Favorite melodic rock (AOR) album?

Good choices, my friend.

spectrefate wrote:

Good choices, my friend.

Thank you.

I was thinking of adding in some VH since I have been listening to them since I was 5. But I didn't want to start the age old discussion of are they hard rock? melodic rock? heavy metal?

the sentinel wrote:

Sorry, my bad. Technically though, the first three are album titles I would have to say then

Journey- Escape; Frontiers; Captured
Foreigner- S/T; Double Vision
Heart- Little Queens; Dreamboat Annie, S/T
Triumph- Progressions of Power; Sport of Kings; Allied Forces
Cheap Trick- Heaven Tonite; Dream Police

Excellent choices...

If we're gonna count Triumph then I vote for them too.

emptytomb1 wrote:

If we're gonna count Triumph then I vote for them too.

They don't count in your case.

Oh, my vote counts and you're a .

I am going to put 10 great AOR albums:
SURVIVOR:CAUGHT IN THE GAME (1983)
FOREIGNER:AGENT PROVOCATEUR (1984)
ARCANGEL:ARCANGEL (1983)
ADRENALIN:ROAD OF THE GYPSY(1986)
COBRA:FIRST STRIKE(1983)
REO SPEEDWAGON:HI INFIDELITY(1980)
SABU:HEARTBREAKER(1985)
STAN BUSH AND BARRAGE:SAME (1987)
HONEYMOON SUITE:THE BIG PRICE(1985)
DOMINOE:KEEP IN TOUCH(1988).
Like you see, all from the 80s. Not many bands of today can make albums like this anymore.
I also like many of the records you guys named like that SIGNAL album(love all the KING KOBRA albums too), 80s JOURNEY albums, TRIUMPH(only to me they are more like HEAVY ROCK beside SPORT OF KINGS and SURVEILENCE lps, that were more melodic hard rock/hard aor), etc....
HOUSE OF LORDS just released an increible new album that all melodic hard rock/hard aor fans will love. I bought it not long ago and play it all the time.

Does Ten count? If so:

Ten - Babylon

Tyketto - Don't Come Easy (my favorite ever)

Whiteheart - Freedom

I really like the last Stan Bush album - In This Life! his voice is getting better and better!!

Alex

I love AOR & Pomp. I used to hate it when I was younger and full of Nugent and testosterone. Now it reminds me of being younger.

Grand Prix s/t (Bernie Shaw)
Magnum-Storyteller's Night
Touch s/t (Mark Mangold)
Styx- Equinox
Shadow King- s/t (Lou Gramm)
Joe Lynn Turner- Rescue You

tons more....

Icon-night of the crime

Child's Play - Rat Race

A sentimental pick - but listening to it not long ago after several years it held up way beyond the nostalgia for it.

Oh boy......my favorite non-metal genre of rock. Lessee...


Journey - Infinity, Evolution, Escape, etc.

TOTO - Toto, Toto IV, Farenheit, The Seventh One

REO Speedwagon - Hi Infidelity, Wheels Are Turnin'

STYX - Grand Illusion, Pieces of Eight, Kilroy Was Here

I might get kicked off of both Ult's and Trog's boards with this one post...but I gotta say Nektar-Man in the Moon and Bloodrock-Triptych are pretty darn melodic and good. Call 'em maybe prog/pomp? Highly recommended. I know it sounds crazy, but that's how I hear them.
Maybe not wall to wall Aor/prog like Asia, but more experiments in melodic with great results on some of the songs more like John Wetton's previous band, UK. Anyway I just wanted to list 'em because many people might not think of looking there for good melodic rock otherwise.

(double post)

Quote :

Styx- Equinox

Good call!

REO Speedwagon - You Can Tune A Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish

Triumph is melodic rock?!?!

I can see Sport of Kings and Surveillance being AOR, maybe even Thunder Seven. Anyway, if Triumph counts then I'll go with Progressions of Power. Awesome album!

Mike Levine has the most killer 70s look. He reminds me of old-school Jon Lord. I wish I could grow a beard like that.

