MUSIC INSPIRED BY THE LORD OF THE RINGS

The band says that this is one album they never expected to make. Unexpected or not, the idea of making an album inspired by Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" isn't that original. The same idea has lead to many albums, especially in the symphonic and progressive rock genre. I personally have four albums in my record collection that's inspired by Tolkien's works: Bo Hansson "Sagan om Ringen" (1970), Bo Hansson "Ur trollkarlens hatt" (1972), Isildurs Bane "Sagan om Ringen" (1988) and Pär Lindh & Björn Johansson "Bilbo" (1996). All of them are very good, and so is Mostly Autumn's album too. If I should rate them I would place them in the order that they're mentioned above with Bo Hansson's "Sagan om Ringen" as the best and Mostly Autumn close behind the rest.

Translation: Sagan om Ringen = The Lord of the Rings

Mostly Autumn's album is really good and musically it's different than the albums I mentioned above. Although my bitterness that no one of Bo Hansson's songs did turn up on the soundtrack to the movie, I think that some of the songs on Mostly Autumn's album would've been perfect for the movie soundtrack, especially the instrumental ones. The Celtic folk influences that Mostly Autumn have and the traditional instruments suites the music just fine. The mood is dark when it should be dark, and the music is happy and harmonic when it should be.

The Pink Floyd of folk music has done their best album up to date, although I admit that I haven't heard their "The Last Bright Light" album (but would gladly review it if someone could send me a review copy of it). If you like Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", why not put on Mostly Autumn's album while reading it the next time. Or just buy the album anyway, because it's definitely worth it.

Without a question "The Lord Of The Rings" has to be one of the most inspirational fantasy story lines of all time for progressive bands (Rick WAKEMAN, Bo HANSSON, Par LINDH)..We can now add MOSTLY AUTUMN to the list as well. On this album, MOSTLY AUTUMN blend the lyrical themes of the LOTR storyline within these 12 magical little songs. Bryan Josh (lead guitar / vocals), Heather Findlay (vocals, guitar, brodhran, tambourine, recorder), Iain Jennings (keyboards), Liam Davidson (guitar), Angela Goldthorpe (flute, recorders, vocals) Andy Smith (bass) and Jonathan Blackmore(drums) present the music on this CD with great flare and style. Without a question Josh's guitar is a clear standout with his GILMOUR'esque passages and huge sounds. Overall a well done music adaptation of JRR's tale with some very memorable themes and passages.

Oh man, I think I got one! I think this album is one of the most innapropriate titles. The songs are inspired by the Lord of the Rings (movies, probably). But, it's really hard to grab on anything relating to the movies nor the books.

Is it because it's barely folk? Not really. You could do a soundtrack for Lord of the Rings without getting into the folkish patterns. Although, it's the thrill of the whole thing don't you think? Lord of the Rings without the celtic/folk entourage is kind of a letdown.

Is it because it sounds so much like The Wall? Yes. Why would a band be proud of being an inch close to their idols? Dude, this band sounds so much like Pink Floyd, it boggles my mind with sorrow. Why wasting talent at soundind like a band, in particular The Wall period of the Floyd? They warned me Mostly Autum were frauds, I'm really speachless. They're actually happy to copy the concept and the sound. This is too much for me...

I cannot recommend this in any ways. Uno, no relation whatsoever with the concept of the Lords except for a few really good songs. Secundo, hearing a band proclaming their attachment to Momentary Lapse of Reason/ The Wall and trying to create something that's already existing is unworhty of your hard earned dollars.

Do not buy only if you're a fan of Mostly Autumn (there's gotta be somewhere) or if you wanna prank' a fan of the Lord.

With Magenta, Mostly Autumn is a band that celebrates their creative side by re-creating old albums, copying the attitude and repelling us by being that way. Passionate people must avoid or suffer the lost of money.

One of the biggest flops of the past years.

