Review – The Forgotten Tales (CD)
The Forgotten Tales
Year of release: 1996
Number of songs: 13
Total running time: 45 minutes 24 seconds
This album I bought before any other Blind Guardian albums. I liked very much some covers and unplugged versions of their own songs with great orchestral parts.
 |
| The Forgotten Tales - Blind Guardian |
It starts with amusing but quite convincing overhauls of 'Mr. Sandman' and 'Surfin' USA', which seems them getting some of that Blind Guardian styled metal treatment. Of the first couple of BG originals given the 'Orchestral' treatment, 'Bright Eyes' realy sounds great on acoustic guitars it really give presence to the listener. However 'Lord of the Rings' really benefits from the update and is much better suited to the acoustic guitars and more gentle vocals that Hansi provides. Back to the covers and 'The Wizard' doesn´t really stray from the original but I´m glad that Mr. Kürsch doesn´t emitate original vocal. 'Spread your Wings' is quite an enjoyable cover, quite suited to Hansi´s powerful vocal style; it´s a very uplifting number. Again we arrive back at more orchestral versions, 'Mordred´s Song' nice touch to add power of piano. 'Black Chamber' is very bare and makes for some atmospheric listening. For some reason there is a live version of 'The Bard´s Song', whilst it´s pretty good and listening to the crowd interaction gives you some hope for the future of this brand of metal, it seems out of place on this album. 'Barbara Ann/Long Tall Sally' is blatant filler, no real content and hardly worth the time. 'A Past and Future Secret' comes over pretty well in this acoustic version; it doesn´t outclass the original but does come close. 'To France', well I´ve heard the original so it can compare to Oldfield and it is quite a fun little song and I like to sing with those uplifting choruses. And the album closes with 'Theatre of Pain' which, hardly surprising, sounds like music torn from a Computer RPG (bearing in mind I quite often like that kind of music this is meant to be more of a compliment), it´s an atmospheric closer and doesn´t fall prey to the synth-based stupidity that had everyone laugh at Emperor when they released 'Opus a Satana'. So, mixed bag overall, these things are never consistent at the best of times and to a large extent Blind Guardian pulled this off. Blind Guardian fans will want to check this one out.
Editor: Peter Jerman
No comments:
Post a Comment