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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ก.ย. 2024
- One of the questions I'm ost often asked is "What is AOR?". Here's a humble attempt to not only describe my take on one of rock musics greatest sub-genres but also to share what I feel to be 12 of it's time tested essential releases. Enjoy and feel free to leave a comment and share some of your own favorites.
Great video, man! As an AOR fan since childhood, you really outlined the genre for any newcomers beautifully! If you haven't already, check out Dakota's Runaway album. That's one of the first albums I think of when AOR is the topic. Also have to mention Joe Lynn Turner's solo album from 1985. One of the greatest AOR singers of all time!
Joe Lynn Turner's solo debut is a great choice, good call! Glad you dug the vid, always great to hear from another AOR fan, thanks for the feedback and for settin' some time aside to catch this! - Lj
Runaway is so good!
Hellraiser Gordon thats funny i was thinking about that same album before watching the video ...and angry men is one of my favorite aor songs ever....fave band ever is survivor i got a tatoo of their logo on my left shoulder...AOR RULES
I can’t believe it catching this video 9 years later, but I’m glad I found it. I honestly did not know that Steve Walsh did solo albums. I saved everyone one of these albums on my Apple Music playlist and will be listening to them over the course of the next few weeks. And what’s crazier is I just listened to that Le Roux album today for the first time! Great album. Incredible video and thank you for sharing these. The 80’s were the best!
I could imagine most of those songs playing during the ending credits of an 80's movie!!!
Great video, very helpful! I've long been curious about/interested in digging deeper into AOR and this is a big help.
this is my favourite LJ video so far brother, I am such an AOR fan, lesser known fact about me ofcourse, as people know me as the VC's biggest Kiss collector, but even Kiss had an AOR album, which is my favourite of theirs as well, so I guess that should have given a hint of it ;)
Now I have some more hunting to do, as the only lps I had that you showed in this video was the 2 AOR Journey lps.
Rock On Brother!
Which KISS album is AOR?
@@fdevlin5932 crazy nights is Aor
I just ran into your vids today and Im loving every minute of it. Im definetly checking out bands like taxi or Charlie, maybe there´s something for me there. Keep up the good stuff, dude.
Really glad you dug the video and got inspired to check out some great overlooked bands. Taxxi and Charlie are fantastic, I'm sure you'll dig em'. Thanks for tunin' in Andres, enjoy! - Lj
I agree survivor of the 80s is pure AOR
You did a fantastic job on this video brother. You put into words that which is very hard to explain. Nice choice on the Mayday! Killer album. I was expecting to maybe see the Surrender "Better Late Than Never" disc pop up. Haha! A lost AOR gem for sure. Great job with this! Now go throw on some Venom to clean all those shiny AOR productions out of your ears.
I was within an inch of grabbin' Surrender and holdin' it up and noticed I was close to 20 minutes already which is exactly 19 minutes and 59 seconds longer than anyone should have to hear me ramble. Thanks for the adds from down south btw, you turn up some of the best freakin' obscure AOR gems this side of the Mississippi! - Lj
Great AOR music video. I will take notes, and add some of these albums to my want list :)
Thanks Carsten, glad you enjoyed it and glad I could add something to your list after you added DAD to mine! Hope all's well and congrats on bringin' the little guy into the VC madness! - Lj
Good definition of AOR! :) Best genre! What about DAKOTA "Runaway" album?;)
Spys was Ed Gagliardi and Al Greenwood from Foreigner.
Thanks for this video, was really well done. I knew Journey before, but i didnt thought that that they got so many good songs. I think i will go through the albums u mentioned here, i already listened to le roux - so fire it up. Great albums, didnt expect that so many songs from that album are still in my head right now. So yeah, thanks for all the tips!
Thanks! Glad you dug So Fired Up. That's an amazing listen. So well produced and the songs are so catchy that they stick in your head for days! Thanks for checkin this out, go crank up some AOR! - Lj
Great vid Lj! Definitely agree, getting down to fractions of sub genres sort of takes the fun out of things for me, stick to basics! lol. Thanks for turning us on to more obscure AOR bands, Loads of stuff here I've never heard of, unless it was in a movie soundtrack of the time period. Been catching up on some Journey and Asia vinyl myself lately. Definitely great timing to see this vid! Also Boston (First two) as well but I guess thats not quite AOR, perhaps "proto AOR" damn! more sub genres, lol kidding. Maybe their 3rd Stage album qualifies with a couple of treacherous uber ballads too! Good stuff amigo!
Cheers,
James
Proto-AOR! Lol, love it! Hey James! Sorry for the super late response, real life took over this week, go figure! Glad you dug this post and got inspired to try out a few new things. So many lost and obscure AIR gems out there and they often crop up in the cheapskate bins so blind buys are almost always the way to go! Just a waiting man's game. I'd have to agree Boston's 3rd Stage qualifies on the back of Amanda (ewwww!). Thanks so much for keepin' up and checkin' in. Hope all's well and the holiday was a good one! - Lj
I love me some aor i reciently got my hands on dutch band zinatra's debut album and follow up it hits my need for keyboards just right, Great video mate keep up the great work
Excellent collection! A few I had not heard about. Here's a couple more from my own AOR collection for you to check out:
Autograph - Sign in Please
Autograph - That's the Stuff
Balance - In for the Count
Honeymoon Suite - Big Prize
Kansas - Audio-Visions
Night Ranger - Dawn Patrol
Shooting Star - S/T
Shooting Star - Burning
Toto - Isolation (Toto picked up the singer, Fergie Fredriksen, from Le Roux after they released So Fired Up for their fifth album - fun connection)
Thanks for watchin' and the list. Some amazing lp's there and quite a few of them, thankfully, already in the collection. Balance was new to me though, I'll check it out and hoped when making this some folks would have some additional recommendations of things to try. Thanks! - Lj
Amazing list. Thank you.
Boston’s 1976 self titled debut is AOR novelty, an absolute gem
Thanks you very much for this AOR lesson, teacher Lj! I should give you an apple. :-D
In Finland we don't talk about AOR. This is too small country for that I guess.
