Here it is then, the long-awaited debut record of New York's latest AOR sensation, Band Central Station (BCS). The first CD of the band contains 12 tracks and currently the band is looking for a European recordlabel to release the CD that is now only available as mp3 CD through the well-known mp3.com website. Musically the band is performing pure 80s AOR/Arena rock from a very high quality. The CD starts with the fantastic pure Classic 80s uptempo AOR rocker "I can't wait" (speaking of a catchy sound!). This song is already proving that this band will easily find their way into the hands of most AOR fans. The BOSTON typed harmonyvocals and the catchy choruses of bands like NIGHT RANGER and AVIATOR can be heard in the songs of the band.

Other tracks that can not be missed by a fan of 80s AOR are "Here comes love again" (fantastic midtempo AOR a la BOSTON), "When" (huge harmonies, great acoustic AOR ballad), "You want it, you got it" (this is how NIGHT RANGER sounded back in the early 80s), "You never said goodbye" (superb AOR ballad, sounds like a cross between BOSTON, DAMN YANKEES and REO SPEEDWAGON), "Hitman" (lovely semi AOR ballad) and closing track "I found love" (great uptempo AOR like 80s NIGHT RANGER again). Besides the pure 80s AOR I just mentioned, the CD also features a couple of Southern Rock typed melodic rockers (a la DUKE JUPITER/38 SPECIAL) such as "Judgement day", "What's your name" and "Dangerous". Nothing stands in my way to give these guys a huge rating. I think a European label will pick it up very soon. Check out their site at: http://www.mp3.com/BCS1

Rating: 9/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

Leader of this band is multi-instrumentalist Andrew Scott, who plays almost everything on the band's debut record. There are 9 songs on the album and although the production is not as good as the label releases, still this independent record has some nice melodic rock on offer. The best songs are the 80s typed melodic AOR rockers "Run away", "Morning light", "Tracks of pain" and "Powerless". These are good quality songs that are akin to other newcomers in this genre (PHIL VINCENT, JOE ROBINSON). If the production would be as good as the quality and also Andrew's vocals would sound a little more melodic, then this could become very interesting in the near future. In the meantime, you can check out this band at: http://www.mp3.com/mental_graffiti and e-mail at: crashscott@yahoo.com

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

VON KOENIG is based around one person called Larry Koehn who did everything on his own on the CD 'True birthright'. He comes out of Milwaukee and is satisfied with his work. First of all I must say that it really is nice to see someone performing everything on his own, and it doesn't sound bad at all secondly. On the other hand, I must add here that the sound/production quality of the CD is far from impressive, because it sounds like a demo tape from the 70s (I understand it costs a lot of money to do a proper production). Musically the CD sounds o.k., especially the first couple of songs ("The judgement" and "Where is the sun?") are nice 70s typed rockers with a URIAH HEEP typed sound. Unfortunately what follows are a lot of acoustic tingled numbers that didn't do that much for me.

Happily, the best song still has to come, namely the pure 70s rocker "It makes me smile". If there are some more of these rockers on a future record and Larry can do something about the production, I can guarantee you that we then have something to look forward to. One way or the other, check it out for yourself at: http://www.mp3.com/von_koenig and e-mail at: vonkoenig@netzero.net

Rating: 6/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

Here are two more releases by multi-instrumentalist. This guy really knows how to play his 70s influenced rock, because both CDs contain about 70 minutes of rock music. Included are instrumental and vocal tracks. The instrumental songs are better as the vocals of Rick are not so sensational. My favourite tracks are "Guitarby's sandwich", "Divine wind", "Mood swings", "Hypnotic neurotic" and "Prescription for ignorance". The vocal tracks on 'Mind control Inc' are better than the ones on the other CD. This is due to the fact that songs like "Little zombies", "Looking all the time" and The stranger" are well performed and good 70s typed uptempo rockers. This is surely a must for guitarfreaks. E-mail Rick at: Hobbelshnimp@hotmail.com

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

'Sould' out' is the new CD of Greg Guidry, who in the early 80s released a solo LP (re-issued on CD by Long Island Records in the mid 90s). This CD continues the style created on his debut album, so again we get to hear very soft westcoast tingled popmusic. Dann Huff is one of the guitarists to appear on Greg's new CD. Anyway, for a fan of Greg's debut, this new album will be a welcome to their supply.

