Welcome to the 2012 MelRock Awards. I know.it's 2014 already.

Only a year late! This is where I roll out my usual 'it's never too late to discover or remember great music you might have missed.' Hopefully it still works!

I apologize profusely for the ridiculously late (and hopefully not too irrelevant) 2012 Awards page. The 2013 page is right around the corner.stand. I've made sure to complete these awards, as 2012 was truly a killer year for music. Some amazing albums were on offer, where any of the top 5-6 could have been Album Of The Year in any other year and the plethora of classic songs made Song Of The Year almost impossible to pick. The runners up are all great songs that deserve to be in your collections - do check them out if you haven't already had them in high rotation for the last 18+ months!

1 Rick Springfield Songs For The End Of The World Not too many 60+ year olds continue to kick ass with new tunes, and even less of them can make a statement as fresh, as vibrant and as contemporary as this album. Rick Springfield delivers arguably his best album since the 80s - an album that is filled with his usual angst filled anthems, but delivered with an upbeat attitude.

The energy within these songs is something a 30 year old would be proud of. There was no question this would be my album of the year after I'd had it a week. It really is the perfect melodic rock album for me and many others. 2 Eclipse Bleed Scream These Swedish lads deserve to be huge - their attitude, attention to detail and energy flows through every track on this album. The guys get better and better with age and fans were relieved to see that the long wait for this album was well worth it. Taking a heavier direction, the guys really turned it on and nailed it.

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Harmonies, melodies and rousing rock anthems from start to finish. Another perfect album in my estimation.

Address The Nation I didn't award this album a perfect score, but it was so damn close. And as time went on, it continues to be an album on high rotation and of constant enjoyment, so for that reason it edges out the also awesome Jimi Jamison album at #4. The band took a gamble on newcomer Erik Gronwall and discovered a match made in heaven. The slightly different approach Erik brings to the table has in my view, taken this band to the next level and on the brink of world domination. This is how I love my melodic rock delivered and Erik's vocals are simply brilliant. 4 Jimi Jamison Never Too Late Teaming with the guy that can do no wrong - Erik Martensson - Jimi delivers one of his best vocal performances ever on an album packed with hard hitting songs that define his career.

Anthems, heartfelt melodies and emotional vocals. Fist in the air, feel good music, all delievred with a powerful production. Perfect for all fans of Jimi's past and present and still a much loved album for me.

5 Van Halen A Different Kind Of Truth One of my favourite groups of all time. But no one gave them a chance of recapturing former glories, so it was with genuine excitement and amazement that this album not only matched the long held expectations, but exceeded them. The energy within this album was my biggest surprise, I really didn't expect the tempo to be quite so furious from these old dogs. But what a great album - pieced together through adversity and a less than standard way of recording, but whatever they did - it worked! 6 Halestrom - The Strange Case Of.

- The best female fronted hard rock band on the planet and an album that lives up to that claim. The songs are fantastic and the production truly in your face. And the ballads! They are just fantastic. 7 Shinedown - Amaryllis - And the best modern rock/metal band on the planet right here.

They can do no wrong. The vocals of Smith and the power from the rest of the band make them leaders in their field. 8 Pride Of Lions - Immortal - Life in the old dog yet. The Jim Peterik/Toby Hitchcock vehicle returns for another album of pomp friendly, feel good, anthemic old school melodic rock. 9 Magnum - On The 13th Day - Another veteran of the scene also turning on their best, showing bands twenty years their junior just how it's done. Their best album since reforming. 10 Jack Blades - Rock N Roll Ride - Jack's second solo album is a far better and more consistent album than his debut and sits right alongside the awesome Night Ranger album from 2011 as a must have release.

• Gun - Break the Silence • Chris Antblad - A New Dawn • Primal Fear - Unbreakable • Eric Martin - Mr. Rock Vocalist • Mad Max - Another Night Of Passion • The Veer Union - Divide The Blackened Sky • Dynazty - Sultans Of Sin • Blessed By A Broken Heart - Feel The Power • Pink - The Truth About Love • Flying Colors - Flying Colors • Silence - City (Days) / City (Nights) • Impera - Legacy Of Life • Issa - Can't Stop • Dante Fox - Lost Man's Ground • Anberlin - Vital • Axel Rudi Pell - Circle Of The Oath • Miles Of Will - Wild Ride EP. • Rick Springfield - Our Ship's Sinking • Rick Springfield - Wide Awake • H.EA.T. - Breaking The Silence • Eclipse - Wake Me Up • Jimi Jamison - Everybody's Got A Broken Heart • Rick Springfield - One Way Street • H.E.A.T. - Living On The Run • Van Halen - You And Your Blues • Eclipse - Bleed And Scream • H.E.A.T - It's All About Tonight • Jeff Scott Soto - Die A Little • Pride Of Lions - Delusional • Jimi Jamison - Never Too Late • Rick Springfield - Signs Of Life • Jim Jamison - Not Tonight • Van Halen - Trouble With Never • H.E.A.T. - Better Off Alone • Eclipse - Battlegrounds • Hardline - 10,000 Reasons • Jeff Scott Soto - Damage Control • Van Halen - China Town • Pride Of Lions - Immortal • Gotthard - Remember It's Me • Jack Blades - Born For This • Eclipse - Bitter Taste • Shinedown - Unity • Halestorm - Mrs.

Hyde • Magnum - So Let It Rain • Pride Of Lions - Tie Down The Wind • Hartmann - All Of My Life • Rick Springfield - My Last Heartbeat • Shinedown - Adrenaline • Richie Sambora - Every Road Lead Back To You • Magnum - Shadowtown • Van Halen - Blood & Fire • Threshold - Ashes • Richard Marx - Had Enough • Romeo's Daughter - Alive • Bonrud - Bullet In The Back • Lita Ford - Living Like A Runaway • Miles of Will - Wild Ride • Pride Of Lions - Vital Signs • Shinedown - I'm Not Alright • Delta Goodrem - Child Of The Universe • Tango Down - Back To Life • Sunstorm - Never Give Up • H.E.A.T. - Need Her • Tyketto - Faithless • Miles of Will - Time & Place • Loverboy - Heartbreaker • Jack Blades - Back In The Game • Trixter - Tattoo's & Misery. VOCALIST OF THE YEAR: Rick Springfield 2012 was a year of veterans showing how it's done and Rick's vocal performance on his latest album was nothing short of stunning. Honorable Mentions - Erik Gronwall (H.E.A.T); Toby Hitchcock; Jimi Jamison; Lzzy Hale (Halestorm); Brent Smith (Shinedown) Past Winners: 2011 - Eric Martin 2010 - Marcie Free 2009 - John Elefante 2008 - Arnel Pineda 2007 - Mike Reno 2006 - Pekka Ansio Heino 2005 - Jorn Lande 2004 - Jeff Scott Soto 2003 - Harry Hess. GUITARIST OF THE YEAR: Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen) Class is class. Exceeding all expectations and still relevant after 30 years of making music.still showing the kids how it's done. Honorable Mentions - Rick Springfield; Erik Martinsson; Magnus Henriksson; Joe Hottinger (Halestorm); Zach Myers (Shinedown), Jim Peterik (Pride Of Lions).

Past Winners: 2011 - Neal Schon 2010 - Steve Lukather 2009 - Erik Martensson 2008 - Doug Aldrich 2007 - Thorsten Koehne 2006 - Steve Lukather 2005 - Magnus Karlsson DRUMMER OF THE YEAR: Alex Van Halen (Van Halen) Who would have given Van Halen a chance of delivering a high-energy album after all these years? And the old guy behind the kit hammering away furiously like a 20 year old is this year's Drummer of The Year. Honorable Mentions - Barry Kerch (Shinedown); Arejay Hale (Halestorm); Rodger Carter (Rick Springfield); Robban Back (Eclipse). Past Winners: 2011 - Pat Torpey 2010 - Jamie Borger 2009 - Steve West 2008 - The Drum Machine 2007 - Kelly Keagy 2006 - Simon Phillips 2005 - Daniel Flores. BASSIST OF THE YEAR: Wolfgang Van Halen (Van Halen) The kid delivers.

On a hiding to nothing - son of the band's legendary guitarist and deposing the very popular Michael Anthony - Wolfgang withstands the pressure and shows talent runs in the bloodlines. A great effort on the VH album. Honorable mentions - Matt Bissonette (Rick Springfield), Jack Blades, Glenn Hughes (Black Country Communion). Past Winners: 2011 - Billy Sheehan 2010 - Nalle Pahlsson 2009 - Bruno Ravel 2008 - Matt Bissonette 2007 - Jack Blades 2006 - Marcel Jacob KEYBOARDIST OF THE YEAR: Alessandro Del Vecchio (Hardline, Lionville, Issa, Empires of Eden, Laneslide) The Italian master made 2012 his own with a hand in more than 10 albums over the course of the year, either playing, writing and/or producing.with even more coming up in 2013/2014! Honorable mentions - 'Mr. Keyboards' Eric Ragno, Michael T Ross, Jim Peterik (Pride Of Lions), Mark Stanway (Magnum). Past Winners: 2011 - Eric Ragno 2010 - CJ Vanston 2009 - Darren Wharton 2008 - Eric Ragno 2007 - Eric Ragno.

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR: Erik Martensson (For the Eclipse album - with Magnus Henriksson - and also the Jimi Jamison album) Two fantastic albums with huge, bombastic sound.brining the best out of everyone. Honorable mentions - Ross Hogarth (Van Halen); Rick Springfield & Matt Bissonette; Tobias Lindell (H.E.A.T); Howard Benson (Halestorm); Alessandro Del Vecchio (Hardline, Lionville, as well as helping with parts in Frozen Rain, Code of Silence, Charming Grace, Sapphire Eyes, Wheels Of Fire) Past Winners: 2011 - Kevin Shirley 2010 - Steve Lukather, CJ Vanston, Steve MacMillan 2009 - Erik Martensson 2008 - Dennis Ward 2007 - Dennis Ward 2006 - Harry Hess & Pete Lesperance (Harem Scarem) 2005 - Dennis Ward 2004 - Fabrizio V.Zee Grossi 2003 - Tommy Denander.

Seriously Great White.you only had the budget for half an album cover?? Could there be a worse band name than Audio Porn?

Dee Snider doing Broadway. In what universe do some of these artists think that albums like these will appeal to the fan base? Longest album title of 2012: Docker's Guild - The Mystic Technocracy - Season 1: The Age Of Ignorance. Quite a mouthful! Very interesting album though.

I'm still trying to work out how Night Ranger came up with '24 Strings and a Drummer'. If Brad had 12 strings, Joel also, then what about Jack's bass? That'd make 28.

If Brad had 6 and Joel 12 plus Jack, then that's 22. And what about Eric's keys? Ah well.it's a great album! UPDATE: 'NR called it '24 strings' because Blades actually play a guitar on the DVD, not a bass.

And in the middle of the concert, they have an extra guitarist from Shaw-Blades help them, so 4x six strings guitars.' Still doesn't explain the keyboards:) German rockers Dominoe FINALLY released an album without the song Here I Am on it! Congrats guys. I'm sure there was lots more, but this was 2012, I can't think back that far. Time to get onto the 2013 Awards!

Welcome to the 2011 MelRock Awards. Late as usual of course, but I will simply revert to my tried and tested line that it is never too late to discover new music and to go over an annual summary and check out titles you might have missed. And there are plenty of titles below to check out. The Top 30 albums are expanded to the Top 40 of 2011 and Song Of The Year is busted way open from 50 titles to 100.

There were simply that many great releases and great songs around in 2011. In fact I call it the best year of music releases since 1992. A lot of big names delivered and few disappointed, which I think sets things up for a positive few years ahead as bands continue to 'get' what fans want and try and deliver just that. Of course there's a stubborn few that still want to do their own thing and that's ok too.just as long as the song quality remains high and there's some hooks to hang on to. Strangeways is one band that just doesn't get it (in my opinion), but the Top 40 is filled with bands that did. Not too many disappointments in 2011, nothing major at least apart from the obvious Metallica disaster and the Bulletboys album was pretty atrocious too. I often get asked what my favourite albums of past years (before this site) were.

So I am beginning to address that by filling in the gaps. These are pretty simple Top 30 lists of the best (or my favourite at least) albums of that particular year. It was really interesting going back over those years and remembering just what albums came out when and how they stack up against each other now.some 15-20 years later! Amazingly.not too much has changed as far as my tastes and opinions. So when you get done reading the 2011 MelRock Awards, why not check out two more years: For now.on with 2011! Thanks for reading.

Onto the Awards! For the first time ever - we have a tie for Album Of The Year. I have been nominating the best album from every year I have been running the site and this is the 14th #1 - but for the first time ever, the #1 spot has been shared by two artists. No matter what I did, I could not split these two killer albums.

Two bands with rich histories that both delivered knockout albums in 2011 that made them both sound as vibrant as if they were debut albums. But two very different albums. Ignore the #2 next to NR - it's the lack of flexibility in the HTML coding! Big's album is quite raw and some didn't appreciate the Kevin Shirley production - but listen to the results on this album.

Feel the energy of a band playing off each other in the studio setting where things can be notoriously sterile. Is filled with songs that take the listener to the edge. It captures the guys at their very best and the individual performances within, are simply stunning. Everyone delivers. And to this day I'm still marvelling over the interplay between the guys on certain tracks. They just seem to know what each other is thinking before they get there and the winner is the fans that bought this album.

Album Of The Year 2011. 2 Night Ranger Somewhere In California Easily the band's most controversial album since Raised On Radio and perhaps the most controversial part of my 2011 list (at least for those that disagree!). I can hear the gasps now as fans that disliked this album wander around dazed and confused as to how it could be ranked 3rd best album of 2011? Well.go back to Raised On Radio or Arrival and seek solace. I loved the album right from the start and my enthusiasm hasn't dwindled any. Whether he likes the tag or not, this IS Neal Schon's record, as it is his amazing performance that drives the energy behind this record.

The longer songs and the heavier, less chorus dominated direction of this album may have alienated some, but for those that like their music a little darker and more challenging sometimes, this is the album to have. I think the band need to be applauded for taking risks at this stage of their career and going against what most expected. If you pull the album apart, there were a few tracks that demand attention and stand out as the best on the album. But generally, it was a real 'album' as such, in that the listener is best served listening to it from start to end and enjoying it as a body of work. 3 Journey Eclipse No one gave Mecca a chance of coming close to their masterpiece AOR debut. And I guess some might still state that. The slight change of direction didn't work for some, but at the heart of this album is an emotional journey and a story that few others could have told so well.

This is simply one of the best Westcoast pop/AOR albums of the last decade, with a high-tech, yet honest feel that may have taken 6 years to complete, but feels to me like it was worth the wait. I know some others disagree, but this really is a wonderfully produced album that deserves the attention of AOR/Westcoast fans. I had this album for some 6 months before release and it really is a slow burner that never gets tired, so I hope some folks will revisit this album and re-discover it's greatness. 4 Mecca Undeniable No one gave Mecca a chance of coming close to their masterpiece AOR debut. And I guess some might still state that. The slight change of direction didn't work for some, but at the heart of this album is an emotional journey and a story that few others could have told so well. This is simply one of the best Westcoast pop/AOR albums of the last decade, with a high-tech, yet honest feel that may have taken 6 years to complete, but feels to me like it was worth the wait.

I know some others disagree, but this really is a wonderfully produced album that deserves the attention of AOR/Westcoast fans. I had this album for some 6 months before release and it really is a slow burner that never gets tired, so I hope some folks will revisit this album and re-discover it's greatness. 5 Toby Hitchcock Mercury Down The Pride Of Lions vocalist matched with Eclipse's Erik Martensson - there could be only one result - a classic melodic rock album. And any other year this album might have made it to #1, but with the still competition of 2011, it still makes the Top 5. A monster album of monster anthems and a vocal performance that is turned to max from the first note. It's certainly heavier than expected, but really works well. 6 Work Of Art - In Progress - The best pure AOR album of 2011 and again - it could have been #1 without question.

An even more impressive album that the already heralded debut and shows these guys are in a class of their own and that the debut was not a fluke. 7 Chris Ousey - Rhyme And Reason - For me this was the best album Chris has been involved in since the classic Virginia Wolf debut. He sings his heart out here and the songs are blindingly heavy in places (for what we are used to from Chris). The team of Mike Slamer and Tommy Denander work seamlessly together as a team and make one hell of a melodic hard rock album. I hope the guys come back for another round soon.

8 Eden's Curse - Trinity - Well, in what should have been a triumphant year for the band, it all went horribly wrong. And there will be some that will be surprised I'm still willing to talk about this album at all after how the departing singer acted.

But I want to talk about the music here and the rets of the band remain intact. There is no question that this album was the band's best of their 3 albums to date and the performances on this album were also easily their best. That includes the lead vocals, which eclipsed the first two records.

This album lifted EC to world class contenders. This was just a great set of songs and another big production for the guys and I think all fans were really taken with this killer hard rock record.

9 Whitesnake - Forevermore - No tricks or gimmicks, just Whitesnake doing what Whitesnake do best - with Doug Aldrich well in control of the band's sound. Mixing two era's of the band's past - the 70s and the late 80s - this record shows that old dogs can still deliver. Along with some of the other elder statesmen of rock n roll in the Top 10, it was really pleasing to see these guys still delivering quality music in 2011. Another album with few standout songs, but rather a solid overall start to finish record. Yes, David is singing within himself, but it is all about being aware of your limitations and playing to your strengths. This record certainly does that. 10 Within Temptation - The Unforgiving - The Dutch Symphonic rockers show the competition how it is done and puts previous front runners like Nightwish well and truly in their place - a long ways behind!