After hearing "The Gap is too Wide" on Internet Radio, I got curious about this "Mostly Autumn" band. I searched the stores in search of anything from them, in hope of giving them another listen. No music store in Portugal had it in stock. Like most curious listeners nowdays, I recruited the services of the Internet, and searched for anything dowloadable. The only result found was this album, that became my first Mostly Autumn audio experience. First of all, a single note. I hate The Lord of the Rings. I hated the books, the movies and most music drawn from it. So in my perception this album was a complete failure, for it did not remind at all of Tolkien's work (musically, of course, for the lyrics are quite obvious). This made it an even more fantastic listening. Great acoustic melodies followed by a dark environment that made the album sound like a permanent battle between good and evil. Of course comparissons arose. They DO try to sound a bit floydian. But that really didn't bother me. I only wished a lot of bands out there sounded "floydian" as well... However, although this was my first "true" encounter with MA, I am writing this after hearing four more of their albums, a couple of DVD's and a live performance. That said, I recon that this album, perhaps due to it's quick recording, has its flaws. The basses are too loud on some songs, almost making the guitar parts hard to hear. The vocals by both Josh and Findley are considerably weaker than on previous and subsequent eforts. All and all, it is a pretty good effort, by a band that stirs a lot of mixed feelings. Because it is an album that can be apreciated even if you don't like Mostly Autumn, since it's different from their other albums, I give it a 4-star rating.

PS: Just so you know, I went on and bought the album, getting rid of the MP3.

This was an album I picked up mistakenly thinking it was somehow directly connected to one or more of the recent Tolkein-inspired films that took our theaters by storm over the past few years. It isn't, but I'll always be a sucker for Heather Findlay's voice and the very accessible sound of this band. This is a great album to have on in the background if you don't like the music tracks of whatever on-line game you might be playing, if you happen to be playing one. If it's a RPG, it was probably loosely based on something Tolkein wrote anyway (or by someone who was inspired by him).

There are certainly some downsides to this release. For one, there is no 'epic' song on it, which one would certainly expect from an album that is supposed to be inspired by one of the most pretentious and affected book series in recent history. The various films that have been made about these books are all overblown, particularly the latest round which broke both box-office and production cost records. The songs here are more like little vignettes, samplers of what the band could have explored but were in too much of a hurry to do so.

Also, some of the arrangements fall a bit flat, particularly "Goodbye Alone", which seems to drag on forever without any really point beyond trying to sound like Pink Floyd, and "Lothlorien", which doesn't fit the mood of the rest of the album at all.

On the other hand, "Out of the Inn" is a nice folksy tune in a modern tradition, combining flute with synthesizer to form a beguiling mood and a catchy rhythm, and "The Return of the King" where Findlay's voice evokes a feeling of other- worldliness that is quite appealing.

This is a pretty decent album musically, although not up to expectations of something that bears the Tolkein stamp. Mostly Autumn is an incredibly prolific band, producing an almost astonishing level of output, although most of it does not rise to the level of essential music. This album would have benefited by a lot more attention to big production sound interspersed with the very well-done folksy tracks. I think this is probably a 3.49 level effort, so three stars it is.

(And the 'enhanced' video track doesn't work on my PC, although some day I might take the time to go try it somewhere else, although I can't imagine it would be any more interesting than my V Shows DVD).

peace

2.5 starts really!!!

Well, not being a fan of the band for their propensity of sticking (like bloodsuckers) their names alongside their 70's heroes (the vile/crass-exploitation Inside Of series), one of my other dislike of MA is their other propensity to use and abuse the whole range of clichés (prog or not) and because of the high profile they seek with their obsession, it is clear that the general negative image of prog only grows bigger when hearing of MA. In their introduction, they thought it was a good idea to do a LOTR themed album as it was never done before them. Typical Anglo-Saxons completely oblivious of what goes out of their closed spheres of their private interest: had they searched a bit, they would've found Bo Hansson in the 70's and the Lindh/Johansson collab in the 90's, and this is just at first glance, as I am certainly not versed into the Hobbit/elf fantasy wonder-world. So now that we know their talk is bullcrap, it is also clear that when you have nothing interesting to say, you plunder the clichés and pull out the biggest ones, hoping it will sell. (this was when the first movie hype was building too) Yes, Mostly Autumn is very close to being fakes, IMHO. Or at the very least they were ready at the vilest forms of blatant exploitation to get where they wanted. Rant over!!! ..... I hope ;-)

So how does one attack a fair review knowing what is mentioned above, fearing that a good deal of ridicule cheeeeeeesy clichés will be subjected at his warned ears? Well sincerely, I will not even try to be fair and just be honest with myself (and you my dear avid readers ;-), hoping it turns out still correct. Actually I'd really love their albums to stink and suck the bone, so I could really rip them apart (not necessarily MA's, did find Vulgar Unicorn for that, but I will have to re-write them to get rid of built-up tensions ;- ), but find a real horrible clichéed prog album and really tear it apart unloading my excrement and spewing my bile all over it. Write some real offensive and useless review like that idiot Brad in his worthless reviewing site. That should be fun and would probably fill my fantasy for public execution.