Fans of 80s tingled westcoast pop a la ZAPPACOSTA, PAUL JANZ and the first TIM FEEHAN record will enjoy songs like "Ball and chain" and "Number one" a lot. These two tracks are also the best tracks, both being the most AOR orientated in contrary to the other 9 songs that are definitely too Pop for the average AOR fan. Nevertheless, Greg's vocals still sound crystal clear and so is the production. The only thing is that the songs are a bit too soft for most AOR fans. Check out Greg's record at: http://www.gregguidry.com and e-mail at: gregguidry@netzero.net

Rating: 7/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

FIRESTORM is an Austrian Melodic Rock outfit. They have supported some well-known acts such as RONNIE JAMES DIO and NENA (!) in their homeland. The CD 'VR-1' contains some nicely produced melodic hardrock that reminds me a lot of the 80s band V2 from Germany. After the intro, we get to hear a good track right from the start, namely the uptempo melodic rocker "Beyond stormwind". This style is continued throughout the rest of the CD and so this is a really nice record from Austria, My favourite tracks are "Thinking of you" (calmer melodic ballad), "Sunset killer" (uptempo rocker), "All over you" (midtempo melodic rocker) and "Castle sunrise" (pretty good chorus). A fine release, more info at: http://www.thefirestorm.com and e-mail at: firestorm@aon.at

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

This band from Ohio is gaining a lot of popularity in the underground scene. They won a contest held by the JENNY JONES SHOW (some sort of talk show, also broadcasted here in Europe) and the band performed as support act for bands like STYX, RATT, CRUE, NAZARETH, JACKYL and many others. The band's latest CD is called 'Nice to meet you' and the 8 included tracks are a mixture of 80s melodic hard rock and 90s typed heavy rock/metal. The best songs are "Can't get you out of my head" (semi melodic rocker), "Shine on" (semi rocker) and "Nice to meet you" (slow melodic hardrock). Although I think
the sound is a bit too 90s metal based, I still heard some interesting songs by this American band. Check them out for yourself at: http://www.peacetreemusic.com and e-mail at: peacetree@compuserve.com

Rating: 6,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

Another German band is making it to our site. This YURI (named after guitarplayer Yuri Mulders) comes out of Duisburg and their debut CD starts very well with the excellent uptempo melodic AOR rocker "One and only love". This superb first track is a fun catchy pure 80s typed song that can easily be compared to the first DANGER DANGER, BATON ROUGE and BON JOVI (circa 1987). There isn't a better way to start off a CD, but unfortunately the rest of the record isn't that good.

Nevertheless, still this a pretty nice melodic rock album with a lot of acoustic guitars, not unlike BONFIRE, BON JOVI and GOTTHARD on their calmer albums. Besides the fantastic opening song, other favourite tracks of mine are "Goin' down" (midtempo melodic poprocker), "That's why I love you" (semi ballad), "It's me" (uptempo rocker like BON JOVI sounds nowadays) and the closing track "Won't be the same again" (acoustic ballad). This sure isn't a bad record at all and is definitely interesting to check out if you're into bands like GOTTHARD, BONFIRE, and HOTWIRE…

On the other hand, it could have been much better as the first song of the CD is such an incredible fun melodic rocker, and with more songs in this style on a future album it will become even better. Anyway, check out the band for yourself at: http://www.yuri-stuff.com and e-mail them at: me@yuri-stuff.com

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

The project 24K is back with their second release on Z RECORDS. The band consists of PHIL NARO on vocals, Mladen (VON GROOVE) on guitars, keys and harp, drummer Roger Banks, bassist Stan Miczek and keyboardplayer John Rogers. Musically, 'Bulletproof' continues the style created on the band's first album 'Pure'. So we get to hear a mixture of influences from the 70s, 80s and 90s. The modern typed songs such as "Stone heart", "Pennsylvania" and the faster rockers "Consider yourself lucky" and "Bulletproof" are the songs that didn't do much for me. On the other hand, the melodic songs, such as the two fantastic semi ballads "Anything for you" and "Put the blame on me" are definitely interesting to hear.

