MelodicRock Classics is excited to continue the limited-edition reissue series featuring four acclaimed cult classic AOR albums. CHRIS IRVINE ‘Frozen Rivers’ and 2AM ‘When Every Second Counts’ are both at press currently and will be released August 26.

The second two titles arrive September 30 – LAMARCA ‘LaMarca’ from 1985 and YAYA’s classic 1988 sophomore release ‘II’.

British melodic rock band YaYa released their debut album ‘Scarred’ in 1984 before changing vocalist for their acclaimed more melodic second album ‘II’, featuring new frontman Sam Blue.

MelodicRock Classics is especially excited to announce that the YaYa ‘II’ reissue will become a 2-Disc Deluxe Edition, featuring a range of extra tracks!

YaYa ‘II’ (Deluxe Edition) gathers all the tracks recorded for the original release and accompanying B-Sides, plus no less than 5 previously unreleased tracks. Two unreleased demos which have been freshly remastered and 3 classic tracks originally written between 1987-1990, which were newly recorded for this release during 2021.

Drummer Graham Garrett has written a brand-new Bio for the occasion of this album’s release.

CD1: The Album

01. Caught In A Lie                           4:21

02. When The World Cried           4:10

03. Love In Vain                                 3:38

04. Fear Of Flying                             4:27

05. The Toughest Race                   4:47

06. Julia                                             4:16

07. The First Time                            3:54

08. You’re All I Need                       5:02

09. All Through The Night             3:51

10. Set Me Free                                4:18

CD2: The Bonus Tracks                                                                                                   

01. Fascination (Unreleased Demo)                         4:24

02. I’ll Cry A Tear (Unreleased Demo)                      3:56

03. Nobody’s Perfect (New Recording)                   4:29

04. Cry From The Heart (New Recording)               4:08

03. On My Way (New Recording)                              5:16

06. All Through The Night (Demo)(B-Side)             4:12

07. Castles In The Sand (B-Side)                                 2:51

08. River’s Edge (B-Side)                                            3:29

09. Caught In A Lie (Extended Version)                   6:03

Runtime 43.26 & 39.10

About YaYa:

What’s the first thing you do when you put together a new band? Get yourself a few dates perhaps, knock together a sound and an identity on the road? Well, when YaYa came together in 1983, that’s what they figured too, so they naturally set off on a tour of India and Thailand.

Not exactly the crammed-in-a-Transit Van pub scene, but the tour had the same effect in defining and refining the band’s music and identity and also introduced a lot of people to western rock music who might never have got acquainted otherwise.

Bassist Terry Stevens and drummer Graham Garrett are the founding members of YaYa. Both brought experience of playing in other bands separately and together and both were impressed when they chanced upon guitarist Ray Callcut. Lead vocalist Sam Blue is a later addition to the group, joining in early 1986 after the others had started work on their self-titled album. When they realised that something extra needed adding to the vocals, Terry, Graham and Ray remembered Sam who they’d seen playing at London venues.

The new vocalist had been touring for some time with various bands, supplementing this with chorus work in the hit West End musical, Time. As a Geordie, he is the only member of the band not from London.

The band came to the attention of several major record companies and were signed by WEA Records (Warner Brothers) by the boss of WEA, Rob Dickins in the UK and Atlantic (Atco) Records in the US. Work on the album began in Hollywood, Los Angeles with renowned producer Mike Chapman, (Blondie, Pat Benatar, Tina Turner, The Knack) an experience that YaYa hold very dear. As Terry remarks, “If we had any doubts at that stage, Mike Chapman was the one who dispelled them.”

Later, the band returned to London to work with producers Tony Taverner (ELP, Power Station) and Adrian Lee (Toyah, Mike and The Mechanics) before flying to New York City where Mike Shipley (Def Leppard, The Cars, Mr Mister) remixed the album.

The band write all their own material. The first single ‘When The World Cried’ tells the tragic story of the death of John Lennon.

Keyboards are supplied by session player and longtime cohort of the band, Nick Coler. (Alice Cooper, Zodiac Mindwarp)

Following completion of the album, the band played to a sell-out crowd at London’s Marquee Club and then embarked on a 15 date UK tour supporting The Cross, a band put together by Queen’s Roger Taylor. Following a very successful tour, YaYa were asked to continue onto the European leg of the tour but the wanderlust in them struck again and they promptly opted instead to accept an offer of a 10 week tour of the old Soviet Union where they played over 60 arena shows across 7 republics.