As a matter of fact I saw Asia once here in my home town I think it was 2005 when they were opening for Uriah Heap and they were opening for DIO !!! Unfortunately back then I didn't know anything about Asia so I kinda "missed" that gig. After that I have learned that Asia had one hugely successful album in the USA and "Heat Of The Moment" is a great track!
Another great video from you, VC brother Lj.
Have a beer,
Jarkko / MyVinylBar
An apple and a beer? Jarkko, you are a fine man sir and I salute you! Thanks so much for checking this out, glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing the Asia/Dio/Uriah Heep story! Your a rockstar my brother but we all already knew that! Hope all's well, thanks again! - Lj
Aor. Means adult oriented rock and it is a typical melodic rock with an American sound that used to be often used as soundtrack in many 80s American movie
Great to see someone so enthusiastic about tunes. As a collector of AOR music for over 25 years, I can definitely tell you about a couple of albums you didn't mention that are in every serious AOR fanatic's Top 10. The self-titled album by the band Fortune and "Silent Scream" by Shooting Star. Both are circa 1985 and each has a sound which is impossible to replicate. These are quintessential examples of AOR at its historical apex. Check 'em out!
Brilliant List, LJ!!
Hey Brother LJ! Great video mate, really good stuff. I am not ashamed to admit that I didn't "really" know what AOR stood for, but now I do! Thanks for the entertaining education! Thanks also for pointing me in the direction of some great AOR bands, a bunch of which I had never heard of. Hope your week's going great :) Take it easy!
D.
Anytime brother David and sorry for the super late response! Real life stepped in a bit this week (go figure) but I'm glad you dug this and got inspired to check out a few new things! Lots of these AOR gems turn up for $2-3 here in the US if your patient (there's the struggle) which makes blind buyin' a short gamble. Go forth and dig the cheapskate bins! - Lj
great video, for some reason I always thought AOR meant Adult oriented rock but great video explaining what AOR is with the bands and albums that are AOR
Thanks for checkin' this out, glad you dug it. You weren't wrong is assuming AOR represented Album Oriented Rock. Initially, that was exactly the way it was. As the 70s became the 80s, the A morphed more into Arena and the sound evolved which is what this video focused on. Probably something I should have said but these things are always fly by the seat of your pants endeavors. Glad you dug it, thanks for watchin' and the comment. - Lj
Thankyou for this video my kind of music your knowledge is fantastic. I always thought AOR meant adult orientated rock
Great post, some new to me bands/albums to chase up. Thanks from the UK..
I received shivers to my spine when you showed those Charlie Lps intact, no much people know that band. I like Jimi Jamison Cobra days pre-Suvivor.
You're absolutely right, I rarely hear about Charlie. To be fair, that release from them is very different from everything that came before, but, it's an AOR classic. Thanks for swingin' in! - Lj
Cobra was founded by Mandy Meyer, Asia Astra guitarist.
Some real gems you showed! I was not really that into the early 80's AOR, but will have to check some of these out! Sounds great! Maybe I will do a response to this with some of the later releases from late 80's to early 90's ;-)
Hey Kenneth! I know you love your AOR and melodic rock and definitely have the collection to back it up. Some really great stuff from the early 80's that I really think you'd dig that sounds alot like Glass Tiger. Not too dangerous, lots of keyboards, good hair and pretty smiles...ha. Thanks for checkin' this out, your videos are an AOR lovers dream come true...keep em' comin'! - Lj
Excellent video LJ! I learned a lot!
I've always thought that AOR means Adult Oriented Rock a.k.a. overproduced radio friendly rock from USA without the feeling of danger made for middle-aged suit guys.
But how about Magnum? Or Toto? Where would you put them?
Hey Mikko, glad you dug it! I think the A in AOR did stand for Adult in the 70's and kind of morphed into Arena in the 80s. I laughed hysterically at the middle-aged suit guys comment, probably not too far off! It is of course, very dangerous music...ha! Magnum and Toto are great examples of how bands either changed, sold-out, or jumped on the band wagon because both have they're AOR albums and rock albums. Therefore, I'd place them under 'M' and 'T' on the Expedits ;-) - Lj
So hooked on “Youve got to believe in love” by van zant...that song takes you places
Great video and I must tell I really agree.Some great records you have there. AOR also stands for adult oriented rock or adults on radio.I love that kind of music and you are right,There is a fine line between prog,hard even classic rock or hair metal sometimes.I guess AOR has all the best elements but in a softer and more musician wise manner.Production is always great and arrangements too.It is always about great musicians with lots of experience in making records .I adore Journey in every phase.I also think that Raised on radio is great AOR record too.Randy Jackson was there on the bass at that time.You have Neal Schon great guitar hero.I love Aria from Asia.Al Pitrelli great guitar player too.I mean in Asia we had Steve Howe,Al Pitrelli and even Guthrie Gowan on guitars.How good is that.I think even bands like Styx,Toto or Foreigner were AOR at some point.Kansas had great Steve Morse on 2 albums.Hardline with Neal Schon and Dean Castranovo.I mean Yes with Travor Rabin on guitar.Some great stuff there too.Not prog at all.So to cut a long story short.If you wanna listen great rock musicians,on a great produced records playing nice tunes with just enough power to warm your heart and your loudspeakers AOR is probably for you.Once again thank you, for all of your videos.It is always fun.Cheers!!!
Fantastic comment and yes, I'd agree that we seem to be 100% aligned. AOR did morph from Adult Oriented Rock to Arena Oriented Rock as the eighties set in and the keyboard took a different role than they had in the progressive rock days. You definitely laid out some amazing bands there that were definitely AOR at times. Foreigner, Boston, etc. and I agree entirely that there's no shortage of downright amazing releases to check out. Thanks for swingin' by, appreciate it and the comment! - Lj
I love AOR bands and lps. Even the cheesy 80's radio AOR hits I love. I have Asia's first 2 albums but never got the one you showed only because i never heard anything from it. May pay it now. Journey did go through lots of changes but their AOR lps are my favorites. Along with Survivor, Vital Signs is still a classic to me. Great video bro, loved it. Happy Turkey Day to you and your family bro !!
