coolermaster

One of the cornerstones of AOR, a genre that is undervalued in Europe, a land of sophisms and avant-garde intellectualism, neo-prog, baroque symphonic... AOR (Adult Oriented Rock) is a genre born from the ashes of early Hard Rock, like that of Grand Funk Railroad, ZZ Top, Blue Oyster Cult, and even Aerosmith... A rock, therefore, that is adult, to distinguish it from the rock made with three chords and guitar, bass, drums... The introduction of keyboards allowed legendary bands like Chicago (who actually came... from Jazz rock!!) Toto, Foreigner, and even the "last" Eagles to break away from that "West Coast Sound" which, from the Byrds to Crosby, Stills & Nash (not to mention the first Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Poco, etc...) dominated the scene in America from the second half of the '60s to the first half of the '70s.
To be honest, AOR was the most genuine American response to British Progressive rock... A sound that (of course) has its roots in good old Rock'n'Roll, Blues, and Jazz (which are the references for every American musician) yet also keeping an eye on European Hard Rock and art rock. Tight tracks, followed by long ballads that have made history... I also think of the aforementioned Boston, or those "one hit wonders" (not historical as some say) like Survivor and Cutting Crew (those of the transoceanic ballad I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight)... AOR ended in the first half of the '80s, although the echoes of that genre never fully faded and influenced many American musicians, really many... Bands like Cinderella, Whitesnake, even if (perhaps foolishly?) they were labeled as a new glam rock or generic Hard Rock, certainly drew from AOR in many of their tracks... Even traces (not so hidden) of AOR can be found in the latest works of DREAM THEATER (mutatis mutandis, of course), especially in "Scenes From A Memory"...
Escape can be considered the quintessence of this genre and probably one of its absolute peaks... along with Toto IV and Chicago XVI...
Regards.

You forgot that the flag bearers of AOR, in addition to Journey, were undoubtedly two bands that still today, despite not doing anything groundbreaking anymore, make those who lived through the '80s tremble and jump: I'm talking about Toto with Steve Lukather and Jeff Porcaro (one of the greatest drummers in rock history) and Chicago!!!! Just for this, you deserve a 3... no offense intended to your review, which is quite complete and exhaustive anyway. Infinity, tied with Escape, is my favorite from Journey....

Every word is superfluous.. The review moved me to tears...

one of the albums I love most by the Floyd... Don’t mind the rating... I gave it a 4, otherwise I would have to give 10 to Wish You Were Here, AHM, or TPATGOD... and on Debaser it doesn't exist...
One of the (perhaps) most Rock albums (together with More) by the Floyd... filled with, I'd say, more pragmatic atmospheres since the song form dominates, yet with endless suggestions... The Film? Who remembers it... a pseudo-ecological nonsense a thousand miles away from the subversive force of MORE... and yet the music, this music for me is the best the Floyd have ever done... at least in the second period... No, I’ve never been a big fan of Dark Side... even risking being branded a Blasphemer ... but these were the Psychedelic-progressive-avant-garde Floyd... Then came the commercial slip of Dark Side, followed by the MASTERPIECE (and I'll never tire of saying it) WYWH... That is the ultimate '70s album, and one of the masterpieces (for me) of 20th-century music... an album that will still be listened to in 1000 years and will provoke the same emotions as "the Brandenburg Concertos" by Bach, the 9th by Ludwig Van, "Kind Of Blue" by Miles, "Hot Rats" by Zappa....
OBC is the quintessence of the Floyd during the Gilmour period, before the madman (not diamond) Waters took control of the minds of the other 3... Excellent!

Certainly a psychedelic reference... If there's something immensely overrated, it’s the Sgt. Pepper's by the Sacarrafoni... The Satanic Majesties give it a few light years, in my humble opinion... Then of course, LET IT BLEED arrived, which in my day was considered the true masterpiece of the Stones... Immensely underrated, some songs have a disarming beauty, at points reminding me of David Bowie in his early days... and thus Art Rock. I feel sorry for the detractors.