A heavy and dramatic record with some glorious vocals and symphonic passages of music. Easily the band's best album to date. • Robin Beck - The Great Escape • Fiona - Unbroken • Magnum - Evolution • Adelitas Way - Home School Valedictorian • Houston - Relaunch • Fate - Ghosts From The Past • Sencelled - Sencelled • Shannon Noll - Switch Me On • Xorigin - State Of The Art • Enbound - And She Says Gold • Miss Behaviour - Last Woman Standing • Far Cry - Optimism • Jamie Allen - The Storyteller • Ten - Stormwarning • King Kobra - King Kobra • Issa - The Storm • Talon - III • Sebastian Back - Kicking And Screaming • Sven Larsson - Sunlight And Shadow • Uriah Heep - Into The Wild • Edguy - Age Of The Joker. • Survivor - When Seconds Count / Too Hot To Sleep (Rock Candy) • Stan Bush - Stan Bush / Stan Bush & Barrage (Rock Candy) • Strangeways - Strangeways / Walk In The Fire / Native Sons (Rock Candy) • King Of Hearts - King Of Hearts (Avenue Of Allies) • Vandenberg - Vandenberg (Rock Candy) • David Roberts - All Dressed Up / The Missing Years / Better Late Than Never (Avenue Of Allies) • Kansas - Power / In The Spirit Of Things • Paul Laine - Stick It In Your Ear (AOR Heaven Classix) • Royal Blood - Thanks Seattle For Killing My Band And My Dreams • Notorious - Radio Silence. • Beggars & Thieves - We Come Undone • Journey - Anything Is Possible • Toby Hitchcock - I Should Have Said • Night Ranger - Bye Bye Baby (Not Tonight) • Mr.

Big - Undertow • John Waite - Better Off Gone • Journey - Edge Of The Moment • House Of Lords - One Man Down • Night Ranger - It's Not Over • Mr. VOCALIST OF THE YEAR: Eric Martin (Mr. Big) An absolutely stunning vocal performance on the comeback Mr. Whether it be wailing with the heaviest tunes or turning soulful on the ballads, Eric's voice has always been a joy to listen to and he continues to impress still. Honorable Mentions - Lars Safsund (Work Of Art, Lionville, Enbound), Arnel Pineda (Journey); Bob Catley (Magnum); Toby Hitchcock; Jimi Jamison; Joe Vana; Sammy Hagar (Chickenfoot). Past Winners: 2010 - Marcie Free 2009 - John Elefante 2008 - Arnel Pineda 2007 - Mike Reno 2006 - Pekka Ansio Heino 2005 - Jorn Lande 2004 - Jeff Scott Soto 2003 - Harry Hess.

GUITARIST OF THE YEAR: Neal Schon (Journey) Agree or disagree with the Eclipse album, there is no doubt that Neal's guitar rules the record and is without question some of his best playing ever laid down on record. Honorable Mentions - Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big); Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake); Brad Gillis/Joel Hoekstra (Night Ranger); Tommy Denander; Joe Satriani (Chickenfoot). Past Winners: 2010 - Steve Lukather 2009 - Erik Martensson 2008 - Doug Aldrich 2007 - Thorsten Koehne 2006 - Steve Lukather 2005 - Magnus Karlsson DRUMMER OF THE YEAR: Pat Torpey (Mr. Big) Pat's drumming is just huge on the new Mr. Big album and together with Billy Sheehan he provides one of the best and most progressive rhythm sections in rock n roll.

Honorable Mentions - Deen Castronovo (Journey); Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger). Past Winners: 2010 - Jamie Borger 2009 - Steve West 2008 - The Drum Machine 2007 - Kelly Keagy 2006 - Simon Phillips 2005 - Daniel Flores. BASSIST OF THE YEAR: Billy Sheehan (Mr.

Big) The new Mr. Big record takes the record for most bass solos in one recorded album. What a masterful display of talent and the interplay between Billy and Pat & Paul is simply staggering at times. Honorable mentions - Michael Anthony (Chickenfoot); Paul Logue (Eden's Curse) Past Winners: 2010 - Nalle Pahlsson 2009 - Bruno Ravel 2008 - Matt Bissonette 2007 - Jack Blades 2006 - Marcel Jacob KEYBOARDIST OF THE YEAR: Eric Ragno (Farcry, Talon, Mecca, Fergie Frederiksen, Pushking) Mr. Keyboard wins for yet another standout year, not only performing with various bands and making their albums that bit richer for his involvement, Eric also made a whole bunch of other unheralded contributions where his efforts go further to making others sound even better.

He is a vital part of the MR scene and one of the true good guys. Honorable mentions - Jonathan Cain (Journey); Eric Levy (Night Ranger); Lars Safsund (Work Of Art) Past Winners: 2010 - CJ Vanston 2009 - Darren Wharton 2008 - Eric Ragno 2007 - Eric Ragno. PRODUCER OF THE YEAR: Kevin Shirley (Journey, Mr. Big, Black Country Communion, Joe Bonamassa) Controversial decision? Perhaps so.as Kevin's raw/70s influenced/bass heavy production style alienates some fans. But look at the results - Journey, Mr. Big, BCC and Joe Bonamassa.

That's a staggering record for a 12 month period. And listen to the band's on those albums - Mr. Big especially - delivering the performance of a lifetime. It takes some talent to capture that on record, so Mr.

Shirley takes home the award easily. Honorable mentions - Dennis Ward (Fergie Frederiksen, Eden's Curse); Erik Martensson (Toby Hitchcock); Mike Slamer/Tommy Denander (Chris Ousey); Kevin Churko (Beggars & Thieves) Past Winners: 2010 - Steve Lukather, CJ Vanston, Steve MacMillan 2009 - Erik Martensson 2008 - Dennis Ward 2007 - Dennis Ward 2006 - Harry Hess & Pete Lesperance (Harem Scarem) 2005 - Dennis Ward 2004 - Fabrizio V.Zee Grossi 2003 - Tommy Denander. Steve Harris (Shy), Steve Mach (Skin & Bones), Johnny G (Bulletboys), Jani Lane (Warrant), Jason Stonewall, Dan Peek (America), Joe Elliott Snr (Joe's Father), Taiji Sawada (X), Clarence Clemons (E Street Band), Dag Stokke (TNT), Matthew Davis LaPorte (Jon Olivia's Pain), Scott Colombus (Manowar), Mike Starr (Alice In Chains), Gary Moore, Henrik Ostergaard (Dirty Looks), Jan Somers (Vengeance), Tom Nigra (Trigger), Don Kirshner (veteran music mogul), Steve Prestwich (Cold Chisel), Harvey James (Sherbert), Phil Kennemore (Y&T), Pat Moran (record producer). And Basil - the MelodicRock Dog.

May these great people (and 1 dog) all Rest In Peace. A massive year as previously stated. And not nearly enough comments here to sum any part of it up. But it's May right?

So.a few random thoughts as they come to me: ClassicRock Magazine launched their AOR side magazine, which started off really fresh, but soon got caught up in the reality of operating in the very insular scene that is AOR/melodic rock. Motley Crue got thrown on the cover of Issue 5 (to a huge uproar) and by Issue 6 the decision was made to cut it back to an Annual special. Opportunity lost there. James Christian successfully battled through a cancer scare and one hopes he can regain full health for many years to come. Same with Tony Iommi, who shocked the world with the announcement he was also fighting the disease. Jon Lord remains in treatment also. I hate this disease.

Legendary producer Keith Olsen was rewarded for his efforts with a Hollywood Fan Lifetime Achievement Award. Journey received a 'Legends Of Live' Award from the very prestigious Billboard Magazine on top of their Eclipse and Greatest Hits 2 CDs. I finally scored my elusive Steve Perry interview – it went as well as hoped. It was great talking to the legendary vocalist. All that I need now is a chat with Eddie Van Halen, Joe Elliott and Mutt Lange and I'll be done!

Mike Reno lost 50 pounds – good on him! Rumor has it he can now fit back into those red leather pants. I loved the band's Heartbreaker single.

No sign of the second track they recorded yet though. Apparently it still hasn't been mastered. John Sykes left Thin Lizzy finally, hooked up with a new power trio and then went on to leave said power trio to record a new solo album. I'll expect that in about 2017.

It was the year of the biography, with Sammy Hagar spilling more beans than he probably should have; plus biogs from Keith Richards, Belinda Carlisle, Duff McKagen, Stephen Addler, Glenn Hughes and Ozzy Osbourne. The quality of CD artwork continued to decline, but realistically, it ain't going to get any better. At least some new Photoshop filters are due out soon. A lot of complaints from fans also about cheap promo film clips. YouTube has such a huge influence on modern media, these are finally being considered important again for the first time since eMpTV sold its soul to reality shows a decade back. But with limited budgets and little chance of these clips being played anywhere else but on YouTube, it shouldn't be any surprise that they aren't overly impressive. But they do the job and that's about it.

Still, creativity is not dead, there are still some get clips made on a budget out there. And you know what I like best - actually being able to see these bands in action - seeing the faces behind the music instead of a lame promo picture. On a personal note, nothing to grand to speak of really.

A positively terrible year for business and the whole problem of bringing a brand new website to life from the ground up has proved to be too much for one company and I'm still working with the new developer getting Take 2 finished. But.it's coming. The fact that ClassicRock magazine couldn't bring itself to continue dealing with the insular AOR scene with it's AOR magazine is a major wakeup call, but I don't see anything changing. There is so little money in this small scene, but I am continually amazed at how many releases there are out there to choose from.

No wonder sales are struggling. The minute a release comes out it's done, publicity is over and we're all waiting for the next one. Site stats: It may be a financially crumbling scene, but the users and visitors to this site hasn't changed. There are still plenty of folks that want to read about MelodicRock and thank God for that!

2011 Visitor Stats: Total unique users: 1,665,138 // Total Visits: 5,822,245 // Number Of Pages Read: 32,489,067 // Total 'Hits': 371,063,042 // Total Data Used (Outbound): 12,940 GigaBytes. Best Months for traffic: May, October & November. Slowest Day: Sunday.

Best Days: Tues/Wed/Thur/Fri. Top Countries (in order): United States, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, France, Spain, Norway, Finland, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, Brazil, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Austria, New Zealand, China, Indonesia.

Cheap Trick are nearly crushed by a collapsing stage in Ottawa Canada. 5 others were injured.

Sammy Hagar tells all.way to much! Talking of details of so much sex during the Van Halen F.U.C.K. Tour, including lining up young lasses under the stage. Jimi Jamison returns once again to Survivor.

Lawsuits vanish! Japan in full re-issue by any and all means frenzy - SHM-CD, Cardboard Sleeves, Blu-Spec CD, HQCD and not to mention the Limited Release and Priced-Down Reissue tags. Both Van Halen and Def Leppard had CDs released featuring their songs as lullaby's.

The 'We Finally Shat And Got Off The Pot' Award - Van Halen - And strangely enough.it was actually worth the wait! The ' Steve Perry/Journey Best Bust Up' Award - Jack Rusell vs Great White vs Jack Russell vs Great White - Ugly doesn't even cover it - the documents released by both sides paint a very negative picture of how the band and its former singer operated. The 'Most One-Sided Bust Up' Award - Eden's Curse - Some said it was inevitable. One party said everything and then some. The rest of the band said nothing. The 'Too Precious' Award - Van Halen - For objecting to Jump being included in US broadcasts of 'An Idiot Abroad', featuring Carl doing bad karaoke.

The 'Now Your See Them, Now You Don't' Award - Oni Logan - Ready to sing and tour for Lynch Mob, he disappears the day the tour starts, only to re-join the band late in the year as if nothing happened. Glad he's back though. The 'Most Pointless Appointment Of A Lead Singer' Award - LA Guns (Tracii Version) - Tracii was obviously hitting on Dilana and announced her as lead singer of the band. A week later she was gone. Thank goodness.but what happened there? The 'Son Of A Gun' Award - Blades & Lukather - That's Colin Blades and Trevor Lukather forming a band together. The 'Retiring Until I Come Back' Award - Brian Howe - Says goodbye to recording with farewell EP.

You know he'll be back! The 'Using Facebook To Piss Off Fans By Spamming' Award - Subway - This German band were utterly relentless in their constant spamming of everyone on Facebook by multiple users. And when challenged, they just ignored it and kept spamming. Not even their label knew how bad it was.

The ' Power Quest Most Line-Up Changes In One Year' Award - Ten - After recording just one album together as a line-up, Ten lost 3 members over a couple of weeks and then gained 3 more. Gary Hughes remains at the helm. The 'Talking Smack' Award - Sammy Hagar - Spent most of the year dissing the VH brothers. Understandable to a point.but that point grew old about half way through the year.and he's still going! The 'Vanishing Labels' Award - Suncity Records, Blistering Records - R.I.P. Z Records is still going though. The 'Bite The Hand That Feeds' Award - Jon Bon Jovi - Steve Jobs/Apple is evil says JBJ and is destroying the record industry.

Well.maybe.maybe not. What is for certain is that Jobs changed it for good in an era where sales were slipping, but those changes have also lead to less demand for the art form known as 'the album'. The 'Shortest Ever Tour Announcement-To-Cancellation' Award - Crown Of Thorns - Their 2-show Aussie tour went on sale, only to have single figure ticket sales.

It was promptly cancelled. The 'Is It A Myth' Award - The Steve Augeri Solo Album - It's still coming out right mate?! The 'Worst Tweeted Planking' Shot - Nancy Wilson & Wolfgang Van Halen - Both pics were, um.unnecessary! THE PREDICTED BEST OF 2012: Rick Springfield, Pride Of Lions, Alliance, Jimi Jamison, Magnum, Eclipse, Degreed, All I Know, Bonrud, Chris Laney, LA Guns, Seventh Key, W.E.T., Find Me, Steve Lukather, Brother Firetribe, Kiss, Baton Rogue, Slash, Jaded Heart, Asia, Hess, Pink Cream 69, Ozone, Overland, Hartmann, Rush, Richie Sambora, Shinedown, Halestorm, Hardline, Van Halen, HEAT, Jeff Scott Soto, Jack Blades, Trixter, Casablanca, Bruce Springsteen, Romeo's Daughter, Jakob Samuel, Adrenalin Mob. Of course there are plenty more that may or not make it by the end of the year - Survivor, Dare, Eden's Curse, The Darkness, Dream Theater, Fair Warning, Fran Cosmo, Mecca, Ratt, Leverage, Def Leppard, Keith Semple.

And then there's the Dokken album, but the only way I think that will rate is if they get a new singer:). Now, we're talking the 2011 calendar year right, so no shouting out names at me.

I know folks look forward to this. I wish there wasn't any candidates at all to be honest! This year I have selected a few random emails from fans of mine that never fail to give me a laugh. I won't embarrass those that sent them in.man love can be hard thing to deal with: 1 - 'Every day you become a bigger prick you sad loser. Wonder how much Frontiers pays you to praise the new shitty Journey record. The preview review on the message boards was so fucking laughable.

Fucking prick.' (From former Noticeboard user 'Born To Run') 2 - 'there's always some kind of excuse, none of these other music sites stop, if something happens they have someone to help out. Hope your knee falls off!!!!!!!' - In response to be being hospitalised with badly infected knee.

3 - The bootlegger that was selling a compilation CD made up of 90 second samples taken from my frontpage samples to promote the release of MRCD8. 4 - The phantom postcard sender! I haven't had one in a while now, but there was one sent earlier in 2011. In fact, after 2 or 3 postcards, our British fanboy upgraded to a LETTER! He must have got a raise in his pocket money. And it appears he can't read, as most of the points made below were covered in the interview. Back to the 2010 Awards - a few quick notes.

I have included titles from MelodicRock Records. I never reviewed any of my own titles for obvious reasons, but felt as if they deserved to be counted amongst their peers for 'Best Of' honors. I think I have been very fair how I have placed them and state right now that they would be in the very same places had they been released on any other label. I noticed a few things in compiling these great albums. One thing is that 2010 was a KILLER year for Debut Albums. So many strong first time releases.

The other thing I note is that how quickly time flies. Essentially the 2009 titles are 2 years old and I was adding them into the lists thinking that I had only just reviewed them, just finished talking about them and here we are two years later already. It proves how quickly we are almost forced onto the next title as we are with monthly releases from most labels.

There is just so many records to get through and I guess that is why sales are so low for some and why piracy forces it's way into the scene as people clamour to check out more releases than they can possible afford. And nothing there is about to change. Lastly - because I'm so far behind here - don't shoot me for overlooking any particular title or song.

I did my best to go back over the last 2 years and include everything that needed to be included. I think most quality releases over this period have found their way into the lists below. Of course, feel free to let me know what I missed.

Just don't yell:). 1 Treat Coup De Grace Was there ever any doubt? And with an additional 10 months to contemplate this, there is still no doubt.

A melodic rock classic 2 Unruly Child World's Collide For any high profile return there is always huge expectations. And in this case the band delivered - none more so than Marcie Free - that voice has been gone for too long, but still sounds wonderful. A diverse, but cohesive album with some absolute blinding AOR tracks. 3 Steve Lukather All's Well That Ends Well A monster album filled with killer riffs, killer songs, killer solos and a lot of personal angst. There's an an honesty here that speaks to fans in a way few artists can.

4 Jimi Jamison Never Too Late Teaming with the guy that can do no wrong - Erik Martensson - Jimi delivers one of his best vocal performances ever on an album packed with hard hitting songs that define his career. Anthems, heartfelt melodies and emotional vocals. Fist in the air, feel good music, all delievred with a powerful production. Perfect for all fans of Jimi's past and present and still a much loved album for me.

