Review Roulette - Better Late Than Never 2011

Formed in 1985, released the single Fool For Your Love in 1988, changed their name to Cherry Red in 1990 had a good record deal and had started recording an album, but things changed in the label and all of a sudden the only thing Cherry Red managed was a single, just like Roulette. In 2008 a small British label called AOR FM found the music of Roulette and complied it into the album Better Late Than Never. The band themselves have long since stopped making their own music and started playing Def Leppard covers which is something they, according to the information I have, still do today.

2011, this album will be re-released by Yesterrock on popular demand as the one released in 2008 was strictly limited and sold out quite fast, therefore it is now through Yesterrock available again with two bonus tracks.

The band from Sundsvall in Sweden plays AOR music or melodic rock depending on how you want to look at things. This is a genre where there were lots of bands in Sweden during this time period and for you who are familiar with the Swedish AOR/Melodic rock, you will be able to guess quite well how this band sounds. The focus is on the melodies which is in part accomplished by a big presence of keyboards and in part accomplished with the very melodic choruses that seem tailored to try and find their way into the mind of the listener as soon as possible.

So, was this music worth being put together into an album and released for the public? An answer to such a question is never easy but it seems like the band never got a break and a chance to have their albums sold to people so why not give it a shot, guess we can say better late than never; the music they do belongs in what is probably the best musical genre out there.

This album however, does start with a song called Only the Strong which is a rather decent track and an indication as to the sound and the style we will hear on this album whenever we play it. But the track is not that interesting in the end, I think it is mainly thanks to the singer, he just cannot carry the song as a more traditional AOR-singer would have been able to. I do think this opener is one of the worst tracks on the album to be honest. To be honest again however, I do think that this album has a bit of a problem because their music is a little too similar to much other in the genre, you have to be really special to stand out and I am not that sure if Roulette are that special.

There are as I see them three problems with this album, the first we have already written about: the singer, then we have the problem with the sound: it sounds a bit too much like everything else in the genre and finally we have the problem with the fact that it takes a little over an hour to play through this album and as it is not a particularly diverse album it is a bit long.

The single from 1988 is probably my favourite track on this album but I think in general that the songs are a bit too similar and that of course works out as a negative. It feels like this band has a good sense of their melodies and their sound is really nice with a great keyboard fell along with the rockin’ guitars and vocals, it an album that does not disappoint but at the same time it does not overwhelm either, it is an album that parks firmly in the middle of things.

I do believe that the band deserved a chance, just listen to their music and judge for yourself, I think they had a lot of potential in their time, it is hard to say what would have become had the band not stopped in favour of playing covers of Def Leppard. Maybe we can say better late than never about this album, it is a solid and well made as well as good album these guys (whoever they are) have been able to piece together.

If you are into AOR and you are collecting music from this genre, then you should not miss this album, it is good but not fantastic.

HHHHHHH

Roulette Better Late Than Never

Roulette
Better Late Than Never