XERON - Does Anybody Hear... (1985)
XERON was one of those LA scene bands from the mid-'80s that albeit sounding very professional, never make it big.
A shame, because their excellent indie miniLP "Does Anybody Hear..." features great songwriting and tight musicianship.
The really interesting point of this recording is the successful blend of the typical Bay Area hard rock with heavy pompy AOR due the massive use of keyboards.
Only six tracks onboard, but they don't let the side down one iota.
Opener "Visions" is pretty heavy indeed, but texturized with awesome vocal harmonies and wonderful keys. It's a powerful track with chuggy guitars and adrenaline on top but has tons of melodies. This track somehow reminds me Duke Jupiter on steroids (a high dose).
Swaggering guitars and pompous keyboards are the motto of the retro "Changes Calling" inspired on some early eighties acts as Starz. Vocals are high pitched here still controlled and harmonic.
"Breathless" is indeed, breath taking. This is an absolute winner. Synth cascades to die for and thrilling guitars with an AOR stamp of approval on the chorus. Killer tune.
Title track "Does Anybody Hear" is a completely different beast. It's a really interesting, unusual semi-midtempo with some acoustic / clean electric guitars, but the real main character here are the pomp, almost prog vintage keyboards which carries the song. Also notable are the thought-provoking lyrics.
"Would You Belong To Me?" is the more commercial track on this vinyl, carrying an uptempo catchy pace that grabs your attention. With a song structure as a hard version of Franke & The Knockouts, at first glance sounds simple and elemental, but it's very well arranged adding nice touches here and there.
Final track "Lonely Street" has a strong riff and an epic LA hard melody specially in the chorus where the six string progression rocks.
"Does Anybody Hear..." is a fantastic album, even if it is only 24 minutes. Not a dud to be found here. Solid, always interesting and properly produced.
Vocalist Larry Leon years later showed his quality in Big Mouth, another Los Angeles band who released a very good album, 'Hands Of Time', more Melodic Rock / AOR oriented.
Exciting miniLP, only vinyl, rip cleaned & restored by me.
1 - Visions
2 - Changes Calling
3 - Breathless
4 - Does Anybody Hear
5 - Would You Belong To Me?
6 - Lonely Street
Larry Leon - Vocals
Trevor Jay - Guitars
Paul McPhee - Guitars
Geoffrey Bowlick - Bass
Jeff Wolfe - Drums
PEROUX - Wheels Keep Turnin' (1988)
PEROUX were a British band trying to etch out a career in the wimpwire / melodic hard rock scene during the late 80's.
Promoted and recommended by Shy (Tony Mills band), along with the likes of After Hours, Briar, Midnight Blue, Moritz, etc, were among a bunch of bands hovering in the 2nd division without getting the big break.
From London, the band no doubt saw the success of other British exports all signed to major labels at the time, as Virginia Wolf, FM or Shy itself.
A crime, because "Wheels Keep Turnin´" is a great miniLP.
Talking about FM, Peroux's style / sound is a mixture of them with some american AOR rock acts.
Starting out with "Summertime Memories", this one is very American sounding, not unlike FM on their 'Indiscreet' album. Very nice fluffy keyboards and a feel-good vibe. Nick Simmons has warm vocals, very british.
"Midnight Princess" is an extremely melodic semi-midtempo where the guitars are noticeably down in the mix to give more room to the harmonies. This is a great tune with all the '80s atmosphere.
Just love the title track "Wheels Keep Turnin´". This is the kind of keyboard-driven AOR I die for. Killer pre-chorus (awesome) and dreamy main chorus on this one. The guitar/keys middle-section instrumentation is simply wonderful.
Last track "Susannah" is definitely americanized, in sound and style, reminding you great US bands of the mid eighties.
"Wheels Keep Turnin´" is a beautiful 4-track mini-LP from a band who deserved better luck.
Keyboards are really predominant on this recording, not strange because it is produced by Procul Harum keyboarder Mathew Fisher, and one of the founder members Matt Haslett used to play ivory on another UK group; Snowblind.
The vinyl-rip quality could be better, I tried to clean and restore the sound at maximum.
Really good one.
1 - Summertime Memories
2 - Midnight Princess
3 - Wheels Keep Turnin'
4 - Susannah
Nick Simmons - Vocals
Sprog - Guitars, Vocals
Nigel May - Bass
Matt Haslett - Keyboards, Vocals
Steve Mercer - Drums
XERON: Does Anybody Hear + PEROUX: Wheels Keep Turnin'
0 comments:
Post a Comment