|
House Of Shakira
started out way back in 1989 as The Station. They got their
first record deal in 1992, but the planned album got shelved when
the company went broke. The band re-named themselves House Of
Shakira -after an Arabian brothel- and since then have recorded
a handful of highly regarded albums. The band recently signed to
Lion Music, and after releasing their fourth album “First Class”,
the Finnish record company now makes their debut album, “Lint”
(1997), available again, adding two bonus tracks, but sadly omitting
the Journey cover “Stone In Love”, which was on the original
Japanese release.
Journey
is also the name I’m thinking of most when listening to this album,
with Tyketto as a close second. If you’re into this kind of
bands, I’m sure you will love House Of Shakira. Vocals are
always very important in this style, and the lead vocals here are
outstanding (being somewhat reminiscent of Steve Perry and
Styx’s
Tommy Shaw), as are the harmonies. In this style of music, it is
very difficult to come up with something original, but House Of
Shakira still manages to do just that.
The song writing is very good, without any doubt, but what really
makes this album stand out is the African theme running through it.
Co-writer and ex-singer
Mikael Eriksson
lived in Africa for a number of years and that background is used
effectively: the Arabian chant that introduces “Morning over
Morocco”, the African lyrics and singing in some tracks, those
delicate touches here and there,… Not that it is very prominent, but
it does make for some very interesting parts and sounds and it works
surprisingly well.
There’s lots of variation in the songs, from powerful rockers like
“Elephant Gun” and Journey-like AOR tunes (“Love Was Good”,
“Who’s Lying Now”) to excellent ballads (“Remember” is absolutely
terrific). The unplugged “Everything’s Fine” reminds me of
Extreme’s “More Than Words”, but stands out through the use of a
cello, which again takes on that African flavour further on in the
song.
As for the bonus tracks, “On The Green” is nothing special. The
fantastic “Heroes”, on the other hand, features an interesting take
on Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” and is definitely a
worthy addition to the already excellent original album. |