And somehow it doesn't happen with MA albums, because there are some undeniable qualities that even the most visceral musical cheese-hater is unable to ignore to close in for the kill. One of the thing that is saving most MA albums is their evident talent for writing honest catchy hook-full melodies that don't sound that derivative. Yes, beside their cheese fondue recipes is standing some really sweet sounding prog melodies that do take after their Floyd idols, but I wouldn't really call it derivative, just inspired by their heroes.

Brian and Ian have indeed studied and integrated Floyd so well, that it is almost a second nature to them; that in some ways they come close to their heroes' genius (without reaching these lofty heights, though) even if it lasts usually no more than a few minutes at a time. Where Floyd's genius could pull whole albums at a time. One thing though, they apparently forget /avoid the only cool LOTR character (just like the movie did, what a coincidence), Tom Bombadil; Just as well though, as this would've likely turned into one of their cheesy jigs. Well the jig comes a bit later in the form of the flute-led Out Of The Inn track. (Well they weren't about to miss that occasion, right? ;-). Among their weaker track are the villain Caradhras metal-like track (where they like a bit of credibility) and the boring uninspired Rohan track and the insufferable Lothlorien and the clichéd outro. It is also clear that the succession of violent passages in the third volume of the trilogy is forcing the band into harder tracks (Return after Caradhas) and this is a terrain where they are less at ease. But this album ends in a much lesser manner than it started really.

So there are some real great moments and there are some real Gilmour-esque guitar heroics, that does come close to raising the hair of your back (too bad it usually ends up in a fade out, though) and it clear that their melodies are almost impossible to not fall into, when you are seeing them in concert. You actually wonder why they need to do all of this soul-selling (see the first paragraph), because theoretically they have enough talents and qualities, so that those vile practices are not needed for their niche- carving.

So, this review probably didn't turn out so bad, right? Did they need such a cheesy, predictable subject to pull this album? I think not!! And after last week's review of their second album, I will repeat my compliment and think about taking every word back (even sell my soul?) for a night shared with those two absolutely superb fairies (Angela and Heather, not the males you wise arses ;-) in the group. I suppose I will not be forgiven that easily (should they ever stumble on my review), but then again, I will survive without fulfilling some of my fantasies. Something that the group seems quite opposite to me after fulfilling their LOTR obsession. All the more power to them, really!! Although I must recognize the inherent qualities of this album, I am still not able to like it. But I don't loathe it either!!!

Btw, the PC-only video track is unfortunately reinforcing the clichés that prog has so much trouble shaking.

First of all, I am not a specialist of The Lord Of The Rings. I have not read the books (although I bought them for my son) and I appreciate moderately the movies. Nevertheless, I would have thought that there was sufficient material for producing a great record based on the creative script (started some seventy years ago) from Tolkien.

When one listen to the "Overture", all hopes are allowed. It is somptuous, even grandiose. A very good opener, a bit repetitive yet interesting. A bit scary with some bizarre sounds (vocals ?) to enforce this feeling. A flamboyant start.

The first track in which Heather is featured on this album is "Greenwood The Giant". Beautiful vocals of course but this song will easily lead you to fall asleep. Little texture, weak melody. Rather poor for almost four minutes. And then, all of a sudden, a superb and furious guitar break (hi David - Gilmour, of course) will wake you up. Mostly Autumn often delivers such tracks in which a fantastic and bombastic finale saves the song. There will be several cases like this one of this "inspired" album.

We don't have to wait long actually because the next track "Goodbye Alone" which sounds like an Irish folk ballad à la Corrs is rather dull as well (don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Corrs are boring). It will be saved from misery thanks to the brilliant second part (hi David).

With "Out Of The Inn" we'll get a Monthy Python-esque intro. This song sounds as a medieval gigue. Pure traditional folk music. Not my cup of tea as you might know. The track will again evolve into a vibrant finale, but violin and keyboards will accompany the guitar this time (what a change!).

"On The Wings Of Gwaihir" is a repetitive instrumental till 3'30". And then, guess what ? Yes, we"ll get another fabulous guitar solo that comes to the rescue (thanks David). At this time of the record, I really believe that LOTR could have generated more passionate and bombasitc moments. Instead, we get average music (at times great, but not too often unfortunately).

"At Last To Rivendell" is again a very uninspired intrumental (especially the long intro). "Journey´s Thought", on the contrary is a pure Floydian track. An intro with some acoustic guitar reminds me of "Wish You Were Here". It is quiet, with great background keys and an intriguing mood. I would expect more tracks of this vein. One of my preferred track of this work even if the origin is obvious.

