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| Articles: 1997 Articles |
Allen, Mark (Band) - 1997 Six Interlocking Pieces
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Coming at ya from North Los Angeles are this melodic rock combo centered around the talents of mainman Mark Allen. Though this is a recent promotion by the bands management, this CD contains material spanning the 1995-97 period.
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Autograph - 1997 Missing Pieces
 | | Later on in the 90's, Plunkett dragged some old and previously unreleased material from the 1988-89 era, and released it under the title 'Missing Pieces'. |
Badfinger - 1997 Badfinger
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With all the tragedy and drama surrounding Badfinger through the years, this CD only adds to the mystery as to why this band and its members were, and still are it seems, plagued with bad decision making - this disc is a classic example.
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Barclay James Harvest - 1997 River Of Dreams
 | | This would be the last BJH album to feature the definitive line-up Lees, Holroyd, Pritchard, so is a bit of an epitaph as such. |
Big Mouth - 1997 Hands Of Time
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This album's a real surprise. There's not too much to suggest that this is a melodic rock gem. You look at it .. the monicker Big Mouth, a photo of all the guys in the band and you'd think we were heading down Pantera Avenue. How wrong we are.
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Bliss, Paul - 1997 The Edge Of Coincidence
 | | Trainspotters here will recognise Paul Bliss' name from several fronts. First, he's a fairly accomplished songwriter. Some of his tunes have been made popular by other artists/acts. Secondly, the late 70's saw a couple of releases under the banner of the Bliss Band. With this CD though, it's classy West Coast all the way! |
Bridge, The - 1997 Demo
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Initially, the fact this was Lillian Axe related threw me off. Not a big fan of the metal/hair band thing they had going on, but The Bridge were an entirely different proposition. Featuring former Lillian Axe vocalist Ron Taylor and multi-instrumentalist Drew Smith, acoustic driven pop is the order the day.
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Fake ID - 1997 Dreaming Ezekiel
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From the songwriting team that bought you the first Alien album, comes the duo of Pamela Barlow and Janet Minto with their own project Fake ID. Not only do they participate musically, but they produce the whole affair too! This is another pure AOR album.
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Flag - 1997 Across The Stars
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I have to say that I'm completely blown away by this album. Pausing briefly to use a sporting euphemism - it's a comeback on a par with Ali v Foreman.
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Frontline - 1997 Heroes
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The album is a classic.. period. For me personally, the album of 1997 and in my top 10 for the decade.
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Frozen Tears - 1997 Silence Of The Night
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There is some mention of this band in the press as being an AOR band. Perhaps the monicker suggests this is the case, but I'm not sure I agree with this tag. There's a lot of 80's style metal here, a la Leatherwolf, Kiss etc.
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Genesis - 1997 Calling All Stations
 | | The new lineup of Genesis released 'Calling All Stations' during 1997, it proved to be popular in Europe, less so America. |
Gotthard - 1997 Defrosted
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I'm going to just come out and say it - Gotthard are one of Europe's best ever rock bands and Steve Lee is possibly one of the best rock singers of all time. Put Steve and Gotthard next to anyone and they will stand their ground.
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GTR - 1997 King Biscuit Flower Hour
 | | Never a scene to let a commercial album get it's proper due, it's no surprise the GTR album still inflames much of the prog world which is really too bad .A great record and even better live band, GTR was a product of a time that unfortunately we'll never see again. |
Hall And Oates - 1997 Marigold Sky
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As with all their prior releases, there is an element of 'white mans soul' permeating the music, with the overall sound taking a laid back and smooth approach.
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House Of Shakira - 1997 Lint
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Interesting name for a band, especially one that comes from Sweden. These boys started life off as the promising outfit The Station. If any of you had heard their earlier demos from the early nineties, you would have been impressed with them.
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Hugo - 1997 Hugo
 | | Hugo' as an album might have been raved about back in the day, but I don't think it has aged that well to be honest. |
Icebreaker - 1997 Eleco
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This is a bit of a rarity. Ironic really because 1997 came and went in a blur and this 'Icebreaker' passed us by, unless it was on a traverse of the Antarctic and nobody knew about it! Perhaps the best known member of this outfit is ex Norman And Sexton keyboard whizz Bobby Sexton (the blonde one!).
