c o n r a d

Glass Hammer's debut album, Journey of the Dunadan, contained two songs which are presented as having been recorded at The Inn of the Prancing Pony. Apparently these songs went on to become favourites among Glass Hammer fans. Eight years on it was decided that the concept would be revisited and so we are now presented with The Middle Earth Album (Live from the Prancing Pony). Fortunately the songs are more like "The Ballad of Balin Longbeard" (which incidentally makes a reprise for this album) than "The Way to Her Heart", although the songs are in truth a rather eclectic mix. The first half of the album is set in The Prancing Pony and these songs have influences (conscious or otherwise) of Gilbert and Sullivan, sea shanties and country music. Mostly they sound like Americans trying to play English folk music. Although these songs derive their inspiration from Middle Earth, they do not in general refer to characters created by Tolkien himself. For the second half of the album the boisterous pub atmosphere disappears and the style is more reminiscent of Mike Oldfield's vocal pieces. This is no doubt in part due to the vocals of Susie Warren, whose voice is similar to Maggie Reilly's. This half contains the more listenable material, and the highlight for me is "Mithrandir". By the same token "Sweet Goldberry" is a rather disappointing track and the album would probably have been better off without it. This is not an album full of the sort of keyboard brilliance that Glass Hammer have made their name with. In fact the music of the first half is almost certainly more enjoyable to sing rather than listen to. That said, this album is an entertaining diversion, though probably best left to fans of fantasy who like folk style music. review by Conrad Leviston — 1-30-03 —

s e a n

This album is a bit of a departure in the Glass Hammer catalogue, not making attempts at a progressive sound but instead taking a Tolkien theme and running with it for about 45 minutes. The first half of the album are supposedly set in the Inn of the Prancing Pony. There is a faux-medieval quality, throwing instruments like recorder into the mix and adding a bunch of fake bar conversation, stage banter, and a forced "drinking song" atmosphere that gets tiresome quickly. For some reason after a few tracks they start doing Tolkien-influenced showtunes, as if sending up Lord of the Rings ala Pirates of Penzance. It would also be nice if people who are geeky enough to write an entire album about Lord of the Rings would pronounce Balin's name right; once you hear Ian McKellan do it it's kind of painful to hear Glass Hammer mangle it. Once they ditch the "live" setting the material has a chance on its own, and while it is lacking in much depth there are moments like the folky "As I Walk" that hold up nicely. A nugget or two of female-vocal-led folk-rock can't compensate for freaking show tunes about trolls, though. Obviously a novelty from the outset, even fans of the band will need to be generous in their assessments to find this worth holding on to. review by Sean McFee — 4-22-03 —