The cover is taken from a detail of "The Garden of Earthly Delights," the complete works of "Hyeronimus Bosch" (not the washing machine guy, huh?) a jewel in the collection of the "Prado" museum in Madrid... A painting that has not lost its subversive, Mephistophelean strength, and is so damn human at the same time! And it's been 500 years since he painted it!
Returning to the record... I remember once a classmate of mine in high school when we talked about music... When we got to Deep Purple, he thought he could shock me by laying out "Machine Head" and "Made in Japan"... He just said to me, "Have you ever listened to Book of Taliesin or Deep Purple from '69?"
I was like... who were these guys? The Deep Purple of the massive gatherings with the 10,000 watt instruments? The ones of Smoke On The Water? Then I listened to his record... and then I understood... another missing piece in the evolution of rock... "April" reminds me of my 17 years..... and those sonnets of English poetry straddling the 18th and 19th centuries: Blake, Keats, Wordsworth.... And that song seemed like their natural musicalization... after those 5 hours were over, the books would close and we would go home with the trusty Walkman in hand... "And then the feeling comes again, of an april without end..." April was the cruel month, as the aforementioned poets recited, because it gives us the illusion of spring, and then sudden last remnants of winter would arrive... and the cold returns, like perhaps the heart of a desperate lover... and so those notes rustled and still rustle today after so many Aprils have passed and so many broken illusions rode the emotions of those who in the meantime became men...
Regards.

In the series: when Disco music was cultured... refined... when the Groove was still made by drums, played by human metronomes, and the brass and everything else... A summa of 10 years of Soul, R'N'B (the real one)... Fabulous...
In the series: if the old folks at the bocce club listened to it between a game of tresette and another, cemeteries would be a little emptier, and our pensions more at risk...

I bought the CD by chance one day in a small shop in Copenhagen... I told the clerk I was looking for something different... With his clumsy English, the tall Nordic guy pulled out a handful of CDs, among which one immediately caught my eye: a cover depicting a statue of a classic nature. I listened to it fleetingly amidst the crowd of people choosing very different music... It was the era of "Barbie Girl," and stunning Copenhagen was taken over by the phenomenon "Aqua."
I bought BWEWATSS and a compilation of current93, bands I didn't know... and I noticed a knowing smile in the clerk's mocking gaze.
Then many days later, in the adamantine quiet of my living room, with my esoteric Hi-Fi system costing millions back then, the masterpiece erupted from the speakers of my boxes that alone cost the same as a mid-range car—a piece I kept as a totem for years, an oracle that led me to discover the other side of contemporary music that I had completely ignored, being stuck in the progressive and fusion glories of the '70s, except for rare Grunge or pseudo-grunge exceptions... One word: monumental, like the statue that hovers on the cover... One more beautiful song after another, embroidered jewels that possess an arcane, sublime, and vaguely unsettling charm...
From there began a musical journey that to this day shows no signs of stopping... It made me at peace with the music of my time. "Daedalus Rising" is one of the most beautiful poems I’ve ever listened to, the child of the noblest listens, from bands and singer-songwriters with far more prestige... A CD I still never tire of listening to, even after so many years have passed. Wonderful...

One of the few albums that, at the end of the listening experience, leaves my eyes filled with tears of emotion... I still remember when I bought it and listened to it for the first time 11 years ago... oh my goodness... All the suffering, despair, and disillusionment of a life and a generation of Black people who were just then gaining their first battered rights. Sublime, unwithering... Followed, I dare say, on par with the other masterpiece "Songs for Distinguè Lovers"....

I invite the kind users of Debaser to listen to "Cafè blue" and especially the latest effort "Mythologies," one of those works that compel the listener to close their eyes, stop what they are doing, and get lost in the dreamlike phrases of ancient gods and heroes of classical Greece... Sublime, strange, fascinating... Great Patricia...