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Iris, Donnie - 1997 Poletown
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All the regulars are back for another crack at music-making - Donnie Iris style. The above lineup is timeless, considering most of these cats have been there right at the start - as part of Donnie Iris And The Cruisers.
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Kishman, Tony - 1997 Catch 22
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Originally a native of Arizona, Kishman found his way over to London doing a sixties musical production where by chance he met Andy Powell, and was asked to sing and play bass with Wishbone Ash around about their 'Illumination' album. The following year in 1997, he returned to the US where he asked AOR legend Paul Sabu to produce his debut solo album 'Catch 22'.
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Kiss - 1997 Carnival Of Souls - The Final Sessions
 | | This album review was a struggle from start to finish, lack of inspiration, desperation, plain boredom but the odd moment of enlightenment. |
Loud And Clear - 1997 Loud And Clear
 | | To my way of thinking, Loud And Clear are a far superior brand of melodic rock than the gimmick that is Rock Sugar, and a refresher course listening to this album reinforces that view even more. |
Love Hunter - 1997 Love Hunter
 | | 'I'm a Love Hunter baby, creeping up on you', actually you would be very wrong if you thought that this was a Whitesnake tribute act. In fact this is a very fine melodic rock album from the U.S, with the odd sounding comparison to some classic British Rock.. |
Mc Innes, Rod - 1997 Best Kept Secret
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The whole album (beautifully produced by the way - from none other than Rush maestro Terry Brown) can best be compared to the softer melodic moments of The Eagles, Keven Jordan, plus WC guys like Kurt Howell, Russ Irwin, and Tim Feehan.
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Megadeth - 1997 Cryptic Writings
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Megadeth's transformation from one of thrash's most intense outfits into an average melodic metal act was one of the more disappointing turns in the genres history.
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Millenium - 1997 Millenium
 | | Ralph Santolla was the main guy in this Florida based outfit. This is their debut CD from 1997. |
Monkey See - 1997 Monkey See
 | | From Ontario Canada, these guys wear their melodic hard rock stripes like a badge of honour. They have a hair metal edge, but mostly it's melodic hard rock that'll you'll hear with this lot. |
Nelson - 1997 Imaginator
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In his foreward to the 1993 Kerrang! Book of Heavy Metal, Metallica's James Hetfield sarcastically japed that LA cock-rockers Ratt were positively thrash metal in comparison to the blond-haired fluff of Nelson. Hetfield wasn't the first to take such a cheap shot and may even have had a point, but when 'Imaginator' eventually surfaced (after four years on the shelf) in 1997, he wouldn't be the only one who had his prejudices contradicted by the so called 'Timotei Twins'. Because, quite simply, 'Imaginator' rocks. Big time.
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Newman - 1997 Newman
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The songs themselves are classy affairs, hooky and riffy at the same time, with big choruses, and laser like guitar solos. Just the way I like it. Some of the influences which came to my mind include Fastway (Lea Hart era), Heartland, and Sam Blue's Ya Ya. All English bands too, though playing a style which is distinctly non-English.
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Pretty Maids - 1997 Spooked
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Perhaps at the heavy end of the spectrum are the Pretty Maids, but I for one have always appreciated their brand of no nonsense melodic rock, not withstanding that they come from Denmark!
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Prism (USA) - 1997 Live 75-77
 | | No, no, no- not the Canadian pomp band we all know and love, but progressive rock from Texas. |
Radio Silence - 1997 Radio Silence
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Musically, Alistair's project Radio Silence is high-tech AOR/pop which probably has a better demographic as a product a decade earlier rather than 1997. I'm sure if it was 1985, this album would have been a hit.
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Ransom - 1997 Trouble In Paradise
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Musically Ransom has a lot in common with that other MTM signing Captive Heart, with Girvin's voice a wonderful amalgam of his former boss Eddie Money plus the late Van Stephenson. It's typical AOR, full to the brim with catchy choruses, hooks, and dynamics.
