Many Adult Contemporary Music CD are releasing every month. SO, I would hereby show you Adult Contemporary Music CD New Release ( also including Reissue) information. As "Recommended Discs of The Month" , I would highly recommend to buy several albums with my personal review. In Addition, I would also give you release information regarding other remarkable recent titles supported by one of the well-known on-line music stores "Music Boulevard"/ "CD Now" and "Amazon.com" as "Noteworthy Discs of The Month" .
Contents
<ACM Rating: (Remarks: 1 Bonus Track
"Beginnings" is added to Japanese Version.)
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(Remarks: Michael
McDonald sings P. Gabriel's hit "Don't Give Up"!)
<ACM Rating:
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RECOMMENDED
DISCS OF AUGUST 1999
<ACM Rating: If you should not, "Watching The Time Go By" featuring
Carl Wilson and Gerry Beckley will be one of your
favorite tune. And "Standing At Your Door" is also very
good for Chicago fans. Moreover, "Swept Away" written by
Mr. Lamm with Bruce Gaitsch is
the impressive duet song with Phoebe Snow, which reminds
me a little of the melody of "What's Goin' On" of Marvin
Gaye and/or "Mornin" performed by Al Jarreau, very very
good tune!! Listen Before You Buy ! Listen Before You Buy ! Tracklisting:
ROBERT
LAMM / IN MY HEAD
>
Robert Lamm, one of the
Chicago's lead vocalists has released his 3rd solo album.
The Lamm's music style is a little different from his one
shown on the Chicago albums as
Bill Champlin and Jason
Scheff did so on his solo works. By listening to this
album, you can understand why Mr. Lamm and the other
members of Chicago made the legendary unreleased
masterpiece album "Stone Of Sisyphus". As you know,
several songs recorded for the "Stone Of Sisyphus" can be
listened now on the best albums "Heart Of Chicago Volume
II" Japanese version and so on. If you like those tunes
for the "Stone Of Sisyphus" album, you will be fond of
this solo album of Mr. Lamm very much.
<ACM Rating: Listen Before You Buy ! Listen Before You Buy ! Tracklisting:
VENICE
/ SPIN ART
>
Venice beach is the beach located between Santa
Monica and Marina Delray in L.A. coast area. The name of
the group is taken from this beautiful California Beach
Area where Lennon Family, the members of the band are
living in. The sound style of the Venice is really
Westcoast one, full of beautiful harmony vocals. It is my
personal impression that their former album "Born And
Raised" was a little bit too much folky comparing with
their great live performance and their 2 Demo CDs "Garage
Demos" released between their a little bit too much
hard-edge 1st album and the aforementioned 2nd album
"Born And Raised". On this 3rd album, they fully show
their talents as the number one Westcoast Live Performing
Band. Yes, This is the real Venice's music which only can
be heard on "Garage Demos" and/or their live performances
in L.A. local clubs. Now listen to the song titled
"Garden Wall"! How about "Mary On My Mind" co-written by
Bruce Gaitsch? How's the
beautiful ballads "The Family Tree" closing this album ?
<ACM Rating: International
Order 115 North 10th Street, #3A, Fort Smith, AR
72901, USA Tracklisting:
LARRY
KLIMAS / RETRO-SPEC (T)
>
Larry Klimas, the sax player whose performances
you have listened to on many David Garfield related works
such as "Tribute To Jeff Porcaro", Luis Conte's solo
albums and so on has just released his first solo album
"Retro-Spec(t)" this summer. This is one of the best
urban contemporary Jazz albums of 1999. And for the
AOR-maniacs, "What's Goin' On" featuring Jason
Scheff on the lead vocals with Bill
Champlin and Joseph
Williams on the background vocals
Tel: 1-800-435-6185
Website: http://www.thoughtscape.com
<ACM Rating: International
Order 115 North 10th Street, #3A, Fort Smith, AR
72901, USA Tracklisting:
LARRY
JOHN McNALLY / DANDELION SOUL
>
Larry John McNally,
known for his 1981 masterpiece 1st solo album and/or his
songwriting works performed by big names such as
"Somewhere, Someday" performed by Aron Neville and "The
Motown Song" performed by Rod Stewart. This is his 5th
solo album which includes 2 songs already released on the
1998 mini-album "I Love To Wake Up In New Orleans". Larry
is mainly performing at the night clubs in New York area
from around 1997 and this seems to make his music more
simple and folky one comparing with his 1st and 2nd
albums.
