Fisc ~ Handle With Care (album review) ... Slightly improved more of the same!

Style: hard rock, glam metal
Label: N.E.W. Musidisc
Year: 1988
Home: France
 
Members:Jimmy Martin ~ vocals
Alain Aime, Jean-Michel Mauffray ~ guitars
Dominique Henry ~ drums
Pierre Bechet ~ bass

Additional: Scott Gorham ~ keyboards
Dave McClain, Greg Youtsey, Mike Thomas, Scott Gorham ~ b. vocals

Sometimes a band strikes me as, honestly, not very good. Strange as it may seem, this actually sometimes drives me to seek out more of their music. Maybe I want to know if they are really bad, or maybe I want to know if I just heard a band album or bad line-up, or maybe they are huge & I want to figure out why I'm totally missing what the hype is all about, or maybe I just want to verify my instincts. Sometimes I find my first impressions are wrong, & I just was missing the good stuff. Sometimes I realize I'm not a fan of a band, but I've done my leg work & can justify with a list of valid reasons why I don't like them or may just like a few hits. Sometimes I still don't get it & just figure fans must be wrong, or just like the band because its their fave or sounds like something they like. I'll even accept the criticism that I'm overly critical of some music, but when there's so much amazing music out there why settle for anything but the best & why call someone the best when they really aren't? If you have a choice between Lil Wayne's guitar playing vs Steve Howe, or Nick Cave's lyrics vs Rok's of Sadistik Exekution (known for singing the word "fukk" over & over & over in every song), I don't think I'm being overly critical by saying music doesn't have to be dumb to rock nor do we have to say Rok is the next Jim Morrison or Lil Wayne the next Joe Satriani. Let's be honest. We're not doing each other any favors by declaring non-sense. So, all that being said, I turn to Fisc's 4th & final album Handle With Care. I've previously reviewed their 3rd album Too Hot For Love. My summary was they were the kings of imitation, to the point where zero personality of their own comes through. They were so much imitation that it just made me sad, particularly as it cast a shadow over anything good they had to offer. I did mention how their frontman had a baritone versus the expected tenor, which helped differentiate them a little. So, I decided to give them another listen coming across this album. They're so bad, I couldn't resist & was I right or wrong? Here the singer taps into more of his higher range & the songs aren't all fast rockers. They are slowed down & stripped back for a more creative output. There is also a great instrumental showing off the bassist & guitarist in "Got To Beat The Clock." I would like to hear more of this one. Overall, this is the better of the two albums & the one I would recommend listening to. By far. But, its still so incredibly imitative outside of a few moments, that it fails in all the same way. It even opens the same with a soft guitar before going into some power chords. Not good & its sets up the album poorly essentially telling the listener that they've heard this before. This album sounds a lot like the Scorpions. There's even the compressed clipped drums on "Let Met Leave" that the Scorpions are known for. The other album was not so Scorpions, so Fisc have shown us they are good imitator. I recommend "Hold Your Head Up" & the instrumental as all you'll need to hear. I realized listening to this but a day after the other album I couldn't remember at all what the earlier album sounded like, which is not a good sign. Bands kept coming to mind who they sound like. Very sad state of affairs. So bland. Its no wonder their time came when it did after nearly a decade in existence. If as far as they got is a lackluster being everyone else with no personality of their own, its shocking they lasted this long. The changed line-ups likely kept things moving. Coming back to the instrumental "Got To Beat The Clock" ... I feel like they could have done a great powerhouse guitar album with only half the songs as vocals & maybe gone farther in their career. This one song has more personality than both albums combined. They've got the skills, no doubt, but just a huge damper on their creativity. Imitation is great, but you have to make it your own. These guys spent too long imitating & for one moment let their creativity fly. Too little too late.

Fisc ~ Too Hot For Love (album review) ... Out of France comes the same old song & dance!

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.