The official Frontiers Softcock Shit thread

[Lowdz]

Oh, and one last one.

Winter Rose - I'll Never Fall in Love Again

I'm pretty sure its not Canada Day again... lol
Solid choices though.
Hard to recommend something like Giant because there isn't much like Giant. Dan Huff rules.
And I think there's only me n Chad who ever heard of Big House... (though I'm sure Brent wll prove me wrong lol)
I'll throw Leverage- Tides into the mix and Brother Firetribe's False Metal albums.
W.E.T.s first album. Eclipse's Are You Ready To Rock
And there's Coney Hatch Best of called Best Of Three that's worth getting.
The true AOR stuff like Giant isn't really my forte tbh. Brent might be your man

edit Hmm made that spound like i dont like Giant which is far from the truth. I meant its not my usual type of stuff. Giant are awesome.

[jjrock88]

Coney Hatch is a fantastic band; that best of 3 is a great release.  I know they recently released a new album, but haven't checked it out yet.

And Wolf, it's looking good for that new Primal Fear album.  Looking forward to picking that up along with the new Silent Force.

[bl5150]

Oh, and one last one.

Winter Rose - I'll Never Fall in Love Again

I'm pretty sure its not Canada Day again... lol
Solid choices though.
Hard to recommend something like Giant because there isn't much like Giant. Dan Huff rules.
And I think there's only me n Chad who ever heard of Big House... (though I'm sure Brent wll prove me wrong lol)
I'll throw Leverage- Tides into the mix and Brother Firetribe's False Metal albums.
W.E.T.s first album. Eclipse's Are You Ready To Rock
And there's Coney Hatch Best of called Best Of Three that's worth getting.
The true AOR stuff like Giant isn't really my forte tbh. Brent might be your man

edit Hmm made that spound like i dont like Giant which is far from the truth. I meant its not my usual type of stuff. Giant are awesome.

Big House...............let's check my iTunes.




It's actually a shame I have it because if I move that out of the way the albums either side of it make a good pair   

I agree with the love for Giant - I can't see LOTR being outside my top 20 when it comes time to do a proper list.  There really isn't too much that's as high quality as Giant in that sphere , as lowdz said.   I did reference an album by Beckett earlier in this thread with some links  - one of the few albums outside of Giant where Dann is prominent on guitar.   Too soft for some here which is understandable but I like it and Dann plays some great tasteful solos as usual.

I don't find it easy giving recommendations as I almost always get it wrong - I always have the stuff that people will like but I invariably choose the wrong ones when asked to.     Aside from Chad (where I can reference last.fm and give the odd reco) and lowdz  I haven't been around here long enough to really have a good feel for what everyone likes , already knows etc........ so forgive me if I mention some obvious stuff.

Without getting too obscure - sticking to stuff that many of us diehards would  know but the general public would not .....................let's assume Big Hath likes accessible rock with some reasonably prominent guitars ,  the next logical step from Hardline would perhaps be to bands like.

Tyketto:  Don't Come Easy and the more stripped back  Strength In Numbers



Forever Young  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOb7133OHyk

Wings  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eaunxJzJnw



Strength In Numbers  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC9QBixzphk

Rescue Me  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IilqLlinMI

Gotthard: Lipservice



Dream On  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F97aPHdMf4

Anytime Anywhere  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yujqC4B8b1g

Unruly Child: s/t: 



Who Cries Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-o-6tHwM8I     Love Mark Free...Who cries nooooooooooooooow 

When love Is Gone  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w-V5CT5VSo



and perhaps even something like Shadow King.   It tends to be a love/hate one (I love it) for those that are aware of it ..........Lou Gramm belting it out harder than he did in Foreigner with Vivian Campbell on guitar.




Once Upon A Time  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIjhOI1ZC90
What Would It Take  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIYIJS-x8TQ  ..................and the awesome balllad......
Russia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YagVqNuQkJQ


Umm.........a couple more softer ones.  If you like Hardline I reckon Riverdogs is a gimme -  Vivian Campbell again with Rob Lamothe on vox (very similar to Gioeli).   Nice to hear Viv playing a  bit more restrained than in Dio but much more room to shine than in Def Leppard.  An AOR classic.



