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| Articles: 1981 Articles |
Air Raid - 1981 Air Raid
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Air Raid go all out to cement the pomp king's title.
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All Sports Band - 1981 All Sports Band
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Looking back, the image and theme of this album might seem a little silly, but if you're an AOR fan, then this is primo stuff. Forget about sports, get stuck into the music and potato chips instead!!
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Anvil - 1981 Hard And Heavy
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I suppose looking back in history it's a wonder how this band ever got to being so popular? Particularly the scribes over at Sounds Magazine, who bequeathed all sorts of superlatives on the band. Anvil's brand of metal mischeviousness leaves very little to be desired, particularly their corn-ball attempts at sexual innuendo which pervaded their music all throughout their career.
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Apache - 1981 Apache
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Apache's music doesn't quite hit the mark with me, it has many comparisons to that Muscle Shoals type sound.. that is: a mix of mild 70's flavored southern rock (think Allman Brothers, Wet Willie), and commercial blues.
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Atlanta Rhythm Section - 1981 Quinella
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This was to be the band's last album until 1989, a shame as the promise of 'Quinella' makes the thought of a mid 80's ARS album tantalising to say the least.
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Bad Boy - 1981 Private Party
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By 1981 Milwaukee's Bad Boy were ready to unleash their much anticipated third album into the Midwest, after two successful releases in the late 70's.
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Bad Edge - 1981 Bad Edge
 | | Dutch band who released this private LP back in 1981. Hard rock with blues and boogie pretensions, coupled with new wave leanings, and dropping into 60's era pop/rock a la The Rolling Stones and The Kinks |
Badfinger - 1981 Say No More
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From the same label thought brought you Love Affair, Glass Moon and RCR, Florida based Radio Records had high hopes for Badfinger. After all, this was the classic British band dogged by notoriously bad luck..
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Balance - 1981 Balance
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Another ambassador for the G-DAZE site is this ever so legendary outfit from New York called Balance. This band should have been huge and probably would've too had the circumstances been right.
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Balin, Marty - 1981 Balin
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Marty Balin's first solo album simply titled 'Balin' came out in 1981 on the infamous EMI America label, the same label and same year in which Kim Carnes was doing a roaring trade with her 'Mistaken Identity' album.
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Bandera - 1981 Knights
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This is vintage Southern Rock and one of the best obscurities of the genre I've heard to date.
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Bee Gees, The - 1981 Living Eyes
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By 1981, radio stations had taken The Bee Gees out of rotation and subsequently categorized the group as a disco act . What a 'Tragedy', as 'Living Eyes' includes an impressive mix of well crafted brother Gibb tunes that dabble in West coast/AOR!
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Black Sabbath - 1981 Mob Rules
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Ronnie James Dio had restored Sabbath's tag as metal heavyweights via the 1980 'Heaven And Hell' album. Obviously there was immense anticipation as to whether they could repeat this with 'Mob Rules' a year later.. there was no question that they would, the album reaching the same heights musically as its predecessor.
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Blue Way - 1981 Remember Your First Love
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Blue Way are a French band, who might give the appearance of a late 70's prog band, but they are in fact an intriguing mixture of glam, art rock and new wave styles.
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Bodine - 1981 Bodine
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A likeable band from The Netherlands, who perhaps struggled for identity with their style early on in the piece. On their debut album reviewed here, Bodine (is it pronounced Bo-Dean or Bo-Dine?) have taken on a solid southern rock and blues sound.
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Bonnet, Graham - 1981 Line Up
 | | 'Line-Up' is an amalgam of British hard rock fusing the likes of Bonnet's former band Rainbow with early 80's era Uriah Heep. It's pretty commercial fare, AOR in places even, and with some top rated musicians onboard, the album - was released in October 1981 to little fanfare and little interest though it does have its moments. |
Briley, Martin - 1981 Fear Of The Unknown
 | | Martin Briley needs no introduction on these hallowed pages since many of us remember his 1983 single 'Salt In My Tears' and have one or more of his albums in the collection, but solo success was a fickle mistress for Briley it would seem. |
Brown, Danny Joe (Band) - 1981 Danny Joe Brown Band
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While Hatchet continued with Jimmy Farrar and recorded a worthy pair of records in 'Beatin' The Odds' and 'Take No Prisoners', Brown one upped them with his lone solo album, a classy pure Southern rock effort on a par with his Hatchet albums.
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Butler - 1981 Butler
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Musically, Butler's only album for the most part is a pretty good example of classic Canadian rock in the tradition of Teaze and Moxy.
