THE SHINING

The Shining was Gandalf's first vocal album and as such it is quite different from most of his other albums. The female lead vocals are sung by Pippa Armstrong who adopted the name of Galadriel (also from Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings) for the proceedings. The core duo are backed by a little band featuring drums, bass, flute and sax, while Gandalf himself play keyboards and guitars.

The style of the music found here might perhaps be compared to that of Renaissance (from circa A Song For All Seasons to The Other Woman) or maybe Sally Oldfield. This is Rock music of the softer variety with a light folky feel. The result is pleasant enough, but not particularly memorable or exciting. It is at best only mildly progressive. If you want a more Prog album with vocals from Gandalf, you would do much better to check out his later collaboration with Tracy Hitchings: To Our Children's Children. The latter is a much better and much more interesting album.

Even though not without merit, The Shining will probably not impress the general Prog fan. It is recommended only for fans of lightly folky, mildly progressive, soft Rock.