I kept thinkin' while talkin' about this that Gil must have a huge AOR collection being such a big 80's fan. I was just spinnin' it non-stop and had to make a video. I definitely think you'd dig Asia's "Astra". I'll keep an eye out. Not as common as the debut but not expensive when it turns up either. Next one I see is CA bound! Thanks for checkin' this out bro, hope all's well and the holiday was jam packed with kick ass food and a big ass nap! - Lj
Yeah there is lots of AOR in my collection. You did show some lps I have not heard of and now I must keep an eye out for them. God I ate so much turkey yesterday, but it was worth it. Got a video uploading now about the 2 RSD finds I scored. Check it out when you get a chance bro !!
Interesting video . I have always used the term "Album Oriented Rock" AOR this comes from the radio format named the same that started in the late 70s by programmer Lee Abrams. Arena Rock term would come later for me and with bands like Boston, Styx, Kansas and of course Journey big sound that filled big stadiums. This format has merged into "classic rock' on many radio station in this day and age. I really enjoyed you view on this and agree with a lot of what you said and the examples you showed. Nice segment Lj :)
Hey brother V! Sorry for the super late response to this one, real life stepped in this week! Hope all's well and glad you dug this post. I agree that AOR started life as Adult Oriented Rock and later became the type of cleanly produced shimmering and shining gems that would soon fill arenas. I'd also agree that for mainstream consumption its now all considered classic rock. Maybe they're onto something....keep it simple and spin more records! Thanks for checkin' this out, TGIF! - Lj
Hello, I am Spanish and perhaps I express my English badly: I just want to write or redefine (although I know that it is very complex to classify) what for me is the aor since within this genre there are multiple types of sound that I am going to catalog in 3 groups:
1. blockbusters: journey, survivor, boston etc.. it's usually hard rock - with few touches of melody and instrument variation (it's hard to notice the details and they're carefully put into the songs) in this particular type of aor it tends to stand out more in particular in the percussion and types of beats created. The guitar solos and melodies sound hard rock/heavy at times with some melodic overtones. and There is not such a marked trend of choruses (x4 - x5 here is x3 or x2) and above all and most importantly there are long scales and lyrics in the voice.
2. In the type of aor number 2 there is what I call the classic aor: axe, van zant, lynn allen, arrows, dare etc... it is usually a sound quite focused on rock with a lot of originality in instrument variation (the combination of some come together and explode in the last chorus) there is a lot of chorus (x4 - x5) or on the other hand the guitar solos are melodic without excessive escalation or incoherence (there is usually a lot of guitar, sometimes saxophone, without other playful elements in the chorus). There aren't usually too many tempo alternations and the voices make fair cuts in lyrics and tone scale. The drummers here tend to make normal rhythms without going to the complexity of type 1. It usually occurs at times - although melodic - a synthetic sound in the solos.
3. Here is what I have named the classy aor / fine thread: Outside edge ( 87 ) john o banion ( satomi hakken 84 ) agent ( 86 ), night flight orchestra... the ravyns ( 84 ) etc... combine and perfect and try to stand out all the components and elements of type 2 joining them perfectly. The voices here are usually perfect and flat (with intonation) they also tend to give what I call: sound blackouts. the volume disappears and the continuity disappears giving rise to another thread within the same song. On many occasions there are no logical or continuous tempos (there is not much playing on drums or in some GROUPS they don't even exist) but instead there are very original beat markings or very enriching rhythms. The melody and combination of it usually stands out a lot here. The guitar does not become the center of attention and becomes a mere component along with organs, pianos, violins, harps etc... there are usually the same choruses as in type 2 (x3 - x4) but with instruments and game. Here the entire combination of components becomes their own, giving it its own authentic and distinctive sound (this happens in type 1 but from another, more classic point of view).
PS: in type 3, a marked voice emphasis is usually more noticeable. Groups like night flight and others are a mix between type 1 and 3 (creating authentic magnum opus)
also to say that I have listened to a lot of music in my life and that in the end music does not stop being feeling and subjectivity. For example, the album journey - escape (placed in top album) I like 3-4 songs and the rest chokes my voice. Voice recording does a lot on a record. Of course all the paragraphs and disengagement that I have written are put with the vision in mind of detailing as perfect records. Music jewelry. Not single songs.
As a curious fact, personal experience and perception, I would also say that: when a person other than you hears aor for the first time, it brings immediate memories to the sound of 80's music. Without realizing the details (it is the magic of this). It is a genre accessible to everyone but it is even more so if you have trained ears to enjoy it in its entirety because over time a casual person realizes that they are facing something very big and that it is a specific genre that, although it can be heard enough for how light it requires attention. and quite a few lps ( quite possibly next to synth - wave the best music ever created before )
of course there are also many mediocre records. bad voices etc. etc... there were also many groups that dropped an lp and disappeared forever. Some had 2 good albums and the rest bad. In the 80s a lot of sand was made and it died overnight in the 90s (a lot of this material was not played on the radio) just a few ballads (many of which were not of this pioneering genre).
I discovered AOR a couple of years ago and love the sound,but I think i lean more towards the mid to late 80's early 90's sound more.. great video Gota show my friends..
i admit, I have often asked myself while watching your videos... AOR?? i've googled it, but I appreciate your take much more :)
Thanks Dan, glad this helped shed some light on the acronym and apologize for the length. Suppose I could have chosen 6 essentials and tightened it up a bit but where's the VC in that?! Thanks for swingin' by, great to hear from ya and hope the holiday was a great one! - Lj
Great stuff and I too love me some AOR. My favourite AOR album is Out of Silence by Obscure British band DARE. They have Ex Thin Lizzy keyboard player Darren Wharton in the band and they rock Will have to get me some Planet P, Taxy and some Mayday as they all sound very tasty.
I also hate how many stupid sub genres of music their are. It seems like every week a new sub genre of music is invented by someone. I prefer to label my music as what I like and what I don't like (and their is very little I don't like when it comes to music).
