Avenue of Allies\/Sound Pollution<\/p>\n
UK band IF ONLY was once hailed by Geoff Downes himself as \u201cNo UK band can play AOR that good, they must be from America!\u201d. The band strted out in 1988, centered around vocalist Lorraine Bennington. The rest of the numbers was made up by ex. MORITZ personnel; Greh Hart, guitars\/keyboards, Ian Edwards, bass, Andy Stewart, keyboards, and Andy Elphick, drums. They added hot guitarist Martin Chaisson (UFO, WAYSTED). That setting was not to last, and Lorraine was soon replaced by ex GIRLSCHOOL vocalist Jackie Bodimead. After a year and a completed recording process Jackie left, but was soon replaced by Tina Egan. A sturdy re-recording of the vocals later, Tina also added a few songs of her own. When the album was finished and released (in Japan) grunge had made its dreadful impact, delaying the European release a further two years. A return of the band seems highly unlikely, not least due to the fact Tina died back in 1999. But here is a long lost album of\u2026ample qualities? <\/p>\n
Twelve tracks off the original album, four songs sung by Jackie Bodimead, and one live track with Tina. Opener \u201cLoaded Gun\u201d sure bring back memories of the other giants in the female fronted genre; VIXEN, WITNESS and LEE AARON. It\u00b4s like a display of everything positive about the eighties. The refrain is right up there with just about anyone back then. The American AOR balladry of \u201cIf Love Could Last Forever\u201d, without being buttery, is also excellent. There is more than a tad of conviction in Tina\u00b4s voice as she pronounced the lyrics to \u201cI\u00b4m No Angel\u201d with emphasis. The whohooa oa of the title track is another highlight. This is followed by the magic of \u201cRock and a Hard Place\u201d and the raunchy AOR of \u201cGhost of You\u201d. Two originals I could have done without are actually the rather short FREDDIE MERCURY tribute \u201cMan Against the World\u201d and the blatant clich\u00e9 of \u201cEasy Lay\u201d. The Jackie tracks are somewhat weaker in the vocal department. They still rock, with \u201cStand like a Stone\u201d as a highlight. The live rendition of \u201cTight Jeans\u201d is also a letdown, why not one of the album tracks? Nevertheless only three tracks out of 17 are not to my liking. The sheer idea of nosing up this old earring is worth the highest mark!<\/p>\n
Track List
\nLoaded Gun
\nTumblin\u00b4 Dice
\nIf Love Could Last Forever
\nI\u00b4m No Angel
\nNo Bed of Roses
\nEasy Lay
\nRock and a Hard Place
\nRed Hot Heaven
\nGhost of You
\nForever My Love
\nLong Way from Home
\nMan Against the World<\/p>\n
Bonus Tracks
\nAll Over
\nStand Like a Stone
\nDon\u00b4t Let Go
\nShow Down<\/p>\n
Live Bonus Track
\nTight Jeans<\/p>\n
www.avenue-of-allies.com www.myspace.com\/tinaegan <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Avenue of Allies\/Sound Pollution UK band IF ONLY was once hailed by Geoff Downes himself as \u201cNo UK band can play AOR that good, they must be from America!\u201d. The band strted out in 1988, centered around vocalist Lorraine Bennington. The rest of the numbers was made up by ex. MORITZ personnel; Greh Hart, guitars\/keyboards, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cd_reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livestagemusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}