These last two mentioned songs remind me of DAMN YANKEES, partly due to the wonderful harmonyvocals. Also very good are the 80s typed fun uptempo melodic rocker "Get it while you can" (CONEY HATCH style), the 70s typed uptempo melodic hardrocksong "Last time I fall in love" (catchy sound and chorus a la THIN LIZZY) and the semi melodic rockers "2000 years" and "Bad day". The only song I haven't mentioned yet is the first track "Black and blue" which is a slow early 70s influenced rock song that even sounds a bit like ENUFF'Z'NUFF. A nice little record that will attract various of rockfans, due to the different influences wrapped into 24K's music. It's a total must if you liked the recent VON GROOVE CD ('Drivin' off the edge…').

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

The very first album of the UK Hard Rock band TYGERS OF PAN TANG was released back in 1980. The following 3 albums were released within two years from the band's debut, so I guess you can say here that in the early 80s bands were really focusing on getting as many music out there to the public as possible. Now Edgy Records, a sub division of Neat Metal, has re-issued the first 4 albums of T.O.P.T. on CD and added a bunch of bonustracks to each re-issue. Especially these bonustracks are making these re-issues very interesting, because they can not be found on the original pressings or on the re-issues by MCA back in 1992 in Japan, so another reason for the T.O.P.T. fan to buy these re-issues. The first album was the only record of the band that featured the original lead singer, Jess Cox, now owner of Neat Metal Records.

Musically it was typical early 80s N.W.O.B.M., which means uptempo songs with a lot of heavy guitars and screaming vocals. On the other hand, the songs of T.O.P.T. sounded a lot more melodic than most other bands and the whole sound of the band on record could be labelled as pure Hard Rock. If you liked one song, then you would love the whole record, as all the original 10 songs on the album are in the same uptempo hard rock style. The album ended up high in the national UK Charts, so the band had built up a huge reputation during the early 80s. Anyway, I don't think this is the best record of T.O.P.T., but on the other hand, this album is the only album with one specific sound, the early 80s Hard Rock sound. The bonustracks added to this re-issue are 8 unreleased songs recorded around their debut with the exception of the original version of the band's first single "Don't touch me there". This re-issue is a total must for fans of the early T.O.P.T.

Rating: 7,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

Just 6 months later T.O.P.T. released the 2nd album entitled 'Spellbound'. The album introduced a new singer, Jon Deverill who replaced original singer Jess Cox. The difference could clearly be heard, as Jon's voice sounded very melodic. Although the start was hard rock/metalish with heavy rockers such as "Gangland" and "Minotaur" (both akin to RIOT), the rest of the album sounded very melodic. The songs "Mirror" (good melodic rockballad), "Silver and gold" (good uptempo melodic rocker), "The story so far" (fantastic uptempo melodic rocker a la THIN LIZZY) and Don't stop by" (good uptempo melodic rocker) are showing a different side of T.O.P.T. we had not heard and this was partly due to the new vocalist.

From the 5 included bonustracks, I must mention "Don't give a damn" (good uptempo melodic rocker) and the very impressive semi melodic rockballad "It ain't easy". This second album of the band sounded quite different than their first, although the band also had some old styled Hard Rock/Metal type tunes, but overall it all sounded very melodic.

Rating: 8/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

'Crazy nights' was released 6 months after 'Spellbound' and even in the same year (1981). Musically not much has changed as also this album saw the band bringing heavy rockers a la RIOT ("Never satisfied", "Running out of time", "Raised on rock") and melodic rockers a la THIN LIZZY ("Down and out", "Lonely man", "Make a stand"). This re-issue contains only 3 bonustracks that are still worth checking out. "Paradise drive" is a very good uptempo melodic rocker, while the song "Stormlands" was an original singletrack included in the first pressing of the LP back in 1981. On the other side of that single was the fast rocker "Slip away" which is also included on this re-issue. Overall, a good release, but the band's best releases were the fifth album 'The wreck-age' and the 4th album 'The cage'.

