Anteater

Formed from the ashes of the San Francisco folk & psych rock scene from groups such as Stoneground and It's A Beautiful Day, Pablo Cruise (like their name infers) are a band that developed a very particular ideal from the very start of their existence: to be accessible, rock out and yet stay laid back and cool simultaneously. For these reasons, they're considered to be a classic yacht rock group as well as an important AOR influence on bands like Toto and Journey. And speaking of the former, Steve and Mike Porcaro are prime instrumental contributors to their 4th LP Worlds Away, the subject of this review and their most commercially successful outing.

Part of the charm is the high level of consistency on both sides of the record. At a trim 39:55, its one of those collections that doesn't overstay its welcome. The opening title track, blasting right out the gate with some cascading synth patterns and a huge harmony section is a reat treat of course, but there's a higher level of musicianship going on here than what may immediately seem apparent. Like Ambrosia, these guys flirted here and there with progressive rock: you hear it especially in the 6 and a 1/2 minute 'Runnin' and the Alan Parsons Project-ish 'Family Man', but the intricate arrangements and the overall polish of the material isn't too far from that aesthetic on the whole.

As mentioned, there's a strong oceanic vibe to these proceedings even on the less AOR-ish stuff, which was normal for the era if you were a rock band based out of California. The best of the yacht rock songs here is probably 'Sailing To Paradise' on side 2, which has a beautiful, swooning hook on top of a rather inspired melody. It's soft rock, but its damn good soft rock. 'You're Out To Lose' is the other major highlight, which shuffles along at a tasty pace with David Jenkins lead guitar work sizzling on top of main piano melody like bacon on a skillet.

By 1978, AOR was quickly shaping up into something "whole" that could be characterized and marketed through radio and other avenues to the general public, but many bands were still staying eclectric and mixing it up with other vibes, styles and helping define the kind of sound Journey and Foreigner would take into the stratosphere by '81 or so. Whilst these guys would burn out by 1983 just as AOR would really come into its own, Pablo Cruise's late 70's output is a very classy example of crossover AOR from the period and well worth exploring today.

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

Unknown Soldier

Trillion the name sounds like one of those long forgotten 1970s bands, which to be fair is a pretty accurate description for this Illinois based band and were it not for the late great Fergie Frederiksen that would certainly be the case in point. Trillion were on the one hand very much a product of the 1970s, with proggy leanings typical of a band like Starcastle and approaching the ambitious pomp-rock overtones of multi-million sellers of the time like Kansas and Styx, and had Trillion toiled this line without any real deviations they could easily be labelled as ‘that 1970s product’ but it seemed that the band initially had other ideas……. For the simple reason the Trillion debut must rank as one of the most melodic and even most poppy releases so far featured in this journal and for that reason the album spanks of the direction that AOR would eventually take. This melodic style though was certainly not obvious based on the visual marketing of the album, as the album cover and the bookends of the album in its opening and closing moments cry out heavy arrangements that would’ve done ELO proud.

In fact the intro to this album and the closing track, are musical arrangements that are big and bold in every respect and the album cover perfectly reflects this musical mood. All this though is possibly why the album ended up as a big commercial flop, because what was the point to presenting yourself as a ostentatious band and then litter the album up with easier listening poppy melodic numbers? Because let’s face it most of the songs end up having relatively normal looking song titles for an album that looks distinctly pomp based on its album cover. I guess the band might have thought that they were working on the art rock side of things here, by working in large amounts of poppy sounding material! Despite this melodic approach, a number of the songs are far from accessible though and the instrumentation throughout the album is tricky sounding on the ear to say the least. With these reservations aside, the Trillion debut despite its flaws might well be the most all-encompassing on this year’s list and rewarding for those that are looking for a surprise.

As for the actual material, the intro to the opening track “Hold Out” with its stomping intro is bold sounding to say the least, but then quickly gives over to the melodic approach of the band, which was the vocal style of Fergie Frederiksen at this moment in his career. This song then segues directly into “Big Boy” which continues with the melodic vein of the album opener and even neatly drops in some 1970s Marc Bolan backing vocals into the song, possibly a Gary Lyons the producer's idea here? Favourite tracks on the album include the energetic sounding “May As Well Go” and energetic was always a musical style that was most suited to Fergie Frederiksen, as he would prove to startling effect several years later on Toto’s Isolation album. The showpiece track and closer on the album is its most proggy concession, at that comes in the shape of “Child Upon the Earth” which certainly sounds like the type of song you’d expect to find on this album.

