AOR – L.A Concession 2000
This release – a re-release, to be more precise – has nearly nothing to do with the music ‘taste’ of the magazine, as it’s calm enough even for fans with the likes of the Frontiers/AOR Heaven/MTM catalogue series. Still, two references are worth the notice:
French musician Frederic Slama stands behind AOR. Fond of the West Coast/AOR ‘stream’ of the late 70s/early-to-mid 80s in the US, he formed this ‘one man’ project and has already released a series of such albums, making use of the session help of many worldwide famous artists. See e.g. the list above and mark the ‘sting’ of renowned players like Tommy Denander, Steve Lukather, Michael Thompson, Tony Franklin, Jeff Porcaro and Gregg Bissonette. This goes for the lovers of ‘who plays where’ approach.
L.A. Concession was originally released in 2000 as a self-financed effort. Now reissued – via the MTM Classix series – it bears four more tunes; a good gift for lovers of the style. And what’s this style? To cut a long story short – and, also, to clear out the ‘West Coast’ mode – imagine the likes of bands such as ‘poppy’ Toto/Survivor, ‘mellow’ Journey/Bad English/Foreigner, Richard Marx, Mr. Mister, ‘moody’ Aldo Nova/Drive, She Said, Eric Martin and the rest goes ‘boom’.
Wrapping it up, you got the idea on how ‘sweet’ AOR’s music is. Applicable for 100% sentimental (now called) Melodic Rock lovers, Frederic Slama’s project is – should be noted – completely honest (the man has done a marvelous job promoting West Coast/AOR music to France all these years as a journalist/writer).
01. NEVER GONNA LET HER GO
02. ON DANGEROUS GROUND
03. CAUGHT INSIDE YOUR HEART
04. WORLDS AWAY
05. IN MY CRYSTAL BALL
06. THE WAY OF THE NIGHT
07. LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN
08. ONLY IN MY DREAMS
09. FROM L.A TO TOKYO
10. LOST IN YOUR EYES
11. DON’T LET HER GO
12. LOVE HAS FOUND ITS WAY
13. CAN ONE OF YOUR KISS DO ALL THIS? (bonus track)
14. SECRETS IN HER HEART (bonus track)
15. THE SPARK OF MY SOUL (bonus track)
16. NEVER GONNA LET HER GO (bonus track)
David Chamberlin – Lead Vocals, Guitars
Doug St John, John Fluker, Kristoffer Lagerstrom – Lead Vocals
Frederic Slama, Tommy Denander, Peter Hume – Guitars, Keyboards
Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, Peter Friestedt, Michael Thompson – Guitars
Keyboards: David Diggs – Keyboards
Tony Franklin, Hussain Jiffry – Bass
Vinnie Colaiuta, Jeff Porcaro, Carlos Vega, Gregg Bissonette – Drums
Lenny Castro – Percussion
Tom Saviano, Dan Higgins – Saxophone
Richard Page, Steve George – Backing Vocals
Password: Plotn08
AOR – L.A Concession 2000