by Surly » Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:34 am
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"