Tel: 1-800-435-6185
Website: http://www.thoughtscape.com
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"Sayit" is the project featuring Tommy Denander, Swedish guitarist heavily influenced by TOTO with many talented vocalists such as Andy Eklund, the lead singer of HOUSE OF SHAKIRA known as Journey vein AOR band and Geir Roning. The vocal tunes sung by Andy Eklund such as "Hear Me Heaven" remind you of Young Steve Perry's vocals and he perfectly covers the Journey's tune "Once You Love Somebody", On the other hand, the vocal tunes sung by Geir Ronning remind you of mid-80's TOTO. Very comfortable Hard-driven American progressive album. Only if the real Drummer played on this album, this album had been much better. |
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<ACM Rating: International
Order 115 North 10th Street, #3A, Fort Smith, AR
72901, USA Tracklisting:
DAVID
DIGGS / WESTCOASTAL
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First of all, I would notice of you that this CD
is the 80's unreleased demo recordings collection album
and therefore some tracks reveal the limitations of the
original recordings master source tape in terms of the
sound quality. However, all the tunes on this CD are
really great and worth listening. I believe you would be
surprised to see the below-mentioned musicians credit
featuring this collection such as Bob Carlisle and Rick
Riso. David Diggs is well-known
as the keyboard player / composer / producer for his own
instrumental solo albums "Streetshadows" (1985) etc.
otherwise Richie Furay (ex Poco) solo albums. But it is
not so well-known fact that he also produced many CCM
albums in mid 80's such as Bob Bailey's "I'm Walkin'"
(1983), Sweet Comfort Band "Hearts Of Fire" (1981). And
under this relationship with CCM music scenes in early
and mid 80's, the materials on this collection CD were
recorded and kept unreleased by today. I believe we
should express our gratitude to David and COOL SOUND to
give us the opportunity to listen such a excellent
Westcoast tunes today. Now, enjoy the good music without
any unnecessary critics!
Tel: 1-800-435-6185
Website: http://www.thoughtscape.com
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"Early Years" CD Limited 200 copies edition were released secretly on "Not for Sale" basis only for Japanese fan club <A.O.R. CLUB> members as a special gift project in December 1998. Someone may read this fact on several AOR websites such as French famous "Westcoast Rendez-vous" website or Official Michael Landau Website or e-mail posted on TOTO Mailing List. I have been noticed by Joey Carbone, the producer of Joseph's 2nd/3rd Solo albums and the coordinator of this special project , that the "Early Years" CD would be released on commercial basis this year by Intercord, Germany, Cargo, UK and Thoughtscape Sounds, USA. Now, time has come. The tracklisting is the same as the A.O.R. CLUB version which includes 10 tracks as bellow. This is a collection of Joseph's unreleased demo recorded between 1981 to 1990. |
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<ACM Rating: Tracklisting:
GREG
MATHIESON PROJECT / THE BAKED POTATO SUPER
LIVE!
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"The Baked Potato Super Live!" Vinyl was
released only in Japan in 1982 and was reissued on CD
once but has been out of print for a long time.
Therefore, the reissue of this album must be the one of
the most important incidents of 1999 for us. This album
is a kind of the historical record showing how Jeff
Porcaro performed gigs with super musicians. The live
performance tracks were recorded at the famous "The Baked
Potato" in Los Angeles on December 13, 14, 15, 1981 for
showing the unlimited passion of four top L.A. musicians
on the vinyl. At the reissue of this album, the jacket
has been changed due to the copyright reason, but the all
the tracks are the same as the original release vinyl.
And if you have the original vinyl or the rare first
time-reissued CD, you may be surprised to find how this
reissue CD mastered by Bob Stone sounds better. Another
important information I should notice of you is that
there were mistakes of tracklisting info of original
release; Track 3 was not "Go" but "First Time Around" and
track 4 was not "First Time Around" but "Goe" (not "Go"),
which are confirmed by Greg Mathieson at the time of this
renewal.
