Alliance - Alliance

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 1982
Time: 32:53
Size: 75,7 MB
Label: Retrospect Records (2007)
Styles: Rock/AOR/West Coast
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. I Don't Want To Leave You This Way - 3:37
 2. Don't Tell Me About It - 3:46
 3. How Does It Feel - 3:37
 4. Stop - 3:10
 5. Heaven Can Wait - 3:26
 6. Make It Right - 3:39
 7. Love On The Line - 2:38
 8. Sweet Devotion - 2:53
 9. I Need You Now - 3:18
10. Make Believe That You Love Me - 2:43

Musicians:
Mark Bucchare - vocals;
Pat Hand - guitars;
Mark Heckert - keyboards;
Bradley Davidson - bass;
David Pridemore - drums.

This album is just one of countless one-offs in the world of early 1980s melodic hard rock and AOR. Alliance recorded their only album for Handshake Records, a label which had many other worthwhile artists - Berlin Airlift and Van Stephenson to name but two.
The first three tracks on 'Alliance' are deceptively laid-back, and I remember not getting along very well with the album initially. With further spins I, however, got to appreciate the atmospherics of 'Don't Tell Me About It' in particular, which is sung with such heartfelt conviction by singer Marc Bucchare that it's hard to ignore. I still find opener 'Don't Want to Leave You This Way' a bit heavy on the horns and a little too disco-ish, backbeatwise, but solid musicianship, a crystal clear production, as well as the outstanding lead vocals, pretty much save this and track three, 'How Does It Feel?' Track 4 is a straightforward AOR rocker, aptly titled 'Stop' as there are some neat cat/mouse guitar vs. keyboards antics in the arrangement. Nothing new under the sun, but again sung to perfection by Mr. Bucchare and enthusiastically performed by the band overall - infectious! Side 1 closer, 'Heaven Can Wait' is the first ballad on offer, but a nice one at that, with a big and fairly powerful arrangement. For 'Make It Right', the band pull out all the stops, and build a pretty pompous arrangement around what is essentially a simple song - possibly the album's stellar moment, and a prime example of AOR/melodic hard rock/pomp rock at its very best! For 'Love on the Line', the pace is upped a further notch - with excellent results, and again very powerful in its delivery. 'Sweet Devotion', on the other hand, sees the band delving into pure pop territory. Impeccably performed and very catchy, but perhaps a little on the light side for my tastes. 'I Need You Now' is essentially more of the same, but this time in ballad format. Very listenable, again particular thanks to lead singer Mark Bucchare, but I would have preferred something meatier following the poppy 'Sweet Devotion'. For 'Make Believe That You Love Me', the album's tenth and final track, the guitars and the intensity are thankfully both back again in full force, and the band leave us with an excellent melodic (hard) rock tune.
Conclusively, I would have wished the album to feature a few more rockers, but I should note that 'Alliance' remains very listenable and is well worth tracking down. It remains an out-of-print vinyl only title, but with the strong re-release trend these days, it wouldn't surprise if this were to show up as an official CD remaster in the not too distant future. With regards to the Alliance members, they all seem to have vanished from the music business entirely following the albums release, despite obvious qualities as musicians/singers/songwriters.

Alliance