Rating: 8/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

In 1982 T.O.P.T. released their 4th album and this time the band had switched their style into pure American orientated melodic rock. I have always loved this record of the band as it really brought some of the best the band did in the years they existed. Opener "Rendez vous" started out very well and showed that the band now had become a typical 80s melodic rockband with a radiofriendly sound. That first track, by the way, was already released by the band RPM on their classic 1982 record. The version of the Tygers was also very much in the AOR style, so after hearing that first track you could feel that there was more coming on that LP. And there was really, as the second track "Lonely at the top" is the best Tygers track ever recorded until this day. This song is an outstanding classic 80s uptempo melodic rocker with such beautiful hooklines and a very strong melodic sound. It's my favourite Tygers song for sure! "Letter from L.A." is a good rocker and definitely has a 80s L.A. Rock feeling.

Then comes another fantastic melodic rocker, namely "Paris by air". This is another track that makes this fourth album of the Tygers so interesting. Another fact I have not mentioned yet is that guitarist Fred Purser even played keyboards on the album and that was something we had not heard on the first 3 albums of the Tygers, so I guess you can say that the band was really changing their sound into a radiofriendly 'American' typed rockstyle. Strangely enough the band's biggest hit became the 60s cover "Love potion number 9" that ended up high in the national UK charts. But also the LP 'The cage' ended pretty high and became the band's best selling record ever.

Unfortunately there wasn't any success in the USA, although the band's songs could have easily made it over the ocean. Anyway, this re-issue counts 4 bonustracks and my favourites are "Love's a lie" and "What you sayin", two lovely uptempo melodic rockers. 'The cage' is a very good melodic rockalbum that even today beats most releases of the melodic rocklabels. But after you have read my review of the band's fifth album, you will know that that record was even better than this one. Nevertheless, this album contains the band's best song…

Rating: 8,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

This American band is formed around vocalist/guitarist Tammy Schatz and guitarist Rich Martel. Their CD is actually a soundtrack from the short film Lemonade. There are two songs included and they are titled "Up and out" and "Swear". Both songs are pretty much 90s poprock based, so fans of that style will like this a lot. Check the songs out at: http://www.mp3.com/TammyLynn and e-mail them at: rudetoys@hotmail.com

Rating: 6,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

RICK RAY is one of those people who live for their music. Rick is a multi-instrumentalist from Ohio and 'Abnormal road' is one of the 14 CDs he has released the past couple years. And most of the CDs have a playing time of more than 70 minutes, so you can really say that Rick is a workaholic. And musically it isn't bad either, because he is a talented musician and just like his other records, also this album contains well performed instrumental and some vocal rockers. Most of the songs sound very much like the 70s progressive rockstyle. Check out Rick's music at: http://www.mp3.com/rick_ray and e-mail him at: Hobbelshnimp@hotmail.com

Rating: 7,5/10 Kleinbloesem)(Review by Gabor

This band from Las Vegas opened for bands such as GREAT WHITE, WARRANT, LOVERBOY and many others, so they are definitely an experienced band. Their CD 'N.D.E.' was released back in 1995. Musically the band is not playing anything close with AOR/Melodic Rock, because the Rock of MOCKINGBIRD is a mixture of Rock and Pop/Groovy styles. They sound a bit like the late 60s/early 70s with a British retro rock influence. The songs I liked most were "Sleeping in your garden" (nice melodic chorus) and closing track "I'll be there" (semi ballad). Songs that didn't much for me are "Something for nothing", "New thing comin'", "She'll never know" and "Rising sun" (grungy). Judge for yourself at: http://www.mp3.com/mockingbird

