04-09-2021, 13:40
CHRIS DE BURGH ~ The Legend of Robin Hood
Here’s a surprise! I liked Chris de Burgh’s epics, i.e., Crusader and Spanish Train. And here’s another new one in a similar vein to those! Nothing remotely modern about it – it’s an evocative, romantic storytelling exercise – troubadour style.
Ok – he does get a little preachy now and then, but it’s well intended, and I am prepared to accept that (he’ll no doubt be pleased to know, lol!). He does these stories so well – there’s a passion to the tales that is otherwise missing in some of his work IMHO, not that I’m an expert on Mr de Burgh, I hasten to add. Let me say right now that I do not like his very soppy songs and there is a little of that here because it’s a romance after all, but in context it seems different. Let it be known that there are political undertones aplenty too. I don’t really care about or for those either, however, they are pretty generic, I think. There is also a fair amount of rousing rompy pompy – hey ho!
This album reminds me of the records I used to listen to as a child. Stories in musical form – it was up to you to visualize the unfolding, and many hours were spent in front of enormous speakers doing just that. There are some that are still listenable for me, interestingly enough – so clever, and wickedly (but cleanly) funny! A bit like a soundtrack to a movie that exists only in one’s imagination. Kinda cool that it’s still being done in our world which currently relies so heavily upon all things visual.
Don’t know how much appeal the album will hold generally speaking – for me, it seems a little less inspired than the previous two I mentioned but that doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile. No idea who is in his backing band – the music is all very nicely arranged and executed – good orchestration, guitars and other stringed things. He could be edging a little too close to an Andrew Lloyd Webber sort of thing but ultimately manages to escape that fate - not sure quite how – it’s a fine line!
Just found out that he’d written some of these for a musical adaptation of the legend of Robin Hood and then expanded on that to create an album, which would explain the feel. He’s apparently touring the album in its entirety, not as a musical. https://www.chris-de-burgh.co.uk/album/T...Robin-Hood
One of the ballads - "Live Life, Live Well" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFdqoljPKTo
And an example of a more lively track - couldn't find a source for the album cover which appears here and which seems like a bit of a missed opportunity, but that's just my opinion!
"The Man with the Double Face"
Here’s a surprise! I liked Chris de Burgh’s epics, i.e., Crusader and Spanish Train. And here’s another new one in a similar vein to those! Nothing remotely modern about it – it’s an evocative, romantic storytelling exercise – troubadour style.
Ok – he does get a little preachy now and then, but it’s well intended, and I am prepared to accept that (he’ll no doubt be pleased to know, lol!). He does these stories so well – there’s a passion to the tales that is otherwise missing in some of his work IMHO, not that I’m an expert on Mr de Burgh, I hasten to add. Let me say right now that I do not like his very soppy songs and there is a little of that here because it’s a romance after all, but in context it seems different. Let it be known that there are political undertones aplenty too. I don’t really care about or for those either, however, they are pretty generic, I think. There is also a fair amount of rousing rompy pompy – hey ho!
This album reminds me of the records I used to listen to as a child. Stories in musical form – it was up to you to visualize the unfolding, and many hours were spent in front of enormous speakers doing just that. There are some that are still listenable for me, interestingly enough – so clever, and wickedly (but cleanly) funny! A bit like a soundtrack to a movie that exists only in one’s imagination. Kinda cool that it’s still being done in our world which currently relies so heavily upon all things visual.
Don’t know how much appeal the album will hold generally speaking – for me, it seems a little less inspired than the previous two I mentioned but that doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile. No idea who is in his backing band – the music is all very nicely arranged and executed – good orchestration, guitars and other stringed things. He could be edging a little too close to an Andrew Lloyd Webber sort of thing but ultimately manages to escape that fate - not sure quite how – it’s a fine line!
Just found out that he’d written some of these for a musical adaptation of the legend of Robin Hood and then expanded on that to create an album, which would explain the feel. He’s apparently touring the album in its entirety, not as a musical. https://www.chris-de-burgh.co.uk/album/T...Robin-Hood
One of the ballads - "Live Life, Live Well" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFdqoljPKTo
And an example of a more lively track - couldn't find a source for the album cover which appears here and which seems like a bit of a missed opportunity, but that's just my opinion!
"The Man with the Double Face"
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson
