In Praise of Moody Midtempo AOR

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

feel like nosing around the music mentioned in the dedicated Miami Vice wiki (!) could be a productive resource for this thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dKUfX9xcw0

Lovelock - Burning Feeling

Does this fit? Affectionate pastiche by Steve Moore from 2011. I admit to being amused by the very juvenile indeed double entendre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFhSnlR1Bo0

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

Eden - Free

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym7H0Lvo9mQ

Fleetwood Mac - Over and Over

perhaps the chorus gets a bit strident but I feel I must post this Australian FM staple with it's deeply uncomfortable video clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu1GLEh3wO4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAK7B1bGIRM

Someone mentioned the Cars' "Drive," but maybe a better example is "Moving in Stereo," come to think of it.

Speaking of Aussies, something like "Send Me an Angel" kind of fits the bill at times. For sure everyone but the singer looks like they could have been on the set of Miami Vice, procuring drugs for everyone else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R6WIbx8ysE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqUa_G1h3pw

good thread

^ xpost Great pick!

I made a Spotify playlist that has this kind of stuff in it towards the end kinda: Nightmoves

"midnight rider" is my jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCRS4DRmf_w

Yeah, talk about proto, that song does kind of capture a bit of the spirit/vibe.

Chromatics, Kill For Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0mxXrHowHQ

Funny, I was just thinking about that Italians Do It Better crew, and whatever people were calling it. Chillwave? Synthwave? That kind of draws from this nebulous, yeah, quasi-genre.

(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