CHARLIE – Good Morning America [Rock Candy remastered] 2013

“Good Morning America” by CHARLIE has been reissued by Rock Candy, and this is the first proper remaster made on this, one of the most underrated AOR albums from the early ’80s.

Charlie were actually key components of the second half of the seventies in the British melodic rock scene, trying to gain a foot hold at the height of punk rock during those years. The band released five albums that went quite unnoticed in UK, however, in the USA things were decidedly different as their precise style of AOR gained them significant traction on FM radio, which resulted in the band working almost exclusively for that market.

And this is clearly evident on Charlie’s sixth album “Good Morning America”, where the guys firmly decided to go for an American sound.
By the time the Eighties had come around, RCA Records proposed to the band leader Terry Thomas a rethink on their musical approach, and three of the original members left Charlie.

Talented singer / guitarist John Verity was brought aboard, and a completely new set of tunes was written for “Good Morning America”, musically much more US AOR oriented than the previous material.
Direct and catchy melodies ready for FM radio were the motto here still retaining that characteristic ‘English touch’, the humorous lyrics and the absolutely huge multi-part vocal harmonies that were a trademark of Charlie’s style.

With songs like “Heading For Home”, “I Can Not Get Over You”, “Roll The Dice” and anthemic title track “Good Morning America” plenty of swirling keyboards, they delivered one of the greatest yet, at the time overlooked, albums of their career and certainly a milestone in the AOR pantheon.

The pristine melody of “Just One More Chance”, the sharp, pulsating guitar work on “Saturday Night” and the classy “All My Life” are crowned by near choir-like vocal harmonies through the choruses that confirms why I think this AOR period was the most organic.

“Good Morning America” is clearly one of the best records of this era for the genre, listed on Kerrang Magazine among the ‘top AOR albums of the early Eighties’.
Brilliantly produced by band leader Terry Thomas (who would go on to craft a hugely successful career in this field later) with John Verity by his side, they crafted an album intended to scale the heights of the US charts and push Charlie into the musical super league alongside Toto, Styx or the raising Journey. Sadly, due to record company shenanigans, it was a moderate commercial success.

First time officially released on CD and really well remastered from the original tapes, this Rock Candy reissue of “Good Morning America” is a must have in your collection if you like bands like firts half of the ’80s Journey, Prism, Spys,etc.
In short, highly melodic quality rock music.

01 – Good Morning America
02 – I Can’t Get Over You
03 – Roll The Dice
04 – Heading For Home
05 – Saturday Night
06 – My Perfect Lover
07 – All My Life
08 – Fool For Your Love
09 – I’m Angry With You
10 – Just One More Chance
11 – The Girl Won’t Dance With Me

Terry Thomas – vocals, guitars
John Verity – vocals, guitars
John Anderson – bass, vocals
Steve Gadd, Bob Henrit – drums

turbo