AOR Underground (2026)

27/09/2026

THE SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
Side one of this week’s Coffee Clubber has been an ever present in my household since it’s release in 1981. An unassuming album title, armed with a cover that was intriguing to say the least, earned them a shot on my turntable and it’s never been far away ever since. How could you go wrong with a cover that featured three musicians that either looked like they should be on Wall Street, Studio 54 or a member of the Arrows, I’ll leave it to you to determine which is which. As Cult Classics go, this is right up there.

707 – ‘The Second Album’. Casablanca Records. 1981.
Originally formed at the very tail end of the seventies, 707 were put together by Kevin Russel (Guitars), Duke McFadden (Keyboards) and Jim McClarty (Drums), with Phil Bryant (Bass) joining slightly later, this hot new act, who all shared the vocal duties, soon caught the attention of Casablanca records, the home of Kiss, Angel and Donna Summer.
Their ‘S/T’ debut, released in 1980, was a surprise hit thanks to the single ‘I Could Be Good For You’, that reached the Billboard Top 100, but the labels failure to capitalise on this was disappointing and the departure of Duke McFadden a huge blow. His presence was missed and with the departure of their manager, Fred Ruppert, which Russell admits wasn’t their best move, the band quickly moved forward and started work on what would become the cunningly titled, ‘The Second Album’.
The appointment of producer Jai Winding, who’d previously worked on Le Roux’s ‘Up’ and Cherie and Marie Currie’s ‘Messin’ With The Boys’, was an odd choice as far as Russell was concerned and the appearance of Cherie Currie was, well, only down to the fact that she was Winding’s girlfriend at the time. Recorded at Wally Heider Recording in Hollywood, ‘The Second Album’ is a musical tour-de-force that sees them toughen things up on an album that, in my mind, easily surpasses their debut.
A brilliant amalgamation of power-pop meets AOR, a kinda Cheap Trick meets Journey hybrid, 707’s second release was a treasure trove of rich musicality and harmonies that was epitomised by the stunning opening salvo of ‘Tonite’s Your Night’ and ‘Millionaire’, with the former being one of my all-time favourite songs. In fact, side one of this record is packed full of highlights as ‘Live With The Girl’ and ‘Strings Around My Heart’ reveal.
The second side of this album proves that it’s no slouch, as ‘City Life’ and ‘Live Without Her’ easily hold their own with anything from side one. The band supported REO Speedwagon on their ‘Hi Infidelity’ tour, with future Ace Frehley band member Todd Howarth on guitar and keys, which was the number one tour in 1981, that helped propel the album into the Billboard charts at 159, but it should have done so much more if Casablanca had got behind the band by giving them some serious promotion.
They then recorded an aborted third album, ‘The Bridge’, but after the collapse of Casablanca they moved forward by appointing Kevin Chalfant (The Storm) as vocalist and recording the AOR purists’ choice, ‘Mega Force’, to critical acclaim.

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.

20/09/2026

THE SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
“We’re just Max Webster, here to thin the thickness of your skin”. My first introduction to this most wonderful of bands was their ‘Paradise Skies’ picture disc single, plus an unexpected appearance on Top Of The Pops. But for some reason, my first album of theirs that I bought was ‘Live Magnetic Air’ and then I bought ‘A Million Vacations’. By this point they’d supported fellow Canadian’s Rush on the European leg of their ‘Hemispheres’ tour IN ‘79, but whilst I didn’t see them on that tour, I was fortunate enough to catch them supporting Black Sabbath at Bingley Hall in January 1981.