As the album goes on the tracks become slightly more ambitious such as the funky sounding “Fancy Action” which is a pretty accomplished piece from the band and the following “Hand it to the Wind” sounds like something that any commercial 1970s band could’ve written and “Bright Night Lights” follows the upbeat feel of most of the album well into its latter playing time. The worst tracks on the album are easily the silly “Give Me Your Money Honey” which plays as bad as it sounds and the soppy sounding “Never Had it So Good” which to be fair once it gets past its weaker moments, does have a pretty neat bridge and some hard rock guitar to beef it up a bit, so I might sound a bit unjust here on this track.

The album was produced by Gary Lyons whose crystallized production brings all the aspects of the album together in perfect clarity and the production is probably the best thing about this whole album. Fergie Frederiksen as he often did, didn’t hang around for too long and would eventually make his way to LeRoux to feature on one of the most AOR sounding albums from its glory years, before the giant step upto Toto and believe me that album is a story for another day…… Overall the album amongst those that do know it is something of a divided one, as there are those that regard it as an oddity that needs to be heard, whereas there are others that simply regard it as a throwaway effort resigned to the bargain bin at record stores back in the day and to be fair I can see why listeners could’ve reached this conclusion. Overall though both myself and Anteater must’ve seen the album’s merits to place it in the top 10 at the cost of other albums that were eliminated to fit it in.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Anteater

After their diverse yet auspicious debut, English/American early AOR heavyweights Foreigner were looking for the next flight up the stairway to stardom heaven. That came courtesy of a change in producer to up-and-coming hotshot Keith Olsen, a man who had the golden ears for this sort of material. He proved to be the ideal mentor for Lou Gramm, Mick Jones and Ian McDonald, the core songwriters at this point in time. It was the right match, and Double Vision hit shelves in late '78 and went on to sell 5 million copies and spawn a few hit singles in the process.

What separated Foreigner from most of their competitors at the time was the heavy influence of traditional blues-rock in their sound, an element that comes more to the fore here than the debut. While the prog-rock and more eclectic influences are scaled back a bit, Lou Gramm in particular took enormous strides to become one of the finest frontmen of all time. You still get your occasionally grin-inducing nuance on many tracks here, with notable examples being the haunting, orchestral-tinged closer 'Spellbinder' and the soulfully backed 'I Have Waited So Long', an acoustic ballad that wouldn't have been out of place in the mid 90's mainstream grunge scene, sax and all.

The more atypical AOR material however, such as the pure ballads or the uptempo oriented pieces is where the band was still a bit hit 'n miss. Of these numbers, the title track and 'Hot Blooded' are the best, while the ball was dropped a bit on 'You're All I Am' and a few others. This was a weakness they would sharpen up as they came into juggernaut superstardom in the early 80's, but it holds this album back from being a bona fide classic.

Like many bands in the late 70's, Foreigner were still trying to find their true path amidst changing trends. They had gotten off to a great start however, and with this album under their belt they would continue to refine their sound. Their greatest triumph, of course, was yet to come...

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

Unknown Soldier

Head First would be the most complete offering from The Babys a band that were destined to never achieve huge commercial success (even though they had their moments) The band were always there or there abouts and had they been around in the early to mid 1970s, they surely would’ve been one of those melodic hard rock bands on the UK music scene. They were also too early to be part of the 1980s peak years of AOR as well and therefore just ended being an inspiration to the scene. They were also fondly remembered as being the root band of John Waite, who would become one of the most popular figures in commercial rock throughout the 1980s, before featuring on the classic late era AOR Bad English debut album in 1987. Future Journey and Styx men Jonathan Cain and Ricky Phillips would also feature in the band for the upcoming tour and next studio album.

By the time of Head First the band had trimmed down to a trio after the departure of founder guitarist and keyboardist Michael Corby due to internal conflicts in the band, even though he is credited as additional personnel on the album. In fact the additional personnel on the album had some interesting additions that can be heard on the album such as the use of Strings and horns and the use of female backing vocalists, something that is not normally associated with an AOR album. Which not only makes Head First the most all-encompassing album in the band’s discography but probably the most diverse sounding on this year’s list.

