The VU
"Phoenix Rising"

Frontiers Records FR CD 045 Streetdate: 22. November. 2000

At last - The long lost debut from supergroup The VU featuring Chalfant, Prince, Valory, Gorman and Burns Tracklisting: Who Ya' Gonna Believe?; Keys To The City; One Track Mind; Save It For Me; Hard To Get; If I Had You Back; Walk Through The Fire; Dreaming Your Life Away; Lonely Heart; So Long.

Press from Frontiers Records 28-September-00: THE VU were formed during the year 1985 by Kevin Chalfant (ex 707 and Steel Breeze, later with The Storm and currently in Two Fires) with Journey bassist Ross Valory, Tubes drummer Prairie Prince, The Who keyboardist Tim Gorman and Alice Cooper guitarist Stef Burns (later with Y & T and solo artist as well).
THE VU recorded one album that was produced by the band itself, Wally Buck & Steven Jarvis, with additional engineering by Steve Fontano. The album style is classic AOR music of the eighties with a major production and contains guest performances of The Storm and Two Fires guitar player Josh Ramos, along with features from ex Megadeth guitar player Marty Friedman.
The cd features also two songs which were later recorded by other artists. In 1990, infact, the song "Keys to the City" was recorded by Mickey Thomas and Starship, while "Who You Gonna Believe" was chosen as the ending song on Cher's third album of the eighties "Love Hurts". THE VU is an undiscovered gem of the past and stands out as one among the best music ever produced by those 5 seasoned musicians in their career.

Line Up:
Ross Valory: Bass & Vocals
Prairie Prince: Drums and Percussions
Stef Burns: Guitars & Vocals
Tim Gorman: Keyboard & Vocals
Kevin Chalfant: Lead Vocals

Additional Contributing Musicians: Josh Ramos & Marty Friedman on guitars.

Produced By: THE VU with Steven Jarvis


© Steen Peitersen 2000