Do not confuse this MESSENGER with the other ones from the past. This Canadian MESSENGER is so underground and hard to get and yet so interesting and good. The CD was released not so long ago, but the fact that it is so underground and so little people know this little gem made me decide to put this review on our 'Classic AOR Page'.
The review appeared in issue 8 of our magazine, but that was two years ago and I have tried everything to get in touch with the band and looked all over the internet, but there is no info of this band and also in the whole world nobody has ever written a review of their CD. So, it was easy for me to decide if I should put the review we did of the MESSENGER album 'Special delivery' on this page. And so here's the review of an undiscovered classic AOR CD!
MESSENGER is a top AOR act from Canada. Their self-produced CD 'Special delivery' was released on their own independent recordlabel Messenger Records in 1994. Their musicstyle is very 80s orientated in the typical Canadian AOR/Melodic RadioRockstyle. The CD contains some of the highest quality AOR/Radiorock you can get.
If I must mention some bands to compare this MESSENGER with, I can mention loads of acts. MESENGER is playing in the style of bands like VAN ZANT, SHERIFF, CHAMPION feat. ALEX MACHIN, QWEST, STEEL BREEZE, 38 SPEICAL, PREVIEW, STAN MEISSNER and I even heard influences of I-TEN! Otherwise said, this MESSENGER is a sensation that remembers me of all the AOR sensations from the USA and Canada from the 80s.
The CD is filled with only classic uptempo AOR rockers and AOR ballads. "When I was a boy" starts the CD and is an uptempo AOR rocker in the style of PREVIEW. The song is followed by another uptempo AOR rocker titled "Hold on" which is in the style of CHAMPION/STEEL BREEZE... The third track is the fantastic AOR Ballad "Wishing you were here". After hearing the nice uptempo AOR song "Ain't much love" we hear the song "Every day's a sunday". When I heard this song I was not sure if I was listening to some old 80s band, but the CD says this CD was made in 1994. But hearing songs like these I just can't believe these are all songs from the 90s. I'll bet they were all recorded somewhere in the mid 80s and have been released on CD in 1994.
The other tracks on the CD are titled "Colder than yesterday" (fantastic uptempo AOR), "Millionaire" (Semi AOR Ballad), "Better stand clear" (uptempo AOR) and finally the two best tracks of this lovely CD, namely "No holding back" and "Melissa". The first one is really superb AOR, while the latter is a beautiful semi AOR Ballad.
Conclusion is that this CD is recommended to everyone who wants to hear the good old North American type of 80s AOR again. If you like for example the new SANTERS CD 'Top secrecy' (out in May through AOR Heaven), I'll bet you will love this one too. But this one of MESSENGER is almost impossible to get. Maybe Hang Loose Records has a copy somewhere. If you ever see a copy, there's only one thing you must do: BUY IT!
(Points: 9.0 out of 10)
