There’s nothing more satisfying than delving deep into the archives of rock music history in order to breathe new life into an old band. And sometimes the more obscure bands deliver the best surprises.
Canada’s Izod is one of those bands. Their name comes from the ‘Izod Impact Test’, a test used to measure a metal’s resistance to impact. These guys literally have metal in their name.
Izod was formed in 1978 when Mike Mayer brought together Paul Gayne and Gary Green as the foundation for a new heavy rock band. The three band mates were heavily influenced by the sound and style of British Heavy metal pioneers, Judas Priest. It wasn’t long before they added Greg Roxworth and Luke Moretti and began playing regularly as a Judas Priest cover band.
After a few years of playing, making demos and other recordings of their own songs, it was time to take the next step. Roxworth and Moretti left the group and were replaced by Steve Lewis and Max Fodero. Izod had truly formed.
The newly formed group began playing complete sets of their own music across Canada. They started to get the attention of record companies before winning the Q107 Homegrown contest in 1984, and soon caught the attention of WEA producer Gary Furniss. After many months of writing and pre-production, Furniss produced the Overdrive EP which was released in early 1987.
Izod began touring across Canada while promoting the EP and continued to be a very popular live act. Their shows did not disappoint, featuring plenty of fireworks and pyrotechnics.
The expanded and remastered release for ‘Overdrive’ consists of the original 1987 EP, plus an unreleased track from the sessions called ‘Rock This Town’; the single from the Q107 ‘Homegrown’ contest titled ‘Heavy Metal Madman’ and 3 additional tracks from the early 1983 demo sessions ‘Lost In The Night’, ‘High And Mighty’ and ‘Rechmachine’.
All tracks have been carefully restored and remastered by JK Northrup, giving the material a new punch.
MelodicRock Classics will release Izod – Overdrive (Expanded and Remastered) August 25 as part of the 500 Series of releases – strictly limited to 500 units only.
Izod is:
Steve Lewis - Lead Vocals
Gary Green - Lead Guitar and Backing Vocals
Mike Mayer - Bass guitar and Backing Vocals
L. Paul Gayne - Drums and Backing Vocals
Max Fodero - Guitar and Backing Vocals
Additional Lead Vocals - Mike Jacob, Greg Roxworth
I continue to struggle with many of the Frontiers formulaic AOR by numbers releases that plague our scene.
Thankfully we still have bands like DEGREED who blow me away each and every time. These guys present everything I love about modern music - pure melodic bliss, with a contemporary edge - so well produced and with every member of the band contributing to the sound. Killer guitars and a thumping rhythm section, plus continued unique use of the keyboards throughout.
And the vocals...just superb.
RUN to get this killer album and check out the ballad of the years 'Don't Be A Stranger'.
MelodicRock Classics is thrilled to partner with classic 80s pomp/AOR act MPG to bring fans the first ever official CD release of the band’s 1981 debut album, originally released by A&M Records.
This special Deluxe Edition expands the original album with 4 early demos, but then on a second disc, jumps forward into work recorded for a never released second studio album, plus other tracks demoed over the years since. The guys have always stayed in touch and this culminates with the addition of a brand-new song – “Stop The World” - recorded last year and mixed only a month ago.
JK Northrup has mastered the new song as well as remastering the original album and all bonus tracks.
The band has delivered some liner notes about the album and the extra tracks, plus a range of exclusive never before seen photos, all included in the accompanying booklet.
MPG is:
STEVE CAREY - Keyboards and Lead Vocals
KIM SMITH - Guitar and Vocals
DAVID MIKEAL - Guitar and Vocals
MICHAEL BOLT - Drums and Vocals
STEVE LOCKLIN - Bass and Vocals
Album Produced By Tom Knox And Steve Carey
MPGDeluxe edition will be released July 28 by MRC
MPG was originally a well known group circa late 1970’s in the Atlanta Georgia area called The Miles Brothers. They were headed by Steve Carey on Lead Vocals and Keyboards. He wrote most all of the original music and was supported by Michael Bolt on Drums, Steve Locklin on Bass and Kim Smith on Guitar. The Miles Brothers management thought that the group possibly needed a little more rock influence and a lead guitarist that could possibly sing. So soon after David Mikeal was added to the lineup. The group continued to be called The Miles Brothers and kept their strong R&B roots clearly evident in their rhythm section. A lot of new material was written and record labels were showing up regularly to watch the group. A&M Records ended up being the label that signed The Miles Brothers in 1980. That’s when the record label told the band they would have to change their name The group looked over a lot of names and decided they would like to keep Miles in the name somehow. That’s how MPG (Miles Per Gallon) was picked as the new name.