Whisper  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZfZN5FnoDs
Water From The Moon  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SirBGd7uhGU


I was just listening to this the other day too.........one of many,many lighter rock albums I like......and also Canadian 

Stranded: Long Way From Heaven.



Fight On  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSSCwra0MF0
Tonight Can Last Forever  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_myGHgwXs7g






Hopefully there's something there you like Big Hath.   Check out the album listening thread too - I try to post at least a couple of lost classics there each day .

By the way if you want an mp3 for the Jap bonus track from the debut Hardline (Love Leads The Way) send me a PM and I'll email you.  It's probably my equal favourite song on the album.


For Chad.................if you like stuff like Sass Jordan and interested to try something else with ballsy female vox and a groove try some Maragold - Greg Howe on guitar too doesn't hurt.



Evergreen Is Golder  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2HmV2lR9KM



And a further contribution to the theme of Canadian excellence - I posted Killer Dwarfs: Dirty Weapons just yesterday and really love that album. 


Dirty Weappns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY-HGhnyfXw
All That We Dream:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW-deR7TPsA
Nothin Gets Nothin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEgsjhHlaZA


Seeing as we're all patriotic how about some Aussie cock rock 

Roxus: Rock'n'Roll Nights   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdT21MusGhU



It's amazing how many great albums were released early 90's just as everything imploded.


Phew..........

[wolfking]

Looks like you guys got everything covered.

Big Hath, that list you just acquired is an amazing selection of music.  Let us know what you think.

[jingle.boy]

I remember the Killer Dwarfs... didn't leave much of an impression on me back in the day.  Might have to revist them.  Gotta bookmark that post there Brent (plus I still have to listen in on all the tunes you PM'd me).

It's my goal in life to find something in my Melodic/Glam library that you don't have!  Doubt it though.  If you have Big House, then you likely have Sven Gali and Slik Toxik.  Actually, I could go DEEP into the archives and pull out a band that I got a demo cassette from at a bar in the late 80s that I kept, and digitized the songs.  I'd shart myself if you've heard of them.

But, other than that, I'm bound and determined to know something that you don't already.

[bl5150]

   ....................I doubt I have your demo cassette mate.    I do have Sven Gali and Slik Toxik (the 1st one anyway) -   I'd rate both albums as good but not much more.   I remember the fuss over Sven Gali being the next Skid Row at the time but they're not in that ballpark IMO.......although with Skid Row these days 


I'm going to shut up for a while after this post but one more that I posted the other day in the album listening thread is probably also up the right alley

Snakes In Paradise: Garden of Eden









Hard Day Long  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnhBPkjEtN4

Don't let Love Turn to Hate  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acm845JAGP4  (not the best Youtube sound there)


Love that guy's voice and he's just done an album with Kerslake which I need to check out.

[jingle.boy]

  ....................I doubt I have your demo cassette mate.   

Well, after doing a quick google, I found a couple things on them, and they did actually record and release an album... that was engineered by none other than Harry Hess.

Anyway, I'm sure we've given Mr. Hath more than enough to listen to for the next couple of days at least!

[NotePad]

Being an AOR record or band (Place Vendome) doesn't really sound like a positive. Maybe the music is good, but hearing something labeled as AOR makes it sound like something a Simon Cowell-type guy would produce, where none of the musicians playing the material had any creative input. Although the first Place Vendom record was written by Dennis Ward and the guy from Stratovarius, so that seems a little out of the ordinary and something a bit worthwhile to pay attention to. Like i said, i like Streets of Blood.

But yea, being labeled AoR doesn't sound like a positive. And out of curiosity, does Place Vendome even get any airplay? Here is Canada/USA they obviously don't. But somewhere else, like Europe? Because isn't the whole point of AoR to be very commercially accessible?

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

If the music is good, does it really matter who writes it?

[bl5150]

If the music is good, does it really matter who writes it?

This.


I can understand some of the indifference to some of the Frontiers project bands as they do tend to sound a bit same-ish but Place Vendome isn't one of them.

As far as PV go nobody from Stratovarius had anything to do with the first album ............and it's Streets of Fire dude, Streets of Fire 

Not much gets called AOR by anybody these days except by diehards to whom it makes no difference.   And like many of these labels it means different things to different people.   Personally I tend to associate AOR more with softer , more mature bands (less of the rock and roll attitude) like Toto, Journey , Giant etc....... rather than bands I saw called AOR earlier in the thread (Treat, Gotthard).  In the end it's just semantics but that's the way it is in my skull.

