GANDALF

Austrian multi-instrumentalist Heinz Strobl, performing and recording under the Gandalf moniker, has to be considered as one of the founders of New Age music.Born in 1950, Gandalf's travels all over the world not only broadened his musical horizons but gave him the opportunity to unite different music styles and cultures.Between August and October of 1980 Gandalf recorded his first solo album ''Journey to an Imaginary Land'', eventually released on WEA Records the same year.

The ''Departure'' introduction shows in a general way what Gandalf's concept was all about.Acoustic guitars blended with floating synths and electronics in a composition able to give birth to a whole new music genre.''Foreign landscape'' though is more diverse and inventive.A mix of MIKE OLDFIELD-guitar instrumentals, TANGERINE DREAM-like spacey electronics and again simple-sounding acoustic guitars in a unique mix of Electronic Prog and Space Rock.''The Peaceful Village'' is a really peaceful piece of music.Acoustic crescendo with obvious Eastern influences and background synthesizers, occasionally bursting out some energy with percussion and more doninant synths.''March Across the Endless Plain'' is maybe too long for the idea it serves.Repetitive percussion sounds and synths will take too long to give their place to some cool atmospheric musicianship with fine electric solos and this soundscape is repeating twice with no particular surprises.Good but overstretched inspiration in the vein of DAN AR BRAZ.''The Fruitful Gardens'' contains the most dreamy, symphonic and emotional keyboard work by Gandalf, while some of his passages recall the moog parts of GENESIS.Another lovely title, ''Sunset at the Crystal Lake'', is represented by some cool,spacey and pure Electronic Music with some Eastern vibes here and there, (again) not far from TANGERINE DREAM, a calm way to close the debut of Gandalf.

Maybe the historical importance of this album is even bigger than its true musical value.Still fans of Electronic Prog and followers of MIKE OLDFIELD and DAN AR BRAZ have plenty of reasons to like this one, not to mention everyone fond of instrumental New Age soundscapes.Recommended.

I took a chance on this album not knowing anything other than it may be more new age than prog without vocals. Well folks, this is one of the most beautiful albums I have ever heard. The soundscapes are amazing and I can't help but picture the most grand images of nature that my mind can conjure up. I don't typically listen to a lot of this type of music as the norm, but for a change of pace this is perfect. I will go back and visit some of Gandalf's past releases as I see there are a lot. But this was a perfect place to start. I have been using this album as background music when I read or do work and it sets a great mood. But it can also be used as wonderful forefront music, especially while driving through picturesque landscapes or if you need a little peace after a stressful day at the office. Not much more that I can say about it other than if you need a change of pace to the softer side, don't hesitate to go here. 4 stars!

This wizard has created nice atmospheres!

It is predictable to know that this musician from Austria took the name of Gandalf from Tolkien's writings, and also, what he creates could get on well with the same books, or actually in some of the film's moments.

Though I don't really know anything more about this artist, I can mention that he has released a lot of albums since 1980, he is a prolific musician well recognized in his country. His debut album is entitled "Journey to an Imaginary Land", featuring six compositions and a total time of 45 minutes. Heinz Strobl (Gandalf) is a multi-instrumentalist, or if you prefer, a one-man- band.

This album kicks off with "Departure"; some kind of explosion introduces you to the music, but secons later the atmosphere becomes gentler due to the acoustic guitar and the synthesizer effects. Then, keyboards appear as foreground and produce a friendly sound that is always accompanied by that nice acoustic guitar and bass sound. This track has some interesting passages, especially where the short keyboard solo appears, giving it a symphonic sound.

I wanted to put that word "symphonic" because most of the album might be considered as a "new age" or "ambient music", though those symphonic parts make it fit under the progressive realm. The second song is "Foreign Landscape" which has an electric guitar that along with those synth effects, remind me in moments of both, Vangelis or Mike Oldfield. This longer track could work as a movie soundtrack, or also work while you are reading a nice book. The music is soft and gently, so you can relax and enjoy it.

