Review by Brian McGowan

Many rock magazines would have us believe that last year, with their eponymous debut, Houston single handedly resurrected the AOR genre. Us aficionados already knew that its death had been greatly exaggerated.

Crushed beneath the wheels of the grunge rock juggernaut, it has survived to limp on in the hearts of many, occasionally being revived with style and passion by the comeback of an eighties’ melodic rock giant. Accordingly, Houston tip their hat to a handful of those giants, paying their dues and their respect with ‘Relaunch’, an album primarily of covers.

Dakota, Touch, Airrace, New England and Laura Brannigan were hardly household names, even at the genre’s peak, but their music gained cult status, and was as emblematic of an era as that of the now legendary rock bands of the time, like Toto, Foreigner and Journey.

‘Relaunch’ bursts into life with a sparkling cover of Dakota’s awe inspiring ‘Runaway’, the title track from their equally awe inspiring album of the same name, released in1984. This song is what good AOR is all about - losing the love, the dream and a life just out of reach – and it’s delivered with huge heart and soul.

While cover versions seldom exceed the originals, with Airrace’s ‘Brief Encounter’, Houston get tantalisingly close. Maybe it’s the fact that Laurie Mansworth guests on guitar, but the rush of sensations triggered by the spine tingling axework intro create a satisfying intensity long since forgotten.

Ricky Delin’s assured production helps restore New England’s ‘Don’t Ever Wanna Lose Ya’ to its full Technicolor pomp and glory. The vocal arrangements replicate the original band’s energetic vitality with tight, powerful harmonies on a song where unashamed romanticism and unadorned sentimentality still burn brightly.

Mark Mangold guests on the cover of his band, Touch’s ‘Don’t You Know What Love Is?’ This is a cleverly crafted cover, accessible, compelling and still packing a solid, emotional punch.

Producer and songwriter, Ricky Delin has contributed one new song, ‘Without Your Love’. Given that the previous 5 tracks had been cherry picked from the best of eighties’ AOR, there was a clear danger that this new song would fail to stand up to scrutiny. But it does. It’s a grower, arguably as timeless and as evocative as Houston’s influences, and bringing in Elize (Amaranthe) Ryde to share the vocals, giving the song additional light and shade, was an astute move.

Acoustic versions of two of the debut’s better songs, ‘Truth Slips’ and ‘1000 Songs’ round out this stopgap release, presumably designed to sate appetites while the band work on album number 2.

By choosing less obvious songs to cover, Houston have transported us back into an era many thought had gone forever, lighting the way. Not with lighters swaying in the air, but with a blazing AOR torch.

Roll on that next full album.