DANTE FOX – Six String Revolver (Album Review)

Shropshire’s finest Dante Fox follow up their stunning 2016 album Breathless with a re-recording of ten favorite tracks taken from the UK band’s first two releases.

Entitled Six String Revolver the tracks come from Under Suspicion (1996) and The Fire Within (1999) with five songs being taken from each.

Six String Revolver is released on AOR Heaven on November 24, 2017, and does indeed deliver AOR heaven, in spades.

The band, as always, are driven by Sue Willetts-Manford’s utterly superb vocals and Tim Manford’s accomplished guitar work which complements the vocals so well.

Throughout the album, you can feel the maturity come through in Willetts-Manford’s voice. It seems to take less effort these days to get better results than on the originals. There is less vibrato at lower volume than back in the 1990’s and to me, the songs are better for it. This makes me sound like I didn’t like her vocals back in the day but you couldn’t be more wrong, her singing has been nothing short of spectacular since it all began.

Generally, there are very few big differences in the songs, such as turning rockers into ballads or vice versa. The rule that the band appears to follow for Six String Revolver is don’t mess with the song for the sake of it; make changes if it leads to improvement but never at any other time. And I tell you something: they’ve done a top job of it.

The odd tweak with intros or solos are all that is obvious along with, of course, better production with Sue’s vocals displaying more power and coming much more to the fore.

Six String Revolver is jam-packed with AOR delights from the 1990’s Dante Fox canon, such as the opener “Firing My Heart” which sets up the album superbly with the spine-tingling combo of vocals and guitar I love so much. For a bit of variety “Remember My Name” (“Remember” as was) delivers. Sue Willetts-Manford gives it her best Ann Wilson on what could well be a Heart track that explodes late on with power and passion.

One of the biggest makeovers comes on “I Can’t Sleep” which now has a crunchy riff of an opening, more forceful vocals, and a generally upscaled rock feel. A definite improvement of an already quality track.

Other favorites include “Under The City Lights”, “Lost and Lonely Heart” and “A Matter of Time”.

Six String Revolver is a fine example of what the best AOR should be and although we are already familiar with the tracks, the band has certainly breathed new life into them.

PRE-ORDER: SIX STRING REVOLVER (UK)