Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: 04/26/2019
Album length: 43.36 min
Production: Fortune
Genre: AOR
Rating: 8.5 / 10
Fortune are a cult AOR act of the eighties. Cult because Fortune put out one superb album in 1985 and then vanished from the rock map. Not much has been written about this band, though fans of AOR and melodic rock who dig deeper into both genres know them very well, since their debut is considered one of the best records to come out in the genre at all in the late, great eighties. We’re talking about the AOR reach of American west-coast acts that were then blending hard rock with pop aesthetics to great success. Yes, Fortune too were learning a little from ABBA back then, a little from Boston, Styx, Journey and, last but not least, from Bonnie Tyler.
The band actually released its first record back in 1979. Even then it was called Fortune, and even then that album was called »Fortune«. But over the following years the band went through a serious sonic and stylistic transformation, so it seemed perfectly logical to start over from scratch once more. From the beginning. With the same name. Even before the debut came out (strictly speaking, the second album), about three years earlier, the band had gained recognition with the song Airwaves, which it contributed to the film »Last American Virgin«. The album »Fortune« had incredible potential. When it came out it was warmly received, earning big praise from music critics and the wider public, but then Camel/MCA Records, the very same label that also had Night Ranger and Guiffria under its wing, declared bankruptcy.
Almost 35 years after the debut, we finally get its successor. Played, recorded and produced by the core of the lineup that made the studio debut. The signature vocalist Larry Greene, who, when he joined the band in 1985, gave Fortune a huge boost in the expressiveness of their original compositions, along with the founding brothers Richard Fortune (guitar) and Mick Fortune (drums).
»II« is a brilliant follow-up to the cult debut. From the first spin, when it kicks off with the excellent Don’t Say You Love Me, it grabs you by the ears and won’t let go. If it had come out (to exaggerate) in 1986, that verdict wouldn’t be any different. So. These days it’s hard to pull off an album that sounds this old-school and breathes the eighties this deeply. If only because the studio logistics are completely different. And that’s actually where the album’s one flaw hides. Its compositional value is great and undeniable, and AOR fans will snap it up in a heartbeat, no doubt about it. The production, though, limps a bit. The band could have paid a little more attention to shaping the sonic details, because it managed to catch the magic of the eighties soundscape but stopped a bit past halfway, rather than going all the way. With a bit more sonic “polishing” it would have sharpened the contrast between the building blocks of the sound and squeezed even more bombast out of the band’s creative juices, more drama theater, more of the sheer pomp of high-octane musical catchiness. The other path, of course, is to make a warmer-sounding, more organic album. Well, »II« sits somewhere in between, though still closer to the sonic character of the hyper-glossy eighties production. Yes! A few other names jump to mind, like the cult Aviator with their only self-titled album from the mid-eighties, QE5’s debut, both albums by Giuffria, Autograph…. Bands that built the platform that later glam metal acts drew inspiration from, and that goes for production approaches too.
One of the most interesting albums, and really one where I don’t have to hang any “roundabout” melodic rock labels on it, but can go straight for the “pure-blooded” AOR tag. You won’t find a more nostalgic-sounding album in 2019 when it comes to AOR, a practically extinct genre. And only musicians who breathed the eighties can pull this off. Where do you think the various Scandinavian revivalists like Work Of Art and/or Houston get their inspiration?
Quite a few of the tracks that found a place on the album »II« had to wait years for the recording process. Ideas from dusty archives. No, of course not everything is quite on the same level in terms of quality, but all the songs are very well “packaged” compositionally. The solos in the mid-eight passages are the sweet spot of the genre and a crucial contrast to the otherwise staked-out stylistic groove. Backing vocal harmonies that ramp up the drama theater with an atmospheric crescendo in the catchy choruses, and curtains of synthesizers that ring authentically “eighties.” The pairing of synths with guitar in building the soundscapes is essential. Larry Greene’s vocal sounds piercing, signature, recognizable, authoritative. Fortune just needed more emphasis on detail in the production phase and »II« would be an almost “flawless” achievement. Whether »II« is the band’s swan song or not, we’ll see pretty soon.
by: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Don’t Say You Love Me
2. Shelter Of The Night
3. Freedom Road
4. A Little Drop Of Poison
5. What A Fool I’ve Been
6. Overload
7. Heart Of Stone
8. The Night
9. New Orleans
10. All The Right Moves
Lineup:
Larry Greene – vocals
Richard Fortune – guitar
Mark Nilan – keyboards
Ricky Rat – bass guitar
Mick Fortune – drums
