BRIO Presents AOR Best Selection by J-Canuck

Almost exactly a year ago, I provided an article titled "Radio Influences (City Pop/AOR)" when autumn arrived a bit more seasonally than it has today. In it, I talked about some of the light and mellow songs that I used to hear on the radio as a kid and how some of those songs at least informed my interest in Japanese City Pop and the nation's version of AOR.

This article perhaps can be considered to be a sequel to that article and it's based on a couple of albums from a short series called "BRIO Presents AOR Best Selection". As far as I know, there were just the two discs called "On Shore" and "Off Shore". I don't remember exactly when I did purchase them (although the original release date was 2002) but I found them in the AOR section of one of my favourite CD shops (Tower Records, Ginza Yamano, HMV, etc.). And that was one of the remarkable differences between music stores in Japan and Canada (and presumably the United States); the Japanese seemed to love AOR so much that the stores needed to have an AOR section. I never saw such a section when Tower Records had a branch in Toronto decades ago or even in the local legendary Sam The Record Man branches, but back then, such artists and records would have been considered just regular pop probably.

In any case, within the BRIO series, not only did I find some of those songs that I had been hearing for years and years on the radio such as the beloved Kenny Loggins' classic, "Heart to Heart" which is featured in the "Radio Influences" article but also never-before-heard AOR songs and ballads that I hadn't been able to identify until I bought the CDs (just liked the song, didn't care for names or titles when I was a kid apparently). So as a combination of an Author's Pick and a regular album article, I've selected some of these revelations for your perusal.

Ambrosia -- Biggest Part of Me (1980)

First, from the "Off Shore" disc, here is Ambrosia's "Biggest Part of Me" which is one of those songs that I always heard but never identified. It just seemed to get the lion's share of time on the radio at home and at my orthodontist's office. It was pleasant enough back then but I truly appreciate it now, especially David Pack's vocals, Ernie Watts' welcoming sax solo and those keyboards by David Lewis. I guess it made the brace-tightening a whole lot easier to take back then.

Lee Ritenour and Eric Tagg -- Is It You? (1980)

Also from "Off Shore" and a previously unidentified song, "Is It You?" (yes, it was probably part of my orthodontist's playlist, too), when I finally found out who Lee Ritenour was, I'd assumed that he was behind the vocals. However, it was actually Eric Tagg who already has a couple of other articles represented on the blog, including "No One There". That languid and elastic guitar intro by Ritenour is the key identifier for me.

Stanley Clarke & George Duke -- Sweet Baby (1981)

Now, going to "On Shore", this love ballad by keyboardist George Duke and bassist Stanley Clarke is one of the tracks that I had never heard about on radio. It was actually 2002 or whenever I bought BRIO that I found out about this treasure for the first time. Better late than never, I guess. And I have to say that it was the first time I'd ever heard of an electric sitar. The song perpetually reminds me of an old student of mine who was half-French and half-Japanese. Francoise and her class were thinking of their own ice cream flavour names (I was pretty creative when it came to conversational exercises), and she sweetly dubbed her dish, Sweet Baby. Not sure if she was ever an AOR fan, though.

Herbie Hancock -- Paradise (1982)

Yes, for those 1980s music fans, this is indeed the same guy behind the big 1983 electro-funk hit of "Rockit" with its famous music video and the show-stopping performance at the Grammys that year. I also did a double-take when I looked at the back of "On Shore" and saw his name with "Paradise", from his final disco-pop album "Lite Me Up". He even provides the vocals here for this truly breezy AOR that also had the assistance of David Foster, Bill Champlin, and Jay Graydon. Those three also helped out on Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Miss M" album back in 1980.

The Doobie Brothers -- You Belong To Me (1977)

My final entry barely has some engrams of memory in my head. I may have heard it on the radio but it still came out as a revelation when I heard "On Shore". Originally from The Doobie Brothers' 1977 album "Livin' on the Fault Line", it's a short-and sweet song created by Michael McDonald and Carly Simon, notable for that brief horn insertion near the end that makes it all worthwhile.

I just had to include the Carly Simon cover from 1978. Her more famous take on "You Belong To Me" is also a bit longer and has its own charms through Simon's vocals and David Sanborn's sax solo in lieu of the horns.

Of course, there were many more discoveries while listening to the two discs but I will leave it here for now. However, if you're in one of the major cities in Japan and manage to visit a major CD shop with some interest in these golden pop numbers, just search out for the AOR section, and you may just find compilations like the ones I have here or even the original source albums such as "Livin' on the Fault Line" or "Lite Me Up".