Unknown

Created between Palm Springs, California and Hilo, Hawai’i, V is the first double album from the Hawaiian-New Zealand singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ruban Nielson’s Unknown Mortal Orchestra band. Designed to play as one continuous movement and road-tested on dry California freeways, V is the definitive Unknown Mortal Orchestra car record.

Destination Unknown is the solo project of American singer Brad Henshaw on AOR Blvd Records, there´s little info about musicians from the record label but I know the songs are a mix of covers and 3 original compositions by Henshaw. The album opens with the stunning ”Rivals”, penned by Adrian Gurvitz and I know the original demo that´s a killer but this version is great too. It´s followed by ”One heart” written by Henshaw and it´s a traditional AOR song close to Benny Mardones, ”Where do we go” is a west coast/pop tune by the artist himself but it sounds like an album filler I´m afraid while ”Holding on” is reminiscent of 2 A.M. quite cool.

The Unknown was formed smack dab in the sweet spot, 1987. A mainstay on the Florida’s west coast, the truly AOR band started gaining a following with each show played which then yielded bigger and bigger gigs. They were eventually asked to play spring break gigs in Ft. Lauderdale, one of the biggest draws for college students. There was a theory behind this…The Unknown drew lots and lots of girls to their shows and the boys would follow…the band was untouchable and could play anywhere they wanted on the Florida scene. In 1989, The Unknown released their first and only album “Big Dreams”…a true gem that now fetches about $150 on ebay – but know you can get the remastered version of it for a normal price thanks to FnA Records. This album is some of the purest AOR one can find.