MAX WEBSTER – ‘A Million Vacations’. Anthem/Capitol. 1979.
Arguably one of Canadian hard rocks quirkiest of bands, Max Webster were formed in late ’72 by Kim Mitchell, Mike Tilka and Phil Trudell. As for the name, well, there was no one called Max Webster in the band, it was a totally fictional non de plume whose origins came from Tilka’s previous band Family At Macs, who had a song called ‘Webster’.
By now they’d hooked up with Paul Woods, a lyricist who is better known as Pye Dubois. In the bands early days, Dubois was the Bernie Taupin to Kim Mitchell’s Elton John, a musical partnership that was proving to be “out there” as is witnessed by the band’s early releases such as their ‘S/T’ debut and ‘High Class In Borrowed Shoes’.
But by their third album, ‘Mutiny Up My Sleeve”, their record label was looking for a hit, chart action that would propel their sales and make everyone happy. With only Kim Mitchell and honorary fifth member Pye Dubois left from their early days, they were now augmented by Dave Myles, Terry Watkinson and Gary McCracken as they entered Phase One Studios in Scarborough, Ontario to record what would become ‘A Million Vacations’.
As time would prove, it also became their most accessible release and Max Webster’s only platinum album. Bolstered by the hit singles, ‘Let Go The Line’ which was written and sung by Terry Watkinson, ‘Million Vacations’ the McCracken/Dubois co-write, sung by McCracken and the Mitchell/Dubois co-write, ‘Paradise Skies’, that saw Mitchell sing lead and garner the band their biggest hit in the UK and an appearance on Top Of The Pops. But whilst all that commerciality was at odds with past Webster albums, ‘A Million Vacations’ certainly contained plenty of nods to their quirky past. Just check out ‘Rascal Houdi’, ‘Research (At Beach Resorts)’ and ‘Moon Voices’ for further proof.
By the time I saw them in ’81, supporting Sabbath on their ‘Mob Rules’ tour in Bingley Hall, they were promoting ‘Universal Juveniles’, which would prove to be their final album. Kim Mitchell would go on to have a quite wonderful solo career throughout the eighties, but that’s a tale for a future Coffee Club.

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.

17/09/2026

Better Go Getcha Armour...
I've had the pleasure of this albums company for about three weeks now and it's fair to say that it might have been played more than once...or twice! It's packed full of the usual Cat tropes, the kind of stuff that they've become renowned for. It's packed full of familiarity, both musical and lyrical, and doesn't disappoint in any way. The likes of 'White Knight' is the Cats at their most opulent, a grand statement of intent and arguably the best song on the album, whilst 'The Bloodsucker Waltz' is the epic with a slow start and a big finish, a song that would have sat on 'Narnia' with ease. With nods towards Abba, 'Macarthur Park' and the Hovis advert, complete with a Brass band, it's like the 70s never went away, which for Greg Hart, they didn't. The whole album is packed full of endless guitar solos, miles of them. And get ready for that opener, 'Miracle', you'll need a suit of armour for this one as it pummels you into submission. It's out on the 6th of November, on Cherry Red, and as usual, it's a beauty.
There will be a full review in the pages of Powerplay at the end of October.

13/09/2026

SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
From London to LeRoux, David who? For most of you the artist David London will be better known as Fergie Frederiksen, a singer that recorded albums with Trillion, LeRoux and Toto, three releases that would grace any AOR top fifty. However, after Trillion and before LeRoux and Toto, he went under the name of David London and released a real cult classic in the shape of this, his solitary debut album.

DAVID LONDON – ‘S/T’. Metronome Records.
Dennis Hardy Frederiksen was better known as Fergie Frederiksen, a singer that had quite the illustrious career before his untimely death in 2014. Having played clubs and pubs since the age of thirteen, Frederiksen was asked by Tommy Shaw in 1975, as Shaw was about to join Styx, to take his place in the band MSFunk. That gig lasted about a year, with Frederiksen then joining future Madonna producer Patrick Leonard in the pomp rock band Trillion.
Although Ferguson co-wrote nine of the songs on Trillion’s debut album, he was eventually replaced by Thom Griffin. From here he moved into movie soundtracks and signed with renowned record label Casablanca, the home of Kiss, Angel, Donna Summer and Parliament. It was here that he conceived the nom-de plume of David London, an alias that allowed him to separate his rock image from the predominantly Disco image the Casablanca were renowned for.
He first appeared as David London in 1980 on the soundtrack to ‘Can’t Stop The Music’, where he sang two songs ‘Samantha’ and ‘Sound Of The City’, a film that featured and was based on the story of The Village People. From here he went into Sound City and Record Plant studios to lay down his full-length debut, an album that featured Richard Page (Mr Mister) and Alan Pasqua (Giant, Van Stephenson) and Frederiksen’s childhood friend Mark Christian, who later worked with Berlin and The Big F.
The album itself is a curious hybrid of Power-Pop with AOR pretensions, with the song ‘Idol Maker’ amongst one of the best songs that Frederiksen has ever sung on. The likes of ‘Keep Playing Around’, ‘Baby’s In Love’ and especially ‘Live Your Own Life’ all possess that distinctive voice that served Frederiksen well over the years. It’s extremely rare these days, with copies rarely popping up and, surprisingly, has never been released onto CD. From here he became ‘Fergie’ Frederiksen, joined a new line-up of Angel, sang backing vocals on Survivor’s ‘Eye Of The Tiger’, joined LeRoux and recorded ‘So Fired Up’, before landing the job as singer for Toto, for whom he recorded ‘Isolation’, which he cited as the highlight of his career. Having been sacked by Toto in 1985, he retired from music before making a comeback with the Frederiksen/Phillips project that saw him team up with former Baby’s bass player Ricky Phillips. From here until his passing, he released a plethora of music and worked alongside the likes of Mecca and Tommy Denander.