The second disc contains a lot of the songs that didn’t make the official A&M Records release. It also contains some of the songs that were demos for the 2nd A&M album release that never happened. The recordings range from state of the art to 4 track demos at home studios. The vast majority of these songs were again written by Steve Carey along with 2 new additions from David Mikeal (Front Page News, Number One) Some of these tunes were the bands favorites but didn’t make the cut.
Some extra side notes: Worn Out Shoes, Number One and That’s Easy were recorded at a weekend band reunion in the summer of 1999 at Steve Carey’s home in Atlanta minus Kim Smith. Then extra guitar tracks were added by David Mikeal at his studio in Central Florida soon after. Stop The World was recorded recently in May 2022 with the same 4 members at Daphne Street Studios in Mobile Alabama during another 2 day short reunion.
Steve Carey: “I wrote “Stop The World” in the 90’s, sort of a companion piece to “Goodbye Cruel World” from our 1st album. Both songs reflected my sadness that despite amazing advances in communication, technology, etc. people seemed to be drifting apart and less tolerant of each other.”
David Mikeal: “Some of the early days demo songs contained on this CD set were recorded at the bungalow and with recording equipment you would now need to carbon date to ascertain the year made.”
Track Listing:
Disc 1: The 1981 Album
01. Too Many Questions 3:55
02. Workin' Overtime 3:22
03. Best Thing I Never Had 4:07
04. Goodbye Cruel World 4:02
05. Why Me 2:58
06. Get Yours Tonight 4:42
07. Hurt Me 3:02
08. Can I Come Over Tonight 3:33
09. Always Something 4:06
Miles Bros. Early Muscle Shoals Versions:
10. Too Many Questions 4:51
11. Goodbye Cruel World (4 Track Demo) 5:07
12. Hurt Me 4:06
13. Always Something (4 Track Demo) 4:20
Disc 2: Unreleased Work
01. Stop The World (New Song 2022) 6:43
02. Worn Out Shoes 5:05
03. That's Easy 4:35
04. Life In The Arena 3:01
05. Toys For Boys 3:28
06. Front Page News 3:23
07. Can't Miss Love 3:57
08. Feels So Good4:18
09. Number One 3:31
10. Nobody There 4:17
11. Somebody Somewhere 5:31
12. Bedtime Story 3:37
13. Worn Out Shoes (8 Track Demo) 4:46
14. High School Confidential (Miles Bros. Early 4 Track Version) 5:32
15. Saved My Life (Miles Bros. Live 1979 Bistro Club (2 Track) 04:45
16. Some Other Time (Miles Bros. Live 1979 Bistro Club Atlanta (2 Track) 5:14
For the 5th release in MelodicRock Classic’s 500 Series, we turn once again to Canada for another fine slice of Canuck melodic rock.
Total Stranger shouldn’t be too unfamiliar – the band released a self-titled album in Japan in 1997, reissued later as part of a double disc version of their 2002 album ‘Obsession’.
But before both of those record came the band’s initial recordings in the form of a 1990 cassette only release and a 1996 EP released on vinyl only.
Now in 2023, with remastering as per usual by the great JK Northrup, Total Stranger’s original output has found its way onto CD for the very first time.
This limited edition 500 unit only release, titled ‘Mean Season’ is due out on MRC July 28.
Total Stranger is:
Al Langlade (Lead Vocals, Keyboards, Rhythm Guitars)
Rolly Saulnier (Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals)
Peter Martin (Drums, Percussion)
Andre Pelletier (Lead Guitar, Spanish Guitar, Backing Vocals)
Steve ‘Pineapple’ McPhail (Guitars and Lead Vocals) 1986 Bonus Material
Jon Sampson (Drums) 1986 Bonus Material
Produced by: Jake Giacomelli and Total Stranger
The Remastered and Expanded Edition is Co-Produced by: Marcus Mason
Remastered by: JK Northrup
The new reworked cover art is from designer Arnaud Leger
Track Listing:
‘Mean Season’ (1990)
01. Mean Season
02. All Or Nothing
03. Soap Box
04. Easy In The Nite
05. Chance On Us
06. Take Me
07. Are You Alone
08. Experience
09. On The Outside
10. By Chance
‘Total Stranger’ EP (1986)
11. On The Outside
12. By Chance
13. Total Stranger
14. One Nite Stand
15. Things You’re Missin’
16. Reason Why
Very pleased to announce a second (and final) pressing of the great JOHN WEST title Days Of Destiny.
