THE ARROWS – The Lines Are Open [YesterRock digitally remastered]

Some time ago YesterRock remastered the two celebrated albums by Canadian Melodic Rockers THE ARROWS. “The Lines Are Open” was the second and final album by The Arrows, with producer David Tyson again nominated for the Juno Award Producer of the Year for his work here.

For an album originally released in 1985, The Arrows “The Lines Are Open” has held up awesomely well. Even with an almost unhealthy amount of saxy parp within its AOR grooves.
Opening with ‘Heart Of The City’ I’m greeted with a glorious West Coast sound that immediately fills the airwaves. Now, having listened to this album many times over I am left with nothing but a smile as soon as I hear the intro of this song.

One thing I noticed and you can tell by the sound, that someone who knows their way around a sound desk mixed this album, and lo and behold it’s mixed by none other than famous Bob Rock. The sound really is amazing, and he along with producer David Tyson truly brought out the best of the Toronto rockers.
The music of The Arrows was basically radio-ready melodic rock but with keyboard angle which is straight out of the ‘80s and perhaps more along the lines of fellow Canadians Honeymoon Suite.
On other tracks like ‘Talk Talk’ or ‘Tell It To My Heart’ the style recalls mid ‘80s Rick Springfield, with a power pop good-vibe feel.

This music sounds just as fresh and amazing as it sounded back then, and it is criminal that the band never found the success they clearly deserved. The sheer melodic bliss of Dean McTaggart vocals mixed with these fantastic songs should have make The Arrows superstars, with every teenager break out the old hairbrush and air keyboards.
It is a real shame that after this album the band soon called it quits citing pressure from their management and record company for a breakthrough hit.

The Arrows recorded an absolute blinder of an album in “The Lines Are Open”, on par in quality with their exquisite debut.
This YesterRock remaster (first time on CD) is pristine, rescuing these The Arrows’ long lost little gems for all AOR aficionados rejoice.
Delicious.

01 – Heart Of The City
02 – Talk Talk
03 – Bad Reputation
04 – Tell It To My Heart
05 – Wild One
06 – I Told You So
07 – Chains
08 – I Can’t Let Go
09 – Hampton Avenue

Dean McTaggart – vocals, background vocals
Doug Macaskill – guitars
Rob Gusevs – keyboards
Earl Seymour – saxophones, synthesizer
Bobby Economou – drums
Glenn Olive – bass
Rick Waychenko, Steve McDade, Vernon Dorge – horns
Memo Acevedo – percussion
Gerald O’Brien – emulator programming
Sharon Lee Williams – background vocals
Charity Brown – background vocals
John Rutledge – background vocals
David Blamires – background vocals
David Tyson – background vocals, arrangements
Bob Rock – mixing engineer at Little Mountain Sound, Vancouver

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www.grooves-inc.com/the-arrows-the-lines-are-open-yesterrock-cd-album-pZZa1-1898018999.html
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