Top Notch Third Edition

Nordic Union, the ongoing musical collaboration between legendary Danish rock singer Ronnie Atkins (Pretty Maids) and prolific Swedish songwriter and producer Erik Martensson (Eclipse, W.E.T.), have announced their third album, "Animalistic". As has been well documented at this point, Atkins was recently given a stage four cancer diagnosis, but rather than sit at home and sulk, the legendary frontman has thrown himself into creating more music. March 2021 saw the release of his solo album, "One Shot", which was followed almost one year to the day later in March 2022 by another solo album, "Make It Count". Not satisfied with resting on his laurels, Atkins partnered up with Martensson in late 2021 and early 2022 to work on Nordic Union's third album, "Animalistic".

The name Tommy Shaw will always be synonymous with Styx, the hugely successful American pomp rock band that notched up a series of multiplatinum albums during the 70s and early 80s. After leaving Styx in 1983 he went on to carve out a solo career, resulting in a trio of well received albums before forming supergroup Damn Yankees alongside Ted Nugent and former Night Ranger songwriter Jack Blades. ‘Ambition’ was Tommy’s third solo album and is generally regarded as the best of the batch. Teaming up with British producer Terry Thomas, the former leader and creative heart of cult AOR band Charlie, and recorded in London, musical assistance was provided by a number of top notch session players.

First Signal, an ongoing melodic rock project fronted by the inimitable Harry Hess (Harem Scarem), has announced the release of their new album, “Face Your Fears” on February 17, 2022. The new record, their fifth overall, continues the tradition they've now established over the course of their discography of delivering top notch melodic rock perfectly suited for the legendary voice of Hess. For "Face Your Fears", Hess collaborated with producer Michele Guaitoli, who has produced albums by ISSA, Visions Of Atlantis, Kalidia, SheWolf, and many more. (He is also the vocalist for Visions Of Atlantis, Temperance, and ERA.) Guaitoli also plays bass and some guitars on the album in addition to overseeing production.

Houston is back with a third album in their 'Relaunch' series, the aptly titled "Relaunch III" on July 14, 2023. The basic concept behind the Relaunch albums is for Houston to shine a light on obscure, unknown AOR gems from their personal musical collections. Houston, an AOR band themselves, are true AOR connoisseurs and want to pay their respects to these legendary artists and songs. The first Relaunch album was released in 2011 and featured a cover of 'Runaway' by Dakota. The band collaborated on a video for the song with Danny MacAskill, a professional BMX rider, and his sponsor Red Bull and it became a huge success, with over 90 million views on YouTube and close to 2 million streams on Spotify, as of this writing. Much to AOR fans delight, and especially the guys in Houston, the success of the 'Runaway' cover got Dakota to reunite and record a brand new studio album.

The 3CD, Super Deluxe adds 12 tracks not included on the original release. Bonus tracks are a combination of live tracks, studio cuts and outtakes. The entire album is also available in 5.1 Surround Sound on the Blu-Ray plus additional tracks. The Allman Brothers' second album, is a mixture of chunky grooves and sophisticated textures. It showcases both Gregg Allman's and Dickey Betts' skills as songwriters…