AMERICAN TEARS (Mark Mangold) – Hard Core (2018)
Superb keyboardist Mark Mangold (Touch, Drive She Said) has resurrected his very first band AMERICAN TEARS for a new album titled “Hard Core” released by Escape Music on physical CD only.
American Tears first surfaced in the Seventies and were a power trio focused around the keyboards of Mangold, who is the sole remaining original member on this album, and indeed the only musician playing all the keys and drums.
American Tears made three albums before morphing into AOR / melodic rock favorites Touch.
For this album Mark Mangold wanted to capture the progressive sound and style of American Tears origins, using for the recording only keyboards available in the ’70s – analog synthesizers, Moog, Hammond, etc.
Lovers of Seventies prog and pomptastic bombast will certainly enjoy the music on here.
‘The Ferryman’ is the nearest the album gets to his other bands Touch and Drive She Said (the lyric even mentions silver white which was a Drive, She Said song) sound, making for a classy piece of AOR.
‘Fyre’ is the only song to feature a guest musician, Jake E on backing vocals. The organ and keys playing are top notch on this one and throughout the album. Just check out ‘Lords of Light’ for some spacey / alien like synths galore.
‘Bottoms Up’ is another favorite, plenty of runs and twist here and there.
Mangold sings with a lot of emphasis on all tracks, sometimes in some kind of a duel with his keyboard arsenal.
You could argue this is a Mark Mangold solo album, however the music remains faithful to the band’s original remit of keyboards led rock and the American Tears’ sound was built around the keyboards of Mark.
’Hard Core’ will surprise and delight fans of Mangold, keyboard driven rock, and of course American Tears devotee who would have rightly thought that this band were consigned to the musical history books.
Highly Recommended
01 – Hard Core
02 – Carnivore
03 – Lost in Time
04 – Fyre
05 – Smoke and Mirrors
06 – The Ferryman
07 – Nuclear
08 – Tear Gas
09 – Lords of Light
10 – Deplorable
11 – Bottoms Up
12 – At Last
Mark Mangold – Keys, synths, drums, bass and vocals
Jake E – Backing Vocals (4)
BUY IT !
www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Core-American-Tears/dp/B079VQ4T4X
www.grooves-inc.com/american-tears-hard-core-escape-music-cd-pZZa1-2098148799.html
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