FAN FICTION is a Los Angeles, California duo bringing back the melodies from the early ’80s on their debut album “Anticipated Hits“.
They also have a strong sense of humor: they use fictional names; ‘Marc Samson’ (real name Mike G) is on lead vocals & drums, and ‘Jeff Honeycutt’ (real name Tyler Cash) on keys, synths & bass. They say ”Anticipated Hits” is the highly influential debut album from the most respected group in Prism City: Fan Fiction, a band managed by ‘Father Three’.
What it isn’t a joke at all is FAN FICTION impressive musicianship and ability to recreate the AOR / Westcoast sound of 1980-82. “Anticipated Hits” take the best of Airplay, Player, i-Ten, Franke & The Knockouts and add an air of the current sound from the genre – read State Cows, Young Gun Silver Fox, Peter Friestedt, etc.
The cool thing with FAN FICTION is they put aside the, sometimes, solemnity of Westcoast injecting a musicality and dynamics which makes the hole thing so enjoyable.
There’s great songs here, such as ‘Mister Minit’ (the best song Airplay never recorded), the early TOTO-esque sounding ‘Ready Or Not’, the fun ‘A Staler Tale’ (whcih sounds recorded by Player circa 1981), and the pumping AOR of ‘Look Of Girl’, a personal favorite.
There’s superb arrangements and guitar work on ‘Whatever Happened To Love’, a bright midtempo number which sounds a lot like David Roberts at his prime.
Another winner is the uptempo ‘Back To Philly’, retro 1982 from everywhere, like a cross between Dakota and Toto. Just love these guys!
FAN FICTION’s “Anticipated Hits” has a retro and fun concept, but a the end of the day what rules is its awesome early ’80s sound & songwriting – a pure delight for fans of the genre.
We can’t recommend this album enough…
You’ve seen it first at plotn08
01 – Mister Minit
02 – Can’t Stop
03 – Ready Or Not
04 – A Staler Tale
05 – Look Of Girl
06 – Christopher 9
07 – Whatever Happened To Love
08 – So Alone
09 – Apart Of Me
10 – Back To Philly
11 – “Sergio 11” Theme (bonus track)
Mike G (aka Marc Samson) – lead vocals, drums
Tyler Cash (aka Jeff Honeycutt) – keys, synths, bass
Sean O’Brien, Dean Parks – guitar
Mayer Hawthorne – guest vocals
Danny Janklow, Colin Kupka – sax
Jay Rudolph – drums