I'd be surprised if Place vendome had airplay on anything but a dedicated melodic rock station on internet or community radio.  Wish I could run a little radio show - got close to it once but never got there.   The audience could probably fit in a phone box - maybe that's why .  I get my DJ demons out of my system by posting in the album thread

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Yeah, the term "AOR" originally meant "album-oriented rock", essentially meaning they were focused on making albums, not just hit singles. Nowadays the term seems to denote a specific sound, as well. That's not necessarily a problem, but it does make explaining this kind of thing difficult.

[Big Hath]

whew, that is a heckuva list I have now.  Some quick notes:

Tyketto - yeah, this is good stuff!  Every song was killer.
Gotthard - sounds good, but I found my mind wandering off a bit.  Didn't quite hold my attention as well.
Unruly Child - another awesome entry.  Great voice.
Shadow King - this was great as well.
On the "softer" stuff, I really liked Riverdogs, more so than Stranded, which was a little too soft I guess.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Which Gotthard album did you get?

[Big Hath]

I was just commenting on the YT links from above, so two songs from Lipservice.

[Lowdz]

I was just commenting on the YT links from above, so two songs from Lipservice.

I prefer the one after, Domino Effect. Chad Belcher stay away!!!!

[wolfking]

Roxus: Rock'n'Roll Nights   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdT21MusGhU

Missed this.  This album is amazing, and this is probably the best song on it along with First Break of the Heart.  Shame these guys only made one album.  Molly Meldrum I remember really liked them.

[bl5150]

Roxus: Rock'n'Roll Nights   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdT21MusGhU

Missed this.  This album is amazing, and this is probably the best song on it along with First Break of the Heart.  Shame these guys only made one album.  Molly Meldrum I remember really liked them.

He liked them enough to sign them to his own label  - the short lived Melodian label he set up with Gudinski from Mushroom.  So Roxus had the honour of being label mates with Peter Andre   

You're right about it being a shame they only did one album.   Having said that I do have a whole CD of rare and unreleased material somewhere here that I scored from someone associated with the band.  Two or three album quality songs (pre-album singles from the 80's), a B-side or two , another 7 or 8 demos recorded in the USA after the album (I recognised a number of the songs so he didn't write them)  etc..... they're more Juno demos than the band Roxus.      It's good stuff for a fan without being great - certainly better than the steaming turd of a solo album Juno put out later - I got it for $3 in a bargain bin and still got shafted.

[bl5150]

One to keep an eye on.............release date isn't far away for KXM project (George Lynch, Doug Pinnick and Ray Luzier)

[BlobVanDam]

I'm going to shut up for a while after this post but one more that I posted the other day in the album listening thread is probably also up the right alley

Snakes In Paradise: Garden of Eden









Hard Day Long  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnhBPkjEtN4

Don't let Love Turn to Hate  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acm845JAGP4  (not the best Youtube sound there)


Love that guy's voice and he's just done an album with Kerslake which I need to check out.

Ooh, I liked those. Gonna have to grab this one.

Glad we can go back to agreeing on music for a moment.

[bl5150]

I was just commenting on the YT links from above, so two songs from Lipservice.

I prefer the one after, Domino Effect. Chad Belcher stay away!!!!

After having Domino Effect for comparison, it seemed to me like the production on Lipservice didn't do it justice.    I would listen to Domino Effect the most of the two , partly for that reason.   I'm not a big one for live DVDs but the Lipservice songs sound HEAPS better on the Live In Switzerland DVD which is pretty much perfect....sounds awesome through a good stereo.

Here's an example

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O1RWdYLkHU


I chose Lipservice for my example as that seems to be the most popular in my experience.   Gotthard went through a bit of a cycle in heaviness -  started heavy , went more AOR and then came back harder around Lipservice/Domino Effect.

Personally I play the most from their heavier albums and dislike a lot of their output around Homerun/Open etc...........so if I had to choose a fave album it would likely be one of the debut ,Domino Effect or "G" (which has an amazing production).

I wouldn't write off Gotthard without listening to that stuff.

Another track of theirs (from "G") that sounds amazing through a big set of speakers is In The Name

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm-GVOTcdtE

One from the debut..........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC-hvlZPQso

[wolfking]

Roxus: Rock'n'Roll Nights   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdT21MusGhU

Missed this.  This album is amazing, and this is probably the best song on it along with First Break of the Heart.  Shame these guys only made one album.  Molly Meldrum I remember really liked them.

He liked them enough to sign them to his own label  - the short lived Melodian label he set up with Gudinski from Mushroom.  So Roxus had the honour of being label mates with Peter Andre   

You're right about it being a shame they only did one album.   Having said that I do have a whole CD of rare and unreleased material somewhere here that I scored from someone associated with the band.  Two or three album quality songs (pre-album singles from the 80's), a B-side or two , another 7 or 8 demos recorded in the USA after the album (I recognised a number of the songs so he didn't write them)  etc..... they're more Juno demos than the band Roxus.      It's good stuff for a fan without being great - certainly better than the steaming turd of a solo album Juno put out later - I got it for $3 in a bargain bin and still got shafted.

Your music knowledge good sir is incredible.  I knew Molly liked them but didn't know that was the reason.    Still, I guess being born in 1984 and remembering Molly pimping them on Hey Hey it's Saturday is still a good effort from me. 

[bl5150]

Thank you sir - I don't want to make this  the Mutual Admiration Society but I think you do a pretty amazing job with the 80's/90's stuff given I have ten years on you and still learning.     To be honest I have been seriously impressed at your knowledge and that of Chad, lowdz and others.

I  think it's very cool that we have so many here (in this thread particularly) with such a huge breadth of taste and knowledge -  everything from AOR to seriously heavy metal is well and truly covered.     Funnily enough I often get told that I have such narrow taste in music    - apparently everything from Toto to Symphony X isn't broad enough . I really don't go for the lighter prog rock or heavy, heavy death stuff but apart from that if it has guitars and a hook I'm interested.

[wolfking]

I never would have imagined that when I started this thread it would still be going like this, amazing stuff everyone.

Brent, I understand what you are saying with people saying to broaden your music tastes.  I've had that too.  What would they know anyway.

[wolfking]

Vanishing Point new album making of video;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFQDm50kp_Q

This is sounding seriously amazing.

[bl5150]

This one's for you Chad 

I was playing a bit of Dokken yesterday and nearby in the alphabetical listing was this.......




If I was a roulette player this would've been one I'd keep up my sleeve.

Canadian 
Obscure  band name to confuse everyone 
Some of your favourite artists playing/singing on it 
Chances are you've never heard it 


So....................Doctor Rock (vox) ain't much of a singer unfortunately - although much better on some tracks than others - and "The Wild Bunch" mostly make up for it on the best tracks.  I'll give you five seconds after the guitars kick in to guess who "The Wild Bunch" are ...................if not that then the backing vocals are a dead giveaway.

And if you've heard it then I've just wasted a big build up    Unfortunately I can't find the best couple of tracks online - the second below is IMO better than the first which is one of the weaker tracks.....really shite Youtube sound too..sorry.

Live By The Sword https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdr-lAx12o0
Doomsday Love Song  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEhttgFbx30

It's not an all time fave album of mine and I only play 2 or 3 tracks (one of which is Doomsday Love Song) with any regularity but , given who's involved, I reckon you might want it. Although the quality of the tracks and vocals varies quite a bit it's better than " The Wild Bunch" did on their weakest albums.......and unfortunately the best track - where the cover for the singer is best and Mr Wild Guitar does a nice heavy riff -  (Eye Of The Hurricane) ain't  on Youtube.   If you want the best few  tracks and can't be stuffed forking out for the CD 2nd hand then let me know and I'll try and get some mp3s to you.  It doesn't appear to be on last.fm either.

[wolfking]

How many albums do you own?

[bl5150]

How many albums do you own?

Not that many compared to others I've come across - if I include rarities/demos and bits and pieces we'd be around 3000.  The difference with me maybe is they're almost all melodic rock/metal.

I still need to go through my cassettes to see if there's any I haven't got on CD yet...haven't counted those.  Unfortunately I grew up in the era of cassettes and almost all the music I bought in my teens was in that form and I've had to go out a re-buy a whole stack of stuff on CD or digital.

[wolfking]

That's impressive.  I'm at around 2,250, but most of that is actually more into the metal side of things. 

