Force – City Life

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Formed in Birmingham, England in 1985, from the ashes of bands BORN LOSER and CRYER, FORCE is not an easy band to gather information on. As a matter of fact, with the exception of the band lineup listed above, which was taken from the press release accompanying this promo, that is truthfully about it, as far as information is concerned. They were apparently never signed to a label, and this CD release, which is limited to five hundred copies, worldwide, is all the material they ever recorded. The CD was compiled by Obscure NWOBHM Releases and Supreme Music Creations.

What I have found in the release itself is that FORCE was a very melodic Rock band, heavily keyboard laden, with Pop sensibilities not unlike other bands of the same time frame, THE OUTFIELD coming to mind immediately. The songs contained here are musically and lyrically non-threatening bits of ear candy. They are also, unfortunately, blase and unmemorable, which is possibly why they have remained buried for the last thirty-five years or so. Coming out of the age where DOKKEN, SCORPIONS, MOTLEY CRUE and QUIET RIOT were ruling the airwaves, and on the cusp of GUNS N’ ROSES and METALLICA’S popularity looming in the near distance, it is certainly easy to see how this would have gotten lost to the times.

“We’ve Got A Love” opens this CD, and is a chief example of my point. Keyboards lead the way here, around a song that has some punchiness to it despite itself. Careless’ voice is quite capable, and the remainder of the band shows some good musical qualities. Ex-MONTREAUX drummer Andy Harper and seventeen year old bassist Marc Woodward do a fine job of holding things together on this cut, and that rhythm section is really one of the more remarkable things about it. The guitar and keyboard work interweaves throughout the song nicely; but sounds like a lot of the mid-eighties production did back then, just thin.

There are two versions of the song “Sleeping Alone Tonight” found here. The second song on the record is more guitar driven, giving it a better overall feel than “We’ve Got A Love” possesses. The alternate take of the song, which closes out the album, is very heavy handed with the keyboard and detracts from the strengths of the original cut.

Overall, while these guys were probably as efficient as anybody working at the time in their respective genre, this release just doesn’t really do anything for me. Give it a pass.

Songwriting: 8
Musicianship: 8
Memorability: 3
Production: 6