5 Brian Howe Circus Bar Probably the biggest surprise of the year. A modern styled record, but with all the class of classic Howe lead Bad Company.

A memorable and extremely catchy record. 6 Degreed - Life, Love, Loss - Well, I decided I can toot my own horn a little.

Even if not on my label, this album would have been right here anyway. Absolutely love it. A bridge between the old and the new - with kick ass songs. 7 Crazy Lixx - New Religion - With no expectations - this blew me away with its old school hands in the air anthems and contemporary production.

8 Giant - Promise Land - Despite the stupid album title and questions over the band name, the guys really delivered a great melodic rock album with some classic production and wonderful songs. 9 Crash Diet - Generation Wild - Another surprise package - a lot of angst and energy in this hard rocking, hard sleazing album from Sweden (again!). 10 Allen/Lande - The Showdown - Jack's second solo album is a far better and more consistent album than his debut and sits right alongside the awesome Night Ranger album from 2011 as a must have release. 11 Fenrik Lane - 317 12 James LaBrie - Static Impulse 13 First Signal - First Signal 14 Ratt - Infestation 15 Rock Sugar - Reimaginator 16 Vega - Kiss Of Life 17 N.O.W. - Force Of Nature 18 Black Country Communion - Black Country Communion 19 Tony Harnell & The Mercury Chain - Round Trip 20 Issa - Sign Of Angels 21 Auras - New Generation 22 Houston - Houston 23 Kiske/Somerville - Kiske/Somerville 24 Pretty Maids - Pandemonium 25 Nelson - Lightning Strikes Twice 26 Scorpions - Sting In The Tail 27 FM - Metropolis 28 Salute - Heart Of The Machine 29 Mass - Sea Of Black 30 Rick Springfield & Jeff Silverman - From The Vault. • All I Know - Vanity Kills • Asia - Omega • Chris Laney - Only Come Out At Night • Grand Illusion - Brand New World • Axel Rudi Pell - The Crest • Line Of Fire - Momentum • Stan Bush - Dream The Dream • Y&T - Facemelter • Tara's Secret - Vertigo • Shining Line - Shining Line • Serpentine - A Touch Of Heaven • Newman - Art Of Balance • Wig Wam - Non Stop Rock N Roll • Jimi Jamison & Jim Peterik - Extra Moments • Violet Sun - Lonliness In Supremacy • Bangalore Choir - Cadence • H.E.A.T. - Freedom Rock • Edge Of Forever - Another Paradise • Meatloaf - Hang Cool Teddy Bear • Keel - Streets Of Rock N Roll • Goodbye Thrill - Outrageous • State Of Rock - A Point Of Destiny • Jorn - Dio • Last Autumns Dream - A Touch Of Heaven • White Widdow - White Widdow • Dan Reed - Coming Up For Air.

VOCALIST OF THE YEAR: Marcie Free (Unruly Child) Without question, the most anticipated and hyped return of any singer in recent times. And what a voice! Honorable Mentions - Robert Ernlund (Treat), Terry Brock (Solo & Giant), Brian Howe, James LaBrie. Past Winners: 2009 - John Elefante 2008 - Arnel Pineda 2006 - Pekka Ansio Heino 2005 - Jorn Lande 2004 - Jeff Scott Soto 2003 - Harry Hess. GUITARIST OF THE YEAR: Steve Lukather One amazing album, a couple of killer tours and some licks from heaven. Honorable Mentions - Mike Slamer (Terry Brock), Anders Wickstrom (Treat),. Past Winners: 2009 - Erik Martensson (W.E.T.) 2008 - Doug Aldrich 2007 - Thorsten Koehne 2006 - Steve Lukather 2005 - Magnus Karlsson PRODUCER OF THE YEAR: Steve Lukather, CJ Vanston, Steve MacMillan (FOR: Steve Lukather - All's Well That Ends Well) This album simply sounds sonically perfect.

There is so much going on within this album and the mix is simply crystal clear. Honorable mentions - Mike Slamer (Terry Brock), Anders Wickstrom (Treat), Brian Howe/Rafe McKenna (Brian Howe). Lady Chatterley Смотреть Онлайн.

Past Winners: 2009 - Erik Martensson (W.E.T.) 2008 - Dennis Ward 2007 - Dennis Ward 2006 - Harry Hess & Pete Lesperance (Harem Scarem) 2005 - Dennis Ward 2004 - Fabrizio V.Zee Grossi 2003 - Tommy Denander. DRUMMER OF THE YEAR: Jamie Borger (Treat/Last Autumn's Dream) A simply head-pounding job on the Treat album, plus the always consistent work on last Autumn's Dream. A great year for Jamie. Past Winners: 2009 - Steve West (Danger Danger) 2008 - The Drum Machine 2007 - Kelly Keagy 2006 - Simon Phillips 2005 - Daniel Flores.

BASSIST OF THE YEAR: Nalle Pahlsson (Treat, Last Autumn's Dream, Chris Laney) A triple dose of bass glory in 2010 from Nalle. Well deserved! Past Winners: 2009 - Bruno Ravel (Danger Danger) 2008 - Matt Bissonette 2007 - Jack Blades 2006 - Marcel Jacob KEYBOARDIST OF THE YEAR: CJ Vanston (Steve Lukather) CJ added so much atmosphere to this album, but all of it without imposing himself upon it. Subtle brilliance. Past Winners: 2009 - Darren Wharton (Dare) 2008 - Eric Ragno 2007 - Eric Ragno. I don't enjoy highlighting the negative, but one must mention the albums that failed to reach par during 2010 in hope that the same mistakes won't be made next time around.

2010 was a solid year, but for me it also threw up a number of notable failures. None bigger than Captain Zapped. It had the honor of receiving the second lowest score ever and I think I might have been too generous with that 2%. Mickey Thomas' foray into pop/blues via The Bluemasters failed to make any kind of impact despite the great singer's involvement. Just plain boring and not what any of us AOR fans want to hear.

Bret Michaels continues to confuse fans with a positive spin with his various reality TV appearances, while churning out shit album after shit album as a musician. Time the guy hired proper A&R help and focussed on what fans really want from him. Reality TV only goes so far when you are a born and bred singer. Eden features one of my favourite UK singers in Nick Workman - but the production curse of Vince O'Regan scored another victim with the release of this band's third and final album. To bad they couldn't deliver once decent sounding album before splitting.

LA Guns - the Phil Lewis version that is - put out one of the worst covers albums I have ever heard. Limp and unfocussed to say the least and horribly mixed. No one will ever forgive Drive She Said for their best of album - which was marred by the inclusion of three utterly horrendous new tracks - badly produced, badly sung and one of the tunes was so out of left field for this AOR group, fans started wondering if the wrong track had been dropped onto the disc. Sadly is was DSS and I dare say it will probably be the last we ever hear from them. Cry Wolf was another band to switch musical allegiances to the dark side.

Their modern-hard rock themed release came and went without much ado and I doubt they will recover from that either. You simply cannot attempt to make a big comeback and deliver a new style of music to fans that have waited a length of time for new music. Yngwie Malmsteen continued the roller coaster ride that is his career - this time dipping down for another mess of a release. Nelson's live album also should have been reconsidered - the horrible recording was worse than many bootleg's out there - and I'm including audience recorded shows in that.

Thankfully they made up for it with the cool demos release and a cracking new studio album. Stage Dolls, John Farnham and Robert Plant all did their best to put us to sleep, while the most high profile bomb of the year was probably the comeback Strangeways release. Horrible production, long boring songs and a rushed feeling left this album panned by most fans and critics alike. 2009: Kimberley Dahme - Can't A Girl Change Her Mind, Lita Ford - Wicked Wonderland, Simple Minds - Graffiti Soul, Wetton Downes Icon - 3, Balance - Equilibrium. 2010 was one of the more interesting years for MelodicRock.com. There was the usual business of dealing with labels, artists, management, promoters, retailer, fans and the odd lunatic; but it was also a year which saw me set up my own label ( MelodicRock Records - MRR) and take the unwise decision of hosting another MelodicRock Fest. First to the stats - a generally consistent year, averaging 15,000-18,000 frontpage visits per day.

The annual traffic stats reads as follows: 1,623,087 Unique Hits, totalling 5,336,580 visits and 20,978,066 pages viewed. Total 'hits' for the 2010 year totalled 337,906,540 for 10,870.06 GigaByte of data transferred.

You can add extra for individual forum stats, but that's a general overview. Sadly the number of visits doesn't necessarily translate to income earned and 2010 was again the worst year on record for that and makes things that little bit tougher - each and every year it seems. A number of retailers dropped advertising during 2010 - not due to any problem with the site, rather their own individual problems like mine - trying to make ends meet. A couple more stores closed business and a couple more are hanging in there. What is universal amongst all advertisers and companies I deal with, 2010 was the toughest year yet and all suffered a further downturn in business.

It is the usual call by me to urge everyone reading this to support these businesses as much as you possibly can, but I suspect that you are indeed doing just that and it is the casual or fringe-dwelling fans that are vanishing. MelodicRock Fest 2 (MRF2) didn't help matters any I'm sad to say. I expanded the concept that was MRF1 into a 3 day event this time around and nearly tripled the number of bands appearing. I locked in a wonderful new venue (which since has disappeared) and paid out far more in advertising than I did for MRF1. And still I got less people through the door each day than I did for MRF1!

Just over 500 each day, which was well short of the 700+ per day I needed. So I lost a decent chunk of money I didn't have, when the whole point was to try and raise extra to ensure the site has buffer to operate with. I'm still looking for that buffer! MRF3 looks as likely as Steve Perry joining Journey. I get a lot of feedback asking of and when, but without significant corporate backing of at least $20k, it won't be anytime soon. 2012 is 15 years of MelodicRock.com, it would be nice to celebrate in style. But you might have to meet me at the pub for a drink instead.

I have to say though - the festival itself was an absolute blast. The line-up was incredible (if I dare say so myself) and the fans gathered were so supportive and so enthusiastic for the event, it really was a terrific weekend all-round (apart from the sales!). Each band I thought brought their A-Game and delivered on the day. It really was a wonderful atmosphere and a room filled with passionate music fans. And I REALLY appreciate the feedback from those that continue to talk about the weekend! The Treat Fans Like Mushrooms Award - Van Halen - And nothing is expected to change anytime soon! The 'Steve Perry/Journey' Best Bust Up Award - Portnoy vs Dream Theater - Ugly.

The 'Greg Giuffria - On No, My Studio Is On Fire' Award - Tesla - Sadly the band joined a unique club. The 'Charlie Watts - I'm Not Dead Yet' Award - Ten - for their ghostly halo PR picture. The 'Motley Crue - Are We A Band Or Not' Award - Ratt & Stephen Pearcy - Make up your minds already! The 'Vampires R Us' Award - Sebastian Bach - For 'allegedly' biting bar staff and being arrested in Ontario.

The 'Axl Rose - Anyone's Fault But Mine' Award - Axl Rose - once again making friends everywhere he goes - this time with Reading and Leeds Festival organizers in UK. The 'Kiss Alive 2029 World Tour' Award - Scorpions & Judas Priest - for announcing their retirements, on the back of new albums and world tours to follow! The 'Don't Fire Management, Fire Yourself' Award - Jon Bon Jovi - Let Richie run the show for a change. The 'GWAR - Make It Stop Award' For The Most Unnecessary CD: LA Guns - Covered In Guns (Covers album).

Previous Winner: Duran Duran, Billy Idol. The 'Frankie Sullivan' Lawsuits-Are-Us Award: Tom Scholz sues Boston Herald; Axl Rose sues Activision - the regulars were at it again! Previous Winners: Motely Crue, Meatloaf / Jim Steinman, The World Vs SonyBMG, Frankie Sullivan. The 'Henry Lee Summer' DUI Award - Bobby Blotzer, Vince Neil - Those two.again!

The 'Gene Simmons' I'll Flog Anything Award: Mickey Thomas - Studio Fantasy Sessions w/Mickey (at $2000 a pop!). Previous Winner: Beau Hill, George Lynch, Gene Simmons. The 'Vince Neil' Best Off-Stage Antics Award: Joe Elliott & Ian Hunter - the duo were seen double teaming security and others back/side stage in the UK. Previous Winners: Richie Sambora, Jani Lane, Jani Lane, Vince Neil, Vince Neil and Sebastian Bach.

2009 and 2010 served up the two single biggest dickheads that I have ever had to deal with in 15 years of running this site. To name them now would be rehashing old crap that has long since disappeared from my radar. Neither is worthy of any further thought. But for anyone in doubt - 2009's DH was all over my Noticeboard for a period of time and responsible for some of the best rants I have seen ever posted there or elsewhere.

He will forever be remembered for providing us with some much needed comedy. 2010's dickhead was even worse - a truly vindictive asshole that has had issues with just about everyone he has ever dealt with - to the point where there are few left to deal with. All that come across his path soon after realize what a grade a pillock he is and also stop dealing with him. To his credit, he did manage to spin my dumping his ass from the site into a 'I dumped you first' rant posted in a few places. Not that anyone was listening or cared.

When he lost all control on the Noticeboard he buried any remaining credibility he might have held on to. To this day he remains in business (not as a full time job), how I don't really know. True comedic gold! Simply put - glorious melodic rock with passion, power and hooks galore. 2 Danger Danger Revolve A fantastic comeback, but it took too long and the next one probably won't appear until 2016. 3 Mastedon 3 An absolutely gem of a melodic rock album - intelligent, intense and brilliantly sung. 4 Winger Karma Winger turn back the clock a little, mixing old with new and rocking hard at the same time.

5 House Of Lords Cartesian Dreams The band keep on delivering, simple as that 6 Out Loud - We'll Rock You To Hell And Back - Silly title, but a great, good fun old school hard rocking debut album. 7 Gotthard - Need To Believe - Who knew it would be the band's last album with Steve Lee?

His death continues to haunt fans. Classy album as always. 8 The Poodles - Clash Of The Elements - Absolutely hard rock/melodic brilliance. 9 Sunstorm - House Of Dreams - The best yet.wow, what a set of songs and JLT sounds great. 10 Foreigner - Can't Slow Down - Took far too long to arrive, but worth the wait. A bit soft, but all quality and class. - Brothers In Arms • Outloud - We Run • Sunstorm - Don't Give Up • Winger - Stone Cold Killer • Foreigner - Living In A Dream • The Poodles - Give Me A Sign • Sunstorm - Divided • Danger Danger - That's What I'm Talking About • Foreigner - Can't Slow Down • Mastedon - That's What You Do • W.E.T.

- Comes Down Like Rain • Sunstorm - I Found Love • Hardline - Start Again • Foreigner - In Pieces • The Poodles - Caroline • Hardline - Falling Free • Place Vendome - Streets Of Fire • Mastedon - Questions (It's About Time) • Winger - Deal With The Devil • House Of Lords - Cartesian Dreams • W.E.T. - Invincible • Outloud - What I Need • Europe - New Love In Town • Places Of Power - The Passage • Blanc Faces - Falling From The Moon • House of Lords - Never Look Back • Grand Design - Air It Out • Foreigner - I'll Be Home • Gotthard - Shangri-La • The Poodles - I Rule The Night • Danger Danger - Ghost Of Love • Gotthard - Need To Believe • Places Of Power - In Your Wildest Dreams • W.E.T.

- Running From The Heartache • Outloud - This Broken Heart • Hardline - Voices • Gotthard - Shangri-La • Winger - Witness • House Of Lords - Desert rain • Europe - Gotta Get Ready • Chickenfoot - Avenida Revolution • Mastedon - Without Your Love • Places Of Power - Hard To Love You • Lou Gramm Band - Baptized By Fire • Dare - Shelter In The Storm • Winger - Always Within Me. I can hear you saying out loud around the globe. Six months late and this is all we get??” Yes, I'm afraid so folks.

But I hope it will still provide some food for thought on the year just passed. The last 12 months have been excruciatingly hard for myself – both work and personal commitments left me completely spent and unable to do a lot of what I really enjoy doing with the site. The lack of reviews is another issue I know many are disappointed with. In getting this abbreviated version of the annual MelRock Awards online finally, I hope I can close a very tiring chapter of the site's history and move on to getting things back to their up to date best. And I will promise now to deliver the biggest and most comprehensive Awards page for the 2009 year – ASAP early 2010.

The most disappointing aspect of this very small summary of the 2008 year is the fact that it was an outstanding year for just about every musical genre. But best of all – it was a stand out year for good old melodic rock. In a year where Guns N Roses actually released that damn album already and huge names like Metallica, AC/DC, Journey, Whitesnake, Tesla, Extreme, Motley Crue, Nickelback and Def Leppard ALL released albums, it is amazing that some of the smaller/indie releases got a look in at all. Overall I found the big name releases to be strong, but largely unsurprising in what they offered. None of them apart from Journey rated in the very top portions of my Best Of 2008 list. Some delivered above expectations, but a few missed the mark. I'm really proud of the artists that I cover here.

In my mind they were able to compete with the big guns and deliver world class records with world class sound. If only they got the same (or close to the same) exposure some of those big names get. I know for a fact these artists would find a ton of new fans. It still amazes me that after 12 years of running this site I get regular e-mails from readers saying how – thanks to this site - they just discovered the likes of Gotthard, Harem Scarem, Ten or some of the newer names like Brother Firetribe, H.E.A.T., Poodles and Wig Wam - declaring themselves fans for life of these acts. That's what it is all about. So, while this 2008 list is well and truly beyond late – the fact is that there is never a bad time to produce a list which might inspire some readers to go back over what they missed in 2008 and hopefully discover a few more gems for their collections.

