When I was 15 years old
my brother took me to see Toto. It was the Isolation tour and the singer
just happened to be Fergie Frederiksen. I hadn’t stayed up on what happened to
Frederiksen after his stint in Toto, but a few of the songs on that CD are
still some of my favorites.
I was curious as to what
Frederiksen had been up to so I did a few Google searches. It seems that
Frederiksen has had a few ups and downs since his Toto days. He even retired
for a while to run a restaurant with his father, but quickly realized there was
no life for him without music.
I was saddened to learn
that he had been diagnosed with an inoperable cancer earlier this year. It
turns out, to the surprise of his doctors he is now almost cancer free. This is
the backdrop for Happiness Is The Road. This is an album that is steeped
in emotion. Happiness is the Road is just about enjoying being alive,
enjoying the journey without worrying about the destination too much.
There are some great
musicians on this album: Dennis Ward (Bass Guitar, Guitars, Keyboards,
Background Vocals and Producer), Dirk Bruinenberg (Drums), Nathan Eshman
(Guitars) and Eric Ragno (Keyboards).
“Angel (Mirror to your
Soul)” is a nice way to start this album. It’s has a really catchy chorus and
it rocks pretty good. The sound reminds me of Asia or Survivor. “Follow Your
Heart” seems to be the show piece of the album. It has great lyrics and
Frederiksen knows just how squeeze every last drop of emotion out of the
vocals. It starts quiet with just piano and vocals and then builds into nice
power ballad.
The catchy keyboards and
guitars in “Lyin Eyes” remind me of a cross between The Cars and Journey.
“Writing On The Wall” has a nice instrumental break at the end that reminds me
of Toto quite a bit.
My favorite track on Happiness
is the Road is “The One”. It starts out with just keyboard and then the
other instruments come in in-between the rest to accent the beat. The guitar
starts to play a muted lick that reminds me of the guitar part during the
verses of Toto’s “Hold the Line”. “The One” is a very catchy song. There is a
nice guitar solo doubled by the bass in parts and all the keyboards create a
nice ambience for the song.
The album ends strong
with a song in a similar style to the previous one. “The Savior,” has a
keyboard part that is ridiculously catchy. It’s so happy it could put an ogre
into a good mood. The call and answer solos between the guitar and keyboard
keep up the quick momentum of the song. The song ends with Frederiksen singing,
“No need to worry, I will stay around whenever you need.” It is all the
reassurance I need to know that he’s gonna stick around and rock us for many years
to come.
I really enjoyed
listening to Happiness Is The Road. I secretly hoped there would be some
members from Toto playing on it. But the same pleasure centers in my brain were
satisfied by the talented musicians that did play on this CD. If you liked
Toto, Asia, Survivor, Kansas or Journey you will like this album.
4/5 Stars
Key Tracks: Follow
Your Heart, The One, The Savior
Kirk Bullough
Tracks:
1 Angel (Mirror To Your Soul)
2 Elaine
3 First To Cry
4 Follow Your Heart
5 Happiness Is The Road
6 I Still Believe In Love
7 Lyin' Eyes
8 Love Waits For No One
9 Writing On The Wall
10 The Future Ain't What It Used
To Be
11 The One
12 The Savior
|
Artists: Fergie
Frederiksen
Title: Happiness
Is the Road
Genre: AOR
Label: Frontier
Records
Website: http://fergiefrederiksen.com
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