Michael Schenker Group – Tales of Rock ‘N’ Roll
Damn it! I was really looking forward to this CD, and what I ended up with is a major disappointment.
The title of this CD is Michael Schenker Group Twenty-Five Years Celebration.
The sticker on the front says Featuring: All Original MSG Singers. (Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet, Robin McAuley, Leif Sundin, Kelly Kelling, Chris Logan, Jari Tiura)
What you really get is 12 tracks sung by Tiura, which is arguably the worst singer in the mix. Two Tracks from Kelly Keeling, and 1 each from Logan, Sundin, Bonnet and McAuley.
My question is this: How the hell is this a 25 year celebration when over 50% of the songs are by one singer? Sad!
Schenker sounds awesome. His playing is excellent as always. The vocals from Tiura just do not work for me at all. The writing on this CD seems kind of weak to me as well. I am having trouble finding a song that doesn’t sound like one of the others on this CD. The lone highlights to me, are Rock ‘N’ Roll (not the Zepplin song by the same name) sung by Graham Bonnet, and Tell a Story sung by Robin McAuley.2 standout tracks out of 19? Sad by any means.
Tread at your own risk with this one. For MSG diehards only.
Track Listing:
- Ride
- Setting Sun
- Angel of Avalon
- Dreams Inside
- Dust to Dust
- Voice of My Heart
- Journey Man
- Big Deal
- St. Ann
- Shadow Lady
- Love Trade
- Human Child
- Bitter Sweet
- Blind Alley
- Freedom
- Life Vacation
- Rock ‘N’ Roll
- Tell A Story
- Life Goes On (Instrumental)
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Ummm… I think JARI TIURA sounds so good on DREAMS INSIDE because… it’s not JARI TIURA!! It’s a REAL vocalist named Chris Logan. Best on the album I think, but that’s just me.
I felt the same way you did when I got the album. After playing it for a week, I had to put it away, I couldn’t stand Jara Tiura’s vocals.
I put this on in the car the other day for a fresh listen and I started to get into it. This album might be one of those that needs to grow on you.
Lol, of course it was a bad idea to listen to this after UNDERCOVER by OZZY lol. You realy need to listen to this album at least 2 or 3 times to realy like it and you have to be happy lol. Yes, check first the songs i realy liked and then later to the rest. GOOD LUCK lol. I realy love the way you write your reviews even if i dont always agree. HAIL TO YOU BROTHER.
I may have to give this a 2nd listen, but this first time around, all I heard was repetition, and average song writing with excellent guitars. I may have to track through the select songs you mentioned above, and get a better feel. Playing this after Ozzy’s undercover was not a good idea by any means. LOL!
I have a positive opinion about this album:
The first song THE RIDE is a very good song that sound sometimes like YNGWIE MALMSTEEN crazy enough, but from the MIKE VESCERA era, MICHAEL SCHENKER sound cool, with great riffs but the singer JARI TIURA is not very good on this one.
SETTING SUN is nothing special.
ANGEL OF AVALON is again great with some cool UFO riffs. LEIF SUNDIN does a great job on this song. Very classic hard rock the way we all love it
DREAM INSIDE is very melodic and would be played on MTV if it would be 1987. Now JARI TIURA is doing a great job, much better then with the first track.
DUST TO DUST:Great tune. Sound a little like BRUCE DICKINSON solo. Cool opening melodies and again TIURA is going a good job.
VOICE OF MY HEART got some cool BLACK SABBATH riffs (MARTIN era), cool riffs by SCHENKER and JARI TIURA is great on this one.
JOURNEY MAN is good, very good. Very special song in my opinion that is pure classic hard rock again.
BIG DEAL(false Alarms) with KELLY KEELING on vocals is good too. Very heavy and loud. Again could have been on MTV if it would be 1987 or 88. Good melodies.
ST.ANN is very short and nothing special. Happy its only 01:38.
SHADOW LADY start increible heavy and its one of the faster tracks on this album. Good, very good. Got some URIAH HEEP feeling to it. Dont ask me why.
LOVE TRADE is pure hard rock again. Very basic and could be a UFO song.
HUMAN CHILD got again a BLACK SABBATH sound but this time more from DIO era. Very good riffs, and good song. Classic heavy metal at its best. One of my fave songs on this album.
BITTER SWEET could be a THIN LIZZY track if they would still be around today. A mix between classic hard rock and power metal.
BLIND ALLEY is not a bad song but nothing special to be honest.
FREEDOM starts like a YNGWIE MALMSTEEN song but later it become a weak track. Not very good.
LIFE VACATION with GARY BARDEN is a nice surprise. I think the most melodic song on this album. Nearly HARD AOR. Great track, sound realy like the early 80s. In the middle their is a stupid solo but the rest of the song is great. One of my fave on this album.
ROCK´N´ROLL is with GRAHAM BONNET on vocals. He still know how to sing. DIO era RAINBOW (yeah, this sound crazy). Not my fave song even if the chorus is one of the best on this album(. GRAHAM sound like DAVID LEE ROTH sometimes (yeah, this is sounding very funny but true) and at the chorus like BRUCE DICKINSON.
TELL A STORY with ROBIN MC AULEY on vocals start with a classic 80s hard rock sound that again could be on MTV if it would be 1988. Sound much like the band PETRA crazy enough. Very very good song in my opinion.
LIFE GOES ON(INSTRUMENTAL) is a INSTRUMENTAL, nothing more then that. Good.
Far better then the last YNGWIE MALMSTEEN albums.
P.S, SHAME THEIR IS NO SPACE BETWEEN SONGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!