AOR : THE REALEST PULLS IN THE GAME

fishmongerfunk · April 2015

someone else here said this and i has resonated.... these days, i find no raer in the wild and all these newbies seem to be clogging shit up at the record stores i used to frequent.... all this is to say, i have been digging into cheapie AOR records (that have no cache with the younger crowd) and it's been great. then again, i think i have finally turned into my father.

we have been rocking the following records a lot lately:

What have you folks been listening to in the AOR dept. these days?

LaserWolf · April 2015

I grew up with this stuff.
Was never really a fan of most.
Have not gone back and rediscovered much.

Right now mid career Fleetwood Mac is available on the cheap. Bare Trees is nice, Mystery to me is Listenable, Kiln House is nice but slightly more in demand (and there is a rare variation).

I'm a fan of Laura Nyro. The one with Labelle and Eli and the 13th Confession. Later one with a white cover. One with Sexy Mama.

Myself I have been enjoying country and bluegrass. There is nothing cheaper or less sought after. Lots of good music. If I had the space and time I would be buying up all the private press country stuff.

mini · April 2015

phatmoneysack · April 2015

I am buying a lot of this as well, along-side some blue-eyed jazz fusion.

LazarusOblong · April 2015

I might listen to that Supertramp record with a gun to my head. But I'd be ashamed of myself afterwards. It's Oingo Boingo-level shitty. It should be a felony to put that record next to a Randy Newman record.

kala · April 2015

ewwwwwww

sorry
spoiled rotten
flush with everything from all 4 corners of the earth year after year
i feel bad for the OP

fishmongerfunk · April 2015

kala: sometimes a guy needs to take a break from free jazz vision quests, heady psych excursions and third rate high school band and crate diggeur records with terrible brakes, yo! and just appreciate some finely crafted, clever, hooky and well-produced music. this shit, for the most part, has stood the test of time way better than a lot of the punk that was a reaction to or a rejection of this sound.

GINO, maybe the king of AOR is killingit here this morn:

question: were there any black AOR artists?

LaserWolf · April 2015

There is a soul equivalent of AOR.
Gaye, Mayfield, Hathaway, Gil Scott-Heron, guys making crafted albums. Any song could be a hit.

Garland Jeffries would count as Black AOR.

LaserWolf · April 2015

Aaron Nevile AOR in the 90s.

deezlee · April 2015

My uncool friend wants to know what AOR stands for. I totally know but he said he wants you to tell him.

skel · April 2015

deezlee said:
My uncool friend wants to know what AOR stands for. I totally know but he said he wants you to tell him.

Another 'orrible record

B/w always loved pulling Alessi albums out of the car boots and R&Ts;

pickwick33 · April 2015

I don't remember EVER hearing Gino Vanelli on some album-rock station.

Adult contemporary, yes. Top 40, sure. Black stations showed him some love as well.

However, Gino was far too MOR for the AOR.

pickwick33 · April 2015

LaserWolf said:
There is a soul equivalent of AOR.
Gaye, Mayfield, Hathaway, Gil Scott-Heron, guys making crafted albums. Any song could be a hit.

Besides the occasional black rocker (Hendrix, Garland Jeffreys, etc.), most AOR stations in the 70s would have the occasional "progressive soul" act on the playlist. Stevie Wonder is an obvious example, but War and Billy Preston were others.

I once met a guy who was a DJ on WRIF, an album-rock station in Detroit. He said that they were playing Bill Withers' first album when it dropped in '71. Which makes sense - if you're into, say, James Taylor or Carole King, then Bill Withers or Roberta Flack should be right in the same groove.

phatmoneysack · April 2015

pickwick33 said:
LaserWolf said:
There is a soul equivalent of AOR.
Gaye, Mayfield, Hathaway, Gil Scott-Heron, guys making crafted albums. Any song could be a hit.

Besides the occasional black rocker (Hendrix, Garland Jeffreys, etc.), most AOR stations in the 70s would have the occasional "progressive soul" act on the playlist. Stevie Wonder is an obvious example, but War and Billy Preston were others.

I once met a guy who was a DJ on WRIF, an album-rock station in Detroit. He said that they were playing Bill Withers' first album when it dropped in '71. Which makes sense - if you're into, say, James Taylor or Carole King, then Bill Withers or Roberta Flack should be right in the same groove.

It appears the exchange may have gone the other way as well, with black soul, funk and jazz artists showing some love for AOR by doing covers of their material.

And with that segue, I can shamelessly plug my recent mix of Yacht Rock & AOR covers, many performed by black artists.

