by Various
We have known each other since the late 80's and as is the case in many friendships, music of course was the main catalyst. We had lost touch due to family life etc, but again the lure of music brought us together again. We have both shared exactly the same musical tastes throughout, and Mark contacted me about a record I had sold to Gilles Peterson, asking if I had another copy. The conversation eventually turned to records and what we were chasing , and again in perfect symmetry both of us were going back to the sounds of our youth, A.O.R. (Adult Orientated Rock).
Absurd abbreviation for such a great genre, but basically to us it was soft rock with elements of soul, jazz, funk, folk & disco.
Which exactly what this compilation has. After many conversations over the phone on what both of us had collected in this genre I suggested we do a comp. I had spoken with Peter years before about doing a comp for BBE and never got
round to it, but this seemed the perfect project to launch with BBE. So myself & Mark both dug out 8 tracks each and instantly realised we had an absolute classic compilation in the making. The mad thing about the programming of this comp is that there is none. Mark gave me 8 tracks in no particular order & I just added my 8 tracks to the end of his. The flow is seamless and they sound great after one another, and the point is when you have beautiful music it doesn't matter which order you put it in. As well as mainland USA material, we've also included five tracks that originate from Hawaiian artist that fit nicely into this genre of music. We are both working on sourcing material for the Americana 2.
This week's Top 10:
