A detour for a moment... to a slice of NWOBHM

This has nothing to do with hair metal or AOR, but I thought I'd add it here anyway in case anyone else wanted to grab it.

Judas Priest is coming to New Zealand in September, and my friend (who's coming to the concert with me) hadn't heard a lot of Priest albums. I had them, so I uploaded a bunch of them to rapidshare for him to grab.

Since they're already on rapidshare, I might as well share them here as well, right? :)

Download them here

Blue Tears - Blue Tears [1990]

Country: USA

Year: 1990

Line-up: Gregg Fulkerson (vocals), Bryan Hall (guitar), Mike Spears (bass), Charlie Lauderdale (drums)

TRACK LISTING

1. Rockin With the Radio

2. Crush

3. Blue Tears

4. Take This Heart

5. Halfway to Heaven

6. Innocent Kiss

7. Racing With The Moon

8. Kiss Me Goodbye

9. True Romance

10. Thunder in the Night

Requested by: Brent

Fletchanator's comment: Ah yes, Blue Tears. They definitely put out the best Bon Jovi albums that Bon Jovi didn't put out themselves. The singer doesn't just sound like JBJ, he sings in JBJ's style too. Heck, most of the songs are structured the same as Bon Jovi songs. If you can look past the obvious lack of originality though, Blue Tears are a great listen. 

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Vice - Made for Pleasure [1988]

Country: Germany

Year: 1988

Line-up: Jan Ghiantinic (vocals), Christian Limburg (guitar), Jorg Hargeschmier (guitar), Peter Juhve (bass), Fritz Randow (drums)

TRACK LISTING

1. Feel My Body

2. Last Day of War

3. Red Light Night

4. Trouble in Paradise

5. Bad Girl

6. Made for Pleasure

7. Running

8. Rocking All Over The World

9. Hot Summer Night Party

10. Boys Got The Fever

11. Sally

Requested by: Patrick S

Fletchanator's comment: Okay, the album cover is... lame. No doubt. But this album, the debut effort by German melodic rockers Vice is pretty good party rock. Catchy, full of gang vocals - you'll think these guys are from sunny California rather than Germany.

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Tora Tora - Wild America [1992]

Country: USA

Year: 1992

Line-up: Anthony Corder (vocals), Keith Douglas (guitar), Patrick Francis (bass), John Patterson (drums)

TRACK LISTING

1. Wild America

2. Amnesia

3. Dead Man's Hand

4. As Time Goes By

5. Lay Your Money Down

6. Shattered

7. Dirty Secrets

8. Faith Healer

9. Cold Fever

10. Nowhere To Go But Down

11. City of Kings

Requested by: Tripp

Fletchanator's comment: Tora Tora's second album isn't as good as their debut effort (which is also here on the blog), IMO, but is still a good listen. Slightly less of the glam aspect, with more of a bluesy hard rock edge, sounding at times like Tesla.

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Envy - Ain't It A Sin [1987]

Country: USA

Year: 1987

Line-up: Rhonni Stile (vocals), Gina Stile (guitar, vocals), Bill Spencer (bass), Danny Kapps (drums), Alan St John (keyboards)

TRACK LISTING

1. Ain't It a Sin

2. I Believe In You

3. Heartache

4. Lie Here Waiting

5. Wait on You

6. You're So Hot

7. All the Reasons

8. I See the Light

9. I'm Not Your Lover

10. Hurt Me

Fletchanator's comment: Envy was a hard rock band with a female lead singer which put out only one album. Upon listening, my first comparisons were Vixen and Heart, ironic  because I subsequently found out that guitarist Gina Stile joined Vixen in 1997 and in 2002 joined a Heart tribute band. If you like Vixen and Heart, you'll enjoy this.

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Catalyst - Paradise [1990]

Country: USA

Year: 1990

Line-up: Unknown

TRACK LISTING

1. Crackdown/Breakdown

2. Dropout Loser

3. I Wanna Live

4. Break My Heart Again

5. You Can't Please Everybody

6. Time

7. Fire in Her Eyes

8. Shelter of your Heart

9. Hold on to your Love

10. Paradise

11. Burning in the Fire

12. Trash Before you Crash

Fletchanator's comment: This is one of those rare occasions when I actually don't know much about the band. I got this album off the internet and can't even find a listing for the band members. All I know is this is Catalyst's only album. It's melodic hard rock, bordering on AOR for some songs, rockier on others. Nothing great, but listenable.

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