According to advertising should be included in new versions of four new songs in the old style and two old. For this purpose, "Genesis", originally the first title on page two of the LP, placed at the beginning. So far so good ...
While listening to what it is the nasty surprise! All other titles were revised massively. Instruments such as Irish fiddle and sax and (not least) backing vocals were added and change the character of the song massively. That should probably remember the old England, which indeed thematically fits - musically it does not fit! The original consisted mainly alongside drums, bass and guitar, and David's mighty voice of electronic instruments, resulting in a unique atmosphere created and provoked comparisons with Pink Floyd and The Alan Parsons Project. This atmosphere has now been largely destroyed by the newly added instruments. David singing got too far into the background. The fact that the new songs are not great addition, falls as no longer significant. "Guinevere" (a slow piece with piano and lots of choral singing) is OK and would have fit well into the original. "The Isle of Glass" consists only of the choir. "Lancelot & Guinevere": birdsong, artificial orchestra, bagpipes and sounds of battle (!). "Layamon's Prophecy" (after the epilogue!) Is very rocky - not bad but a foreign body. Mind-boggling enough, sounds the new version of Stonehenge Theme at the end closest to the original, before the Irish fiddle sound again from the beginning.
It might be about the purpose (and success) of all innovations are still discussing (is a matter of taste), one is really not: Went the pieces on the stock most often into one another or joined at least seamlessly together on, they are switched on here and hidden and provided with breaks. This affects the whole work even zerhackstückelt. Impossible!
Someone has compared this with the changes in the first Alan Parsons album. No comparison - Parsons has discreetly added some guitar tracks and a spoken part of Orson Welles and the dynamics slightly changed (attenuated - the only truly negatives) and preserves the atmosphere of his work. Here the original version would necessarily need to be present on a second CD, then I would have been gracious in my review. Fans who (even still or LP) have the original in your ear and here only expect a sound improvement, should respond to this publication with caution.
