V.A. - Heard It On The Radio Vol.1 [Renaissance] (1998)

"Heard It On The Radio" CD series were released by the now disppeared label Renaissance comprising long lost 45 rpm singles from the late seventies / earlier eighties never obtainable on digital format before.
Ironically, few or these were radio hits - in fact, many of them are rather obscure - but should have been.
The prime intention of the label was the rescue from oblivion of these good '80s songs and made them available in good audio quality not only for musicologists and archivists, but for true lovers of the AOR / rock&pop that once ruled FM radio airwaves.

There were 3 volumes, the first published in 1998, and Vol. 2 & 3 the subsequent year. In 2001 two more (Vol. 4 & 5) were presented only as promo just to promote original album reissues from some of the artists featured.
The "Heard It On The Radio" series were resurrected some years ago by the marketing label RDEG, re-releasing the official first three volumes, and then the previously not for sale Vol. 4 & 5, but with a slightly different tracklist due legal / permission issues.
Recently appeared a new volume numbered Vol.7, the guys at REDG seems to have skipped the '6'.
Requested by a reader, "Heard It On The Radio" series will be featured on this blog in the next entries to come.


Some of these tracks are from albums finally released on CD nowadays, but many not, and probably that never happens.
First of the series, we have Vol.1 featuring some well known names by '80s AOR fans like Tycoon, Joe Lynn Turner's first band Fandango, Player, LeRoux or Autograph (although a great track, their classic "Turn Up The Radio" seems out of place in this compilation).
But there's also rarely heard, good songs from Janey Street, Robert Hazard, The Breaks, Steel Breeze and a lot more, all with that typical early eighties FM magic.
Enjoy.


01 - Mr. Mister - Hunters Of The Night
02 - Tycoon - Such A Woman
03 - Janey Street - Say Hello To Ronnie
04 - Wax UK - Right Between The Eyes
05 - Autograph - Turn Up The Radio
06 - Fandango - Headliner
07 - Gary O' - Shades Of '45
08 - Grace Slick - Seasons
09 - Bullet - Down By The Neonlights
10 - LeRoux - Nobody Said It Was Easy
11 - Chiliwack - My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)
12 - Robert Ellis Orall-Carlene Carter - I Couldn't Say No
13 - Player - If Looks Could Kill
14 - Robert Hazard - Escalator Of Life
15 - Steel Breeze - You Don't Want Me Anymore
16 - The Breaks - She Wants You
17 - Dillman Band - Lovin' The Night Away
18 - Martha & The Muffins - Echo Beach
19 - Jefferson Starship - Save Your Love


Heard It On The Radio Vol.1
.

TYCOON - Turn Out The Lights (1981) remastered

TYCOON was a New York based band formed by vocalist Norman Mershon and multi-instumentalist Mark Kreider.

The duo recruited some well known session musicians and released a self titled album in the late '70s which made a modest hit in the charts.

Two years after, the group took a completely different approach to their second effort "Turn Out The Lights": AOR was starting to rule the airwaves.

With the polished and expert production of Vini Poncia (Adrenalin, Kiss) and the always effective guitars by Bobby Messano (Joe Lynn Turner, Fiona, Martee LeBow, Franke And The Knockouts) Norman Mershon

offers in this recording all his vocal abilities and tasteful tone.

'One More Try' is a moody syncopated westcoast tune, followed by the superb pure classy AOR 'Walkin' The Line', in the vein of BALANCE debut.

'Hang On In' is a totally eighties melody and you can hear the typically "Poncia touch" here.

'Love You Till It Hurts' seems to be recorded by TOTO, one of the highlights here.

'Let It Down' is a sweet commercial ballad, 'This Island Earth' features a curious arrangement during the verses and 'C'mon Over' is simple but catchy.

The title track 'Turn Out The Lights' has a candy-floss piano very TOTO's Hold The Line, also remembers me a Little River Band tune. A really good one.

Regarded as a true and obscure AOR gem by many fans, this album is criminally ignored on almost every Classic AOR list.

Maybe it does not reach the cult status, but it's a great record that failed to sold well and rank in the charts due to the label lack of promotion.

This is a rip from the Renaissance 2 in 1 remastered CD release, featuring their self titled debut and "Turn Out The Lights", which tracklist has been changed (I think it works better than the original) plus 2 extra tracks added: 'Yes Men' and 'Over My Head'.

As said, a very good album, well respected by serious AOR connoisseurs.

At this point, maybe you're tired by my repetitive footprint notes from my last posts : 'Highly Recommended'... I mostly share with you albums that I like a lot (except some requests) or consider worth to investigate, and this one fits that rule, hence... ;

Highly Recommended

01 - One More Try

02 - Walkin' The Line

03 - Can't Take That Away

04 - Hang On In

05 - Love You Till It Hurts

06 - Call The Police

07 - Yes Men

08 - Let It Down

09 - This Island Earth

10 - C'mon Over

11 - Over My Head

12 - Turn Out The Lights

Norman Mershon - vocals

Mark Kreider - bass, vocals

Bobby Messano - guitars, vocals

Jon Gordon - guitars, vocals

Keith Taylor, Michael Fonfara - keyboards

Mark Rivera - sax, vocals

Mike Braun - drums

TYCOON... UNKNOWN AND GOOD