Various Artists – AOR Treasures: Demo Projekt, Vol. 2 (2011) 2 CD SET

Various Artists – AOR Treasures: Demo Projekt, Vol. 2 (2011) 2 CD SET

Disc 1

01. A2A – No Return
02. Andy Eklund & Tommy Denander – Don’t You Know
03. Room Service – Running Away From It All
04. Alyson Avenue – Walk Away
05. Cold Heart – Don’t Give Up
06. Sapphire Eyes – I Want You To See Me
07. Craaft – Highway
08. Jump – Dreamin’
09. Mariner – Make Me Baby
10. A.O.K. – Call Me

Disc 2

01. House Of Lords – Angel Of The City
02. Adrenalin – Heaven’s A Crime
03. Survivor (Robin McAuley) – Eye Of The Tiger (Demo)
04. John Waite – Standing In The Shadow Of Love (Demo)
05. Peter Yttergren – Emilie
06. Vince DiCola & Stan Bush – No Risk, No Glory
07. Bill Champlin – Leap Of Faith
08. Garrison – Never Let It Go
09. Shining Line – The Best Thing Inside Of Me
10. Jaded Heart – Burst Into Tears

Second ‘Demo Projekt’ installment, including some tracks already known by many collectors, some others not.
An interesting collection of instrumental demos based on oodles of keyboards. The rare edit version of “No Return” is really cool.
Swedish session vocalist Andy Eklund joined wizard Tommy Denander during the nineties for a melodic rock project that never saw the light, but their demos were shared hand to hand by Scandinavian fans.
Swedes Alyson Avenue had better luck, as they recorded their debut in 2000, but were fighting in the underground for years. This good demo was recorded around ’92.
I don’t know what happened with the band Room Service, as their track “Running Away From It All” is excellent. It even appeared in a demo compilation released by an indie label, but then vanished without a trace.

A favorite here is “Don’t Give Up” by Cold Heart. This is a great band with so much good material. Not sure if “Make Me Baby” by Mariner was officially recorded and released by the band, but certainly this is a demo take. It doesn’t matter, it’s a very good 80’s track and deserves to be here.
One of the gems in this compilation is the uber rare version of “Eye Of The Tiger” recorded by Survivor with former MSG frontman Robin McAuley when Jim Jamison left the band. This joint-venture lasted a few months and this is one of the only 3 demos they recorded together.