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Byrne And Barnes - 1981 An Eye For An Eye
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The duo of Robert Byrne and Brandon Barnes is not that well known in mainstream music circles, but in West Coast circles, particularly Japan, these guys are near demi-gods.
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Chameleon - 1981 Chameleon
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There is a school of thought amongst some members of the AOR fraternity that this band are undeserving of their status as minor AOR legends. However, judging by the fact that their albums have been snapped up by eager collectors more quickly than condoms in a brothel, then this is obviously the opinion of a tiny minority.
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Champlin, Bill - 1981 Runaway
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Released in 1981, 'Runaway' features breathtaking melodies, dizzying key changes, and lush arrangements - all David Foster trademarks.
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Charlie - 1981 Good Morning America
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A English band steeped in the tradition of classic rock. Unusual though, that Charlie were trying to adopt an American sound at the time, fusing bits of Supertramp and the Doobie Brothers together.
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Cheetah - 1981 Rock And Roll Women
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Though they may be English bred, they are Australian raised, and I don't think Australia has seen the likes of this lovely duo ever since! It would be easy to say that the Hammond sisters and their band Cheetah were considered AC/DC clones back during the late 70's/early 80's timeframe, but give them credit, they were typical of that overall Aussie sound coming out of the Antipodes..
Contains 4 video tracks.
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Chemay, Joe (Band) - 1981 The Riper The Finer
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Here's another compulsory listen for fans of West Coast music. Again, like the recently reviewed Frankie Bleu, bassist and singer Joe Chemay is made from the same stock.
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Chilliwack - 1981 Wanna Be A Star
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This trio would release two of Chilliwack's best albums during this time: this one 'Wanna Be A Star' and 1982's 'Opus X'.
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China (USA) - 1981 China
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It would not be unusual to plant this album in the same ballpark as the likes of Airplay, Airborne and Sneaker.
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Cotton, Gene - 1981 Eclipse Of The Blue Moon
 | | Always a low key artist in the style of Lobo, Randy VanWarmer and of course Michael Johnson, who Cotton worked with significantly in the early 1980's, 'Eclipse Of The Blue Moon' came out at a time when soft rock was becoming increasingly passe. |
Curves - 1981 Curves
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Musically, Curves offer up a pleasant sound of made for radio rock. Clever pop tunes with light keyboard touches pretty much sums it up.
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Dark Horse - 1981 Dark Horse
 | | Releasing a one off independent LP back in 1981, the band are into a late 70's style of pomp rock. Think bands such as Bluebeard, The Biz and early Axe. |
Darkstar (Canada) - 1981 Darkstar
 | | Canadian trio Darkstar operate in a similar vein to bands such as Zebra, Alpha or maybe Topaz. |
Davis, Paul - 1981 Cool Night
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With this effort, Paul reaches out for a dash of commercialism, and decides to energize his approach somewhat. And the results work astoundingly well. The members of the Atlanta based band Whiteface provide most of the musical backing to this album.
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Daybreak - 1981 And Comes A Time
 | | Central Pennsylvania Christian rock outfit with several releases to their credit, the vibe is AOR rock with progressive tendencies ala Styx and not a lot of evangelical posturing which makes for a very unobtrusive listen |
Def Leppard - 1981 High N Dry
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'High N Dry' was a fairly successful follow up to the heavy but crude NWOBHM inspired debut.
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Demon - 1981 Night Of The Demon
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The general misconception of Demon's debut is that it is a piece of 'demonic metal', due to the bands name, album title and cover, which features a mangled cross. Aside from the title track which lyrically could be judged slightly occultish, there is little here to place the album in that zone. Instead it is a superlative set of traditional British hard rock, with anthems pumped out left and right.
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Dillman Band - 1981 Lovin' The Night Away
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Bringing a little bit of country rock to the 'North Star State', Minnesota's answer to The Eagles have gone down in music history as a 'one hit wonder' with the Top 40 single and title track from their second album 'Lovin' The Night Away'. It has to be said that while Dillman Band's roots were in country rock, there's enough period AOR going on here to satisfy even the most jaded of Glory Daze readers.
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Dirt Band (The) - 1981 Jealousy
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I never bought into the band's early folksy style, but in the late '70s they made a welcome one eighty turn into the world of pop rock, starting out with 'American Dream', moving into 'Make A Little Magic', and culminating in 1981's 'Jealousy'.
