Very Interesting And Uneven In Spots!
05/23/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Although difficult to locate, this 1998 Grail (1970) digipack CD from Second Battle Records (Germany) is worthwile to pick up just for "Grail" (nice sitar) and "Day After Day."Grail was only about for a very short period (1968-1970) and only recored this one album. The beginning sfor Grail go back to the legendary Mod band, The Game. Grail lead vocalist, Chris Williams, audtioned for the spot as the replacement singer in The Game in 1968. The band soon changed their name from The Game to Grail and were picked up by NEMS. The band's sound does not really bare any resembalance to The Game's recorded sound. The album was produced by Rod Stewart, who happened to be a friend of their manager, Bob Pearce.The sound is early UK porgressive with sitar in spots, flutes, cello, autoharp, clarinet, and tabla. Only three rel strong songs, in my humble, which are: Day After Day, Grail, & Camel Dung. Day After Day is a winner."
Grail: The Rock Opera Of The Future
Edmund Zebrowski | 05/22/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is an excellent musical. It is based on the Grail legend but set in the future. Anyone who loved Tommy or other rock operas or who loves the X-files and futuristic themes has to buy this!"
A Fantastic work in the vain of "The once and future king"
Edmund Zebrowski | West Dundee, IL United States | 08/26/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"First I must say I am a big fan of the "rock opera". Things like Stix "The Grand Elusion", The Who's "Tommy" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall" are great works to me as well as things like "Jesus Christ Superstar" and Zappa's "Joe's Garage". So when I ran across "Grail" I was naturally going to pick it up. I was not too sure what I was getting myself into when I got it. The rich blue cover art with the symbol of the castle in the crystal was intriguing. The tag line on the top is "The search is over" and the double disc set matches the cover. The Story is set in the future with a battle going on with Outerworld and Cityworld. Lance (our main character) is 10 at the start. He's father is killed and he and his mother are taken to City world and it is here we start our story. A magic crystal, crazy wise men, and a family at war are thrown into play as this surprisingly complex story is played out over the 36 tracks. Broken up into three parts it has wonderful voices playing each part in the story. The Music is just great. It is a bit like Stix goes Andrew Lloyd Webber with a bit of Elton John thrown in to the mix. It has, as it should calling itself "the rock MUSICAL of the future". About four songs that could stand outside of the work. Tracks like "From the Wonder to the Dream" and "Too soon, Too Late" are just fantastic. Most of the songs do tend to ramble a bit with no repeating chorus that I can hear, but that surprisingly does not take away form the enjoyment of the work. All the music is really good with giutar work and heavy percussion forming their foundation. The Lyrics are wonderfully tight and advance the story at a good pace. This piece is definitely where I would want to format of the rock opera to go, but be warned that this piece is not something one can just jump around in such as "The Wall" or "Tommy" the songs to follow a narrative and do not try and cloak the story in any way. I really enjoyed this work and hope that we see more form this talented team of writers."
Track Listings (19) - Disc #1
