Review by Paul Sabin for MPM
Ahead of their fourth originals studio album, Los Angeles based Retro Rock/Pop band, Fire Tiger have released a ten track covers album.
The tracks contained within transport the listener back to the Eighties and takes us on a whistlestop tour of what rocked back then whilst adding their own bit of magic to the songs.
Kicking off with the song that brought Swedish rockers, Europe into the mainstream. We are of course talking about `The Final Countdown’. Tiff Alkouri’s voice does a fine job here and the song itself gets a few more whammy bar tricks and keyboard effects added to keep it fresh.
Moving into the realms of hit films of the decade, the band launch a superb aerial assault on Kenny Loggins `Danger Zone’ taken from the Top Gun movie. The soaring vocals and ripping guitar solos found here still give me the chills of excitement that the original did.
Keeping with hit movie themes, we don our leg warmers and rock out with the ever infectious `Maniac’ by Michael Sembello, lifted from the Flashdance soundtrack.
The guitar chugs a little more than on the original which helps make an already good track sound stunning. Maybe an unusual choice but Limahl’s `Never Ending Story’ gets the Fire Tiger treatment and highlights Alkouri’s sweet but powerful voice and shows the versatility of the band as this song hits pop territory.
Baltimora’s `Tarzan Boy’ replete with its “Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh” cheesy singalong is up next before the surprisingly beautiful `Theme From Beverly Hills 90210’ kicks in. Gentle piano and guitars bond this short but sweet rack together.
On the face of it The Ramones 1976, `Blitzkrieg Pop’ sits outside of the original Eighties era of music but was, of course used in the soundtrack to the iconic `National Lampoons Vacation and Fire Tiger make a valiant effort at getting their punk edge on here.
The Dead Boys `Ain’t It Fun’ gets a real makeover and comes out sounding more positive, vibrant and exciting than the slightly depressive original whilst retaining all its attitude.
Taking a more country-based approach comes Miley Cyrus `Slide Away’. Once more Alkouri’s voice lends itself brilliantly to this track.
We bring the album to a close with one of the most haunting and iconic songs ever written. Coldplay’s `Yellow’ oozes energy here in a way that isn’t evident with Chris Martin and the boy’s version.
This is a very slick and easy to listen to album. What Tiff Alkouri, James Ramsey, Jordan Lucas, Tyler Renga and Lorenzo Maynardi have achieved here shows that as a band they are truly flexible and can inject their own spin into almost anything. It also highlights just how good their own original songs and that is where they really sparkle.
If you’ve not heard Fire Tiger’s previous releases, then you have missed out on a band that deserves to become huge. So, here’s to the next album and hopefully some worldwide live shows!!
8/10
Album Out Today – https://linktr.ee/FireTigerBand –