Different members have different roots and consider themselves as highly individual but at the same time a very strong, close-knit unit. This has led them to write film scores together, do session work for other artists and even form their own football team.

YaYa lay dormant for many years whilst the individual members worked on separate projects, but they kept in touch. Interest in the band never waned and this led to a remastered version of the album being released. It contains bonus tracks which retain the essence of the band whilst adding a contemporary aspect.

MelodicRock Classics is proud and honoured to partner with the family of the late, great VAN STEPHENSON, plus his many co-writers and musical partners, to pay tribute to the legacy of the legendary singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist with a series of archive releases, culminating in two career spanning box sets, featuring all unreleased songs from his vast songwriting archives.

MRC Owner and A&R director Andrew McNeice has been given the responsibility of archiving Van’s songwriting demos from the 70s, right up until the last songs he wrote.

Over 12 months of work behind the scenes will come to fruition November 25, with the first two releases from the Van Stephenson Archives.

BUY NOW: https://melodicrockclassics.com/vanstephenson.html

A Deluxe Edition of Van’s debut solo album China Girl is the first title announced.

Released at the end of 1981, ‘China Girl’ established Van as a solo artist in his own right, with the hit single ‘You’ve Got A Good Love Coming’ entering the Top 100. Due to complicated ownership issues, the album has remained hard to find on CD, with limited brief re-issues appearing in the US (1999) and Japan (2014).

Finally, the definitive version of the album can be revealed – a Deluxe 2CD Edition – featuring the original album plus 4 unreleased demos on Disc One and an amazing 15 unreleased tracks from the same 1980-81 song-writing period on Disc Two.

The songs are all cultivated from Van’s unreleased archives and feature songs written by him alone plus other songs co-written with his ‘China Girl’ writing partners Sam Lorber, Jeff Silbar, Austin Roberts and Dave Robbins.

To complete the package, new artwork from French graphic artist Arnaud Leger has been specially commissioned, plus the audio for both discs has been carefully remastered by acclaimed producer JK Northrup.

Pre-orders will be available from next Monday and the complete track listing for China Girl – Deluxe Edition is as follows:

Disc One: ‘China Girl’

01. You’ve Got A Good Love Coming 2:55

02. Looks Like A Loser 3:20

03. Seeing Is Believing 3:26

04. China Girl 4:18

05. Weekend Warrior 3:52

06. I Would If I Could 3:02

07. Tonight The Love’s On Me 3:44

08. Hotter In The Night 3:28

09. New York, Hold Her Tight 3:52

10. Lion In The Night 3:07

11. I Would If I Could (Original Demo) 3:31

12. New York, Hold Her Tight (Original Demo) 3:55

13. Lion In The Night (Guitar & Vocal Gospel Version) 2:48

14. New York, Hold Her Tight (Acoustic Version) 3:52

Disc Two: The 80-81 Sessions

01. Burning The Midnight Love 02:15

02. Kiss Your Heartache Goodbye (Rock Mix) 03:10

03. Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark (Full Demo) 03:27

04. I Don’t Want To Know 02:51

05. The Night Is Saying Yes (Full Demo) 03:23

06. Still Falling 03:59

07. As Long As I’m With You 02:56

08. When You’re In Love 02:53

09. With Love To Spare (Full Demo) 02:52

10. Is She In Love 02:31

11. Come Out, Come Out Where Ever You Are 02:48

12. Marlena 03:55

13. Don’t Give In (Gospel Version) 02:38

14. Kiss Your Heartache Goodbye (AOR Mix) 03:15

15. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow 02:13

MelodicRock Classics is excited to announce a partnership with singer/songwriter/producer STEVEN McCLINTOCK to release a pair of phenomenal melodic rock records to feature the acclaimed singer’s voice.

With over 40 years as a successful musician, singer, songwriter, publisher, producer & manager, Steven McClintock is the owner and driving force behind 37 Records and Management. With over 350 cuts and over 25 films and dozens of TV shows to his credit, Steven is also very involved in publishing with Tim James at McJames Music Inc. with writers like Stephen Petree, Chad Petree, Jeremy Dawson from Shiny Toy Guns and Grammy nominee songwriter Pamela Oland.

