Houston - Relaunch III - 2023 gdmonline.info

Here is the third installment of the Relaunch series from everyone’s favourite Swedish AORsters: Houston.

Written by: gdmonline

ARTIST: Houston
ALBUM: Relaunch III
LABEL: Frontier SRL
SERIAL: FRCD 1340
YEAR: 2023
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Sweden

LINEUP: Hank Erix – lead vocals * Carl Hammar – guitar * Richard Hamilton – keyboards * Niels Walter – bass * Erik Modin – drums * Michael Palace – guitars, backing vocals (1 and 6)

TRACK LISTING: 01 Live Forever * 02 Slipping Away (Marc Jordan) * 03 Power Over Me (Atlantic) * 04 Heart Of Stone (Blackjack) * 05 She Don’t (Come Around Anymore) (David Pack) * 06 Do You Believe * 07 She’s Out With A Gun (Van Zant) * 08 Modern Day Delilah (Van Stephenson) * 09 Sound Of A Breaking Heart (Prophet) * 10 Outrageous (Franke And The Knockouts) * 11 Running Back (Urgent) * 12 Live Forever (80’s remix) * 13 Do You Believe (80’s remix)

RATING: 90/100

WEBLINKS: FB Page

Table of Contents

Background

Here is the third installment of the Relaunch series from everyone’s favourite Swedish AORsters: Houston. The band have been regularly featured here over the last decade. They’ve mixed their output between regular albums and the Relaunch series which includes mostly cover tracks. That is the case here, with a handful of well known covers mixed in with originals. Of the thirteen tracks, nine are covers, two are new, plus there are two 80’s remixes of those new ones. Let’s break them down..

The Songs

As for the selection of covers, Hank and the lads have faithfully recorded some well known tracks, all without making it too much of a doppelganger re-creation. Of these, the standouts for me include ‘Power Over Me’, ‘Outrageous’ and ‘She’s Out With A Gun’. Of course the originals are sourced from Atlantic, Franke And The Knockouts and Van Zant.

The two new tracks are ‘Live Forever’ and ‘Do You Believe’. Michael Palace contributes guitars and backing vocals on both of those. Both are typical of Houston’s breezy style of AOR. The latter track could be a Swedish version of Estonian band First Night. Two tracks I was less familiar with were ‘Slipping Away’ (originally from Marc Jordan) and ‘Heart Of Stone’ (by Blackjack). Initially, I thought this might have been the Shadowing track but not to be.

In Summary

It’s always a good occasion to listen to a new Houston album, and Hank and the crew deliver once again. The quota and quality of the cover tracks are remarkable. This album along with the ‘Steel Bars’ compilation featuring Michael Bolton tracks from his classic 1983-1991 period are at the top of my current playlist at the moment. You know what to do.