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AOR AND MELODIC ROCK Hello, one and all! So what can you expect on Facebook? Cheers, Rob Evans

Welcome to the page for Powerplay Magazine's AOR Underground column.The column is monthly,and has been in existence for over ten years and is one of the longest running columns in the UK. Built on the foundations laid by Derek Olivers mighty Wimpwire column and, to a lesser extent, Kelv Helrazers, equally Impressive, Raze Hell, AOR Underground endeavours to bring you the very best in AOR,

Melodic Rock, Glam and Pomp. Well, I aim to do a monthly blog that will give you an update on the column, its contents/details etc, plus I'll probably give you the odd new Interview (primarily for new, lesser known bands) and anything else I can get my hands on that is to do with AOR. Any bands out there that want to be featured in this column, then get in touch via this site. Any other bands that don't fit the remit of this column, then get in touch with Powerplay at www.powerplaymagazine.co.uk. That's all for now, be sure to subscribe to the blog, check back here on a regular basis and leave plenty of comments - good, or bad.

03/11/2025

THE STRANGE CASE OF WILLIE DOWLING VERSUS DURAN DURAN…
Over the weekend I found myself in the company of two eighties artists in the shape of the legendary Duran Duran and the slightly less legendary Willie Dowling. One of them played the sprawling CO-OP Arena in Manchester, an exercise in capitalist greed if ever I saw one, whilst the other was in the Copper Bar, a small annexe in Manchester’s Band On The Wall venue. One of them was a bloated carcass of a band, relying on muscle memory so that they could go through the motions, the other was a genial madman that imbibed the spirit of Todd Rungren at his most angular and melodic and Zappa at his weirdest best, but welded to the pop charms of The Feeling, Hoosiers, Ben Folds Five and Jellyfish.
Obviously, it was Dowling in the Copper Bar, but it shouldn’t have been. He should have been carried around on a sea of adulation by twenty thousand people at the CO-OP Arena, lauded as a revolutionary genius, a politically charged prophet leading the crusade against injustice and wrongdoing. Whilst Duran Duran on the other hand should have been languishing in salubrious places like Warrington’s Lion Hotel or Runcorn’s Cherry Tree, staples of the eighties gig scene, before they imploded due to arguments as to who got to wear the best clothes or make-up.
Sadly, that’s an alternative experience and one that I’d rather live in. The reality was paying £100 to see a band that went through the motions, with the bonus of £25 to park your car and £9.80 for a pint of lager, with a surcharge of £50 just to breathe the air in the venue – I’d like to point out that I made that last bit up, but it’s coming. Or you could have paid £12.50 to see a creative genius at the peak of his powers, a visionary whose songs will live long in your memory and, mores the point, they’ll mean something.
The point I’m making is that these huge arena gigs will kill grassroots venues and artists if we are not careful. There should be some sort of tax or levy that for every arena ticket you buy, you must pledge to buy a ticket for a grassroots gig of your choice. It’ll sadly never happen, and Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon will continue to reap the rewards for being one of the dreariest frontmen I’ve ever seen, a real dullard with a voice to match. Mild Boys at best, who only came alive for the last twenty minutes, Duran Duran were no match for Dowling who captivates throughout on songs like ‘Let Us Begin’, ‘I Killed My Imaginary Friend’ and ‘In The Ocean’.
But twenty thousand people can’t be wrong, or can they? This weekend, David really did triumph over Goliath.

02/11/2025

SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
For me, REO Speedwagon are one of the best AOR bands of the late seventies and eighties. I would put ‘Hi Infidelity’ very high as one of the best AOR albums ever recorded. I was lucky enough to see this band back in ’85 and interview lead singer Kevin Cronin many years ago. He was a really decent chap and an all-round raconteur, even inviting this writer to meet him when they played the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in 2007.

