Aviator - Aviator

Tracks:

Front Line
Back On The Street
Don't Turn Away
Wrong Place Wrong Time
Never LetThe Rock Stop
Come Back
Magic
Can't Stop
Too Young
Every Schoolboy Knows
Through The Night
Woman In Love *
Holding On *

Time: 50:48 m:s

Year: 1997 (Original release 1986)
Label: Escape Music Ltd
Producer: Neil Kernon

There are certain albums that are held in high esteem in the AOR world. This is one of them. Of course, these 'classic' albums don't always live up to the hype when you finally get to hear them. My most recent experience of this was the Spys double CD. To be perfectly honest I'm still wondering what all the fuss was about.

This isn't the case with Aviator. This album richly deserves it classic status. First time out this wasn't available on CD. Escape have re-released the album on CD, with a couple of bonus tracks thrown in for good measure.

I could give a track by track account of the album, but it would probably end up with me running out of superlatives. So I'm going to skip a few, but that doesn't necessarily say anything about the quality of those songs, just that I couldn't think of anything interesting to say about them. If I had to pick one song that lets the side down, then I'd go for the last song on the original release Through The Night. Even then I think it's more a case of me looking for something to whinge about, rather than any genuine complaint.

It's over 10 years since this was released and it's therefore no surprise than my first attempt at describing this is 80's Melodic Rock. It is Nightranger meets Rick Springfield, with a hint of Survivor on the tracks were the keyboards move up in the mix. I've just bought Rick Springfield's Best Of album to replace a worn out cassette of Living In Oz, so that might partially explain where that comparison came from. The overall sound and production, not surprisingly, have a 80s feel and if you were being harsh you could describe it a sounding slightly dated.

I found out recently that the first track on this album was the inspiration behind the naming of 'Frontline', the Swedish AOR/Westcoast magazine. Ola & Par were obviously impressed. So am I. Don't Turn Away is a prime example of commercial hard(ish) rock. Never Let The Rock Stop features a sound that's not a million miles away from techno era ZZ Top.

Wrong Place Wrong Time is the first time the Rick Springfield comparison crops up. It's another excellent example of commercial hard rock. Magic and Too Young are Rick Springfield meets Survivor. Can't Stop and Every School Boy Knows both feature the Rick Springfield approach to hard rock. Just in case any of you have Rick written off as a wimp rocker, let me tell you he knew how to crank it up, yet maintain a commercial edge to the music.

Of the two bonus tracks, Holding On is the best. It's slightly different to rest of the material in that it features a Foreigner/Survivor sound. This mid-tempo number proves that bonus tracks can be every bit as good as the tracks that made it onto the original release.

For once, you can believe the hype. This is a bona fide classic.

Rating: 9