Ugh, we're 100% aligned on the sub-genre mess. Nothing shorts me out faster than creating new genres that don't need to exist and it's why, for the most part, my collection is simply a-z. Easy and done, never a challenge to find anything. Thanks for checkin' this out and the tip on Dare! I hadn't heard of them and was hoping some folks would recommend some killer obscure things to check out. Appreciate it! - Lj
BioCYTE1 I recently spent some time checking out metal (music) timeline histories, and to do that you have to confront all the sub-genres like glam, thrash, death, prog, nu... Too many categories for me, I'm afraid! That and my metal tastes pretty much stop at the classics, the most recognized.
my favorite too, only got into AOR the past few years, i was only a little kid in the eighties. I'd say Out of the Silence is top notch. Other than Jimi Jamison, I'd say Wharton is my favorite AOR vocalist. I also like Magnum's On A Storyteller's Night if that counts too and Bob Catley. My second favorite other than Dare currently is probably Fortune's self titled 1984 album. What an atmosphere!
Hey LJ! Frontiers superb album! BTW, Last Wed @ my local FYE (who would have thought huh), I picked up 2 rare LPs that caught my attention Mayday "Self Titled" and "Revenge" $6.99 each in NM condition. Now I see ur vid and is like Deja Vu all over... stay metal dude \m/
A little Mayday synchronicity?! That's awesome! Enjoy the albums, they're both fantastic and don't turn up often. Thanks for checkin' this out! - Lj
Thanks for telling about Charlie.. I think I saw this at a local shop when I got some stuff, today..
And I'll as about yet another band again, have you heard of Grand Prix, before? PHENOMENAL!!
I haven't heard of Grand Prix and appreciate the tip. Will definitely ceck them out and glad you've got some Charlie in the collection now, great stuff. Thanks for checkin' this out, glad you dug it! - Lj
hey LJ thanks for the Video. now have a nice long list of albums to work from. some great things i now need to check out.
many thanks
Dean
Thanks Dean! Glad you dug it, thanks for checkin' it out and enjoy some new AOR tunes! - Lj
Had no idea about the back history of Steve Walsh/Streets. I'd only heard of him from Kansas. You know what I think is the quintessential 80's AOR sound? The stuff Starship put out in the 80's with Mickey Thompson. There are some really solid tracks on those albums, mostly because of guitarist Craig Chaquico.
Happy Thanksgiving man! u showed a LOT of stuff i know my dad has in his collection that i will have to check out.i just knew Whitesnake was gonna be in there.but even i get confused about the whole AOR,MOR stuff sometimes.i know he has that 1st Charlie u showed,u can't forget that cover.someone bought me Kansas:Power for my b-day when it came out as a kid and it pissed me off! all i wanted at the time was KISSSSSSS! and some tacos.......
Kiss and tacos? What could be better that that?! Lol, thanks Dave! Appreciate you checkin' this out and the hilarious comment. Go forth and raid your dad's collection, some gems in there for sure that should be spun! Hope the holiday was a great one! - Lj
Thanks for the clear explanation of AOR
What about 80s Rush, such as Signals, Grace Under Pressure or Power Windows?
MAN !!! I'm crazy for AOR!!! Crazy crazy crazy, BUT ... I Live in brazil, unfortunally is too hard to find some AOR groups LPs here, but those that I has find, makes me crazy hahahaha... someday I'll buy this LE ROUX - SO FIRED UP, Caught in the game of Survivor and, if I find it, Charlie's LP and some more...
In Brazil have some phenomenal AOR bands too, I recommend : Anjos da noite, Zenith , Platina, Hay Kay, Egotrip... from the 80's....
Charlie are fantastic!
WOW I thought this video was a joke but you are serious about this, you really explained well what AOR is, the sound and characteristics, it's like these bands didn't had their own identity or sound, it makes me think of the Motown artists, I have my Motown collection in the letter M, not as individual artists; (not Fout Tops on F, early Jackson 5 on J) cause all of them had the same sound, so as a result of your excellent video I might serch for some of these albums which I always avoided like a plague lol but put them under the letter a as Arena Rock, brillant ¡
Thanks Alejandro, glad you dug the video and appreciate the kind words. Sounds like you absolutely 'get it' and the Motown comparison was a great one. Enjoy them when they turn up, all are fantastic albums and it's only the tip of the iceberg! - Lj
I've been holding onto this video for a while now - finally got to it. I was just thinking about playing the Journey video game... These selections are the soundtrack to every pizza parlor or roller rink - I've never felt so old :P
Hey Kris! The Journey video game. Bust out the Atari 2600 and paddle controllers, there's some wocka wocka goin' down on the farm this mornin'. Love me some roller rinks. Skated with my future wife (who knew) once a month throughout Jr. high. Couples skate baby, Livin' on a Prayer, Love Botes, Never Say Goodbye. Jovi and The Leps, good times. Come to think of it, she still owes me for an icee. Think I'll head upstairs and get my .75 now. Take care! - Lj
Luckily I have it in the arcade cabinet, and I think I have the .wav file that will actually play the music if you win, which is pretty cool. I actually found three skate rinks around here, but I think at this point my knees will snap off - and I think kids will probably freak at just a leg skating off and hitting them in the shin... Also, honestly, how hard is it to make pizza - the WORST pizza ever - they can just buy it frozen and heat it if they had to... SERIOUSLY! How come nobody ever combined dodgeball and roller rinks? Like a wimpy paintball thing... that would be pretty boss...
dixielandfarm
Dodgeball on skates. Kris, your onto something! I'll tow the Deere down and, if you can spare an acre (I can if you can't) let's smooth some ground over and host the first ever VC Olympics! Body parts a flyin', make your own VC character out of the various appendages at the end of the day! Your an idea fountain. - Lj
Hi there, the difference between today,s aor and 80s aor, is Obvious. That special
feeling and great atmosphere. This is what 80s aor made so special. I check some
new aor bands on a regular basis. But this is what i,m missing in aor from the 90s
and zeros. I listened to diamond dawn. Not bad at all. A little like survivor. Great
vocals and musicians. But nowhere as good as the classic aor of the 80s. That era
can,t be beaten. Best from the Netherlands.
