RENEGADE (Canada) - Back From The Dead + On The Edge

This RENEGADE from Canada was already featured here in the very early years of this blog, almost 9 years ago. Now it was requested by a reader, and I think these guys deserve a revamp as their music is one of that 'lost '80s gems' deserved to be listened by everyone.
Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, Renegade existed since the early Eighties with various incarnations. Founder and chief songwriter Jim Buckshon went on to play in Matrex (another great unknown Canuck band) and Renegade disbanded.

But the group returned in the middle '80s again with Buckshon as leader. Between 1985/87 Renegade toured the Pacific Northwest area, recording several songs in between at various studios. These are the tracks featured in "On The Edge", finally appeared in 2004.
Why Renegade were not signed by a major label is beyond me, as their sound and style is pure AOR / Melodic Rock in the vein of Honeymoon Suite, Haywire, Worrall, etc.
Ironically, some of Renegade's musicians now own a recording & publishing agency, and all their material was finally released through there (in reverse): "Back From The Dead" recorded 88/89 appeared in 2001, while "On The Edge" [recorded 1985-1987], as said, in 2004.



"Back From The Dead" is my favorite of the two; tracks like 'Standing Out In The Rain', the delicious 'The Best Of Me', 'Prisoner Of Your Heart', the anthemic 'Big City Nights' (produced by master Mike Fraser) are primo AOR / Melodic Rock numbers.
"On The Edge" features a different vocalist with a more rocking approach, being 'Take A Chance On Romance' (quite similar to Joseph Lee Wood, other artist featured here on the blog), the smooth 'Angel Of Love', title track and the slightly pompy 'Call To Glory' are among my picks from the bunch.

Renegade is one of those bands which shoulda been huge, armed with terrific melodic songs and catchy choruses plus a really solid musicianship.
You need their two albums in your AOR / Melodic Rock collection.


Back From The Dead [recorded 88/89] (2001)
01 - Standing Out In The Rain
02 - The Best Of Me
03 - Sign Of The Times
04 - Prisoner Of Your Heart
05 - Big City Nights
06 - After The Smoke Clears
07 - Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark
08 - Betrayal

Marti Sippola – Vocals
Geraldo Dominelli – Guitar, Vocals
Kenny Geatros – Guitar
John Tompkins – Keyboards
David Steele – Background Vocals
Jim Buckshon – Bass, Keyboards, Drum Programming, Vocals
Produced & engineered by Jim Buckshon except Big City Nights produced and engineered by Mike Fraser


On The Edge [recorded 1985-1987] (2004)
01 - Angel Of Love
02 - Its My Life
03 - Friends And Lovers
04 - On The Edge
05 - Call To Glory
06 - Testify
07 - Its Only Make Believe
08 - Take A Chance On Romance
09 - Kids Runnin Wild

Steve Foster - Vocals
Geraldo Dominelli - Guitar, Backing Vocals
Kenny Geatros, Terry Kellogg - Guitar
Paul Minshall - Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Darren Pasdernick - Keyboards
Jim Buckshon - Bass, Keyboards, Drum Programming, Vocals
Darby Mills, Rhoslyn Jones, Helenna Santos - Backing Vocals






RENEGADE (Canada) - Back From The Dead + On The Edge
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RENEGADE - Back From The Dead (2001) [Recorded 1989] 192Kbps
Canadian MelodicRock/AOR GEM



When putting this CD on, I was immediately remembering how good the 80s sounded.
This Canadian RENEGADE take us back to a time when AOR ruled the airwaves in Northern America.
In Canada there were a lot of AOR bands and most of them were quite popular too, just to name a few, I could mention LOVERBOY, HAYWIRE, HONEYMOON SUITE, BYSTANDER, SHERIFF, ALDO NOVA, WORRALL,TRIUMPH, ZAPPACOSTA and a lot more.
Back in the late 1980s almost every Canadian Rockband was playing a typical sort of Canadian AOR style, and of course many of the independent scene from that period never got that big and that’s a pity, because for example this RENEGADE had the perfect AOR sound to become HUGE!

In 2001, the CD ‘Back from the dead’ was released as CD, containing material recorded during 1988 and 1989 when RENEGADE was very much alive and kicking, but it had to wait for over a decade to finally press it onto CD.
Well, what can I say, AOR never sounded better than in the 80's, and this RENEGADE proves that fact on the CD ‘Back from the dead’ which is basically a 1989 recording.
With the exception of a few releases (PRIDE OF LIONS, BLIND ALLEY), nowadays the ‘new’ AOR doesn’t sound as good as it once sounded in the heydays of the 1980s. Just listen how perfect this CD sounds, man, this is the way AOR should sound, emotional and just perfectly performed catchy AOR.
Sadly only 8 songs are included on ‘Back from the dead’, but for the fan of 80s Canuck AOR this is a complete must!
The vocals are high class (a la MIKE RENO, MICKEY THOMAS) and the songs are all very sensational pure AOR.
The album starts with “Standing out in the rain”, a lovely uptempo AOR piece that sounds like the perfect mix between HONEYMOON SUITE, BYSTANDER and the very first HAREM SCAREM.
Up next is the terrific midtempo AOR ballad “The best of me” with it’s catchy harmonyvocals during the chorus reminding me of ALIAS.
More uptempo AOR can be heard in the fantastic “Sign of the times” that sounds like a mix between AIRKRAFT (their last record) and AVIATOR.
The high quality AOR/rock basically continues on the next song “Prisoner of your heart” which sounds a lot like LOVERBOY (‘Lovin’ every minute of it’ period).
The CD continues with the great uptempo melodic rocker “Big city night” which is pure fun 1980s and sounding like HONEYMOON SUITE in their heydays.
Those 5 mentioned songs are lovely pure 80s AOR and of a very high level! Concluded, this is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED CD to everyone into classic 80's AOR!
If you like it, BUY IT.

1. Standing Out in the Rain
2. The Best of Me
3. Sign of the Times
4. Prisoner of Your Heart
5. Big City Nights
6. After the Smoke Clears
7. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
8. Betrayal

Marti Sippola vocals
Jim Buckshon bass, keyboards, drum programming, backing vocals
Geralso Dominelli guitar, vocals
Kenny Geatros guitar
John Tompkins keyboards


UPDATED HERE

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