Fair Warning

Fair Warning is the debut balancing power and delicacy around Tommy Heart's emotive singing and Helge Engelke's lustrous guitar. The band grew out of the circle around Zeno, the group led by Zeno Roth: ex-V2 singer Heart and ex-Zeno bassist Ule W. Ritgen were joined by Engelke, Andy Malecek (guitar) and C.C. Behrens (drums). Released on WEA in 1992 and produced by Rafe McKenna, known for Giant and Ten. It arrived into the headwind of grunge's rise. Beyond the wide-open choruses, the acoustic textures and lead phrases that color the spaces between have a careful touch. “Longing for Love,” “Out on the Run” and “One Step Closer” remain signature songs, and two unreleased Zeno-era tracks, “The Heat of Emotion” and “The Call of the Heart,” are included. A stance that puts the singing first while keeping hard rock's drive runs through the whole album. In Japan it won BURRN! magazine's newcomer award — a warm, highly accomplished record that is indispensable when discussing 1990s European melodic rock.