut has a cult following among those that worship at the lo-fi bedroom recording altar. I can certainly appreciate the historical perspective, but that doesn't make the music any better. The only saving point is that Moore clearly doesn't take himself seriously here, which for many, ruins the experience. All the same, this isn't a pleasant listen and off it goes. This reissue is unique in that it has 8 bonus tracks. Excellent liner notes as well.

Utopia - Oops! Wrong Planet. 1995 Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (CD) (1977). Wasn't sure I'd even listen to this one all the way through, but it really isn't so bad. It's the 3rd Utopia release, and they've clearly cut ties with their proggy past. Mostly standard issue AOR with some hard rock passages. Not really very consistent style-wise, but the 45 minutes flew by without discomfort. These gold discs always go for good coin, which is the primary reason I bought it.

***end of sale

*Klaatu - 3:47 E.S.T. 2002 Bullseye (CD) (1976). Thrift shop (Oct). Klaatu are one of those bands that I somehow managed to avoid in my initial record collecting days of the 1980s and early 90s. I sensed they were more of a pop rock group than the type of underground prog I was looking for, and yet that cover always drew me in. My instincts proved correct, and I'm certain this is an album I wouldn't have enjoyed much back then. But I do now. And one can sense they are a prog band in a pop group's body. One can also understand the comparisons to The Beatles (supposedly they were the Fab Four in disguise, as the story once went). The music has a lot of similarities to Abbey Road, if looking for one album to relate it to. I found myself enjoying it quite a bit, to the grade of excellent. There's quite a bit of mellotron as well. Very fine CD, with lyrics and historical notes. Another quality thrift shop find - always on the lookout for obscure reissues like this, which carry value. 

*Klaatu - Hope. 2002 Bullseye (CD) (1977). This was sitting next to 3:47 naturally enough (Oct). More pop oriented this go round, as to be expected, but certainly still falls into the very good category. I love the sound this band possesses. The album once again does not disappoint.

*David Bowie - Space Oddity / The Man Who Sold the World. 1972 RCA with picture sleeve (SP). From the RT collection (Sep). 'Space Oddity' is one of Bowie's signature songs, and is really an odd one for commercial radio to have picked up on. The b) side is even more strange. Bowie was always operating in his own world and on his own terms.

Heart - Little Queen. 1977 Portrait (MC). Thrift shop find and the beginning of my quest for cassettes (Aug). This is one of those albums that go to the very beginning of my LP buying experience. I can remember even contemplating buying the album at age 12 - and it would have been one of the first ten I ever bought. 'Barracuda' was the big hit and I loved it. If you think about it, up until that point, Heart had struck gold with 'Magic Man' (proggy hard rock), 'Crazy on You' (hard rock), and the aforementioned 'Barracuda'. Which tells us that Heart were an excellent hard rock band. Which further makes you wonder why everyone insisted they be a sugar and spice band instead. The Wilson sisters were tough broads at the end of the day, and spice was their comfort zone. You'll often hear references that Heart were nothing more than a Led Zeppelin copy band. Certainly one can hear 'Achilles Last Stand' in 'Barracuda', but as I often say, influence is not the same thing as copy. Honestly Heart should have focused more on Zep and less on the radio charts. I'm sure the record execs of the day had a hand in this ultimately bad decision. In any case, there's a few other fine tracks here including the title song and 'Go on Cry', but for the most part, 'Barracuda' ends up still being the highlight. I'll go +1 here, but it's not enough to keep.

Boston - Third Stage. 1986 MCA (MC). With the above (Aug). Going back to the beginning of these journals, I noted that I had finally warmed up to Boston's debut (1976), no doubt a combination of nostalgia and a reluctant easing of years of vitriol towards it. I have no history with Third Stage, and honestly have no idea of Boston's history past Don't Look Back (1978). At what point does a band become a caricature of itself? Allow me to introduce Exhibit A: Third Stage. As stated in that journal, Boston always had a reputation for purposely crafting the perfect AOR record, maybe even as an hypothesis. They were so successful, the pressure was on to surpass that, which Don't Look Back did not manage to do. By Third Stage, madness clearly had crept in, and one can see Tom Scholz spending years re-recording each note. "No no wait... it has to sound just like this.. no, no, hold on, no like this... no no....". Meanwhile Boston misses the entire 80s experience, including MTV's heyday. Those crucial early 80s years of dumbo AOR bands like Journey, Kansas, Styx, REO Speedwagon, ad nauseum, raking in millions and millions of dollars, while Boston is in the lab trying to perfect the formula. And finally, in 1986, Boston releases Third Stage. Yes - the perfect album for 1980! All the new music buyers looking around saying "who's Boston again?". Dad Rock long before the term existed. The whole musical world had changed, and here's Boston recreating Boston (the album). I guess one cannot say it's a bad album, it pretty much sounds just like the previous two. But it was so out of time, it must have been hilarious to those who waited. By 1986, I could care less what a band like Boston were doing, and doubt I even noticed it when released. I'm sure my story is similar to many others. Boston let opportunity slip by. A tragic tale.

Melting Pot - Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble. 1970 Ampex promo (LP). From Independent (Aug). This title goes back to my CDRWL days. Looks like I never featured it. In any case, Melting Pot were one more band trying to capitalize on the horn rock movement. When the group sticks to brass rock, they do an excellent job of creating the magic of same period Chicago or Blood, Sweat, & Tears. But like a lot of brass rockers, Melting Pot ventured into soul and the blues, while also trying their hand at cover tunes. All of which disappoint. So it's about half excellent and half OK. I'll give it a +1, but it's not going to stick around here. Comes in a cool thick gatefold cover. Though obscure, the record company clearly thought they had a big winner here. There are no less than five domestic pressings plus this promo. And there's also a Canadian and South African pressing. As such, not an expensive record, though you won't likely find it at a local record store, as I did here.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River. 1969 Fantasy (LP). Thrift shop find (Aug). I forced myself to listen to this, given its universal high ratings. Yep - sounds like CCR to me. For my tastes, it's a slog to get through albums like this. About the only track I liked is 'Sinister Purpose', mainly because it doesn't sound like them. I just don't get the allure for CCR.

Small Faces - First Step. 1970 Warner Bros. (LP). From the RT collection (Aug). A couple of seconds in and that sounds like Rod Stewart to me. Oh sure enough, there's his ugly mug right up front. I never knew Rod Stewart was in Small Faces. But then again, I wouldn't know who was in Small Faces to begin with. Apparently this is a late era revamped lineup. Pretty much what you would expect, this is mostly UK styled blues rock, which I could take or leave. What saves this is Ian McLagan's Hammond organ work, which is really great, especially on the instrumental 'Looking Out the Window'. Overall I'll grade it out as good.

Steve Miller Band - Fly Like an Eagle. 1976 Capitol (LP). From Independent for 50 cents (Aug). Did Miller hit paydirt with the title track or what? He must have been out of his mind when he wrote that track - it's inspiring on so many levels. And it was exploited to the hilt, rightfully so. This was actually the last 45 RPM record I bought as a kid before moving away from records for about a year, before finally buying full length albums. As for the rest, well it's typical SMB fare, and ultimately a bit dull. I do like 'Wild Mountain Honey' but the other hits on the album I can live without. And there are no hidden gems here. Good on the whole. No need to keep for the title track. I'll hear it next time I'm at the grocery store.

* - Keeping for the collection