REO SPEEDWAGON – ‘Hi-Infidelity’. Epic Records. 1980.
As wholesome as mom’s apple pie, this blue-collar AOR band from Champaign, Illinois started life in 1967 when Keyboard player Neal Doughty and Drummer Alan Gratzer were both attending the same University. Named after a 1915 flatbed truck that was designed by Ransom Eli Olds, REO Speedwagon was one of mid-western America’s best kept secrets throughout the seventies. Initially a hard rock troupe, expressing the kind of music favoured by the likes of Foghat and Humble Pie et al, they hit pay dirt in the eighties displaying an FM radio pop sheen which brought big dividends making them a thirteen-year overnight success. They’ve sold more than forty million albums, had a brace of number one singles and played Live Aid in ’85. Vocalist Kevin Cronin and guitarist Gary Richrath, who quit the band in ’89 and sadly died in 2015, were the song-writing cornerstones whose initial frictions lead to a mutual appreciation that was responsible for their biggest songs.
With over ten million sales, a smash hit number one single and a top five follow up, it’s hard to argue with ‘Hi Infidelity’s’ status as the bands biggest selling album, one that spent fifteen weeks at number one making it the biggest selling record of 1981. The likes of ‘Keep On Loving You’ and ‘Take It On The Run’ are staples of a thousand soft-rock compilations. Anything they’ve recorded since has had to live in this albums shadow; it marked the end of their hard rock years and ushered in a glorious AOR period. About to be dropped by Epic, it’s the album that saved their careers.
Whilst the late seventies, early eighties were a boom time for this band, the nineties were pretty much a decade to forget as the hits dried up. Much like Toto, they are one of AOR's most maligned bands and whilst acts like Journey, Styx, Survivor and Foreigner get all the plaudits, the ‘Wagon has remained a constant on the American arena circuit and thanks to the likes of Glee and TV shows like Ozark, their popularity has never waned.

Don’t forget to spread the word about the Sunday Morning Coffee Club, membership is free! Lol. And if you like the Art Print, then head over to my daughters Print & Pigment Etsy page in the comments below.

26/10/2025

THE SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
I hope you’ve all turned your clocks back today? I turned mine back all the way to 1986 where we find the second album from legendary rockers, King Kobra. In light of Marcie Free’s recent passing, today’s instalment of the Coffee Club is dedicated to her as we present ‘Thrill Of A Lifetime’.

KING KOBRA – ‘Thrill Of A Lifetime’. Capitol/EMI Records. 1986.
After a brief tenure with Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary drummer Carmine Appice put together his new band, King Kobra in late ’84. Joining him were Mark Free, David Michael-Philips, Johnny Rod and Mick Sweda, a line-up that cut their debut album, ‘Ready To Strike’, in ’85.
It’s follow-up, ‘Thrill Of A Lifetime’ was a bit of a departure, replacing the hard hitting style of the debut with a distinct AOR sheen that caught a lot of people off guard. It was a style that showcased the immense vocals of Free even more this time around. Like their debut, this album was produced by Spencer Proffer, a man that had previously taken Quiet Riot to the top of the charts.
Having been ordered to make a more commercial album by the record label, King Kobra worked with several outside writers for this album. David Michael-Philips has gone on the record as saying that this release was a mess from start to finish (you can read more at www.rockunited.com) and that the cover art was embarrassing.
I personally think that this is a great album, but it has more in common with the kind of AOR that Free would become synonymous with as a solo artist. It was far removed from the melodic metal of the debut, hell, there was even a rap song on this album in the form of ‘Home Street Home’, which, to be fair, is actually a great song. But then again, this album is packed full of great AOR songs, with the likes of ‘Iron Eagle (Never Say Die)’, ‘Overnight Sensation’ and ‘Dream On’ taking the top honours.
With the band pretty much dropped by their label as soon as the album was released, the collective members went their separate ways with Appice joining John Sykes in Blue Murder, Sweda forming the Bulletboys, Rod joining W.A.S.P, Free ending up in Signal and Michael-Philips briefly joining Lizzy Borden.

Don’t forget to spread the word about the Sunday Morning Coffee Club, membership is free! Lol. And if you like the Art Print, then head over to my daughters Print & Pigment Etsy page in the comments below.

