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Artist: Ivory Tower

(click on Artist's name above to return to artist's main page)

CD Title: Heart of the City

 

Category: Hard Rock

Year: 1987

Label: Chavis Records

Catalog Number: 00002

Personnel

Mike Wilson lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
Billy Martin lead guitar, vocals
Joe Lam bass, vocals
Duke Franc drums, vocals

George Akerley additional keyboards

Tracks

1.	Ready to Roll	4:12
2.	Heart of the City	4:07
3.	Givin' It All to You	4:50
4.	Break the Chains	3:09
5.	Love Is a Game	4:31
6.	Rough and Ready	3:46
7.	Jump into the Fire	4:04
8.	Fallin' in Love Again	3:01
9.	Holding on to the Night	5:05
10.	Raise Some Hell	4:12
11.	The Pain Lives Forever	2:40
12.	Eatin' Out of My Hand	3:54
Total Running Time:		47:31

If you see any errors or omissions in the CD information shown above, either in the musician credits or song listings (cover song credits, live tracks, etc.), please post them in the corrections section of the Heavy Harmonies forum/message board.

The music discographies on this site are works in progress. If you notice that a particular Ivory Tower CD release or compilation is missing from the list above, please submit that CD using the CD submission page. The ultimate goal is to make the discographies here at Heavy Harmonies as complete as possible. Even if it is an obscure greatest-hits or live compilation CD, we want to add it to the site. Please only submit official CD releases; no bootlegs or cassette-only or LP-only releases.

EPs and CD-singles from Ivory Tower are also welcome to be added, as long as they are at least 4 songs in length.

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Existing comments about this CD

From: ROB GARCIA	Date: February 23, 2003 at 21:34
very little known hard rock band but a very good one!.every single song in this album has been designed to leave your mouth open wide in admiration to the sheer quality of this album.buy this pronto or live in sin for the rest of your life!.satisfaction guaranteed!!!!!.

From: MButt	Date: February 24, 2003 at 2:31
One of the Best cd's ever made!

From: Rycheage	Date: February 27, 2003 at 2:12
Excellent hard rock CD from '87. Reminds me of vintage Leatherwolf. Back in the day Ivory Tower was THE band to get. This still rocks today.

From: tomcat	Date: February 27, 2003 at 10:51
"heart of the city" is a kickass rock n roll tune..remember singing along when i cranked it up in my old car... i had it on vinyl... thanx

From: M. Allen

Date: February 27, 2003 at 19:35

A true gem, an unfairly-overlooked jewel from the late 80s hard rock scene. This band's big sound should have propelled them to the top of the charts on the strength of their loud guitars, killer hooks, shout-it-out choruses, and gang backing vocals. Chavis Records is to be commended for reissuing this album, as the cost of originals were skyrocketing. A great album to crank while driving through town with your windows down...

From: freddy de keyze	Date: March 6, 2003 at 19:41
What can I say ?! Another very overrated, but average band. They tried, but failed. A case like Trixter, although better. Nothing special, there were lots of better bands in the eighties ! It has some moments, but it is not classy enough to be called a gem. Far from it !

From: West Of Sunset

Date: March 15, 2003 at 17:29

One of the most disappointing CD I´´ve ever heard. Bad production and i have to give an absolute Zero to the imagination of this band, they sound like if you had listened to this before. Unemotional, dirty and bad dressed hard rock and bad execution form the musicians. Now i understand why this CD was out of print all this time. I bough the re-issue and actually is collecting dust in my cd shelf. 0/10 dissssssssappppppoiniting CD. For contact:westofsunset@hotmail.com

From: purrfect-kat	Date: May 21, 2003 at 20:56
This cd is really good and I would recommend it to anyone who is into classic 80's Heavy metal.

Heavy Harmonies Volunteer
From: Whiplash1972	Date: December 6, 2003 at 19:41
This is a re-issue from 87, and unfortunately in my opinion it shows. Maybe it's the production, or the overall "by-the-book" approach the band takes to the songs, but I couldn't get excited over this one. Don't get me wrong, it's NOT bad, it's just not something that's gonna make ya "squirm" 'til ya have to get up and move to it!

Heavy Harmonies Owner
From: Dan	Date: December 7, 2003 at 15:21
I'll agree that the production/mix isn't going to blow your doors off, but I quite enjoy the music itself. Good album to listen to while driving. Sure it's play-by-numbers, but it's done well. Let's face it, so many of the indy groups of the late '80s through early '90s weren't doing anything particularly revolutionary; they were emulating an in-vogue sound, and at best adding their own flair. The question is does the music have the hallmark "sound" and catchy choruses that makes "80s Rock" what it is? Answer in this case: a resounding YES.

From: ROB GARCIA	Date: January 19, 2004 at 15:17
totally agree with you dan!.great songs,great ideas shame about the production.listening to this album you get the feeling that this guys had one hell of a good time recording it!.very good stuff that you shouldnt avoid.

