Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: April 8, 2022
Production: Fortune
Album length: 46.54 min.
Genre: AOR
Rating: 8.0/10
Fortune are one of those bands who looked like they had all the makings of a success story back when AOR was flying high on the wings of commercial success all through the eighties. Sadly, the fortune they were chasing never smiled on them, and after their debut studio album in 1985, Fortune vanished into obscurity.
They wandered there for decades. Until the 2016 reunion, when they shared a stage again at the British Rockingham Music festival, then repeated their first reunion show at the very same festival in 2017. That didn’t go unnoticed by the higher-ups at Frontiers Music Srl. The label got in touch with the band and talks about a new studio album got rolling. In 2019, Fortune released the album “II” (RockLine review), and in the same year they traveled to the Frontiers Rock festival, specifically to the Lombardy town of Trezzo Sull’Adda, a stone’s throw from Milan. Their festival set came out in 2020 as the live album “The Gun’s Still Smokin'” (RockLine review).
The revived lineup’s enthusiasm hasn’t faded in the last two years either. The quintet wrote enough material for a new studio album and titled it “Level Ground.” On it, Fortune live up to the quality of their previous record. Once again they’ve delivered a bundle of excellent AOR tracks. Yes, AOR tracks. The stuff that defined and branded the eighties. But with Fortune you have to be a little careful. The first element is Larry Greene’s distinctive vocal, which, being so singular, won’t instantly click with every fan of rock sounds mixed with that eighties pop aesthetic. If you’ve passed that test, there’s a second hurdle to clear: the production. Its predecessor “II” wasn’t exactly famous for crisp studio work either, and sadly Fortune are wrestling with the same problem on “Level Ground.” The sound picture is full enough, but it feels ‘muffled’, it ‘doesn’t breathe’, and the sonic contrasts between its building blocks (Larry Greene’s vocal included) aren’t as intense as they could be. That’s a real shame, because even in 2022 Fortune use a synth sound that’s carved out to be ‘rustling’ in the manner of the ‘rustling’ on the biggest AOR albums of the eighties. It’s as if, after a good thirty years, they’d grabbed hold of exactly the same instruments that had been sitting there the whole time, dusty and cobwebbed, in some old abandoned studio. That shame also hits the very, very well-done ballad Hand In Hand in the second half of the album. It hits Richard Fortune’s excellent soloing too, which isn’t pushed up in the mix the way it should be. When the man ‘blows up’ on moments like the album’s title track, the disappointment over the not-so-great production only grows. The opener Silence of the Heart carries an intro you could swap in for the intro of any track from the first two Asia albums in a heartbeat.
Otherwise, in terms of songwriting and arrangements, or style, Fortune don’t owe anybody a thing. In that respect they hold the quality level of the predecessor “II.” That means ten more-than-successful tracks that bring back days long gone and know how to knock very effectively on the door of many a nostalgic heart that spent its teenage years in the eighties. It makes sense to compare the old Fortune sound with Harlan Cage and 101 South. Then there are also: Aviator, Honeymoon Suite, Boulevard,… In short, welcome to a rerun of the stylistic archaism of eighties AOR. Like I said, the only flaw is the production. And sadly that’s one of the key things that separates an excellent album from a good product. Luckily, “Level Ground” gets pulled upward by the tight, high-quality arrangements of ten very well-cooked tracks that keep up the level of the predecessor “II,” which will be plenty for this band’s devotees. Given that the band is writing their music so well in 2022, it would be really great if they got themselves a proper sound engineer who’d give them the sound that this kind of quality songwriting deserves.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Silence Of The Heart
2. Judgement Day
3. Dangerous Things
4. I Will Hold You Up
5. Riot In The Heartland
6. Orphaned In The Storm
7. I Should Have Known You’d Be Trouble
8. Hand In Hand
9. Level Ground
10. Lunacy Of Love
Lineup:
Larry Greene – vocals
Richard Fortune – guitar, backing vocals, additional keyboards
Bob Emmet – keyboards
Ricky Rat – bass guitar
Mick Fortune – drums
