A dream of Gary Hughes for many years has been to do a concept album/rock opera revolving around the Arthurian legend has finally taken shape and his vision has been realized in the shape of this two part album. And quite literally ‘wow’ what an impressive cast he has brought together. As well as Hughes himself taking the part of King Arthur, he has Lana Lane (Queen Guinevere), Danny Vaughn (Lancelot), Bob Catley (Merlin), Irene Jansen (Morgana), Sean Harris (Sir Galahad) and Danny Wilson who sings The Prologue for Excalibur.

Each song in Part One manages to utilize the talents of the vocalist taken the part and Hughes has written the songs not just for any one to sing, but he has written them in a way that he intended, each one to be meant for that particular voice and that voice alone. And this very fact alone shows how much thought has gone into this project and how much it meant to him.

Each track stands out on it’s own merit from the rousing ‘Excalibur’ with it’s almost classical intro, through a complete change that will have listeners expecting Emerson Lake and Palmer’s ‘Fanfare for the common Man’ to start. But in come the guitars and bass and Danny Wilson open’s up the track that sets the stage for the rest of the album.

‘Dragon island Cathedral’ has Gary on vocals and has just a hint of Ten about it but is different enough to keep it apart from other Ten tracks. ‘At the end of Day’ could have been written by Jim Steinman of Meatloaf fame with its keyboards and haunting lyrics. The gentle dueting of Gary’s voice with that of Lana Lane begin to tell the story of how King Arthur and his love Queen Guinevere relationship take shape.

Danny Vaughn’s vocals are superb on ‘The real Why’ and show this particular artist has a whole lot more talent than he has allowed himself to explore in the past with his own material. That said I don’t think his contribution to the song ‘Avalon’ as quite as impressive. Obviously portraying the character he does of course he has to sing both songs, but on the first he was stretched to higher levels than ever before, however this second track sounds dull in comparison and could be from any of Danny’s own past offerings.

‘Shapeshifter’ is my personal favourite track from the first part of this epic tale. Irene Jansen’s vocals are simply spellbindingly powerful and emotional. This particular track binds together strong feminine vocals with a song steeped with mystical intent. It stands proud away from the album and could quite easily be taken in its own right as a song with individual very specific appeal. Perhaps Gary might like to think about working more closely with Irene in her future work? The two have married together their musical talents which have resulted in a truly awesome song.

Casting Bob Catley as Merlin could not have painted more perfect a setting for this legendary tale. Bob’s very distinctively pompous and grand voice does the songs ‘King for a Day’ and ‘In Flames’ much credit. Not a million miles away from a handful of songs from his own solo albums penned by Gary, Bob’s voice lends itself to the character with such ease that it does make you wonder whether Bob is a reincarnation of Merlin himself.

Although I’m not a big fan of the whole rock opera thing myself, this album surprised me in being listenable and enjoyable without coming too full on with the whole legendary thing. A lot of the songs are strong enough on their own without the whole epic/opera thing going on. One such song is ‘Sinner’ which features Sean Harris of Diamond Head fame. Taking you back to a truly classic rock song it’s as if this song was wrote decades ago. Although perhaps not quite as long ago as when this whole legend took place! Think more Led Zeppelin and you’ll know where I’m coming from with this one.

Part two will be the interesting one, the scene has been set, the characters chosen. Will the quality of this tale continue to grow or fall flat on its face and run out of steam? Well come October we’ll soon know the answer to that question and we’ll all be able to say whether this two part collection is the greatest rock opera ever written, or just another project one artist decided to embark on and persuaded some famous friends to take part in.