My sincere apologies for the lack of regular features within this edition of the MelRock Awards. I'll make up for it with the 2009 Awards.

And as one last usual disclaimer – the awards below are my personal opinion only and should be treated as just that. I know some GNR fans will want to lynch me for not making a bigger fuss of Chinese Democracy, and no doubt others will feel the same about another act I might have missed or didn't personally rate.

What can I say? E-Mail me for my opinion if you so desire, I will always respond to all feedback, but don't get too pissy over the order I have arranged the artists in! Just my humble opinion. 1 Brother Firetribe Heart Full Of Fire I generally tend to look for an evolving sound in melodic rock/AOR these days, as few artists are still able to capture that 'classic' sound and keep it fresh. But in the case of this album, the BFT guys reach back into Giuffria 1985 territory and deliver an essential album of glorious AOR that reminds me of exactly why I love this genre and why nothing else will ever come close when it's done well. This is done exceptionally well and in a highly competitive year, was for me - unbeatable! 2 Rick Springfield Venus In Overdrive Following the point made above, Rick never tries to cover old ground, rather he reinvents himself album after album and Venus In Overdrive is no different.

Employing a more contemporary sound than ever before, Rick goes modern, but brings his famous delivery and classic vocal with him. A brilliantly produced mix of old meets new and a fresh new sound for Rick. Not to mention some of the best songs he has recorded in a long long time - personal and wonderfully insightful as ever. Rick is the Peter Pan of melodic rock.he just never gets old. 3 Journey Revelation The pressure was squarely on these guys to deliver in the wake of controversial vocalist changes and a disappointing album that preceded this one.

The 2CD/DVD package was an instant hit with long time and casual fans alike, but what shines brightest here was the new songs. Full of energy, passion and some grittier than expected material. The ballads are for the most part fresh and entertaining also. And at the forefront of this album is Arnel Pineda, who under the intensity of a blow-torch, delivered in style. 4 Eclipse Are You Ready To Rock Always a classy band these guys - but boy did they deliver big time with this record.

Fresh, energetic, engaging and catchy as hell. The guys used a classic melodic hard rock template and added some more contemporary elements to push the genre a little further (which is exactly what is needed) and if there was any justice, these songs would be on radio stations worldwide. A wonderfully catchy and hard rocking release with a major label production from band mastermind Erik Martensson.

5 Jimi Jamison Crossroads Moment The hugely anticipated re-union of Jimi Jamison and Jim Peterik, who wrote the record for Jimi as well as co-producing and performing on it with the Pride Of Lions team. So yes.Survivor meets POL, but what a classy and memorable melodic rock record. A truly great slice of old-school melodies and Jimi Jamison sounding stronger than he has in years. A long record.but of all these tracks, what could you possibly cut out? Terrific stuff. 6 Shinedown - Sound Of Madness - Melodic Metal or Modern Rock?

It doesn't really matter - this is just great powerful music! Tough, aggressive, but infectious at the same time. Contemporary, but melodic and featuring an absolutely monstrous wall of sound to blast eardrums with. 7 Work Of Art - Artwork - Toto is re-invented as a Swedish band making their debut album!

Few artists have marked their debut with such authority and presence but these guys instantly stamped their name upon the AOR scene. One of those classic 80s AOR releases that sounds fresh thanks to a killer production and wonderful songs. 8 Alliance - Road To Heaven - Another very consistent band, but again.in 2008 the guys stepped everything up 2 notches and delivered their best sounding record to date featuring their catchiest songs to date. Classic rock lives on! 9 House Of Lords - Come To My Kingdom - Ever consistent and ever enjoyable. The band proved the last album wasn't a fluke, but have the pressure on now to mix things up a little and still deliver another killer in 2009.

Choruses everywhere. - Jack's second solo album is a far better and more consistent album than his debut and sits right alongside the awesome Night Ranger album from 2011 as a must have release. • Brother Firetribe - Wildest Dreams (Audio Sample - ) • Rick Springfield - I'll Miss That Someday • Jimi Jamison - Crossroads Moment • Journey - Never Walk Away • Rick Springfield - One Passenger • Shinedown - Devour • Brother Firetribe - Runaways • Eclipse - Unbreakable • Journey - Change For The Better • Rick Springfield - What's Victoria's Secret • Eclipse - Million Miles Away • Khymera - Beautiful Life • Marcello Vestry - Gone • Work Of Art - Why Do I?

• Harem Scarem - Days Are Numbered • H.E.A.T. - Never Let Go • House Of Lords - I Needed To Fly • Rick Springfield - Venus In Overdrive • H.E.A.T. - There For You • Alliance - Road To Heaven • Jimi Jamison - That's Why I Sing • Robert Berry - A Life Worth Living • Work Of Art - Maria • Honeymoon Suite - Tired O Waiting • Steve Lukather - Ever Changing Times • Journey - What It Takes To Win • Whitesnake - Best Years • Eclipse - To Mend A Broken Heart • House Of Lords - One Foot In The Dark • Jimi Jamison - Behind The Music • H.E.A.T. VOCALIST OF THE YEAR: Arnel Pineda (Journey) A few truly great vocal performances around in 2008, but Arnel takes the prize - simply because he delivered big time under huge pressure from all sides. He had to live up to Journey fan expectations.he had to replay the faith the band showed in him.he had to overcome the unpopular decision to let 2 previous vocalists go.one of his first shows was broadcast live across the world and he had to deliver live on his first grueling US tour. And on top of that he had to re-record a dozen of the band's legacy tunes.

My hat goes off to Arnel for delivering on all fronts and staying humble despite having monster talent. Honorable Mentions - Erik Martensson (Eclipse); Jimi Jamison; Pekka Ansio Heino (Brother Firetribe & Leverage); Rick Springfield; Robert Berry (Solo & Alliance). Past Winners: 2007 - Mike Reno 2006 - Pekka Ansio Heino 2005 - Jorn Lande 2004 - Jeff Scott Soto 2003 - Harry Hess. GUITARIST OF THE YEAR: Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake) Given the task of bringing the goods back to Whitesnake, the LA guitarist did all that and more; helping David Coverdale write, record and produce one of the best Snake albums in years.and beefed up that guitar sound, plus toured extensively behind the album adding those much needed backing vocals. Honorable Mentions - Neal Schon; Steve Lukather; Zack Myers & Nick Perri (Shinedown). Past Winners: 2007 - Thorsten Koehne 2006 - Steve Lukather 2005 - Magnus Karlsson DRUMMER OF THE YEAR: The Drum Machine (Too Bloody Many Records) That's right - the drummer of the year is in fact the humble drum machine. But contrary to the other awards, this is not a badge of honor.

This is shameful! There are simply too many automated drum tracks on our beloved records and the time has come to rid these releases of this curse to the ears. ProTools and other studio effects make it all too easy to lay down a drum beat without having to pay a drummer, but seriously folks.it's nothing compared to the sound of a REAL drummer. Stop being cheap and hire a drummer and a good studio to capture them in. And the records will sound much better for it. Honorable Mentions - Deen Castronovo (Journey); Henrik Erikson (Eclipse); Rodger Carter (Rick Springfield).

Past Winners: 2007 - Kelly Keagy 2006 - Simon Phillips 2005 - Daniel Flores. BASSIST OF THE YEAR: Matt Bissonette (Rick Springfield) For the first time ever, Rick Springfield co-wrote a record with another and that was RS Band bassist Matt Bissonette. Matt turned in a sublime performance on the CD, as well as co-producing this immaculate disc. Honorable mentions - Paul Logue (Eden's Curse); Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue); & Dennis Ward (Bob Catley) Past Winners: 2007 - Jack Blades 2006 - Marcel Jacob KEYBOARDIST OF THE YEAR: Eric Ragno(From the Inside, China Blue, Ramos/Hugo, Solna, Savage Paradise, Tony Mills, Michael Bormann) Was there even a runner up for this award? Was there another keyboardist working in 2008? Well, sure.but none as hard as Mr.

Nice - Eric Ragno. With equally as much on his plate for 2009, someone had better stand up or he'll take the trifecta! Honorable mentions - Jonathan Cain (Journey); Lars Safsund (Work Of Art); Jim Peterik (Jimi Jamison); Alan Fitzgerald (Alliance) Past Winners: 2007 - Eric Ragno.

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR: Dennis Ward (Eden's Curse, Places Of Power, Bob Catley, Ramos/Hugo, House Of Lords, Jaded Heart) Producer Of The Year second year running and 3rd time out of the last 4 years! And I doubt anyone would argue the fact. Dennis remains to go to guy for mixing and mastering and full production jobs such as the awesome work completed for Eden's Curse (Album & EP); Places Of Power and Bob Catley.

A masterful touch and a great set of ears. Honorable mentions - Martin Kronlund (Hope, Lost Weekend, Silent Call, Gypsy Rose, Pleasuredome); Tommy Hansen (TNT, Seventh Wonder, Evil Masquerade, From The Inside, Starbreaker); Mutt Lange (Nickelback); Kevin Shirley (Journey); Terry Thomas (Tesla); Erik Martensson (Eclipse); Jim Peterik & Larry Millas (Jimi Jamison) Past Winners: 2007 - Dennis Ward 2006 - Harry Hess & Pete Lesperance (Harem Scarem) 2005 - Dennis Ward 2004 - Fabrizio V.Zee Grossi 2003 - Tommy Denander.

Bud Prager (Manager), Steve Isham (Autograph), Alan Gordon (Songwriter), Munetaka Higuchi (Loudness), Michael Lee (Little Angels, Robert Plant), Kenny MacLean (Platinum Blonde), Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix), Michael A. Baker (Shadow Gallery), Debbie Bayley (vocalist Blaze Bayley's wife), Rick Wright (Pink Floyd), Jack Young (Phantom's Opera), Chris Peter (King Size), Jim McGinnis (Zebra booking agent), Mel Galley (Whitesnake, Trapeze), George Carlin, Loren Villalonga (Golden Farm), Bo Diddley, Michelle Meldrum (Meldrum, Phantom Blue), Paul Davis (Songwriter), John Rutsey (original Rush drummer), Danny Federici (E Street Band), Cliff Davies (Ted Nugent), Jim Viger (Steel Breeze), John Fowler (Steelheart), Daniel McMaster (Bonham), Jeff Healey. May these great people all Rest In Peace. Short and sweet this year.

This award goes to the guy that was kicked off my message board after being a constant argumentative asshole, only to vow to start his own website and 'steal' all my advertisers and 'run me out of town'. He got a dose of reality in how hard it is to maintain and run a website and stay inspired while continuing to keep in touch with everyone that is needed to make a great site. The website URL (I won't say which one) now delivers this message when trying to log in: 'The requested URL could not be retrieved.'

Until next year, when you know already just who the D.O.T.Y. Is going to be! Welcome to the 9th Annual MelRock Awards. Right off the bat, my apologies for the unusually late arrival of these awards. At a time where we are already starting to consider the best of what 2008 has to offer so far, it seems a little late to cast an eye back to 2007. But it is never too late to talk about great music and the Awards below summarize the best of what I thought 2007 had to offer. Hopefully it will lead so some folks checking out releases they missed at the time.

I normally add a comment along the lines of 'if you think I have missed something, do let me know.' , but this year.be a little kinder! I know there are some releases missing. A couple of reasons - 1) Perhaps the record label in question never sent a promo copy (i.e. The Cult - which I did eventually hear, but didn't rate in the best of 07), or 2) Due to MelodicRockFest I simply didn't have as much time to listen to and feature a number of releases from mid-to-late year. I did the very best I could and I think the vast majority of last year's big releases are covered here. The awards are a shorter affair this year.

A hang over from MRF, coupled with catching up with other work and taking care of my family while my wife is pregnant, meant the Awards got pushed aside a little. The 2008 Awards will have to be the biggest ever to make up for it!

I still think there is plenty to read and enjoy below.so go to it! 1 Loverboy Just Getting Started I really tossed this decision around for some time. Loverboy and Eden's Curse were both deserving winners and both bands had people talking. The elder statesmen of the melodic scene proving they still have what it takes vs the new comers, creating a stir with their debut album. In the end Loverboy won over with what I think is one of the most credible examples of a classic band updating their sound while staying true to themselves. Every track was a winner and when the only complaint is that the album wasn't long enough - that must be a good thing. 2 Eden's Curse Eden's Curse A very close second for newcomers Eden's Curse, who stirred things up with their approach and with their debut album on AFM Records.

A melodic metal album with enough melody for an AOR release and some truly outstanding performances from all involved. Capped off by a monster tight production courtesy of the amazing Dennis Ward. 3 Threshold Dead Reckoning How disappointing to have an album as amazing as this, only to learn vocalist Mac has now left and the combination of his powerful, yet emotive vocals won't mix again with the progressive melodies of this great band. At least they parted in style, with this progressive masterpiece, that for me is the best album of its kind since Dream Theater's Images And Words. 4 Anberlin Cities I just love this band. Something about their modern rock style and a brilliant vocalist, coupled with an attitude that doesn't mimic any other modern rock band out there.

Aggressive enough for a rock market, yet melodic enough to remind us what a force a killer vocalist can be. Another very powerful record with a couple of absolute classic songs within. 5 Stan Bush In This Life The stand out AOR release of 2007 was from another veteran. Stan Bush has been doing this since the 80s and has never sounded so good. Another album where all the vital ingredients came together to make a very powerful statement and remind us what great AOR can sound like in this day and age.

6 Kelly Keagy - I'm Alive - Another great solo album. A little rawer and a more modern edge in places, but I am a sucker for anything Kelly does. Always classy. 7 Joe Lynn Turner - Second Hand Life - Busier than he has ever been, JLT delivers the goods again in this great album that covers all his known styles - bluesy rock, AOR and straight ahead classic rock. 8 Night Ranger - Hole In The Sun - One of the most fiercely debated albums of the year and no surprise.

As soon as I heard the direction I knew some would hate this album, but you have to get past that. If you can (and may did), it is still classic Night Ranger style and melodies, just wrapped in a more contemporary sound. Again, I'm a sucker for anything these guys do. 9 Gotthard - Domino Effect - Another band that doesn't stand still, even after delivering the most acclaimed album of their career. Another winner here - even if it is heavier and more contemporary in it's delivery. But more great songs from Europe's number one melodic hard rock act. 10 Pride Of Lions - The Roaring Of Dreams - More classy pomp/AOR from Jim Peterik and company.

One of the most consistent songwriters in the business today, this glorious pompous set of songs is another AOR highlight for the year. • Loverboy - The One That Got Away • REO Speedwagon - I Needed To Fall • Allen / Lande - Master Of Sorrow • Gotthard - The Call • Pride Of Lions - Faithful Heart • Eden's Curse - Voice Inside • Ted Poley - If I Can't Change Your Heart • Kelly Keagy - Everything I Need In A Woman • Pride Of Lions - Love's Eternal Flame • WildKard - Wake Me When It's Over • Heartland - A Fathom I Fell • Night Ranger - There Is Life • Magnum - Inside Your Head • Two Of A Kind - Unbearable • Stan Bush - Waiting For You.

Musically speaking 2007 was a little anti-climactic. Things got off to a great start and looked promising, but things just dropped off and the second half of the year disappointed me.

Most of my Top 10 came from the first half of the year and overall I felt there were a number of strong albums, but a real lack of killer songs. Already in 2008 I have seen a much stronger presence of high-grade songs and there looks to be plenty to come throughout the year ahead. To the results - The top albums have comments attached, but outside the Top 10, Two Of A Kind was a stunning debut, as was The Codex.

Good to see such an array of established names in there, all proving they can still deliver high class albums and in the case of a few ( Dogpound, Martie Peters Group, Burn, Ted Poley ) - challenging their previous best efforts. Now, there is always some debate every year when I list my favourite modern rock releases.

It is very true that I don't get to hear a number of releases from the genre, but I try and check out all those that are talked about on the forums and I mix those with a few of my own favourites. I may not talk a lot of modern rock on the site, but I do listen to many. But this is melodicrock.com, so my emphasis in showcasing modern rock artists is to bring those titles here that I think will appeal to other melodic rock lovers. That is - people like me - with their heart in the old-school sound, but an open mind to appreciate other great styles of rock music. So the Top 10 modern rock releases is 10 albums I think are of fabulous quality that will also appeal to regular readers of this site. This year's list features 10 albums I think everyone should check out - especially the Top 7.

Modern rock fans won't need convincing! Song Of The Year to Anberlin. I bet no one saw that coming.but what an amazing tune. The first time a modern rock song has made it to the top position. The first time I played that album I recalled being stunned by the power of the song and the incredible vocals, backed by an old-school fists in the air chorus, mixed with a more expected modern rock sound. A great mix of influences, and if you ask me, a great way for melodic fans to appreciate more a modern style.

Loverboy's classic comeback tune wasn't far behind though - another cracking song and Eden's Curse's hard rocker was my favourite hard rock tune of the year. I expanded the Best Ballads list to 15 titles. I was really happy to see some killer ballads about this year. The art of the power ballad has been fading, but 2007 was a cool year for ballads and 2008 looks even better. Artwork gets a spotlight again as I believe that is truly important to help promote an album and even in an online world, a good cover can catch a readers eye and hopefully that might prompt them to check out the music within.

And again, I list some of the less impressive CD covers below. I don't mean to offend any of the artists featured there, but 2007 saw some dodgy covers and I would hope those listed take note and come back with something a little more appealing next time around. In most cases the music within was great ( Duran Duran's dog aside), so when you spend so much time writing and recording an album - you don't want to turn any potential purchaser away with a crap cover.