Excellent description/explanation of AOR/Arena Rock, including it's roots in progressive-rock. Just my opinion, but I would probably include Boston in the category as well, along with early '80s Foreigner. I don't own enough AOR to have a seperate section for it on the shelves for it, so a lot of the stuff I would divvy up between my prog section and general 70s/80s rock. But there is a lot of good music that fits the description.
Agreed completely. AOR definitely had it's roots in the late seventies with some of the bands that you mentioned. Personally, I've always felt that Foreigner's "Rev on the Red Line" was the very first true Arena Rock song with it's blazing keyboards but Boston surely wasn't far behind. Thanks for checkin' this out, great comment! - Lj
That tune No easy way out by Robert Tepper!
Have you heard the self titled China Sky album from 1988?
I very amazed you as a nothern American knows what AOR is. Every time I am in the USA Noone knows the genre
Hello, can you tell me the names of the different songs that we hear in the video?
Kansas of the 80s with Steve wash is certainly pure Aor
Do you mean you haven't seen IKEA's new expedit shelves for sub-genre obsessed collectors? Oh yeah this baby comes in two sizes: The classic small 48 section or full sized 73"x73" 100 section design! Simply unpack 312 sections of shelving and enjoy hours of cussing and confusion while you assemble. It's worth it because now your indie-algebra-doom-sludge-prog-core now has a place to call home.
Seriously, great video highlighting these aor masterpieces. I think I even saw one produced by "big butt hole records" lol. Fast paced, packed with great music and facts in classic LJ form. So nice I watched it twice. Enjoy the Holiday.
Hey Corey! Thanks so much for the awesome and insanely hilarious comment! So funny, I read it twice! Glad you dug the video and I couldn't agree with you more on the absolutely insanely unnecessary volume of sub-genres created seemingly daily for music! Gimmie a break. Although it sounds like that new Ikea shelf has it covered....if anyone ever actually gets it assembled! Hope the holiday was a fantastic one, thanks again for watchin' and leaving behind some priceless Corey humor! - Lj
I would have to say Boston's Self Titled Debut (1976) is the first fully formed AOR album. Had the hard rock, some prog pomposity, melodic pop hooks, and incredible production fo the time. And of course with the ascent of punk, they got accused of being "Corporate Rock" (Even did an album with that title!), didn't help Tom Scholz actually worked for Polaroid Corporation at the time lol.
I'm super late to this, but I love all the obscure AOR bands. I have Le Roux's Last Safe Place. In my mind, they had already shifted to AOR at that point. "Addicted" is a fine tune. I'd like to find Charlie's self-titled. "It's Inevitable" is a great song! I also have both Spys records, Taxxi's State of Emergency, and Planet P's debut. I've never heard of Mayday though, so I'll look into them.
Aor for me is glam with way more synthesizers which is awesome nothing wrong with glam for the people who saying it ain’t good
Hi there, you have great taste in music. For me survivor is the most consistent aor band ever. Their second album premonition is also very good. And very underrated.
I have most of the albums you showed in my vinyl collection. But i,m missing some
essential aor albums you may not have. Like the fortune album from 85. The 83
album by arc angel. The first shooting star and silent scream. The latter sounding
a lot like survivor. The first prophet. With ted poley. Who later joined danger danger.
Amazing songs on this album. One of my all time favorites. You can check out some
videos by fortune, arc angel, shooting star and prophet here. Also spys, le roux, Streets and charlie can be found on here. If you haven,t found them already. I also like the second mayday. Especially the real classy track identify. The best years for
aor were without any doubt, 82 and 83. Real gems were released in this era.
Speaking about real gems, i forgot to mention the first rpm lp. And below the belt by
franke and the knock outs. You can check out some videos by them on here.
I have some 600 aor albums in my collection.Records released on major labels.
And very rare ones. So called private pressings. Very limited and collector items.
Best from the Netherlands and keep the vinyl spinning.
Hello. Thanks for the fantastic comment. Definitely some bands I wasn't aware of and will check out. This was a very small stack from the AOR pile and just for purposes of shining a light on the genre. I agree that '82-'83 were prime and have Spy's (both) Streets (both) Shooting Star (3 or 4) LeRoux (3 although they changed quite a bit from the debut and the time "So Fired Up" came out which I thought was amazing) in the collection. I'm pretty excited to check out Fortune and Arc Angel, appreciate the recommendations. Have you heard Diamond Dawn? A recent release from a band of the same name that sounds as if '83 never ended. Amazing stuff. Sounds like you've got one heck of a collection, I know AOR (all the way up through the early 90's) turns up fairly often on vinyl in The Netherlands and is very difficult to find stateside as the US gave up on vinyl in the mid-80's for the all powerful cd. Thanks again for checkin' this out and the recommendations! - Lj
Well I dig all music that you just showet to us not sure if they count as aor but a band in genre of melodic hard rock Called care of night and my favorit album from them Called connected is really great band that I would recoment
"Goth Doom Boom Broom" HAHA! I def agree w/ splitting into too many genres, just won't be able to find anything. "Frontiers" gets my $ for being a great AOR album and topping the list for best Journey albums. OOO "Caught In The Game" is underrated and overlooked big time! Interesting take on "Astra". That's an album I haven't spun in years. They're still playing amazingly and very impressive live. "Voice Of America" was 1 of my fave tracks growing up...that stereo def went to 11 whenever I played that 1 lol. Le Roux, I'll have to check 'em out. I've heard the name but never really seen their stuff. I've seen that Charlie a few times around here...maybe I'll snag it when I see it next. Thanks to u, that Planet P is 1 that I would've never bought had u not talked it up on here...amazing!! Taxxi, man that band was all over MTV in their early days...not too bad and very interesting. Great to see u do an AOR vid...I def could see this genre being 1 that u would have the knowledge to show great shit all day long. Very cool big bro!! Hope u and the family have a killer Thanksgiving!! Stuffing my skinny ass up here! lol. Talk to ya soon, love ya! \,,/
Hey brother! Sorry I didn't swing back to this sooner, Thanksgiving and the Rip Van Winkle nap that followed took precedence! Come on man, you know mom gets bullshit if we don't finish every damn morsel! Love me some AOR and I know you know the genre well yourself! Glad you dug Planet P, that album and the one that followed are awesome. Charlie is really cool. The first 4 or so are very 70's rock but that one s/t release is AOR gold. Almost like so many of these 70's rock bands said "hey, this AOR thing's popular......let's do it!". Fortunately it means you don't have to buy the band's entire discography......well, actually if I know you at all, yes, you do! Ha! So many great albums, so damn little time in the day! Thanks for checkin' this one out, I know it ran long by my standards. Hope everyone's doin' great and had a killer Thanksgiving! With any luck, you may have even gained 1/2 lb ya high metabolistic lil' brother! Love you too man, catch ya soon! - Lj
Trust me, dude, I think I may've lost a 1/2 lb haha! Had some wicked heartburn afterwards...too much cranberry sauce I think lol. Got 1 of those naps in as well...how can u not nap after a meal like that? Mom makes WAY too much every year ;). Dude, the AOR is in our blood and we'll never get our fix fully. I'll be mainlining that Charlie album like it's the best fix I'll ever get lol. I think I might have a few additions to this AOR post...might throw 'em a vid here soon. A couple I KNOW you'll agree w/. And yes, u def know me WAY too well...1 album by a band is never enough...I must have them all!! Ha! Hope u get some great turntable time in this weekend. Talk to ya soon, big bro!! :)
Album orientated rock and adult orientated rock best ever
TOP MUSIC 80s❤
Showing my age again. AOR in my mind is Adult Orientated Rock.
