The new Russian Bootleg CD version of LaMarcas 1985 album.Abe LaMarca has a history steeped in funk, soul and blues, but the upshot is that he has a tremendous vocal range, equipped to do anything really. Previously a member of the band Rastus and unbeknown to many, Abe was signed to Scotti Bros/CBS who obviously knew a thing or two about talent.
During 1985, Abe was able to assemble a talented and hi-tech crew of musicians to play on his solo album simply called 'LaMarca'. Considering we were slap-dab in the middle of corporate over-produced studio engineered albums (think Genesis, A-ha, Go West and Mr Mister), Scotti Bros thought it was high-time to jump into the market with their own offering. Abe was it. Whether he was comfortable with it was another thing (considering this was light-years away from his soul upbringing). Scotti Bros had obviously seen people like Michael Sembello become successful and banked on Abe to do likewise with his obvious vocal skills.
With the back-up of accomplished session musicians such as multifaceted drummer Carlos Vega, Jamie Sheriff (Eyes) or master Tom Kelly (i-Ten, Van Stephenson), they recorded this very good LP between 1984/85.
The style of LaMarca is catchy poppy, radio-friendly AOR with some Hi-Tech elements, mostly uptempo and tasteful.
With that kind of mid-Eighties glossy polished production, all these are delicious tunes, being among my favorites “The Boys” (pure ’80s AOR here), the elegantly keyboard filled “Touch And Go”, and the melodic mid-tempo ballad “When You Question Love”, full of an ’80s magic atmosphere.
Only officially released on vinyl and cassette back in the day, this is a bootleg CD very well transferred to digital and remastered for a pristine balanced output.
Any of these songs could have been part of movie OST from the era, and with Silverman’s Hollywood connections LaMarca managed to get a song into the cult ‘The Wraith’ movie soundtrack, titled “Hold On Blue Eyes”, included here as bonus track.
Additionally, as extra bonus we added the band’s contribution for another legendary ’80s soundtrack, ‘Lady Beware’, the cool song “Bad In Blue”.So, you have here all LaMarca material ever recorded into one package.
A collector’s piece for all AOR / 80s fans.
TRACK LIST
01 Change My Rules
02 Dear Diane
03 Second Chance
04 You
05 Bystander
06 Burn The Bridge
07 Boys
08 When You Question Love
09 Touch And Go
10 It's In The Eyes
11 Hold On Blue Eyes [Bonus - From OST "The Wraith"]
12 Bad In Blue [Bonus - From OST "Lady Beware"]
Lead Vocals - Abe Lamarca
Bass - Phil Chen (Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, Brian May)
Drums - Carlos Vega, Takashi Numazawa, Danny Wynn
Guitar - Jeff Silverman, George Doering, Eric Williams
Keys - Jamie Sheriff (Eyes), Richard Gibbs, Mitchell Froom (Crowded House), Luis Cabaza
Saxophone - Joel Peskin
Backvocals - Tom Kelly (I-Ten, Van Stephenson), Lynda Lawley, Cassell Webb, Abe Lamarca, Larry Lee
Producers – Larry Lee (Richie Zito, Giorgio Moroder), Craig Leon, Joe Chiccarelli
Recording Engineer – Tony Papa
Mixing Engineers – Tony Papa, Steve Bates, Larry Lee
Mastering Engineer – Stephen Marcussen
Assistant Engineer – Jamey Dell
Recorded at Santa Monica Sound Recorders, Santa Monica CA
Mastered at Precision Lacquer, Los Angeles, CA
Best Tommy !
LaMarca – s/t (Russian 2021 CD release) [WAV & 320kbps mp3 + scans]
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