25/10/2025

RIP Marcie Free, the original unruly child.
I first met Marcie Free way back in 1993 at the Gods Of AOR festival in Manchester. Back then, as Mark Free, I witnessed one of the best AOR shows i've ever attended. Mark was gracious with his time at the Manchester show, having photos taken and signing everything i put in front of him, even putting a comedy beard on Jay Schellen in the Unruly Child booklet. A lovely soul, very stylish and immaculately dressed, he was every inch the rock star and that show, well, that was something else. Arguably one of the greatest AOR/Rock singers, who should have been a household name, his work on albums by King Kobra, Signal, Unruly Child, the songwriting demos with Robin and Judithe Randall and his solo album 'Long Way From Love' are the stuff of legend. A couple of years after this gig, Mark became Marcie and graciously slipped out of the spotlight and left the music business. Fast forward nearly thirty years and Marcie Free and Unruly Child return to the stage at Firefest, coaxed out of retirement by the ever persuasive Kieran Dargan in 2011. Proving that she still had a great voice, Marcie and company were in fine form. One of the greats, but gone way too soon. Marcie Free will live on in the shape of her music, some of the greatest AOR that's ever been released. Go and play 'Long Way From Love' and marvel at one of AORs greatest moments. My thoughts and prayers go out to Marcie's family and band mates.

19/10/2025

THE SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
Can we get an Amen for the Sweet Comfort Band on a Sunday morning? This most fabulous of Christian rock bands probably flew under the radar of a lot of Pomp/AOR fans back in the early eighties. Their early albums are very much in the Westcoast AOR mould, before ‘Cutting Edge’ saw them pomp it up.

SWEET COMFORT BAND – ‘Perfect Timing’. Light Records. 1984.
This was the Sweet Comfort Band’s sixth album and is regarded by many as the band’s finest hour and one of the best Christian rock records of the early eighties. Originally put together in the seventies by Randy Thomas (Allies) and Bryan Duncan, the band started life as a Jazz/Westcoast style outfit before morphing into the arena bothering band that would surface on “Cutting Edge” in 1982.
“Perfect Timing” itself was released in 1984 and is the pinnacle of the bands career and the equal of any of their mainstream contemporaries of the time. With Dino Elefante (Mastedon) at the production helm, and John Elefante (Kansas) on backing vocals, this album is a Pomp/AOR fans wet dream. They were compared to the likes of Styx, Petra and Kansas but to these ears it’s more like Uriah Heep (circa ‘Abominog’), Le Roux and most definitely Lionheart, with vocalist Bryan Duncan sounding very much like Chad Brown at times.
The likes of ‘Perfect Timing’, ‘Don’t Bother Me Now’ (this would have sat nicely on Lionheart’s ‘Hot Tonight’) and ‘Looking For The Answer’ are huge slabs of keyboard driven, hook laden pomp rock. I guarantee that they will have you diving towards that double ironing board ensemble and playing air-keyboards to your heart’s content. Off set by the quirky hi-tech ‘Computer Age’ or the pure AOR of ‘Envy And Jealousy’, ‘Perfect Timing’ is up there as one of the best Christian AOR albums of all time.
They sadly called it a day after this album, but were resurrected in 2013 and released ‘The Waiting Is Over’. Check them out, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Don’t forget to spread the word about the Sunday Morning Coffee Club, membership is free! Lol. And if you like the Art Print, then head over to my daughters Print & Pigment Etsy page in the comments below.