Seems these days AOR [A(lbum) OR] lines are being blurred with Corporate Rock or Arena Rock. Oh woes is me with all the subgenres.
As I'm watchin' I was thinking bigstar1000 would have a stroke if he had to watch this whole video. Great video BTW.
I love that TAXXI album. I wore it out back in the day. I came across the second Planet P Project albums years after it was released. I didn't know there was a second one. It's not bad. It's called Pink World.
I still have your Charlie cassette sitting on my Marshall. It's been there for a year I guess. I must think it's going to mail itself.
I hope BigStar watches this. That would be fantastic. Then again, this is common folk music that you can enjoy at face value so I highly doubt it. To each they're own. Your spot on though that AOR was more 'album' than 'arena' in the 70's. I lived the arena days though so it's meaning to me is slightly different. Either way, the gems that crop up from the one and done bands (from both decades) just blow my mind. Taxxi is a killer listen (I have 2 from them I think...chicks on a motorcycle on the other I think....). Tapes that mail themselves?! Lol. Hang onto it, I'm glad to be a part of the PT Media Emporium. Hope the holiday was a great one! - Lj
Long live music for us common folk.
I forgot to mention one album that is also great AOR for me.The band is Mecca and they have 2 albums.First one named by the band is really good.Names like Fergie Fredericksen and Bobby Kimball on vocals are very well known.
I haven't heard of Mecca, thanks for the tip. This is one of the reasons I wanted to do this video to begin with is to share. There's an overwhelming number of awesome but overlooked and now forgotten AOR bands. Fergie Fredericksen has done quite a bit of AOR work, I'll keep an eye out for the Mecca lp's now. Thanks for watchin' and the note! - Lj
Wonderful video showing the Essential AOR albums LJ. Nice Journey albums even though I'm sick of hearing them on radio. I still like Journey though. Love the Kansas album in this video. I'll have to check out the Survivor albums. I'm still disappointed I walked out on Survivor in the middle of their set at the Classic Rock Fairgrounds Concert. All LPs in this video are excellent.
Hey there Marv! Thanks for checkin' this out and the comment! Like you, I'm completely burnt on most of the Journey radio tracks. Fortunately, there's still a wealth of them buried on the lp's that don't get played often. Although, if I hear Lights again, I may hurl all over the dashboard. Seriously, enough. When the lights go down in the city? Here's solution....shut em' the hell off! Wow, I have a Journey issue! Thanks for swingin' by, always great to hear from ya and hope the holiday was a great one! - Lj
Hey LJ. I sent you a message about the Division Bell on vinyl. I purchased that album on eBay yesterday for a really good price. It's an authentic US 1994 light Blue vinyl pressing. I will post a video showing that bad ass when I receive it. Happy Holidays to you as well man!
Hi there LJ, thank you so much for this video! I think noone in the VC did such a large AOR dedicated video before. I just LOVE this genre! Unfortunately they don't play this music very much on the radio here. Maybe they play Journey once in a while, but not very often. Also Foreigner is on the radio sometimes, but not really often. But...they surely don't play any other AOR stuff here on the radio. I guess that in the USA they play this genre all the time, but most Dutch people are not really familiar with this type of music. It's also very difficult to get AOR records or cd's here. Regular cd stores almost don't sell any AOR cd's. Sometimes Dutch online stores have import cd's, but they are way too expensive. So sometimes I find AOR albums abroad much cheaper. I just LOVE Journey/Steve Perry. But there are so many more names.....Giant, Heartland, Gotthard (Swiss band), Dare, The Sign, Joe Lynn Turner (some people hate his album with Rainbow, but....it's just great AOR, so I like it...haha), Brett Walker (RIP), Stan Bush, etc. But....there are also so many more names I don't know yet, simply....because they don't play their music in Holland, so I don't know the music or bands. So really great you did this video, because it gave me a lot more inspiriaton to look out for other AOR bands and albums. AWESOME video!!! And if people have more AOR tips for me.....please let me know :) I hope you're doing well LJ, greetings from The Netherlands! Ingrid
Hey Ingrid! Thanks for checkin' this out and the awesome comment! I was hoping you would because I know you love AOR as much as I do and you mentioned some really great names! Stan Bush! Wow, you really know your stuff! Except for the obvious stuff like Journey, Foreigner, etc., really good AOR like LeRoux, Stan and the obscure stuff doesn't get played very often on the radio here. The days of Dj's playing what they want are long gone, everything is the hits. I'l definitely make a few more and maybe spotlight some albums, feel free to do the same because I know you have some great material in your AOR collection! Hope all's well, great hearing from you! - Lj
*****
Hey Steph! Really great to hear from ya, missed you too! I'll pass the hello along to Renee and I'm sure along with mine you'll get a quick hello right back 'atcha! Hope life's treatin' you well and the holiday was a great one! - Lj
Hello LJ, great list! but I strongly recomend the first 2 albums of Russ Ballard! is it AOR? I don't care it's superb music and production
Edwin van dijk Sounds like a good enough reason to me! Thanks for settin' some time aside to catch this Edwin! - Lj
Lj , i enjoyed the stuff about the obscure bands alot of these i dont recall ever seeing Le Roux et al but maybe because i wasnt aware of them, those sounds though as you say totally back to 1983 when I was at college and it was how we thought America sounded lol - John
"AOR is how America sounded"....that's an awesome comment! So many times I'd listen to The Beatles and The Who in high school and think that's how England sounded! Thanks for normalizing me (as if that were possible) and for checkin' this out. Hope all's well, prep for Christmas (er.....Thanksgiving) is behind us and it is getting frigid fast! - Lj
Thanks for the lesson in AOR LJ. Im more into the heavier side of rock (metal) but definitely into prog and would like to discover some more AOR. Always loved Journey. Is Night Ranger Aor or Hard rock in your opinion?