There will even be an attempt to produce an almost hard-rock number "Caradhras The Cruel". Needless to say that they do not excell in this genre but at least it breaks the dull mood of the album.

Heather comes back on the lead with "The Riders Of Rohan" : it is much more convincing than "Greenwood The Giant". A bit short to my taste, but another good moment. Nothing grandiose, just a nice ballad in which her voice makes miracle. What a duet she will do with Fish at home once they'll get married ! (in August 2007). Lucky man.

"Lothlorien" is another beautiful song but it will provide you with the utmost sleepiness. "The Return Of The King" is also a good song (Floydian, would you believe!) but too short.

"To the Grey Heavens" is a quiet instrumental that closes this album is a very smooth way. I would have hoped a more bombastic finale, but nothing as such.

I appreciate very much MA for their beautiful vocal harmonies, but there are almost none here. I believe that MA missed a good opportunity in releasing a great album. Very little of these songs will make a long life during their concerts.

I have nothing against bands sounding as other ones. I must even say that is precisely the MA side that I like best : when they are WELL inspired by Floyd. I know they are really truthful in their admiration (it will even lead to a live album full of Floyd covers, but that's another story) and they have never hidden this aspect of their work.

I also find it boring that for several songs, only the last part sounds great. What a great record could have Floyd made out of this !

I have a rather mixed feeling as to rate this one. Again, to rate on a ten points scale would have been easier (one should definitely think of that on PA). Five out of ten. I will upgrade it thanks to these brilliant breaks I have described.

I think I have read it on the MA website years ago, they realized this album in one week, including the songwriting. I don't remember why they decided to realize an album inspired to Tolkien, that's not a very original idea, but that's it.

It starts with "The Forge Of Sauron", that's an instrumental made of two difeerent parts joined together. the first dark and appropriate for a movie titles, with drums and bodhran giving a sense or pressure, the second more symphonic and in line with the band's sound of the period.

"Greenwood the Giant" starts acoustic.. The guitar is quite similar to "Evergreen" and this is not a bad thing as that's one of the best MA songs. Also Heather's performance is excellent. If you like slow and melancholic melodies that's a great one. Unfortunately after 2:30 minutes there's an acoustic reprise of The Forge Of Sauron. Unneeded. It jeopardized the song even if I have to admit that the Gilmourish guitar solo that closes the song is very good (and a little stealed from Echoes, maybe).

The piano intro of "Goodbye Alone" reminds to Vangelis, then it goes folk with acoustic guitar and lead violin (a guest as MA don't feature a violinist since The Last Bright Light). It's nice how Heather replaces Bryan as lead vocalist in the middle of the song. It's always nice when Heather replaces Bryan, effectively. But it's also nice how Bryan plays guitar solos. In this song he sounds a lot like Gilmour in Division Bell.

"Out Of The Inn" is a discutible addition. They could have at least re-recorded the track, but it's exactly the same of For All We Shared.

"On The Wings Of Gwahir" is very floydian with guitar harmonics and little dissonant chords. The keyboard behind sounds like Wright, too even if deeply relegated in the background. A good instrumental.

"At Last of Rivendell" is a sort of canon with a strong medieval flavor. A highlight of this album also because it's not an usual thing for MA. It's closer to Blackmore's Night and is possible that the presence of a Blackmore in the lineup has something to do with it.

Back to standard MA stuff with "Journey's Thought". Still floydian, with classical guitar over minor chords of the keyboard and some slide in the back, at least until Bryan sings. It could have been a great instrumental. Now it's only a song.

It becomes harder with "Caradhras The Cruel". Sorry but it's very bad. Bad production and trivial song, the only good of this luckily short song is Heather's voice that here reminds a bit to Annie Haslam. Skip it.

"The Riders Of Rohan" is way better. Not a great song, but at least is a MA song with Heather as lead vocalist. Good but non-essential.

"Lothlorien" is another good moment of the album. A very nice slow song sung by Heather over a base consisting mainly of classical guitar. It reminds a bit to Fat Old Sun.

"The Return of the King" is instead, the weakest track of the album. It tries to be rock and powerful, probably inspired to Pink Floyd's One Step, but in my opinion it totally fails. Skip it.

"To The Grey Havens" is a good closer. A classical guitar based slow instrumental.

Taking into account that weak songs and excellent songs are balanced and the fact that this album is quite an anomaly in the MA discography, it fits perfectly in the "good, but non- essential" definition.

