Along the Way

The third album Along the Way of the South African sister duo LITTLE SISTER was released way back in 1993. A shame it didn’t get any attention of the AOR press back then, because this album really is a fantastic female fronted AOR rockalbum. But we all have to remember that back then the AOR scene was almost dead, so it was hard for an AOR record to get at least some attention. Now that everything is coming back again, I am sure many AOR fans will be interested in knowing about this album of LITTLE SISTER.

Along the Way is a wonderful record that can easily be compared to the likes of SARAYA, HEART, VIXEN, LAOS, DANTE FOX and the first two TONE NORUM albums. This album is filled with first-class female fronted AOR/Melodic Rock from a very high level, no wonder LITTLE SISTER is one of the top bands in their homeland. Mike Flicker (HEART) and Dennis East produced the album Along the Way.

I was surprised to see the name DENNIS EAST popping up, because this guy sang in the AOR/Pomprockband STINGRAY in the late seventies and released two great LPs of which the debut contained some of the best AOR/Pomp ever written! I still remember the song “Lovesaver” of the debut album of STINGRAY, this song was so incredible catchy, probably one of the best songs ever written! Anyway, I have been wondering all my life whatever happened to Dennis East and now I see his name appearing on a record by a band called LITTLE SISTER. And this album is also very good, so this DENNIS EAST guy is kind of an AOR magician. I would love to interview the guy someday and ask him about the time with STINGRAY and whatever happened to them.

Anyway, back to this LITTLE SISTER record which starts rather dull with the song “Mystery of Life”, a poppish song like WILSON PHILLIPS. But from the next track on till the end of the CD it is pure AOR in the best 80s tradition of bands like HEART, WITNESS, SARAYA… “Something Happened to Us (Along the Way)” is a wonderful midtempo AOR track that is totally 80s HEART. “Love Is a Weapon” is one of the band’s major hits in South Africa. This song is a great Melodic AOR Rocker that is sounding very much like SARAYA.

Next track “Never Say Never” is totally awesome pure AOR! The song is midtempo AOR with lovely hooklines, brilliant vocals of the girls and a classy 80s AOR chorus. This fantastic song sounds huge and comes close in style to 80s HEART, DANTE FOX and WITNESS. Following track “Whenever I Need Somebody” is a good AOR rocker that is a little in the style of the first two albums of TONE NORUM. “Love’s a Bitch” follows and is another good uptempo AOR rocker that sounds like a cross between WITNESS and DARBY MILLS.

Next up is “Verge of Love” which is good midtempo melodic rock a la SARAYA. Then comes “Never Knew a Good Thing”, a slowtempo semi AOR ballad like HEART, although the sound of the song does also has a lot of resemblance with ALLANAH MYLES’ major hit “Black Velvet”. Anyway, this is a great song, just like the rest of the CD.

After so many wonderful pure AOR/Melodic Rocksongs, the CD gets a little weaker towards the end of the CD with songs like “When the Sun Goes Down”, “Perfect Thing” and “The Wrong Way Round”. These songs are nice rockers, but nothing special if compared to the other AOR oriented songs of the CD. The album finishes off with an unplugged version of the opening tune “Mystery of Life” which is the only real weak song on the album. If you skip the first track, then you get a truly superb AOR/Melodic Rockalbum that is a must for fans of acts like WITNESS, DEVAY, SARAYA, 80s HEART, VIXEN…