Stephen
ex-Toto singer and a cancer survivor, Fergie Frederiksen, came back strong to the scene with the help of prominent rhythm section, Dennis Ward on multi-instrumentals and Eric Ragno on keyboards. People used to hear him singing slowtempo tunes back in Toto days and in his previous solo album, 'Equilibrium', but in 'Happiness Is The Road', Fergie explored the hard rock side of himself, cracking up many energetic uplifting songs written by the likes of Jim Peterik and Robert Sall, but also still showing his tender side on ballads.
This is better than I expected but apart from the unquestionably great rhythm supporters, the songs are just magnificent. Take 'Angel' or 'Elaine' which was written by Sall, both are awesome starters in uptempo fashion. 'First To Cry' sounds very familiar and apparently it's the same song that House of Lords used in their latest album. I may prefer Christian's take of the song but the great production on this album makes the song better over HoL's version.
'Follow Your Heart' is a stunning ballad written by Jim Peterik, one of the best tunes here. The title track sounds very Pride of Lions, also another Peterik-penned tune. If you're familiar with David Roberts, he also wrote some westcoast/AOR stuffs here which are pretty good as well. 'Lyin Eyes' was performed by Auras, the Brazilian AOR band, one of my fave. Basically the rest are also great, in fact, I rated this slightly higher than my first impression, racking up a total score of 85% and perhaps the best Frederiksen solo album for me. Fans of himself, Toto, or AOR/MHR in general just can't miss this!