Intro
Millie Jackson - This is It [1980] (Loggins/McDonald)
Charme - Georgy Porgy [1982] (Paich)
Joe Thomas - Low Down [1978] (Scaggs/Paich)
Nina Simone - Rich Girl [1978] (Hall/Oates)
Orchestres Daniel Janin, Jean-Luc Ferré Et Leurs Chanteurs - Love Will Keep Us Together [1975] (Greenfield/Sedaka)
The Michael Johnson Singers - Just a Little Talk [1984] (Loggins/McDonald)
Lou Rawls - She’s Gone [1974] (Hall/Oates)
Maarit - Yhteen Kuulutaan [1978] (McDonald/Simon)
Pointer Sisters - Hypnotized [1978] (Welch)
Good To Go - Baby Come Back [1987] (Crowley/Beckett)
New Jersey Mass Choir - Yah Mo B There [1985] (Ingram/McDonald/Temperton/Jones)
Shirley Ross - If You Leave Me Now [1984] (Cetera)
Ron - Hai Capito O No? [1983] (Hall/Oates)
Nashville Rhythm Section - I Can’t Go For That [1981] (Hall/Oates)
Mike Mandel - Peg [1978] (Becker/Fagen)
Scherrie Payne - I’m Not In Love [1982] (Stewart/Gouldman)
Frank Dana - Do It Again [1983] (Becker/Fagen)
Montana Sextet - Ride Like The Wind (Original Version) [1992] (Cross)
Saxon - Ride Like The Wind [1988] (Cross)
Outro

pickwick33 · April 2015

^^^That's not AOR, that's Adult Contemporary.

LaserWolf · April 2015

Seems like i was forced to listen to AOR stations that played some of the same soft rock as I would hear on AC. Like Gino Vinella.

Electrode · April 2015

I like Gordon Lightfoot. I remember laughing at the lyrics "washing the bullshit down" when I was a kid.

phatmoneysack · April 2015

pickwick33 said:
^^^That's not AOR, that's Adult Contemporary.

the segue was tenuous, I admit.

RAJ · April 2015

I have an aresenal of favorite AOR tracks and albums... Here's a few I've been bumping latetly.

white_tea · April 2015

This seems like as good of a place as any to say that I recently learned, through the "Personal Life" section of his Wikipedia page, that Kenny Loggins married his colon doctor.

:talib:

Saturday was the annual CHIRP Record Fair in Chicago. I did get there very late, after 1 p.m., but it was pretty slim pickins' overall. I did find a pretty clean copy of Just As I Am.

RAJ · April 2015

And a couple tracks for the yacht rockers….

willie_fugal · April 2015

i'm digging those Adrian Gurvitz & Bill LaBounty tracks.

WaxPoetics posted these 2 mixes of AOR last year, all selected by Ed Motta. there are ton of great tracks on them. not really cheapie AOR records like OP was talkin bout, but definitely worth checking out:
http://www.waxpoetics.com/music/mixtape/the-aor-mix/
http://www.waxpoetics.com/music/mixtape/ed-motta-drops-aor-mix-2-support-u-s-tour/

RAJ · April 2015

Jeff Porcaro loveliness

Dude from Mr. Mister

Eric Tagg = White Stevie

Mike McDonald Clone

Ill beats...

fishmongerfunk · April 2015

damn raj, your AOR game is deep. Are you going all waxidermetological on us?

Gary · April 2015

LaserWolf · April 2015

So now it's not enough to listen to Journey and Glen Frey.
People need to go out and find the Journey and Glen Frey wannabes?

waxjunky · April 2015

Haha. I'm going to check for some of these AOR joints. These days, most of the records I've been pulling from record shops have been pic sleeve 45s of 80s and 90s songs that I still like. It's definitely an affordable approach to the game, since you'll never spend more than $5, and 99% of the time spend just $1 or $2.

I've already got my 1,000 (or so) funk and soul records from the turn-of-the-century digs (aka the Soul Strut Golden Age) to listen to. The super-raers that I never found BITD are now on YouTube for the most part, and while I wouldn't pass over an original Manzel at a bargain price, I hold little hope of expanding my collection of OGs much further at this point.

I'm on to estate sales and auctions for antiques. Upholstered chairs, vintage lard tins, restaurant ephemera, and art glass are my current quests. I'll always flip through a pile of records when I see one, but at this point I know it's probably going to be a heap of chud.

ketan · April 2015

I'm on to estate sales and auctions for antiques. Upholstered chairs, [strong]vintage lard tins[/strong], restaurant ephemera, and art glass are my current quests. I'll always flip through a pile of records when I see one, but at this point I know it's probably going to be a heap of chud.

Wassup with vintage lard tins? Is there a personal connection?

waxjunky · April 2015

I'm on to estate sales and auctions for antiques. Upholstered chairs, [strong]vintage lard tins[/strong], restaurant ephemera, and art glass are my current quests. I'll always flip through a pile of records when I see one, but at this point I know it's probably going to be a heap of chud.

Wassup with vintage lard tins? Is there a personal connection?

I'm a chef by trade, so I like the idea of good old-fashioned lard. A lot of the tins from the mid-century have pretty cool graphics of pigs, and they're not too pricey to collect.

Gary · April 2015

A sudden change of subject!

RAJ · April 2015

Gary said:
A sudden change of subject!

Let's go commit some crimes.

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AOR : THE REALEST PULLS IN THE GAME

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