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.

06/09/2026

SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
In the annals of north American hard rock, the band Sheriff barely caused a blip back in 1882, but they most certainly caught the attention of the connoisseur, the import crate digger that was looking for a fresh hit of succinct hard rock. And if you picked Sheriff’s debut out of the racks then you certainly got a jolt, a shock to the system thanks to the sublime charms of the albums blistering AOR assault. This album sees us celebrating our two-year anniversary of the Sunday Morning Coffee Club, and it’s a belter.

SHERIFF – ‘S/T’. Capitol Records. 1982.
Having paid their dues as part of Ontario’s bar scene, Steve DeMarchi, Arnold Lanni and Wolf Hassel formed Sheriff from the ashes of Ontario outfit Damion in ’78. Having recruited drummer Rob Elliott, they rehearsed at Hassel’s parents’ home and on the recommendation of Lanni’s cousin they checked out singer Freddie Curci. At the time Curci was a wedding singer, who, at the age of nineteen didn’t really know much about rock music.
By playing covers in bars, they added their own material and eventually caught the eye of husband-and-wife team, John and Helen Victor. The Victor’s had a production company called Real Records, who signed Sheriff with the view to secure them a major deal. Hooking the band up with producer Stacy Haydon, they recorded their debut album at Grant Avenue Studio in Hamilton, Ontario.
With an offer on the table for the finished album from Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic, Real Records decided to sign on the dotted line with Capitol instead. Released in ’82, the Sheriff album trod a fine line between pomp and AOR. Bolstered by Freddie Curci’s lung busting vocal abilities, this magnum opus pays homage to the likes of Styx, Boston and Foreigner in such an accomplished manner that surely superstardom beckoned?
The albums opening gambit, ‘You Remind Me’, sees the band tearing it up as DeMarchi’s riff is soon joined by Curci’s incredible vocal talents, hitting notes hitherto unknown to man or dog as dancing keys underpin a delicious chorus. The sumptuous strains of ‘California’ and ‘Makin’ My Way’ recalls Boston circa their debut, whilst ‘Kept Me Coming’ ups the tempo with Curci’s glass rattling display taking centre stage. With hints of Zon in its DNA, ‘Mama’s Baby’ is a pomp connoisseurs wet dream, but it’s ‘Elisa’ that ups the pomp quota to Styx like levels as a monster chorus punches out of the speakers. With ‘Crazy Without You’ being a superbly crafted pomp/AOR hybrid, ‘Living For A Dream’ will send you back to the late seventies as Styx’s early career defining albums laid the pomp blueprint, whilst the the rambunctious and frenetic ‘Give Me Rock ‘N’ Roll’ finishes the album in fine style, but be warned, at high volume the songs ending is liable to blow your windows out as Curci’s scream is dangerously high.
However, it would be the saccharine coated power ballad, ‘When I’m With You’, that would guide this albums fortunes, arguably seven years too late as it became a huge American number one in ‘89. By then Sheriff had fractured into two camps, as Lanni and Hassell formed the Hi-Tech AOR outfit, Frozen Ghost, and DeMarchi and Curci were laying the groundwork for what was to become Alias. As a long-time supporter of the band, radio presenter Jay Taylor started a campaign to push the ballad which caught fire resulting in Capitol re-releasing the single, which eventually hit number one in the February of ’89. As a result, Capitol signed DeMarchi and Curci, who, alongside former Heart members Roger Fisher, Steve Fossen and Michael Derosier, formed the band Alias whose debut was a top five smash. But right now, we should all just marvel at the genius of Sheriff and their much-lauded debut.

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.

30/08/2026

THE SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
Ok, ok, stop spluttering over your cornflakes, it’s not a good look. Yes, this is a David Cassidy album, and yes, it’s also an immense slab of AOR that’s done to perfection. Over the years, mostly the eighties, early nineties, there’s been a trend from high level popstars to want to dip their toes into the world of AOR. The likes of Leo Sayer, Tony Hadley, Cher and Cliff Richard, yes, even Sir Cliff, have put out very impressive AOR albums and David Cassidy’s ‘S/T’ release from 1990 is no exception.