<ACM Rating: International
Order 115 North 10th Street, #3A, Fort Smith, AR
72901, USA Tracklisting (Tracks1-9: from the album "Fire In My Soul",
Tracks10-19: from the album "Mountaintop")
MICHAEL
GONZALES / FIRE IN MY SOUL + MOUNTAINTOP
>
I guess 95 of 100 visitors to my website does
not know who Michael Gonzales is. Michael Gonzales was
born in Los Angeles on October 14, 1953 in Latino family.
He got a chance to release his solo CCM album "Fire In My
Soul" produced by David Diggs in
1980. On this album, Michael covers "Love Is Forever"
originally performed by Bill
Champlin on the album "Single". In 1983, Michael
released his 2nd solo CCM album "Mountaintop" with Bill
& Tamara Champlin and heavily influenced by
Champlin's music style. Both albums are really very fine
CCM album and deserve the hidden masterpiece albums.
Really worth buying!
Tel: 1-800-435-6185
Website: http://www.thoughtscape.com
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It may be hard to imagine for non-Japanese that Tony Sciuto was one of the most successful AOR artists selling an album in Japan at the opening year of 80's and that on the FM radio, Japanese boys and girls could listen to his smash hit "Island Nights" many times every day. After selling quite a large number of "Island Nights" LP copies here in Japan, Tony did Japanese tour which was very successful too. Unfortunately, Tony's "Island Nights" did not sell well in the States and as the result, neither his 2nd album which was ready to go nor his live-recordings of Japanese tour had been released by 1999. As you know, his 2nd album "Be My Radio" has been released under Cool Sound with several bonus tracks of alternative version of this "Island Nights" album. And now, Tony himself made it possible to listen to this masterpiece album "Island Nights" as the 20th Anniversary Limited Edition CD with 4 bonus tracks <2 live recordings and 2 unreleased tunes>. Now is the only chance to add this masterpiece to your AOR/Westcoast CD collection. |
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The music of Vapour Trails may make you feel that they are one of typical late 70's Westcoast Pop. However please be advised that Vapour Trails was the British group of 3 session musicians! In 1979, this one and only album, recorded at Room 335 Hollywood, Larry Carton's private studio, was on sale. In spite of the excellent contents, this album did not sell well in the States at that time. In April 1981, the epoch-making TV programme, "The Best Hit U.S.A.", which played "Don't Worry Baby" every week at the opening of the programme, had started. The programme continued by September 1989 and "Don't Worry Baby" was also used as the opening theme by the last broadcasting, which made this song one of the most well-known non-Japanese song among Japanese. In 1981, this album was on sale as "The VT's / Autumn Breeze" with the different track order and the different LP jacket under Polystar Records here in Japan because Warner Bros USA had already ended their contract with Vapour Trails. |
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AMY HOLLAND / ON YOUR EVERY WORD |
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Amy Holland, known as the partner of Michael McDonald released 2 solo albums in early 80's, both of which are now reissued in France. Amy's 1st solo album is opened by the one of the unforgettable tunes for AOR/West Coast fans "How Do I Survive" written and also performed by Paul Bliss of Bliss Band. Michael McDonald fully supported her all through the album not only as the producer/ keyboard player but also as a songwriter. On her 2nd album "On Your Every Word" (1983), much more and more musicians such as Richard Page and Steve George <of Pages>, Jeff Porcaro and Steve Lukather <of TOTO>, David Pack of Ambrosia took participation in the project, which is almost enough to listen to the 2nd album. |
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JACK WAGNER / LIGHTING UP THE NIGHT |
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Jack Wagner is generally well-known as a U.S. television drama programme actor rather than an AOR/West Coast singer. In fact, his acting as Peter Burnes in the popular drama "Merlose Place" on Fox Television was very impressive for me. However, I could not ignore his AOR/West Coast music works in the mid 80's on the other hand. Jack Wagner got a chance to release his 1st album "All I Need" when he performed as the rock singer in the soap opera "General Hospital" in 1984. The single "All I Need" written by Clif Magness, Glen Ballard and David Pack was ranked at #2 on Billboard Pop Chart in the beginning of 1985. The 1st album "All I Need" is well-produced album and includes bunch of good songs written by many good songwriters. Yes, this album was produced by Glen Ballard and Clif Magness and on the other hand, rest of "Planet3" members Jay Graydon wrote the ending tune"Lady Of My Heart" with Glen Ballard and David Foster. On the 2nd album "Lighting Up The Night", Jay Graydon wrote a song titled "Too Young" with David Foster, Steve Kipner and Donny Osmond. There are other remarkable tunes including this 2nd album such as the album title tune "Lighting Up The Night" was written by Diane Warren and Jeff Lorber and an beautiful ballads "I'll Be There" was written by Michael Caruso and Geoff Leib who is known as Jeff Paris now. Jack released other 2 albums after those albums and I hope he will release the brand-new album in future again when I heard the news which "Merlose Place" series had ended at last in the spring of 1999.... |
