Announcing PARIS, WINDING ROAD & STEPHEN CRANE – March 26th Releases from AOR Heaven
50/50 by Paris
Announcing PARIS, WINDING ROAD & STEPHEN CRANE – March 26th Releases from AOR Heaven
Paris
50/50
AOR Heaven
26 March 2021
Dechavanne and Montet first met as kids at school in their hometown Bouffémont which is located around 15 km north of the French capital Paris. They have stayed best friends since. Both started to play guitar at the age of 15 – influenced by the leading hard rock bands from the mid 80’s like Scorpions, Iron Maiden or Def Leppard. A few years later, Dechavanne switched to keyboard, and the two musicians spent most of their high school years writing songs and rehearsing with other friends.
Studies and various job locations drew them apart but the friendship always remained, and so did the song-writing collaboration.
PARIS recorded their first full-length release with Italian producer Alessandro Del Vecchio. “Only One Life” came out in 2013 on a Germany based AOR label.
The follow-up record, “The World Outside”, was produced by Steve Newman (NEWMAN), whose backing vocals could already be heard on the first album at the time. “The World Outside” was released in the summer of 2016 on Melodic Rock Records and received good reviews worldwide.
The brand new release “50/50” was recorded with the same team as “The World Outside” including Steve Newman (production, mastering, backing vocals), Dave Bartlett (bass, backing vocals) and Rob McEwen (drums)… and once more with Sébastien’s good friend Robert Säll (Work of Art, W.E.T.) who plays one mighty solo on each and every album PARIS released so far.
PARIS is very proud to team up with Georg Siegl and AOR Heaven for the release of “50/50”.
Paris Official Home Page
Winding Road
Winding Road
Winding Road
AOR Heaven
26 March 2021
In 2018 Magnus Åkerlund (Blender) and Jan Hedlund (Coastline, Eagle Down) met up at Magnus’ studio to see if they could write music together. Both had played in numerous bands and played loads of different musical genres touring all over Sweden. Their true love however was melodic rock and AOR so there was no guesswork in what kind of music they were aiming for. After an hour they had their first song ready. They scheduled a weekly writing session and each week a new song was written.
Soon they came to realize that these songs had to be released and so Winding Road was born.
In search for a singer they didn’t have to look far. Jan’s old friend Jonas Tyskhagen (Incardine, Soxity, Yo Motherfucker, Bitches Brew) provided his soulful bluesy voice on one of the demos and the search for a singer was over.
Guitar driven melodic rock with plenty of synths and a strong focus on the melodies was the concept when the album started to take shape.
Great consideration was taken in choosing what songs should be included on the album aiming for a diverse song list with no fillers.
They also asked Jonas childhood friend (and friend of the band) Fredrik Folkare to do some guest guitar work and he provided a couple of killer solos on two of the songs.
Winding Road have released three singles on Spotify which have been well received and have had airplay on Swedish radio, both national and regional.
They also entered a competition on Swedish national radio and got to one of the finals.
The album was produced, mixed and mastered by Magnus Åkerlund at Fieldgroove Studios.
In December 2020 the band signed a deal with AOR Heaven for the release of their self-titled debut album.
Winding Road on Facebook
Stephen Crane
Stephen Crane
Kicks
AOR Heaven
26 March 2021
STEPHEN CRANE used to play in a band called Baby at the end of the 70’s but his opportunity as solo artist arrived in 1984 by the hand of the major MCA label. CRANE’S debut “Kicks” was produced by Jai Winding (Le Roux) who also played keys, and no-other than the great Steve Lukather. In fact, all TOTO guys were involved in the recording including groove master Jeff Porcaro on drums.
We also find Richard Page (Mr. Mister, Pages) and AOR guru Tom Kelly (I-Ten, Van Stephenson, Survivor) doing backing vocals, together with brilliant session guitar players such as Duane Sciacqua, Joey Brasler and Ray Pannell.
The multitude of guitarists has an explanation; “Kicks” for the most part is a guitar driven AOR / Melodic Rock album with a 1984’s radio friendly sound. And on most tracks, we found three different six-string axemen playing together in the same song. CRANE’s pumping bass lines add even more muscle to the tunes, and his sometimes raspy but melodic vocals reminds you a cross of a young Brock Walsh, Van Stephenson on the calmer moments and Paul Sabu on the edgy. The album features the best session players in L.A. like Steve Lukather + Jeff, Mike & Steve Porcaro (Toto), Richard Page (Mr. Mister, Pages), Duane Sciacqua (Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey), Jai Winding (Stevie Nicks, Molly Hatchett, Cheap Trick, America, Blue Öyster Cult), Tom Kelly (Madonna, Whitney Houston, Survivor, Van Stephenson), James Newton Howard (Elton John, Toto) & many more… In 1986, Stephen Crane joined the Glenn Frey band (from The Eagles) and toured in Japan & the USA. He also worked with Joe Schermie from Three Dog Night & Brian Ray from Paul McCartney’s band and still remains very active in the U.S music scene.
There’s not a single weak track here, going from hooky and catchy numbers like “Headed For A Heartbreak“, “Joanne” or the urgent “Victims Of Love“, to more AORish cuts such as the Toto-esque “Back On My Feet Again” (featuring a killer Lukather solo) and the Van Stephenson sounding “I’ll Take Care Of You“.
C
riminally ignored not only by MR / AOR fans in general – but also by the industry as it never was released on CD – “Kicks” is one of the best records in the genre from that era.
This re-issue is available as remastered limited edition of 500 CD copies via AOR Heaven’s mailorder store only. Liner notes by Dave Reynolds.
