AIR RAID – Air Raid ’81 [Digitally Remastered]

Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, AIR RAID was active in the American scene the for almost the entire Seventies, founded by songwriter, singer and keyboard player Arthur Offen. All members worked at a local recording studio while playing the club circuit.
At the end of the decade, Air Raid was signed by the new 20th Century Fox records division, and they secured the famous Eddie Kramer to produce their debut LP. Released in 1981, “Air Raid” is definitely Pomp AOR, absolutely influenced by the sound & style of Styx, accented by Arthur Offen’s pipes very similar in to Dennis DeYoung.
Considered one of the last greatest Pomp AOR albums recorded in the ’80s, “Air Raid” is a gem from the genre, here fully remastered by Offen himself.

Just check the melodic opener “Nowhere Without Your Love”; this is pure pompy heaven plenty of melodic harmonies and synths galore. However, in many ways, Air Raid is more visceral and rocking than your typically American Pomp from the era, especially due to Rick Hinkle’s raw guitar setup sound and of course, Eddie Kramer behind the producer’s desk.
At places they turn remind me Trillion, on others Giuffria’s Angel, and even Freddie Mercury’s Queen on the pompous “You’re Mine” and the wonderful “Ballad Of Anymore”.

As occurs with the genre, there’s lots of rare analog keyboards / proto synths here, name it Mini-Moogs, Prophet V, Polymoog. Last track called “Air Raid / Drill” is a festival of those, and our humble opinion, ranks amongst the best Pomp Rock songs of all time.

The venture of 20th Century Fox into the record business was really brief, and Air Raid found themselves without promotion and management, and soon broke-up. They delivered this one and only album back in the day, but this is as good as it gets when we talk about Pomp Rock / AOR.
Pomp rules. Highly Recommended

01 – Nowhere Without Your Love
02 – You’re Mine
03 – Anything Anytime
04 – Love The Way You Look To-Nite
05 – Longships
06 – Love Wave
07 – Mystery Man
08 – Soldiers of Fortune
09 – Ballad of Anymore
10 – Air Raid / Drill

Lead Vocals, Keyboards, Acoustic Guitar – Arthur Offen
Bass Guitar – Tommy Walker
Drums, Percussion – Rick Brown
Electric Guitar, Backing Vocals – Rick Hinkle
Percussion, Producer – Eddie Kramer

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www.amazon.com/Air-Raid-2013-05-04/dp/B01G66LI2U