Produced by Tony Pfeifer

Original line-up:

Danny        - Bass, vocals
Tim             - Drums, vocals
Dave           - Lead vocals
Tony            - Guitar, keyboards, vocals
Kori             - Guitars, vocals

Tracklisting:

Don't be a hero
Heartache
To love somebody
Carolin
Tomorrow nite
You take my heart away
Lovin' me tonite
Love isn't easy
I'll never love you
Feels like

Musicstyle:

Pure Classic 80s typed pompy A.O.R. like a mixture between SURVIVOR, JOURNEY, TOUCH, FORTUNE (1985) and STONE SOUP.

This is a really obscure AOR record from the mid 80s I think. I must say that this THE HEAT (not to confuse with the same named Dutch or two German bands) really hit me when I first heard it. I can't believe my eyes that nobody has talked about little AOR gem. Just look at the songtitles and you will surely be in AOR Heaven. 'Westend story' is a pure AOR classic. Everything sounds perfect on this album to make it a pure winner for the fans of 80s AOR.

The album starts with "Don't be a hero", a great uptempo classy AOR song in the style of JOURNEY (circa 'Escape'). "Heartaches" follows and this is pure A.O.R. heaven! What a brilliant hookladen midtempo AOR track. This Pompy AOR song is a cross between SURVIVOR, STONE SOUP and DAKOTA.

Then follows the cover "To love somebody" (BEE GEES) and it's unbelievable but THE HEAT has made a great new version of this old popsong. This version is a lovely AOR ballad. THE HEAT covered this very well and it even sounds better than the original!

Side-A closes with "Carolin" (good uptempo cheerful AOR/Melodic Rock like 8084) and "Tomorrow nite" (a bit simpler uptempo melodic rock like BLACK'N'BLUE).

But then comes Side-B with 5 brilliant tracks and all pure AOR (with some Pomprock influences). This is really the tip of the iceberg concerning 80s AOR. "You take my heart away" starts and this is a classy early 80s AOR/Radiorocker that sounds like a cross between PREVIEW, 707 and PRISM.

Next track is "Lovin' me tonite" and what a beautiful pure AOR ballad this is! Just listen to the classy AOR based Piano-Keyboards during this incredible song. This is SURVIVOR meets TOUCH ballads with Dennis DeYoung typed Lead vocals. A song like this should have been a huge charthit in the USA 15 years ago, but it didn't happen, because nobody has heard it. A real shame, because the following track is another undisovered classic AOR song on this superb AOR record.

"Love isn't easy" is everything you want to hear in an AOR song and to me this is one of those tracks that make a record so special. This song is a classic early 80s AOR rocker that sounds like PRISM at their best (only better!) and if you really wanna know how the 80s sounded, then this is the song for you. The AOR bands of today don't make such AOR classics and this is the kind of song that make you realise how good the 80s AOR really was.

The album continues with "I'll never love you", a nice AOR/Pomprocker. The closing track is "Feels like". Another beautiful AOR/Pomprockballad, this song could have easily been on the TOUCH album.

Concluded I can only say that 'Westend story' by the American band THE HEAT is a pure undisovered AOR gem that should be in the hands of every fan of 80s AOR. Let's say that this is the perfect mixture between TOUCH and SURVIVOR! It will be very hard to trace a copy of this LP, but if you see it somewhere you don't need to think twice!
 
 

P.S. I'll upload soundbytes of THE HEAT when someone out there asks me via e-mail or posts a message on our messageboard.