Rating: 6,5/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

TEA FOR TWO is a German band founded back in 1987 and '101' is their 3rd CD. The band is playing Progressive/Symphonic Rock and is clearly influenced by SAGA and RUSH. I really love the melodic chorus of the first track "Heaven (for noone else but me)", while the progressive rock of the song is reminding me of 80s SAGA. Other favourites of mine are "All too late" (progressive rockballad with a very nice guitarsound) and the melodic rocker "Torn in two" (heaviest song on the CD). There are also some Pop influenced tracks on the album such as "101" and "Last piece". Another nice song then is the soft ballad "Between the lines" which is actually a duet with female singer Ruth Sharp. More info on this Heidelberg based Progressive pop/rock band at: http://www.teafortwo.de and order their CD at: www.quixote-music.de

Rating: 7/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

ROCKAGO come out of Zweibrucken, Germany and their demo CD contains 3 original songs of the band and 5 cover tunes. Musically they play typical Hard Rock, Party Rock in the style of the old GOTTHARD and KROKUS. The covers they did include the URIAH HEEP song "Stealin' which was kind of a surprise as not many bands cover this song of that legendary Rockband. Anyway, the band's own songs are called "Ain't perfect", "Late luck" and "Abngel of the misleaded man". These are nice songs, but nothing too sensational, just your typical rock'n'roll… Check out the band at: http://www.mp3.com/rockago and e-mail at: kontakt@rockago.de

Rating: 7/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

XPLOSIVE are a German band and their 4-track CD features 2 covers and 2 originals. Although the band has two guitarists in their line-up, the music is not really heavy as both of their own songs ("The sweetest thing" and "Mr. Schmied") are very modern sounding poprockers. The production and sound quality is very good and the songs are radio-ready for the 90s, but unfortunately I don't think it is interesting for the melodic rockfan.

Personally I think they covered "Hang on sloopy" and "American pie" very well as both songs now sound like nice melodic poprockers. Fans of modern sounding pop/rock might want to check out this German band at: http://www.xplosive-rocks.de and e-mail at: riedl@true-sound-records.de or andreas.ulrich@xplosive-rocks.de

Rating: 7/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

This is a band from Austria and their demo CD includes both live and studio recorded songs. I must say that the live-recorded songs have a bad sound quality and are not really pleasant to listen to. This is a pity, as this band does sound pretty good after hearing their studio songs. A song like "As you like it" is a very good uptempo melodic rocker in the best 80s style, and the catchy chorus reminds me of GOTTHARD and WHITE LION. Most of the other songs are just nice melodic (hard) rock songs and there is a ballad on the album called "I know". Closing track of the album is the BEATLES cover "I wanna hold your hand" which is done pretty well. I hope ANYONE will put out a full-length studio record in the near future with more songs in the style of "As you like it", because then we have something to look out for. Now they have only a few interesting tracks to check out. Nevertheless, check out their site at: http://anyone.at.gs and e-mail at: anyone@aon.at

Rating: 7/10 (Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem)

This female fronted modern flavoured melodic pop/rock band are from Cardiff, Wales and remind me of Texas, Brand New Heavies, No Doubt, and Swiss band Max and their music is very enjoyable indeed.

This is a four track demo where each song has a bouncy summertime character like the excellent guitar driven 'The Way I Choose' thanks to Sue's easy going fun voice.

'In From The Cold' is my favourite song which will leave you humming alone, as does the excellent 'Give Me Some More' both songs almost have a seventies r&b vibe. Once again Sue sings like an angel, and the songs could easily head for chartsville action, but to get to the next step I feel the band need to get themselves a polished production sound as the songs here sound very live, which also goes to show that the band must be very powerful on stage.

www.thehoneytrap.co.uk or email : thehonetrap@thehoneytrap.co.uk

Rating: 6,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Riff Master General 'or Tits R us', play thrashy speed guitar metal with modern flavours. The frist track 'We Like That' reminds me of Judas Priest and Faith No More, the riffs are solid and the song is very catchy.

