Smoothly polished to a sparkling glow. American? They're not American!
(I wanted to give it 5 cookies, really, but come on! An AOR album with not one single ballad? I HAD to subtract half a cookie. Sorry guys!)
Artiste: Houston
Nationality: Swedish
Album: Houston
Year: 2010
Label: Rocket Songs
Genre: AOR
Tracks:
Pride
Truth slips
Hold on
I'm alive
One chance
Give me back my heart
Misery
She's a mystery
Now
1000 songs
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting factoid: Although named after an American city, these guys hail from Sweden.
Initial impression: Very slick, very professional, and very American sounding. I like!
Best track(s): Pride, Truth slips, Hold on, give me back my heart, 1000 songs
Worst track(s): None
Comments: Well, you certainly wouldn't know it from listening to them, but Houston come from Sweden, not the US. Confusing, eh? The lead singer has obviously spent a lot of time listening to the likes of Steve Perry, Joey Tempest and John Parr, and has honed his sound to mirror that of the major American AOR vocalists, which is certainly not a bad thing. For a debut album this is nothing short of damn impressive, and certainly worthy of all the praise that was lavished on it by critics upon its release. Hooky melodies, strong vocals, great guitar solos placed at just the right place and time, and of course banks of bubbly keyboards help to make this one of the standout AOR albums I've listened to this year, and I'd put it on a par with Millenium's “Angelfire” and Fergie Frederiksen's “Happiness is the road” as one of my top ten AOR discs so far.
There are the usual influences and sounds of course --- Journey, Toto, Foreigner, elements of Asia, bit of Boston --- but Houston have managed to incorporate these styles into their music without becoming a clone of any of these bands, or even a hybrid of some or all. Nice touch is the female vocals, which come in on second track
Truths slips, and are supplied by Helena Alsterhed, and a powerful voice she has too, just this side of Nancy Wilson. The real standout though comes in the “I remember this from the 80s!” bombast of
Hold on, which evokes everything good about AOR music from that era, with big, punchy keyboards and heavy guitars, a passionate vocal and a hook you could hang your coat on! It was also the first single to be taken from the album: good choice, say I.
Wonderful harmony vocals and tinkling digital piano on
One chance, a slower song, almost a power ballad, with grinding guitars and indeed a beat
very reminscent of Survivor's mega-smash hit, with some chunky keyboard fills, then we ramp back up slightly for
Give me back my heart, but my only real criticism so far is that since the second track we haven't heard Helena's dulcet tones again, so it looks like she's being criminally underused here. Though of course she may be a session muso, or a guest: information on Houston is not that easy to find.
There's definitely more than a smattering of Rainbow's
All night long guitar riff in
Misery, then they borrow a title and a keyboard riff from Bon Jovi, on
She's a mystery, evoking memories of
Runaway, the vocals interestingly mechanised, almost, but still no sign of Helena, a real pity. The album finishes strongly with
1000 songs, a good uptempo commercial potential radio hit. I am a little surprised that Houston didn't see fit to include any ballads at all on this album, but perhaps that's a measure of their confidence in their music, which is certainly justified.
Damn fine album, and a great first effort.
Overall impression: If you're an AOR fan, why haven't you got this? Oh, you never heard of them, did you not? Well, now you know about them, so go buy it!
Intention: Well, I can't really do much as this is their debut, but hopefully with two years almost now passed they'll be releasing a second album, and I'll certainly be having a listen to that.