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On disc: Fergie Frederiksen



Happiness Is The Road - Claudia Ehrhardt - 8 stars
Any Given Moment - Claudia Ehrhardt - 9 stars


www.fergiefrederiksen.com







Any Given Moment

Any Given Moment
(Frontiers Records - 2013)


Fergie Frederiksen kicks off with Last Battle Of My War, it starts slow and slightly melancholy, but then it becomes an uplifting rocker. But see yourself!



And somehow this song is representing the situation of Fergie Frederiksen, coz he suffers from lung cancer which is inoperable. And so he enjoys any given moment, coz nobody knows how much time he has left. The songs have a light prog-ish sound and a bit bombastic, too. The songs aren't depressive, they show that Fergie Frederiksen hasn't give up. The songs seem to be more personal... A song like Price For Loving You is a classic West Coast melodic rock tune - ennobled with Frederiksen's voice. The slow How Many Roads starts with piano and vocals, and even when the others join in it's still a slow, emotional tune. The title track Any Given Moment is a melancholy tune - with a spark of hope. At Not Alone he got joined by Issa, a beautiful duet. Last, but not least he presents Toto's Angel Don't Cry, a song he wrote and recorded with Toto in the mid-80's.

I really hope that Fergie Frederiksen still has a lot of time, even if we might not hear from him again. Fans of melodic rock / Westcoast rock should get this album, it's fun!


9 stars

Claudia Ehrhardt
 

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Happiness Is The Road

Happiness Is The Road
(Frontiers Records - 2011)


Many will know Fergie Frederiksen from his time fronting Toto, others will know other projects he was involved with e.g. Mecca, LeRoux, Frederiksen / Philips and Frederiksen / Denander. In 1999 he released a solo album called Equilibrium and now he's back with Happiness Is The Road. And so you can expect some great AOR / melodic rock tunes from Mr. Frederiksen.

The opener is called Angel (Mirror To Your Soul), it's a balladesque rocker with a slight pop appeal and big backing vocals. An ear catcher to start with. The keyboard-laden rocker Elaine is taking you back to the heydays of arena rock. The emotional tune is hooking you up right away, it's passionate up-tempo rocker. Fergie Frederiksen wrote and recorded the album while fighting liver cancer and this makes the album strong. With Denis Ward he was joined by a great musician and sensitive producer. Dennis Ward played bass, guitar, keyboards and did backing vocals - and produced. The duo was joined by drummer Dirk Bruinenberg, guitarist Nathan Eshman and keyboarder Eric Ragno for the recordings. First To Cry you'll also find on the latest House Of Lords album and it was one of my favorites on Big Money, but now I have to say I prefer Mr. Frederiksen's version. With Follow Your Heart he offers a touching keyboard-based balladesque tune and it's the reduction to the basics which makes this one a highlight. Depending on you mood you might fall for the title track Happiness Is The Road one day and another day it's I Still Believe In Love, one of the ballads. A real rocker is Writing On The Wall, a guitar-driven tune which will make you move and sing along. Another one of my favorites is The One, a powerful, emotional tune with an 80's edge.

Fans of AOR and melodic rock should check out Happiness Is The Road! A bit too late to be the sound track of the summer, but another summer is ahead of us. ;)


8 stars

Claudia Ehrhardt
 

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