‘Tiger’ is an album that fits in well with its Circle Of Friends cousins, and should appeal across the board...
‘Tiger’ is almost what you could consider a bonus album that was conceived during the recording of Spanish chanteuse Gabrielle de Val’s first solo album ‘Kiss In A Dragons Night’, where some old chestnuts, re-recordings and new songs were recorded by the artists that had taken part in that project; hence the Dragonlords moniker. As with the Circle Of Friends albums, ‘Tiger’ features a number of different singers and musicians, including de Val herself, Robin McAuley (MSG), Steve Overland (FM), Mark Boals (Ring Of Fire/Royal Hunt), Mick Devine (7), and Ellinor Asp (Hellinor). The album contains eleven tracks which can be divided into three full covers, two re-recordings and six new songs.
Taking the covers first, we have the album title track ‘Tiger’, originally recorded by ABBA. This is a powerful, rocked-up version sung by de Val and Asp, and features a short but tasty guitar solo by Fredrik Folkare (Nordic Union) towards the end. Next one up is ‘Midnight (You Won’t Be Sleeping)’ sung by de Val and Andrew Freeman. This is a harder version of the Magnum classic, with subtle differences that include substituting a guitar solo for the sax parts on the original – a nice tribute to the late Tony Clarkin. The final cover is of the Chesney Hawkes hit ‘The One And Only’, which is again rocked-up a notch or two, and features a fantastic vocal performance by Devine.
The re-recorded tracks include ‘Pay For The Lonely Nights’, originally recorded by The Val and also appeared on Gaby’s solo album KIADN as a duet with Steve Overland. Another The Val track ‘Up To Where You Are’ and ‘Little Piece Of Heaven’, originally recorded by Doro on the Circle Of Friends album ‘The Garden’; are both sung by de Val in a more Melodic Rock style to the originals.
The new songs on this release include the Overland/Tommy Denander penned song ‘Think Like A Man, sung by de Val, ‘When Midnight Comes’ by Boals, and ‘We Live, We Learn’ and ‘Bowmore’ by McAuley. All these original songs are finely crafted melodic tracks that can stand up well on their own, with ‘Bowmore’ standing out as being a bit different with its historic Celtic influences.
‘Tiger’ is an album that fits in well with its Circle Of Friends cousins, and should appeal across the board, with its fine combination of contributors, top notch writing and production.
Reviewer: Chris Mee
Label: Escape
Genre: Melodic Rock
Issue Reviewed In: 109
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