GHOST OF A ROSE

The intro to opener Way To Mandalay is intriguing, but the song itself is far too catchy and pop oriented for my taste which, indeed, applies to much of this album. The overall tone and mood is too cheerful and jolly to the extent that is becomes uncomfortable. This is most evident on 3 Black Crows which makes me cringe. The production is also too glossy and too clearly aimed for commercial success. It completely lacks the edge and rock feel of the previous album and the Stratocaster features relatively little on Ghost Of A Rose.

Diamonds And Rust is a glossy pop version of a song originally by American Folk singer Joan Baez. Judas Priest made a much better version of this song on their 1977 album Sin After Sin.

Queen For A Day (parts one and two) is the first mildly interesting song. In its structure it is very similar to Play Minstrel Play, with a short up tempo climax. Not too impressive, though. Indeed, most of the songs feel like typical Blackmore's Night fare, and nothing feels really fresh and original at all. Ivory Tower is a great example of this, a decent song, but one that feels like we've heard it a hundred times before. Nur Eine Minute and Mr.Peagram's Morris And Sword are acoustic instrumentals and are not bad at all, but hardly as good as Minstrel Hall from the first album.

The title track is again a good pop ballad that easily could have been a radio hit. It is not badly written or put together, it is just that it is so superficial and glossy that puts me off. Loreley is another one of those ultra cheerful, ultra catchy songs with very cheesy hand clap sounds. Please! I really feel that these songs lack a much needed edge. The drums sound is also very thin and not at all powerful. But thankfully there are no drum machines! But the drummer is never allowed to stretch out even the slightest (though Cartouche has some half interesting percussion).

The last four tracks are probably the best. Where Are We Going From Here is an acoustic ballad with a good vocal performance from Candice. But it is not one I will return too again. Rainbow Blues is a Jethro Tull cover! It is an obscure song that never featured on an album, only as a bonus track on the War Child album. This version is alright, but I prefer the live version on the Paris Moon DVD. It is fun to see that Ritchie and Candice admire (and are friends with?) Ian Anderson. But I must say that musically they are not his equals at all.

The Tull song together with All For One are the first two songs on here that attempts to rock. Coming in as tracks 13 and 14, they come to late to save this album from being a pure pop album. All For One does feature some nice guitar licks, but also some very cheesy hand claps and an-all-too-catchy chorus.

As you can tell, I do not like this album very much. I must, however, point out again that this is not a poor album in the sense that it is badly put together or sloppy. Indeed, this is a highly professional recording, made by one of my many heroes in rock. But this just doesn't appeal to me very much, and I guess that I am in agreement with most Prog fans as regarding this. Ghost Of A Rose makes a very poor Prog rock album. This is more of a contemporary pop album with some Folk influences. Sorry Ritchie!