GANDALF 
441812
2CD
VISIONS 2001 (LORD OF THE RINGS BASE CONCEPT-2CD)

SYMPHONIC INSTRUMENTAL (PROG)

This Austrian musician is one of CD Services biggest selling artists of all-time. His brand of instrumental symphonic music is the ultimate in musical escapism, and clearly influenced by late 60’s/early 70’s progressive bands like Genesis and the Moody Blues. This double CD was issued in 2001 and for those of you new to Gandalf’s music, you need to imagine a cross between Mike Oldfield, Enya (without most of the vocals) and classic Hackett era Genesis (or just Steve Hackett). Disc 1 alone is a continuously flowing, 17 track, seventy-six minute symphonic composition themed around Tolkien’s legendary ‘Lord Of The Rings’ story. This is a landmark recording that encompasses all the instruments normally associated with Gandalf – lots of keyboards for solos, strings and those heavenly, choral passages, electric & acoustic guitars, bass & percussion, plus the odd little bit of sitar. This is music with huge crossover potential, and all the symphonic touches that expose his musical roots are well showcased here. Disc 2 is a bonus limited edition, full-length album of ‘Rare & Precious Pieces’, containing some new arrangements and rare mixes selected from the last 20 years of his celebrated recording career, so it’s a kind of ‘Best Of’ with a difference, and a nice intro for the Gandalf novice. One track features Steve Hackett on guitar, and there’s also a previously unreleased piece, but most of the selected tracks are entirely different versions of tracks from other original albums. To complement the music on this album, the label have produced beautifully lavish, triple fold-out digi-pak packaging, with a matching full-colour booklet housed in the centre portion between the two disc holders – a classy piece of packaging to match the musical class of Gandalf.

Imagine a cross between Mike Oldfield’s ‘Hergest Ridge’ or ‘Ommadawn’ with Enya’s ‘Watermark’ (without most of the vocals), and add a bit of classic Steve Hackett era Genesis. Imagine a production that takes every facet of the music and brings it up to eye-sparkling dimensions where every note sounds precious and the dynamics of the music are positively awe-inspiring. Imagine music that has breadth, depth, and texture, multi-layered melodies that flow all around with sound textures that range from serene and celestial to powerful and dramatic - music that will take your breath away from start to finish. Imagine searing Oldfield-esque electric guitars, backed with a huge tidal wave of sonic delights from keyboards and percussion, more melodies than you’ve ever heard and strong composition without an ounce of tweeness anywhere in sight, with choruses that stir the blood, instrumental passages that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end and gorgeous sections that will bring a tear to the eye. Well, imagine no longer… For with this Gandalf album you get exactly that – in fact all of that, and more besides.  To describe this package as awesome is a bit of an understatement – If this had been an Oldfield album it would be on a million-seller list without a shadow of a doubt, earning him another gold disc for the mantelpiece! This music is something so much more than mere symphonic progressive rock, or whatever name-tag you care to throw at it – it really doesn’t matter – “fantastic music” is good enough for us, because that’s exactly what it is.

Weight: 250.00 g