Excellent addition to any Jazz-Fusion music collection.
Though this fitfully inspired yet always intelligently musical record is an electric album, McLaughlin is more often heard on acoustic guitar in something resembling his electric manner, along with more pronounced classical and flamenco influences.
On Chris de Burgh's debut album, his gentle, beguiling vocal style is introduced, which instantly trademarks him as a genuine master of the soft ballad. de Burgh's engaging dominance of words and lyrics carries both his love songs and his simple light rock tunes to a higher level, thanks to the attention and care given to each of his pieces. As an inaugural album, the songs hold well as they are delicately cushioned by his voice, but are substantially thin where melody or appealing choruses are concerned. Both "Windy Night" and "Watching the World" draw the most attention, bringing de Burgh's silkiness to the focal point.
Right on time for their show at 2024's edition of Wacken Open Air, Blind Guardian proudly present "Somewhere Far Beyond Revisited" which includes a complete re-recording of this classic of 1992's "Somewhere Far Beyond", a landmark record for Germany's heavy metal titans.
After three albums on No Remorse Records, it was the band's major label debut coming out via Virgin Records and opened doors to the Japanese market resulting in a wider availability and presence on the global metal scene. After finding the right balance of speed, heaviness, melodies, drama and irresistible choruses on 1990's "Tales From The Twilight World", "Somewhere Far Beyond" honed this approach to perfection, evolving further on a conceptual level and increasingly daring take on Blind Guardian's sonic range…