Leaving a lengthy gap between albums is not unknown, but it is a risky business, fame can disappear like snow off a dike.
Norway's
Lava turned this challenge into a triumph in 2003.
1989's chart topping
'Rhythm Of Love' appeared to be their swansong. But 14 years later, they released a career defining magnum opus,
'Polarity'. A fitting album to crown any band's career.
Yet, despite the skyscraping quality of
'Polarity' and its 2006 successor,
'Alibi', the band remain unsung heroes of high calibre AOR, or Westcoast Rock or whatever you want to call it - a rose by any other name etc etc. Amazingly, they remain largely unknown outside of rock cognoscenti circles.
Recorded last year, this live album,
'Symphonic Journey' comes as something of a departure, as the band's music, to me at least, has an intimacy that I feared may be threatened by an expansive, full blown orchestra treatment.
Once again, I was wrong.
The album unfolds in a leisurely, suspenseful way, thrilling you with its precision, warmth, relentless salvoes of punchy ideas and abundance of sinuous hooks.
This is rock with an adult resonance, and its willingness to take its time getting to where it wants to go in no way detracts from the sheer magnificence of the music.
No, it's not sex&drugs&rock'n'roll, but neither is it hampered by its good taste or finely filigreed style.
The Norwegian Radio Orchestra know their place. Lush orchestrations underline majestic choruses, or frame melodic verses, intensifying rather than undermining the sheer beauty of
Lava's songs.
Opening track,
'Empty Shadows' seems a suitable case for treatment, and it works beautifully. The jazzier
'Closet' doesn't seem quite such a suitable candidate, but again it works, with busy wind and string sections providing counterpoint to Egil Eldoen's resounding tenor.
'Aquilo Blow's eclectic mix of celtic flavourings and westcoast rock is given a cinematic perspective by neat orchestration, adding a saxophone coda that clearly reveals the band's jazz rock roots.
Surprisingly, it's only when you hear this live compilation that you realise how many great songs - and I mean great songs -
Lava have written and recorded.
The David Foster like
'I Guess You Broke My Heart', the Toto-esque
'Breaking Away', the sublime
'Cover Me' and the wonderful
'Shine A Little Light' indeed shine even more brightly in this setting.
The accompanying "bonus" DVD makes this an extremely attractive package, not least because the video recording includes a live version of the immense
'Fly Like An Arrow' (written with Chris Thompson), taken from the
'Polarity' album.
Over two discs, this is highbrow, high calibre rock music that never fails to connect, or indeed to engage with today's melodic rock fan, no matter their individual taste.
My album of the year so far.
Written by
Brian Saturday, June 5, 2010
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