Alliance (GBR)

[Horex]

Alliance - Fire And Grace (2019)











Year : 2019
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 121 mb

Bio:

It is possible, maybe even likely that only keen-eared archaeologists of rock and those driven to dig deeper into the record racks will know of the great melodic hard rock band, Alliance. It would be news to some that their near thirty-year collaboration has previously yielded five highly regarded albums and that their almost secretively rare live shows could be counted on a single hand. Their new release, Fire and Grace on Escape Music LTD., the first in several years following Bond of Union (1996), Alliance (1997), Missing Piece (1999), Destination Known (2007), and Road to Heaven (2008) marks their 6th offering. You would be wrong to assume that the semi-occasional nature of their efforts indicates a lack of commitment or waning passion.For Fire and Grace, the core of the band remains the same with guitarist Gary Pihl (Boston), drummer Mr. David Lauser (Sammy Hagar) and bassist Robert Berry (3, GTR). The roots of their origin can be traced to Bill Graham’s place known as Wolfgang’s, in San Francisco. It was at Wolfgang’s that long time Sammy Hagar drummer David Lauser and keyboardist Jesse Harms were scouting for players while plotting their next moves after Hagar joined Van Halen. By chance, legendary Geffen Records A/R man John Kalodner had given Lauser demos from Robert Berry, a new artist being groomed by Geffen. Phone calls were exchanged, more demos were exchanged. Harms and Lauser traveled to Wolfgang’s to see Berry perform. Lauser liked what he saw, but things for everybody were about to get complicated. The forces of the Universe taking over. The new friends would have to wait for that first chance to play together as Harms hooked up with REO Speedwagon, Tom Scholz recruited Gary Pihl to join Boston, Berry was off to England to work with Steve Howe in GTR and later Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. Mr. Lauser was immersed in recording with Hagar and other artists.

Album:

While vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Robert Berry has been busy as of late, notably with 3.2 and All 41, we haven't heard from Alliance in some time. That some time dates back 11 years to 2008's Road To Heaven. Wow! Has it been that long? Yup. Now Berry reunites with band mates Gary Pihl (Boston, Sammy Hagar), David Lauser (Sammy Hagar) for the latest and fifth Alliance album, Fire And Grace, also once more uniting with UK label Escape Music.Once more we find the trio delivering a strong platter of classic AOR melodic hard rock. The Alliance sound is undeniable and infinitely accessible and entertaining. Song composition is at a premium: expansive songs built upon strong melodies and harmony, enthusiastic rhythm and groove, and then infused with Berry's strong melodic voice and Gary Pihl's soaring guitar solos.As for the songs, you will not be disappointed in the least. However, my digital promo download did come up short. It was missing one song, namely track four, I'll Have Some Of That. It must be lost in the Cloud somewhere. Otherwise, you'll find some brisk rockers with Reason, Fast Forward, and the short and roaring Raise Your Glass, complete with some gang vocals. More AOR groove comes with Time, and the symphonic and stirring Uncertain. Tunes get strong and heavier with Don't Stop The Wheel Turning and Real Thing. Alliance mellows a bit with The Same where the acoustic guitar suggests a ballad, yet the song rises to some solid melodic rock. Honestly, Fire And Grace is a fine return to form for Alliance, another creative and entertaining album of classic AOR melodic rock from this talented trio. Easily recommended.

Line-Up:

Robert Berry: All vocals, Bass and keyboards (solo artist, 3, and GTR)
Gary Pihl: All Guitars (Boston and Sammy Hagar)
David Lauser: Drums (Sammy Hagar And The Waboritas)

Produced by: ALLIANCE
All Arrangements by: ALLIANCE
Recorded at: Soundtek Studios, Campbell, CA.
GP Studio Boston
Engineered and Mixed By: Robert Berry
Mastered By: Alan Douches
Cover Artwork and design by: Richard Jones at webspaghetti, UK

Tracklist:

01. Don't Stop The Wheel Turning
02. Good Life
03. Uncertain
04. I'll Have Some Of That
05. Fire And Grace
06. Raise Your Glass
07. Time
08. Real Thing
09. Reason To Walk Away
10. Fast Forward To Last Night
11. Change Of Heart
13. You Are The Heroes




Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/

[Horex]

Alliance - Destination Known (2CD) (2007)













Year : 2007 (Escape Music Remastered Edition)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR
Country : United Kingdom
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 306 mb

Bio:

It is possible, maybe even likely that only keen-eared archaeologists of rock and those driven to dig deeper into the record racks will know of the great melodic hard rock band, Alliance. It would be news to some that their near thirty-year collaboration has previously yielded five highly regarded albums and that their almost secretively rare live shows could be counted on a single hand. Their new release, Fire and Grace on Escape Music LTD., the first in several years following Bond of Union (1996), Alliance (1997), Missing Piece (1999), Destination Known (2007), and Road to Heaven (2008) marks their 6th offering. You would be wrong to assume that the semi-occasional nature of their efforts indicates a lack of commitment or waning passion.For Fire and Grace, the core of the band remains the same with guitarist Gary Pihl (Boston), drummer Mr. David Lauser (Sammy Hagar) and bassist Robert Berry (3, GTR). The roots of their origin can be traced to Bill Graham’s place known as Wolfgang’s, in San Francisco. It was at Wolfgang’s that long time Sammy Hagar drummer David Lauser and keyboardist Jesse Harms were scouting for players while plotting their next moves after Hagar joined Van Halen. By chance, legendary Geffen Records A/R man John Kalodner had given Lauser demos from Robert Berry, a new artist being groomed by Geffen. Phone calls were exchanged, more demos were exchanged. Harms and Lauser traveled to Wolfgang’s to see Berry perform. Lauser liked what he saw, but things for everybody were about to get complicated. The forces of the Universe taking over. The new friends would have to wait for that first chance to play together as Harms hooked up with REO Speedwagon, Tom Scholz recruited Gary Pihl to join Boston, Berry was off to England to work with Steve Howe in GTR and later Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. Mr. Lauser was immersed in recording with Hagar and other artists.

Album:

