Well, then here’s a thing I was a big fan of 80’s AOR but a lot of releases that go out the under the AOR banner in 2008 leave me cold, but this album by Roulette, the aptly named Better Late Than Never is one release that has been in constant rotation on the CD since it arrived. It is the sort of high quality sing along AOR that attracted me to the genre in the first place and sits easily alongside all of the big names from the past with ease. The band come across as a blend of Bad Habit, Bad English, Da Vinci, Newman and Strangeways with a huge dollop of Tall Stories thrown in for good measure and perhaps it is those influences more than anything else that make this such a good album when compared to modern day AOR.

In truth this can in no way be described as modern day AOR as it was written and recorded at the time that genre ruled the airwaves but was never actually released. Although it is, in the main a collection of singles and unreleased demo’s you would never guess that given the sound quality, indeed such is the quality it would be easy to believe this was a big budget album rather than what it actually is .But whatever the origins a good song is a good song and Better Late Than Never is chock full of such beauties, keyboard driven and all the better for it. It's hard to believe given the abundance of labels that have been re-releasing such albums that this has sat on a shelf unheard for the best part of two decades, hence I guess the titles. Kudos to new label AOR-FM for finally getting it out to the public hopefully this will be the start of more unreleased gems finding their way onto the market.

Dougie