[jingle.boy]

3000 is a shit load man.  My iTunes library states 1231, but that includes every album that I only have a track or two from (which probably has to be a couple hundred tunes).  I doubt I even have 1000 full albums.  Now, in this age of Spotify, rdio, Grooveshark etc... I've certainly listened to a few hundred more.  But still.... 3000 is a ton.

[BlobVanDam]

Looks like I have just shy of 1000 albums, which is more than I expected, given that I don't often actively explore new music like you guys do. I haven't even found a lot of new stuff on Spotify yet, although I've got several albums added I've been meaning to check out.

[Lowdz]

That's impressive.  I'm at around 2,250, but most of that is actually more into the metal side of things.

I was 1500 about a decade ago (some will be duplicates on vinyl/cassette/cd) but my buying habits changed even before the kids came along so I guess I may be somewhere near 2000? Most of my new listening is done on Spotify and YOutube, but if I really like something and play it alot I will still buy it, just don't tell the other half 

Most of my listening these days is done in the car though, so its generally older stuff, and newer stuff has less chance to grab me as I only listen to that on the laptop or when washing up.

[bl5150]

My "newer stuff" is usually older stuff anyway , if you know what I mean?  With the odd exception nothing coming out these days comes close to what I was discovering in the 80's and early 90's as melodic rock/metal and prog metal were coming along in leaps and bounds.  As an example Place Vendome is the "odd exception" but the vast majority of the Frontiers stuff , while decent enough , is just cookie cutter stuff really.  Even with my favourite artists ................I worship JSS but when I heard the first track off the latest W.E.T. disc I thought immediately......"sheesh  - if he sings one more song about "don't walk away tonight baybee blah blah"    Combine that with the ubiquitous Martensson sound and , aside from a couple of tracks I found it a big yawn.  To say that about Soto is like blasphemy for me but that's the way it is.

I feel fortunate to have been around buying CDs like Images and Words, Mindcrime, Gutter Ballet, .. as they came out - I don't feel a fraction of that excitement about stuff coming out now.  Dream Theater is about the only one that keeps me really anticipating a new release and is , in fact, one of only 2 or 3 new releases I went to the trouble of buying on CD last year.  All the rest (new releases) have been purchased as mp3...............I like the music but not enough to worry about that extra bit of sound quality, booklets etc.. like I used to.

I've recently updated with a lot of more recent prog metal in one big go (and I like a lot of it) , but I really feel that the chances of me finding something brilliant that I missed (according to my tastes) are far greater if I spend my limited time looking backwards.

Prog rock is possibly different but that's really not my thing for the most part.

[BlobVanDam]

bl5150, I'm the same way with finding music. I have much more success finding music I like if I explore older stuff rather than newer stuff. Not that I don't still find plenty of new releases I like, but I have a much higher success rate with older stuff.
I enjoy the melodic rock, and I'm glad Frontiers is around to keep it going for both new and old artists, but they are churning out a high percentage of samey sounding crap that all sounds like it was written by the same guy, and recorded in the same session, just with different singers over the top. It's worth it for the rare gems, but there's a lot of mediocre stuff to sift through.

[jjrock88]

I'm in the same boat. The vast majority of what I listen to is 70s and 80s metal/rock. When I do listen to a "newer" band, they more then likely will have that old school sound.

[Lowdz]

bl5150, I'm the same way with finding music. I have much more success finding music I like if I explore older stuff rather than newer stuff. Not that I don't still find plenty of new releases I like, but I have a much higher success rate with older stuff.
I enjoy the melodic rock, and I'm glad Frontiers is around to keep it going for both new and old artists, but they are churning out a high percentage of samey sounding crap that all sounds like it was written by the same guy, and recorded in the same session, just with different singers over the top. It's worth it for the rare gems, but there's a lot of mediocre stuff to sift through.

Yeah, my feelings too. Back in the day most bands had an identity. Now its all project this, project that, cookie cutter stuff. There's just too much music being made by too few artists at Frontiers. And in the rest of the world there's just too much music being made full stop.

With regard to the stuff that gets reissued from back in the day, there's generally a good reason it didn't make it first time round. I certainly think the cream rose to the top back in the late 80s early 90s, certainly in regard to being signed/having albums released.
I'm open to being proved wrong though.