Head First in some ways follows on from the AOR direction of the previous Broken Heart album but the diversity of Head First gives the album that ‘collection of songs’ feel which is further enhanced by the amount of different songwriters on the album from both within and outside of the band. Of the album's pure AOR material this comes in the shape of the strong album opener “Love Don’t Prove I’m Right” and tracks like "I Was One" and "Please Don't Leave Me Here". The album's lead single comes in the shape of "Every Time I Think of You" a power ballad infused with female backing vocalists and a single that would reach a lofty position of the US Billboard singles chart in 1979 and this song is far superior to the drab sounding other ballad "You (Got it)" that comes much later on the album.

The rest of the album's diversity comes in the superior sounding Beatles inspired effort despite some silly lyrics "White Lightening" with its reference to 'Lucy in the sky with diamonds' and "Run to Mexico" which feels like a nod to one of those classic American driving rock efforts of the 1970s. The contrasting feel of the album probably hits its heights with the title track "Head First" which feels like an upbeat AOR track that is punctuated by an almost new wave driving riff throughout the song. Album closer "California" is a real oddity to close the album with and feels more like a Christmas party effort than something that should be on this album.

Finally despite the album being recorded throughout 1978 and being scheduled for a 1978 release, the record label then decided to turn down the first draft of the album and this saw the album being shifted back to Jan 1979, but we decided to include it in the 1978 listing ss this was when it should’ve been released anyway. Overall this album is something of an oddity much like the Trillion release I covered this year making it something of an acquired taste for anybody looking to give it a twirl.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Anteater

On their first two albums, Ambrosia had already established themselves as the Los Angelian answer to commercial art rock bands such as Styx or Supertramp. They had the high level musicianship of Steely Dan but hooks and vocal harmonies on par with the Eagles or Fleetwood Mac. Couple those traits with god tier producer Alan Parsons and you had the blueprint of something special.

By the time recording for album number three rolled around however, the label was pressing for a hot single and Parsons had begun to embroil himself in his newfound partnership with Eric Woolfson for his Project, leaving Ambrosia to chart their course alone. To make matters worse, founding keyboardist Christopher North left the group right after recording sessions began, forcing the group to begin to widen their circle and bring in more session players (including, funnily enough, Steely Dan backing vocalist Royce Jones).

The ultimate result of these changes ended up being the band's most AOR album up until this point. The arrangements were leaner, the harmonies more straightforward, and the instrumental soling was pared back in favor of something slicker. They could still play circles around pretty much anyone that wasn't the 'Dan or Toto, but even the darkly cynical opening title track has a certain commerciality about it despite a very proggy keyboard line running through its core like an underground river. And speaking of harmonies, when bassist Joe Peurta opens up after the title track into the very Freddie Mercury-ish 'Art beware / Its all been done / There's nothing new under the sun', you see that the band has gotten even more clever than before at implementing progressive, even jazzy ideas into their burgeoning radio Westcoast-AOR rock formula. Not a common trait even among their peers!

The album's biggest hit, and arguably the first of their major "yacht rock" hits, comes in the form of ballad 'How Much I Feel', and it's certainly a highlight. Could have been on Steely Dan's Aja or The Royal Scam with a few tweaks. David Pack wasn't considered one of the best singers in that part of the world for nothin' after all, and he brings a lot of power when it counts. A rockier soul-inflected AOR sound returns on the calypso tingled 'Dancin' By Myself' whilst 'Not As You Were' is a keyboard-laden stomper that wouldn't have been out of place on Boston's self titled. Things close out beautifully with the spacey blues of 'Ready For Camarillo', and the last thing you hear is the sound of thunder and lightning as a storm cloud rolls over the final notes into silence.

All in all, this is an absolutely fantastic record with a lot to offer beyond AOR fans. Ambrosia are always unfairly lumped as some kind of soft rock ballad group, but that's only one small facet of what they brought to the table in both songwriting and performance. Their sound is a myriad of multiple genre touchstones (jazz, West-coast rock, progressive rock, blues, soul/funk) and yet they synthesize it into a weirdly compelling whole. This album marked a midway point in their career where their experimental and commercial aspirations were in perfect balance, and I can't recommend it enough.