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Doc Holliday - 1981 Doc Holliday Rides Again
 | | If you loved the debut album, then 'Doc Holliday Rides Again' might disappoint, it's an OK album, though it probably needed to have more excitement and energy. |
Duke Jupiter - 1981 Duke Jupiter 1 [Reissue 2003]
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After releasing three fairly laid back Southern influenced LP's between 1978 and 1980, Duke Jupiter were ready for a change of direction with DJ1.
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Dupree, Robbie - 1981 Street Corner Heroes
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With 1980 being a watershed year for Dupree, a year completed by hit singles and Grammy nominations, his follow-up proved that his debut was no fluke.
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Easton, Sheena - 1981 You Could Have Been With Me
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Between 1980 and 1981, Sheena Easton was indeed the Queen of Scots with three major hit singles in both the UK and US. Easton brings out the best in each cut making this record a well rounded listen overall and certainly worth owning.
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Egan, Joe - 1981 Map
 | | We've got many early 70's fans here. Some might not recognise the name Joe Egan, but for those that do, you'll recall that he was one significant half of the Scottish folk/rock band Stealers Wheel. |
English, Jon - 1981 Inroads
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I was stunned by this albums quality, having no clue to its existence beforehand. I think many others might be taken aback at the quality also. I can honestly recommend this as an AOR fanatics dream come true.
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Entwistle, John - 1981 Too Late The Hero
 | | This is easily Entwistle's best solo album and probably a better album overall than The Who's baffling 'Face Dances' album released only months earlier that year. |
Eurythmics, The - 1981 In The Garden
 | | This is the debut album by The Eurythmics. For those only familiar with the group at the peak of their success, 'In The Garden' might come as a pleasant surprise. |
Foghat - 1981 Girls To Chat, Boys To Bounce
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What went wrong with this lot? After the boogie meltdown of the 70's Foghat inexplicably changed direction after 'Stone Blue' and cornered themselves into a pop direction, losing all traces of their previous identity.
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Force 10 - 1981 Force 10
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Force 10 then, is as wacky for humor as The Tubes and J Geils Band were, though not exactly duplicating their musical style, this time around they're following a band like Air Raid instead.
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Ford, Dwayne - 1981 Needless Freaking
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This album has a big following among west-coast fans more than likely because of the Toto connection and David Foster playing keyboards, but 'Needless Freaking' rocks a little bit harder than most albums from that genre and is worth checking out no matter what your musical preference.
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Foreigner - 1981 4
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No mention of Foreigner's '4' album in the context of the AOR genre is tantamount to sacrilege. And so it happens that GLORY-DAZE finally gets its act together and reviews this landmark album within the genre.
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Fortress - 1981 Hands In The Till
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Another period AOR classic from 1981, with hints of southern fried rock and good old arena rock thrown in to boot.
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Franke And The Knockouts - 1981 Franke And The Knockouts
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Another legendary band from New Jersey. Perhaps playing a style which best represents the entire musical genre known as AOR.
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Fusician - 1981 Half Off [EP]
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If I was to put money on it, the band that compares most favourably to Fusician would be a rockier version of Quarterflash, who also appeared on the US Charts the same year as this was released.
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Geils J, Band - 1981 Freeze Frame
 | | 1981 was a great year for AOR. While the likes of Journey, Foreigner and REO Speedwagon are tipping the charts upside down, there was one other outfit who did remarkably well that year and took everybody by surprise. And they were Boston based blues rockers the J Geils Band.. |
Genesis - 1981 Abacab
 | | Not your typical Genesis album, and for long time prog fans, this was the album to formulate an escape plan from a band hell bent on selling out to commercialism.. i.e pop, R&B and soul. |
Get Wet - 1981 Get Wet
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With much trepidation, several spins on the trusty turntable and further research on the web, it turns out Get Wet had a lot to offer fans of power pop and an interesting, albeit brief history to boot.
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Gillan - 1981 Future Shock
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It was with some amazement that while researching this album I learned it reached no 2 in the U.K. album charts. Amazing perhaps given how increasingly forgotten Gillan's excellence as a solo artist was, whereas in 1981 he was a British hard rock institution competing with the NWOBHM acts he helped influence.
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Graf - 1981 Graf
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Graf.. is a band that gravitated to a very classy style of hard west coast, in the vein of Toto, Sneaker, Pablo Cruise and others of that era/style.
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Green, Jack - 1981 Reverse Logic
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Maybe it's just me, but here's an artist I don't feel has received the attention his music deserves from the AOR/melodic rock community. Green's music fit perfectly in the new wave scene of the early 80's. Think The Cars, The Police and Phil Seymour and you'll be right on the money.