SITE STATS: I'm pleased to say that stats continue to rise overall, with areas of the world still represented fairly evenly. Simply stated, the traffic to the site is primarily 50% USA/Canada; 30% UK/Europe and 20% Japan/Australasia.

To look at a snapshot of one month, December 2007, the site churned out 1027Gig of data; took in 220,000 unique users; 473,070 visitors in total for 1,591,172 different pages, 17,995,005 individual files, making a total of 27,933,668 'hits'. The year high for unique users was 295,000 in May 2007 and the current level as of March 2008 was 273,000 unique users for 38,729,066 'hits'. Daily frontpage averages have hovered around 21,000 - 22,000 mid-week and the usual 15,000-ish over the weekends. Thanks to everyone for the continued patronage of the site and the continuing support of the artists and advertisers featured here. THE BIGGEST STORY OF 2007: The biggest story of 2007?

Oh, bugger here we go again. Yes, as far as controversy and decisions that upset the fan base, causing no end of tensions - the winner is again Journey.

Can we PLEASE have a peaceful 2008 guys? The band's decisions during 2007 have been debated and debated again and then debated again following that. So I don't want to waste too much time here. But the band's choice to drop Jeff Scott Soto upset a fan base already hurting from Steve Augeri's departure.

The worst thing was the manner in which it took place (being informed by Kevin Cronin backstage at Sweden Rock Festival). But.we move on.

In comes new boy Arnel Pineda and the guys have a lot to prove. So go do it - we're watching and waiting. A brief postscript - one that goes to all bands out there that swap members and what not - folks.if you are going to do it - have some thought for the fanbase that admires and respects you. Such moves create real turmoil and anxiety in people's lives.

Try and make it easier on them. They buy your records and concert tickets. Brad Delp's upsetting passing was another major story and as with everything Boston, it got complicated and caused further fan anguish. Van Halen got their shit together and got on the road, but not without the usual range of drams, rumors and associated issues. SPECIAL EVENTS: Special events?

Well, yeah.there was one! MelodicRockFest was the single biggest and most challenging thing I have ever done and I swear I'm still recovering from it.

The event ran like clockwork on the day - as least to all assembled - but the challenges of putting it together and running it on the day left me so shattered I still can't contemplate working on another festival yet. I would like to do another - probably in Chicago next year - but a few things will have to fall into place before that happens. More sponsorship and a true 'big name' headliner are needed, but don't think I haven't already made a wants list:) MRF was a great event though.and it was an absolute pleasure to meet so many site regulars in once place on one day. And to all the artists that took to the stage in the name of celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the site - thank you! There were many others who pitched in to help and donate time to make the event what it was - they know who they are.

But special thanks to Joe Vana, Michael Eden, Kelly Keagy, Jim Peterik and the great people at the Morris PAC venue in South Bend. I spent a week in Chicago before the event to get things ready and I must say that I was really impressed with the place. Would love to see more of it and hang out a bit longer there next time. I could type for a week about my experiences there, but perhaps another time.

I will recount my memory of staying at Jim Peterik's house for a couple of days when I first flew in. Jim is such a gem.his house is amazing and the studio and guitar collection is beyond words. But not only did he put me up at his house, but he also lent me one of his cars for the entire week I was in town. That's quite the trustworthy leap of faith, considering the person borrowing the car normally drives on the other side of the road! Spending some time with Jim hanging out and seeing the sights of the city was fantastic and you have to see it to understand it, but every where we go people would thank Jim for his songs and their positive influence on their lives.

Driving around town with Jim, going back and forth doing promo for the show and watching him in action, plus listening to new JP/Jimi Jamison demos as we go.was just amazing. On a side note - it is awesome to see that several relationships were built on this day between the artists. Many of the guys hadn't seen each other for years and backstage was like a big family reunion. Since MRF, JLT and Jimi Jamison have made regular appearances with Scrap Metal and I think JSS is next. The Scrap Metal guys learnt all the Survivor and JLT material especially for that event, so nice they get to put that to use again! THE MELODIC LABELS: Frontiers Records remained, without question the label leader in this field of music.

In fact, their nearest rival has always been MTM Music and 2007 proved to be the end for them. So at this point, as far as melodic music goes - Frontiers are unrivaled. And the label had another great year. Highlights from the label were plentiful, including - Stan Bush, JLT, Pride Of Lions, Night Ranger, Kelly Keagy, Allen/Lande, Danny Vaughn, Codex, Frederiksen Phillips, Primal Fear. Frontiers did diversify on occasion, which all labels are tending to do these days as it is just not possible to stay in business on AOR and Melodic Rock alone. But I think they diversified too far with releases like the God-awful Meldrum album.

And although he played a smaller part in things this year, the Fabrizio Grossi production train is still a worry. Since shining early on, his releases of late have all been tarred with less than favorable reviews and complaints about how he makes things sound in the studio. Both Los Angeles and Indigo Dying could have been better with the use of a different producer. But, with another incredible line-up of releases this year, no one will dispute that Frontiers are the leading promoter of melodic rock music. Escape Music continued to do what they do every year. Consistent to the end, they don't try and compete with other labels, and stick largely to their brief - delivering traditional melodic rock/AOR releases.

Highlights from Escape this year included Last Autumn's Dream, Code, Airtime, The Ladder, WildKard, Mass, White Wolf and Gary Barden. Disappointments were few to be seen (and heard!), which is a big compliment for any label. 2007 will be known as the year that MTM Music disappeared. Boy - this one really hurt. Yes, they were a site sponsor, but it was more than that. They were the very first label on board with me and this site when I started out.

I loved these guys and enjoyed a fabulous relationship with them over the years. I guess the decline began with Magnus leaving and the label not havening enough A&R experience without him. But at the same time - good A&R costs money and good releases cost more money, so if some of the big budget releases were not recouping, then what can one do about that? The label fell further behind in 2006 and spent the first few months of 2007 treading water before disappearing. There has still been no press release about the demise of the label, but who would want to send out a message proclaiming such news?

Very sad indeed. Metal Heaven had a solid and building year - they definitely ramped up the number of their releases each month - and delivered some consistent quality metal. They really had some cool hard rock releases, although a couple of anticipated melodic releases fell short - Decoy, Road To Ruin and Paul Sabu. Of those to impress were the fantastically compiled Voices Of Rock debut, Human Zoo, Empire and Soul Doctor and on a metal front, Stone Lake, Bloodbound and Consortium Project IV. This kind of line-up puts Metal Heaven among the real label players in this market. Another label disappeared in 2007 - Majestic Rock Records. Their poor 2006 translated into a non-existent 2007 and now many of their signings are morphing over to the new Kreschendo label.

Where that ends up is anyone's guess, but Zoom Club and Majestic were both operated the same way and look how that ended. Like Escape, Lion Music also continued to do what they have always done best - delivering more guitar based melodic metal, progressive and instrumental releases. Their biggest disappointment for the year (in melodic terms) was the House Of Shakira, which just didn't have the song strength of previous releases. The label appears to be doing well, but they are not immune to the ways of the current world - they issued a warning mid-year about not signing new artists due to the fallout of internet downloading on their sales. And Lion continues to boast the largest collection of completely unpronounceable artist names on the market!

Rock Candy Records are another label that struggled with anything in 2007 and having fought back from a bad distribution deal are now looking forward to a brighter 2008 and already have new releases flowing again. Germany's AFM Records continued to grow in stature and added more impressive signings, including my own personal favourite Eden's Curse., plus Rob Rock, Poodles, Lion's Share.

Except if it wasn't for the band, I would still not have heard the record - the label has some serious holes in their promo mailing list and my attempts to get releases each month from them lasted all of one single month. UK based Angelmilk Records didn't release anything in 2007, but I think that will change in 2008. So the new is out and my position with the label was accepted with great enthusiasm. I was prepared to take some heat from skeptics, but to this point they have been quiet - I get to prove my worth soon! Angelmilk is a great partnership. For the first time I get to do something in an official capacity that I have been doing unofficially with many labels for years.

In my position, I constantly hear new music and artists and pass those on to other labels to look into and I have long been a go-between for labels and artists to contact each other. This is a great challenge.I have to deliver on a promise to myself to do things a little differently and try and be effective in promoting some new and well known artists.

I believe we have a pretty cool line-up evolving and I look forward to announcing details of these singings and plans very shortly!!! Z Records began making more noise than they have in several years - not since the artist defection fallout. So - they are looking at getting back into the throws of business full time. It will be good to see them carve a brighter future out.

Speaking of promo lists – 10 years after forming this site I still find myself unable to get straight answers and replies from a couple of labels in regards to promo copies of albums I need to feature on the site. The majority of labels and artists can appreciate the concept of free publicity, but a few others remain blissfully ignorant. And they wonder why sales don't improve!!!

I'm looking forward to the year ahead. April 2008 and things are looking pretty good and there is a lot to look forward to from a number of labels.

So far there hasn't been any major dogs unveiled and I'm confident of the best year in a long while. DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2007: Too many disappointments in 2007. 2006 was pretty bad.2007 even worse. 2008 so far looks better. In 2007 the major disappointments for me were - TNT - I guess that was the most controversial and highest profile release of the year.

I think the biggest question raised was the name on the cover. Any step away from an established sound will raise such questions. Where to from here for the band?

Not sure.but work starts shortly on a follow up. Ozzy Osbourne - Just weak songs.big build up, but little to show for it once it arrived. And Ozzy blamed the internet and downloading for lack of interest in this title. Queensryche - Their covers affair just continued to add to the bad reputation covers albums have. A couple of interesting songs, but too many that didn't work. Meldrum - Horrible.

Not sure why they got a deal with Frontiers. Normally you can see an upside to a signing, but not in this case. Peter Cris s - I'll avoid even commenting on this.

No I won't.beyond hideous. I didn't even review it. I couldn't stomach it. Velvet Revolver - Boring vocalist and boring songs. I can see a few readers heading to e-mail me for that comment - but let's be honest here.

The band fell way short of a decent album and the record buying public agreed. Duran Duran - way to wipe out 4 years hard work guys!!! Make a come back, do the world tour, make a cool album, do the hard yards, then record a new album of complete shit! Ok, time to look back and embarrass myself with the results from what 2007 predictions I trumpeted at the start of the year. Did any actually come true, or did I bomb out on all counts?

Predicted in yellow. Reality in black.

Could Ted Poley have his best year ever - with a new Poley/Rivera album due, The Pleasure Dome coming up, a possible Danger Danger record and even a 4th record potentially in the works??? Well.Ted had a good year, but not his best ever. Only one of these releases appeared. Can we carry this prediction over to 2008?

Will Steve Perry make a new solo album? Will Steve Perry make another guest appearance as he has done in the past 2 years? I guess that second thing never panned out. Van Halen will get through their allotted 40 dates and then that will be it - no new material and no sign of when the next bout of activity will come. No new material and I don't ever expect it, but the tour continues.

Could ex-pat Rick Springfield finally return to Oz for that long promised live tour his fans (and I) have been waiting for? Indeed he did and he hopes to return for a full tour again soon. Toby Rand & Juke Kartel's debut album will outsell and outshine that of Rock Star Supernova's - the band formed from the show Rand was booted from. Revenge is sweet. Where the f*** is this album?? The Police tour will be the top grossing tour of 2007.

Full points.$212 million and counting. Def Leppard will release their toughest rocking record since Pyromania. Well, the record is still coming, but soundbytes suggest it does indeed rock. Could Leverage be the next big thing in Metal out of Europe? I think they are still building on this. I'm still confident.

Who might just split up this year (maybe, possibly, who knows.): Rock Star Supernova, Guns N Roses, Velvet Revolver, Van Halen, Bon Jovi (on hiatus maybe?), Warrant. Yes to RockStar: Crapnova, Velvet Revolver took a little longer than expected; Warrant did return to Jani, so that's a partial split and wow.Van Halen are still together! Possible re-unions - Giant, the original White Lion, Mr.

Big, Blue Murder, the original Dare line-up, and once again for good measure, or at least wish value - Rainbow, Little Angels, Damn Yankees. No to Giant (and I don't see that happening any longer); same goes for Mr. Big; Blue Murder didn't, nor in fact did anyone!!! Vinny Burns will join Dare for some live dates, but that was only just announced. A complete strike out here! VOCALIST OF THE YEAR: Mike Reno (Loverboy) No question about it - Loverboy's new record was Mike's record.

His voice sounds as good as ever and it was his songwriting and direction that made the album what it was - and that is a very fine record indeed! Honorable Mentions - Michael Eden (Eden's Curse, MelodicRock All-Stars) for an outstanding debut; Stan Bush for another killer classic vocal on his solo release and Stephen Christian (Anberlin) for bringing melodic and modern together seamlessly. Past Winners: 2006 - Pekka Ansio Heino; 2005 - Jorn Lande; 2004 - Jeff Scott Soto; 2003 - Harry Hess.

GUITARIST OF THE YEAR: Thorsten Koehne (Eden's Curse) The virtuoso German guitarist made his immediate impact as part of Eden's Curse. Combining the shred of Malmsteen with the melody of Schon, Thorsten was all over the debut EC record and deserves his place here as guitarist of the year. Honorable Mentions - Joeseph Milligan (Anberlin), Paul Dean (Loverboy), Magnus Karlsson (The Codex & Allen/Lande). Past Winners: 2006 - Steve Lukather; 2005 - Magnus Karlsson PRODUCER OF THE YEAR: Dennis Ward (Eden's Curse, Road To Ruin, Jaded Heart, Human Zoo, David Readman, Pink Cream 69, Steve Grimmett) And that doesn't even include mixing duties and the 3 or 4 projects he was working on for 2008 release! There simply was no competition!! Honorable mentions - Magnus Karlsson (Allen/Lande, The Codex); Threshold; Holger Fath (Stan Bush) Past Winners: 2006 - Harry Hess & Pete Lesperance (Harem Scarem); 2005 - Dennis Ward; 2004 - Fabrizio V.Zee Grossi; 2003 - Tommy Denander.

DRUMMER OF THE YEAR: Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger, Solo, Scrap Metal) Not content with drummer prowess on Night Ranger and his own solo record, Kelly was also the ringleader for Scrap metal and delivered a knock out performance at MelodicRockFest. Past Winners: 2006 - Simon Phillips; 2005 - Daniel Flores. BASSIST OF THE YEAR: Jack Blades (Shaw/Blades & Night Ranger) Another double performance from Jack, with Night Ranger and Shaw/Blades, not to mention touring constantly throughout the year, recieving outstanding reviews for his intimate shows with Tommy Shaw. Honorable mentions - Paul Logue (Eden's Curse, David Readman) & Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69, Hellbassbeaters) Past Winners: 2006 - Marcel Jacob.

KEYBOARDIST OF THE YEAR: Eric Ragno (Ted Poley, David Readman, Steve Grimmett, American Angel) Once again - no competition at all! The above appearances don't include those releases due in 2008 including some big expectations with China Blue! And, another hero of MelodicRockFest as part of the spare-of-the-moment MelodicRock All-Stars. One of the nicest guys in the business. The Best Use Of A Fog Horn In A Song - Pride Of Lions for 'Tall Ships' (It was in fact, a French Horn, but if you know the song, you'll get what I mean!) Most Press Releases Announcing New Signings Without Actually Releasing Anything Award - Chavis Records - Will any of their 2007 announced releases ever actually be released? Best Guest Appearance In A Recording Studio Without Recording Anything - Steve Perry - For his morale boosting appearances with Steve Lukather and Extreme during 2007.

Best Use Of Pyramid Marketing In An Internet Age - Burn Lounge - Touted as an online music empire for all, this scheme has already got the (negative) attention of consumer groups. The Rehab Fixes Everything Award - Eddie Van Halen & Richie Sambora - Perhaps not.nice try though! The Beat The Bootleggers Award - Danny Wilde - Giving away his classic album 'The Boyfriend' at his official website. The Daftest RIAA Announcement Of The Year- It is illegal to make MP3s from CDs you bought! The RIAA PR department continue hitting home runs, eh?

The Have Your Bimbos & Eat Them Too Award - Bret Michaels - For having his way with a dozen wanna be slutty girlfriends, only to choose none and get to do it all over again! The More Band Members Present At A Music Festival Than Paying Fans Award- Rock-It Fest - West Virginia June 16. 10,000 people hoped for, but the numbers didn't quite make estimations, with about one hundred fans gathering to see 20 melodic bands play. The 'Guns N Roses' Most Changes To The Scheduled Release Date Award: Guns N Roses - Taking out their own award (yet again).

Who will take their crown when this album is actually released? Previous Winners: Guns N Roses, Def Leppard, Cheap Trick & Black N Blue The 'Frankie Sullivan' Lawsuits-Are-Us Award: Motley Crue - Suing drummer Tommy Lee's manager for all his crap decisions!

The band claimed 'greed,' 'extortionist tactics' and terrible career advice caused the band to lose millions of dollars in profits and tarnished the band's stellar reputation. Previous Winners: Meatloaf / Jim Steinman, The World Vs SonyBMG, Frankie Sullivan. The Honesty In Interviews Award: *TIE* Gene Simmons & Dennis DeYoung - On the value of music in today's Internet world - Gene Simmons - 'The record industry doesn't have a f*cking clue how to make money. It's only their fault for letting foxes get into the henhouse and then wondering why there's no eggs or chickens. Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning. Those kids are putting 100,000 to a million people out of work.

How can you pick on them? They've got freckles. That's a crook. He may as well be wearing a bandit's mask.' Dennis DeYoung - 'Nobody pays for things they can get for free. And I'm gonna say it again, nobody pays for things they get for free.