"The Peaceful Village", I think the name speaks for itself, what you will find here is music in the same tenor, peace and calm in all their extension. The delicate acoustic guitar always helps creating an ambient of harmony and tranquility. The song begins slowly until minute two and a half, where a new and pastoral structure appears, giving again a gentle sound that may put a smile on you. I like very much his keyboard sound.

The longest track is "March across the Endless Plain" with a ten-minute length; however it does not necessarily means that this would be neither the best track, nor the most complex or elaborated. It is good, it has good elements and a pretty nice structure, the fact is that after a few minutes one may feel bored, actually some of the moments here are pretty similar to previous song, so that repetition does not really help. What I can point out, is that he knew how to combine the percussion with the atmospheres.

"The Fruitful Gardens" shares several atmospheres, though the music could sound pretty repetitive with the acoustic guitar and keyboards, the second part of the song becomes better after a short stop, where the guitar and synth slowly begin to progress and gradually becomes a new piece. The album finishes with "Sunset at the Crystal Lane", whose sound reminds me to some Popol Vuh moments: atmospheres, colors, textures, etc. Though the music begins slowly (again), the volume is increasing with the seconds and it creates some tension that will lead you to keep listening until it finishes.

Journey to an Imaginary Land is a pretty good effort by Gandalf, a progressive rock fan may enjoy it, though it is not the best example of what progressive rock is, actually it is strange to see him under the crossover genre, but well, if you like some ambient, soft electronic music with symphonic hints, you may try it, if not, you will not like it. My final grade is three stars, nice music to sit comfortable and relax.

Enjoy it!

Steve Hackett goes Mike Oldfield by Gandalf's magic power

It is fair to say that had it not been for the presence of one of my all time favourite guitar heroes - Mr. Steve Hackett - on this album, it is highly unlikely that I ever would have come into contact with Gandalf - an Austrian New-Age composer and multi-instrumentalist that has been releasing albums since 1980. Gallery Of Dreams is also the only Gandalf album I have ever heard (and most probably the only one I ever will hear!). Hackett adds both some of his very distinctive electric guitar sounds and some tasteful Classical guitar playing, but the music is mostly dominated by soothing, keyboard-generated soundscapes with some occasional piano and some more exotic instruments.

The album is almost wholly instrumental, but Tracy Hitchings does add some vocals to some tracks, including the title track. The music of Mike Oldfield is probably a very good reference point, but we are not talking about Tubular Bells here, but rather some of Oldfield's more recent and more New-Age oriented albums. This is overall a very relaxing and much understated type of music and it is very hard, not to say impossible, to relate this in any way to progressive Rock.

The value in this music lies, for me, not surprisingly, in Hackett's guitars; particularly, when he is allowed to shine on his electric guitar which is not too often. When he is allowed to contribute some nice acoustic playing, the mood is not that dissimilar to Hackett's Classical albums, but Gandalf's music is not really Classical. Needless to say, there are much better places to look if you want to witness Hackett's amazing guitar talents. Those looking for anything similar to Hackett's Rock albums or anything musically related to Genesis, are obviously looking in the wrong place here. But for those who enjoy relaxing, New-Age type music, Gallery Of Dreams is probably a nice addition.

For me personally, on the other hand, this is not particularly interesting at all even if I do see some soothing beauty in it. This is simply too understated and uneventful for my taste despite some lovely moments.

This album can only be recommended for fans of New-Age music and Steve Hackett completionists.

well I must admit that the only reason I buy this cd is that its include Steve Hackett ,Mr. Hackett is one of my favorite guitarist and any album that Mr. Hackett is play in I should get so finally I find it ,it was quit expensive but it worth the price ,it is a beautiful piece of music ,I didn't know for what to expect from this album because I didn't hear any gandalf album before and the most new age album I know I didn't like ,so this album surprise me how beautiful it is ,there is some tracks that I find a little boring especially the acoustic tracks but most of the album is beautiful and the including of Mr. Hackett with his electric guitar make this album a superb album that any music lover should get,so if you like good music and if you love electric Hackett like me don't think twice,you don't disappoint,

A peaceful music .

