Glowing Review
Now I have to start by saying that Fair Warning are one of those bands
who have passed me by over the years, (mainly due to Grunge as I
stopped listening to the music I loved became underground music ), with
only one dalliance in my rock listening past, and that was 1997’s
’Go!’. I’m coming at this with a relatively fresh pair of ears and
Fair Warning being an almost new band to me.
So, Fair Warning were founded from the ashes of Zeno (Bassist Ule
Ritgen played on their first two albums) and V2 (who gave them singer
Tommy Heart in ’91). Fair Warning debuted their self-entitled album
back in 1992. The line up is completed by guitar players Helge Engelke
and Andy Malacek, and drummer C.C.Behrens. Fair Warning turned to the
Far East in the 90’s for its support and inspiration due to the above
mentioned grunge scene, with their second release ‘Rainmaker’ selling
something like 150,000 copies in Japan alone. Trouble lay ahead, with
FW breaking up in 2000. Time is a great healer and they reformed in
2006 and ‘Aura’ is their third release under their second life
performing now as a four piece (Heart / Engelke / Ritgen / Behrens)
Tell you what…Fair Warning are good! Strike that, they are effing
superb. I’m guessing this as I have only heard one album of theirs,
but I feel comfortable in saying this has to be their best album. How
I can say that when I havent heard 5 out of their 7 studio releases.
All I know is that ’Aura’ is a dogs bollox piece of work - highly
polished sound, chock full of soaring melody, instantly hummable
choruses, all with an underlying pulsating rhythm supplied by Ritgen
and Behrens.
Opener ‘Fighting For Your Love‘ is a good enough opener but its ‘Here
Comes The Heartache‘ angling along to hook you in. The strength
continues and doesn’t let up, the anthemia part acoustic and Queen
influenced ‘Hey Girl‘ likely to be a staple on their live set As I’m
getting older I seem to betting less tolerable when it comes to sugar
coated ballads, but ‘Holding On’ has one of those tattoo needle
choruses - you know, it gets under your skin! ‘Walking On Smiles’ and
’Someday’ are both the best tracks on ‘Aura’, complete with big
melodies and big sing-a-long choruses
My first proper ’dip’ info Fair Warning has been a profitable one, -
with big songs, bigger melodies, and huge choruses with a top class
production. Very polished. Highly recommended