The 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time

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The 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time

Postby tater1977 » Thu May 02, 2019 3:58 am

The 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time

By Paul Elliot, Dave Ling, Jon Hotten, Sian Llewellyn

From big hitters like Journey, Boston and Foreigner to the lesser known lights of AOR,
these are the 50 albums that truly sparkle

https://www.loudersound.com/features/th ... f-all-time

Adult Oriented Rock is the smooth sound that came out of the USA and became the soundtrack to millions of lives all over the world – a sound defined by timeless anthems such as Boston’s More Than A Feeling, Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’, Survivor’s Eye Of The Tiger and Toto’s Africa, and by monumental power ballads, none bigger than Foreigner’s global smash I Want To Know What LoveIs. In this feature, Classic Rock celebrates the very best of AOR, from the golden age of the 70s and 80s.

Here we present The 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time. Included are some of the biggest-selling records in the history of rock. We also dig deep, going beyond the hits and the household names to shine a light on the cult classics and lost heroes from this golden age. In AOR, as in life, there are winners and losers; for every fairy tale, a thousand hard-luck stories.

Some of the greatest AOR albums were made by artists who never made it big, among them Diving For Pearls, New England, Balance, Giant, White Sister, Valentine and Le Roux. And two now legendary albums were made by a singer who couldn’t get arrested when he was a rock artist, and failed an audition for Black Sabbath before reinventing himself as a soul star – the one and only Michael Bolton.

Equally, while AOR is a quintessentially American art form, a handful of Brits got in on the act, most notably Mick Jones, who founded Foreigner as an expat in New York City in 1977. One of the great AOR voices is Lancashire-born John Waite. And placed high in this Top 50 are albums by British acts FM, Strangeways (fronted by American singer Terry Brock) and Dare (featuring future Professor Brian Cox on keyboards!).

Likewise, while many of the leading American bands live on – including Journey, Boston and Toto – the rebirth of AOR in the new millennium has come from Europe. At its forefront are Scandinavian groups such as Eclipse and H.e.a,t., and the Italian-based record label Frontiers – named after a classic Journey album.

After the lean years of the late 90s, melodic rock rose again, and new albums of real quality are being made, showing that you can’t keep a good genre down for long. In the words that Steve Perry first sang back in 1981: ‘Don’t stop believin’, hold on to that feeling…’

Here, then, are the 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time, each with a "Must have" song selection we've compiled into a Spotify playlist that appears at the end of the feature.

- read full article

15. Street Talk - Steve Perry
8. Raised On Radio - Journey
5. Frontiers - Journey
1. Journey - Escape
Perry's good natured bonhomie & the world’s most charmin smile,knocked fans off their feet. Sportin a black tux,gigs came alive as he swished around the stage thrillin audiences w/ charisma that instantly burnt the oxygen right out of the venue.TR.com
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Re: The 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time

Postby Gideon » Thu May 02, 2019 4:26 am

Oh fuck, Neal wasn’t mentioned in the Journey descriptions, but Perry and Cain were.

Can’t wait to see what conspiracy theory he launches about this! :lol:
'Nothing was bigger for Journey than 1981’s “Escape” album. “I have to attribute that to Jonathan coming in and joining the writing team,” Steve Perry (Feb 2012).'
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Re: The 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time

Postby tater1977 » Thu May 02, 2019 4:41 am

Gideon wrote:Oh fuck, Neal wasn’t mentioned in the Journey descriptions, but Perry and Cain were.

Can’t wait to see what conspiracy theory he launches about this! :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Perry's good natured bonhomie & the world’s most charmin smile,knocked fans off their feet. Sportin a black tux,gigs came alive as he swished around the stage thrillin audiences w/ charisma that instantly burnt the oxygen right out of the venue.TR.com
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Re: The 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time

Postby JourneyHard » Thu May 02, 2019 4:00 pm

I love how everybody hates Back Talk. That songs is perfect for Frontiers. With all the ballads, they needed this song to balance things out. The drums stand out on this track. Is that why everybody hates it? Fire the drummer and just have quiet keyboards! :D
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Re: The 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time

Postby Journey/Survivor » Fri May 03, 2019 1:58 pm

I love "Back Talk" and am very happy that it was on Frontiers. I'm glad that they put BT on the album instead of OTY or ATL since it made the album Rock more.
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Re: The 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time

Postby scarab » Sat May 04, 2019 12:32 am

Back in the day I liked Back Talk mainly to show my metal friends that Journey could rock, along with Edge of the Blade, which was much more melodic. It's crazy Cain had a writing credit in the song with all the ballads he wrote.

Now its a song i always skip on Frontiers, the very cheesy lyrics and Perry screaming, not for me anymore.

Ask the Lonely would have fit so much better in the slot. It rocks, and its melodic.


But I still love Steve Smith's drums on this and glad he got a rare writing credit. It should have been an instrumental.
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Re: The 50 Greatest AOR Albums Of All Time

Postby The_Noble_Cause » Sat May 04, 2019 3:10 am

scarab wrote:Back in the day I liked Back Talk mainly to show my metal friends that Journey could rock, along with Edge of the Blade, which was much more melodic. It's crazy Cain had a writing credit in the song with all the ballads he wrote.

Now its a song i always skip on Frontiers, the very cheesy lyrics and Perry screaming, not for me anymore.

Ask the Lonely would have fit so much better in the slot. It rocks, and its melodic.


But I still love Steve Smith's drums on this and glad he got a rare writing credit. It should have been an instrumental.


I'm of the opinion that they should have included Back Talk, OTY, ATL, All That Really Matters and Only Solutions.
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