Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Close to Classic, March 2, 2003
This is a very good CD. Not "great," but very, very good. There are moments in each of the 12 songs that sound truly inspired. For the most part, the compositions and arrangements work very well. It's just the kind of album I like to put on as background music, knowing there are plenty of moments when someone will say, "Hey! Cool! What's this music?" Nice, pleasant arrangements that tend to build on acoustic guitar, flute and violin English folk sounds to become 4/4 mid-tempo rock with some arresting guitar solos by Bryan Josh.Closing my eyes, it's even possible to imagine the forests of Middle Earth when listening to "Greenwood the Great" or Frodo's lament while preparing for his great adventure in "Goodbye Alone." "Out of the Inn" starts out light and airy, playful and medieval sounding, then lurches into an increasing urgent sounding rocker. My rave track is the instrumental "On the Wings of Gwaihir" with its heavy reliance on harmonics and some nifty hollow-body electric strumming. It follows a steadily repeated riff, but works through several key changes to keep it interesting. By now, each of the songs has used the same tactic, beginning with an acoustic theme then building to a guitar solo climax, so we're ready for it when it happens here. Ummm. Well, not quite. Josh rips out his most succinct, raw and inspired solo for this song, and then just like that, it's over. This one truly leaves the listener wanting more. "At Last To Rivendell" maintains its Celtic flavor throughout, even as its tempo hastens. It's also short and sweet. "Journey's Thought" might pass for a middle-period Pink Floyd tune, complete with slow Gilmour-tinged strumming and whispered vocals. "Caradhras the Cruel" sounds menaced, not menacing. Even heavily processed, the sweet-sounding MA vocalists just don't have the chops to drive home this song and it ends up a curiosity, hopelessly outclassed by the rest of the CD. "The Riders of Rohan" is an uplifting and joyful rolling piano melody, sung in a friendly voice by Heather Findlay. "Lothlorian" is like a bookend for "Greenwood" with a similar melody and song structure. It is distinguished because it stays light and magical sounding throughout, rather than undertaking the metamorphosis common to so many of the other songs. "The Return of the King" is a bit of a twist, starting out rollicking and rejoicing, but interlaced with a down turned meditative moment. While waiting for another such moment, the song fades, almost anticlimactically. What happened here? "Grey Havens" uses minor chords over synth washes to lend the image of sunrise over Middle Earth. It's a very enchanting coda, and unlike so many pieces serving such a purpose, it stands well on its own outside the context of the album. So what's not to like? I wish more care was exercised in the composition and editing. A couple of the songs are curiously cut short, while several others extend almost into redundancy. I think it could have been a truly great album. Instead, it is fun, entertaining, and occasionally inspiring.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How do I love thee, Mostly Autumn?, December 13, 2002
Thy tunesmithing is incredible; thy marriage of English folk and hard rock never fails to enchant. Thy voices are angelic, and thou weavest a compelling tapestry of sound with everything from the simplest melody to the most tricky harmony.Ok, enough of that - since you're already reading this page, chances are you know all that already. (If not, you're in for a treat.) This is an album Mostly Autumn didn't plan to make - it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to squeeze a recording into a window of two weeks before their next tour. Surprisingly, the quick recording time only really affects the album in two ways. One: it includes new versions of two of their earlier songs and still only stretches to 53 minutes, and two: many of the tracks end in fadeouts rather than coming to a definite conclusion. That's it. The writing never falls below MA's excellent standard, Brian Josh's guitar still packs a dynamic punch like I've rarely heard, and the orchestration manages to go between warmly intimate and sweepingly grand without ever once sounding pompous or overdone. This music would have made an incredible movie soundtrack.. it's only fitting, since they've always had a talent for picturesque lyrics and songs anyway. If you have any imagination this album will make everything come to life before your eyes; if not, it'll help you develop some. "On the Wings of Gwaihir" transports us without a word; from the whooshing winds in the background to the echoing filtered guitar tones, everything about it gives an overwhelming impression of seeing the (Middle) Earth from a place high in the sky. "Caradhras the Cruel" is every bit as harsh and forbidding as the rugged mountain of the story (the lyrics are the voice of the giant stone mass itself taunting the heroes). The album ends the only way it could, with the forceful rally cry of "Return of the King" flowing into the bittersweet sadness of "The Grey Havens." It sets the perfect melancholic mood, well suited to the theme that "much that is good in this world has passed." One extra non-audio track is thrown in: the furiously storming instrumental "Helm's Deep" (from the previous album, The Last Bright Light), which is included in concert-video form on the CD-ROM portion of the disc. Wow.. just, wow. Other highlights? "Greenwood the Great" grows darker and darker until its entire melody brings out the doom of Mirkwood, "The Riders of Rohan" uses a simple piano theme to embody the image of horses galloping across vast plains, and "At Last To Rivendell" is the kind of rollicking pub-dance reel Blackmore's Night hasn't managed in several years. Each of their discs always seems to have one masterful track I feel the urge to repeat for half an hour or more, and here (hands-down) it's "Goodbye Alone." Talk about beauty in simplicity! We start in quaint coziness with a warm but lonely piano, then a basic four-beat pattern emerges, fading into a slow sweet melody that remains captivating for over seven more minutes. Brian sings a verse, the sirenlike Heather Findlay sings the chorus, and it soars out with a heartrending guitar solo before running into another one of those fadeouts. It leaves you with the impression that it could very well go on forever, but the song's whole theme is that we can't always choose what we have to leave behind. [sigh]... If I haven't been dismissed as a hopelessly sentimental lunatic by now, I'll wrap this up by repeating my overall thoughts on this group - if you like accomplished songwriting, emotional guitar and/or medieval-tinted music in any form, you'll find a lot to enjoy in Mostly Autumn. The forthcoming Catch The Spirit is designed to be the chief introduction to the group, but every other one I've popped for has been well worth the cost. Enough talk.. listen.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly Autumn captures the spirit of L.O.T.R., September 26, 2004
Music Inspired by The Lord of the Rings (MIBTLOTR) has no connection with the movie whatsoever except the title and the fact that after seeing the first Lord of the Rings movie - The Fellowship of the Rings the band received an epiphany and felt compelled to create this masterpiece, this "Unexpected Album".
"The unexpected album", is the comment in the booklet that accompanies this album. Although Tolkien's literary masterpiece had inspired the band more often, the successful screen-version of this book gave the band the idea to dedicate a full album to it. Mostly Autumn managed to do so in a mere fortnight. The band members themselves don't regard this as their 4th album, but more like a diversion and as a mark of honor to Tolkien.
A diversion? Well, I'll take a diversion like this everytime, as this is a exquisite album. There are at least a half dozen artists that I know of, who have recorded albums based on The Lord of the Rings, with varying success but if there be one band that succeeds in capturing Tolkien's magical world and then rendering it into a musical masterpiece, it must be Mostly Autumn. Set aside the usual hype around the screen-version and prepare yourself for one of the more intriguing progressive albums in recent years. A magical confluence of progressive music, mixed with folk and Celtic elements are presented in twelve superb songs and as a bonus, you get a six and a half minute video track.
True, if you're a pop or alternative fan, you may not appreciate it's greatness but if you're grown up and past pop rock and maybe like prog rock a little, you'll like MIBTLOTR a lot.
And let's not forget the millions who reveled in the magnificent trilogy The Lords of the Rings, this is a wonderful trip down memory lane.
Lastly, for the guitar aficionados among you, this is an essential album. It's not a constant but when present it is some of the most awesome guitar work I can remember ever having heard. Oh, did I mention that Bryan Josh is a protege of Ritchie Blackmore.
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