AOR cult heroes Fortune are back with their third album, ‘Level Ground’, which is out via Frontiers Music Srl on 8th April. The title track is available from today as its first single and video.
Following the warm critical and public reaction to their 2019 comeback album, ‘II’, which broke a 34 year release hiatus, plus 2020’s ‘The Gun’s Still Smokin” live document, the band’s energy and creativity has been ramped up for them to create this brand new melodic rock gem.
After decades of silence, the first Fortune reunion proper took place in 2016 when the band performed at the Rockingham festival in Nottingham, which was then repeated the following year due to public demand. Those appearances led to discussions with Frontiers about a new studio album, which in turn led to ‘II’. They subsequently played at the annual Frontiers Rock Festival in Milan, which was released as ‘The Gun’s Still Smokin”. With enthusiasm and creativity running high, they next set out to work on music for what has become ‘Level Ground’. This latest entry in their discography easily maintains the Fortune tradition of delivering high quality melodic rock/AOR.
The seeds of Fortune were planted by brothers Richard and Mick Fortune, who came from a family of professional musicians. Their mother was a singer and their father a singer/bassist. Richard began playing guitar when he was 16 and went on to tour with Buddy Miles, Booker T. and Spirit, while Mick started out as an accordion, keyboard and trombone player before switching to drums. The brothers cut an album entitled ‘Fortune’ for Warners in 1978, but by 1982 had totally revamped and rebooted the group from scratch with a key acquisition being the recruitment of Roger Scott Craig. A classically trained pianist, the Irish born keyboard player had enjoyed a successful stint with the Scouse pop group Liverpool Express in the ’70s. With a line-up rounded out by Larry ‘L.A.’ Greene (also of Top Gun soundtrack fame) on vocals and bassist Bob Birch (Detroit studio work, plus Elton John), Fortune finally released their self-titled debut album in 1985 to great acclaim, especially in Japan and Europe.
Released via Camel/MCA Records (who had also launched Night Ranger and Giuffria on the path to stardom), ‘Fortune’ remains highly regarded by AOR fans, with many deeming it the best ever album in the genre. It has most certainly aged like a fine wine.
new album
out 08.04.22
(Frontiers)
pre-order link
orcd.co/levelground
includes the single
LEVEL GROUND
TRACKLISTING
1 Silence Of The Heart
2 Judgement Day
3 Dangerous Things
4 I Will Hold You Up
5 Riot In The Heartland
6 Orphaned In The Storm
7 I Should Have Known You’d Be Trouble
8 Hand In Hand
9 Level Ground
10 Lunacy Of Love
FORTUNE
Richard Fortune – lead guitar, vocals, additional keyboards
Larry Greene – lead vocals, guitar
Mick Fortune – drums
Ricky Rat – bass, vocals
Bob Emmett – keyboards*
*Steve Porcaro – piano, keyboards on ‘I Will Hold You Up’