Those of you who were around in the 70s are so lucky.

SAHB Healer wrote: Styx - Equinox My absolute favorite Styx album of all time

HOUSE OF LORDS just released an increible new
album that all melodic hard rock/hard aor fans will love. I bought it
not long ago and play it all the time.

I heard some samples of it on cdinzane and it sounds great!!!

Billy Joel - All albums, especially Glass Houses
The Doobie Brothers - Minute By Minute
Chicago - Chicago IX: Greatest Hits
Foreigner - 4
Steve Perry - Street Talk
Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill
Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
Paul Simon - Still Crazy After All These Years
Toto - IV
Bread - Baby Im-a Want You
Journey - Escape
Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
Hall & Oats - Private Eyes
...Many more

Looking at this list it's interesting what people think AOR or Melodic Rock is, you ask 10 different people and you'll get 7 different answers!

Is Melodic Rock what it says it is as rock music with a big emphasis on melody? Then if so is Power Pop Melodic Rock aswell as AOR?

I could offer up a million and one albums but their would be the Power Pop Melodic Rock. But if i'm to take it the way it's meant as in the AOR meaning then i have no choices because AOR never struck me always coming off too calculated, icy and lacking any heart or soul.

I'd be willing to take those 2 Cheap Trick albums mentioned from AOR's cold lifeless fingers and put them in my little Power Pop love nest though.

rattpoison wrote:

Looking at this list it's interesting what people think AOR or Melodic Rock is, you ask 10 different people and you'll get 7 different answers!

Is Melodic Rock what it says it is as rock music with a big emphasis on melody? Then if so is Power Pop Melodic Rock as well as AOR?

I'd like to try and address this question by trying to trace the liniage of Melodic Hard Rock, which is what I thought we were discussing. Otherwise we're just talking about pop or classic rock which is too general to be of much interest IMO.
Obviously the Beatles were an influence, as they were on most any genre from that period, but I would say that the first band to combine the pop sensibilities of Bread or Chicago with a (sanitized) hard rock dynamic akin to Deep Purple was Styx. And their hit "Lady" was the first melodic hard rock song that fits the boundaries that I'm trying to define here. Pomp rock (later included in the broader catagory AOR) is melodic hard rock usually highlighting keyboards and soaring, melodic vocals. Legend has it that this sound was a result of the creative tension between the Rocker (James Young) and the Artist (Dennis DeYoung) in Styx. But there are other possibilities...
The oldest thing I have that uses anything resembling this approach was the s/t double album from the (James Walsh) Gypsy band from 1969. They were clearly influenced by the band Chicago, but had a harder edge to them on many songs. The possible credit they might get is that while they were from my hometown of Minneapolis; they gigged a lot in Styx hometown of Chicago, and probably gigged with Styx quite a few times, hence a possible influence.
The next oldest thing I have that approximates this ethic is the late Bloodrock (now packaged as the "Tryptich" compliation) from around 1971-2. However how influential this was is debatable, as all they seemed to accomplish with this sound was to alienate the fanbase of the Bloodrock that we all know and love. However they do claim on their website to be "America's first prog-rock band", so it's possible somebody like Kansas has cited these albums as influential. They do sound a bit like Kansas at times here.
Another possible influence was the Canadian band "A Foot In Cold Water" (1972). They really couldn't seem to decide from song to song whether they wanted to be Deep Purple or Bread, and actually alternate hard rockers with mild pop every other song (almost without fail) on their first two albums. Canada turned out to be a real hotbed for pomprock, and I'm sure A Foot In Coldwater must have influenced Loverboy and Triumph and that whole generation of Canadian bands. I know Helix later covered their biggest hit song.
Other possible influences: Yes, ELO, Queen, maybe Rush to some degree...early Kansas obviously made contributions, but to me their first couple are more prog than pomp. Maybe I'm missing something obvious so I'd like to hear what you guys think.

beethoven??

Love AOR, but unfortunately don't own alot on CD - I'll put down a couple from the collection though.