This is only a two track cd so it's difficult to make exact critisims of the directon R.M.G are going to take as the next track 'Bloody Vengeance (I am A Destoyer)' is very interesting and different from the first track, especially Steve Moore's almost neo-classical sounding riffs.

This song is similar to Megadeth and Metallica and Moore pours out ferocious Friedman style guitar hammering. This is the best track of the band and and an area they should explore as it indeed brings back memories of Megadeth circa 'Rust In Peace'. One point of critism to the band is next time turn up the vocal mix as it's hard to make out Andy Baxter's vocal chants which are over powered by Moore's killer shredding.

If your a fan of Megadeth then you will like this, but as I said I'm reserving awarding the band the Strutter 'Right to rock' award until I hear a full release from these guys which hope I won't have to wait to long to hear.

However, the band win the STRUTTER SMUTTER award for that great eye popping cover!!

www.riffmastergeneral.com

Rating: 6,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Finnish melodic rock band put together by Lars Eric Mattsson and Conny Lind (currently residing in Swedish AOR mob Amaze Me). Vision went on to do very well in the land of the rising sun, selling x amount of copies, this seventeen track compilation spans their career between 1992/97, where you can hear shades of Def Leppard, TNT and Harem Scarem lurking around during typical late eighties/early ninties hard rock songs such as the anthemic 'Round And Round' to the dreamy TNT inspired 'Sail Away'.

Then we get to hear two gorgeous semi AOR ballads - 'Out Of Love' and 'Till The End Of Time'. The former is the best where Lind's driving vocal harmonies sound in a similar range to ex Malmsteen vocalist Goran Edman.

'Never Set Me Free' and 'Don't Go' are your usual guitar pumping hard rockers, whilst 'Before The Dawn' is an emotive guitar instrumental featuring violin parts skillfully performed by Mattsson.

Vision had their moments of glory - this compilation is full of undiscovered treasures for those of you who like to dabble with the more obscure releases.

www.lionmusic.com

Rating: 8,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

I must have been one of the only people who couldn't get their paws into the Frederiksen/Philips album, which is now six years old! Although there was one song on that record that was a bit of a classic called 'Oh Dianne', the rest of the album just seemed somewhat tame.

AOR websites have been shooting off about this release for months, and for once we have a supergroup that lives up to the hype. E.O.F. play prime time AOR and hard rock and features Ricky Phillips, Robin McAuley, Tommy Aldridge and Marcus Nand.

The quality of the music is along the lines of Giant's 'Last Of The Runaway' album, a good referenece point seeing as Giant man Dan Huff has had a helping hand in the songwrting department which also features the magic scribblings of Mark Spiro, Jonathan Caine, Neal Schon, John Waite and Dan Reed.

Two songs that stood out for me are the blusey Dan Reed penned 'Who Is This Talkin' and the glorious AOR class of the Greg Giuffria/Mark Spiro penned 'Havana'.

The songs are very infectious and the production is top notch which kicks off with 'Read My Mind' where the band go into full cruise control complete with top roof down. This is one of the catchiest driving songs on the album and comes straight from the Mr.Big school of top rock and has some great bass pumping from Ricky Phillips

More class can be heard on the melodic 'One Man One Heart' which sounds very European, also the two lush ballads 'Kings Of Fools' and 'Forever' and the last song 'Innocent Touch' are the stuff of what good songs are made of.

So what we get is one of the best albums of this genre since The Storm's 'Eye Of The Storm', E.O.F will leave fans of wimpem in dreamy AOR heaven. Essential stuff.

Rating: 9,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

If your into Rainbow, Whitesnake and Deep Purple etc.. then this is for you. HEAVEN AND EARTH is chockablocked with superbly crafted blues orientated melodic rock songs from the glorious radio friendly 'If Only Love', the Whitesnake inspired 'Windows To The World' and 'Jade', through to the excellent 'Prisoner' (co written with Richie Blackmore), this album is one glorious slab of melodic blues based rock n roll.