The music offered by this album is to me more on classical music with progressive touch, rather than progressive rock per se. All tracks contained herein are mellow in style, using long sustain keyboard work, piano as main rhythm section while guitar (acoustic and electric) serves as lead melodies. If your mood is into this kind of music, I am very sure that you would enjoy this album in its entirety. The music flows nicely right from the beginning of the track to the end, presents you a stream of notes and chords in slow tempo that gives you ( I can imagine!) a peace of mind. This is best listened to after 10:00 PM to get full comprehension of the music subtleties, play it loud with a dim of light (better to turn the light off!). You would then find a joy of peaceful music that accompanies you explore your mind, capitalize your brain power. In a nutshell, what I am telling you is that this music is suitable for meditating your life either in retrospective of digging the lessons of the past days and crafting better future for your life. Oh.. what am I saying here? Why am I connecting the music with "crafting" your life? Is it my business to give a word or two about your life? Of course not! - you might say so! But . you might miss my point that actually I am sharing what I experienced with listening to this beautiful stream of music this album offers. And this is not about something about life philosophy. Rather, it's confirming my belief, my proposition, my opinion that ."music is emotion". That is to say, the music this album offers has helped me uplift my emotion, increase my motivation towards life. And I am not offering joke here, this is true, my friends.! I have never treated music as a "commodity". Rather it's a contemplating vehicle to help me move forward with ever increasing life challenges and obstacles. With music, especially prog rock, I can move forward bravely, confidently. That's why I treat music so special. What about you, my friends? How do you treat music?

Let's back to business! This album opens the music beautifully with "Face In The Mirror" in ambient nuance through the sound of keyboard / guitar with classical style, stunning howling guitar work by Steve Hackett. You might associate this kind of music with Kitaro even though it's not totally similar, especially the excellent guitar work by Hackett. It's so compelling and peaceful. When I rode my bicycle for going to work last week while playing this album at my MP3 player, I truly found joy with the music amidst crowded traffic. It helped me wipe out all the uncomfortable feeling with traffic jam and strengthened my motivation. The continuing track "Willoman-Watcher Of The Waters" (4:46) opens peacefully with nice piano work with great string section at background using long sustain keyboard sound. Piano is the main thing with this track while acoustic guitar provides a rhythm section and fills. The music moves gradually into uplifting parts especially when the piano solo is combined with stunning electric guitar work by Hackett. It's really cool ..

The short track "Alone Again" (1:53) which contains catchy piano notes serves as bridge to next track. I am impressed with the power of melody this short track has through the sounds of piano coupled with excellent acoustic guitar work. This is a short track that kills! Do you remember "Hairless Heart" by Genesis? How do you feel when you listen to this short track comprising mostly keyboard work by Tony Banks? If you feel good and consider the melody is catchy, I bet you like this "Alone Again". "Between Different Worlds" (5:54) showcases how Hackett's guitar exploration and string section opens this track wonderfully. While in "Another Dream" (3:16) you would find nice oboe work by Andrea Krauk which brings the music in peaceful way. It somewhat reminds me to the nuance of King Crimson "Three of a Perfect Pair" album. Yeah, I do remember how Robert Fripp played his guitar that sounds like a keyboard; it's like Alan Holdsworth's synthaxe.

"Song Of The Unicorn" (4:23) starts with catchy piano work in ambient nuance followed by stunning acoustic guitar work by Steve Hackett. Oh man .. you must listen this album because until track 6 I have not found something which does not sound nice to me and I assure you that the rest of the tracks are all excellent because I have listened to this album (in its entirety) more than 5 times. And I do not want to review at track b track level, I just want you to trust my words that all tracks are good especially if you have passion in classical music. But I just want to add another track that worth mentioning, i.e. the album title track "Gallery of Dreams". It's because of due to the fact that this track has vocal line by Tracy Hitchings whereby the music provides similar nuance with Steve Hackett "Voyage To The Acolyte" album especially the parts with female voice.

