FORTUNE: Ii (A.O.R.): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

The Fortune brothers created the group of the same name in 1978. A first eponymous album was released the same year. The band then changed its name in 1982 with the arrival of Roger Scott Craig (keyboards) and Larry Greene (vocals) - they then made the hapyness of Harlan Cage and 101 South - and released a second eponymous album (original idea) in 1985. Today it is considered, rightly or wrongly, as the best AOR album of all time.
Strangely enough, 21 years of silence followed. Relaunched in 2006 by the aforementioned brothers accompanied by Sieur Greene, Fortune did not really reappear until 2016 and this on stage because there was still no new opus. In other words, the "II", whose release we will discuss here, is to be classified as a musical event.

Third work in forty-one years, some of you are already suffocating a few yawns, or even preparing to turn off the light by recommending that the old Americans presented here remain retired and return to hibernate. However, allow us a word of advice, stay awake AOR enthusiasts, you still have a few lines to go, and they could shake your unshakeable certainties.

Indeed, beyond the fact that fans of Fortune and the very classy and little known Harlan Cage will find their hapyness in this production, we can only appreciate the compositions developed here if we appreciate the calm side of melodic hard rock. Because it is clear that your neighbour upstairs will not likely to smash his broomstick by exploding his parquet floor, horrified that he would be by the destruction of his sonotone due, even at high volume, to your listening to the ten tracks of this II.

In fact, Fortune has not changed. Greene's voice is still as recognizable as ever, the vocalist carries around as he did decades ago, his vocal melancholy at the heart of all the songs he performs. As for the compositions, they are only tamed as they are listened to, which is rare in the musical genre here declined. Even the logo and artwork have managed to stand the test of time.

But the old pot is still cooking some good soup. Several titles will convince you of this, such as "Shelter Of The Night" and "Freedom Road", which you would think comes from an Harlan Cage opus, "Overload" which brings back to Survivor, the very beautiful ballad in honour of Amy Winehouse "A Little Of Poison" and "Heart Of Stone", her little sister who would make a Taliban cry. However, a few shots of less good at the end of the album parasitize this beautiful ensemble like the uninspired "The Night" and "All Right Moves".

However, nothing really spoils the pleasure we have in finding old friends who have disapeared. Thus, this "II" deserves a trip for hard-core music lovers who appreciate the less virulent compositions of melodic hard rock. For those who prefer rougher sounds, finding an interest in this opus could be more complicated. However, Fortune does not cheat on the merchandise, there is no question here of deceiving his world by suggesting that the years that have passed have changed the formation. The group is indeed reproducing here what it proposed to us a few decades ago. It remains to be seen whether this immutability will pay off and offer a future for this revival.

- Official website

FORTUNE

II

FRONTIERS RECORDS

A.O.R.