Anteater

AOR, also known as melodic rock, arena rock, or "adult-oriented rock". It is also related to the radio format, album-oriented rock. Whatever you call it, AOR is the sound of many things: blasting down the freeway into an open city at 1:45 in the morning when the world is half asleep, hot chicks hanging around on the hood of your car..hell, the sound of fun itself. Like any style of real distinction, it has merits and signatures: huge choruses, over the top guitar-led harmonies, and production slicker than what most people are used to even in commercial metal. It was the face of rock n' roll that was made to rule arenas, and aspects of AOR would later get incorporated into so called "hair" or glam metal of the mid to late 80's. Hell, even bands and artists not normally associated with that stuff would dabble in AOR throughout the late 70's and the genre's prime years in the following decade. If you lived back then, it was pretty much impossible to get away from it. But really....why would you ever want to?

While the genre's commercial relevance fizzled out to pretty much nothing by 1992 or so as alternative/grunge stuff became in vogue, new bands and artists (as well as older ones) continue to keep the flame alive and produce new music in the style, especially throughout Scandinavia and other parts of Europe in general.

This thread will be co-authored by myself and Unknown Soldier, much like the Toto thread. As most of you have guessed by now, he and I really like a lot of the melodic rock that came out of the U.S. during the prime years of AOR radio, so this thread will be focusing on that period all the way to the "end" in the early 90's.

Some of these artists you will know, some you won't. You may like or even hate some of the albums featured here, but that just comes with the territory when a genre isn't popular. When all is said and done though, hopefully you'll all have some insight into the better works of the many talented AOR bands and artists of a bygone era.

So strap in, put on your cheesiest sunglasses, and enjoy your journey into the world of 80's AOR...an era that never "really" died and probably never will.

~ Anteater & Unknown Soldier

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

Trollheart

Ah, cool! I know I'm gonna enjoy reading this. Settling back...

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

OccultHawk

I thought it was Album Oriented Rock.

Hmmm.

Unknown Soldier

So what will the parameters of the journal be? Very simple and that is the best 10 AOR albums each year from 1975 to somewhere in the 1990s. Initially though 1975-1977 will be a combined listing as the genre was in its early days at this time.

How have we decided to do this top 10 album list? We'll each select what we feel are the best AOR albums each year, which will probably be around 15-25 albums in total. We'll then take a vote each with the best album getting the highest points and working down to the weakest which will get just one point. The two of us will then combine our points which will give us our top 10 and the rest will be eliminated.

So how will each year's listing work? We'll each review five albums each within the year listing and look to get a review or two out weekly, so it will be a long project.

How have we qualified which albums are on here? The trickiest part without a doubt, as we disagreed initially on which bands should be in and which bands should be out. In the end the deciding factor was what was the actual core sound of the band? For example bands like Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, Chicago and Fleetwood Mac amongst many others were eliminated despite the fact that they were all highly influential on AOR, as in the end we felt that the core sound of these bands was in something else such as jazz rock, soft rock, blues rock, country rock, yacht rock, R&B, soul, pop or even a combination of those styles rather than in what would become known as AOR. Some of these bands of course would later steer into an AOR direction, which will of course qualify them when the time comes. A number of progressive rock bands were eliminated as well, which put a lot of those great early Kansas albums out of the window.

So who did this leave us with? Bands like Journey, Boston or Toto that despite having roots elsewhere mostly dropped those roots or as in the case of Journey adopted an AOR line when new members joined the band. Any band that was considered pomp rock and some borderline AOR/progressive rock bands also made the list and of course anything that was pure AOR from the word go.

@ OccultHawk Yes it means that as well.

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Anteater

While it may seem strange to you guys that I'd start off with an album that's more vintage progressive rock than AOR, this was actually a defining trait in some respects of every major band who formed the bedrock for what was to come in 80's arena rock. Styx, Boston, even Journey...all these guys started off with a strong leaning towards the ambitious, keyboard driven theatrics of their British peers.

In the case of Illinois based AOR group Starcastle, the primary point of reference that's most obvious, of course, were Yes. That booming Rickenbacker bass, the obtuse vocal harmonies, the cosmic rambling lyrics...it's all here, but with a more straightforward bent that made them favorites in the heartland during their heyday. It didn't hurt that lead vocalist Terry Luttrell had originally gotten started musically with REO Speedwagon at the beginning of the 70's, so being a cosmic, high-tenored prophet at the mic was a fitting evolution.

After an auspicious and entertaining self-titled debut in 1976, Starcastle's second album Fountains Of Light in '77 took everything up a notch in most respects. This was partly due to the creative influx of hotshot producer Roy Thomas Baker, well known for his work with Queen at the time and already intimately acquainted with pomp rock by association. Couple that with a relatively sharp songwriting sensibility on the part of the band and everyone being above average at their instruments...and you have a recipe for success, at least in the context of what they were aiming for.

