In Praise of Moody Midtempo AOR

Bad Company – Bad Company

does Journey – Who's Crying Now qualify?

Running With the Night by Lionel Ritchie?

Does U2 - "Bad" fit? I think I get the connection here

Eagles, "I Can't Tell You Why"

The only Eagles song I outright love.

I'm still not 100% sure I understand but I think another prototype version of this niche is Classics IV "Spooky"

on the back of the Phil Collins prompt
for me the purest evocation of this is - could I imagine myself listening while driving through the LA twilight on the way to a) a drug deal that will go catastrophically wrong, or b) a romantic liaison that will go catastrophically wrong
ie minor key, lots of build-up and tension, foreboding - def. "Michael Mann rock"
but there's such a broad range of responses ITT that it appears there are a bunch of different feels within the "genre"

For me this stuff is very temporally located in the early to mid '80s; maybe late '70s for something like "Right Down the Line"

also agree that tension is important... if there's no tension you're bumping into yacht rock

David & David - Welcome to the Boomtown
Men at Work - Overkill

Perhaps?

"Boomtown" totally gets it, I think.

For sure, tension is vital. It's can't be feel good or breezy. It's got to have an air of melancholy, low-key despondency, or ... yearning? "Michael Mann rock" otm, which is also why I mentioned Tangerine Dream. And yeah, "could I imagine myself listening while driving through the LA twilight on the way to a) a drug deal that will go catastrophically wrong, or b) a romantic liaison that will go catastrophically wrong" totally otm.

As much as I don't like Journey, I think that Journey song totally fits.

not midtempo but "Brothers in Arms" was the soundtrack to an iconic Miami Vice sequence

Genesis “Follow You Follow Me”

So Far Away by Dire Straits might a good example, too. Or something from making movies.

Seems like War On Drugs’ whole sonic template is something like this.

this is basically my entire Spotify playlist

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World"?

Robert Plant – Big Log
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxSsol3Zd7k

oh it's already been mentioned!

Duncan Sheik - "Barely Breathing"?

ok i think I finally have some good contributions:

Rainbow

Stone Cold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hByGwgm_vRs

Robert Plant
Little by Little
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaL_3bdbbeQ

duncan shiek is not aor

Tom Petty – You Got Lucky

are we talking AOR as-in album-oriented rock or adult-oriented rock

Album oriented, early 80s maybe late 70s imo

big log totally nails it IMO

trying to think if Games Without Frontiers by Peter Gabriel counts

Bruce Cockburn - Lovers in a Dangerous Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IX4gWkFqvU

you got lucky is perfect, that synth

seen a few Cars suggestions (quite rightly IMO) but maybe this one closest to the zone for me?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKIJVKzgoSc

yeah that's a good one

Feels like there should be a Police song that fits. Invisible Sun maybe?

The closest I can think of off the top of my head may be ... "Wrapped Around Your Finger?"

Moody... Blues? Maybe Tuesday Afternoon for a start.

if a police song fits its “every breath you take”

not that I like it or anything

how about Lindsey Buckingham - Trouble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyONfX5bpyQ

yeah that’s the stuff

Bruce Cockburn - Lovers in a Dangerous Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IX4gWkFqvU

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

It’s been so long since I listened to this one. Love it so much thank you for reminding me of its existence.

Kim Carnes “Bette Davis Eyes”
Billy Idol “Eyes Without A Face”
Robert Plant “In The Mood”
Roxy Music “More Than This”
Level 42 “There’s Something About You”

Does "Lunatic Fringe" rock too hard?

Phil Collins - “One More Night”
John Stewart feat. Stevie Nicks - “Gold”
seconding The Cars - “Drive”
Alanna Myles - “Black Velvet”
REM - “Man on the Moon”

i'm basically adding a lot of this shit to my playlist , so thx

Paul young - come back and stay?

I mean that’s just straight up synth pop with aor vocals I guess

Bill labounty - nobody’s fool (seriously, this is an all time jam)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51dEUKCMyIk

Ultravox - Vienna

Love that "Nobody's Fool" -- hearing it for the first time now.

We can't forget Glenn!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TToLgW7zuc

This has made me accept that I don't know what is generally meant by "midtempo". My idea ws that it must of course be roughly the mid point between "slow" and "fast", but I was gauging that from a position of "fast" meaning jungle or thrash fast and I guess that's not quite right. LOL.

yeah "You Belong To The City" is essential here, as I understand the cluster. For me it comes from the 2nd half of the 80s, boomers having grasped the technology & wanting to go back to blues rock rather than new wave.

Like I think of this Leonard Cohen performance of "Tower of Song" from 1989. The tempo is mid, even if it doesn't chug like the songs in the OP. Maybe the vibe I'm fixed on is less about driving & more about cities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNPRpHkkGKM

"Midnight Blue" by Lou Gramm is my favorite song in this genre