18/10/2025

The Space Ace…
My first sighting of Ace Frehley in the flesh was at the Deeside Leisure Centre on September 6th, 1980. As an impressionable nineteen-year-old that was into comics and music, Kiss were the ultimate package. It didn’t harm their cause that my favourite writer, Geoff Barton, absolutely loved them.
That gig at Deeside absolutely blew me away that night and after it I wanted every band to be like Kiss. Whilst several aspects of this gig stood out, a fire breathing demon that flew across the stage being one, a spaceman firing rockets out of his guitar and playing until it smoked are some of the most vivid.
To me I always thought that Ace Frehley never got the kudos he deserved as a guitar player. Much like CC. DeVille of Poison or Mick Mars of Motley Crue, Ace Frehley was maligned by the guitar snobs that adored the likes of Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen or Yngwie Malmsteen as an average guitarist, but he was so much more than that. He played for the song, and he was the perfect fit for Kiss, unlike his successor the flashy Vinnie Vincent.
For this comic book fan, Ace Frehley’s passing is as tragic as the assassination of Captain America or the death of Superman. Superheroes shouldn’t die, but unfortunately for Ace, there’s no plot twist that will bring him back. So, I’ll stick on ‘Kiss Alive II’ and transport myself back to the late seventies and relive my memories of a fabulous and groundbreaking guitar player who was a part of one of the worlds greatest bands. RIP Ace Frehley, my thoughts and condolences are with your family and friends.

17/10/2025

Went to see Cats In Space in Stockport last night for another ‘Episode’ of ‘How To Play A Rock And Roll Show’. Like other episodes in this long running story, the script was concise and as gripping as ever. It saw our main protagonists deliver another BAFTA winning performance, with that old ham, Greg Hart leading from the front. The musical soundtrack was, as ever, spot on. An incredulous ‘Bootleg Bandoleros’ lead from the front, closely followed by ‘Jupiter Calling’ and ‘Queen Of The Neverland’. This was a hard rocking set, with no time for any ballads or quirky stuff and about time as far as I’m concerned. There are still a few dates of this tour left, so do yourselves a favour and get a ticket. It really is a great experience and a throwback to when live shows were an actual event.

14/09/2025

THE SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
Grown men in makeup, you can’t beat them. And in the eighties, they were everywhere. Whilst the UKs Wrathchild may have looked like the Ugly Sisters, Poison were Cinder-f**kin’-Rella! Now, hit it C.C.

POISON – ‘Look What The Cat Dragged In’. Enigma/Music For Nations Records. 1986.
Whilst the story of Poison originates in Pennsylvania, when the band went under the name of Paris, it would be Los Angeles that would embrace them with open arms. Whilst Kerrang! would get the scoop on a lot of bands in the early eighties, the legendary Metal Forces magazine and Kelv Hellrazer were the first to bring Poison to the masses via an inconspicuous two-page interview in issue 16, that was tucked right at the back of the magazine almost as an afterthought.

Under the banner headline of “Swallow This One”, Hellrazer got the skinny on how Poison had been courted by Kim Foley, how they’d struggled to get a deal and what made them stand out from a very crowded market. Having replaced guitarist Matt Smith, the core line-up of Brett Michaels (Vocalizin’ & Socializin’), Bobby Dall (Bass Rapin’ & Heartbreakin’) and Rikki Rocket (Sticks, Tricks & Lipstick Fix) were joined by C.C. DeVille (Guitar Screachin’ & Hair Bleachin’) to form a line-up that was set to bring the hitz, glitz and glamour of the Sunset Strip to the rest of the world.

Whilst the Crue were rapidly moving away from the pop-metal of their fabulous debut, Poison embraced that style with open arms. It was like Sweet and Cheap Trick running headlong into the likes of Kiss and Van Halen, with the result a heady cocktail of attitude, bravura and flair. They looked better than your girlfriend, in fact back in ’86 when I was managing a local Wrexham band, one of our roadies remarked, “Cor! They’re fit, who are they?” Don’t worry Kev, what goes on in Wrexham, stays in Wrexham.

Recorded for just $23,000, with the band part funding the recording, the album proved to be a runaway success. It was described as a “Glorified Demo” by Brett Michaels as it was recorded in just twelve days at the Music Grinder by Ric Browde. Thanks to singles like ‘Talk Dirty To Me’, ‘I Want Action’ and ‘I Won’t Forget You’, not to mention the fabulously, over the top videos, within a year of its release it made the top five of the American Billboard charts. It became the biggest selling record in Enigma’s history and this bunch of Cinderella’s most certainly went to the ball.

Don’t forget to spread the word about the Sunday Morning Coffee Club, membership is free! Lol. And if you like the Art Print, then head over to my daughters Print & Pigment Etsy page in the comments below.

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