Year : 1984 Style : AOR , Melodic Rock Country : United Kingdom Audio : 320 kbps + all scans Size : 114 mb
Bio:
Ya Ya (originally known as “The Lea Hart Band”) was founded by the original band’s namesake, who had previously been the frontman for “The Roll Ups” in the United Kingdom.As a solo artist previous to that, Hart had supported Judas Priest on their 1978 British tour. Ya Ya, feautred guitarist Ray Callcut, as well as ex-Panache members, Terry Stevens and Graham Garrett, on bass and drums respectively.This band was formed out of The Lea Hart Band, which opted for a name change following a tour of India and the far east. The band signed to North American label Scotti Bros. The debut featured session appearances from Joan Jett, Jeff Peters (bass) and also noted keyboard player Nick Coler.Ya Ya scored a major coup by having three songs included on the film soundtrack to “Revenge Of The Nerds”. Another release was the 7” single, “Don’t Talk”, which was paired as a split release on Scotti Bros. with Revenge’s “They’re So Incredible”, which was produced by Lea Hart in 1984.Progress was such that Warner Bros. snapped up the band but not before Hart was fired for apparently “being too Rock n’ Roll”. Hart subsequently formed the short-lived Destroyer in 1988 with ex-Tank guitarist Cliff Evans. After this band, Lea Hart then fronted Fastway before finding a career as a successful producer and manager for Paul Di’Anno, as well as other musicians.A second album did finally emerge, with ex-Samson vocalist Sam Blewitt, but was withdrawn almost immediately and so is very scarce.Callcut is now a renowned session player as well as being part of the notorious ad hoc live band “Lend Us A Quid” alongside Foreigner and Bad Company bassist Rick Wills, as well as Bad Company[artist] guitarist Dave Colwell.Blewitt, now known as Sam Blue, later fronted Ultravox and appears as guest vocalist on Ten guitarist Vinny Burn’s 1999 solo album “The Journey”.
Album:
Besides 80's soundtrack buffs, Ya Ya seem to be infamous amongst hard rock/AOR aficionados for the singer's tenure in another venerate hard rock band, Fastway, which featured ex Motorhead guitarist, Fast Eddie Clarke. Lea Hart left as vocalist of Ya Ya after Scarred, later replacing original Fastway singer, Dave King, on their 1988 album On Target. That same year, Ya Ya released their 2nd and final album, and while not as good as this one, it has a few really good songs. Fastway fans seem to have a similar opinion of the "new" material with Hart, but the only album of theirs that I really like is 1988's On Target. I prefer the cheesey 80's sound to their more blues rock beginnings.
Line Up:
Sam Blue [aka Sam Blewitt] (lead vocals) Lea Hart (vocals, 1984-86) (Ex-True Brits, ex-Fastway, ex-Paul Di' Anno & Dennis Stratton) Ray Calcutt (guitar, vocals) Graham Garrett (drums, percussion) Terry Stevens (bass)
Tracklist:
01. Don't Talk 4:02 02. She Don't Wanna Know 3:50 03. We've Only Tonight 3:29 04. Those Eyes 2:53 05. Dead Lovers 4:28 06. Stop...Breaking Me Up 3:55 07. Just Go 3:33 08. Talk to Me 4:39 09. Cut Me Up 4:17 10. Are You Ready ? 4:01
Ya Ya - II (1988) (2CD) (MelodicRock Classics Deluxe Edition 2022)
Year : 1988 (MelodicRock Classics Deluxe Edition 2022) Style : AOR , Melodic Rock Country : United Kingdom Audio : 320 kbps + front Size : 189 mb
Bio:
Ya Ya (originally known as “The Lea Hart Band”) was founded by the original band’s namesake, who had previously been the frontman for “The Roll Ups” in the United Kingdom.As a solo artist previous to that, Hart had supported Judas Priest on their 1978 British tour. Ya Ya, feautred guitarist Ray Callcut, as well as ex-Panache members, Terry Stevens and Graham Garrett, on bass and drums respectively.This band was formed out of The Lea Hart Band, which opted for a name change following a tour of India and the far east. The band signed to North American label Scotti Bros. The debut featured session appearances from Joan Jett, Jeff Peters (bass) and also noted keyboard player Nick Coler.Ya Ya scored a major coup by having three songs included on the film soundtrack to “Revenge Of The Nerds”. Another release was the 7” single, “Don’t Talk”, which was paired as a split release on Scotti Bros. with Revenge’s “They’re So Incredible”, which was produced by Lea Hart in 1984.Progress was such that Warner Bros. snapped up the band but not before Hart was fired for apparently “being too Rock n’ Roll”. Hart subsequently formed the short-lived Destroyer in 1988 with ex-Tank guitarist Cliff Evans. After this band, Lea Hart then fronted Fastway before finding a career as a successful producer and manager for Paul Di’Anno, as well as other musicians.A second album did finally emerge, with ex-Samson vocalist Sam Blewitt, but was withdrawn almost immediately and so is very scarce.Callcut is now a renowned session player as well as being part of the notorious ad hoc live band “Lend Us A Quid” alongside Foreigner and Bad Company bassist Rick Wills, as well as Bad Company[artist] guitarist Dave Colwell.Blewitt, now known as Sam Blue, later fronted Ultravox and appears as guest vocalist on Ten guitarist Vinny Burn’s 1999 solo album “The Journey”.
Album:
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.Guitarist Ray Calcutt is back with the new band WHITE SKIES which debut album was featured here a couple days ago, one of the best AOR albums of the year. He was part as well of British AORsters YAYA who released a classic album in 1988, now being reissued, remastered & expanded.“YAYA – II (2xCD Deluxe Edition remastered)” 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.This is Top Class Brit AOR from the ’80s, a must have into your collection.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.YaYa ‘II’ (Deluxe Edition) will be released by MelodicRock Classics on September 30.
Line Up:
Sam Blue [aka Sam Blewitt] - lead vocals Ray Calcutt - guitar, vocals - WHITE SKIES Terry Stevens - bass Graham Garrett - drums, percussion Adrian Lee, Nick Coler - keyboards
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Vocals – Graham Garrett, Nick Coler, Ray Callcut Percussion – Louis Jardim* (tracks: 5)
Production:
Recorded At – Jam Studios Recorded At – Maison Rouge Mixed At – Maison Rouge Art Direction – Andrew Ellis Artwork – Mekon Design – Icon, London Engineer – Tony Taverner Mixed By – Tony Taverner Photography By – Icon, London* Photography By [Portraits] – Davies And Starr Producer – Adrian Lee, Mike Chapman, Stephan Galfas, Tony Taverner
Tracklist:
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