Review Nº 557

"Music Inspired By The Lord Of The Rings" is the fourth studio album of Mostly Autumn and was released in 2001. In contrary as its name indicates, the music of the album wasn't inspired by "The Lord Of The Rings", the book of the famous trilogy of J. R. R. Tolkien, but it was based because of the first film of the Trilogy cycle, "The Fellowship Of The Ring", when it was filmed and announced. Curiously, the recording of the album took only a fortnight to be recorded.

The line up on the album is Bryan Josh (lead and backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars), Heather Findlay (lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitars, tambourine, bodhran and recorders), Iain Jennings (keyboards), Liam Davison (rhythm, acoustic guitars and slide guitars), Angela Goldthorpe (backing vocals, flute and recorders), Andy Smith (bass guitars) and Jonathan Blackmore (drums). The album had also the participation of Duncan Ryson (keyboards and programming), Marcus Bousefield (violin), Marissa Claughan (cello) and Che (djembe), who were invited as guests.

"The Lord Of The Rings" is an oeuvre very well known all over the world. It's an epic novel divided into three volumes which was written by the English writer and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's also fantasy novel "The Hobbit", but developed into a much larger scale. The novel was even more immortalised by the three epic films directed by Peter Jackson, "The Fellowship Of The Ring", "The Two Towers" and "The Return Of The King".

Relatively to the album, the least we can say is that this is truly an unexpected album, which was what Mostly Autumn called it. They said that "The Lord Of The Rings" has long been a source of inspiration to them. The general idea was to present a whole set of songs based around the literary work. But, the most interesting and impressive thing was that Mostly Autumn made the album only in fourteen days in order to coincide with the world premiere of the first film of the series. So, and as the band wrote, this album is the final result of fourteen days and nights in November 2001. But as they said, it was never intended to be their fourth studio album but only wanted to be a tribute to a great literary work.

"Music Inspired By The Lord Of The Rings" is somehow a bit different of their three previous albums. Here we are in the medieval era with great flavours. All kind of instrumentation confirms that. The music is really great and the sound is more epic, sounding like a big performance. The guitars are more electric and powerful, the wind instruments are here a great element and also the percussion. This is a powerful and spectacular presentation of their much known formulas.

"Music Inspired By The Lord Of The Rings" has twelve tracks. The compositions are all different of each other. We find huge instrumental pieces mixed with soft and acoustic vocal ones. "Overture - Forge Of Sauron" opens the album powerfully and very dark. It's a great epic piece with a prog structure. "The Sauron" theme, which occurs several times, is introduced here. "Greenwood The Great (Shadowy Glades)" starts off rather folksy and then it kicks into high gear with loud guitars and drums. "Goodbye Alone" is a calm and melancholic piece, with a good instrumentation and nice guitar solo at the end. "Out Of The Inn" has a nice medieval environment, starting out light and airy and then lurches into an increasing sounding rocker. "On The Wings Of Gwaihir" is an instrumental that follows a steadily repeated riff, but works through several key changes to keep it interesting. "At Last To Rivendell" keeps its Celtic flavor throughout, even as its tempo hastens. It's almost a pure short and sweet folk music. "Journey's Thought" has a meditative mood and is another calm and sweet piece that rambles a bit, but maybe that's the point. "Caradhras The Cruel" is a bit short, but is a powerful song with a strong guitar, and it's very well arranged. "The Riders Of Rohan" is an uplifting and joyful rolling piano melody, sung in a friendly voice by Heather Findlay. "Lothlorien" is very delicately played and sung and despite its strong lyrics it's one of the most subtle tracks on the album. "The Return Of The King" is one of the most spectacular pieces on the album with a powerful guitar power chord sequence. "To The Grey Havens" is an acoustic and beautiful ballad. It's just a little bit sad, but the guitar and sparse violin confirm that this is a good end to the album.

Conclusion: "Music Inspired By The Lord Of The Rings" is an excellent album. I enjoy it very much. It's a big surprise due to many of the things I've read on Progarchives. Recording an album only in fourteen days includes many risks such as repeating melodies, some inconsistency and music with low quality level. But, Mostly Autumn hasn't fall too deeply into those problems, really. This was largely compensated by some stunning tracks like "Overture ? Forge Of Sauron", "Out Of The Inn", "At Last To Rivendell", "Lothlorien" and "The Return Of The King". By the other hand, I don't agree with those who say that "Music Inspired By The Lord Of The Rings" is an album too much inspired in Pink Floyd's music. Besides, I can't see anything wrong with that and I sincerely think that no harm can come to the world because of that. So and concluding, "Music Inspired By The Lord Of The Rings" is an excellent Mostly Autumn's album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)