DAVID CASSIDY – ‘S/T’. Enigma/EMI Records. 1990.
An actor and a singer, David Bruce Cassidy shot to fame as part of the musical TV show, The Partridge Family. Playing the part of Keith Partridge, Cassidy became a huge teen idol in the early seventies and hits with the Partridge Family saw a meteoric rise in his appeal. Feeling stifled and confined, Cassidy started recording solo albums that saw him gain greater popularity in the UK than America, thanks to the likes of the No 1 singles ‘How Can I Be Sure’ and ‘Daydreamer’.
Although the Partridge Family TV show ended in 1974, Cassidy’s career at the time was at an all-time high, and alongside Donny Osmond and The Bay City Rollers, he was possibly one of the biggest stars in the UK. However, by the eighties, Cassidy was broke and although he continued to have hits and release albums, his star was on the wane. A successful stint on Broadway and the West End in musicals like Time and Joseph kept him in the spotlight and as the nineties reared into view, Cassidy’s teen idol past was just a speck in his rear-view mirror.
According to the album’s liner notes, this was an album that was conceived in Cassidy’s bath in 1987, and some 7,000 miles and 70,000 bad ideas and 36 months later, here it was. Cassidy had recreated the dream; the vision and this ‘S/T’ album was what he wanted to say. You only need to look at the guestlist of musicians to see that Cassidy and his label, Enigma, meant business. With Michael Thompson, Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter, Mark Spiro, Michael Landau, Mark Free, Freddy Curci (Sheriff, Alias), Myron Grombacher (Pat Benatar) and Jeff Silverman being the tip of an impressive musical iceberg, Cassidy was about to be thrust into the world of AOR with an album of impressive pedigree and even more impressive songs.
His, and the labels, vision had worked as the album yielded his first top thirty hit with ‘Lyin’ To Myself’ in over eighteen years. Just listen to the opening song, ‘Labour Of Love’, which encapsulated this album in just under five minutes, this was the kind of AOR you never expected from a former teen idol. It was lush, towering and powered along by the immense backing vocals of Mark Free. Alongside his future wife, Sue Shifrin – who’d wrote songs for Heart, Cher, America, Robin Beck, Asia and a plethora of others, they’d co-wrote an album that was tailor made for radio. From the hit single ‘Lyin’ To Myself’, through to ‘Boulevard Of Broken Dreams’ and beyond, this is an often overlooked monster of AOR proportions.
Cassidy did tour this album and even produced a video for the hit single, but asides from another softer AOR album in ‘Didn’t You Used To Be…’, Cassidy’s recording career never hit the heights and he returned to Theatre and Acting work and sadly passed away in 2017, leaving behind a rich and varied musical career.
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.

29/08/2026

THE DAMN TRUTH - LIVE ROOMS, CHESTER
Nominated for a Juno award, Canada’s equivalent of a Grammy, The Damn Truth may have lost out to The Beaches, but it’s a huge feather in their cap and tonight at Chester’s Live Rooms, they showed why they are making waves.
Openers Crobot dialled it right back to 1972, and their proto metal wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Rob Zombie horror flick, hell, they could have been the house band, if there was one, in ‘House Of A 1,000 Corpses’ as they had that lank, greasy trucker vibe about them. The Devil’s rejects maybe, or just feral slackers that know how to groove? That’s your call to make.
The Damn Truth are children of the late sixties, early seventies but with fire in their bellies and a riot in their hearts. They are children of the revolution, taking over the world one city at a time and on the opening night of their UK tour, Chester offered no resistance to their charms.
Promoting their brand new ‘S/T’ album, the likes of ‘Be Somebody’ and album highlight, ‘The Willow’ peppered their set like old friends, sitting nicely to the well-seasoned live staples such as ‘This Is Who We Are Now’, ‘Look Innocent’ and ‘Tomorrow’. In Lee-la Baum they have the reincarnation of Grace Slick and Janis Joplin, a vocal powerhouse that lets rip at every available opportunity. But this isn’t just about her, the Damn Truth is a collective, a unit that feeds from each other like rock and roll vampires.
They finish with a triumphant ‘The Devilish Folk’, a rallying call that fuses band and audience as one, a jubilant crescendo that merits a Juno award all to itself. Get yourself to one of their upcoming headline shows, or as support to Europe later in the year, and be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
Rob Evans

23/08/2026

THE SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
I once met Gregg Giuffria in a car park in Manchester, outside the Apollo theatre when his band House Of Lords were supporting the Scorpions. He was a sea of flowing hair and tallness, even taller than he looked in his photos. I remember him commenting on my ‘S/T’ debut Angel album that it was “In better condition than my own copy.” I was initially disappointed in the debut Guiffria album, but it grew on me very quickly and it still sounds great to this very day.

