MARINER – Anthology 1980 – 2018

Properly titled “Anthology 1980 – 2018“, this is MARINER huge retrospective compiled and released by the band’s keyboardist Jimmy Henterly.
Hailing from Detroit, in the early ’80s MARINER had a huge fan base in the Michigan area, released an album (1981) and an EP (1983) – both included here – as well as all the many songs the band recorded in the next years.
Their joyful brand of Melodic Rock / AOR in the vein of Balance, Spys, Prism, etc, reached Japan with MARINER touring there – although not signed by a major label. Later the band developed a more glam metal sound, later hard rock. All these eras are represented into this Anthology, including the very first ’70s Mariner demos.

The story of Mariner begins in Dearborn Heights, Michigan with guitarist Bob Okonowski and drummer Gordie Roedding who were in a band called Tangents with neighborhood friend Dave Griffith.
Under the name Fourth Chapter, in the second half of the Seventies the band was easily booked into all types of clubs because of their musical diversity. They won local battle of the bands and radio shows in Detroit and sold-out shows throughout the Midwest and Canada.
In 1979 the bands manager, Dave Paget, did a survey of band names in Canada and the winner by a large margin was Mariner. The band left behind the Fourth Chapter moniker and entered a new era as MARINER.

The beginning of the Eighties would find MARINER beating out 700 groups from around the U.S. in a battle of the bands, their prize for victory was a two month gig in Osaka, Japan. Shortly upon returning to the States they would enter Multi-Trac Recording Studios in Livonia, MI, to record their first album.
Mariner had various major labels interested but nothing panned out so 1981’s ‘Sweet Horizon’ would be released on the independent Tidal Wave Records. The album featured an excellent cover of the Chilliwack song ‘Fly At Night’.
The cover artwork of this “Anthology 1980 – 2018” belongs to that first album.

In 1983 Mariner released a self-titled four song EP, again as indie on Tidal Wave Records, which would see the band’s music headed in a more Melodic Rock direction.
Tracks like the radio friendly “Make Me Baby” with its irresistible chorus, the bouncy “Lady’s Touch”, or the catchy “Let Your Love Show Thru” were excellent rockers which would once more find major labels interested, but again nothing happened.
Quite strange, as all these songs were a sure fired hits that would have gone over well with the MTV crowd from that time period.

The band continued on, exploring different musical directions along the way. When Roedding left the band in 1985 he was replaced by Randy Skiver and the band became more of a glam outfit. A few years later Skiver was replaced by Bruce Kreiter and Mariner became the straight ahead hard rock band that so many remember. Steve Firneno took over for Kreiter in 1990 and stayed with the band until they’re final show sometime in the early 90’s.

Mariner would resurface in 1995 with song placements in two HBO movies ‘Stranger By Night’ and ‘Animal Instincts III’.
In 2001 Pat Mezza, Jimmy Henterly and the other members signed a deal with an L.A. Company that places songs in television and movie soundtracks. The group then chose to remaster the large catalog of tunes that Mariner had amassed over the years.
This would serve two purposes, the need to fulfill the placement company’s request for some of the tracks without vocals and the bands desire to preserve their music, as recording tape degenerates over time. Mariner has had songs placed in shows like ‘Cold Case’, ‘Reunion’ and ‘Hack’.

Because of renewed interest in the group Henterly and Mezza decided to release the remastered ‘Sweet Horizon’ record on CD, with bonus tracks. Also in 2003 they decided to release two more albums worth of Mariner’s restored material.
‘Make Me Baby’ was made up of tracks from the EP period, some of which had been re-recorded in 1988.

The third disc the band released in 2003, ‘American Maniacs’, was from recordings they had done in 1999. The lineup that played in these sessions would be Jimmy Henterly, Pat Mezza, Bob Okonowski, Bruce Kreiter and Dave Bradley.
“Mystery Man” was written by Dick Wagner, who played guitar in Alice Cooper in the mid 70’s. The track had formerly been released by the Michigan based Frost, which was Wagner’s original band. Wagner also played the middle guitar solo on the Mariner version.

So “Anthology 1980 – 2018” includes material from all Mariner ages / line-up, all revolving around catchy ’80s melodic rock. In fact, this compilation goes further with some Seventies demos, and previously unreleased songs from the Eighties.
Highly Recommended

01 – Sweet Horizon
02 – Special Lady
03 – She’s Leavin Me
04 – Looking Glass
05 – Till I See You Again
06 – What It’s All About
07 – Save Me Some of Your Love
08 – A Bit Too Much
09 – Too Many Lies
10 – Jessie Lee
11 – Beauties in the Eyes
12 – Let Your Love Show Through You 1983
13 – Make Me Baby 1983
14 – Heartless Stranger 1983
15 – Can’t Hide Your Love Forever
16 – Heartless Stranger (1988 Version)
17 – Make Me Baby (1988 Version)
18 – Ladies Touch
19 – Emotional Breakdown
20 – One Nite, One Time Love Affair
21 – Without Love
22 – Intimacy
23 – Harpo’s (Live)
24 – Sanctuary 1985
25 – Goodbye Monica
26 – Some Kind of Woman
27 – American Maniacs
28 – Painkiller
29 – Upper Hand
30 – Welcome Back to Detroit
31 – Any Other Sunday
32 – Cover Girls
33 – Calm Before the Thunder
34 – Cigarette Man
35 – Please Baby Please
36 – No Words
37 – Looking Glass 1975
38 – Take It All 1975
39 – You in My Life 1975
40 – Balls and a Bat
41 – Maybe It’s Summer
42 – Rock Me Till Your Ready to Roll
43 – I Am the Law
44 – Squeeze Me
45 – Another Hit to the Heart
46 – Quarter to Four
47 – If Love Could Bring You Back to Me
48 – Mysterious
49 – Highway Ride
50 – Goin to the Party

Bob Okonowski – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Charlie Block – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Gordie Roedding – Drums
Jimmy Henterly – Keyboards, Lead Vocals
Pat Mezza – Bass, Lead Vocals
Mike Smyt – Guitar, Backing Vocals

BUY
www.amazon.co.uk/Mariner-Anthology-1980-2018/dp/B07GNDLSJJ