A second 500 run has been ordered, as many missed out on the first shipment. Over 200 of these are already accounted for, so if you want, pre-order now! Delivery will go out with the July 28 titles, later this month.
Singer Brad Henshaw and muiti-instrumentalist Jon Drewsbury.
Both with with the late singer David Saylor...
The whole album has obscure covers to give new lease of awareness to a music loving environment. Together with 3 original written tracks to prove the duo don’t need to rely on other songwriters.
Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Patrik Linman has been part of the
Finnish music scene since the early 80s – starting as singer in the band Action. While a lot of his work is in writing, producing and behind the scenes, his debut album - Linman ‘Heaven Calls’ made a strong mark on the scene when released back in 1992. Due to a limited pressing it has since become a much sought-after collector’s item, fetching big prices each time a copy surfaced.
Now thanks to Patrik and producer Clas Holm, Linman ‘Heaven Calls’ is getting a full makeover.
The album has been remastered by Clas, giving the songs more punch than the original recordings.
As a special bonus, the first 500 units will come with a second disc of unreleased demos and recordings made by Patrik across the years, 2002-2016. The style of these songs matches the melodic rock brilliance of the album.
JK Northrup has jumped in to remaster these new gems.
New Artwork from Arnaud Leger updates the cover and contents.
Patrick Linman started his musical path by being a bass player and singer in
Finnish rock band Action in the early 80´s. After 3 years of music studies he went
on to form hard rock band Not Yet in 1990. The band released one single in
1991. 1992 he released his first solo album ”Heaven Calls”.
1999 he formed pop band called Place 2 Go. This pop-duo got signed to
Universal Sweden and released the album ‘Faces’ in 2000.
Patrick also participated in Finnish Eurovision twice, 2004 and 2005.
2006 he became manager and songwriter for his son’s band Sturm und Drang.
The band became a huge success in many countries and sold both gold and
platinum. 2020 he participated in Voice of Finland.
From 2005 to recent time Patrick has been mostly writing music for other artists
plus doing thousands of live gigs with many different constellations.
Now it’s time for ‘Heaven Calls’ again!
MelodicRock Classics will release the Deluxe Edition of ‘Heaven Calls’ on June 30.
MelodicRock Classics deliver another forgotten classic from Canada – GNP’s 1989 album ‘Safety Zone’. The band featured former Saga members Jim Gilmour (Keyboards) and Steve Negus (Drums), looking for a more straightforward AOR direction on this, the only album GNP recorded.
Saga are of course one of Canada’s most loved prog-rock groups. GNP was formed together with vocalist Robert Bevan in 1986, but it wasn’t until 3 years later the album was released.
The band was formed out of a displeasure with management after the Saga ‘Behaviour’ album. The band was immediately signed to Virgin Records. The track "How Many Times" was the only song that was eventually made into a music video. These 10 tracks show the more dominant and splendid lyrical and songwriting abilities of Steve Negus and Jim Gilmour outside of Saga that created a well-produced hi-tech, AOR album.
Fantastic session musicians were brought in to assist and round out the production including the likes of Jeff Jones (Red Rider, Bachman Cummings) on Bass and Jeff Albani (Wrabit, Lee Aaron), and Bob Bartolucci (Alannah Myles) on Guitar.
The band sadly did not last long, as promotion and live performances were cut quickly by a Saga reunion that immediately ended the project from commencing further.
The original CD and this newly JK Northrup remastered version include the extra track, an extended version of the song “Safety Zone”.
GNP is:
Robert Bevan (Vocals)
Jim Gilmour (Keyboards, Piano, Vocals)
Steve Negus (Drums, Percussion, Vocals)
With the assistance of:
Bob Bartolucci (Guitars 1-4, 6-9)
Jeff Jones (Bass all Tracks)
John Albani (Guitar Track 2)
Richard Fortin (Guitars Track 5, String Arrangement Track 10)
Maddie Willis (Scat Vocals Track 5)
Pat Perez (Sax Track 11)
The Phase One Male Choir (Track 2)
Strings (Track 10)
Zhang Zhang (Violin 1)
Julia Jones (Violin 2)
Julian Knight (Viola)
Ron Chambers (Cello)
Produced By Steve Negus
The Remastered and Expanded Release is Co-produced by Marcus Mason
Remastered by JK Northrup
MelodicRock Classics releases GNP ‘Safety Zone’ June 30.
