RIO – Sex Crimes (1986) *HQ*

After the first RIO album posted yesterday, some of you asked for the British duo second and final album, 1986’s “Sex Crimes“. Where previous record ‘Borderline’ was sonically melodic and poppy AOR, for “Sex Crimes” Rio added a much more rocking, rawer approach like the opening track ‘Pay For Love’, the heavy key-spiced title track, or Bad Blood.
Still, ‘Atlantic Radio’ and ‘Guilty’ are pure AOR tunes with that mid-80s magic. ‘Danger Zone’ is plenty of melody, then ‘Highschool Rock’ indeed rocks with cool guitar riffs.

While the band first album appeared on a major label, for this second effort RIO was relegated to smaller Music For Nations. This hurt a proper promotion and the LP being overlooked, add the controversial cover art & album title that led many stores refuse to put the album on sale. As result, the band broke up the next year.
Unfortunately “Sex Crimes” was never officially released on CD. This is taken from the best bootleg CD available. While production wasn’t the best, there’s great songs on display here for AOR / melodic hard rock fans delight.
Highly Recommended

01 – Pay For Love
02 – Under Pressure
03 – Atlantic Radio
04 – Highschool Rock
05 – Guilty
06 – When the Walls Come Down
07 – Danger Zone
08 – Sex Crimes
09 – Dirty Movies
10 – Bad Blood

Jon Neill – Vocals, Guitars
Steve Rodford – Bass, Keys
with:
Beasley Drake – Drums
James Stevens – Emulator

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