1. Young Hearts
2. All Eyes On You
3. Breathless
4. Break These Chains
5. Broken Hearted Man
6. I Can’t Stop Tonight
7. Dynamite(Your Love Is Like)
8. Love Affair
9. How Will You Know (Where To Find Me)
10. Creeps Into My Mind
11. Broken Hearted Man
Formed in 1989 by SUE WIILETS, DANTE FOX are another of the long list of bands that should have been huge. UNDER SUSPICION and THE FIRE WITHIN especially, can stand toe to toe with anything else released at the same time. Any band that can boast the vocal qualities of SUE WILLETS and the guitars of TIM MANFORD should have a plethora of record awards adorning their walls.
Sadly, the sack of shit that was grunge came along and tone deaf sheep bought it in their droves. Now, thankfully, having gone the way it deserved to go, IT is dead and the real music has survived. Bands such as DANTE FOX, along with many, many more, are still around making great music. Bands like this make their music for the love of it – its just as life should be.
As with all other DANTE FOX releases, the highlight is the vocals. Opener YOUNG HEARTS is a belting way to start any album: coupled with some fantastic guitar work it’s a stunning beginning. ALL EYES ON YOU starts with some more excellant guitar work building up to a great chorus. BREATHLESS has a great guitar opening to it, very reminiscent of a host of 80`s hair metal songs before the tempo drops and the pure silk of the vocals takes over.
Later on BREAK THESE CHAINS starts slowly before the tempo picks up with some truly amazing soaring vocals.
the big one though is BROKEN HEARTED MAN which could well be one of the finest tracks they have ever recorded. It’s a simply stunning ballad of pure class which should have the word HIT all over it. Along with some truly beautiful pianos and acoustic guitars the vocals shine and its worth the price of admission alone.
I CAN`T STOP TONIGHT has some more great guitars from the underrated MANFORD and a fantastic pounding rhythm to it. When an album is this good, it is difficult to pick stand out but in my opinion DYNAMITE is right up there. It may be very 80’s sounding but it has a fantastic riff to it and “classic” written all over it!
OK that was before I heard the next track and changed my mind – A LOVE AFFAIR is a gem, a true slab of 24 carat, 4 minutes and 49 seconds perfection which seems destined to be a live favourite. Simply stunning. It takes something special to stop this sceptical and bitter old man in his tracks and this is it.
More keyboards introduce HOW WILL YOU KNOW(WHERE TO FIND ME) before it changes with an almost EVANESCENCE feel to it. There’s more acoustica with the next track – a short track which sadly never really gets the chance to get going.
An acoustic version of BROKEN HEARTED MAN ends the album properly, though I’d possibly choose the earlier album version over this.
This album oozes class from top to bottom and from every pore. Great production, great musicianship and sensational vocals. SUE WILLETTS is right up there with ANN WILSON, FIONA FLANAGAN and PAT BENATAR and DANTE FOX are up there with the likes of the very best in melodic rock. With stuff like this, they should be even higher.
Not the album of the year but not far off. Not far off at all. A MUST HAVE.
Dante Fox is:
Sue Willetts vocals
Tim Manford guitar
Erik Ragno keyboards
Alan Mills bass
Andy Perfect drums
4.5/5
by Steve Warsap
