Aor Japan

Of all the bands that were unjustly overlooked in the early 1990's, none deserved the spotlight more than Tyketto. The band's debut album Don't Come Easy was an AOR/melodic rock masterpiece, embodying everything good about that style of music, and should have vaulted the band into the same arena as bands like Damn Yankees, Bad English, Firehouse, and Giant. Instead they went largely unnoticed…

For most genre fans John Elefante needs no introduction. But for the youngsters out there … Vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer John Elefante is the guy who replaced the guy, Steve Walsh, in Kansas in 1981. (Elefante beat out, among others, Sammy Hagar and Doug Pinnick for the job.) He would record two albums with Kansas, Vinyl Confessions and Drastic Measures. To the former, he was the vocalist on the mega-hit, Play The Game Tonight; to the latter, he wrote Fight Fire With Fire, Kansas' biggest single to date.

British rock group, formed by Phil Bates in 1976. Recorded an album, "Find The Lady", for United Artists. Trickster signed to Jet Records when Don Arden became their manager. They went on tour as ELO's support act on their legendary "Out Of The Blue" tour in 1978. Recorded a second album, "Back To Zero", with a different line up in 1979. The single "I'm Satisfied" enjoyed some chart success. Their next single "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" got extensive airplay in the USA, but did not do very well in the charts. The group was not satisfied with their record company, but Jet Records wouldn't let them out of their contract. Their European tours with Boston and John Miles and their British tour with Violinski led to interest from other major labels and the band almost signed to RCA before they finally decided to split in 1980.

Japanese rock audiences always seemed to have a thing for melodic rock radio bands from the U.S. – Mr. Big, Ratt, and Cheap Trick reigned supreme in the land of the rising sun at various points. Another you could add to the list was Night Ranger. When the band came out of retirement and decided to fire up their engines once more, Japanese dates were set in support of their 1997 release, Neverland…

Toto XX: 1977-1997 is hardly the definitive collection that its title suggests. Essentially, this is a Toto reunion album, featuring nine new studio cuts and four live tracks, including a version of "Africa."…

One of Heavy Paradise's favorite bands is without any doubt NIVA. Tony Niva (Lion's Share) is back with a brand record with the title "Atmospherical". For me, Niva is one of today's best shouter out there with a vocal range that covers from AOR to Melodic Metal and"Magnitude", that was released in 2014. was and still is a damn fine piece of Melodic Hard Rock heaven and it's among my personal favorite albums over the last decade.

Over the course of their first three late-'70s albums, Foreigner had firmly established themselves (along with Journey and Styx) as one of the top AOR bands of the era. But the band was still looking for that grand slam of a record that would push them to the very top of the heap. Released in 1981, 4 would be that album. In producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange – fresh off his massive success with AC/DC's Back in Black – guitarist and all-around mastermind Mick Jones found both the catalyst to achieve this and his perfect musical soulmate…