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<ACM Rating: International
Order 115 North 10th Street, #3A, Fort Smith, AR
72901, USA Tracklisting:
NED
DOHENY / LIFE AFTER ROMANCE
>
1988 was the special year for AOR/West Coast
Music fans in Japan because Ned Doheny restarted his
musical life. This must be one of the late 80's best AOR/
West Coast albums and I strongly recommend to listen to
Ned Doheny's music again now if you should not have an
opportunity. After releasing 3 original albums by 1993,
coming to Japan as a member of Jay
Graydon Allstars in the winter of 1996 and then
playing the guitar on Joseph
Williams 3rd solo album "3", we have no chance to
listen to his vocals and new materials performed by
himself unfortunately. Hey Ned, if you would see this,
please give us your message and new tunes to your fans
all over the world!
Tel: 1-800-435-6185
Website: http://www.thoughtscape.com
<ACM Rating: International
Order 115 North 10th Street, #3A, Fort Smith, AR
72901, USA Tracklisting: Tracks 9-12
and
Tracks 13 -14 are Bonus
Tracks!
BILL
LaBOUNTY / THE RIGHT DIRECTION
>
This is the 5th album of Bill
LaBounty originally released in 1991. It took 9 years
to listen to this album after the release of his
masterpiece 4th album "Bill
LaBounty" featuring the evergreen tune "Livin' It
Up". In July 1991, he performed wonderful live
performances here in Japan and the live-recording had
done at the time. At the reissue of the CD this time, 4
live-recording material are added, only 2 tracks of which
could be listened on "The Right Direction" US version. So
this reissue CD is worth listening again if you have this
CD already.
Tel: 1-800-435-6185
Website: http://www.thoughtscape.com
<ACM Rating: Tracklisting:
AMBROSIA
/ AMBROSIA
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This is the first time reissue of Ambrosia's
debut album on CD in the world, which I believe is the
news! I believe you had a chance to listen to the several
tunes on this 1st album because their "Anthology" album
was released in 1997. "Nice, Nice, Very Nice" is really
nice, nice,very nice tune and I am very surprised to
confirm the fact that this album original release year
was 1975! Meanwhile I wonder if you may feel the CD
jacket is different from the original vinyl. Yes, you are
right, this reissued CD is the one Warner Bros. USA
reissued this album in 1978 when their 3rd album "Life
Beyond L.A" <also reissued again on July
28,1999 (WPCR-10480)>.
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STEVE ARCHER / ACTION |
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It was 1973 when Steve Archer joined his family CCM group "Archers which released 12 albums during 1973 to 1992 and "Archers" was nominated for the Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary or Inspirational" in 1980 and 1981. In 1982, Steve started his solo artist life by releasing the album "...Solo" produced by Chris Christian under Home Sweet Home Records. After releasing 2nd solo album "Through His Eyes" in 1983, he had again concentrated on his activity as the member of "Archers" in 1984 when they released "All Systems Go". In 1985, Steve completed his 3rd solo album "Action" featuring the ballads "Safe" duet with Marilyn McCoo. |
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HARVEY MASON / GROOVIN' YOU |
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Harvey Mason is not only a super drummer but also a excellent producer. These 2 albums released in late 70's shows the sound-style of those days, which means these are a kind of cross-over fusion/ light funk albums. Especially when you listen to the album "Funk In A Mason Jar" I believe you may feel this album is heavily influenced by Earth, Wind & Fire. You may be excited to find out both name of Jay Graydon and David Foster on the musicians credit of both albums. On the album "Groovin' You", Bill Champlin sings "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" very funky. |
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Waiting for your Email to: takeito@cap.bekkoame.ne.jp
:
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