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

Unknown Soldier

Over their last three albums Styx had clearly adopted the principal of combining intellectual keyboard-orientated pomp rock with a real hard rock backbone and into this they had then thrown their own brand of pseudo-intellectual lyrics for good measure as well. The band knew that focused shorter songs were the way to go and with a strong eye on commercialism the band were very much forerunners of the AOR genre and with Equinox and Crystal Ball the band had laid down their newer foundations, before then stepping it up a level with the glorious The Grand Illusion.

Along with The Grand Illusion, Pieces of Eight must rank as the pinnacle of Styx and while both albums have their differences (Pieces of Eight a concept album) and shared low-points, both albums though follow the same pattern of keeping their best material towards the back-end of the album. The previous The Grand Illusion after a couple of average tracks exploded into life with the epic “Come Sail Away” and continued to unleash a series of unforgettable tracks that really were band efforts. “Pieces of Eight” works in a similar vein with three opening tracks that do take time to grow on you, but overall the openers on Pieces of Eight “Great White Hope” “I’m Ok” the song was recorded in a cathedral and “Sing for a Day” one of the singles from the album, are more focused than those on The Grand Illusion with “I’m Ok” the interesting pick of the three here. Unlike the more drastic musical change on The Grand Illusion that took place after its opening tracks, Pieces of Eight does it in a more subtle matter largely through the use of synths with the oddball instrumental “The Message” and then even more impressively on the ambitious Queenesque progressive rocker “Lords of the Ring” given real backbone by James Young and a track that finishes the first side of the album.

Side two of the album romps off with the glorious Tommy Shaw anthem “Blue Collar Man” without doubt one of the greatest tracks ever put out by the band with some of the band's most memorable lyrics and one of my all-time personal favourite Styx tracks. Not to be outdone Dennis De Young then steps in with the equally glorious "Queen of Spades" which after a slow build up, steps it up a gear by introducing that crunchy rock guitar previously heard on "Miss America". "Renegade" is up next and it's one of the most famous tracks put out by the band with its obvious nod to Queen. But instead of following a possible Queen route, the song immediately jumps into Styx or better said Tommy Shaw rock-stomping territory and it's one of those songs that you just shouldn't leave home without. The album continues its stunning offerings with the Dennis DeYoung piano ballad "Pieces of Eight" and as possibly expected it enters into an unusual proggy section that keeps in tone with the rest of the album, before the album outros with the gentle "Aku-Aku".

Both The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight very much mirror the two albums from Kansas Left Overture and Point of Know Return in their compository nature. Kansas had gone into the studio under pressure to record a commercial breakthrough album with Left Overture and came out with a classic, they then had their creative freedom handed back to them for Point of Know Return. Styx despite having made a breakthrough on Equinox a few years back had commercially stalled with Crystal Ball and The Grand Illusion was like their Left Overture with their creative freedom being handed back to them for Pieces of Eight, which goes to show the pressure some American bands faced at this time.

Like The Grand Illusion, Pieces of Eight went triple-platinum and again it captures the unique identity of the band’s three primary songwriters and vocalists Dennis DeYoung, Tommy Shaw and James Young on its tracks and again they have sole writing/vocal credits for most of their own songs. Critically opinions were split on the album, with Rolling Stone calling the album ‘narcissistic slop’ and as usual most British reviews pretty much slated the album, but then again a lot of music listeners just don’t get the brilliance of Styx, but then again that’s half the beauty of rock music anyway and if I'd had my way this album would've been in the top two positions on this year's list.

