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| Articles: 1985 Articles |
AC/DC - 1985 Fly On The Wall
 | | This is held in reasonably high esteem by most these days and with good reason considering how well the songs have held up. It might not be as glossy as 'Back In Black,' but instead is more in keeping production wise with 'Powerage'. |
Accept - 1985 Metal Heart
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With 'Metal Heart' Udo voiced openly his displeasure at a more mainstream sound, less savage and more melodic. It undermined their progress, as Udo was easily Accept's most recognisable face. Scorpions producer Dieter Dierks was at the helm..
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Adam Bomb - 1985 Fatal Attraction
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The Heavy Metal Encyclopedia' described it as 'classy North American rock' and it was much sought. The book didn't lie. Adam Bomb were a metal 'supergroup'.
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Addiction - 1985 Get Hooked
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I don't know a lot about these guys, but as a result of their one-off seven track album 'Get Hooked', Addiction have a rightful place here at GLORY-DAZE.
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Air Supply - 1985 Air Supply
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I've had this CD in my collection for years, but never really trumpeted its quality. This 1985 album was released after a three year break, following on from 1982's 'Now And Forever' album..
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Alaska - 1985 The Pack
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Alaska reverted to a radio friendly approach not unlike Rio for 1985's 'The Pack', their second and final album. Some great songs admittedly but not as consistent as those found on their debut 'Heart Of The Storm'.
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Alcatrazz - 1985 Disturbing The Peace
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Alcatrazz rebounded from the loss of Yngwie J Malmsteen and promptly replaced him with another guitar wizard, Steve Vai, who had been playing with Frank Zappa's band. How Bonnet tempted him to join Alcatrazz is a mystery but he at least helped them record a startling hard rock album.
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Aldo Nova - 1985 Twitch
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'Twitch' is more in keeping with the debut, and contains more than an ample share of keyboards, guitar power, and chant-a-minute choruses from the vocal section. To be fair though, It is poppier and lighter, perhaps with more commercial appeal contained within it's grooves.
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Allies - 1985 Allies
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The style prevalent on Sweet Comfort Band's last album 'Perfect Timing' was a natural progression for Randy Thomas to take into Allies, but even so, he improved the quality ten-fold, so much so that this Allies debut album is now a collectors item among the melodic rock fraternity.
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Anthrax - 1985 Spreading The Disease
 | | 'Spreading The Disease' is the album that propelled Anthrax into metals upper hierarchy and somehow they've managed to stay there, despite their chequered history ever since John Bush took over from Belladonna back in 1992. |
Armored Saint - 1985 Delirious Nomad
 | | At the end of the day, the band were pretty happy with how the album turned out, but it didn't result in any overnight success. In fact, if anything, their profile went backwards, or overtaken by some of the bigger names in the business at the time. |
Arrows - 1985 The Lines Are Open
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Fans of Canadian melodic rock will get a kick out of this band. Combining the crunchiness of early era Honeymoon Suite alongside the hi-tech wizardry of Eight Seconds. The Arrows are able to comfortably straddle that barbed wire fence between melodic rock and new wave flavored hi-tech pop.
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Asia - 1985 Astra
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It still puzzles me why this album did not embed itself into the hearts and minds of melodic rock fans back in 1985. And also the apparent failure of this album to do well in the charts, following on from their boom albums 'Asia' and 'Alpha' a few years earlier. 'Astra' is technically and sonically brilliant.
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Autograph - 1985 Thats The Stuff
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Of the three 80's era albums from Autograph, this one is probably the weakest. Despite my opinion, the album still managed to go gold (i.e. over a million copies sold).
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Axtion - 1985 Look Out For The Night
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There is enough happening within this album to write an essay.
When Axtion get it right the results are profound. When they blow it - it's a rock and roll disgrace. It's with old-fashioned riff based rock where they excel, and even the bad moments should be heard. These guys are out there somewhere and I'm sure they have a story to tell..