Songwriting-wise, anyone familiar with the dense keyboard orchestrations of Rick Wakeman or Styx's late 70's material will find that in high proportions over this album...and it works like coke-laced auditory magic on the 10-minute opening title track, the pastoral 'Portraits' and minor radio hit closer 'Diamond Song (Deep Is The Light)'. Hell, I'd argue that at this point in the decade Starcastle were actually a better "Yes" sounding band than the guys they supposedly ripped off. The harmonies are an interesting thing, somewhere between the aforementioned Queen, Yes and CSN&Y tonally. I suppose with lyrics like "Thousands have followed in the light of her hands", you know exactly what you've paid for here...but the fantasy flavored spaciness mixed with those dazzling keyboard runs and FM-ready choruses is quite the treat if the mood is right.

While the sound of radio rawk to come would be shaped more prominently by the bands these guys were actually opening for in the latter half of the 70's (such as Boston), you have to give 'em credit: Yes were probably the hardest progressive rock band to actually emulate either in actual performance or even in general "vibe". Just finding guys to do their particular brand of choral harmony would have been a challenge, and yet these supposedly derivative musicians managed to cop Yes's sound convincingly and take it into more commercial directions before Yes themselves thought to do so...and wrote some catchy tunes in the process!

And that, my friends, is a form of genius that doesn't come around too often. Catch you all on our next excursion into AOR's early years next week!

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

Unknown Soldier

When I listen to that Starcastle album, I often detect a Simon & Garfunkel influence on a few tracks like the "Diamond Song" which comes through over the heavier Yes sounding influences, especially when they sing 'amber and scarlet'

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

OccultHawk

Great start

I never heard this music and I'm immediately fascinated with it!

Unknown Soldier

Kansas were in many ways the definitive ‘American progressive rock band’ over their first four albums, largely because their core sound was a combination of classic prog influences and a tinge of traditional American roots rock (boogie, hard rock etc) as well as the traditional prog scene from across the pond. This certainly made the band a unique listen with their somewhat hybrid sound, which stood out from the other American prog bands that were overly obsessed with relying on the classic prog lines of their British peers. The enduring feature of the band and their signature touch was Robby Steinhardt, whose violin was to the band was what the flute was to Jethro Tull.

The band’s first four albums were progressive rock albums of real quality, but it wasn’t until the recording of Leftoverture and its monster hit in “Carry on Wayward Son” the song that brought the band to public attention, that the band hit the super league stakes of arena rock. This in turn directed the band into a more streamlined sound which becomes more evident on the inaccurately named Point of Know Return. What’s kind of special about Point of Know Return, is that It was the first album where the band were able to go into the studio without any pressure to secure a record deal.

On the Point of Know Return gone are the lengthy compositions but the prog-suite tracks do hang around, but by and large the longer style tracks from the previous albums are replaced with shorter tracks. The complexity of the band remains and they do self-indulge with their progressive leanings on symphonic prog tracks like “Paradox” the almost Emerson, Lake & Palmer sounding instrumental “The Spider” the prog rock-meets-hard rock of “”Portrait (He Knew)” with the finest two being “Closet Chronicles” and “Hopelessly Human”. Overall though the band are displaying a conscious drive towards a more streamlined sound that would take them into the more lucrative realms of AOR territory and this drive becomes evident on material like the album opener the eponymous “Point of Know Return” which is a typical upbeat Steve Walsh track with a strong melodic resonance to it. Robbie Steinhardt the violin player gets one sole vocal lead on the complex driven arena rock track “Lightning’s Hand” but the most accomplished AOR track on the album is “Sparks of the Tempest” one of the purest and best AOR tracks that the band ever put out and the song outro is so fricking cool sounding. “Nobody’s Home” is a late album piano-backed ballad and is a delightful song with not too many poppy jangles. Finally the album’s most famous track needs no introduction “Dust in the Wind” one of the most iconic singles form its era, a timeless classic that still sounds as fresh today as it did way back then.

Like with most of the bands that will be featured in this journal, keyboards/synthesizers play a heavy part in proceedings and they were certainly the showpiece instruments for Kansas and were orchestrated by the band’s two leader’s in Steve Walsh principal vocalist/writer (upbeat tracks) and Kerry Livgren writer (downbeat and ballad tracks) in fact the only negative here is that this comes at the expense of guitarist Rich Williams who doesn’t get the chance to break free as he had done on some of the earlier albums like Masque.

