Style: hard rock, glam metal
Label: N.E.W. Musidisc
Year: 1987
Home: France
Members:Jimmy Martin ~ vocals
Alain Aime, Jean-Michel Mauffray ~ guitars
Dominique Henry ~ drums
Pierre Bechet ~ bass
A sexy woman on the cover, in lingerie prowling on a bed covered in red sheets; a memorable band logo; an enticing album title; a few acoustic guitars interrupted by slashing over-driven chords; driving rhythms & big gang vocals; a handful of songs about love, sex & girls, in this case 6 out of 10; a slow power ballad with dreaming lyrics & an emotive guitar solo, i.e. "Waiting For You"; a song about danger ahead in life, meant philosophically & as inspiration to do better, i.e. "Keep Your Eyes Up"; songs about fightin' & pushin' through life's brick walls, i.e. "Keep On Running" & "No Place In Hell"; a song about rockin' out & partyin', i.e. the cliched titled "Rock The Night Away"; a song with a girl's name in it, somewhere some girl knows she is "Angela's Call". If one didn't know better they would say this is another big hair '80's rock band. 1987's Too Hot For Love from France's Fisc is about as cliched '80's glam rock/hair metal as it gets. So cliched I likely could tell someone this is another band & they might believe me. Fisc do have one thing unique in Luxembourg vocalist Jimmy Martin, who would have a solo career after this. He sings in a baritone verging on tenor. He doesn't scream, go into falsetto or try to be Robert Plant. The tenor frontman so dominated the '80's that to hear something else sounds refreshing, though there are actually lots of frontmen who used their lower range. Other than a slight trace of accent in the backing chorus, there's nothing here that would let one know this is not an American band. They have so perfectly copied the American music style ... that its sad. Its sad because there's nothing distinct here. They've wiped not just any accent, but any personality. If I was in a band I don't know if I'd want to duplicate what I heard everyone else doing. I think I'd want to express myself & I know the music in my head isn't a paint-by-numbers situation that sounds like everyone else. Actually, its a cornucopia of jazz, prog rock, heavy metal, world beat & I'd want to tap into all of them to let my personality shine. So, I hear a band like this & wonder if they felt their personality was generic? Were they proud of being nothing more than imitators? Or, did they just wanted to be popular & thus felt the only way was to sound exactly like every other band? That equation forgets the variable that the leaders of the scene didn't sound like everyone else when they debuted & the bands that rose up all had personality. The greatest bands, of any music style, don't throw their personality away but let their unique voices shine, which is how they became the greatest bands of the scene. I'm sad because the imitative quality outshines anything they were trying to do that might be unique. "Pay The Price" has a unique good solo in an otherwise boring song, & kudos for the bassist trying for some punch. This might be the one unique track on thealbum. Bands like this are fun, sometimes awesome discoveries if they have an interesting history outside the music, but in the end they make me philosophize instead of rockin' out. For those that accuse me of a stodgy puritan in my tastes & not knowing good music or knowing how to rock - yes, I have been accused of this - check out the catalogs of the awesome Alice Cooper, the Doors, the Grateful Dead, Nick Cave, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Led Zeppelin & tons of other bands who I love & are all considered rockin' bands to see there's more to write about than late wild night parties. I'm not a puritan. I just like something more interesting, & Kiss already did the rock party songs better than anyone & I love Kiss. Don't be Kiss. Be yourself. Fisc was formed in 1981 & went through numerous line-ups, including different vocalists. They released 4 full length albums, some singles & EP's, & eventually split up. If have no clue if this is representative of their sound or if they ever found themselves musically.
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