The second record in the partnership with Steven is something that will excite many fans of classic hands-in-the-air 80s anthems. Steven McClintock the voice behind many cult 80s action films, the voice of the feel good soundtracks that these films championed through the best decade ever.

For years now, many of these songs have been traded over the internet and featured on YouTube, with audio taken directly from the movies themselves or other poor-quality sources.

But now gathered in one place are all the legendary tunes from such movies as Deadly Prey, The Bounty Hunter, Space Mutiny, Born Killer, Nightwars and more…

Curated by MelodicRock Classics over two discs for a free-flowing selection of melodic rock anthems and heartfelt ballads, Steven McClintock’s Soundtrack Heroes is a real treat for fans of 80s rock and 80s action films. Included are a couple of never before released songs, which never featured in films, adding value to the collection.

Tim James Auringer comments on the writing partnership: “After placing a song in one of David A. Prior’s movies In late 1986, David called and asked if we knew how to score a movie. Having never scored a movie before we of course said, “yes”. That began a crash course in film scoring and a journey of composing music and placing over 60 songs in 20 films for David A. Prior and Action International Pictures. Steven McClintock and I solicited the assistance of some friends (Mark Mancina, Garm Beall and Tim Heintz) who had also, naturally, never scored a motion picture before.

Some of these films have gone on to become cult classics, such as Deadly Prey and Space Mutiny. The later becoming one of the favorite “Mystery Science Theater” episodes of all time.

Sadly, David A. Prior passed away a few years ago, but his films continue to be shown all around the world on late night TV. We had fun working on these films and thank David for the opportunity to be involved in so many of his movies.”

‘Soundtrack Heroes’ is another gem from the archives, one which MelodicRock Classics is excited to bring to fans.

Masters were supplied by Steven, with MRC’s JK Northrup remastering expertise again at work.

STEVEN McCLINTOCK ‘Soundtrack Heroes’ will be available for CD Pre-Order and Advance Digital Audio Delivery from this Friday January 14, with CDs shipping to fans during February.

Track Listing (and movie featured in):

CD1

01. Turn On The Night (Chase)                                                   4:16

02. When Love Breaks (Crossing The Line Theme)              3:55

03. Edge Of A Dream (Space Mutiny)                                       3:55

04. Never Say Die (Deadly Prey: Deadliest Prey)                  3:01

05. Running With The One I Love (Chase)                              3:02

06. Do You Remember Love (Rage To Kill)                              3:15

07. It’s Only Love (Rapid Fire)                                                      3:13

08. Read My Lips (Lost Platoon Theme)                                  3:14

09. I Believe In The Battle (Hell On The Battleground)       4:16

10. Is It Really Love (Code Name Vengeance)                       3:27

11. Long Thin Line (Born Killer)                                                   3:39

12. You’re A Mystery (Previously Unreleased)                     3:09

13. For A Moment (Rage To Kill)                                                 4:08

14. Maybe Love (Jetsons: The Movie)                                     3:46

CD2

01. Freedom (Mankillers)                                                             3:29

02. Keep This Motor Running (Born Killer)                             4:16

03. Just A Little (Bounty Hunter)                                                2:39

04. Chase Theme (What’s Going On)                                        3:07

05. Forbidden                                                                                    3:10

06. Here You Are (Chase)                                                              3:17

07. Talk To Me (Previously Unreleased)                                 3:17

08. Home (Hell On The Battleground)                                     3:58

09. Shadow Of A Doubt (Operation Warzone)                     4:26

10. This Fire (Operation Warzone)                                            2:52

11. I Dream (Bounty Hunter Theme)                                        3:37

MelodicRock Classics is excited to announce a new initiative for the reissue label – targeting those cult classics that many die-hard melodic rock fan wants.

The 500 Series will target the more obscure rarities and previously unreleased material for the collector’s market. As the name suggests, there will only be 500 units of these titles pressed, with artwork reflecting the MRC 500 Series logo, plus a dedicated catalogue number starting with MRC501.

Discussions with the artists involved will be done in advance and the Limited Edition releases will be just that. Any title on the 500 Series will only have 500 units available.

Once sold out, you won’t get this version again.

Announcement of the first 500 Series title will be made soon!

Regular MRC titles will continue to be pressed in 500 and 1000 unit lots, meaning all releases remain highly collectible. Fan reaction and support of the label to date has been overwhelming to say the least.

Thanks to everyone that has made a purchase from the label – there is a lot more on the drawing board for 2023 and beyond.