If the record companies went from $15 a CD to $5, free is still cheaper.' Previous Winners: Eddie Money, Jamie St. The 'GWAR - Make It Stop Award' For The Most Unnecessary CD: Duran Duran - Red Carpet Massacre.

More like a massacre on the ears. Previous Winner: A Billy Idol Christmas. The 'Vince Neil' Best Drunk On-Stage Antics Award: Richie Sambora - The Bon Jovi Unplugged performance was a mess and what was seen on TV was heavily edited from the even worse performance on the day.

Previous Winners: Jani Lane, Jani Lane, Vince Neil, Vince Neil and Sebastian Bach. The Welcome Back Award: *TIE* - Lilian Axe, Waltham, White Wolf, Extreme, The Cult, Led Zeppelin. The 'Just Release The Bloody Thing Already' Award: - AC/DC, Aerosmith, Foreigner, Guns N Roses, Black N Blue, Hardline - New year, a few new entries, but mainly the same old bloody names! At least Lec Zorn got his record out.

Well done Lec!! Previous Winners: Guns N Roses, Lec Zorn, Black N Blue, Nelson, Hardline, Paul Stanley, Teer, Zion. The 'Best Interview Of 2007' Award: Dennis DeYoung - Another great chat with the legendary frontman.

Previous Winners: Sammy Hagar, Marcie Free, Steve Lukather. The Coolest Website Rant Award: *TIE* - Brian May & Marcel Jacob - The Queen guitarist and Talisman bassist both rally around mate Jeff Scott Soto and tell it like it really is after Journey dropped their frontman. The 'Gene Simmons' I'll Flog Anything Award: Beau Hill - Producer extraordinaire, who isn't flogging a product as such, but rather his mixing services by approaching just about every band on MySpace. Previous Winner: George Lynch, Gene Simmons.

Most Likely To Find Themselves On The Country Music Channel in 2008: Eddie Money - One bad idea to the next for the once classic Money Man. Previous Winner: Bon Jovi, John Waite. The Most Likely To Release A Live Album or DVD in 2008 Award:- more random guesses! Those nominated last year - Shaw/Blades, Masterplan, Wig Wam, Toto, John Waite, REO Speedwagon, The Police, The Who. I know so many people look forward to this and believe me - there are still plenty of candidates. Several personalities from the Message Boards deserve a good flogging, but I will resist temptation.

We all have to move on at some point. This year I was going to name a certain American beverage company Dickheads Of The Year - for taking 7 months to not bother paying me their sponsorship money from MelodicRockFest.

But it seems me alerting them to that fact has prompted a re-think on their part:) I might get paid after all. Basically - I'm over last year. Too many problems and I'm not willing to revisit them. 2008 has it's own challenges, so let's see if DOTK returns for the 2008 Awards.

Welcome to the 8th Annual MelRock Awards. My apologies for it being a week or two late getting online, but life seems to only ever get busier, so perhaps I should start writing the 2007 awards in October:) One of the benefits of publishing the awards in February is that it gives me a far better and clearer picture of the year ahead, which is an important part of this annual round up of news, views, comments and general opinions on things. This is also my avenue to speak my mind a little further on certain issues affecting this music scene, me, the site and the record business as a whole. I hope you concur with the awards handed out and with the rankings of particular albums and songs from the calendar year 2006. Of course there will be many varying views and possibly some unhappy campers that hold high regard for albums that did not make the final cut here. You get a chance at the end of the feature to add your personal favourites. The albums and artists below are all ones that have been reviewed or featured in any way on the site.

I have not had the time to review everything from 2006 that should have been, but I can recognize those albums and songs here and will still add a few more 2006 reviews when time permits. I always provide soundbytes, so if some of these titles featured are not ones you recognize or have heard a lot about, then please check them out, as there is a lot of great music and artists featured in the lists below. This year's write up continues the trend of getting bigger each and every year. This is the biggest awards page yet (48 pages to print out) and I expect next year will be bigger again as I try and cover as much music as is humanly possible. If there are any omissions from the lists below, then I apologize and mean no offence. But there really is a stack of music for fans of all tastes and the below artists and releases are those which I personally feel are the strongest representation of the scene that melodicrock.com covers.

1 Toto Falling In Between The year spent writing and recording this album really paid off for the guys. This is an absolutely classic album and I had no difficulty giving this album a perfect score. It was just as easy to name it Album Of The Year. Falling In Between showcases everything that is Toto.

There are influences from all areas of their past and even a few new elements such as the heavy title track. The performances of all on this record is something the guys should be very proud of and the songwriting, although diverse, is held together by a monster production. 2 House Of Lords World Upside Down James Christian put it all on the line for this release. After the lukewarm reception to the comeback Power & The Myth release, James controversially moved on with a new line-up and a new vision.

This is classic House Of Lords in just about every way and the critical acclaim garnered from the release justify James' decision. While I am sure most would have preferred to see the classic line-up in action, the anthemic melodic rock songs that fill this album are good enough to convert everyone to the new era.

3 Talisman 7 Heralded as their swansong release, this was also a very important release for Jeff Scott Soto and the band. And they nailed it. Just like Toto, Talisman took elements of their past records and mixed it all into one record, with a couple of fresh new twists for good value. Great songs a fresh vibe and overall, a really consistent record that runs very smoothly start to finish.

4 Harem Scarem Human Nature Any new Harem Scarem record is always going to be a big release for this scene and the guys have never released a truly bad album. Released in Japan in November and available online and in select stores in early December, this just qualifies for the 2006 Awards. The album sees the band return to their more melodic ways, although I thought there was nothing wrong with the direction of the last album!

So, more anthems, more hooks, more glorious harmonies.can any band out there rival the discography and overall consistency of this band? 5 Slamer Nowhere Land Mike Slamer is the consummate professional and a perfectionist to boot. And vocalist Terry Brock is a legend in his own right, so such a pairing could only bring melodic magic. And yes, this is a super slick slice of melodic rock, mixed with layers of instrumental work and lush vocals. The album was mellower than most expected I think, but you cannot fault the quality. 6 The Poodles - Metal Will Stand Tall - 2006 was The Poodles vs Wig Wam vs Brother Firetribe - three amazing bands with three great albums on their hands. All a little different though.

I always like the moody/darker side of melodic rock, which is why I have rated The Poodles slightly ahead of Wig Wam and Brother Firetribe, but let's be honest here.you need all three of these records! 7 Street Talk - V - Simply the best and most consistent album of the band's career. Welcome back guys. Goran Edmon sounds amazing and the song, production and performances are all smooth as silk. Frederik Bergh cannot claim enough credit for this old school AOR masterpiece.

8 Wig Wam - Wigwamania - Like 1987 had never ended, Wig Wam fire back with the album Poison wish they could still make (but probably never will.). This is a wonderful, in your face, feel good party rock album, filled with anthems, loud guitars and major choruses on every song. Amazing that something like this can still be made in 2006. 9 Brother Firetribe - False Metal - Another of the magnificent trio of European melodic rock releases in 2007. Brother Firetribe took a more keyboard orientated approach with their album, but like Wig Wam and The Poodles, the guys filled it with glorious hooks and melodies, not to mention anthemic rocking songs that ridicule the fact that the 90s ever existed.

Can't wait for more from all three bands. They shine the light and set the standard for others to follow.

10 Sunstorm - Sunstorm - Well done JLT! A new fresh take on some old songs, coupled with some passionate vocals that demand attention on this release, which from the reactions, has become a JLT fan favourite.

More please.and extra credit for the production (the amazing Dennis Ward again), in bringing some old songs to life without sounding dated at all. 11 Leverage - Tides 12 Newman - Heaven Knows 13 Sammy Hagar - Livin' It Up 14 Jorn - The Duke 15 Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell 3 16 Nexx - Another Dawn 17 Andersen Laine Readman - Three 18 Ted Poley - Collateral Damage 19 Ambition - Ambition 20 Glenn Hughes - Music For The Divine 21 Europe - Secret Society 22 Tony O'Hora - Escape From The Sun 23 Platitude - Silence Speaks 24 Square One - Supersonic 25 Cheap Trick - Rockford 26 Last Autumn's Dream - Winter In Paradise 27 Riot - Army Of One 28 Mind's Eye - Walking on H2O 29 Paul Stanley - Live To Win 30 Axel Rudi Pell - Mystica.

2006 was a year of contrasts. The year delivered some of the very finest music I have been fortunate to witness in my 10 years online.

Take a look at that Top 20 especially. Stunning stuff. But, on the flipside, 2006 also delivered up some very poor releases too. Inconsistency was the name of the game, with some records suffering from dodgy production and general lack of quality control.

Those aspects saw several potential great albums pegged back to average at best. When we are talking the best, we should look no further than the titles good enough to make the 2006 MelRock Awards.

Album Of The Year was no contest for me - Toto easily took out that honor, with House Of Lords an equally easy pick for the #2 slot. Both albums were important releases for the bands and both releases delivered all that was expected and more. Also delivering to the usual high standard expected of them were Talisman, Harem Scarem, Mike Slamer, Joe Lynn Turner and Street Talk.

The year's big surprises came from the new era of European melodic hard rock hero's - The Poodles, Wig Wam and Brother Firetribe. Three amazing albums caught the attention of fans and deserve to be included among the year's very best releases.

Then there was Leverage, who delivered an album Masterplan would be thrilled to call their own. Elsewhere on the lists, it is rewarding to see a number of veteran acts showing that there is still life in many an old dog! Newman, Meatloaf, Glenn Hughes, Ted Poley, Cheap Trick, Europe, Riot, Axel Rudi Pel l and Paul Stanley all did their names proud.

Song Of The Year was a little harder to decide upon, but take a look at the song chosen - Dying On My Feet is everything Toto ever was and then some. This is an amazing song that in nearly 7 minutes of running time takes on melodic rock, progressive and symphonic rock before closing with an all-in brass section. There is at least 3 parts to the song and I honestly think it is the most amazing songwriting I heard this year.

House Of Lords figure heavily in the results due to a very strong album with several great anthems.I really had to debate the merits of SOS vs Million Miles, but Million Miles won in the end for me. Harem Scarem appear again as they do every time they release an album, and once I figured the Top 20, the rest of the songs fell into place nicely. Plenty more songs listed in the Honorable Mentions, as I couldn't scale it back any further than I already have.

At a guess, I suppose there has been some 3000+ songs appear in front of me this year, so the end list of the 50 best songs + honorable mentions isn't too many in the scheme of things. Congratulations to the artists involved and thank you for delivering the finest music possible in what can only be described as a challenging year for everybody involved in this business. The hardest part is always figuring out where to start. So much happens within the space of a year and I always find myself sitting staring at the screen, waiting for the obvious to make itself clear, so I can get underway. Looking back can sometimes be good therapy and I have used the last couple of year's awards pages to pretty much lay it out there for all, to give a glimpse of the day to day stuff - not only the good, but also the BS that goes with running this site. There's plenty of both and this year was no exception.

The amount of money in this small scene is sometimes laughable and I must again thank the loyal support of MR-X members and the labels and CD stores that continue to advertise with me Without such support, running the site would be impossible. The business side of things is always challenging. Last year I spoke of a few that had not paid up for services provided.

There must be something in the air, as while those situations aren't fully resolved, all 3 have made steps to clear the air with me and that is definitely appreciated. Perhaps that is a sign of a more active business year ahead? I have an awareness that I need to diversify in order to survive long term. I need to be doing something a little different so I am not relying on one revenue stream alone.

That's the million dollar question. I have one idea I am very very passionate about, but it is something that will require a lot of work for no immediate result, so must consider how to get time to develop that without taking away from the site itself. I am frustrated I have not yet been able to do more, as this idea has been with me for a while now and I recall saying last year that I would be working on something outside the existing site during 2006, yet I don't think I have spent more than a few days on it all year. I don't want to spend too much time on the negative, or at least the natural challenges that present themselves in working within the music business and then this scene in particular.

I am realistic about these things and no matter what is thrown at me, I continue to love everything about this music, this site and those that frequent it. I am blessed to have made so many great friends and I thank everyone that takes time out to drop me a line. SITE STATS: The financial side of things may be ever challenging, but statistics wise, things couldn't be better! Figures for the site just continue to grow and even the site ranking portal Alexa has doubled the site ranking over the course of the past year, currently listing me in the top 40,000 of all websites online (take that info for what it's worth - but all sites can be checked and there must be some round about accuracy in their stats - / ).

At one point my stats program fell over and had to be reset as it couldn't keep up with the traffic. That was around the time I announced David Lee Roth would be returning to Van Halen.

To take a snap shot – I'll list the details for January 2007. Monday to Friday averages are now above 20,000 frontpage hits per day. The beginning of the week starts at around 18,000 and builds to around 21-22,000 by Friday.

In the last week of January, I had a one day record of over 26,000 hits. For January 2007 I served 190,000 unique visitors equaling 544,000 hits and 2,150,000 pages (average 4 pages per user) and a grand total of 34,538,691 hits. That all equates to a total of 1110 Gig in data for the month. No wonder my server costs have doubled in the past 12 months! THE BIGGEST STORY OF 2006: I guess I would have to describe 2006 as featuring the very best experiences I have enjoyed whilst running this site and also the very worst. And to show just what a complex world this is, both experiences revolved around the same band - Journey. When the controversy surrounding vocalist Steve Augeri's alleged use of backing tapes broke, it was on my message board.

There has been talk of this issue for some time previous, long before it broke out early in 2006 – but I never wanted my message boards to be the focal point of the controversy. Over the years I have allowed the boards to be known as a place where free speech is allowed so long as personal attacks are not made. But, being that this was such an emotive and complex issue, with so many people very passionate about their respective opinions, it was not long before all hell broke loose and I was caught very much in the middle.

I did my best to allow everyone to have their say, but with two clear and defined points of view being so far apart, the board quickly turned into a nightmare to moderate. Safe to say that I lost a great deal of time out of my year to that board. I recall getting messages thanking me for allowing the debate to be conducted; messages demanding that I stop the debate and ban those that mention it; messages that I was being too controlling or not controlling enough; messages claiming that I was part of a conspiracy started by the band to oust their singer (seriously!!); messages claming that I was supporting a fraud by not speaking out about it moreand still more.you name it. The reality was far less exciting. The Journey message board was running rampant and I was left to deal with the mess. That was my role in this - cleaner.

Cleaning up the crap left on my board between warring factions of the Journey fanbase. The whole allegation of tape use was a huge story, except no one was going to go on record about it. Why would they? It was a no win situation. In the end I made a fairly broad statement outlining the issue on my front page. A lot of people understood where I was coming from. I was trying to be diplomatic and I tried to force the issue back on the band – pleading for them to make a statement to try and bring the issue and the fanbase to a point where tings could move forward.except I knew they would not comment.

They will deal with it somewhere down the line, but I expect it will be done so with as few words as possible. Like I said, most could see where I was coming from and could understand that I was trying to straddle a very thin fence, without falling over into any particular side. Yet, still some folks demanded that I take a side. Demanded – not asked. Basically I wasn't ever about to cover what was one of the biggest stories I have covered without anyone from anywhere going on record! Eight dates in to the 2006 US tour with Def Leppard, singer Steve Augeri left the tour with throat/vocal problems and was replaced by Jeff Scott Soto, who as we all know, was made permanent just before the end of the year. The events of 2006 are well known and have been covered enough, but the problems among the fan base only intensified.

I was left with a choice to heavily moderate the message board or simply do my best to control it and let people have their say – get it off their chests so to speak. I think that we are now already on the path back though. Things since the announcement of JSS as singer, things have been progressively more peaceful and I expect this year to be a far more sedate affair for online fans. Back to the band though. The Journey legacy has always been a complex affair as there were two distinct factions to their fanbase.

Now we have a third. The division caused by the controversies of the past year will take a long time to heal and I'm not sure some will ever forgive what happened. But I also believe that JSS is the man to help heal the divisions. But for Journey and for me, a lot of good has come from this year also. Jeff Scott Soto clearly did a stand up job for the guys when asked to join the tour and as his confidence grew, so did the respect from the crowd and the positive reviews of the tour performances – from both fans and critics alike. Everyone knows JSS and I are budsa friendship grew from my early coverage of the singer on my site and eventual hook up to bring him to Australia for a tour and his ongoing involvement with Neal Schon - who I originally gave Jeff's phone numbers to. I was sad to see Steve Augeri leave Journey – yes, I was sad.

Why wouldn't I be? I have supported and championed this band and this line-up since my earliest days online and have interviewed Steve a few times and met him in person once. Tremendously nice guy and someone who I have a lot of respect for. No one wants to see a situation like this go down and no one wants to see fans that have devoted their time and hearts to that line-up, upset and despondent.

At the same time I was rapt to see JSS get his big chance – long over due and just so fantastic to see him playing to bigger audience sizes and in turn to see them responding to his stage persona. I'd be thrilled to see Jeff fronting any major band, so much better that it is a band that were already a personal favourite. That point brings me to the upside of the Journey year – as you all know the band had me as their guest in LA to cover 2 shows and to do interviews with the guys before one of the shows. To bring everything back and present it as a big feature – the first for the new line-up. To be in LA with the guys was a huge honor and it was of course great to spend some time hanging out with Jeff again. I put more work into the Journey feature than any other special artist feature before and I was overwhelmed with the response from most towards it.

It definitely set the bar higher for site features (aside from the annual MelRock Awards I think) and I am hoping that I will get the chance to do something similar again in the not too distant future. I also learnt a few things from doing the feature that I will improve upon next time around. Sadly the feature was not without its own controversies. Obviously dedicated fans of Steve Augeri were hurt by the contents of the band interviews – there was little reference to Steve and some spent considerable time reading stuff into the interviews that in reality really wasn't there at all. The feature and the interviews was all about moving forward and that was my focus.