ALLIANCE is a superb AOR supergroup including the talents of Robert Berry (Hush, Ambrosia, GTR), keyboard player Alan Fitzgerald (ex-Night Ranger), guitarist Gary Pihl (Boston, Sammy Hagar Band) and drummer David Lauser (Sammy Hagar Band, Moonshine).
The seeds of were panted in the mid-80s, but due all members busy schedule it wasn’t until the early Nineties the band consolidated, releasing a string of stupendous melodic rock / AOR albums with a slightly lite proggy feel.“Destination Known” is some kind of ALLIANCE’s ‘best of’ double-CD digipak put together by Escape Music comprising two albums from the band remastered, plus a bunch of bonus tracks taken from an album only released in Japan – these tracks remixed for “Destination Known”."Destination Known” (now sold out) is a must have for fans of the genre, with that classic ’80s luxury sound.In 1985 Sammy Hagar Band lost its leader to Van Halen. As Sammy began a journey that would take him to new heights, his long time band, David Lauser (drums), Gary Pihl (guitar), and Jesse Harms (keyboards), started looking for that missing ingredient. A way to continue together but also do something fresh.Geffen A/R guru John Kalodner gave them a tape of Robert Berry, an artist being groomed by Geffen. Phone calls were exchanged, tapes were traded. Harms and Lauser traveled to see Berry’s band perform.But as with most things timing is everything. They didn’t get that first chance to play together. Harms hooked up with REO Speedwagon, Gary Pihl was asked to join Boston, Berry was off to England to work with Steve Howe in GTR and Lauser was touring non-stop recording with others.For the next few years history ran its course. But Pihl and Lauser still had the desire to do something of their own. Something original.Early in the Nineties Berry again received a call from David Lauser. They wanted to try again and form this new band and had recruited Alan (Fitz) Fitzgerald. Alan’s band, Night Ranger had just broken up and he to was looking for something new. The timing was finally right.David, Gary, Robert and Fitz gathered together at Hagar’s basement studio in Mill Valley and plowed through a few tunes. The vibe was powerful. Everybody in the room could feel it. They immediately knew that there was a common thread that would feed the demand for creativity in this new band. A bond between their musical styles and their background.So it all began. Initially recording demos at Sammy’s house and then on to Boston to work in Pihl’s studio. The band was searching for a style and musical unity that most bands get from growing up together or playing in rival bands.Though this band was spread geographically throughout the country, with Pihl in Boston, Fitz in Texas, Lauser in Northern California and Berry in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, they were committed to this long distance, sonic relationship.To complicate things even further Pihl was still working with Boston, Fitz was the behind the scenes keyboard player for Van Halen, Lauser was still touring and helping Hagar with his “Unboxed” release and Berry, after finishing an album and tour with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer (in the band 3/Three) was busy producing other artist as well as keeping his solo career rolling. Writing and releasing several CD’s.Over the next four years they continued to build their long distance affair by sending each other tapes and ideas and meeting at Berry’s Soundtek Studio to write and record together.The first album simply titled “Alliance” is the sum of those four years. Some songs are the original demos from Hagar’s basement and Pihl’s studio. Some are from the band’s 1996 Japanese release “Bond of Union” but re-worked.With the success of their first album in Europe, and the desire to keep creating new music, they immediately started to write and record their next CD. The scheduling was still an obstacle to overcome but the musical standard had been set and they wanted to acceed their first release.The second album “Missing Piece” would turn out to be the total fusion of these four musical talents. It shows the incredible growth and maturity the band was searching for. They broke new ground with the combined depth of lyrics and musical arrangements.“Destination Known” comprises all that music resulting into a great slice of elaborated AOR.The debut album (Disc 1) is full of great tunes including the ultra catchy ‘True Meaning Of Love’, ‘Rosie’s Catina’ and the AOR-tastic ‘Best Of Me’. ‘(The World is) Changin’ is pure class, ‘Turn Around’ takes you back to 1986, as well as the fantastic ‘Endless Nights’ with some Aviator feeling on it.Four bonus songs on this CD including a Stevie Wonder cover ‘Tell Me Something Good’ done melodic rock, and ‘My My My’, which has a strong chorus.Their second album (on Disc 2) was is the same music vein adding mature proggy AOR touches on some tracks, and expansive arrangements.Opener ‘I’d Give Anything’ sets the bar high being one of the best ALLIANCE songs ever, intelligent, catchy, rich in mesmerizing harmonies. ‘Young Blood’ makes justice to its title, an uptempo keyboard driven killer track with a powerful chorus. The Sammy Hagar penned ‘Do It For Free’ rocks.Four more bonus songs on this CD, where ‘Change’ and ‘The Gift’ get the foot tapping.You can’t get wrong with “Destination Known”, this is top class melodic rock / AOR filled with expertise songwriting, great vocals / harmonies, lovely keys, smart guitars and polished production.

Line-Up:

Robert Berry - All vocals, Bass and keyboards (solo artist, 3, and GTR)
Gary Pihl - All Guitars (Boston and Sammy Hagar)
David Lauser: Drums (Sammy Hagar And The Waboritas)
Alan Fitzgerald – keyboards

Tracklist:

CD1:

01. True Meaning of Love
02. Sleepless Nights
03. Second Chance
04. Turn Around
05. Rosie’s Cantina
06. So All Alone
07. Best of Me
08. (The World is) Changin’
09. Endless Nights
10. You’ve Changed
11. Hurts so Bad
12. Find a Way
13. My My My (Bonus Track)
14. This is The World (Bonus Track)
15. Tell Me Something Good (Bonus Track)
16. Love Win (Bonus Track)

CD2:

01. I’d Give Anything
02. Missing Pieces
03. Building Wisdom From The Wounds
04. Call of The Wild
05. I Gotta Know
06. Young Blood
07. It’s a Long Way To Go
08. Without You
09. It’s My Life
10. Don’t Turn Away
11. Gotta Find That Woman
12. Do It For Free
13. Change (Bonus Track)
14. Tonight (Bonus Track)
15. Cross That Line (Bonus Track)
16. The Gift (Bonus Track)




Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/