【Pls look at the top comment first】This is my second video of Agent, an everlasting Canadian name for aor lovers to remember. Agent was founded in mid 1980s by keyboardist Craig Zurba and bassist Andre Kunkel. They were songwriting partners and session musicians from the local scene. Both of them have recorded for various mainstream artists. Besides, other founding members of Agent consisted of guitarist Bob Smart, drummer Dave Allan and talented vocalist Rick Livingstone. This typical five-piece aor band was signed by CBS / Virgin Records and recorded their self-titled debut in 1986, a magic album among Canadian melodic rock world.

This album "Evidence" came out 12 years later after the debut. This time new members joined Agent to work together with Craig Zurba and Andre Kunkel. About the past years of Agent, they could have been a symbol of 1980s mainstream melodic rock name, but something happened unluckily in that releasing year of their debut. What happened to their early years, especially after their debut? They had greatly written works and played keyboard-driven style as a five-piece band, which made the debut almost a perfect masterpiece in 1986. Regrettably, several months later after the debut's releasing, Agent was disbanded not because of their fault but due to the CEO of their label's resignation from job during the releasing week, which led to the management vacancy in the label office.

Since something happened unluckily in their former label, they had to break up, only leaving one album on vinyl. It was not until 1996 that a long-awaited newly recorded album was released with all the same songs from the debut and a bonus track included, released on CD by a new label Escape Music. Rick Livingstone was replaced by Troy Reid as the new vocalist. All their efforts should never be forgotten after that re-recorded album, which means Agent has been back. There were only three members in the band in that reunion year 1996, Craig, Andre and Troy. They had to collaborate with many other studio musicians to finish album recording. Based on ample experience from Craig's record engineering, the re-recorded release was made successfully, keeping all their classic works alive after ten years. Both the original vinyl and the re-recorded CD need to be tresured for good if they're available. In "Evidence", there are four members with Tom Lang's joining Agent.

This time "Evidence (1998)" can be considered as a new page for Agent, featuring Troy Reid on vocals as well as magic saxophones added in some of the tracks. Just listen, this pleasing aor masterpiece has coveyed the inspiration of Agent and everlasting charms of saxophones, which can play vital roles and make magic vibe in aor sounds. Compared to the debut of Agent, this album takes on different features of arrangements. The debut is a typical 1980s release, bringing a sense of nostalgia while "Evidence" sounds much closer to modern aor release. Here "modern" is a relative term, which means music works in late 1990s sound different from those in 1980s, because there come distinctive features during each period of time with the border of certain year. Mostly, melodic rock in late 1980s and early 1990s have the most intercommunities. Can anybody understand this abstract interpretation？︿(￣︶￣)︿

On the whole, "Evidence" sounds harder than the debut, including some solid aor and even hard rock tunes with strong riffs and beats. Both of the two releases cover saxophone hooks as "Maybe It's Time" is a typical work for me to highly recommend. For pure aor lovers, "Evidence" is as fantastic as their debut. Moreover, lots of synthesizers can be heard on magic sounds in this artistic release. Apart from this track, "Never Forget", "Don't Let Me Know", "Heart In My Mind" (emotional ballad featuring saxophone on its highlight solos), "Human Condition", "Somebody" and "Just Say Tonight" are all worth listening, enjoyable tracks by ingenious arrangements. I select all the background images from Canadian natural landscapes while listening to this album and usually I feel the music vibe from Agent truly matches what I see in my eyes from these landscapes that I always dream of.
#MelodicRock #aor #Agent

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