In Praise of Moody Midtempo AOR

Don Henley “Boys of Summer”?

Another dark horse that comes to mind is Dalbello’s “Guilty By Association”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSfmLy54W8Q

Are Rhiannon and Don't Fear the Reaper too early to count?

The song that leapt to mind reading the thread title was Big Log by Robert Plant.

Curious what song would mark the end of this style, chronologically.

Living Years is totally this vibe, yeah.

"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" and "Oh, Sherrie" seem a bit too strident to be called moody. "Sara" could work.

Not sure this is AOR but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1_2HhRe1Cc

"End of the Innocence" and probably "Mandolin Rain."

Not sure about "Boys of Summer."

I'd definitely include Big Log! Maybe include Boys of Summer, which pushes the bound of midtempo but is absolutely steeped in mood.

As far as Fleetwood Mac goes, something like "Little Lies" and "Everywhere" are closer in spirit than "Rihannon," imo. BOC is a solid no, though, since it's a bit too fast and has that psychedelic freakout in the middle.

"Burnin' for You" tho?

"Limelight"??

Burnin for You, That comes closer than "Reaper," but it's got that big fist-pumping chorus and key change that kind of throws it off. Limelight, the chorus for sure captures a mood.

Interesting, I'd call Little Lies and Everywhere AM pop instead of AOR. I guess I see AOR as incompatible with drum machines and Fairlight samplers.

"Games Without Frontiers"?

Springsteen’s I’m On Fire & Philadelphia

Jefferson Starship - "Miracles"

may have in fact invented the genre

Jim Capaldi - "That's Love"

Marty Balin - "Hearts"

I would think anything by Ambrosia or Firefall

"Philadelphia" but not "I'm on Fire."

Wait are we just describing sophistopop? In which case "Life in a Northern Town" and Spandau Ballet's "True" qualify

Hall & Oates - "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)"

Bryan Ferry’s The Name of the Game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvJ5VkOrz4w

Shares a lot of musical DNA with Live To Tell, then again it’s a Patrick Leonard co-write.

I'm actually not totally sure what we're describing. I first thought we were talking about songs that would have been on album-oriented rock radio stations in the early 80s with a driving beat but more atmospheric feel, combining guitars and synths (which would not include Spandau Ballet or Madonna) - but some of these seem like something p different from that.xps

Eric Carmen “Hungry Eyes”

Steve Miller “Abracadabra”

Hall & Oates again, with "One On One"

Alan Parson Project again, with "Breakdown"

Sund4r, I think "moody" is pretty subjective - you know moody when you hear it. Not sure "a driving beat" is essential; rather something that is good to drive to. Josh in Chicago's first examples were

Foreigner, "Waiting for a Girl Like You"
The Who, "Eminence Front"
Eagles, "I Can't Tell You Why"
Alan Parson's Project, "Eye in the Sky"

"Eminence Front" is a fucking JAM with huge drums. "Eye in the Sky" has some rock edge as well, especially in the chorus. The other two are understated in terms of "driving beat."

All do have atmospheric feel, and combine guitars and synths, so perhaps that's part of the recipe. Ultimately only the OP can say if we're hitting the mark.

I think there is a lot of crossover with sophistipop. But I also think of stuff like, for example, Tina Turner's Mad Max song, which is not sophistipop.

Yeah, I think I was mainly thinking of "Eminence Front" and "Eye in the Sky".xp

those Hall & Oates songs are interesting examples as well I think. I don't think I would call them sophistipop, though they share some DNA.

"I'm Not In Love" strikes me as the epitome of this thread description, which reminds me:

Godley & Creme - "Cry"

And yeah, I am considering the presence of guitars with moody synths, nothing you would necessarily dance to, but not necessarily ballads either. Rock, but mushy. Blue eyed soul, but more robotic.

another good rule of thumb could indeed be that famous in the air tonight sequence from Miami vice. What other songs might fit that scene.

I'm chuckling about the idea of replacing "In the Air Tonight" with "The Living Years."

Not so much for the Miami Vice scene but for the scene in Risky Business where they fuck on a train.

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms (the song)

lol Tangerine Dream's scores are a good rule of thumb too!

hmm, maybe stuff like the momentary lapse of reason era of Pink Floyd fits too.

Mike & the Mechanics - Taken In
Michael Franks - Nightmoves
Michael McDonald - I keep forgettin’
Gerry Rafferty - right down the line
Emmett Kai - juicy
Sopwith Camel - Fazon

There's a lot of moody verses combined with bombastic choruses and codas in this quasi-genre.

right down the line is another good example, was that from the seventies?

