Odyssey

Yngwie Malmsteen | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fontana Polydor
• ASIN: B000001FOS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,989 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #1 in Music > Rock > Rock Guitarists > Shred

Editorial Reviews

Japanese only remastered SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing packaged in a paper sleeve. Universal. 2008. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yngwie's Best Commercial Release!, November 4, 1999

By 

Andrew Hilton (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Odyssey (Audio CD)

The collaboration of Joe Lynn Turner and Yngwie Malmsteen make this album a classic in my book. The songs are perfectly crafted, which says a lot for an artist who is known as a guitar virtuoso, but a mediocre songwriter. In fact, this is the only album by Yngwie Malmsteen where the songs are equal in appeal to his guitar mastery.

From the opening cut to the final note, this album is a winner. The prerequisite themes of dragons, fire and medieval times are touched on, but not with the frequency of Yngwie's other albums such as Marching Out and Trilogy. Instead, Joe Lynn Turner tempers Yngwie's "mystical" view with a little romanticism that plays very well on this release. "Dreaming" and "Now is the Time" are probably the best examples of this blend, while "Heaven Tonight" is possibly the most overproduced and dated of all of the tracks. "Heaven Tonight" screams "...made for radio."

The vocal performance is outstanding, the musicianship is top notch, and the work as a whole definitely deserves five stars. Bravo! Encore!

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neo-Classical Shred meets 80's Glam Rock, August 18, 2005

By 

Christopher Calabrese (Watertown, CT, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Odyssey (Audio CD)

This is far and away the best Yngwie Malmsteen album after his original RISING FORCE lp. Yngwie goes through lead vocalists like I go through pairs of shoes, but I always felt that Joe Lynn Turner was the best singer to complement Malmsteen on a studio recording.

This was a great album because Yngwie got a chance to fully develop his sound by melding it with an 80's hair band (ala Poison or Cinderella), but at the same time he freely expressed himself by way of mind-boggling solos, sweep-picked arpeggios and some of the fastest playing I have ever heard. Examples of this can be found in the three 'hits' from this album, 'Deja Vu,' 'Hold On,' and 'Heaven Tonight.' The last of the three starts with a fantastic vocal harmony and is probably the 'catchiest' Malmsteen song ever.

On the other side of the coin, I felt Malmsteen missed the boat on albums like TRILOGY and MARCHING OUT, where we had great hits like 'Queen in Love' and 'Liar,' whereas the remaining songs were never really that great. On ODYSSEY, however, I find myself enjoying other less known tracks like 'Crystal Ball,' 'Rising Force,' and 'Now is the Time.' All of Yngwie's solos on studio recordings are improvised and you will never hear the same solo twice. I always liked his live solos much better, but if I had to pick one studio release where I truly enjoyed his soloing over the live performance, it would be ODYSSEY. Notable solos occur on 'Deja Vu' and the instrumental 'Krakatu'.

Listeners not familiar with Malmsteen will inevitably be turned off by the corniness of songs like 'Crystal Ball,' and will dismiss it as unoriginal 80's hair band 'glam rock,' but those of us who can appreciate this style of guitar playing know how important and revolutionary Malmsteen's style was, and continues to be today.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Legends arn't born every day, March 25, 2006

By 

Jim Kane - See all my reviews

This review is from: Odyssey (Audio CD)

Yngwie Malmsteen had suffered an injury to his picking hand when he crashed his farrari, and also found out some record executives had swindled him bigtime. Fans wern't sure if his next album would hold up in the guitar god technique department... but the rest is history. This album blows flames out of the sides when you open it. The singer is the best ever, the keyboardist and drummer are twin brothers and Malmsteens chops and tone are holding the metal scene hostage with lethal weapons. He slaughters naysayers and burys them with taste. This is a five star neo classical extraviganza!!!