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Baby Tuckoo - 1985 Force Majeure
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This follow up to the superb 1984 debut 'First Born' deserves a review in its own right, due to the staggering might of the material. This was surely one of the best melodic British bands of the decade and 'Force Majeure' followed up the debut with a slightly more polished sound.
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Barnes, Jimmy - 1985 For The Working Class Man
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This album was a mixture of the material found on 1984's 'Bodyswerve' and 1985's 'Jimmy Barnes', as Geffen furiously tried to break Barnes into the US market.
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Benatar, Pat - 1985 Seven The Hard Way
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'Seven The Hard Way' is the quintessential AOR choice of her career. On this, Pat and hubby Neil are on top of their game here. Pat's voice is stronger than ever and Neil's fret work is clearly amazing. Not to mention the beautiful melodic/stunning keys!
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Billy The Kid - 1985 Sworn To Fun
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At the time of its release 'Sworn To Fun' flew so low under the radar you have to wonder whether MCA were doing any promotion for it at all.
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Blue Cheer - 1985 The Beast Is.. Back
 | | Any burned out late 60's survivor would probably have trouble accepting this album as what might be considered 'true' Blue Cheer; produced by The Rods drummer Carl Canedy, this album is a virtual replica of The Rods themselves, to the point their name should be on the album cover.. |
Bolton, Michael - 1985 Everybodys Crazy
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Despite the quality of 'Michael Bolton' the debut album from 1983, it was a commercial flop. It reached 100 on the Billboard Charts. Undeterred, Bolton forged ahead and went on to record what is regarded by many as the greatest pure AOR album ever.
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Bon Jovi - 1985 7800° Fahrenheit
 | | This follow-up to the classic debut offered more of the same, good hard rock with mammoth AOR overtones, but still containing the pop edge. |
Buckinghams, The - 1985 A Matter Of Time
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By 1985, after years of success, and traversing musical styles throughout the 60's and 70's, The Buckinghams ended up at the foothills of melodic rock.
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Cafferty, John (And The Beaver Brown Band) - 1985 Tough All Over
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Despite having the reputation as one of Rhode Islands most popular bar bands, The Beaver Brown Band were unable to secure a record deal, the band having plied their trade since the early 70's. In 1983 it all changed when the band supplied the soundtrack to the film 'Eddie And The Cruisers', enjoying chart action with 'On The Dark Side' and 'Tender Years'.
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Candy - 1985 Whatever Happened To Fun..
 | | Signed to a big label, and with national tours throughout the U.S with Corey Hart and Rick Springfield, you would've thought that it couldn't get better for this girl crazy quartet of power-poppers. Unfortunately it did. |
Carl, Max - 1985 Circle
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'Circle' is not an album that will win you over first time. The songs are punchy, energetic and up till that point, quite different to what Max had been involved with previously.
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Channel 5 - 1985 The Colour Of The Moment
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Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but how the heck did the 1980's pass us by without a mention of this great German band? C5 can easily hold their form against the best hi-tech AOR outfits from the era.
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Cheap Trick - 1985 Standing On The Edge
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'Standing On The Edge' was something of a beacon in the dark as well, returning Cheap Trick to the top 40 album charts after the commercially disasterous (but very good) 'Next Position Please' album.
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Clash, The - 1985 Cut The Crap
 | | Needless to say this album was greeted with universal disdain, to the point it was barely considered a legitimate Clash album. |
Cock Robin - 1985 Cock Robin
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Trying to compete against the rising tide of British new romanticism (a la Duran, Spandau etc) were a few American acts, such as The Motels, Cyndi Lauper, Aimee Mann and Til Tuesday and this lot Cock Robin.
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Coney Hatch - 1985 Friction
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By the time 1985 rolled around, the band who lost their razor edge to the melodic confines of commerciality.
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Crystal - 1985 The One For You [EP]
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Crystal are a long-serving band from the San Diego area whose history goes back to around 1982/83. For musical comparison, take the best bits of Hybrid Ice, White Sister and Urgent (USA) and wrap it up in a rich melodic package.. and this is what you'll get.. Not only those guys, but there are many reference points throughout. Have fun finding them all!