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Rokbox - 1997 Rokbox
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The big influence here is undoubtedly Journey, or even The Storm if one wants to be picky. From the vocals of Marc Engeran's vocals (who has also a passing resemblance to John Elefante a la Mastedon), through to the Neal Schon/Josh Ramos stylised guitarwork.
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Sahara Snow - 1997 Sahara Snow
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When I first heard this CD, I hated it. Not sure why, but after a few years break, and a return to the CD player, either I've mellowed, or this CD has suddenly become a whole heap better. Take a smidgen of David Hallyday, and mix it up with the likes of C'vello and Roscoe Martinez and you're about as close to the Sahara Snow sound without standing on top of it!
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Sandberg, Pete - 1997 Back In Business
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If we think about quality Swedish vocalists, a whole swag of them spring to mind. Surely Pete Sandberg is in that bracket. With stints in bands such as Alien, Snakecharmer, and more recently with Midnight Sun, you know there's more to the man than the reputation.
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Savatage - 1997 The Wake Of Magellan
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This is almost a concept album about the life and times of Magellan the famous explorer (for want of a better subject) with a bizarre track about Veronica Guerin an Irish reporter apparently murdered by the drug lords. The track appears to have little or no relevance to the rest of the album?
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Saxon - 1997 Unleash The Beast
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Still going strong after that many years, the boys that gave us denim and leather still pump out the albums. But rather than the dated sound you would expect, Saxon sound quite polished.
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Shout (USA) - 1997 Shout
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Not to be confused with Ken Tamplin's Christian metal band of the same name, this lot came from the other side of the continent - Boston, and were formed around vocalist John Levesque.
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Smile - 1997 Ghost Of A Smile
 | | For those unfamiliar with the history of Queen, Smile was the late '60s band formed by guitarist Brian May following the break-up of his previous group 1984. Released on the Dutch Pseudonym label, this is second time Smile material has been issued. |
Spocks Beard - 1997 The Kindness Of Strangers
 | | The 90's era's biggest surprise was the rise of Los Angeles based outfit Spock's Beard who made a major splash with a series of releases that wowed proggies far and wide. Unfortunately I was never one of 'em. You read right, Spock's Beard's take on prog never appealed to me.. [read on] |
Stone Soup - 1997 Spooge
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Initially from the central hub of Indianapolis, then more recently via New York, come Bon Jovi clones Stone Soup. First coming to our attention as the band French Lick, these guys released some demo's into the AOR underground in the mid-late eighties.
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Strangeways - 1997 Any Day Now
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Following on from their 1994 effort 'And The Horse', Strangeways continue their sabbatical away from quality AOR. But where that prior album was a great emotional conception, 'Any Day Now' is sadly an emotionally mixed inconsistency.
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Sykes, John - 1997 Loveland
 | | An album ffull of ballads, something you don't usually associate with the mind-bending guitar talent that is John Skyes.. |
Terra Nova - 1997 Livin' It Up
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Unfortunately for this lot, they can easily be compared to their countrymen Wild Ride, Zinatra or 1st Avenue, and while others might be bemoaning this fact, I'm sitting here getting musically drunk on this their debut offering 'Livin' It Up'.
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Tesseract - 1997 Tesseract
 | | One of the better U.S. progressive rock releases from the humdrum '90s. Comparisons to Kansas are more than obvious, blatant perhaps and without the bombast but there is a fusion element to the Tesseract sound similar to Happy The Man as well. |
Think Out Loud - 1997 Shelf Life
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This is the second album from this West Coast oriented duo, coming nine years after their debut effort. When the names of Kipner and Beckett are involved in any musical project, you just know it's gonna be melodic, and so it proves the case here.
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Yes - 1997 Open Your Eyes
 | | Yes' 1997 album 'Open Your Eyes' was perceived by many fans as their worst album, and I'm sure if you were to ask them why, they probably couldn't give you a decent answer other than 'it just is..'. |
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