Same LP as Baker Street, I think. 77?

That book "Rock and the Pop Narcotic"? I think we're looking for the Pop Narcotic here.

Al Stewart - "Time Passages", possibly "Year of the Cat"

"Song on the Radio" by Al Stewart too.

This compilation is what I keep returning to

https://www.allmusic.com/album/open-all-night-in-the-city-mw0000001216

It has the Freedy Johnston mentioned earlier plus "Under the Milky Way," which is surely on target

There are some good songs on that compilation, but not one artist (except maybe Smithereens) that I would call AOR. I guess my judgement on this is determined by my growing up in this era, and thinking about which radio stations would play which songs and artists.

Xpost right down the line is 1978. A couple of the others I posted might not be from the 70s tho

SENTIMENTAL LADY, a poll

another perhaps outlier that still might fit this mode is Bowie's ashes to ashes.

Echo & The Bunnymen “The Killing Moon”
Rod Stewart “Infatuation”

That's hilarious, I don't like rod Stewart but one of my earliest thoughts was of some of his '80s stuff too, like Love touch. but then I listen to it again and thought, nah.

someone mentioned under the Milky Way before but the church song that better nails this aesthetic IMO is blood money - no coincidence that it also appeared in Miami Vice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L9ORyLQTKU

A solo John Oates could have written and sung a handful of hits in the late 70s, think of all the comparative non-entities who had moderate success in that era.

I love Oates but he is not an ambitious fellow.

What if, in 2007, Journey hired a 40-year-old Filipino cover band singer to replace Steve Perry?

it's fun to think about what happens to zeppelin if page got his wish and terry reid was the singer

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, May 11, 2023 3:24 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

i remember reading an itw with Tony Iommi in some guitar mag c. early 90's and he said Phil Collins was the singer he most wanted to work with, he loved Phil's voice and wanted him to sing for Black Sabbath.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3pbQAqnpbc

My grasp of cosmology is shaky but it stands to reason that if there are any alternate universes, the logical conclusion is that there are an infinite number of alternate universes.

So there is either precisely one reality, or an infinite number of realities. Once you get past one, there is no reason to cap the number of universes. If there are a hundred, why not five hundred? If there a thousand, why not twenty thousand?

This is a long way of saying that maybe there's a universe in which Phil Collins is the lead singer of Black Sabbath.

And Queen is fronted by George Michael. For some reason, Whitesnake never existed and the Chicago River always flows eastward.

The only dipping sauces available for McNuggets are ranch and guacamole.

I would like to hear the first Queen album fronted by a 10 year old George Michael

but I won't live in a world without Whitesnake

Don't worry, ums, in that reality Coverdale starts a band with John Mellencamp and they call it CougarSnake.

Picturing Coverdale singing “Suckin’ on a Chili Dog”

i just wanna get close to you
taste your lovin' hog
and i just wanna make love to you
suck on yr chili dog

Here I go again on my own
Suckin on the only dog I've ever known

^^^ loooool!

Crumblin' down slow and easy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Fy7NhD_co

Phil Manzanera - Listen Now

not sure what song this Seahawks edit is of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEHX-Hp2GbA

Sanford Townsend Band - Moolah Moo Mazuma (Sin City Wahh-oo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBIi5AEiN9A

(not a response to brimstead)

A dollop of Michael Franks:

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g_3Ffo0MHA
The Comsat Angels - I'm Falling

Aax Donnell and Eric Malone - “Golden Cage”

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

pants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y43Ia8Ettqc

*searches YouTube on "icehouse no promises extended mix" and looks for longest one*

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

Icehouse were never played on any AOR station in my neck of the woods (we have a classic rocker and a more metal leaning one) but they WERE played quite a bit on a AAA that was new here in 1984. They featured a mix of progressive rock, alternative rock, jazz and new-age music, an approach similar to stations such as WXRT in Chicago and KBCO in Denver. Other influences reach back even farther, to progressive FM rock stations from the 1960s and 1970s. (thanks, wiki.)

"Man of Colours" by Icehouse got played a lot, along with a couple others below; maybe more downtempo than mid, but certainly moody.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtWjYRNL9uE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swUdXb94LB0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXWypJvmO_g

Three Dog Night – Easy Evil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j3IKMUQe1w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Hm5mrHFsA

Listen to the build up on this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQl62w71Ets

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmslaEudR3M