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Dagger - 1985 Not Afraid Of The Dark
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This album is so soaked in that mid-eighties era US rock. In that, we are talking Lion, Autograph, Ratt, Dokken. The influences hung out to dry for all to see. However, the irony is that they are from Canada, and a rare jewel they are too!
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Daltrey, Roger - 1985 Under A Raging Moon
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Although much featured here at Glory Daze in the past, it would be a huge disservice to Roger Daltrey if mention was not made of what was his most popular solo album of the 80's and indeed one of the finest of his entire career.
Features video track.
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Dareforce - 1985 Makin' Our Own Rules
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At this early part of their history, the band had released two EP's. A self titled EP during 1984, plus this one a year later - 'Makin' Our Own Rules'.
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Day One - 1985 One Look
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Yep, Day One might be very rare, but it's not the all-powering rarity of legend. It's still a good album for collectors of AOR and pomp, and as mentioned in the review, Angel fans might get some value out of this album..
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DC Star - 1985 Rockin' In The Classroom
 | | The late 70's scene in Baltimore might have been prominent for the likes of Face Dancer and The Shooz (who would late go on to become Kix), but there's one other band that deserve a mention from this era: DC Star. |
Delta - 1985 Delta
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Delta's style of AOR fits quite nicely into the camp of outfits such as Shanghai, Scandal and Drama. Female fronted, poppy with a hi-tech angle giving it a slightly over-produced feel.
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Destiny (USA) - 1985 Back On The Streets [Mini LP]
 | | A shortlived and obscure mid 80's rocker from Ohio's Destiny, and wow what a little ripsnorter! |
Dokken - 1985 Under Lock And Key
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'Under Lock And Key' is very strong on many counts too. Great production, some killer tracks bordering on 'near-metal', with the bulk of the material being spread between rock ballads and smooth melodic rockers - but with a razor sharp edge.
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Dragon Fly - 1985 Tales of Dragon Fly Chapter One
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On first glance the cover gives a 'prog' or even a 'metal' feel, but the music contained on the vinyl is high quality AOR, full of sublime melodies. This ranks as one of my favourite discoveries. It's prime time AOR hitting you with a torrent of free-flowing memorable tunes. They creep into your mind and soon take up permanent residence.
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Drama - 1985 Scene From A Distance
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Drama, a duo, hail from Memphis Tennessee, and unusually, sound nothing like any band coming out of this southern locale. The pairing instead delve into hi-tech pop in the vein of Wild Blue, Cock Robin, Scandal, Delta.. bands of that ilk.
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Duke Jupiter - 1985 In The Line Of Your Fire
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A real history behind this album. Caught between a heart of a rock (sic) and a hard place, an album they had to contractually release, on a label that didn't give a shit. I mean Tamla Motown?? Please..
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Faithful Breath - 1985 SKOL
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A classy metal album which has attained a deserved cult status over the years. Everything about Faithful Breath typified 80's metal, the sound and image, and it's a shame they never broke out bigger than they did.
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Ferry, Bryan - 1985 Boys And Girls
 | | Pop star, fashion maven, supermodel Lothario; the iconic Bryan Ferry put the ever-influential Roxy Music on ice after 1982's brilliant 'Avalon', preferring to focus on a solo career .. |
Fierce Heart - 1985 Fierce Heart
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Quite a strong rockin' album featuring one of the best rock guitarists around in Rex Carroll. Despite it's reputation as a pomp album reviewed previously in other publications, it's more of a straight melodic heavy rock album.
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Fiona - 1985 Fiona
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Probably the pick of all of Fiona's albums is her 1985 debut. If you like female-fronted AOR, this is a good one to get.
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Firm, The - 1985 The Firm
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Lot's of hype over this one and why not? Two of the biggest names in British hard rock; Paul Rodgers formerly of Free and Bad Company and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin pooling their talents together. Unfortunately for this reviewer, The Firm's debut is a monument to just how bad the music of the 1980's could be.
