Hit songs of a decade that influenced the shape of popular music as we know it from homegrown British stars to those that made ripples from across the pond. Rock and rollers, crooners, souls stars, pop princes and princess and a whole lot more.

The Spirit of Ukko was a real spine-snapper of a debut, turning the traditional concept of Scandinavian power metal up on it's head and sprouting a dozen extra arms in the process in order to maneuver the countless disparate styles being utilized. The lack of adherence to any single songwriting avenue turned out to be Kiuas' trump card, and they certainly controlled the board more often than not…

Bai Bang is a Swedish glam act that's funnily released a new wave/disco feel debut, "Enemy Lines", in 1988 and then jumped ship to release a pop-metal/melodic rock album three years later. Much sought after 2nd album from the Swedish Glam rockers, originally released in 1991 and much closer to the Scandi AOR stuff. Musically singer Diddi Kastenholt & Co. oriented not quite as strong on the Glam-/Poser rock sound as today, but focused even more on a classic Melodic Rock of the brand TREAT, DALTON and FATE.

VA - Short Cuts: Breaking The Sound Barrier
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 315 MB | Full Artwork: 88 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Argo # 443 396-2 ZX | Country/Year: Germany 1994
Genre: Classical | Style: Contemporary

Excerpts from the works of contemporary composers featured on the Argo label.

Japanese limited edition issue of the album classic in a deluxe, miniaturized LP sleeve replica of the original vinyl album artwork. Digitally remastered edition of the Irish guitar legend's 1976 album. Rory's eighth solo album, Calling Card was recorded during 1976 at the famed Musicland Studios in Munich. All of Rory's previous releases had been self produced, for this album he was keen to find a producer who had an affinity with traditional Rock values but who was open to new ideas. Roger Glover, Deep Purple's bassist, offered his services to Rory, seeming to be a perfect candidate to produce the album. The band, Gerry McAvoy on bass, Lou Martin on keyboards and Rod de'Ath on drums added the final element to the 'creative' mix. In the three years they had been performing together they had grown into a formidable band.

Disco producer Tony Valor scored significant club hits with several different groups during the late '70s and early '80s, and also released records under his own name. Valor's first successes came as a producer with Maryann Farra (1976's "Do Those Little Things," the first 12" single on Brunswick Records) and Touch (1977's Energizer). Heading the Tony Valor Sounds Orchestra, he cut his own Brunswick LP Sounds in 1976, which spawned the club hits "Gotta Get It" and "Ma-Mo-Ah."

"The Power of the Night" is the only album by hard rock group Metropolis. The album was released on May 9, 2000 through MTM Music Group. The song "The Darkest Side of the Night" was originally featured in the 1989 film Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. This is a modern AOR classic hands down. You won't find any better than this. Every song is a masterpiece and there are no fillers anywhere. If there is one album that ended 1999 on a bright note it was this one. If ever someone asks me "what is AOR ?" I would give him this CD to listen to. Highly recommended!

A group of like-minded jazz musicians formed the original core of Piirpauke in 1974. Coming toward the end of the classic era of progressive music, the Finnish band established themselves almost immediately as a folk-inspired group with a free form, improvisational style and a tendency toward long, eclectic original arrangements. While the band would veer into more contemporary, pop and even classical compositions during the eighties and nineties, they would return to their jazz-folk roots in the new millennium. Despite an evolving membership the band has endured for nearly forty years, releasing more than eighteen studio albums as well as a wide range of live recordings and compilations.

The equally majestic follow-up to one of the most successful box sets in recent memory: After KARAJAN 1960s here comes KARAJAN 1970s. Between 1970 and 1979, Herbert von Karajan recorded the incredible amount of 82 CDs worth of orchestral and choral music for DG This was the period that saw Karajan delve deeply into important repertoire that he never really tackled before or after – from Vivaldi to Mahler, to Berg, Schoenberg and Webern as well as Orff. Not to forget Christmas Concertos, National Anthems, and Prussian Marches.