Saturday, May 23, 2015

CRYSTAL - Collection (2000) + bonus tracks

CRYSTAL - Collection (2000) + bonus tracks
Requested in "REQUEST & FILL CORNER" section...

This one was requested by a reader but I was thinking to post it soon because CRYSTAL, a Californian outfit from the Bay Area was one of the bands that defined the indie US Melodic Rock / AOR sound of the mid-Eighties.
Crystal was active between 1982-95 and released three mini-LP, a format used by the unsigned bands of the era.
In 2000, AOR Heaven Records put out this "Collection", comprising material from all Crystal recordings.

Crystal's sound & style is pure pumping AOR, catchy Melodic Rock, blending pompous elements with infectious hooks. Think Prophet, ArcAngel, Hybrid Ice, Honeymoon Suite, BootCamp, Urgent, etc, and a touch of Survivor and Loverboy.
Tracks like the action movie ready "Always Be There", "Point of View", "One Life", the pompy "I'm a Dreamer" or the rocking "The One For You" are must haves for any fan of the genre.
Production, handled by John and Dino Elefante (Kansas, Halo, Mastedon) is punchy and... crystal clear.

CRYSTAL - Collection (2000) + bonus tracks - back cover

The last two songs mentioned are taken from Crystal's first 5-track miniLP: 'The One For You', and it's a shame this "Collection" does not include it in its entirety, because never were released on CD or digitally, and all are great.
Well, I have cleaned the vinyl-rip and all the 3 remaining tracks are featured here as bonus tracks.
You NEED this one in your collection.


01 - In the Night
02 - Point of View
03 - I'm a Dreamer
04 - Time Keeps Runnin'
05 - Always Be There
06 - Right Before My Eyes
07 - One Life
08 - The One for You
09 - All The Right Girls (bonus track)
10 - Piece Of My Heart (bonus track)
11 - Shadows In The Night (bonus track)

Andy Nossal - Lead Vocals, Bass
Grady McGrew - Guitars, Vocals
Bill Cornish - Keyboards, Vocals
Rick Williams - Drums, Vocals
John Elefante, Ron Gollner, Jeff Gunn - Backing Vocals
Raymond Cameron - Guitars, Vocals (on bonus)
Bill Anderson - Drums, Vocals (on bonus)
Produced by John and Dino Elefante




CRYSTAL Collection (2000) + bonus tracks
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2 Comments:

T.P said...

Well, that rocks. :-)

In fact, it was crystal clear to me as well (although in a different literal sense) that after hitting the Teaser-button I definitely had to get my hands on this coming-out-of-nowhere feature of yours.

So I thank you very much for digging this cool gem up from your personal vault!

Bye for now,
Thomas

Anonymous said...

Can this be reposted with Wetransfer?