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Flynn - 1985 Flynn [ep]
 | | California based six-piece Flynn should appeal to all those air keyboardists out there. With only a hard to find 4 track EP to show for their endeavour, this band were the westcoast equivalent of Dream Theater. It's a shame that Flynn could only manage an EP, leaving the listener thirst-quenching for more! |
Fortune - 1985 Fortune
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One of the definitive pomp classics is this one and only album by the Los Angeles based band Fortune.
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Godz, The - 1985 I'll Get You Rockin'
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Despite flirting with greatness, this isn't quite the blockbuster one might have expected. It fails to compare to Salem's 'Cat Dance' and the early Godz work, perhaps a victim of its time.
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Hasselhoff, David - 1985 Night Rocker
 | | Just from the album cover alone here you know you're in for a treat - Hasselhoff posing on top of a Pontiac Firebird ala Knight Rider, clad in leather and slinging a six string! |
Headpins - 1985 Head Over Heels
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One of my alltime favorite Canadian bands are the Headpins. Well known to readers of this site, the band are centered around the pocket battleship known as Darby Mills. With success on the cards, it wasn't enough to keep their label Solid Gold Records above the waterline. By 1984 they had gone bust and left Headpins in the lurch. Soon however, a new label was found: this time MCA. Their debut for MCA appeared in 1985; 'Head Over Heels' would be the one and only album for the label, and the last studio offering.. to date..
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Heart - 1985 Heart
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Was it a sellout? Was it (as has been described elsewhere) a rebirth? Was it canoodling to all the trappings of success that was going on around them, including fashion sense and MTV? Probably all of them actually..
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Heavy Pettin - 1985 Rock Ain't Dead
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A much admired act in their day were this Scottish five piece. This, their second album, rarely misses among its quota of pure hard rock.
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Helix - 1985 Long Way To Heaven
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With 'Long Way To Heaven' their sound becomes more polished, though still retaining that gritty quality accumulated over the years.
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Holland - 1985 Little Monsters
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Holland was put together by Chicago based singer Tom Holland who at the time already had a major label record deal with the band The Boyzz, who then became The B'zz.
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Honeymoon Suite - 1985 The Big Prize
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Honeymoon Suite's second album 'The Big Prize' is aptly named, as it is indeed a prize among melodic rock fans and collectors. This time around, the faint 'new wave' angle is dropped in favor of strong AOR themes, and sees the band enhancing their radio friendly appeal.
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Icon - 1985 Night Of The Crime
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Icon's 'Night Of The Crime' is deemed by many to be a classic melodic rock album, the band perhaps Arizona's best rock export.
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In 3-D - 1985 No Glasses Needed
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In 3-D were a little known band from Illinois. Signed to Refuge Records, the band does have a Christian slant, though you don't see it or hear it in their music.
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In Pursuit - 1985 When Darkness Falls
 | | Blending rootsy jangle pop with a few hi-tech moves on 'Losing Control' where Emma sounds like an rockier version of Lone Justice singer Maria McKee. |
Innocent, The - 1985 Livin' In The Street
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The Innocent were something of a minor AOR supergroup and they most certainly delivered the goods with considerable panache.
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Jag Wire - 1985 Made In Heaven
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Well what do we have here? An L.A band very much in the White Sister and Angel camp. You could be excused for the Angel connection.. I mean .. the album title for starters 'Made In Heaven', and if they all dressed up in white they could probably pass for Dimino, Meadows, Giuffria and co.
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Janz, Paul - 1985 Highly Strung
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'Highly Strung' was Paul Janz' debut solo album. This album featured a strong contingent of musicians, with members from local bands such as Straight Lines and Body Electric being involved.
