PIONEERS – In A State Of Rock [digitally remastered] (2021) HQ

Totally out of the blue and for surprise of many AOR and West Coast collectors there is a new reissue label in Norway which seems to have access to almost every Norwegian release from the 70s and 80s. As part of the ‘Norske Albumklassikere 80-tallet’ series we have here 1984’s ‘In A State Of Rock” from Norwegian rockers PIONEERS, remastered for the first time.
The year before Stage Dolls saw the light of day, PIONEERS released “In a State of Rock”: this was the band of future Stage Dolls founders Torstein Flakne (guitar) & Steinar Krokstad (Stage Dolls), joined by other renowned Norwegian musicians like Morten “Morty Black” Skaget (TNT, Vagabond, Åge,) Bard Svendsen (Åge, Sambandet) and Knut J. Dahle (Rocky).
PIONEERS delivered some kind of mix between the catchy melodic rock of the upcoming Stage Dolls and early 80s Pomp AOR with that Scandinavian feel; anthemic choruses ready for the arenas, something that catapulted Europe to stardom two years after. You can say these guys were ‘Pioneers’ indeed.

There’s songs like the mid-paced ‘Walk In The Moonlight’ or the commercial melodic rocker ‘With A Girl Like You’ which are straight pop-rock tunes destined to radio airplay. However, as a whole, “In A State Of Rock” delivers your typical mid-Eighties Scandi fluff.
Tracks like ‘Pioneers’ and ‘Number One’ offer more rocking guitars, on ‘Pictures Of You’ experiments with melodic new wave, and ‘Pictures Of You’ is quite different, an atmospheric ballad.

“In A State Of Rock’ did it pretty well in Norway with the single ‘With A Girl Like You’ ranking on the Scandi charts, but the group disbanded with members pursuing different interests. Flanke founded Stage Dolls and got success worldwide. You can hear here some of his talent as songwriter / guitarist here.
Highly Recommended

01 – Hi’ Energy
02 – Annie
03 – Walk In The Moonlight
04 – Pioneers
05 – With A Girl Like You
06 – Today
07 – Pictures Of You
08 – Number One
09 – Good Night

Knut J. Dahle – Vocals
Torstein Flanke – Guitars
Bard Svendsen – Keyboards
Morten Skaget – Bass
Steinar Krokstad – Drums

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