New Wave Outpost Forum

Anyone here into 80's AOR? Looking to build up my collection and to give you an idea here are a few of my favorites, what do you guys like? anything to recommend? the obscure the better ...

DWIGHT TWILLEY - LITTLE BIT OF LOVE
ERIC CARMEN - I WANNA HEAR IT FROM YOUR LIPS
HONEYMOON SUITE - NEW GIRL NOW
JOHN PARR - MAGICAL
JON BUTCHER AXIS - DON'T SAY GOODNIGHT
RIO - SHY GIRL
STABILIZERS - ONE SIMPLE THING
TAXXI - GIRL (NEW YORK CITY)
THE RESTLESS - I WANNA KNOW
TOMMY SHAW - GIRLS WITH GUNS
TOMMY SHAW - REMO'S THEME (WHAT IF)
TONY CAREY - A FINE FINE DAY
VAN STEPHENSON - MODERN DAY DELILAH

AOR rules!

The good Eric Carmen: leader of the Raspberries
The bad Eric Carmen: "All By Myself", "Hungry Eyes"

I can't help myself, but I'm a major fan of Taxxi.

Shouldn't this be in the NNNW Section?

Anyways, I really don't know if this AOR or Pop Rock or whatever but I am nominating Benny Mardonez - Into the Night.

My throat hurts just listening him sing that song. Literally.

[quote][i]Originally posted by darwinsky[/i]
<br>Shouldn't this be in the NNNW Section?

[/quote]

It's OK that these stuffs would be taken up here in the forum.[;)] I also have some stuffs from DEVOMANIAC List. HE HE HE!![:D] Actually, they are good stuffs and worth listening too.[;)]

[:)]An apple a day keeps the doctor away!
DR. STIRRING RHOD

Not that I like to use this site to post spam about others, but http://www.glory-daze.com/ is to AOR what this place is to new wave.

I love the canadian band Teaze(had three excellent albums,covering styles from tough glam,to hard and sleazy AOR)as much as Streetheart,Queen City Kids,Nick Gilder,John Hall band,New England,Benny Mardonez,Stu Daye(CBGB's late 70s metal/rock band!!).Really,is there any other punk/AOR crossover song than New Enland's amazing P.U.N.K?

"Frozen Heart" - FM UK. We really didn't have AOR (Album-Oriented Rock) radio in the Philippines outside of DZRJ, which was a mix of classic rock, AOR, '50s music, Pinoy Rock, folk, blues, and some New Wave and punk. "Frozen Heart" got played on then Top-40 station 99.5 RT but that track was probably on AOR stations stateside.

Michael Sutton
CEO/Sutton Records
http://www.suttonrecords.com

[quote][i]Originally posted by suttonrecords[/i]
<br>"Frozen Heart" - FM UK. We really didn't have AOR (Album-Oriented Rock) radio in the Philippines outside of DZRJ, which was a mix of classic rock, AOR, '50s music, Pinoy Rock, folk, blues, and some New Wave and punk. "Frozen Heart" got played on then Top-40 station 99.5 RT but that track was probably on AOR stations stateside.

Michael Sutton
CEO/Sutton Records
http://www.suttonrecords.com
[/quote]

The UK label Beat Goes On has released two FM albums, Indiscreet & Tough It Out, as a double cd. Very worth getting, IMO. A great AOR band! Frozen Heart is off of the Indiscreet album.

I agree. I got that in the mail a few months ago.

[quote][i]Originally posted by devildog[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by suttonrecords[/i]
<br>"Frozen Heart" - FM UK. We really didn't have AOR (Album-Oriented Rock) radio in the Philippines outside of DZRJ, which was a mix of classic rock, AOR, '50s music, Pinoy Rock, folk, blues, and some New Wave and punk. "Frozen Heart" got played on then Top-40 station 99.5 RT but that track was probably on AOR stations stateside.

Michael Sutton
CEO/Sutton Records
http://www.suttonrecords.com
[/quote]

The UK label Beat Goes On has released two FM albums, Indiscreet & Tough It Out, as a double cd. Very worth getting, IMO. A great AOR band! Frozen Heart is off of the Indiscreet album.
[/quote]

Michael Sutton
CEO/Sutton Records
http://www.suttonrecords.com

...
I think it's way too general of a term. There is even such thing as Hi-tech AOR. Many artists can be put into this category.

Wouldn't Richard Marx be AOR as well? Or even Def Leppard, Bon Jovi etc etc?

Here is a rare one from Sweden i think:

Alien - Tears don't put out the fire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI7Q3iH9AT4

One of my first radio jobs in 1981 was at an AOR station in Southern Maine. Then they decided they wanted to make money so they switched to Adult Contemporary.

[quote][i]Originally posted by modesty[/i]
<br>journey
[/quote]

speaking about Journey, came across this Gregg Rolie song on youtube.... great slice of AOR from 1987, I never heard it before, pretty obscure I guess. Now I want that Gringo record of his [:D]

Gregg Rolie - I Will Get to You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kgDN0sHMVE

This is a pretty cool thread to reactivate; I missed it the first time around. While I am a new waver at heart, I do like some AOR stuff. Some of it I avoided in the '80s but gained an appreciation for as time went on.

I live in LA now, after years in NYC (with stints in Cincinnati, Minneapolis, and Atlanta as well), but I grew up in Cleveland. WMMS was the king of AOR stations (I have no idea what they are doing today). Living in Cleveland in the '70s and '80s, it was impossible to escape The Michael Stanley Band (we know 'em as just MSB). They scraped the Top 40 with two songs, "He Can't Love You" (with vocals by Kevin Raleigh), and "My Town" with Michael on lead. This is true "Heartland Rock," nothing more. Most people here would hate it. I even tried hating it during the '80s. But, I grew up on it, and I do appreciate it now, at least for what it is.

AOR fans unfamiliar with them should check out their two minor "hits" I mentioned, along with "Lover," which is a Cleveland anthem (the band regularly sold out concert shed Blossom Music Center in its heyday), "Strike Up The Band," "Rosewood Bitters" (actually an early solo cut before he formed the band), "When I'm Holding You Tight," "In The Heartland," and "Why Should Love Be This Way." They managed to put out many albums in their time, on Epic, then Arista, and then EMI, but they just never "hit." It's hard to figure out why, but it wasn't until I was in my late teens before I figured out that they weren't superstars beyond the Cleveland/Akron border. Their '70s live album [i]Stage Pass[/i] was their label's response to [i]Frampton Comes Alive![/i] and it's a Cleveland classic.

Jonah Koslen was a member at one time; he later formed a band called Breathless. They had 2 albums on EMI; the single "Takin' It Back" is a solid AOR tune. Super melodic. Guitarist Kevin Greene went on to other local bands (and even worked for me in a mall record store for a short while); he was in an AOR band signed to Red Label in '85 called The Innocent that featured a young Trent Reznor on keyboards! NIN fans would be mortified!

Cleveland son Eric Carmen? Hell, yes. Lots of amazing stuff. Obviously I prefer the Raspberries material over the AC stuff like "All By Myself," but I do love solo hits like "Change Of Heart" and "That's Rock N Roll."

Others here have mentioned Taxxi - yes, I dig them, too.

Other suggestions:

Charlie - "It's Inevitable" (1983)
Donnie Iris & The Cruisers - "Do You Compute?," "Ah! Leah!," "Love Is Like A Rock," "That's The Way Love Ought To Be"


"Words like conviction can turn into a sentence"