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Julien, Robbin - 1985 Here We Go [ep]
 | | From out of the southwestern 'burbs of Minneapolis comes singer Robbin Julien. Minnetoka resident Julien hooked up on this rare 1985 effort for Atco, with a host of names in tow, including members from well heeled Minnesota outfits including Judd, Gypsy and Jumpstreet. |
Kaja - 1985 Crazy People's Right To Speak
 | | Remember Kajagoogoo? I do and still believe they were one of the worst examples of the 'New pop' movement's made for MTV excesses. By 1985, the band had shortened their handle to Kaja, tried to change their image and direction, but no one was buying.. |
Keel - 1985 The Right To Rock
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This was Keel's second album and major label debut after 'Lay Down The Law' had been released on Mike Varney's indie Shrapnel a year earlier.
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King Kobra - 1985 Ready To Strike
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This debut was met with widespread acclaim, indeed a mostly sophisticated set of mid 80's commercial metal which beckoned at bigger things for the promising group.
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Kiss - 1985 Asylum
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Often dismissed in the Kiss canon of works, 'Asylum' appeared during a prolific period for the band following the removal of their makeup in 1983, despite shuffles in the guitar dept.
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Lake - 1985 Voices
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Probably not the Lake album with the greatest singular tracks, but all the better as a long player. Recommended!
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Lamarca - 1985 Lamarca
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Well the great mystery is over. In fact, one of the great mysteries of AOR-dom can now be revealed, for those that didn't know already.. including me. And that mystery was? Who or what was Lamarca?
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Lamont Joe - 1985 Secrets You Keep
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Joe Lamont; we first heard of this guy with the band Steeplechase and then the wonderful AOR outfit Shelter.
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Leyden Zar - 1985 Leyden Zar
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I kinda like this Canadian band. As mentioned in an earlier review of their 1981 debut album, I thought they were very underrated, but extremely good nonetheless.
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Life By Night - 1985 Life By Night
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Musically LBN intersect numerous bands of that era, namely contemporaries such as Cock Robin and Aimee Mann's Til Tuesday.
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Lodgic - 1985 Nomadic Sands
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The immediate comparison here are the bands Saga and Yes. Saga - who during their mid 80's phase played extremely tight commercial crossover prog/AOR, while Yes were buoyed by the success of their mega selling '90125' album.. probably half the reason why A&M signed Lodgic in the first place - looking for similar success.
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Loudness - 1985 Thunder In The East
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Loudness signed to Atlantic offshoot Atco in the US, and promptly set about altering their rampant style. Typically they were persuaded to became more commercial to achieve similar success Stateside, but 'Thunder In The East' was hardly a compromise.
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Loverboy - 1985 Lovin' Every Minute Of It
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Loverboy were riding high from the multi platinum success of 1983's 'Keep It Up' coming into this album, their heavily synthesized form of heavy AOR finding arena sized favour through their native Canada and the USA. Loverboy adopted a slightly heavier sound for 'Lovin', with more gusto coming from Dean's guitar. Still the keyboards were as dominating as ever..
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Lynx (Sweden) - 1985 Caught In The Trap
 | | Sweden's Lynx come at you in the same vein as early Europe, Dalton and Norden Light - the latter two in particular where the emphasis is placed on layers of synth and organ. |
M80 - 1985 Maniacs Revenge
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After M80's introductory E.P. Costa left the music industry, leaving Buzz to relocate M80 from L.A. to London, where he acquired ex Samson bassist Chris Aylmer. The resulting album was full blown hard rock with searing excursions into metal territory.
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Magnum - 1985 On A Storytellers Night
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By the time 1985 rolled around, Magnum were on the brink of something special - history will show that the album 'On A Storytellers Night' proved to be that special catalyst..
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Malice - 1985 In The Beginning
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Los Angeles based five-piece who developed the knack of being America's answer to UK metal legends Judas Priest.
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Men At Work - 1985 Two Hearts
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Truth be told, I never cared for Men At Work when they first hit the scene and grew more and more tired of them as the 80's wore on. but in 1985 they released an album for more suited to my tastes - 'Two Hearts'. The streamlining of Men At Work was a wise choice musically. The core sound is still here, but leaning more towards sophisticated pop and less goofball reggae.
