Here’s a little gem from the 2016 AOR CITY 1000 series, the excellent “Over The Line” by talented GREG GUIDRY. Sony Music Japan has started a campaign titled AOR CITY 1000 featuring a Low-priced Reissue on 100 classic AOR / AC albums from their back catalog, many of them out of print or hard to find. This is a limited offer (ending March 2017) with the incredible price around U$S 9 each CD (or 1000 Japanese Yen, hence the name of the campaign).
Among the 100 titles there’s albums by Toto, LeRoux, Balance, Airplay and many other gems, but the interesting ones are the hard to find (or at ridiculous prices) artists / albums such as this “Over The Line”, almost impossible to find and in remastered form.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Guidry played piano and sang in a band with future Doobie Brothers Michael McDonald as a teenager. With quite a bit of help from Rich Lang, friend and fellow multi-talented musician, they wrote and recorded several demos, drove to New York from St.Louis and signed a publishing contract with CBS Records in 1977.
Guidry wrote songs for Robbie Dupree, Climax Blues Band, Exile, Johnny Taylor, Sawyer Brown, and Reba McEntire. In 1981 he sang as a backing vocalist for the Allman Brothers Band on their 1981 album Brothers of the Road.
Then CBS / Columbia gave Greg Guidry the chance for his debut solo album in 1982, offering a renowned team of musicians as session performers including the one and only Dann Huff on all guitars, Toto’s David Hungate on bass, David Sanborn, and many more.
“Over The Line” produced two hit singles, the Top 20 ‘Goin’ Down’ and the lovely duet of Greg with his sister Sandy, ‘Into My Love’.
However, despite the album sold pretty well, Guidry decided to continue as songwriter for other artists during the ’80s. He did not issue a follow-up album until 2000, when Soul’d Out and Private Session were released.
Considered a cult classic AOR / West Coast piece – and rightfully so – “Over The Line” is one of the most complete albums from the genre and incredibly one of the most unknown.
You’ll be impressed by the consistent quality and excellence of all the 10 songs on offer, from the elegant arrangements to the terrific playing.
This is not just another ‘soft rock’ album from the early ’80s. Guidry delivers a soulful vocal performance all over, there’s some kind of ‘tight’ rhythm section and of course you have talented Dan Huff providing masterclass guitar lines and top class solos.
Seriously, there’s not a single weak track on “Over The Line”.
“Over The Line” is a rare, must have record and now this is your chance to get (at least used) a Japanese CD Edition at a really affordable price. The remastered sound is simply great, perfectly balanced.
You can’t miss this reissue of Greg Guidry’s “Over The Line”, a really hard to find record and a collectors piece.
HIGHLY Recommended
01 - Goin' Down
02 - (That's) How Long
03 - Show Me Your Love
04 - If Love Doesn't Find Us
05 - Gotta Have More Love
06 - Over The Line
07 - (I'm) Givin' It Up
08 - Are You Ready For Love
09 - Into My Love
10 - Darlin' It's You
Greg Guidry - vocals, keyboards
Dann Huff - guitars
David Hungate - bass, vocals
Larry Crew, Gary Lunn - bass
Phil Naish - keyboards, piano
Gabriel Katona - synths
James Stroud, Mark Hammond & Mike Psanos - drums
Bobby LaKind - percussion
David Sanborn, William Page - sax
Sandy Guidry - vocals on Into My Love
GREG GUIDRY – Over The Line [Japan remastered AOR CITY 1000 ] 2016
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