SHY – Excess All Areas [Zoom Club Records remaster +3]

Another request on the blog was the remastered reissue +3 bonus tracks of “Excess All Areas“, SHY‘s third release and their over-the-top commercial masterpiece.
I can give you the name of a dozen bands that deserved to be huge in the AOR / melodic rock British scene in the ’80s. Three of the best at the time were FM’s with ‘Tough It Out’, Strangeway’s ‘Native Sons’, and… yes, Shy’s “Excess All Areas”.

Shy have been a mainstay in the melodic rock scene right back to the mid Eighties. Shy made albums for two different major labels and for a while seemed in with a genuine shot at glory, but massive success dodged them, and in fact all the UK bands in this genre. Wrong promotion? Perhaps, and the US bands monopolize the market.
Shy’s debut album Once Bitten… Twice Shy was described by Kerrang! magazine as “perhaps the greatest English pomp rock album of all time”.

Before undertaking their all-important third album, 1987’s “Excess All Areas”, RCA relocated Shy to Los Angeles to soak up the Californian hard rock radio vibe. Songwriting session started soon and the recording label secured the services of – omnipresent in most great ’80s records – talented Neil Kernon to produce.
The result was an awesome blend of American flavored AOR played in British fashion.

Terrific songs like ‘Emergency’, ‘Under Fire’ and ‘Break Down the Walls’ (co-written by Don Dokken) show the more edgy side of the band, then the superb ‘Young Heart” is a wonderful slice of pure keyboad-driven AOR of the highest order.
The two ballads are great swell; ‘Just Love Me’ and the lovely ‘When Love Is Over’, and we have a very good cover of Cliff Richard‘s ‘Devil Woman’ done in a melodic rock mold, plus another mighty keyboard heaven tune ‘Talk To Me’.

Fronted by giant vocalist Tony Mills (for many this is his finest work) and with the stylish playing of Steve Harris / keyboardist Paddy McKenna, Shy created in “Excess All Areas” their finest record, without a doubt among the 10 best in the AOR / Melodic rock genre recorded by any British band during the ’80s.
This remastered reissue add 3 juicy bonus tracks, all B-sides previously unavailable on CD, and all darn catchy as the rest of this awesome album.
You can’t get British AOR / MR better than this, and suffice to say; “Excess All Areas” is a MUST HAVE

01 – Emergency
02 – Can’t Fight The Nights
03 – Young Heart
04 – Just Love Me
05 – Break Down The Walls
06 – Under Fire
07 – Devil Woman
08 – Talk To Me
09 – When The Love Is Over
10 – Telephone
BONUS TRACKS:
11 – Run For Cover (B-Side)
12 – Only You (B-Side)
13 – Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love (B-Side)

Tony Mills – Vocals
Steve Harris – Guitar
Roy Stephen Davis – Bass
Alan Kelly – Drums
Paddy McKenna – Keyboards

BUY IT !
www.amazon.com/Excess-All-Areas-Shy/dp/B00005J9NO
.