GIUFFRIA – ‘S/T’. Camel/MCA. 1984.
In another era, dimension even, Gregg Giuffria (pronounced Je`-Free-Ah) was a keyboard Demi-god with pomp rock titans Angel. With the kind of billowing blonde hair that wouldn't have looked out of place on a L'Oréal advert, Gregg cut quite a striking figure back in the late seventies alongside his Angel band mates. Discovered by Gene Simmons (Kiss) they also shared the same label, Casablanca Records, cutting five studio albums and one live album. But with the band yielding diminishing returns, by the early eighties it was all over, and Gregg Giuffria found himself looking for pastures new to placate his pomp rock passion.
After a short-lived project alongside Angel guitarist Punky Meadows, Gregg invested the last of his money on a boat, which, according to Dave Reynolds in his liner notes for the CD version of this album, he set sail and headed off to Catalina Island, off the California coast, to contemplate his next move. Whilst here he captivated a fellow mariner who agreed to finance Gregg’s next move, a return to the studio.
Originally intending to resurrect Angel, sans the infamous white outfits, Gregg eventually opted for his own surname, a suitably pompous monicker to match the music that was about to follow. Hooking up with ex Sorcery vocalist David Glen Eisley was a good start, whilst adding former Rough Cutt member Craig Goldy on guitar suggested that Gregg Giuffria meant business.
Augmented by Chuck Wright on Bass and Alan Krigger on Drums, Giuffria were duly signed to MCA subsidiary, Camel records - a label founded by Bruce Bird, who had previously worked with Angel at Casablanca. Recorded at various studio locations in Los Angeles, it was produced by Gregg and mixed by Andy Johns (Led Zep) at the Record Plant, Los Angeles.
Their simple but effective diamond shaped, silver G logo adorned the front cover, whilst the back had all five members sporting semi naked torsos, the most perfectly coiffured hair and pouts that Marilyn Monroe would be proud of. An image that certainly matched their dramatic, pomp drenched music.
A cavalcade of dancing keys introduces album opener ‘Do Me Right’ before Wright’s pumping bass drives it along, a surging call to arms it shows Eisley to be both soulful and distinctive in his delivery. As you’d expect the keyboard work of Gregg Giuffria is at the forefront, and he doesn’t disappoint as he pomps it up on the likes of ‘Don’t Tear Me Down’ and ‘Line Of Fire’, with the latter seeing the double G aping the intro to Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Mr. Crowley’.
Amidst the pomp metal maelstrom sat two hit singles in the shape of ‘Call To The Heart’ and ‘Lonely In Love’, soft rock masterpieces that showcased the AOR heart that was beating beneath this albums predominantly hard rocking exterior. As ‘Out Of The Blue’ closed the album in an epic, slow burning fashion, it was the perfect conclusion to what is arguably one of Gregg Guiffria’s finest hours.

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.

16/08/2026

THE SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
The story goes that this writer stumbled across the Myspace page of Greg Hart, who had a new band called Hartless, and a new CD to promote, and suggested that he should collate all the old Moritz songs and release them. Now Greg liked the sound of this as it involved making money, it was also the facilitator of a full-blown Moritz reunion, one that yielded two albums of new material. Whilst Greg and keyboard player Andy Stewart left to form Cats In Space, which is a story for another time, the rest of the band gave us one more album, the rather AORtastic ‘About Time Too’.
MORITZ – ‘S.O.S.’ Harmony Factory Records. 2013.
Back in the eighties when Moritz were just another AOR band trying to stake their claim, not even two sold out shows at the Marquee could help their cause. They may have taken a young Axl Rose and Slash to a party in a battered Volkswagen, had Bruce Willis requesting a copy of their ‘Shadows Of A Dream EP, but that elusive deal was scuppered by poor management.
From the ludicrous hair and eyeliner promo shots - that made them look more like Danny Le Rue, than Danny Vaughn - to the consummate quality of songs like “Break It Up”, the keyboard majesty of this song alone should have put Michael Bolton out of business in 1987, and “Can’t Stop Loving You”, theirs was a star that shone brightly, but ever so briefly. It was easy to see why they were once quoted as making, “Journey sound like Air Supply”.
Let me fast forward you to 2008 where a chance meeting on Myspace, a journalist who just wouldn’t let it lie (that’s me!) and some tasty songs all collided head-on and came out of the other side as a CD that kickstarted the career of Moritz and was the catalyst of what would eventually become Cats In Space. It may not have been the eighties, it didn’t make them household names, but their second album ‘S.O.S.” was a fine reminder of what could have been as Greg Hart and the boys fired up the Quattro, and took the late seventies, early eighties for a spin, one more time.
In any other reality this album should have been massive, in fact if this was the late seventies it would have been. Adorned in a gatefold sleeve and shrink-wrapped, naturally - complete with that virgin vinyl smell, that all imports had back in the day, on first play this will transport you back to a golden age of timeless bands and a genre that was still fresh and vital. The performances on this CD are all a high calibre, especially that of golden coated vocalist Peter Scallan, and guitarist extraordinaire Mike Nolan, but it’s the songs themselves that are the true stars. From the infectious ‘Amber Lee’ to the banner waving balladry of ‘Remember Yesterday’, this album hooked you on first listen and didn’t let you go until the very end. It’s certainly one of the defining melodic rock moments of the last few years, and you can bet your dad’s old Ford Capri on that.

