MelodicRock Classics is excited to announce the limited-edition reissue of four acclaimed cult classic AOR albums over the next two months. Each album has won fan and critical praise over the years and all four titles have remained on the impossible to find list for many collectors.

The campaign begins August 26 with reissues of two British classics – CHRIS IRVINE and 2AM.

On September 30, two more classics arrive – LAMARCA and YA YA ‘II’.

CHRIS IRVINE is a Belfast born singer/songwriter who released his debut album in 1992. The self-titled album contained the official single ‘Frozen Rivers’, which will become the new title for this 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of ‘Chris Irvine’.

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With help from the original label and various participants in the release, including the man himself, CHRIS IRVINE ‘Frozen Rivers’ revisits the lost classic, adding a generous selection of bonus tracks, packing this special release with previously unreleased AOR gems.

Chris comments: “I’m delighted to be able to have the opportunity to finally deliver the definitive version of this album, with the artwork I envisaged as the artist when it was recorded. When you’ve spent hours, weeks, and months toiling in the studio, writing and recording your music, it becomes a living, breathing part of you. You nurture it and build up an idea of how it should be presented. Unfortunately, I didn’t get that level of involvement on the album’s initial release. I am truly grateful to Andrew McNeice and MRC for allowing me the opportunity to give fans of the album something really special on the 30th anniversary of its release.”

Producer Phil Radford: “Back in the late 1980’s I was working as an in-house writer/ producer at Red Bus music in North London. My partner Pete Yellowstone and I were introduced to Chris as a potential new artist to work with. We were immediately struck by his powerful and soulful vocals, his enthusiasm and obvious talent. Over a few months we worked on studio ‘down time’ which was evenings and nights writing and recording these songs. These late long smoky sessions were very productive and Chris came up with some powerful performances behind the mic!

Very much a product of the times, the big clean 80s pop AOR sound is clearly what we were going for. We mixed it in studio 2 at Red bus studios on an SSL desk with either Graham Bonnet or me engineering. Even though the album wasn’t received as widely as it could have been at the time, I’m glad to see it still has many fans from all around the world.”

MelodicRock Classics presents CHRIS IRVINE ‘Frozen Rivers – 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition’ August 26. Limited Edition 500 Unit CD; all audio remastered from original masters by JK Northrup.

Pre-orders available this week.

Track Listing:

Album:

01. Frozen Rivers                                         4:18

02. Vital Signs                                              3:46

03. Never Listen To Rumours                      3:41

04. Hypnotise                                              3:34

05. In Need Of An Angel                            3:54       

06. Really Need To Know                            4:01

07. You’ve Got The Right                            4:07

08. Kicking Up Dust                                    3:23

09. Can You See Me Now?                           3:39

10. Get A Grip                                              4:00

Bonus Tracks (Unreleased Demos):

11. Room With A View                               4:37

12. Wind In The Wires                                3:32

13. You Got The Right                                 4:09

14. Find Our Way Back Home                     4:20

15. Jody                                                      3:16

16. Am I What (U Really Want)                   5:33

17. Truth                                                      4:20

18. Love Still Hurts                                      4:31

19. Can You See Me Now (Ext. Vers.)       4:27

Run Time 77:28

MelodicRock Classics is pleased to announce a partnership with English singer, songwriter, composer and musician Andy Qunta to deliver a Deluxe Edition of his one and only solo album ‘Legend In A Loungeroom’, originally recorded in 1989.

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Andy has one of the most interesting and complex bio’s of any artist. Andy Qunta (pronounced Coonta) is a citizen of the world and an artist with a long list of credits going back to the early 70s. His first band was Factory, then joining the Hazel O’Connor band.

He met Manfred Mann vocalist Chris Thompson in New Zealand in 1982, which lead to a writing partnership that continues today.

That same year Andy become the keyboard player for Australian melodic rock legends Icehouse, helping to propel them through their most popular and critically acclaimed phase, as well as writing the hit ‘Crazy’ from the ‘Man Of Colours’ album, before departing in 1988.

Andy with Chris Thompson, along with singer Maggie Ryder (Eurythmics) and lyricist Keith Reid (Procul Harum/Whiter Shade of Pale) wrote the now iconic song ‘You’re the Voice’, originally made into a mega-hit by John Farnham, but also covered by Heart, Chris Thompson, David Foster and countless others.

Andy’s other songs have also been recorded by mega-artists including John Waite (Take Me Home), Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (Tribal Statistics) and John Farnham (Don’t Tell Me It Can’t Be Done).

In 1989, Andy headed to Los Angeles to record a solo album, titled ‘Legend In A Loungeroom’. The album featuring a lineup including Tony Qunta, Jeff Skunk Baxter (Doobie Bros, Steely Dan), Guy Pratt (Icehouse, Pink Floyd), Scott Page (Pink Floyd, Supertramp), Steve Milbacher, Paulinho da Costa (Madonna, Sting), Tim Pierce (Meatloaf, Crowded House), & Denny Fongheiser (Tracy Chapman, Heart).

A video for first single, ‘Thing About You’ was shot in Sydney and Melbourne. The song started getting heavy airplay in Australia before legal wrangles with Executive Producers cause project to be shelved. The album was dead in the water before being released in Europe on German label, without the artist’s knowledge.

Andy would later do an independent self-release of the album with altered artwork, which MelodicRock Classics was a big fan of. Being an even bigger fan of Andy’s co-writes with John Farnham, the idea of a Deluxe Edition re-issue was floated, with the label pitching the idea of using some songwriter demos as bonus tracks.

