Customer Reviews

Once Upon Our Yesterdays

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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I was very excited by Cornerstone when I heard their last album "Human Stain". It was such a great album that I wondered if they could better it with their next release, but I am pleased to say that in my opinion they have - it doesn't get much better than this. I think "Once Upon Our Yesterdays" is the best release I have heard in a long time.

It's pretty rare for me to like EVERY track on an album but I do on this one and it is so good that it's hard to pick out the best tracks.
My favorites are the opener "Welcome To Forever", "Hour Of Doom", the two ballads "Man Without A Reason" and "Some Have Dreams" and the last track "Scream" which is a fantastic track to close the album with. (There you go - that's half the album!) The other tracks are by no means fillers, they too are excellent songs, it's just I like the five above a little bit more.

I am just as excited about this band and album as I was with "Human Stain". HS had some great standout tracks and was a damn good album, but I reckon this album is better in that it is a little bit more consistent. The song writing, Doogie's singing, the band's playing, and the production are all excellent. I can't fault the album at all. It has great guitar riffs, great vocals, and I like the bit of organ here and there, especially the organ solo in "21st Century Man".

Cornerstone's sound reminds me at times of Black Sabbath, Saxon, Deep Purple and other bands with that old school classic metal sound of the 70's & 80's, but they are by no means rip-off's of any of those bands.
They have developed that classic sound into their own sound, and I love it.

I must admit that I am no fan at all of the new style metal, I am a classic old school metal fan and that is why I like this band and this album so much. There's nothing cheesy about it, it's just damn good metal.

These guys have been around a little while in other bands, but I hope they keep this Cornerstone line-up. I have not been so excited by an up and coming band since the 80's!

If you agree with me and like Cornerstone I also advise going to the Cornerstone website where you can download for free their track "Candyman" which does not appear on any of their albums. It should have been, it is a great song.

2003's Once Upon Our Yesterdays is the third release from Cornerstone, the melodic rock project put together by former Rainbow/Yngwie Malmsteen vocalist Doogie White and ex-Royal Hunt bassist Steen Mogensen.

My previous exposure to Cornerstone was their 2000 debut Arrival, so what really jumped out at me about Once Upon Our Yesterdays was that the band seems to have found its own unique sound. They don't sound as much like Royal Hunt here, which is probably a good thing. Once Upon Our Yesterdays has a strong Rainbow vibe, which is no surprise, but there are also similarities to modern melodic hard rock acts Pink Cream 69 and Last Tribe and even an epic progressive metal vibe at times (see the Kamelot-like title track). It's a hard-hitting, guitar-oriented album that still has plenty of melody, and White's vocals here are as good as anything he's ever recorded. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a concept album, but the songs share a certain aura that makes the album very effective as a whole.

Once Upon Our Yesterdays is one of Cornerstone's best releases, and is just an all-around impressive melodic hard rock album. It should appeal to fans of Royal Hunt and Rainbow obviously, but I can't see many melodic rock fans not liking this album.

Edition Notes: The version of Once Upon Our Yesterdays I own has a pair of live songs ("Wounded Land" and "21st Century Man") added as bonus tracks. I'm not sure how exclusive they are, but they're definitely a nice addition.

This is a great band consisting primarily of the duo of Doogie White and Steen Morgensen,two Euro-rockers who have made their mark with several projects over the years in Europe. Mr. White was asked by Ritchie Blackmore to sing on the final Rainbow disc,and with good reason. The music of Cornerstone is VERY remeniscent of Rainbow, Deep Purple, Dio, and Whitesnake. If you enjoyed any of these groups, then you'd love this disc and their other two as well! Very cool European hard rock..enjoy!!

I was intrigued when I got a copy of this, particularly with Dougie White fronting the band. Being in the states, I'd not heard of this band, but I liked what I heard!

White sounds great, and the band is very tight. Reminds me a lot of 70's and 80's metal, but not the poodlehaired stuff.

Some good songs, particularly 21st Century Man.

Well worth looking for more of this.