Overall, this is for sure an excellent addition to any prog music collection. This album serves very well to those of you who love (or who can appreciate) classical music. But it might work fine with those of you who can appreciate the light side of progressive music. This album is highly recommended.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Interesting. That's the word that comes to mind thinking about this artist. I mean: look at his discography ! This man has had a very productive career and he is not even 100% progressive and that makes him even more versatile and interesting. In my favourite music store they placed an album by him under new age. I stated at that moment that he was supposed to be progressive but the salesman said: not this album, this is entirely different. I can't remember which album it was, he made quite a lot. But it's what I mean: he is a universal artist and is intriguing because of that.

This particular album is intriguing too. To me this is pure prog, high standard composing and execution resulting in a wonderful album. At first I picked out the longest track (2nd door) for my mp3 and so I know that one best. I loved it immediately, the music is kind of quiet, very melodic and very suitable as background music but meant in the most positive way possible. When I decided to check out all the other tracks I was anxious to discover they couldn't live up to the magnificent 2nd door but suprisingly they did. At least almost. The whole album is in the same style, to me that was a plus because it's a very soothing style. You have to be in the mood for this but when you are it's more than an enjoyable listen for over 50 minutes.

With all this positive information it will be no surprise I value this with 4 stars. Very well deserved !

Time to put on the slippers and put your feet up and relax after a hard day doing whatever you do, put on a Gandalf CD and you are transported to a different place every time, this time to the Far East. Imagine yourself spirited away to ancient Chinese times, probably ideal for a yoga session.

Beautiful melodies are the key to Gandalf he never resorts to endless, repetitive noodling (excuse the pun) and never allows a tune to get boring.

Perhaps the sitar sound doesn't really fit for me on this album, but that's just a personal opinion, all other parts of the album work perfectly, so not for teenage boys with a grudge against the world, because they can't get a girlfriend, but I recommend anybody who like a bit of ambient/new age to try, you shan't be disappointed.

While the most part of the previous release 'Tale From A Long Forgotten Kingdom' still falls the same category as the albums from beginning of the 80's with 'The Universal Play' Gandlaf completly arrived to the second period of his musical carrier which consists of music based on mostly electronics.

The Unversal Play is still a concept album with some longer meditative parts especially in tracks World Within and Ocean Of Time. Not all of the album sounds like that though : right at the start the first track is a quite unusual one from Gandalf. He haven't made such kind of interesting ambient sound in his carreer so the album starts curiously for those who familiar with Gandalf's music. Cosmic Circle Dance is a rythmic one - what else would one expect looking at its title - a bit repetitive really but it fits here after the slowly floating second track.

The best moment of the album is Gate To Infinity - simply a masterpiece. Not only the highlight of this album but also this song is in the top 5 compostions of Gandalf's musical carreer.

The period started nicely with this album but later complete stuctures are reused from this album in some tracks of the following 2-3 releases - which is dissapointing.

Nice production, sounds professional and as always it gives a great listening. As I put down many times in my other reviews newcomers should better start with 'Visions' or 'Magic Theater' to hear the best works of the Austrian magician of sounds first.

Yes, this compilation album (the 2nd in a 10 year career) contains the most popular tracks from the previous 4 studio albums, the period when Gandalf gone into a more electronic oriented sound. And yes its true - this period suffers from reusing structures from album to album to fill the gap between great compositions but it cannot be noticed in the selected tracks of this compilation. Some tracks are remixed and entitled as single versions.

And about the electrorums and sometimes poppier sound - yes they are here, but man, we are in the middle of the darkest 80's! Go and hear 80's Rush or Tull and you'll find that they were even more poppier that time...

This album is a good way to get some taste of Gandalf's late 80's work, although it has a common problem what compilations usually have : it contains the most popular tracks not the best ones.

Besides this it HAS the atmosphere for those who are responsive for it and it contains some of the most beautiful Gandalf tracks ever made such as The River Of Permanent Changes and Gate To Infinity.

Worth to buy but there are better albums from early 80's to check... 3,5 stars