AOR: The Journal

[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

[Trollheart]

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

[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.

[Anteater]

AOR: The Best Of '75 - '77

10. Starcastle - Fountains Of Light (1977)

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!

[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'

[William_the_Bloody]

Originally Posted by 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.

Fu)k! Your like George RR Martin, everyone's waiting for you to finish Winds of Winter (Pounding Decibels) and you go off and start another f'n side project

[Unknown Soldier]

Originally Posted by William_the_Bloody

Fu)k! Your like George RR Martin, everyone's waiting for you to finish Winds of Winter (Pounding Decibels) and you go off and start another f'n side project

Well it's going to take me a damn sight longer to finishing Pounding Decibels than it will be for George RR Martin to finish A Song of Ice and Fire.

[Anteater]

07. Eddie Money - Eddie Money (1977)

Former NYPD trainee Eddie Money started out like many young and aspiring rock stars did: he learned his chops, shifted careers then moved to California to seek his fortunes. Multiple night club showings and one big dollar contract with Columbia Records later, classic rock staples like 'Two Tickets To Paradise' and 'Baby Hold On' took the summer of '77 by storm and became part of the first "wave" of what would later be called AOR. This term in relation to Eddie Money refers to both the radio format he was slotted in AND the sound that would come to define his career (and the career of many others). But the real million dollar question is: was the Money man's self-titled any good beyond the singles?

To these ears, that answer is a resounding yes. While many of the other American AOR bands featured so far (and who have yet to be featured) had their roots in progressive rock or what often gets called "art" rock, Eddie was just a good 'ol rock n roller with a touch of Motown in his tunesmith kit. While that sandpapery voice isn't particularly suited to the brand of theatrical melodicism that defined the Queens and Styxes of the world, Money's soulful pipes burn with real flourish on the punchy 'Don't Worry' and the bluesy, thundering closer 'Gamblin' Man'. This was the sound of mainstream rock n' roll in the late 70's, and it wasn't a bad place to be.

The biggest piece of praise I can give Eddie's self-titled is that its consistent even beyond the obvious singles, and its influence upon AOR is a far easier thing to hear as opposed to, say, Starcastle. The fact that the legendary Bruce Botnick produced it probably didn't hurt either!

Eddie would later become far more "arena rock" oriented as the 80's zeitgeist arrived on the scene, but you can already hear the pieces of what makes AOR such a fun and accessible genre with albums like this one serving as the foundation that paved the way for all the top dollar stuff that was to come. I could certainly think of lesser starting places.

[OccultHawk]

Great start

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