Deen Castronovo was the one hit hardest – something which I still fail to understand. Perhaps the written word can look more emotion free in the absence of a one on one or video interview. The fact is that Deen was a great supporter of Steve and those that attacked him for not being sympathetic enough have quickly forgotten that it was Deen that helped Steve though many tough times. It was Deen who would fill in high notes when requested, it was Deen who took on a few of the ballads to allow Steve time to rest during the lengthy shows and it was Deen that reluctantly stood out front for Steve, when he clearly couldn't go on during that last US show in June. The criticism of Deen was unwarranted and I hope people realize that. At the time I interviewed him, he had just lost his step father, who he was very close to and had a very emotional family base on and off the phone to him constantly. To be able to concentrate on anything, let alone give a coherent interview and then hit one out of the park on stage is a credit to him.

No one is asking anyone to forget Steve or the events of 2006, but Deen is not the fall guy. And for that matter – nor am I. After the positives of the feature had died down, it was time for some of the Augeri fan base to have their say and once again I was caught in the crossfire of an angry mob. I don't hold that against anyone, but was very disappointed at some of the comments that came my way. Again, the product of a divided fan base and a number of people unhappy with how things were dealt with by the band and management.

Time heals all wounds and I hope 2007 brings closure to those upset with the events of 2006. No doubt a Steve Augeri solo record and the unearthed second Tall Stories record will go a considerable way to help. INTERVIEWS: What were my favourite interviews of 2006? Obviously the Journey ones were great although completely informal and were meant to supplement the tour coverage rather that be hard hitting pieces on their own right.

I think Sammy Hagar gets the gong as my favourite interview of all. I have been a fan of Sammy for as long as I can remember and have wanted to interview him since starting the site. Sammy was charming and open to what I thought was a good line of questioning and the fact that he let the interview run 20 minutes overtime said a lot.

I was very thankful to Sammy for that and hope to do another interview soon. I think Richie Zito was a close second. A super nice and very wise bloke is Richie and had a lot to offer. Frankie Sullivan, Richard Black, Toto and Danny Malone all provided good interviews too, so I think overall it was a very good year for interviews. Not so good was John Waite and Jimi Jamison, both of whom I guess just didn't have a lot to say at the time. I have also done interviews with Yngwie Malmsteen and Sebastian Bach – I'll deliver those interviews soon. Coming up in 2007 – Lou Gramm, Vince Neil, Jack Blades and Kelly Keagy, Jim Peterik, Loverboy, Dokken, Jorn Lande, Foreigner, Rick Springfield and more.plus another round of Journey perhaps?

MRCD3: I was very pleased to finally be able to get the MRCD3 CD finished and released. It took 2 years to gather the tracks for this one and thankfully it seems everyone agrees that it was worth the wait and Volume 3 is the best of the 3 compilations to date. So far I have sold 700-750 units thereabouts.so there is still plenty left and I will start work on thinking about MRCD4 in hopes that it won't take 2 years to get this one done!! SPECIAL EVENTS: Taking a look at a couple of other special events of the year, it was my great privilege to be part of the team that brought Toto to Australia for their first concerts in 14 years.

I had an awesome weekend in Sydney with the guys, coincidently also spending some time with Foreigner on the Friday night, who blew me away with their energy. But it was Toto's live set that gets my vote for one of the very best gigs ever.

What an amazing band and what a great bunch of guys. All except Mr. Lukather – he is a bad man, who insisted on me drinking way too many shots of this God awful stuff. Bad bad man – do not let him influence you if you ever get stuck in a bar with him! I also had a blast in the UK for just a few short days at Firefest 3. Despite doing my back in (which still hurts BTW!), the trip to Firefest 3 was awesome as usual.

Every time I go I get to see all the old faces that I have met over the years and even better, I get to meet more new faces and regular site readers. Always a very positive experience, even if it takes more than 24 bloody hours to get there and the same back again. The music brings us together, but for the fans gathered it is more like one big family reunion. Nothing better than sharing a hall with 1200 like minded individuals and a sea of classic band t-shirts. Of course, the bands gathered for the day all put in great performances, even if one in particular didn't connect with the crowd. Can't wait for Firefest 4 – not sure if I can be there as yet – we shall see.

There isn't much to talk of this year that I haven't already stated in previous years. Piracy still looms as the biggest problem, as does the advance leaking of promotional copies of albums to the Internet and of course - most importantly - the continuing void in real talent being promoted by the major labels and PR outlets. Both issues are obviously hitting hard as only last week Warner and EMI released profit downgrade warnings to their stock holders and painted a none to pretty picture on where their sales were heading. EMI shares fell a further 12% on hearing the news. They really have only themselves to blame. Years of manufacturing musical dog turds instead of fostering real talent is hitting hard.

And then there is their own disastrous anti-piracy moves that resulted in more bad PR. Add to this the label's general failure to come to terms with nature of the Internet and what it could do for them; their hard line against moving into a digital era; plus their overall reluctance to reduce the price of CDs, which at this point are at least 30% over priced.

The fact is that the consumer base has grown tired of what these labels have been offering and are voting with their feet. Their money is going on competing entertainment formats like DVD, Video Games, Internet and Cable TV. The industry needs a radical shift in their fundamental thinking in order to re-excite the public.

Good music and quality performers will always attract support. Why do you think the veteran acts of the 70s and 80s are still selling out concert tours each year? It is time to foster some real talent guys and not cast them off after a debut album that failed to live up to expectations.

Artists need at least 3 albums to prove themselves. There is no shortage of talent and fantastic music out there, but to those people that just want to turn on the TV or perhaps read just one or two mainstream music magazines are never going to be exposed to it.

Smart and passionate music fans go looking for new music and this is where the 'evil' Internet can be a blessing for new artists and bands, who don't have to rely on paying their way into the mainstream media. PLUGGING THE LEAKS - PART 2: I also have one idea on how to alleviate some of the damage caused by the advance leaking of material to the Internet. Why not release these albums as a legal digital download on the day that promotional CDs are sent to media? Stick to the planned release date for the physical CD and in store promotions etc.but have the album available digitally at an earlier time to at least give people the option to pay for something rather than download it illegally. Most fans just want the music ASAP and I would suggest that if the paid digital download version of any given album was available at the same time it would normally leak to the Internet, then perhaps such sales would see the artist receive some benefit from the purchasing of that download.

Many I know download the leaked advance and then purchase the CD when it is released. Do both - go digital in advance and provide a discount to those that go this route and also want the CD when released officially. Your thoughts? THE MYSPACE OBSESSION: Is MySpace now a prerequisite for all artists and businesses involved in the entertainment industry? Does everyone have to have a MySpace page? The questions seems absurd, but apparently the answer is yes. It's kind tiring to type an artist's website location into a browser, only to have that URL redirected to their MySpace page.

This conglomerate is rendering official site pages redundant, yet the whole set up is so utterly restrictive and draconian in formatting options. Not to mention if you really want to make the most of it, substantial work is required. I think bands should still concentrate on having an official site and if anything, use MySpace to drive users back there, where they can have full control over their media and promotion options. This year one clown decided to impersonate me, a clown I have bumped into before doing something similar. Anyway, I'm not alone in this problem, plenty of artists have fan pages on MySpace that claim to be official. For the record, I have bookmarked a MySpace page for MelodicRock.com - reluctantly, yes, but it is there now.

I have barely done anything to the page and don't look for that to change anytime soon, but at least there won't be anyone impersonating me out there! 2006 was a year where the production and sound quality of albums remained in the forefront of everyone's minds. There was sustained debate about this very topic through the year – both via message boards and individual e-mails to me. It seems that all agree that a number of releases this year were hindered by poor sound quality. Some folks felt that they could look past this issue and enjoy the songs for what they were and others felt more strongly – that certain albums were ruined entirely by a poor mix, poor overall production or poor mastering. I saw individual cases of both instances, but I must say that after reaching the milestone of running this site for 10 years now, my patience with sub-par production on various releases has dried up.

I'm now far less tolerant with these releases as I used to be and feel that if labels and artists can't get it right now – then they never will. People need to make a stand against substandard product. Internet downloading and general music piracy is not going to get any better while the market has to suffer poorly produced albums.

I say this while cutting the independent artists out there a little slack. Those guys can get caught in the middle, left without the money needed to record a great sounding album themselves, but also without the support of melodic rock record labels who refuse to give them a decent advance or in some instances – no advance at all!

Let me digress for a moment - yes, we are now in an age of the zero advance record deal. There are artists out there as I type this that have spent every cent of their own money to record an album – not to get rich off, but for the love of the craft, for the art of music – only to find record labels willing enough to sign them to their roster, but without a cent being paid out to them.

Not even a $1K good will gesture. This tells me that the label has little if any faith in the product and is merely filling their quota of releases needed to stay on the radar.

Hell, I've got bugger all money, but maybe even I could run a record label off a zero advance deal. There's a thought.

If artists are signing up to this kind of thing, then perhaps I should look seriously at this Of course, the zero advance deal is not part of the majority of deals, but it is happening to some. I made the point to highlight some of the challenges artists have in turning great songs into a great album. In other cases, the artist can be the one that can be held accountable for the failings of an album. They have an advance, they know their way around a studio, and they have great songs.

So why should an album sound horrible after all that? Both labels and artists need to work together to eradicate poor quality releases. Back to the production issuethis year, more than any other year that I can recall, more albums were (for me) ruined by poor sound. Some of them feature some very fine songs indeed, which I truly appreciate, but the hard work of those writing the tunes can be destroyed by whoever sits behind that studio desk. That was the case this year, as there are a few albums that I can't and won't ever listen to again – simply because they sound awful - despite featuring some great songs Why should any fan be robbed of some great songs because your ears hurt trying to enjoy them?!! THE MELODIC LABELS: The melodic music scene rolled along this year as it has for the last few years, although the 'melodic' aspect seems to be ever slowly fading away as metal takes an even stronger hold.

There were fewer pure AOR releases this year than any other year I can remember. One of the biggest CD stores that I am sure everyone knows well is AOR Heaven. Their own in-house label released perhaps only a few melodic rock releases this year – the rest found their way to the Metal Heaven label. No slight on AOR/Metal Heaven. They have good releases, you just have to go where the sales are. They are not alone, as this is a sign of the times.

Speaking of Georg at AOR Heaven - he was one of several people to speak out against these advance promo releases appearing online this year. Everyone continues to struggle with piracy and the leaking of advance copies to torrent sites - almost the day they are shipped to supposed journalists - is a big problem. Again I believe that all the labels need to tighten their promo lists in an attempt to weed out the wrong doers. Speaking of promo lists – 10 years after forming this site I still find myself unable to get straight answers and replies from a couple of labels in regards to promo copies of albums I need to feature on the site. The majority of labels and artists can appreciate the concept of free publicity, but a few others remain blissfully ignorant. And they wonder why sales don't improve for them Of the labels I deal most closely with, I guess it would be easy to see for all that Frontiers Records were the dominant force in the scene.

They have the most artists, the most releases and therefore the most exposure within the scene. In turn, artists look towards signing with them because they know the label has this reputation. Frontiers as one can see by the results of the Album Of The Year, had a strong 12 months.

But they were not without their problems, as production quality was expected to be better than it was on several titles ( Zion, Vertigo, Avalon, Bob Catley ). I feel that a couple of the other labels that were running closely behind Frontiers have given up the chase. Take MTM Music for example – the label was neck and neck with Frontiers for many years, but seems to have turned down a different road to their rivals in the last 12-18 months. Some of their artist signings this year would have to be described as 'experimental' to see if a change in direction works for them.

I'd say not – as the best releases from MTM this year were the ones that were from the melodic/AOR genre. Street Talk was a gem, and Zeno and Rain also impressed.

But releases like Dacia + The WMD and Beggars Bride were serious contenders for Turkey Of The Year. I'd like to see MTM be more aggressive in their search for new signings this year as a competitive scene is a healthy scene. Escape Music had a solid year and of all the labels probably chose to stick within their own established boundaries musically speaking. They served up some good releases and while they also stepped into metal somewhat ( Evil Masquerade, Cloven Hoof, Ian Parry ), overall they delivered probably the most pure AOR of anyone ( Shadowman, Last Autumn's Dream, Newman, Alibi, Final Frontier ). The label really does deliver consistent quality and rarely disappoint (if you forgive the Alibi release). Majestic Rock Records struggled through the year under financed and well behind as far as their release schedule and previous year's efforts.

Where they go this year is anyone's guess, but the guys running the show have a positive outlook for the future, which is a very good thing. Lion Music continued to do what they have always done best and that is deliver guitar based melodic metal, progressive and instrumental releases. They continue to build in strength and diversity. I think the new House Of Shakira will be the label's melodic rock highlight for the year. I do have to laugh though Lion Music have beyond any doubt, the largest collection of completely unpronounceable artist names on the market! Rock Candy Records also struggled to keep within a schedule, but delivered some very fine re-issues and a sound quality that has impressed just about everyone.

My only gripe - the superb re-issue of John Waite's classic Ignition album was an audio glitch (where you can hear the original maser tape flutter) in the first track, but the original American CD release of this title does not! Germany's AFM Records goes from strength to strength and these guys are quickly becoming the prime metal label in Europe. Masterplan, Silent Force, The Poodles, Evidence One..lots of good names on their roster. SPV are a bigger label overall, but AFM has the name now and I can see them getting bigger and better. UK based Angel Milk Records is the new kid on the block, but their efforts in promoting and releasing a classy package for their first band Nexx put them on the map.

They now have to follow that up. Several other artists in development will establish them further, but one hopes it will not be too long between releases for the label. Massacre Records stuck to what they know best and as far as I can see, that isn't going to change this year, with a mostly metal line-up punctuated by the anticipated more melodic Cornerstone album. Z Records continued to confound its critics and remain in business, but not without creating more controversy along the way.

Both of the planned 2007 Z Rock shows were surrounded with BS as on both occasions the planned headlining band pulled out. In May it was Von Groove that came up with a lame excuse for not attending, but it was Firehouse that pulled no punches with their pull out of the September Z Rock show. The associated back and forth press releases by both camps didn't result in fans getting what they wanted and further served to keep the aura of bullshit that surrounds Z Records alive. Where to from here? More of the same from all parties is my best guess, while we all try and figure out where this scene is going, whether it will continue to shrink and whether those portraying their support of the scene will put their money where their mouth is.

One other label related note. I'm not sure if anyone else has picked up on this, but I think this situation sums up one issue this scene has. MTM Music welcomed the respected musician Mat Sinner on board as a A&R guy. That was a good move as far as I can see and the label promptly announced that Mats band Sinner would also be welcomed on board. But not long after it was announced that Mat's other (bigger)band Primal Fear had signed a deal with Frontiers Records. Then not long again after that, a third project from Mat - Goddess Shiva – was announced as singing with the Metal Heaven label! I know artists have to hedge their bets and go with the best deal available, but this stood out to me.

Signed to and working A&R for one label, then signed to another 2 labels as well. Of course, this is just one example – there are several more instances of artists spreading themselves across multiple labels in the one territory – Blue Tears, Tommy Denander, Tommy Heart (Fair Warning & Soul Doctor) to name a few.

I don't include those signed to deals in Europe, then other labels for Japan and America, as hardly any of the smaller labels work on worldwide distribution deals these days. Should artists be loyal to one label, or in reverse, should labels bend over backwards to keep their artist working or signed to them exclusively? Controversial, or just part of the game in this day and age?

Aerosmith came up with a new compilation and what – two new songs? Pretty disappointing way to keep old fans hanging around if you ask me. Their most recent releases have been three compilations, one live album and a covers album.

That ain't pretty. But lets not single out Aerosmith here – other bands and labels are doing much the same.

Poison are planning a covers album for 2007 after 2 compilations in a row and some re-issues. Van Halen are about to release their 2nd compilation in a row and 3rd out of the last 4 releases. Artists need to do whatever it takes to get some new material written and recorded and reward fans for 20 and 30 years worth of loyal devotion. Somehow I think that labels won't care about this and the trend to repackage the same old shit will only continue to get worse. Back to Aerosmith, the band had to overcome a few more personal obstacles this year, with both Steven Tyler and Tom Hamilton on the sick list – both needing surgery on their throats coincidently – and both making strong recoveries.

The New Cars started by revving their engines as loudly as possible, except they soon ran out of gas when guitarist Elliot Easton had to undergo shoulder surgery. They got back on the road in November. Tower Records finally succumbed to industry upheavals – not to mention a bad case of product over-pricing. They used to be the hippest CD store in the world, especially that Sunset Blvd store in LA. But they just couldn't compete with the mass-merchants and sadly, the whole chain is now gone.

More regrettable was the demise of Aaron's on Highland, a mecca of mine for used CDs and assorted bits and pieces. The options for buying used CDs in Hollywood now rest with the over priced and over stocked Amoeba. Joe Lynn Turner had a very busy year with his acclaimed Sunstorm project, an appearance on the Richie Zito Avalon CD, touring with Cem Koksal's band, a guest spot on Richie Blackmore's last release, his Akira Kajiyama + Joe Lynn Turner CD was released in Europe and then there is the corporate supergroup Big Noize featuring guitarist Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot), drummer Vinny Appice (Dio/Black Sabbath), bassist Phil Soussan (Ozzy Osbourne/Billy Idol) and keyboardist Gary Corbett (Cinderella/Lou Gramm). He also released a Japanese single covering the Backstreet Boys hit The One. I must ask him to hear that!

