VARIOUS ARTISTS – Rock For Japan (double CD)
- by Matt Coe
- Posted on 09-05-2011
It’s excellent to see a roster of bands come together so quickly for the relief fund of Japan, a Far Eastern country devastated by earthquakes and tsunamis over the month of March. So here’s a double CD set of mostly unreleased or alternative takes of material from the AOR Heaven roster. 34 songs and 34 bands/artists running the gamut from Royal Hunt and Tony Harnell to Fiona and Mitch Malloy, plus newcomers in between.
A good mix of material from ballads through up tempo rockers, if you’ve been away from conventional sounds for years you would be hard pressed to find a solid introduction of what’s going on in melodic hard rock and AOR in current times than through this. Favorites include Hartmann featuring Tobias Sammet with “Brothers”, the always consistent FM with “Kissed”, and the surprising Doogie White/ Pontus Norgren cover of Journey’s “Message Of Love” from the “Trial By Fire” days.