I admit, I had never heard from the band 'Fortune' until this live 'The Gun's Still Smokin' Live' released in August 2020 which made me want to listen to the previous albums, admittedly few. because the Americans released a single album in the 80s, 'Fortune' and they reunited again in 2016 with a new album 'II' in 2019. In a melodic rock style inherited from the 80s, they offer us a short 50-minute concert with compositions all accessible at first listening and which mixes the two eras.
'Thrill Of It All' opens the album with a first melody which is embedded directly in your head and which takes us back a few decades with groups like 'Asia' or 'Foreigner' and the sounds remind me the Canadians of 'Saga' (certainly because of a huge bass and keyboard sounds) with the difference that these latter brought a progressive component which is absolutely not present in titles of 'Fortune', and this impression is repeated quite often throughout the opus. Follows the mid-tempo 'Don't Say You Love Me' in which 'Richard Fortune' shows off his guitar skills, then 'Bad Blood' continues in that 80s vibe with a bass that makes your whole body vibrate and vintages keyboards in the foreground and 'What A Fool I've Been' is not to be outdone with its 'Supertamp' piano and heady melodic lines. With these few words from 'Larry Green' ('The Song I sung many years ago'), we go back to the 1986 film 'Top Gun' with 'Through The Fire', but brought up to date, with a much more powerful and more modern sound, then 'Deep in The Heart of a heart' and 'The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter' ('Lonely Hunter' from 1986 revisited) send us back to the same era with two heady new melodies. With 'Shelter of The Night', its energetic introduction still makes me think of 'Saga' and its tempo which accelerates brings a classic chorus but so effective that give this impression of having always been part of our life, then, 'Dearborn Station' continues in this atmosphere, giving me this blissful feeling of nostalgia, the album ending with a catchy 'Freedom Road' in which we all want to resume with 'Larry Green' the chorus in choirs
In summary, the Americans of 'Fortune' release a live that reminds the concerts of the 80s where everything comes together to have a good time listening to these timeless songs with melodies that we appropriate immediately and 'The Gun's Still Smokin' Live' is therefore recommended to an audience loving the golden age of melodic rock... | |
