A killer mid-80s AOR album if you ask me, “Road Of The Gypsy“, by American combo ADRENALIN, criminally remained unreleased on CD until YesterRock specialists reissued this cult album for the first time in a remastered form.
The title song “Road Of The Gypsy” is one of those all-time AOR classics. Originally to be found on the soundtrack of the movie ‘Iron Eagle’, the tune became Adrenalin’s biggest hit.
Story tells the band put out an EP in 1983 which widespread popularity ultimately led to a deal with the MCA affiliated Rocshire label (Alcatrazz, Citizen Kane, Tony Carey). Thus, Adrenalin’s major label debut, entitled ‘American Heart’, emerged in 1984 and was produced by Vini Poncia (Kiss).
MCA had seen enough potential in the group to sign them up to a new deal after the success of the ‘Iron Eagle’ soundtrack.
Bizarrely, the label decided to make Adrenalin’s major debut with them including songs from ‘American Heart’ in a remixed form and dropping three of the original songs in favour of adding the aforementioned “Road Of The Gypsy” alongside the brand new tracks “Summer Nights” and “Broken Hearted Bound”.
Apart from the title song (which is really great), the album offers a bunch of lovable radio-friendly Melodic Rock / AOR tunes with the typical mid-eighties FM sound such as the pumping “Broken Hearted Bound”, the feel-good “Summer Nights” and “The Kid’s Got A Will To Live”, the AOR-rock of “The Pressure’s On” and the keyboard filled “Photograph (Time Passes On)”.
Sadly, “Road Of The Gypsy” received very little promotion from MCA for a number of reasons and the band eventually found themselves without a deal and looking for a new vocalist following Marc Gilbert’s departure.
After hooking up with ex- Grand Funk Railroad’s Mark Farner for a while, Adrenalin morph into DC Drive, another really good act from the era.
“Road Of The Gypsy” was extremely hard to find (only vinyl & cassette) for years, and although many unofficial bootleg CD’s surfaced, the sound quality in all these was terribly bad.
Now, this stupendous Yesterrock remaster – taken from the original master tapes – makes justice to this long lost gem. Seriously, the sound obtained is incredibly pristine and crisp, handled by talented Robert Papst (Dominoe mastermind) behind the desk.
To me, a sucker for the pure, polished ’80s American MR / AOR, this reissue is a must have.
Tracklist:
01. Road Of The Gypsy
02. Northern Shores
03. Broken Hearted Bound
04. Summer Nights
05. Faraway Eyes
06. The Kid's Got A Will To Live
07. The Pressure's On
08. Michael
09. Photograph (Time Passes On)
Band:
Marc Gilbert - Lead Vocals
Michael Romeo - Guitars, Backing Vocals
Flash - Guitars, Backing Vocals
Mark Pastoria - Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Jimmy Romeo - Sax, Backing Vocals
Bruce Schafer - Bass, Backing Vocals
Brian Pastoria - Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Download:
Adrenalin – Road Of The Gypsy (1986) [Reissue 2012 YesterRock Remaster] Lossless+MP3
 |