Thanks for watchin' and the cool comment. Like you, I'm generally more into the heavier side of things with thrash, etc. But I can't ignore AOR and it's shiny (safe?) melodies. Night Ranger, in my opinion is definitely AOR. Brad can shred like a demon and did with Ozzy but he's just really tame with them.....although the debut "Dawn Patrol" was a great album. - Lj
Night Ranger is absolutely AOR !!!
I agree frontiers of journey is 100 pee cent journey
You forgot Epic Doom Metal and Gothabilly. When is it going to stop? I remember when there was five genres of music No wait a minute, there was 11. Now in country alone there are now 49 types or genres as they are called. I prefer labeling them 'attitudes of music' myself.
AOR to me is a genre that I invented before anyone else with the mixed tapes I was making on my Maxell XL II's. I was taking arena rock albums and putting any track off off of either side while complimenting each artist with the next. The one thing that hurts a radio stations AOR format is playing too many obscure bands in a row. You have to mix the bigger name bands and also the familiar tracks to keep the listener's attention.
I have seen some of these bands back in the golden arena rock days. Journey was probably one of the top 3 AOR bands that you could have mentioned. Way to go on that call Lj. I think Journey's sound got lost in the sun, heat and the no domed top of JFK Stadium, Philly when I saw them with the Stones in 1981. That was the Escape Tour too. So they were riding high on a very successful album. Enter your arena topic and I bet they would have sounded amazing seeing them at the Spectrum that day. The last few that you showed were definitely bands that were obscure to most people. If I was standing in line at a DD and some of those bands came on the radio it would be tough for me to tell who was who. So I am always impressed by the music that you pull off those record store shelves.
Excellent job my brother. I not only enjoyed the new topic but I also enjoyed the bands that you showed. I may not listen to that music too much anymore but I respect it immensely, Each of those bands did not get to where they got by having someone program their music after they explained how they wanted the beat to sound. It was practice, determination and the love of the music.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you today. Catch up with you soon~
Rob/Boston
Only four months until spring, yes!!!
You gotta love that AOR!!
There's almost nothing better! Massive keyboards, huge guitars, great tracks and no, I haven't forgotten about our trade! Stay tuned and thanks for checkin' this out. Hope the family's doin' great and Thanksgiving stuffed you into a well deserved couch nap! - Lj
Awesome music collection!
Glad you dug it, thanks for tunin' in! - Lj
BioCYTE1 BTW do you listen to any new AOR music? And if so how do feel about it?
AOR is such a huge genre, but, in general, I'd say that no, I don't. If an exception wanders along that's a newer band with a late 70's / early 80's AOR vibe though, I'll check it out.
My definition of AOR is anything from the Mid 70’s to the death of melodic rock with grunge in 90, so my little list of albums I like to call AOR might not meet your definition of AOR. Night Rangers first album is a great AOR album and I agree with Joe Lynn Turner’s “Rescue You”. I have some good AOR gems in my collection such as Living in Oz by Rick Springfield from the glory year of 83, Flash by Jeff Beck from 85 was purposely designed as an AOR album, “Where’s the Party?” By Eddie Money is a good album that has a more pop feel to AOR, Richard Marx’s first LP from 87 is pop but it has elements of AOR same as Robert Plants first two albums in my opinion. Peter Frampton came out with Premonition in 1986 which is an AOR masterpiece and I also consider everything After REO’s 1979 release along with elements from 1976’s REO (see Keep Pushin as my example) to be AOR. And this I might get killed for but I think Chicago 16 has the basic fundamentals of AOR as well, a screeching guitar in some tracks and the piano/synth sections contribute as well with the high production the album had.
Very nice video...I really enjoyed it...and the way you put across your opinion was good as well..."melodic prog rock" and melodic rock are the style of music I enjoyed the most..but like you I enjoy the different ways that rock music can be played...I dont mind a bit of country..jazz..blues..funk..or even a bit poppy as long its catchy and/or keeping interesting to my ears...I have all the albums apart from Taxxi and Mayday...here there are some bands you might need to ckeck out Airrace(Shaft of Light)..Automatix(Night ranger)..Aviator(s/t) ..Benjamin Orr(The Lace)..Body Electric(s/t)...well the list is massive...some of those are aor/hardrock ..others light aor...I will get sticks now cos I am creating more sub genres..but at the end of the day they are good rock bands...My collection is thousands of cds and hundreds of vinyls...your collection is fantastic...do you buy or listen to the current melodic rock scenes of these day cos they are several great bands...cheers
Fantastic comment, thanks for takin' the time to check this out and leave some suggestions! I have Airrace and a few others you mentioned on vinyl and agree that as soon as you start thinkin' of others, you soon begin questioning "is that AOR or rock" haha! I do the same thing, no sticks to be found here, I appreciate the recommendations and agree that if it's ear candy and AOR or rock, listen to it! I've dabbled in some of the more modern AOR type bands, there's some really great ones out there. Diamond Dawn is one that comes to mind from just a year or two ago that really blew me away! You'll likely dig it if you haven't already heard it! Thanks again for swingin' by and hangin' out for a few, all the best! - Lj
I heard of Diamond Dawn..I bought the cd when i came out...I want to challenge you trying to track down these new bands..there is a a great greek band called Wild Rose, they released two album in 2011 and 2013..the first called "hald past midnight" and the other one called "dangerous"..the first one was recorded in an american label...the other band is from Sweden ..its called Osukaru...next monday is the release of H.e.a.t. fourth album...and another band to check out is Work of Art...I enjoyed your videos..saying so i have to admit im not into metal...im a more of rock/hard rock...saying so judas priest is one of my favorites bands but for me i can only listen to them from the first album until the Turbo album..after that they became a proper metal band..im looking forward to seeing something about progressive rock...keep on rocking!!
