Frédéric Slama, born in France but lived in Los Angles for more than ten years as a renowned rock journalist where he became friends with many famous artists and studio players. After releasing a couple of solo albums in the 80’s, he decided to start a “one man band”, which marked the birth of his project AOR always using the cream of U.S. session players and since the year 2000 has released twenty-two AOR albums with the who's who of Westcoast music & Melodic Rock. Now in 2023, Frédéric is back with this time his most 80's album of all his career, with unforgettable arrangements reminding us of the classic AOR sound of the 80's like JOURNEY, LE ROUX, FRANKIE & THE KNOCKOUTS and FOREIGNER. Released on September 8, 2023, “Bewitched in L.A.” brings the talents of Paul Sabu (JOHN WAITE, SILENT RAGE, ONLY CHILD, LEE AARON, KIDD GLOVE) who did all the vocals of the album and Tommy Denander (ALICE COOPER, STEVE WALSH, PAUL STANLEY) playing all other instruments. This is the first AOR album with only one singer. If you don’t know who or never heard of Frédéric Slama or AOR you probably haven’t been paying attention. An impressive solo career that has released twenty-two albums and recorded with some of the heavy hitters in the musical industry, way too many to list here, has always produced enjoyable and memorable albums delivering melodic, progressive, alternative, glam, soft and classic rock. So, I dive into this latest effort knowing what to expect but also expecting some surprises tossed in along the way.

Not as much surprised as I was disappointed in “Bewitched in L.A.”, due to the lack of creativity and diversity. I can sum up all nine songs with a couple of analogies. All the tracks are definitely radio, listener friendly with simple melodies and even more predictable lyrics. There just was no pop or oomph on any one song as they dragged along whimsical and playful never delivering any edginess, like watching a movie and waiting for something to happen. I felt like I was listening to a series of radio jingles or a theme song for a silly 80’s TV sitcom. All the songs had the same feel, structure and sound, nothing to differentiate themselves and maybe this was due to having just one vocalist instead of a variety on previous albums. I’ve been a fan of Frédéric Slama and AOR for a better part of twenty years and always found his music to be somewhat cutting edge, inventive or Avant-garde, but unfortunately this effort was subpar for such a masterful musician.