From: Lucky777	Date: January 20, 2004 at 22:58
This Disc sounds very predictable, lyrics show no imagination "you - do - blue"! Come on, give me a break! I don't care for the vocalist, sounds like he is straining he self of squeezing a certain body part! Its OK....

From: Brandon	Date: July 4, 2004 at 22:59
Not a bad disc but I wouldn't call it a gem. The songs are good, production isn't all that great (It sounds like they played it off a cassette and recorded it onto CD). The songs all sound like they've been heard before, which might be why these guys never made it big, however if you enjoy glam metal like 80s Bon Jovi, Poison and yes even Trixter you won't be too dissapointed with this disc.

From: Rockhead	Date: July 5, 2004 at 4:13
I really like this CD and whilst the production isn't great it is good enough to enjoy the songs which are an amalgym of 80's melodic rock with catchy choruses, some neat guitar playing and so on. 7/10

From: PikAks

Date: August 30, 2004 at 6:07

I really love the raw sound on this disc, not the greatest ever but tracks like "Ready To Roll" are what vintage (yes, I said vintage!) hard rock indies are all about! The sound just can't be reproduced today no matter how hard a band tries. Also, I have the original on Wolf Records with much better color cover. I'm not sure if Ryan (Metal Mayhem) used this B&W plain-jane thing to save value for those who have an original or whether he has no artistic taste at all!

From: Geoff	Date: August 30, 2004 at 10:23
Solid hard rock, if not bordering on average. These guys never blew me away but they never did any harm either. Good solid hard rock from start to finish and a song here and there stands out a little. Good stuff.

From: BurtonCBach	Date: October 14, 2004 at 19:46
This CD is really a nice gem for any 80's hard rocker. Each song offers it's own 80's characteristic...A true need!!!!

From: BurtonCBach	Date: October 14, 2004 at 19:47
This CD is really a nice gem for any 80's hard rocker. Each song offers it's own 80's characteristic...A true need!!!!

From: Rocker76

Date: January 7, 2005 at 6:34

I noticed that my copy was released on Wolfe Records (1988). Such a great album & its a shame that this band never went further. Great melodic metal here with a little something for everyone. A couple of the ballads could have used a little more power - but still a fantastic 80s metal record. Stand out tracks were Givin' It All to You, Love is a Game, and Raise Some Hell. It appears to be pretty scarce these days so definitely scoop it up if you come across it.

From: Swriter	Date: February 12, 2005 at 11:19
from New Jersey, good hard rock stuff. Ivory Tower and my band used to share bills at a few clubs. Great guys and good songs, Heart of the City, Ready to Roll, Love is a Game and the moody beautiful acoustic gem, The Pain lives forever. A solid release!!!

From: z4roxx	Date: February 12, 2005 at 18:12
Solid release but not many remarkable songs,IMO.Pretty decent cd but nothin' great or memorable...

From: jeff	Date: March 17, 2005 at 0:56
Poor production but great hardrock cd's ever made!

From: figgy	Date: March 24, 2005 at 22:49
I have this on vinyl only.Pretty good riffs, choruses, and vocals but a masterpiece it's not.Over all worth listening to.

From: Swriter	Date: March 29, 2005 at 18:18
Wolf records was in the club called the Galazy in New Jersey that all bands hung out in. Wold records also did the B.Fox demo and Tangier's first album that is not available or listed anywhere. Not sure if any Cinderella demos or Surrender Dorothy were ever done at Wolf? This is a good one indeed!!! Great band and great guys!!!

From: Rafo Phoenix	Date: May 17, 2005 at 3:03
Good Hard Rock album, tantos albums por comentar, tantos albums por conocer, veo muchos comentarios divididos por parte de la gente de habla inglesa, despues de todo es un buen album no la gran cosa pero esta Ok, con sus buenos cortes Heart of the City, Raise Some Hell, Fallin in Love Again, Love Is a Game this album is Ok nothing more.

From: swriter	Date: March 7, 2006 at 20:28
commented on this one a while back, I knew these guys and I had on cassette, vinyl, recently got on cd, man, the songs r wonderful, to me, about 9 great songs, good vocals, backing vocals, chorus, etc, only downfall is the recording itself, but really great stuff indeed!!!! just listen to Heart, Giving it all to You, Falling in love, Ready, Pain, and Holding(wow) great!!!

From: swriter	Date: May 5, 2006 at 17:49
again, this one is killer for me, maybe 2 fillers, and agreed, production not wonderful, but really great 80's rock/metal vibe and songs, nothing mondbreaking, but to me, this one is always on the play list, great songs!!!!! maybe cause I saw them over 50 times and used to play double gigs with the band and my band, really great for me!!!

From: metalhead4life	Date: August 21, 2008 at 11:06
Average Glam Rock for the time. Decent to good at some points. Title track and "Love Is A Game" are cool tunes but the rest is average and nothing else really stuck out. That's probably why I listened to it twice and sold my copy. Though I did make a copy to CD-R on my recorder before selling in case I get the urge to listen to Love Is A Game one day. 70/100

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