jor melodika
I'll add both to the list and keep an eye out for them. Thanks again for the tip, looking forward to giving them a listen! - Lj
You didn't mention that Asia also had a member of Krokus, their gorgeous young guitarist Mandy Meyer was together with Jimi Jamison in their Memphis band Cobra.
Very Interesting indeed. Fun watch. Next episode what makes you glam rock? lol nah I think we all know what is considered that.
Oh, a glam rock episode? Where will it end?! I'm gonna be puttin' albums away until I'm too old to spin em' anymore! Thanks for checkin' this out James, hope all's well and the holiday was a great one! - Lj
Hello LJ! I don't know if you will read this, but I felt like watching that video one more time. It's my favorite on your channel. I hope you will come back some day with new videos. Anyway, I hope you're well.
how can you miss toto and boston
I've always known AOR as standing for "Adult Orientated Rock". A clumsy description certainly.
it's true that it's hard to store your music according genres and sub genres, for me I store my music according to the 5 basic genre country, rock and roll, heavy metal, rap and jazz, yes I know there a 1000+ other genres out there but seriously I feel all of these other genres are just sub genres and you can go mad trying to figure them all out especially during the early years when they was forming and breaking away from the traditional genres like U2 to me U2 is rock and roll, not alternative or classic rock but just plain ol' rock and roll but take Motely Crue they are heavy metal nothing other then just heavy metal, really can over complicate things with all these other genres. that's my take on genres. now I will listen to just about everything out there that is pleasing to the ear not a big fan of rap or it's sub genres but I will give the genre a try time to time
Sounds like we feel exactly the same way when it comes to genres. I burnt out on the sub-genre thing ages ago and these days I mostly file my collection A-Z. Although I change it from time to time if I'm really stuck in one particular rut (70's rock, etc.) for awhile but that's just because (a) it makes them easier to find - and - (b) I'm too lazy to put them all away again. Thanks for checkin' this out, hope the holiday was a good one! - Lj
Hey LJ, Great Video! AOR I think is something that a lot of people misunderstand and you definitely gave a great introduction to it here. I don't myself have much AOR in the collection, but it's definitely something I'm going to look in to a little more in the new year (and once I clear out what I have on hold at work). Great job dude!
If you haven't checked out my first video yet, I'd love to hear what you think :)
Thanks Matt, glad you dug the vid and best of luck on the AOR and VC journey. I'll definitely swing by and check out the channel, thanks for checkin' this out and the cool comment. - Lj
I'm sorry, but true AOR was made in the late 80's, like 87-93. You have shown really nice albums, but i think it's more Pop(soft)-Rock than AOR. For me top AOR groups will always be FM, Strangeways, Dare, Haywire, Bite the bullet, Mark Free, Steehouse lane, Norway...
I agree spys been aor but with to me a little of 70s sounds
I agree streets of Steve wash is pure Aor with than power of Kansas
Great video! I'm a huge AOR, melodic rock collector and specialize in the obscurities, which as you said are sometimes better or just as good as the more mainstream albums. There are tons to be found out in the never ending vinyl world. If you haven't already been, a cool website to check out is glorydazemusic.com. At some point would like to send you a list of obscure titles to see if you have them and if you don't you can set out on the hunt. Thanks for an enjoyable video!
Thanks for the fantastic comment and although I don't remember checkin' out Glory Daze Music, I'll swing by again and spend some time there. I'd love to see your list of obscure gems, I wouldn't be shocked at all if I have a fraction of them as there's no shortage of absolutely amazing lost and forgotten AOR gems. Honestly, I filmed this coming down from a non-stop 2 week AOR high and hoped some folks would come out of the woodwork with recommendations to feed the high! Well done, thanks so much for checkin' this out! - Lj
Not sure I would agree Asia would be pure AOR. I would call it progressive Aor
Fala do Mark Free
...and this is a DVD-ready tutorial, seriously.
I got some more Aor albums I would love to show you
Dude is that my copy of Mayday I won on eBay and the Seller shipped to another buyer by accident?! Aaaargh
Lol, probably wasn't the same copy, this one's been around the music collection for quite awhile. Definitely worth owning though so don't give up! Thanks for checkin' this out! - Lj
so...no Boston? you don't consider them the godfathers of AOR, the ones that invented it?
aor is popular rock
Ah ok I see you show the Arena Rock side of AOR thats not completly my style of AOR the Sound i like is more the Jazzy souly and funky stuff like Doobie Brothers with Michael Mc Donald, Loggins, Steely Dan and so on and Japanese City Pop and Fusion
I thought AOR meant Adult Oriented Rock...
It does
Kansas is not AOR
this is my favourite LJ video so far brother, I am such an AOR fan, lesser known fact about me ofcourse, as people know me as the VC's biggest Kiss collector, but even Kiss had an AOR album, which is my favourite of theirs as well, so I guess that should have given a hint of it ;)
Now I have some more hunting to do, as the only lps I had that you showed in this video was the 2 AOR Journey lps.
Rock On Brother!
smfcpthowdy Hawk digs AOR....who knew?! Glad you dug this one, I had every intention of makin' a series out of it. Wild how fast 2 years flies by and in your mind it seems like it's only been a few months eh? So much killer and obscure AOR out there and still new stuff being released today (although it's a bit modern soundin'). Eyes wide open for ya for some of these, keep me posted if you find any on your own! - Lj