What wasn’t expected was the number of the demos uncovered by Andy, which lead to this ‘special event’ double CD coming to fruition, with some mega-star performances featured.

So the project quickly expanded to a double disc – with the original album given a refresh remaster by JK Northrup and preserved on Disc One, with the Bonus Demos gathered on Disc Two, featuring the vocals of Andy, Chris Thompson, Maggie Ryder and others, plus guest musicians such as Brett Garsed (Nelson, John Farnham), Steve Hogarth (Marillion), Guy Pratt (Icehouse, Pink Floyd, Madonna) and more.

Graphic Artist Nello Dell’Omo has been commissioned to create a brand new cover art package for this release, which will be revealed closer to the release date.

The full track listing for ‘Legend In A Loungeroom’ and ‘The Songwriter Demos’ is as follows:

Disc One – ‘Legend In A Loungeroom’ (2021 Remaster)

01. Take Me Home

02. Come Back Baby

03. Thing About You

04. Waiting For The Storm

05. Tightrope

06. Sooner Or Later

07. Empty Words

08. Free The Bird

09. Take This Heart

10. Legend In A Loungeroom

11. These Are The Days

12. Midnight

Disc Two – ‘The Songwriter Demos’

01. You’re The Voice (Featuring Chris Thompson)

02. Time Flies (Featuring Vince Ruby)

03. Good Love (Featuring Maggie Ryder)

04. You’re Strong (Featuring Chris Thompson)

05. Someone Is Missing (Andy Qunta)

06. Don’t Tell Me (It Can’t Be Done) (Featuring Chris Thompson)

07. Won’t Let It Rain (Featuring Angie Giles)

08. Win Or Lose (Featuring Vince Ruby)

09. On A Distant Shore (Andy Qunta)

10. Better Way (Featuring Chris Thompson)

11. Ghost Of Your Love (Featuring Fergus Harper)

12. The Wanting (Is Too Strong) (Featuring Maggie Ryder)

13. Wheel Of Fortune (Andy Qunta)

14. Don’t Turn Away (Featuring Chris Thompson)

15. How Come You Don’t Understand Me (Featuring Maggie Ryder)

‘Legend In A Loungeroom – Deluxe Edition’ will be released via MelodicRock Classics October 8 with pre-sales available this week, alongside the label’s other October 8 release Mark Edwards ‘Land Of The Living’.

These days Andy continues to perform regularly in his adopted home of Los Angeles in the Foreigner Tribute Band Double Vision and guest appearances with Journey Tribute Band Open Arms.

Legacy Swedish AOR act Alien deliver their seventh studio album here, the first to see them turn their traditional style on its head in an attempt to reach a new crowd.

So Alien have ‘gone metal’ here, albeit metal with a strong melodic edge and the unmistakable voice of Jim Jidhed reminding us of their true AOR origins.

I’ve seen some very mixed fan responses to this and my initial reaction was very negative. However, despite an absolutely horrendous production (yes, that issue again and a pretty consistent theme of the last 3 Alien albums), there are some great songs on here to enjoy.

I do think the guys are having a bet both ways, with the album split between the new hard rock sound and several lighter AOR songs that could have come from any previous album.

It’s a hard call – do you fully embrace a new sound with all the risks that entails, or do you try and do something different and mix in the old sound to try and keep old fans happy.

Hard to make a cohesive album with two different styles and I think that’s what holds this album back. Not to mention that Jim really struggles vocally on some of the heavier numbers, especially the painful to listen to What Are We Fighting For and Into The Future.

Of the ‘metal’ songs I really like the opening salvo of You Still Burn and Night Of Fire, the band don’t sound any better than they do on these two tracks.

On the other hand, ‘classic’ Alien can be heard with the more keyboard friendly Time Is Right, Freedom Wind and Fallin Way Down.

It’s a mixed album with mixed results and yes, mixed feelings. I think I’ll probably pick a few tunes here and there for separate playlists, but as a start to finish album, there’s something not quite right about ‘metal’ Alien and the production/mix is very muddy to say the least.

Proof that everything happens eventually, here’s a brand-new AC/DC album, designed to drop some rock n roll healing on a shitty year. Could this be the last ever new AC/DC studio album? Never bet against accadacca but given it has been 6 years since the last album, it’s entirely possible.

Having cranked the contents of ‘PWR/UP’ several times in quick succession, I wouldn’t say the band have delivered a career defining record befitting a grand exit, but they have exceeded expectations to deliver a very credible late-career record that I think will please most fans.

It is true that the guys could possibly have written this album in their sleep and there is no deviation from the style or delivery of the last several records, but there is something very comforting about new AC/DC tunes.

Twelve tracks at 41 minutes in length should give an accurate summary of the contents here. I am comfortable stating that the first 4 tracks are amongst their best in many a year. Realize is a superb opener, with Rejection, the single Shot In The Dark and Through The Mists Of Time all delivering great riffs and hooks.

Elsewhere it’s a pretty consistent run. Only track 8, Wild Reputation, drags significantly for me.

I do wonder how good this would have been with someone like Bob Rock or Kevin Shirley at the helm. The lack of urgency and a harder hitting sound is what I think it missing from latter day records.

Brian Johnson sounds as good as ever, which I’m really pleased about. He’s one of the good guys.