I love everything about Pieces of Eight right down to its unforgettable album cover which to me is one of the most enigmatic of the 1970s with its alluring yet classical image of a mature woman’s head, even though I once read that Dennis DeYoung initially hated it. As I said on my previous The Grand Illusion review, that album had the ability to take me off to a far-away place, Pieces of Eight doesn’t offer me that option but what it does offer me is a special feeling of 1970s rock at its best and real feelings of nostalgia, as I first heard it back in the 1980s. So which album do I prefer? Well for me it’s like tossing a coin, as the answer I give today might be different from the one I’d give tomorrow.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Don’t Look Back the second album from Boston, is very much an album that divides opinions amongst most band aficionados. Is it a typical case of a sophomore slump or is it simply an undervalued album? From a personal perspective and fence sitting as usual, I’m of the belief that it's a combination of these two distinct viewpoints, as the album does have some very good material. Now because we do a voting system for these albums, my fellow reviewer here Anteater clearly belongs in the second camp as I know he rates this album highly, which is why it’s managed to feature so high up the 1978 list. As always though and as already said, the truth behind Don’t Look Back falls somewhere in-between these two differing opinions and it’s an album that really has its own story to tell.

After the band’s legendary debut album simply titled Boston and surely the archetypal statement of what a 1970s classic rock era-album should sound like, the pressure was surely on the band to follow up with something equally as good. Now enter band maestro Tom Scholz a multi-instrumentalist and tinkerer who clearly as time would reveal, hated being rushed when he was working on material, as the man was quite simply a musical perfectionist. The band’s label Epic were clearly in favour of a quick follow-up regardless of the outcome it seemed and were quickly at loggerheads with Tom Scholz over the recording schedule for the album, on top of this the band were also having problems with their management as well which compounded the issues that the band were going through. The end result was a 33 minute album which was deemed far too short by Tom Scholz for an album of this kind and later claimed that the album was not only rushed due to label pressure, but also fell one song short as well something that is plainly obvious by the album’s running time. As for Epic they were rubbing their hands as the album topped the US Billboard album chart and cracked the UK top 10 album chart as well, while still managing to go 7x Platinum. The album also gave the band another huge single in its title track “Don’t Look Back” and two additional hit singles as well.

The album starts with the impressive title track “Don’t Look Back” which feels like classic Boston all the way. The song is underpinned with a barrage of guitars and has vocalist Brad Delp who without doubt was one of classic rock’s greatest vocalists, fighting his way through the impressive guitar sound of the song. The song is further highlighted by its almost anthemic chorus section and memorable vocal touches. The song is also highlighted with its softer easier listening tones in order to be receptive to radio listeners. Instrumental “The Journey” at less than 2 minutes was clearly designed to show off Tom Schultz’s studio wizardry and in many ways it was the kind of instrumental musical section that some AOR bands liked anyway. Of the album's pure rockers “It’s Easy” which despite having some nice musical sections, is a perfect example of where the album suffers from that sophomore slump and is clearly not to the height of something similar from the debut album. "A Man I'll Never Be" which despite nearly falling into dreaded Queen territory, ends up being a pretty epic type of ballad track with some great guitar work, saved by Brad Delp's voice and that Boston signature sound stitched into the song.

The third killer track on the album is "Feelin' Satisfied" which despite starting off as a rather mediocre rocker, reveals itself to have a great burning section accompanied by handclaps and sounds like an archetypal late 70s rock staple, this is clearly Boston at their best. This is followed by "Party" which performs like a part animal in every aspect and is top draw and one of my favourites from the album all the way. "Used to Bad News" is a free flowing b-side sounding track that neither disappoints but neither ignites either and just ends up sitting there. The album finishes up with "Don't be Afraid" which is a blustery rocker and in reality is no better than the earlier "It's Easy" and certainly not quite upto finishing the album off as it stands. Now had the album had one extra song of real quality that Tom Scholz desperately required, this is clearly where it should've been placed to either close the album off or switched places with the aforementioned "Don't Be Afraid" which would've played better with a quality song before or after it.

Now no Boston review would be complete without mentioning the album cover and again this one fits neatly into the spaceship, sci-fi album cover concept of the band, something that would typify all of their studio albums over the years and much something that would be integral to the band.

On a final note Tom Scholz would finally have his way for the band’s third album Third Stage, where he would make both the record label and the general public wait some eight years before its release……………. and was it worth the wait? Well for me yes, as it’s my favourite album from the band’s menial release of six studio albums across their lengthy career. As for Don’t Look Back, it’s an album that gets kind of forgotten but all in all it has enough of the band’s good old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll slant on the AOR concept to keep most happy.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

JGuy Grungeman

Totally subscribing to this since I'm an AOR fan as well (sorry, junkies. I love Styx) and because these reviews are quite good.

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