Blog Post
One Desire - 'One Night Only' – Live in Helsinki
Iain McArthur • 11 June 2021
Album Review
One Desire somehow managed to get ahead of the Covid-19 curve. The band members all contracted it at the start of the epidemic in March 2020 while on tour with The Night Flight Orchestra in Europe. Thankfully they all recovered fully in time to play a restricted-audience show in their home capital on 3rd October 2020 and they’re now releasing the resulting CD / DVD package this week, hopefully in advance of getting out and touring again.
They’ve got two albums of super-smooth Scandi-AOR to draw on and they’re both well represented in the live set. Their second release ‘Midnight Empire’ is just a little heavier than their slick self-titled debut and that’s where the set-opener “Shadowman” comes from. Guitarist Jimmy Westerlund really shines on this, particularly in his soloing which is reminiscent of Neal Schon’s classic work on “Who’s Crying Now”. Westerlund is definitely a big deal on the Scandi scene and he’s got much to be proud of with this band. He’s on great form throughout.
They’re not a massively experienced touring band but they’ve been out with H.E.A.T. and Scottish gig-goers might remember their support slot to Eclipse at The Cathouse. The second tune in the set is “Apologize” and it’s got a touch of the Martensson about it – in a good way, of course. They’re all seasoned musicians though and power through tracks like “Heroes” and “Godsent Extasy” before dialing it back for a string of ballads starting with “This Is Where the Heartbreak Begins” which is the pick of the slowies. Andre Linman sings his wee heart out on it and his pin-up good looks come in handy for the cameras.
I’ve only seen a couple of the DVD tracks and it looks like a club-sized venue. There is an audience in and they seem quite happy rubbing up against each other. It’s a decent sound and the band address the crowd mainly in their native tongue but with a smattering of German and a fair bit of English for the benefit of home viewers.
I reckon the band are at their best when they’re pumping out the muscular AOR they’re most known for like “After Your Gone” and “Whenever I’m Dreaming”. They close the main set with their masterpiece “Hurt” which is without doubt one of the finest AOR songs released in any country this century. After that, they power through “Buried Alive” to get some heat in the crowd before they head out into the Finnish Winter.
This is a good release that consolidates their early work. Some more gigs and a third album could really push them up a level – the potential is clearly there.