The Michael Thompson Band is back with a brand new studio album, “The Love Goes On”. A new MTB album is, of course, always cause for celebration among AOR fans, but “The Love Goes On” is a particularly exciting entry as it sees the return of original vocalist Moon Calhoun (The Strand, Moon Over Paris, Western Front feat. Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy) to the fold. Calhoun sang on the band’s legendary debut album, “How Long”, which is generally regarded as one of the all-time great West Coast AOR albums.
Calhoun, Thompson, and bassist Tom Croucier (ex-Life By Night, and yes, brother of Ratt’s Juan Croucier) wrote all the songs on the album, delivering another high quality serving of classic AOR that the Michael Thompson Band has come to be known for. Drummer Annas Aliaf rounds out the line-up.
Amongst musician circles, Michael Thompson is considered one of the leading guitar players in the world. He was awarded the “Distinguished Alumni” award from his alma mater Berklee College of Music to commemorate his contributions to the music industry. Berklee’s program for the event noted that “he is widely regarded as being among the elite studio session players”, and his amazing list of credits includes such prominent names as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, ‘N Sync, Toni Braxton, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, the Scorpions, Vince Neil, Christina Aguilera, Michael Bolton, Mariah Carey, Bette Midler, Madonna, Babyface, En Vogue, Gloria Estefan, Stanley Clarke and Ricky Martin.Originally from New York, Michael moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to begin a studio musician career.
In 1988, after working to try and get a deal with his band Slang, he finally got signed by Geffen Records to release one album entitled “How Long”, under the Michael Thompson Band (M.T.B.) moniker. On “How Long”, more great studio musicians appeared as guests, in particular drummer-maestro Terry Bozzio, singer Moon Calhoun (ex The Strand), Pat Torpey (Mr Big), bassist Jimmy Haslip, John Elefante (Kansas), Toto’s Bobby Kimball, and Great White associates Michael Lardie and Wyn Davis (who also produced the album). Songwriters would include, among others, AOR luminaries such as Jeff Paris, Mark Spiro, Billy Trudel and Brett Walker. As of today, “How Long” is still regarded as one of the highest examples of hi-tech AOR / West Coast, with superb production and immaculate songwriting.
Frontiers Music Srl began their relationship with Thompson in 2007, when they reissued the classic album “How Long”. Subsequently, the label would go on to release new music from MTB in the form of “Future Past” (2012), “Love & Beyond” (2019), and the live release “High Times – Live in Italy” (2020).
Check out the lyric video for the new single “The Love Goes On” below.
Pure AOR can’t get much better than this!
Pre-order & pre-save “The Love Goes On” here.
Tracklist:
1. The Love Goes On
2. Whispers and Dreams
3. War of the Hearts
4. In Your Arms
5. All of It
6. Just What It Takes
7. Forever June
8. Higher
9. Out of Nowhere
10. What Keeps You Alive
11. A Picture of You
12. Wheelchair (Bonus Track)
Line-up:
Moon Calhoun – Vocals
Michael Thompson – Guitars
Tom Croucier – Bass
Annas Aliaf – Drums
