Favorite melodic rock (AOR) album?

Journey - Escape, Frontiers
Foreigner - 4
Cheap Trick - Dream Police, At Budakon, etc
Mastedon - It's A Jungle
Petra - This Means War, On Fire
Night Ranger - Dawn Patrol, their 2nd album (can't remember the name - with you can still rock in america, etc)
Damn Yankees - both

So many more, so little memory lol

Of course, some of the above can fit in multiple music categories

Quote :

Night Ranger - Dawn Patrol, their 2nd album (can't remember the name - with you can still rock in america, etc)

Midnight Madness

Quote :

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

Somewhere near the top of my list as well.

exact33 wrote:

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

Alex

I agree, that album is very good. STAN BUSH have a magic voice.

Lots of good records listed here. Here are some of mine:

JOURNEY - Escape
NIGHT RANGER - Seven Wishes
MR. BIG - Hey Man
GIANT - Last Of The Runaways
21 GUNS - Salute
DEF LEPPARD - Hysteria
HAREM SCAREM - Believe
HEART - Heart
BON JOVI - These Days
TNT - My Religion
MASTEDON - Lofcaudio
JOHN ELEFANTE - Windows Of Heaven
WHITEHEART - Tales Of Wonder
STEVE PERRY - For The Love Of Strange Medicine
BRYAN ADAMS - Reckless

I think a lot of the confusion with this genre because...

1. Many of the early bands (Styx, Kansas) were very diverse, and could fit into many genres.

2. Many of the most popular songs by pomp or melodic hard rock bands were their ballads and anthems, which tend to lack the progressive dynamics of their larger body of work and therefore fit into the more inclusive AOR catagory.

I'm not trying to be a genre policeman here, I just really like this kind of music and I like to talk about it. Whatever works for you is fine. I don't like strict genre definitions either, which is why I posted about the melodic Nektar and Bloodrock albums, melodic rock by bands that aren't usually thought of as such.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

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

Sorry about that. It is a confusing subject. I'd like to hear what your faves are (as defined by you). I ain't gonna try and shoot you down or anything.

I would also recommend:

The Poodles - Metal will Stand tall
The Poodles - Sweet Trade

Alex

SAHB Healer wrote:

I think a lot of the confusion with this genre because...

1. Many of the early bands (Styx, Kansas) were very diverse, and could fit into many genres.

2. Many of the most popular songs by pomp or melodic hard rock bands were their ballads and anthems, which tend to lack the progressive dynamics of their larger body of work and therefore fit into the more inclusive AOR catagory.

I'm not trying to be a genre policeman here, I just really like this kind of music and I like to talk about it. Whatever works for you is fine. I don't like strict genre definitions either, which is why I posted about the melodic Nektar and Bloodrock albums, melodic rock by bands that aren't usually thought of as such.

Yeah true, also the original (other) meaning of AOR is Adult(Album) Oriented Rock which is a specific radio format that arose in the 70's with the Doobie Brothers, Bread etc. Just look at SpiritOfRadio's list which is right but not what was meant for this thread.

I don't know why i care i hate this genre of music.

Still people are throwing up 70's era Cheap Trick albums as AOR which i can't say i like. Those albums are basically Punk Raspberries which is as far removed from harmless AOR as you can get.

rattpoison wrote:

Yeah true, also the original (other) meaning of AOR is Adult(Album) Oriented Rock which is a specific radio format that arose in the 70's with the Doobie Brothers, Bread etc. Just look at SpiritOfRadio's list which is right but not what was meant for this thread.

I don't know why i care i hate this genre of music.

Still people are throwing up 70's era Cheap Trick albums as AOR which i can't say i like. More a punk Raspberries those albums are then friendly radio rock without a pair of rocks.

Well it is a genuinely confusing genre, because as I tried to say by my post about it's origins, it is, even more than most genres a hybrid of light and heavy styles. So even if everyone acknowledges that say Styx, Foreigner, and Kansas helped popularize AOR, they still might mean different things. One person might mean "Babe", "Waiting For a Girl Like You", and "Dust in the Wind"; so the fact that that brings Billy Joel or Bread to mind makes perfect sense. However the next guy might be thinking of "Blue Collar Man", "At War With the World", and "Carry on Wayward Son", so Moxy and Triumph coming to mind is just as legitimate.
For Your (Rattpoison's) purposes I don't think any of it has much to offer you though. Maybe....

Cheap Trick-"Reach Out" (available only on the "Heavy Metal" movie soundtrack as far as I know). Maybe a few other Cheap Trick songs here and there.
I consider a couple of the more keyboardy songs on The Heavy Metal Kids "Kitsch" album to border on melodic hard rock, sort of.
And maybe check out The Pretty Things "Savage Eye" album from the late 70's.
What's that?.... : ...ok,ok I'll stop!

Mark Free - Long Way From Love
Harem Scarem - S/T
Loud & Clear - Disc-Connected
Dare - Calm Before The Storm
Emerald Rain - Age of Innocence
Signal - Loud & Clear
Coney hatch - Friction

all classics!!

all apologies - nirvana

groomdedz wrote:

all apologies - nirvana

Cute. Do you not go to school?

STYX-Equinox
BRYAN ADAMS-Reckless
KANSAS-Leftoverture
BOSTON-S/T
PETRA-On Fire
DAMN YANKEES-S/T

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Quote :

Night Ranger - Dawn Patrol, their 2nd album (can't remember the name - with you can still rock in america, etc)

Midnight Madness

That's it! Great album!

I'm going to list some more:

ANGELICA - Walkin' In Faith
BAD ENGLISH - Bad English
HARDLINE - Double Eclipse
DIVING FOR PEARLS - Diving For Pearls
EUROPE - Out Of This World
MR. BIG - Lean Into It
HAREM SCAREM - Higher
PETE LESPERANCE - Down In It
HUGO - Time On Earth
OPEN SKYZ - Open Skyz
THE STORM - The Storm
UNRULY CHILD - Unruly Child
RTZ - Return To Zero
TED POLEY - Collateral Damage
DAVID READMAN - David Readman
PLACE VENDOME - Place Vendome
JOURNEY - Trial By Fire

Actually the closest i come to this genre is Led Zeppelin's last record In Through The Out Door!

Here are some of my favorites...one of my favorite genres:

Giuffria - Silk and Steel
Giuffria - S/T
House Of Lords - S/T
House Of Lords - Demon's Down
Novella - One Big Sky
Novella - A Liquid Earth
Mass - Voices in The Night
Magnum - Wings Of Heaven
Mastedon - Lofoaudio
Liaison - S/T
White Heart - Freedom
White Heart - Powerhouse
Halo - S/T
Halo - Heaven Calling
John Elefante - Corridors
Petra - On Fire!
Petra - This Means War!
Scott Springer - Hello Forever
Fighter - Bang The Drum
Fighter - The Waiting
Rez - Between Heaven N' Hell
Giant - Last Of The Runaways
Giant - Time To Burn
Shout - In Your Face
Shout - It Won't Be Long

James B. wrote:

Icon-night of the crime

James, I have been tryin' to find this for over 10 years now. Hade the cassette when I was a kid and miss it badly.

Forgot a great one:

Hardline - Double Eclipse

Novella - One Big Sky

I'll second this nomination. This is the disc I think of when I hear "AOR"