By STEVE MASCORD
LET’S FACE it, Australia is never going to be the AOR capital of the world. It’s simply not in our nature to take anything that seriously.
Nah, it’s either balls-out, louder-than-a-Qantas-jumbo pub rock or it’s nothing. Some recent antipodean attempts at AOR from the likes of 1927 and John Farnham, for example, have been mediocre and most often false-sounding.
Nightstreet, the debut from Melbourne five-piece Roxus, has its moments. It’s good enough to succeed Down Under, but lacks enough true quality songs to really compete on the world stage. It’s AOR by numbers, a fact not even Mark Opitz’s crystal-clear production can hide.
At least they resist the undoubted temptation to begin opener ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Nights’ with lush, Bon Jovi-esque keyboards – but that’s where the restraint ends. When Roxus first began, Bon Jovi were huge in Australia and it was a market begging to be tapped. Whether that market is still there waiting for Roxus in this post-Guns N’ Roses age is questionable.
The best moments on Nightstreet are “Bad Boyz” (like the Electric Boys but with intentionally stoopid lyrics) and “Stand Back”, although the original single version of this was better. “Midnight Love” is more than useful, but “Where Are You Now?”, a Top Ten hit in Roxus’ homeland, is predictable and boring.
Recommended only for commercial rock fanatics.
This review originally appeared in Kerrang! on November 16, 1991
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