Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Various Artists (Concept albums & Themed compilations) - Excalibur: La Legende Des Celtes CD (album) cover

EXCALIBUR: LA LEGENDE DES CELTES

Various Artists (Concept albums & Themed compilations)

 

Various Genres

2.60 | 9 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

SouthSideoftheSky
Special Collaborator
Symphonic Team
2 stars Castel Rock

I have reviewed Alan Simon's ambitious Excalibur albums in reverse chronological order. We come now to the first part of the trilogy. Like the second and third parts, here again Simon enlists a large number of artists from the Folk and Rock worlds. But unlike the other two this one plays more like a compilation of musically unrelated tracks; some songs are pure Pop Rock (in the vein of Supertramp whose Roger Hodgson performs here), some pure Folk Rock (in the vein of Fairport Convention who also performs here), and a few are New-Age/World-Rock in the style of Mike Oldfield (who is not involved even if it sounds like it).

The material is rather strong throughout, but it fails to integrate or fuse the various musical elements together. Indeed, the cuts on which Roger Hodgson performs could have come straight off a Supertramp album, and the ones featuring Fairport Convention equally could have been taken from one of their many albums (and they did indeed release a few of these songs on their own Fame & Glory album that is based entirely on material that they contributed to Alan Simon's Excalibur projects over the years). Another factor contributing to the slightly disintegrated nature of this album is that some lyrics (and all the narration) is in French, and some in English. This might be distracting for some listeners.

Overall, this is a less interesting album than the subsequent parts (Excalibur II & III), at least from a Prog perspective. Still, it is an enjoyable listen that will, at least in part, appeal to fans of both Celtic Folk Rock and Prog-related Pop Rock. Prog fans are however advised to investigate Excalibur II & III first.

SouthSideoftheSky | 2/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this VARIOUS ARTISTS (CONCEPT ALBUMS & THEMED COMPILATIONS) review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.