What You've Said
The May 2003 eBay sale of an original Surrender CD -- final price - $1000 USD - started a string of comments from music fans who through the years had obtained copies of the never-released rarity. Here are excerpts of messages that were posted on heavyharmonies.com:
"Musically, Surrender is simply to die for. Soaring high vocals layered like meat on a sandwich bun. Production like nothing you've heard from an indie. Glistening AOR sensibilities. I could compare them to Simon Says meets Hybrid Ice ('No Rules'). I know 3 people who will pay $1000 US cash money for this CD. THE MOTHER OF ALL INDIES!"
"The only reason those people would pay $1,000 is so they could turn around and sell it for $1,500+. It is the mother of all hype in my opinion. It's not bad at all but not worth what it fetches."
"Price and hype aside, I will STILL maintain that this is one of the Top 5 indies in terms of quality."
"Brutal!! genial!! acojonante!!! NEVER es d las mejores canciones d A.O.R. q e escuchado nunka!! q pedazo d Grupo, archi- desconocido "
"It has a sound similar to Alias, Harem Scarem, or Sweet. This cd is good and it may be rare, but not worth the dollar figure it is posted at.1000 bucks is way out of whack."
"Super cd!!!.Me recuerdan mucho a Yes sobretodo las guitarras a lo Steve Howe y el teclado a lo Rick Wakeman con tintes de Def Leppard del Piromania. Pero eso si!!! Con personalidad propia."
"I can just see the guy who paid $1,000 for this on The Antiques Roadshow trying to get a buck for it in ten years after you all come to your f***'in senses! Someone could probably have done a lot with that kind of cash....like buy a friggin' clue for starters."
"The FBI has been informed. Be Careful!"
"My closest comparison for these guys is 'Holy Boston.' The vocals sound so much like Boston it blows my mind."
"It's different than late 80's hard rock, these guys have different melodies and it's so damn gooood!!!!!"
"The vocalist reminds me of John Blanco and Robby Valentine only better! I like every track. Please re-release this one! The best indie out there!! Pure AOR!!"
"SURRENDER IS SOMETHING YOU MUST LISTEN TO BEFORE U DIE."
"An AOR masterpiece with soaring choruses and vocals, stellar production, and cool guitar solos. Just cranked this CD up the other day; it never grows old!"
"This is without a doubt one of my favorite albums. All the tracks are killer but my favs are Never, Claire, Sunrise Goodbye, and Nikki. I do think it is incredibly wierd that the band just kinda disappeared after this album. This album kicks some serious butt!!"
"This band sounds like nothing I ever heard in my life."
"Incredible and unique production/sounds as well but not in all tracks unfortunately. IMO they are famous musicians with hidden identity."
"I'm dying of curiosity: does anyone know ANYTHING about band members? Or the band itself? Although the asking price for this baby is insane, but I have to admit that this is probably one of the best (if not the best) self-released CDs ever (IMO). What happened to the band? They couldn't just dissolve...How come they just vanished? This CD deserves to be re-released-that's for sure."
"I think an official re-release of this cd will never available because band's members are much rare than their same cd! ahaha!! I think the master of the cd will never be found and it's only probably that will be possible to press a bootleg in the future...what a shame indeed!! That was a great band with stunning musicianship but...who are they??? Where are they?? No answer to anyone I suppose..."
"Apparently the personnel in this band are all bonafide African American gang bangers from Jamaica, New York, the ghetto of New York."
"This is a 'ghost' band unfortunately."
"Its a shame the musicians can not stand up and be counted.I do know a lot of people have been trying to find the masters and the band members. Its a big mystery behind this cd."
".even Morratti doesn't sing like this, it's high-pitched but a flawless performance. A re-issue would be AMAZING as every AOR fan needs to hear songs like 'Claire' or the killer duo of 'Last Time I Say Goodbye' and 'One Tough City'. The latter with soaring melodies all over it."
"Cool harmonies and some cool effects for an indie, how did an indie get such good production work? Solid disk, lets hope for a remaster"
"Glad to see the mystery of this one being solved, it is also recently listed on mothermetal as well, this one is coming out of the shadows .Thanks to all at Heavy Harmonies for this up and coming release!!!"
