Dante Fox – Breathless
Dante Fox are one of the rare breed of
bands that started in 1989 and haven’t taken a break because….
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.......of melodic rock going tits up
because of grunge overnight
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.......melodic rock has never been a
true money earner
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.......or done a Blues Brothers and ‘get the band back together and reform’ for a quick buck
In fact, they have ploughed along regardless of what’s
going on around them, stuck to the plan of offering up cracking slices of music
without diminishing returns. In fact, when certain bands are happy to turn out
‘average’ to ‘meh’, Dante Fox have been banging out a higher quality with each and
every release.
I must admit that if I were Manford/Willetts,
I’d have probably given up a long time ago, as the money in AOR is four fifths
of fuck all. I guess Dante Fox would love to make a living just out of their
music, but I for one am glad that they continue to put out music for the love
of it. Over the last 15 plus years I’ve watched them (and listened from afar)
grow as a band both musically and in a live setting. In fact, a Dante Fox show
is a definite highlight, and a band not to be missed.
So what about their latest release
‘Breathless’.? Well I’m happy to report that it follows on a great tradition of
cracking Dante Fox albums. Immediately you are hit by the quality of the production.
Not enough is given to great production nowadays, but this screams quality. ‘Young
Hearts’ is as pure AOR as it gets and is an instant memorable track after just
the one listen and is destined to be on many a playlist. ‘All Eyes On You’ see
follows the DF playbook, and solid riffage from Manford with a great bridge and
chorus. Willetts had a marmite voice for me a few years back (only because high
vocals play havoc with my tinnitus!), but on ‘Breathless’ she sounds fantastic.
‘Breathless’ has Manford digging into his ‘Best 1980s Hair Metal Riffs’ book
and knock it out of the park. If anything the verse doesn’t quite match the
riff, until we get to the chorus that is, and when they both entwine the result
is superb. ‘Break These Chains’ sees Dante
Fox delve into ‘soft rock’ mode before kicking loose with yet another powerful
chorus. ‘Broken Hearted Man’ has ballad running through it like a stick of
Blackpool rock, and is also given the acoustic treatment as a bonus. ‘I Cant
Stop Tonight’s ‘ Manford riff comes straight out of the blues rock FM/Thunder
school of music, and is a class act indeed.
‘Dynamite’ just slayed me. The riff is
reminiscent of all you/me/we loved about some of the best songs of the 80s.
It’s a AOR-sters catnip. Willetts bridge
and chorus just complement the riff perfectly. If it were Pat Benatar, we’d be
waxing lyrical. After a couple of listens, its straight onto my playlist. ‘Love
Affair’ is a full on No Limits Powerplay (anyone?), a huge number that’s a live
certainty. ‘How Will You Know’ starts off with Birmingham’s version of a
Nightwish/ Evanescence track, and has a massive opening salvo.
In a World where a lot of the melodic rock
roster are on a certain European label, its great that Georg Siegl and his AOR
Heaven label are a major exponent of offering up shit hot quality AOR (that’s
‘shit hot’ – punctuation is everything!). Not all the good stuff is over in
Italy, in fact Dante Fox match up to or are as good, if not better than any
melodic rock act plying their trade in the 21st century.
If Dante Fox were a product it would be
‘Ronseal’ because the album does exactly what it says on the tin, I defy you to
listen to this and not be…….. ‘Breathless’.
PS If you’re gonna buy one album in August,
I cant recommend this one highly enough. Out 26th August – go one,
treat yourself!
Score 88/100
Tracklisting -
Young Hearts
All Eyes On You
Breathless
Break These Chains
Broken Hearted Man
I Can’t Stop Tonight
Dynamite
Love Affair
How Will You Know
Creeps Into My Mind
Broken Hearted Man (acoustic)
Dante Fox are
Tim Manford – Guitars
Sue Willetts – Vocals
Andy Perfect – Drums
Alan Mills - Bass
