Rock Blog #59: Recent 2nd hand finds and Lockhart

 After a couple of ”full-sized” reviews, I’ll go back to the blog-styled ramblings, if you don’t mind.

Lately I haven’t been listening to new albums that much, so let’s check out some older stuff I’ve discovered or re-descovered.

The other day I found a vinyl copy of ROXANNE’s first album for a couple of euros, so I thought I’d buy it, even though I already have it on CD. Well, apparently I don’t have it, so for the time being, this vinyl will stay in my collection. The album was released in 1988 on Scotti Bros Records and I had my first copy of it soon after its’ release. It’s a good album, melodic hard rock somewhat in the early Tesla vein, but with their own stamp all over it. 

Apparently the band has regrouped a few years ago, and have released two albums in 2018 and 2023. I’ve got to check those out! Favourite songs: ”Coming For You”, ”Over You”, ”Stay With Me” and their cover of ”Play That Funky Music”.

STAN MEISSNER is a Canadian songwriter, who has written several hit songs, but has only released 3 solo albums and one ”project album” with Peter Fredette. That particular album, ”Power Of The Night” by METROPOLIS prompted me to take a look at Stan’s solo career and put together a playlist. Now that it’s done, I will have to say that the Metropolis album is my favourite, thanks to Peter Fredette’s stronger vocals. 9 songs made it to my playlist, with ”Wild And Blue” and the title track as the ultimate highlights. Out of Stan’s solo albums, my vote would go to the last one, ”Undertow”. The other two, ”Windows To Light” and ”Dangerous Games” are pretty good albums too, but they have more weaker tracks. 

”First Stop” by SHELTER is a recent find from Vinted. The first stop was also the last stop for this early eighties AOR band, and I must admit that I hadn’t even heard of them before. The big Rock Candy sticker combined to  a 3 EUR price tag aroused my interest, and it turned out to be a fairly good purchase. Similar to the likes of Foreigner, Touch and Journey, this album had the sound made for the radio of the era, but the record label dropped the ball and it received very little support. The best song for me is the opener ”On The Line”, a Survivor’ish stomper with a great chorus.

I’m no URIAH HEEP expert, but I know that some of their 80’s material isn’t held in high regard by their fans. As I have a strange fascination with ”sellout albums”, when I came across ”Equator” (1985) for a reasonable price, I instantly picked it up. Stylewise, this is very much an eighties’ album, with Uriah Heep trying hard to move with the times. In a way, this album reminds me strongly of ”Storyteller’s Night”, Magnum’s successful attempt to do the same. The difference being that ”Equator” doesn’t have the songs to match and the production is somehow overbearing. To the ”for sale” bin… I think the ”The Ultimate Collection” that I have from the band will be enough for me. It doesn’t have a single song from this album though.

I’ll throw in something from this year too: LOCKHART are a Canadian group and with ”City Pulse” (RRRr) they attempted to create the ultimate tribute to 80ies AOR, using vintage sounds and real instruments. Even their videos embrace the 80’s aesthetics, looking like they were filmed on VHS! Sure enough, they ”City Pulse” sounds like it could have been recorded in 1987 and they have some solid melodic rock tracks on the album, ”Can’t Shake It” and ”No Chance In Heaven” being my top picks. What they lack is a great vocalist - most of the bands of the era had very good singers. Devon Kerr does have a pleasant voice which sounds pretty good when he’s staying within his range, but his limitations become very obvious when the band covers Michael Bolton’s ”You Wouldn’t Know Love”. It’s one of my favourite songs of all time, pure AOR perfection, but while quite faithful to the original, the Lockhart version is just bland, I’m sorry to say. But still, I like the concept of keeping it real and retro!