USA - “USA” (1982/PHILLY WORLD/USA)

AUSA was a band whom had 2 faces, namely a pure late 70s/early 80s kinda AOR/Pomprock style a la ROADMASTER and TOUCH and a straight-forward 70s Rock/Hardrockstyle a la MOXY, although the AOR style clearly was played . I believe the band featured two lead singers, including LARRY BAUD (who also plays keys). Larry later found fame and fortune with NETWORK and RED DAWN, whom both released 2 awesome albums. Anyway, back in 1982 he sang (partly) on the USA album, which was also the only album of this Philadelphia based band.

Side-A featured some great AOR tunes like the fantastic opener "I love you" (a la ROADMASTER), "The one who really loved you" and the FRANKE AND THE KNOCKOUTS typed calmer AOR songs "Come back baby" and "Alone in the world". The remaining song was the Melodic Hardrocksong "Hard life", which clearly felt out of place between the rest, as this was a sort of ICON kinda song.

Side-B starts with a very average rocker titled "Teenage rock'n'roller" (like a weak STARZ), but happily it is followed up by the fantastic classic early 80s AOR/Radiorocker "Last song", which brings memories of 707 and STEEL BREEZE. "Y'a think this is love (just wait)" is another nice aor rocker, but the absolute highlight comes in the shape of "Can't get you out of my mind". This song is CLASSIC 80S AOR all the way, with brilliant hooks, a super strong chorus and a lovely sound in general, reminding me of 707 ('Mega force') and PREVIEW. For this song alone the album is worth purchasing, because it is one of those pure AOR classics you will never forget it! Closing track "She said no" is also quite nice, a typical early 80s AOR/Poprocker with a radio-ready chorus a la THE RAVIJNS.

While having listened to this album more than just once through the years, the best comparison I can come up now is BAD BOY, because that band also had a few Rockstyles besides pure AOR on their regular releases. Now 22 years later maybe it is time to do a re-issue of this long lost album, which definitely had some highlights here and there ("I love you", "Last song" and "Can't get you out of my mind")...

Rating: 8.6 out of 10