Artist:  Marcel Coenen
   Title: A Live Time Journey
   Label: Lion Music

Dutch guitar maestro Marcel Coenen has managed to do something very special with this DVD release and something that I thought almost impossible, he has actually managed to bring his 'Colour Journey' album to a live audience with most, of if not all, of the artists involved, many of whom had to travel great distances from around the world to take part in this totally unique show.

Recorded in January of this year in Weert, The Netherlands at "De Bosuil" this once in a life time show brought together a multitude of talent for one show.  With the vocalists Joyce Dijkgraaf, Paul Adrian Villarreal, Hans Reinders, Mike Andersson, Dennis Schreurs, Menno Corbeek, Colleen Gray (who also played piano) and of course Mr. Coenen himself, the musicians included in addition to this mighty line-up on guitars Frank Schiphorst, on drums Hans In T Zandt, Roel Van Helden and Spike, on bass Richard Ritterbeeks and Maurice Brouwers, and finally on keyboards Rene Ubachs (who learned all the songs in just one week!), well I did tell you there was a multitude.

But it wasn't just the musicians who turned up from all around the world to take part in this musical spectacular, fans of Marcel's work came out in their numbers, not only from the Netherlands, but also from places such as Portugal, Sweden, Germany and Belgium.  To retain the true spirit of the show Marcel purposely chose to leave everything in, even the odd hiccup, although these are so few and far between I dare say you'll not even notice them.  Even more remarkable perhaps is that the 'band' only actually had 2 full days to rehearse the show together before the actual event, a masterstroke by anyone's standards. 

If you've already purchased the 'Colour Journey' album then you'll already have a fair idea what to expect song wise, although there are also some songs from Marcel's debut album 'Guitartalk' included in the set.  It's simply magical to not only hear these songs performed live, but to actually see them in all their glory with all the different musicians really putting their heart and soul into their performances.  This alone is well worth the cost of the DVD alone.

Highlights of the set for me are ‘Verbal Defence Mechanism’ with Paul Villarreal on vocals, the heavy ‘Traumatized to the Bone’, and the majestic ‘That Moment’ with Colleen Gray on vocals and piano, although these are simply my personal favourites and I’m sure you will have your own.

The DVD also boasts a number of extra’s including two great live covers, firstly ‘Rooster’ then Whitesnake's ‘Still of the Night’, also included in the extra’s is a hidden guitar solo (scroll around the main menu you might get lucky), a behind the scenes segment, a picture gallery and also a set of Marcel playing live in Thailand.

All in all this is a wonderful package and a must for both fans of the Marcel's work and in particular fans of his 'Colour Journey' album.

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