Frederic Slama is responsible for bringing
AOR to his native country of France. Being a musical journalist and establishing himself in the heart of the genre itself, Los Angeles, he was able to let France have a taste of the music he had such a passion for. The breezy songs from sunny shorelines and tracks perfect for corvette cruising on white hot nights lit by the city lights. He decided to capture these feelings, places, and atmospheres himself with a project title that would tell all:
AOR.
Now available, after being a bit of a lost gem, is his very first attempt at creating the music himself. "
L.A. Concession" never received a wide release nor much buzz. In fact it was never much more than a demo on CDR as a limited "private pressing". His latter works found an actual record label thus making them more readily available and bringing his band and name into the limelight. With recent discs such as "L.A. Attraction" and "Dreaming of L.A." Slama has kept the Westcoast vibe alive and thriving. Its about time that this early 2000 piece was unearthed and given a second chance.
"L.A. Concessions" is well enough by itself, but for those that might already have it, there are bonus tracks tacked on to sweeten the deal.
"Can One of Your Kiss Do All This" is safe, easy going
AOR. It ruffles no feathers and is content being what it is. Simple and gentle around the edges.
"Secrets in Her Heart" is a little more haunting and has a slow vibe of soft shadows. Having more energy is
"The Spark of My Soul" that concentrates harder on the blues and a real soulful approach in the anguished vocals
. "Never Gonna Let Her Go (instrumental)" is the vocal stripped version of the opening song. Denander and such appear here for some cool guitar work.
There are quite a few well known musicians adding their two cents to these songs such as Steve Lukather, Tommy Denander, Tony Franklin and many more. Soft and fluffy music, the kind that we have come to expect from Slama is in abundance. There are relaxing instrumentals that will mentally take you to white washed beaches, strolling across the sand as the ocean twinkles on. Moments of romance that take you deep into the desires of true love, all against that L.A. setting. Not Slama's finest work, but you can see where he wanted to take the music in these humble beginnings. Its a fairly average set of Westcoast songs, but are pleasing to the senses in their own right.
"Concession" is the kind of cd you enjoy offhand and easily forget about later. Latter discs are better, more refined version of this theme, but for sixteen tracks of relative rarities in the much ignored Westcoast genre, that alone makes it a purchase worth making.
Written by
Alanna Saturday, January 13, 2007
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