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Merrill, Alan - 1985 Alan Merrill
 | | This is the solo album from former Arrows (UK) and Runner alumni Alan Merrill. |
Miles, John - 1985 Transition
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John Miles is one of the best melodic rock exports out of Newcastle area of UK. John's vocals are in the same zone as Graeme Bonnet, but musically 'Transition' is mostly razor sharp AOR with a few smooth laid back moments too.
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Moore, Gary - 1985 Run For Cover
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Coming into 'Run For Cover' he was riding the success of 1983's 'Victims Of The Future', his solo career providing him with more stability than his former projects.
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Motley Crue - 1985 Theater Of Pain
 | | Clearly 'Theatre Of Pain' was classic Crue's poorest album, with none of the traits that made them an 80's legend. There has hardly been a bigger reversal in attitude and heaviness in the space of an album, all in the wrong direction. |
Mox Nix - 1985 Mox Nix
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Mox Nix the band took their queue from the influential bands of the era, and you hear it in their music. Particularly Y & T, Riot, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. It is a hugely impressive slab of metal. |
Mr Mister - 1985 Welcome To The Real World
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It's hard to believe this band struck huge success during the mid-eighties with this album 'Welcome To The Real World'. A bunch of 'real world' musicians indeed, collaborating together under the banner of Mr Mister.
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Myrick, Gary - 1985 Stand For Love
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Gary Myrick is a Texas boy raised on the blues from way back when. And as the old saying goes, 'you can take the boy out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the boy'. That statement definitely holds true for Mr Myrick.
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Nantucket - 1985 V
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Overall this is a very strong, bordering on classic AOR record. Perhaps not quite up to the celestial level of Shooting Star's 'Silent Scream', but pretty close on several tracks.
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Nasty Savage - 1985 Nasty Savage
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When stacked up next to similar era albums by W.A.S.P., Keel, Icon or Racer X , 'Nasty Savage' sounds like an amateurish relic.
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New Keys - 1985 Acts Of Love
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New Keys is the power pop band/project of ex Grin member Tom Loffgren, brother of Nils..
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Night Ranger - 1985 7 Wishes
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While '7 Wishes' contains several weak cuts, it's miles ahead of most bands in the period, the class in both musicianship and songwriting all too obvious to dismiss.
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Nomo - 1985 The Great Unknown
 | | Just one album from this trio but the big name here is David Batteau; a singer/songwriter who has continually popped up on album credits as long as I can remember. |
Orphan - 1985 Salute [2003 Reissue]
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When compared to 'Lonely At Night', 'Salute' is just shaded, the debut coming across as a more consistent album instead. The majority of the songs on 'Salute' have a closer resemblance to Americans Urgent, the level of zing and urgency (excuse the pun) comparable to 'Cast The First Stone' or 'Think Out Loud'.
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Outfield, The - 1985 Play Deep
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The Outfield's debut 'Play Deep' would hit the streets in November 1985, and within a year their name would be synonymous with AOR/radio rock all across the world thansk to their huge hit 'Your Love'.
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Pack, David - 1985 Anywhere You Go
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After Ambrosia had run its course, David Pack returned to the scene in a solo capacity, releasing this brilliant West Coast/AOR crossover album 'Anywhere You Go'.
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Producers, The - 1985 Run For Your Life
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Very much an underrated band, probably classed in the same bracket as The Tubes, The Cars (both circa their early eighties style) and other quirky AOR acts of that era.
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Prophet - 1985 Prophet
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The quality is there, in all it's richness, and grandiose pomposity, and is a swirling mixture of eighties era Journey, and seventies era Kansas.
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Q5 - 1985 Steel The Light
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Another band from the booming metal scene of Seattle during the early eighties. Started in 1983 by guitar maestro Floyd Rose (inventor of the guitar tremolo system - which all guitarists should know of), he hooked up with ex T.K.O members to start Q5.
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