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Hawks - 1981 Hawks
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These guys were definitely plugged into what makes pop music so much fun to listen to. Each song is filled with luscious hooks and is melodic to the core.
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Holding Pattern - 1981 Holding Pattern
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Formed in Connecticut, Holding Pattern developed a very English progressive sound while playing out live with Kansas, Dixie Dregs and other like-minded major label bands. This record provides everything a prog fan desires, sweeping classical keys and impressive time changes with virtuoso musicianship but nothing here really moves me enough to think of Holding Pattern as one of America's great progressive bands.
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Icehouse - 1981 Icehouse
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In the United States, Icehouse received substantial airplay for the self titled debut and although this was the same album as the 'Flowers' release a year earlier, it was remixed for American record buyers including different cover art.
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Jet - 1981 Empty Handed
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Jet were a shortlived melodic rock band put together by the husband and wife team of Barbara Barrow and Michael Smith. Based out of Chicago, this outfit have a similar background to another local area entity from that same timeframe.. Tantrum.
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Jody Street - 1981 Jody Street
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Sadly forgotten and buried in the wastelands of time is this one off effort from UK funk rockers Jody Street, who were formed by the phenomenal guitar talent of John Mizarolli.
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Journey - 1981 Escape
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'Escape'.. where does one start when reviewing an album like this on a site like this?
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Judas Priest - 1981 Point Of Entry
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'Point Of Entry' is not the immediate HM follow-up that everyone was expecting. Instead, the album had been deemed to be too experimental in some quarters, too slick and polished in others.
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Killer (Switzerland) - 1981 Ladykiller
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Hot on the heels of fellow Swiss exports Krokus were Killer, notorious for either one of two things: the once controversial album cover featuring a dead woman, or, topping all else for being the premier AC/DC copyists of their day.
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Kix - 1981 Kix
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If you were a teenager growing up in the greater Maryland area during the late 70's, chances are you would have run into Kix. Or more probably, The Shooze or The Generators, as they were known back then.
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Klaatu - 1981 Magentalane
 | | Canadian trio Klaatu are revered with a worldwide cult following. What makes this Beatles loving outfit so different? |
Laine, Denny - 1981 Japanese Tears
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Founding member of The Moody Blues and the only musician in Wings to survive their entire catalog and Paul McCartney, Denny Laine is often forgotten for his contribution to rock music which is really too bad considering his background.
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Lake - 1981 Hot Day
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All in all a somewhat uneven album, but I would argue that the standout tracks are REAL standouts! Figure out the rest of the equation yourself!
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Lake, Greg - 1981 Greg Lake
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Bassist Greg Lake took it upon himself to extricate himself from the progressive handcuffs binding him, and open up a bit more with an array of musical styles on his debut solo album for Chrysalis, released in October 1981. There's a bit of everything on this album actually.
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Lake, Greg - 1981 Greg Lake
| | For what it's worth, both 'Greg Lake' and 'Manoeuvres' should make nice companion pieces for your CD collection, both well worth the investigation for the closet AOR collector. |
Leyden Zar - 1981 Leyden Zar
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Leyden Zar were a Quebec based band and were formed as early as 1976. On the back cover they look like a cross between new-wavers and remnants of seventies styled rockers a la Starz, Gambler etc.
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Life - 1981 Life
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Pinpointing the Life sound think Lazy Racer and more importantly Fleetwood Mac, where George Terry plays Buckingham to Kitty Woodson's Nicks.
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Light - 1981 Keys
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A nice little album and while not a full blown prog rock extravaganza, 'Keys' holds it's own as one of the better Ameriprog albums and will have appeal for the more AOR minded out there as well.
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London, David - 1981 David London
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Haha.. on this record he is known as David London, but to all of the GLORY-DAZE readers, we know him as Fergie Frederiksen, the well known singer who has sung with a multitude of melodic rock acts. Does 'David London' stand the test of time? No it doesn't, but it's an interesting aside into Fergie's discography, and one that has only surfaced relatively recently, thanks to the Internet.
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Lucifers Friend - 1981 Mean Machine
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For fans of later Lucifers Friend, 'Mean Machine' is easily the pick of the bunch. 'Mean Machine' was a heavily influenced Heep piece of class that with repeated listenings takes on and matches Heep's 'Abominog'.
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Madcats - 1981 Streetgame
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Out of the highly industrious Toronto scene of the mid 70's came the band Madcats. So what of the Madcats music? All the typical Canadian reference points from this same era are here, including a few celebrated outfits from south of the border - including Styx and Roadmaster.