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.

09/08/2026

SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE CLUB
New England were the kind of Pomp band that were spoken about in hushed and revered tones over the course of their short, but very sweet career. It’s hard to believe that it’s twenty-seven years ago that I interviewed them for the pages of the long defunct Hard Roxx magazine. Since then, they have reformed, made some new music and played a few shows.

NEW ENGLAND – ‘S/T’. Infinity Records. 1979
New England were arguably one of the most innovative pomp rock bands that ever evolved from the late seventies, early eighties music scene. Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts the members of this American act - John Fannon, Hirsh Gardner, Jimmy Waldo and Gary Shea – had previously played in bands such as Flash Pudding, Fatback and Target. After the demise of Target in ’75, John Fannon and Jimmy Waldo worked with Annie McLoone on her solitary album from ’76 and when that fizzled out it was Fannon that once again called up Gardner, Waldo and Shea and the genesis of New England was born in late ’76.
Honing their skills and songwriting abilities at Gardner’s rehearsal space for over two years, their hard work paid off when they gained the interest of Aucoin Management (Kiss) which resulted in label president, Bill Aucoin, flying in to see them rehearse. With Aucoin on board, record labels started to take notice of this hitherto unknown outfit. With Arista and Infinity, the clear favourites to sign them, band and management opted for Infinity, a subsidiary of MCA records.
With management and label in place, the name of New England had now been adopted and work began in earnest on pre-production in studios such as Earmark and Intermedia, before the album was recorded properly. Under the guidance of Mike Stone (Queen, Journey and Asia) and Paul Stanley (Kiss), who was brought in at Aucoin’s request, they recorded the album at Davlen and Cherokee studios in Los Angeles and Electric Lady in New York.
Released by Infinity in ’79, the group’s ‘S/T’ album was bolstered by the Top 40 hit ‘Don’t Ever Wanna Lose Ya’, written by John Fannon - about his wife when she was driving in a particularly bad rainstorm – it propelled the album into the spotlight and should have seen them become superstars overnight. The album had a quality and towering presence that saw them stand out from the crowd. They were the American version of ELO, replete with that band’s heavy Beatles fixation and a penchant for gorgeous harmonies.
North American acts in the late seventies certainly knew how to stand out from the crowd, with New England being no exception. This ‘S/T’ album is awash with gloriously pompous moments that have been expertly crafted by this fab foursome. Opening with ‘Hello, Hello, Hello’ they set the tone for the whole album as a gorgeous bank of harmonies wash over the listener. With the surging ‘Don’t Ever Wanna Lose Ya’ upping the pomp quota to stratospheric levels, it’s down to the likes of ‘Shall I Run Away’ and ‘Alone Tonight’ to bring things back down to Earth, each track bathing the listener in a lush orchestral sound.
Mike Stone’s work with Queen had served him well on this album as the sound is a lush vista of musicality and vocal harmonies; quite what Stanley brought to the table is anybody’s guess. On the back of the albums success the band embarked on the Kiss ‘Dynasty’ tour that saw them play all over North America, endearing themselves to a notoriously tough Kiss audience along the way.
The band would eventually release a further two albums, with their sophomore album ‘Explorer Suite’ expanding their pomp roots even more, before splitting up in the early eighties.

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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