Certain reviewers critique the band for their uneasy alliance between the prog sound that they were born with and the more streamlined and even pop induced sound that they were leaning towards and for that reason an album like Point of Know Return splits opinions more than any other Kansas album, as this is the album where this battle between the band’s identity takes place. For example the album yet again demonstrates the band’s idiosyncratic qualities and the pseudo-intellectual lyrics that they always found hard to do without and they also demonstrate their proggy complexity, but there is also a clear drive to an arena rock sound as evidenced on the album. Personally though I think it’s one of the band’s finest outings if not quite my favourite, that would probably go to two of their earlier efforts, but nevertheless Point of Know Return is a vital listen.

Finally I grew up in a musical culture here in the UK that dismissed bands like Kansas as ‘Faceless Midwestern American Rock’ that should be avoided at all costs. I discovered Kansas not long after I discovered Styx in the 1980s and yes they may have been faceless (hiding behind beards) but hell this band could play and their 1970s discography is one of the most consistent and finest by any American band, and their album covers among the most impressive as well.

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Unknown Soldier

The Crystal Ball album would be the first full-blown recording to feature guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw who would become a pivotal part of the Styx line-up over the rest of their discography and form a musical love-hate relationship with Dennis DeYoung. Tommy Shaw was a recent addition to the line-up after previous guitarist John Curulewski had left the band after their previous breakthrough album Equinox, which was also their first major label release on A&M.

Now I’ll make no excuses for my biased opinion regarding Styx, as they’re without doubt one of my most beloved of all American bands and this high reputation from me would start with their Equinox and Crystal Ball albums and would only grow from here on. It should be noted that by the time of Equinox and Crystal Ball, that the band were already a veteran outfit as they had already put out four studio albums before these two, but by and large these are just albums for Styx only fans (known as the Wooden Nickel recordings) and some of the best tracks from this period are the well-known single “Lady” and the delightful John Curulewski penned “A Day” with its dreamy feel and Doors like middle section, the band would only really get things rolling in an AOR direction with Equinox and then with Crystal Ball they would build on that change of direction with the addition of Tommy Shaw.

Opening track “Put Me On” starts with the typical Styx keyboard flourish very much their trademark punch and is vocally accompanied by band leader and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung, before the iron sounding vocals of James Young take over and these contrast superbly with the aforementioned keyboard flourishes. The iron man himself then steps in with an impressive guitar solo making this a multi-dimensional track, especially with the dreamy sounding section which makes an appearance towards the end, overall this a is a prog track condensed down into under five minutes something Styx were very adept at doing. The album’s principal single “Mademoiselle” penned by Dennis DeYoung who very much liked French sounding titles, is actually sang by Tommy Shaw and the song is mostly an upbeat affair with a great play-again factor attached to it. “Jennifer” is now where Dennis DeYoung gets in his first solo vocal and it’s a great track, upbeat, vibrant and with that magical Styx outro from Dennis DeYoung, who was at the start of his peak-writing era before he became too obsessed with pop sensibilities and theatrical concepts. The glorious “Crystal Ball” opens with Tommy Shaw’s lovely sounding rustic sounding acoustic guitar and it’s one of the best known songs that the band ever put out and up until recently I always thought it was a band single but it never was, but has always been a mainstay of the band’s set and again the keyboard lead on the song is a sheer delight as well.

The track “Shooz” sounds like something out of the ZZ Top cannon which is no surprise since Tommy Shaw was a southerner compared to the rest of the band who were from Illinois and musically he brought a certain amount of southern musical influences with him and these are most evident on this track especially with his use of slide guitar. “This Old Man” is a great example of how Dennis DeYoung added the personal touch to his music, whether the songs were about real life people, places or just figments of his imagination “This Old Man” is where he sings ‘he dreamed a young man’s dream and now I grow old’ which really typifies the magical career of the band and the song works superbly as a musical duel combination between himself and Tommy Shaw, and is especially highlighted by its clever ‘oh-ah hissing section late in the song. "Clair de Luna/Ballerina" is the showpiece track of the album and again provides the talents of both Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw and for pure brilliance it matches "Suite Madame Blue" from Equinox. The song is again a major accomplishment when you consider how patchy their earlier prog style recordings had been, this track is focused, tight and bombastic all attributes that the band were now excelling with.

One of the most interesting factors from Styx was their constant use of three principal vocalists of which Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw were the primary two, with James Young providing an ever so distinctive third option, despite the fact he had more opportunities on their earlier albums, but his trademark heavy sounding macho guitar leads more than made up for this, but most significantly all three vocalist sounded completely different which only added to the band’s great musical charm.

Despite these forward thinking musical additions of which All-Music described the band as having catchy pop hooks combined with a bombastic guitar sound, the Crystal Ball album would prove to be less successful than the previous Equinox and effectively stalled the band as a commercial venture, but all that would of course change with their next album The Grand Illusion which proved to be even more special than Crystal Ball but in hindsight Crystal Ball is probably the right place to start for anybody wanting to get into this special band.

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Metal Wars

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

OccultHawk

Are you sure this isn't a prog thread?