Triumph - Just A Game (I'm sure I'd include more of their albums if I owned them)
Hagar, Schon, Aronson, Schrieve - Through The Fire
Hardline - Double Eclipse (they even cover an obscure Streetheart song)
Asia - s/t, Aqua

EDIT: Just remembered I had a cassette of Billy Joel's 'Stormfront' when I was a kid, (don't know what happened to it) so I'll include it for the hell of it (yes, I'm aware it's widely regarded as his worst).

rattpoison wrote:

Looking at this list it's interesting what people think AOR or Melodic Rock is, you ask 10 different people and you'll get 7 different answers!

Is Melodic Rock what it says it is as rock music with a big emphasis on melody? Then if so is Power Pop Melodic Rock aswell as AOR?

I could offer up a million and one albums but their would be the Power Pop Melodic Rock. But if i'm to take it the way it's meant as in the AOR meaning then i have no choices because AOR never struck me always coming off too calculated, icy and lacking any heart or soul.

I'd be willing to take those 2 Cheap Trick albums mentioned from AOR's cold lifeless fingers and put them in my little Power Pop love nest though.

And that's pretty much why I don't like strict genre definitions - there's always so much overlap.

That's a damn killer (and detailed) timeline though SAHB. Canada definitely produced a tonne of AOR bands in the late 70s/early 80s, ranging from the prog-ish (Triumph, Saga) to the more pop (Loverboy, Harlequin)

SAHB Healer wrote:

rattpoison wrote:

Looking at this list it's interesting what people think AOR or Melodic Rock is, you ask 10 different people and you'll get 7 different answers!

Is Melodic Rock what it says it is as rock music with a big emphasis on melody? Then if so is Power Pop Melodic Rock as well as AOR?

I'd like to try and address this question by trying to trace the liniage of Melodic Hard Rock, which is what I thought we were discussing. Otherwise we're just talking about pop or classic rock which is too general to be of much interest IMO.
Obviously the Beatles were an influence, as they were on most any genre from that period, but I would say that the first band to combine the pop sensibilities of Bread or Chicago with a (sanitized) hard rock dynamic akin to Deep Purple was Styx. And their hit "Lady" was the first melodic hard rock song that fits the boundaries that I'm trying to define here. Pomp rock (later included in the broader catagory AOR) is melodic hard rock usually highlighting keyboards and soaring, melodic vocals. Legend has it that this sound was a result of the creative tension between the Rocker (James Young) and the Artist (Dennis DeYoung) in Styx. But there are other possibilities...
The oldest thing I have that uses anything resembling this approach was the s/t double album from the (James Walsh) Gypsy band from 1969. They were clearly influenced by the band Chicago, but had a harder edge to them on many songs. The possible credit they might get is that while they were from my hometown of Minneapolis; they gigged a lot in Styx hometown of Chicago, and probably gigged with Styx quite a few times, hence a possible influence.
The next oldest thing I have that approximates this ethic is the late Bloodrock (now packaged as the "Tryptich" compliation) from around 1971-2. However how influential this was is debatable, as all they seemed to accomplish with this sound was to alienate the fanbase of the Bloodrock that we all know and love. However they do claim on their website to be "America's first prog-rock band", so it's possible somebody like Kansas has cited these albums as influential. They do sound a bit like Kansas at times here.
Another possible influence was the Canadian band "A Foot In Cold Water" (1972). They really couldn't seem to decide from song to song whether they wanted to be Deep Purple or Bread, and actually alternate hard rockers with mild pop every other song (almost without fail) on their first two albums. Canada turned out to be a real hotbed for pomprock, and I'm sure A Foot In Coldwater must have influenced Loverboy and Triumph and that whole generation of Canadian bands. I know Helix later covered their biggest hit song.
Other possible influences: Yes, ELO, Queen, maybe Rush to some degree...early Kansas obviously made contributions, but to me their first couple are more prog than pomp. Maybe I'm missing something obvious so I'd like to hear what you guys think.

I've been hesitant to reply here because I'm not sure what qualifies and this does nothing to end that confussion.