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Marianus - 1981 Visions From Out Of The Blue
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One of the more unusual records in my collection, I still don't know what to make of it all. Visions From Out Of The Blue' is definitely one for those who like their rock adventurous and odd.
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Maxus - 1981 Maxus
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A get together of session greats forms the basis of this one-off effort called Maxus.
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Mayday - 1981 Mayday
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Due to a brief, gleaming bio in the International Encyclopedia Of Hard Rock And Heavy Metal, this instantly became a personal must-have.. 'Mayday' is worth the hype and an easy classic..
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Moody Blues, The - 1981 Long Distance Voyager
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A remarkable and stellar album, 'Long Distance Voyager' continues to delight and surprise all these years later..
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Mothers Finest - 1981 Iron Age
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Some A&R men wanted Mother's Finest to be an urban contemporary act and cater to black radio's tastes, but on 'Iron Age', MF was clearly going after the heavy metal/hard rock audience of the early 1980s.
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MPG - 1981 MPG
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The Heavy Metal Encyclopedia got it wrong I reckon, especially when it came to categorising this band MPG. 'Cheap Trick quirkisms?' What a lot of rubbish. How about prime-time Touch, with a healthy dose of Face Dancer and New England thrown in for good measure?
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Myofist - 1981 Thunder In Rock
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An interesting outfit from Canada going under two monikers .. Myofist in Europe and UK, and Fist in North America.
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Nazareth - 1981 The Fool Circle
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After the Americanised sheen of 1980's 'Malice In Wonderland', this effort compares as slightly more whimsical and British (or should that be Scottish?).
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New England - 1981 Walkin' Wild
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An excellent AOR band from Boston, who came out of nowhere during 1979, to release a widely distributed album on the MCA subsidary Infinity.
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Niteflyte - 1981 Niteflyte II
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Nothing like a little west coast soul to get the blood pumping and 'Nightflyte II' delivers. If you are familiar with and enjoy the music of early 80's Al Jarreau, Raydio, Windjammer, Zingara and the poppier side of the Brothers Johnson ('Strawberry Letter 23' anyone?) then these guys will fit quite well between your Ambrosia and Pages albums.
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O, Gary (O'Connor) - 1981 Gary O
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Gary O'Connor was previously with Canadian band Aerial. In 1981 he went solo, and his self titled debut is definitely more focused, and rooted in 60's British pop.
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Pablo Cruise - 1981 Reflector
 | | Much covered and revered here at Glory Daze are the classic West Coast melodic rock legends, who have almost had every studio release reviewed at some point. |
Pages - 1981 Pages
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Pages is the pre-cursor to that other eighties icon of AOR called Mr Mister.
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Paul, Henry (Band) - 1981 Anytime
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Perhaps the best known of Henry Paul's four solo album from 1979 to 1982, this was the culmination of Paul's flirtation with AOR which he had been gradually shifting to after he left The Outlaws in 1977.
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Player - 1981 Spies Of Life
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Peter Beckett continued with a revised lineup and Player recorded what many consider their finest record - 'Spies Of Life'.
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Point Blank - 1981 American Excess
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Like all of Point Blank's albums this is about as faultless as possible, the AOR promise of which was fulfilled on the magnificient 'On A Roll' from 1982
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Praying Mantis - 1981 Time Tells No Lies
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When one thinks about the early days of the NWOBHM, a couple of bands spring to mind. Iron Maiden, Saxon, Def Leppard, Diamondhead, and Praying Mantis. Yes, these London based boys forrmed around the Greek brothers Tino and Chris Troy were right there at the start.
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Prism - 1981 Small Change
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The name of the album is apt, considering the appointment of their new lead singer Henry Small previously with Small Wonder..
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Private, Gary - 1981 Secret Love [mini lp]
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'Secret Love' is fairly typical pop that was done far better by people like Corey Hart, Oxo and Matthew Wilder.
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Quarterflash - 1981 Quarterflash
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Anyone who hasn't heard their hit 'Harden My Heart' has probably lived in a cave for the last thirty years.
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Queen - 1981 Hot Space
 | | For many fans, especially in the U.S. 'Hot Space' was the final straw, believing Queen had truly lost their minds and yet the album shouldn't have come as a big surprise, considering the blueprint was set on their previous album 'The Game'. |
Qwest - 1981 Tampica Gold
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On the marginal side of pop infused melodic rock comes this debut effort from long forgotten Canadian outfit Qwest - who managed two albums before heading straight into oblivion it would appear.
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