Lost/Forgotten Album #328

[Jon]

Have something from 1981 for this week's selection.

It's the debut album from Fortress, Hands In The Till. 

As you can probably tell from the album cover, they're big fans of "Star Wars". There's the yellow lettering and the stars in the background. Plus you can't forget about he hair, especially the guy on the left who looks like he's just waiting for you to say or think the wrong thing so he can kick your ass. All in all, it's absolutely awesome considering the album cover really makes no sense at all.

This is actually a fun listen, not really what I was expecting. The track I picked below I picked is awesome just because it's so frackin' deep, man. Not much was written about the band, but they are from Los Angeles. They also remind me of Axe, but allmusic.com thinks they sound like some other bands. 

Fortress was a Los Angeles-based band that released their debut album, HANDS IN THE TILL, in 1981. Proudly and unabashedly taking cues from Journey, Foreigner, and Rush, the album is 12 stabs at pure AOR glory--the embodiment of everything to which punk was a reaction. However, the album is a winner in its enthusiastic embrace of trite radio rock. Ripe for head-banging sing-alongs, this is the sound of your older brother skipping school and hanging out at the lake.

Hands In The Till

1. Hands in the Till
2. How Do I Exist
3. Comin' After You
4. Requiem
5. Kisses
6. Let's Do It Again
7. Breakin' Free
8. Carry Me Back
9. Back on the Path
10. Mystery

Availability: The Rhino version is less than $5 new, the Rock Candy version is less than $13 new and the Wounded Bird version (featured here) is around $40 (?) new.

[Scott]

Finally something non-Mormon!

[RJhog (Admin)]

So, the review says "12 stabs at pure AOR glory", yet there are only 10 tracks.  Hmmmm...

You are spot on about the guy on the left.  Kinda makes me think of Randall "Tex" Cobb.

Off the bat, it does sound like some good time rock and roll.  I do think, after hearing the first two songs, that the key is just a bit too high for the singer.  He doesn't have a bad voice, but he needs to bring the key down a rung or so. Didn't hear anything Journey"esque" in the first two tracks, maybe a bit in the third track on the chorus.  Requiem is a bit cheesy.  The guitar solos are good. Got a little bit of bass goin' on.  Kisses has a cool start and is a bit more reminiscent of Journey.  I could hear Perry belting out a terrific vocal, much better than the one here (but like I said, the guy isn't bad).  I guess this is the obligatory power ballad.

Side two opens up with some boogie rock.  Not really my style.  Easily the worst song to this point.  Breakin' Free gets it back on track, except for the lame lyrics.  But hey, not everybody writes great lyrics and there are plenty of great songs with lame lyrics, so there is that.  Guitars are really good.  Very enjoyable.  Carry Me Back sounds a bit southern rockish.  The last two tracks are very good closers, though I may have switched the order.  Back On The Path sounds to me like it would have been a fabulous closer.  Mystery reminds me of Blackfoot.

Very good post Jon.  I had never heard of this band that I can remember.  This was a cool listen.

[Scott]

Must say that album is cover is pretty terrible!

80's cliche's abound!  Post-disco production techniques were pretty hollow, this gets the best of that.  How Do I Exist is the awesome track huh?  Love that Peter Criss-esque drum break at the 2:16 mark, hope it gets better, but because I may have just heard the most awesome track on here, my expectations have been lowered...

• Track 3 is not awesomer than the one you picked...
• Track 4 is the exact same awesome level as Track 3 which was, as you may recall, not awesomer than the track you picked
• Track 5 is the required ballad but the awesome level does not surpass that of Track 4 which was at the same awesome level as Track 3 which was not awesomer than the track you picked.  However the geetar work almost made it work.
• Track 6 is the least awesome so far which puts behind Track 5 who was behind Track 4 which is the same awesome level as Track 3 which could not surpass your identified awesome-est track
• Track 7, well this ones same as track 5, which is ahead of 6 but behind 4 which is tied with 3 which is not as awesome as #2

So where is Track 1 in all of this?  I guess it got lost...

• Track 8, not sure where I am on all of this, its clearly not the most awesome and I've lost track of the awesome levels except to know that this is not more awesome than that Criss like drum solo in Track 2 which makes less awesome as the most awesome track in which you identified in your content
• Track 9, well do we have a challenger to Track 2 finally?  Maybe so, this one - while cliche and full of 80's cheese - is better than Track 2, making this the most awesome, and longest, Track on here with one to go...
• Track 10 is at least as awesome as #2 which does not make it the most awesome track it makes it tied for second most awesome...

So in summary...

• 8 and 1 are not awesome at all making 6 the least awesome but 5 and 7 are tied for next most awesome, which couldn't quite get to the level of 4 that was tied with 3 leaving 2 and 10 as the next most awesome tracks,  so were down to one and thats 9 which only slightly surpasses 2 and 10 making it the most awesome track on the album.

[RJhog (Admin)]

That hurt my brain...

[Jon]

It's awesome because of the DEEP lyrical content, dammit!

[Niels (Mod)]

.."Betcha you've never heard that one..." 

How much do you wanna bet, RJ?

I got this for my birthday back in 1981. This one, a "The Fools-album" and another one, I've forgotten about.

Can't tell, if heard it more than 1 time, though, but at the record-store, I liked what I heard, I guess. It wasn't because of the album-cover!!

[RJhog (Admin)]

I don't even remember what I was referring to.

[Niels (Mod)]

"

We've got a great combination of albums for your listening pleasure this week.  We haveSloppy Seconds by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show as the Album of the Week and we have Hands In The Till by Fortress as the Lost/Forgotten Album of the Week. Betcha you've never heard that one...

Yes, we love music here at CRB.  It means a lot to us. We spend around 5-6 minutes every month determining what music we should present on any given week.  So grab yourself a cold beverage and a plate of turkey bread, jam those high dollar earbuds deep into your ears and take a listen. When you're done, let us know how you feel about our featured selections. You could even buy one or both of these albums or another classic album or two, because all of these artists still benefit from your support."