How much can one man rock?!! 2007 looks good for him again, with a guest spot on the Howard Leese album coming up and a new solo record, plus who knows what else! The Darkness split – not sure how many people might actually have been surprised by that! Sebastian Bach didn't release his new record as yet in 2006, but still managed to make a lot of noise, touring with Guns N Roses, then actually fronting GNR for one show when Axl took ill. He also came to Australia for a couple of dates, but got all pissy in Sydney when some dickhead threw a bottle of water at him. Bach stormed off stage, much to the anger of fans and the delight of Metal Sludge. Speaking of Guns N Roses – the usual amount of hype and fuss surrounded Axl Rose's every move, including speculation all year as to whether the mythical Chinese Democracy album would ever appear.

I'm still not convinced it will! I think Axl only got into one fight and was arrested only once on tour too – so that isn't a bad year all round.

It looks like 2007 could be the year GNR and Velvet Revolver go head to head – if both albums get released! Mike Tramp ditched his solo plans and put together a new band line-up under the moniker Tramp's White Lion – playing all the old White Lion classics in the way they were written and looking to record an all new album, which should be an interesting prospect. Ronnie James Dio made his film debut in the Tenacious D movie before guesting on the new Queensryche record. He then hooked up with his old Sabbath mates for the Heaven & Hell project, set to get underway shortly. Paul Stanley finally got his solo album out. I'm sure that it didn't sell the amount he would have liked, but the fanbase seemed to take to it with an overall positive reaction.

His best move was to pick the house band from Rock Star for his touring band. They are on the road now and through much of the early parts of 2007.

Gene Simmons kept a lower musical profileit couldn't get much lower after that last solo album of his – but he did redeem himself in an unusual way. His reality TV Show Family Jewels saw a similar premise to that of The Osbournes, expect his kids were actually very grounded and naturally enjoyable to watch, his long time partner wasn't a controlling bitch and he himself came across as not taking himself too seriously, and overall it was a very funny show (for a reality show at least). Axe put out a surprising press release, announcing they would continue on, but without Bobby Barth.

Barth gave the new line-up his blessing, but it won't be the same without the popular guitarist. I still have fond memories of hanging out with him and singer Bob Harris in Munich some years back.

Classy gents both of them! Dennis DeYoung and Roger Hodgson appeared together on Canadian Idol - hawking their latest products of course - but also performing live and offering contestants advice during one performance show.

A good watch The Billboard Top 200 got a reminder of what good music is when legends Bob Seger and Bob Dylan both scored Top 5 charting albums. Proof that anyone can still do it as long as they have a good album and good publicity behind them. The biggest rock album for the year happened to be from an American Idol finalist – Chris Daughty. Modern rock by the numbers, but still an enjoyable release, coming from a bucket load of PR artists just can't buy normally. So what have we learned here folks? PUBLICITY EQUALS SALES! Tom Scholz sued Sony to get them to stop the release of the first two Boston albums – successful in his actions for the USA, but the releases still appeared in Europe and Canada.

His intention was to stop what he described as substandard product hitting the shelves, preferring to remaster both albums himself, which were then released finally in the USA to fan acclaim. Meanwhile, Tom and his Boston name have returned to Azoff management after bailing from them a year or so ago. Expect a double bill tour this year. Glam rockers Tigertailz – both lots – argued back and forth about their naming dispute, but a court would find in favor of the original line-up and awarded them their name back. Rumor has it that LA Guns are facing a similar battle in the coming months. Bon Jovi headed to Nashville to add to the legacy of 'WTF?

Decisions' the band has made in their career. You thought This Left Seems Right was bad.just wait. The new country themed album might be the biggest hurdle fans have been asked to get over yet.

I'm not sure they will, but how many country die-hards might jump aboard for this hayride? Jim Steinman sued Meatloaf over his decision to use Jim's songs to record Bat Out Of Hell 3 with producer Desmond Child. An agreement was later reached, which saw the release of the songs for Meat's use and the door remains open for Jim to use the Bat Of Of Hell songs for his own use in later years. VH1 launched their debut Rock Honors show – which paid tribute to Kiss, Def Leppard, Judas Priest and Queen to start things off. The show rated well, and it will be interesting to see where the cable channel choose to pay tribute to in subsequent years.

Sadly I still haven't yet seen the show, being that it did not air in Australia and I haven't found a torrent file of it. That was not all that VH1 served up. There was a 4 part series titled The Story Of Metal and then the Supergroup TV series – which saw Ted Nugent, Scott Ian, Sebastian Bach, Evan Seinfeld and Jason Bonham thrown together in a house in Las Vegas to be filmed while they recorded what was hoped would be an album, but in the end turned out to be just a few original songs that to this day have not been issued anywhere. Ok, so this had potential and there was the usual selective editing to enhance the characters and conflicts within the house, but at the end of the day when there is no music to show for all the efforts put in – what is the point??

Jack Blades spent most of the year recording the new Night Ranger album and finishing off the Shaw/Blades covers album and then did something else a little different – he starred in a stage show! Rock Of Ages was a LA show that featured a stack of classic melodic hard rock songs form the 80s and saw people like Jack, Tommy Shaw and Neal Schon check it out. Jack was so impressed with the show – and their use of Night Ranger songs – that he joined in for a limited run. Def Leppard got their covers album out finally. It sold pretty respectfully in the USA and garnered some strong air play figures. But elsewhere – Europe and Australia – the album barely made a ripple and in the UK the band scored the worst debut of their career.

Def Leppard were caught in the power play by retailers like WalMart and Best Buy. These mass merchants all demand something special from artists to guarantee their commitment to stocking and promoting the title.

John Mellencamp's new album is available in 7 different configurations. Sorry – that is just BS. The artists are being forced into this and it only is going to encourage more piracy as fans go after the tracks they are missing rather than fork out more cash for something they already own. Labels are desperate for sales and support from retailers, but at what expense to those purchasing these albums? Back to Leppard – the guys begin work on their new studio album nowit will be interesting to see what direction they chose to go in and what the results will be.

And no, I don't expect a copy to be leaked to me this time around! Free Download Custom Ipsw 5.1 1 Iphone 4 more. THE ASS FILE: As is the case in any given year, there was a queue of rockers lining up to make asses out of themselves. This year saw many of the same old faces at it again, certainly doing their reputation for being asses no harm at all! Who do I refer to?

Well, Vince Neil certainly made a major ass of himself when he was so drunk in Tampa, that he fell off the stage and could not complete the concert. Probably a good thing actually John Corabi was standing backstage watching and become a hero to the assembled punters by filling in for the rest of the show.

Jani Lane spent most of the entire year embarrassing himself by missing tour dates, interviews (at least 4 dates with me) and public appearances, all the while passing off his problems as various moments of ill-health. Bret Michaels made headlines when he and bassist Bobby Dahl got into a fight on stage at an Atlanta gig mid-year.

Bret threw his mike at Bobby, who retaliated by swinging his bass at Bret, injuring his leg. The guys later kissed and made up, planning a covers album for release this year. Queensryche launched the most sensationalist headline of the year by stating the band were arrested in Europe, when all that happened was that one of the road crew was detained at customs for carrying one of the band's replica stage prop weapons through the airport. So, no, the whole band were not arrested, but what was even stranger was that this headline was never retracted or updated on the band's website! Henry Lee Summer, who in recent years couldn't get himself arrested as far as reviving public interest in him found him self done for DUI, crashing into cars and then resisting arrest. I hope Henry gets through this as I'm a huge fan of his music and his more recent releases.

Speaking of dealings with police – the Gioeli Brothers found themselves on the wrong end of a TV station expose on dodgy consumer dealings regarding a tooth whitening product. Many complaints came to light about the brother's company confusing people with complicated payment clauses and fine print, not to mention more complaints that the product didn't work at all, saw consumer affairs departments investigating and taking action against the pair. Johnny sent me a note explaining it away as just something his warehouse fulfillment company was shipping out on behalf of the actual product owners. Some believed that, many don't and the guys are continuing to feel the heat from their business dealings. ROCK STAR: The TV show Rock Star continued on in 2006, with show producers unable to get a current vocalist-free band to commit to their concept. Instead at the last minute a band had to be cobbled together and it was Mr Reality Tommy Lee fronting the charge.

I have already covered this extensively, so not too much recapping here. Joining him as you all know by now was Gilby Clarke and Jason Newstead.

Producer Butch Walker appeared on one show before vanishing for the rest of the series, embarrassed at the results of what went to air. The rest of the guys should have taken his leadeven though Newstead later managed to come up with an arm injury to avoid touring.

The original Inxs series had its problems, but nothing that came close to this series. 80% of the vocalists chosen were horrible and the show didn't get going until there was maybe only 5 or 6 of the original 15 left. I know of three singers featured on this site that auditioned, so you know the producers weren't looking for true talent. The songs were all repetitive of last year; there was little chemistry between the principles of the show; Tommy Lee seldom commented on any of the music, preferring to ogle the female performers; Dave Navarro was even more annoying than last year and the winning vocalist was known from the start – ring-in Lukas Rossi before the show went to air. A 2007 series is proposed, but boy, do they need some changes to make it in any way a winner.

There is no future for Rock Star Supernova the band at all. While Lukas recently chatted to a mate of mine after a show about the band's planned second album, Gilby Clarke lamented to the same person about the band's demise once the tour was done. Even 2006 band Inxs have been dropped by their label Sony in North America for under performing sales wise. Who will be the 2007 band featured? Let those Rock Star Van Halen rumors start again! (No, I'm not serious) I have covered Journey already, but former singer Steve Perry did a good job of keeping his name in the press while remaining in retirement.

Last year he turned up in the studio with David Pack. This year it was indie rocker Guff, who took him up on the offer to help produce a cover version of the Journey track I Can See It In Your Eyes, where Steve also chimes in on backing vocals. Cool track for what it was. And then of course there was the Journey re-issues and bonus tracks and 2 interviews that as per usual, gave away little about the state of his voice and what might come next for the singer. THE DAYS OF OUR VAN HALENS: No summary of any year would be complete without the summarization of the soap opera that is Van Halen.

For a band that does bugger all most of the time, there sure is some shit to talk about. Let's see.I guess the biggest kafuffle for the year was (as it normally is) the antics of one Eddie Van Halen. With no sign (at the time) of VH doing anything anytime soon, Eddie stepped out on the red carpet at Elton John's Oscar Party, only to have his mugshot plastered across the globe as a poster for “what not to do with your life if you want to end up looking like this”.

It was a bit unfair on old Ed, who definitely looked old, but one can ask the question why he stepped out looking a little 'underdone' in the first place. Eddie would next be seen supplying 2 new instrumental tunes and a video clip for a porno film. Yes, it did get more bizarre. The launch party for the soundtrack sounded like one hell of an affair. Then there was the House Of Flowers gig – no, that isn't a typo – were' talking House Of Flowers, not House Of Blues.

The Hollywood eatery hosted Eddie and a few friends just jamming and enjoying themselves. Eddie would later been seen jumping on stage with brother Alex to jam with Kenny Chesney – something Sammy Hagar would normally be doing. David Lee Roth made headlines by joining a tribute to himself. Strumming With The Devil was to be a bluegrass tribute to early Van Halen, but Dave joined in for two tracks, taking the guys onto TV for a very camp performance on The Late Show's (Jay Leno & Craig Ferguson) – leaving some fans scratching their heads and others laughing on the floor. It's actually pretty cool, but I'm not sure the TV performances won anyone over – in one instance (for a CMT special I believe), Dave's monologue intro both of the two songs he performs on was actually longer than the song itself.

David Lee Roth's stint on radio failed to see his charisma translated to ratings and he was ditched by his employer within months. But – a happy ending for Dave and long suffering Van Halen fans when in October it was announced here that the guys would team up again for a 2007 tour. That as it turns out isn't quite as joyous as it should be, with estranged bassist Michael Anthony left out of the 'reunion'. I guess Ed's still pissed after Mikey left nothing up in the air with his revealing, honest and down to earth interview in Burrn Magazine Japan – some of which was translated and posted right here.

And let's not forget that some rich tosser wants to send the voices of David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar into space as part of his Signal to Space Concert in 2007. What could possibly come next??? DVDs OF 2006: Several very good DVDs released this year, and a few not so good. Of those that disappointed the most was the 'live' TNT release, which really wasn't that live at all, with lead vocals enhanced and backing vocals and assorted other bits added after the fact. I just can't sit there and watch that sort of thing and turn off the parts that aren't live.

I want 100% live, raw and in your face DVDs, mistakes and all thank you. Whitesnake released their live DVD to widespread fan acclaim, but againthere are a few parts that have been fixed and again that (for me) took away a little the enjoyment. Rick Springfield's Rockford DVD was a nice treat for long time fans to enjoy. Metal Mania Stripped Across America was pretty decent – at least that was 100% live. Pride Of Lions Live was good also, except I still find frontman Toby a little wooden to watch.

He has the chops, he just needs to take control of that stage. I debated the merits of the Royal Hunt live DVD with singer John West, apologizing to him for comments misinterpreted as suggesting he wasn't singing live. Rather, I thought the DVD had been touched up in the studio, but it all came down to synchronization errors during the mastering process. Those errors still took some enjoyment away from the DVD for me.

Steelheart released a 2DVD retrospective, with some nice archive footage for long time fans. Yngwie Malmsteen also dipped into the vaults for a DVD that included live sets featuring Jeff Scott Soto and Joe Lynn Turner. Kamelot, Stephen Pearcy, Europe, Free, Stryper, Dream Theater all released live DVDs, both new and archive footage. Styx teamed up with the Children's Youth Orchestra for their latest live release – I'm yet to see the DVD as I was only serviced with the CD version, which I found rather predictable. I'm assured that the DVD is a far better watch.

The Cars, Gowan, Glass Tiger and Bruce Dickinson all dived into the past for archive footage releases. And of course, the big one for Kiss fans - Kissology, the very impressive collection of classic archive footage that will see a sequel due in 2007.

Plenty more DVDs to come this year – Y&T, Bret Michaels, Nexx, Bonfire, Wig Wam, Baltimoore, The Raspberries, Joe Lynn Turner Project, Heaven & Earth, Giant and Vixen just to name a few. 2006 MUSICAL CHAIRS or IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR: Jorn Lande left Masterplan to the disappointment of many; Chuck Wright left Saints Of The Underground and House Of Lords, or more to the point in the case of the latter - James Christian went on without him and the rest of the original guys.

But it wasn't all bad for Chuck, he joined back up with Quiet Riot (again). Tony Harnell parted ways with TNT, which ended a 20+ year legacy; Jimi Jamison quit Survivor (before he was pushed) to be replaced with Frankie Sullivan's old mate Robin McAuley; Asia quit themselves and reformed as the original line-up, leaving current singer John Payne to form GPS. Dennis DeYoung hooked up with his old band mate Glen Burtnik, who had just finished his run with that old band of Dennis'. Robby Steinhardt was replaced with David Ragsdale in Kansas as tensions there reached boiling point. Jizzy Pearl left Ratt after the band finally got into gear for a reunion in 2007. Jochen Mayer and singer Carsten Schulz left Domain to be replaced by Chity Somapala on vocals and Steven Wussow on bass.

Irish vocalist Keith Semple joined US pop rockers 7th Heaven and Kevin Chalfant joined Shooting Star. Andy Taylor got wind of Duran Duran's new album plans and bailed, replaced on tour by well-known (!) guitar-tech Dom Brown! Michael Schenker left this planet and hasn't given any word of when to expect his return. Extreme reformed for some Japanese and US shows – all went well from all reports, but no word as to whether this will continue in 2007. ZZ Top split with their long time management and record label, while Def Leppard split with their career long management team at Q Prime. Oz rock legends Dragon reformed, but obviously without their legendary frontman Marc Hunter (RIP).

Pop star come vocal coach Mark Williams took up that role, but public reaction has been lukewarm at best. Triumph and estranged frontman Rik Emmett ended their legal dispute which has gone on for years, giving fans some faint hope of seeing them tour and record again. Not so say the trio, but anything is possible once they hook up for the Canadian Hall Of Fame ceremony in March. Steve Brown (Trixter/Throwan Rocks/40ft Ringo) went an entire year without changing his band name! Stereo Fallout will hopefully release their debut this year.

Rhapsody changed their name - to avoid a copyright battle, but why now after half a dozen albums from the band? They are now Rhapsody Of Fire. Made for TV rockers Supernova were taken on by a band of the same name, also from California and to the surprise of all involved, lost out to the original band, becoming Rock Star Supernova thereafter. Both 2004 and 2005 served up a number of disappointments and 2006 was no different. Average songs, poor production, lack of killer choruses and artists changing style despite the expectations of their fanbase for a more classic sound, were all issues to do with albums that disappointed in 2006.

Again, I call to those with the ability to change these problems to do just that - LISTEN to your fans and take whatever time needed to ensure you deliver a classic and memorable album that will please the majority, not the minority. DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2006: Yes, I am more picky now than ever and that is only going to get worse, as I believe that artists and labels should know better by now.

Achieving a great production sound isn't easy, but it is possible. There are plenty of great sounding releases.

Genre: Classic Rock / Hard Rock / Soft Rock / Power Pop / Pop-Rock Origin: Australia DOWNLOAD:!!! First solve the captcha code then select file host!!! All releases are 320 kbps unless mentioned 1980 – Working Class Dog 1982 – Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet 1983 – Living In Oz 1984 – Hard To Hold (192 kbps) 1985 – TAO 1985 – TAO (Remastered 2008) 1988 – Rock Of Life 1997 – Sahara Snow!