STRANGEWAYS

Hard Rock • United Kingdom

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Strangeways is a British hard rock act.

From their 2011 promo material:

"December 12th 2011 sees the release of Strangeways 8th studio album "Age Of Reason". Formed in the early 80's, Strangeways have been around the block a time or two. Crooked managers, departing singers and a somewhat hostile business have conspired to keep them one of the UK's best kept secrets. Even so, 8 studio albums, 1 greatest hits and 1 live album later and they have received much acclaim from fans and the rock press and as if to prove the point, they are still around."

Thanks to Time Signature for the addition

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STRANGEWAYS Discography

STRANGEWAYS albums / top albums

0.00 | 0 ratings

Strangeways
Hard Rock 1984

4.00 | 1 ratings

Native Sons
Hard Rock 1986

STRANGEWAYS Walk in the Fire album cover

0.00 | 0 ratings

Walk in the Fire
Hard Rock 1989

0.00 | 0 ratings

And the Horse
Hard Rock 1994

0.00 | 0 ratings

Any Day Now
Hard Rock 1997

STRANGEWAYS Gravitational Pull album cover

0.00 | 0 ratings

Gravitational Pull
Hard Rock 2000

3.50 | 1 ratings

Perfect World
Hard Rock 2010

2.50 | 3 ratings

Age of Reason
Hard Rock 2011

STRANGEWAYS EPs & splits

STRANGEWAYS live albums

STRANGEWAYS demos, promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs)

STRANGEWAYS re-issues & compilations

STRANGEWAYS Living in the Danger Zone album cover

0.00 | 0 ratings

Living in the Danger Zone
Hard Rock 2003

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STRANGEWAYS movies (DVD, Blu-Ray or VHS)

STRANGEWAYS Reviews

STRANGEWAYS Age of Reason

Album · 2011 · Hard Rock

Stephen

'Age of Reason' is like a new era of STRANGEWAYS, a farcry from the usual AOR outfit they carried. In the past, they still combine the fast-paced tracks balancely with the ballads, but this album introduces a whole lots of slow-tempo tunes which made it's suitable for midnight/headphone spin. I hope it's only a glimpse of their need-of-change state and quickly return to their root in the next album because I'm pretty sure, this cannot satisfy many folks, especially those who grew with 'Native Sons' or 'Walk In The Fire'.

Now this is definitely a very moody album, depends on when and where you spin this disc. I'm thinking the best way to spin this is after a very hectic day, a hellish traffic maybe, you need to relax your veins with a glass of wine and tracks like 'Run', 'Playin' It Over' or 'Call' which I think are among the best in this record. Terry Brock is always magnificent and even if you dislike ballads, you'll admit that this guy has the pipes.

'As We Fall' and 'Silver Moon' are awesome, but they're slow and maybe too sappy for some. The only heavy song here is 'Frozen' but ironically, is the worst filler. 'End of The Day' and 'Long Road' are another good tracks here. 'The Sentinel' and 'Alive Again' aren't bad as well, but somehow inferior to those slower songs. 'Age of Reason' isn't for metal community but it has the classic hard rock grip with westcoast feel and strangely, also a combination of U2 touch. A nice lullaby disc for cooling down but I'm pretty sure it's not always easy to find the right moment to spin this.

more than 2 years ago
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STRANGEWAYS Native Sons

Album · 1986 · Hard Rock

Stephen

One of those albums that was highly praised by AOR community and I must agree to the fact that STRANGEWAYS have some really spectacular songs here and a monumental achievement of their career, songs that were remembered even after they're all gone. 'Only A Fool' and 'So Far Away' are two songs that I've been talking about, and the other two, which is slightly weaker but still excellent are 'Where Do We Go From Here' and 'Face To Face'.

But there is couple of duds here such as 'Stand Up And Shout', quite similar to the groovy opening track of 'Dance With Somebody' and 'Shake The Seven' which is an inferior tune. However, 'Goodnight L.A' is a nice lullaby ballad and 'Empty Streets' is also a good midtempo track. I think the remastered version is better, the sound production is great and you also get 4 bonus live tracks. 85%

more than 2 years ago
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STRANGEWAYS Age of Reason

Album · 2011 · Hard Rock

Time Signature

End of the day...

Genre: melodic (hard) rock

Not quite an album to grab you by the balls and punch your teeth in, "Age of Reason" can nonetheless be an enjoyable listen - if you are in the mood for it. The music is overall quite mellow and melodic, and melancholic - much like Jagged Edge's "Fuel for your Soul" from 1990 (but less interesting, I must say).

I quite like tracks like 'Frozen', 'Run' and 'Sentinel' which, while not track that blow one away, still have some nice hard rocking qualities to them (interestingly, 'Run' manages to combine blues based hard rock, AOR and U2-like rock) and are quite appealing.

My problem with this album, however, is that I think that there are way too many ballads on it, most of which strike me as being quite bland and nothing out of the ordinary (I do like 'As We Fall' which has a nice 90s alternative rock feel to it). What's more is that virtually all of the ballads are are organized consecutively, which means that there is a considerable stretch of music which is bereft of energy, and I think that most metalheads and hard rock fans are not interested in that.

So, for melodic rock this is not a bad release, and fans of rock ballads should love it, but the hard rocking tracks are simply to few and far between, I think, for the majority of of metalheads and hard rock fans to enjoy the album in its entirety.