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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.
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