Throughout this album Stuart has teamed up with various songwriters including Kelly Keeling, Jaime Kyle, Kelly Hansen, Joe Lynn Turner, Chuck Wright and Jack Ponti so as you can guess the standard is very very high.

Best songs are 'Worlds Apart', 'Away From Harm' and the afforementioned 'Windows To The World' which sounds similar to Whitesnake, Eric Clapton and Richie Sambora and is a powerful melodic ballad. There are also some delicate celtic influenced instrumentals which open and end the album that work well.

The songs sound real and bring back memories of classic rock,check out the Joe Lynn Turner penned 'Through Yor Eyes' which is totally stunning and features one of Kelly Keeling's strongest vocal part. 'Windows To The World' is a very very strong album, get it bought pronto!! Recommended.

Rating: 9,5/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Lovering are on the wimpier side of AOR, alot of their material is ballad driven AOR/pop like the soft melody driven 'I'll Give Her My Love' and the emotive 'Faded Memory'. This song is great thanks to it's simple Journey influenced catchy chorus, however despite featuring a ton load of balladry dross, Doug Martin and Brian Lovering are a master song writing team and most of the material on this disc is excellently produced and performed, that can't be knocked.

The acoustic led 'You'll Win My Love' and uptempo pop of 'Fire In My Heart' both play in a smiliar vein to Mitch Malloy and then we get to hear one of my favourite tracks, 'Don't Turn Away'. Now this song is a very catchy keyboard driven AOR gem, which is a deadringer for FM and has radio potential.

Also check out 'Feel This Way' a fantastic big, big ballad similar to Jeff Healey's "Angel's Eyes", glorious stuff. More class is perfectly performed on 'Nowhere To Run' and 'Forever' the former is a ballad which is more melodic based than the previous ballads, whilst the latter is classy AOR that will leave you humming along.

Lovering indeed have the potential to give AOR a really good name, but please next time guys please tear yoursleves away from writing wimpy love songs and concentrate instead on songs like 'Fire In My Heart', 'Forever' and 'Don't Turn Away'. Maybe then we'll have something that will truly be an AOR classic.

Rating: 8/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)

Lisa Marie Brennan is a very talented songwriter from California. She writes songs for other artists and Lisa was kind enough to send me a selection of her mp3 files and I have to say that her gifted songwriting is very professional and her songs have been expertly produced.

Her songs are based around simply acoustic pop melodies that often bare pop and country influences such as on the easy ride of 'Chasing Those Dreams'. If Britney Spears or Elkie Brooks sung this song they would have guranteed hits, it's a brilliant little song that we also get to hear in instrumental format.

One of Lisa's best songs is the very catchy'You're As Gone As The Wind', this song deserves to be a massive hit and has a guitar tone that chugs along in a similar vein to Nightranger's 'Forever All Over Again' mixed with Jaime Kyle, Jewel and Britney Spears and will leave you humming along, there's also an istrumental version of this song that works amazingly well.

The best song is though 'Here Again', a gorgeous piano led ballad that is deep and seductive, the song will send goose pimples down your spine. This I feel is where Lisa should concentrate, here she sounds like a mix of Celine Dion, Sheena Easton, Elton John, Jewel, Fiona Apple and Monica Marie, a very classy song with great lyrics.

The gentle ballad 'Down By The Water' is where the country influences really show. Lisa supplies the slide guitar whilst the vocals are handled by Bill Scull whose voice is similar to Kenny Loggins, Don Henley, Jack Jones from Southern Sons and Garth Brooks. Again there is an instrumental verison which I prefer and I have to say Lisa is a lovely guitar player who may want to concentrate on instrumental songs as well as lyrical songs in the future.

'Another Stormy Monday' is another emotive ballad that you could just imagine the Nelson brothers, Scott Sudbury or Danny Vaughn performing, great stuff that is again backed by an instrumental version.

I'm really looking forward to Lisa's debut and in the meantime you can email her direct at Lisa@saber.net or have a listen to her songs at www.mp3.com/LisaMarieBrennan

Rating: 8/10 (Review by Nicky Baldrian)