Search - Gary Hughes, Various Artists :: Once and Future King, Part 1

A truly excellent melodic rock epic!

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 09/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gary Hughes's Once and Future King joins Missa Mercuria as one of the absolute best of the new breed of rock operas. This superb release is based on the Legend of King Arthur and is split up into two parts. Part I features the following players: Gary Hughes (Ten) as Arthur, Lana Lane as Guinevere, Danny Vaughn (Tyketto) as Lancelot, Bob Catley (Magnum) as Merlin, Irene Jansen as Morgana, and Sean Harris (Diamond Head) as Galahad. Ayreon's Arjen Luccassen and Damian Wilson contribute to the disc as well.



This is one of the best albums I've heard in a long time. Gary Hughes really outdid himself here, assembling a cast of some of the best singers the AOR/Melodic rock genre has to offer and combining their talents with a great story, great musicianship, and a vision that is evident throughout the album. The various singers really embrace their characters and put their best efforts into making the listener connect with them. My favorite performance of this rock opera is Danny Vaughn as Lancelot, though I imagine that may change when I hear DC Cooper's contribution to Part II. The prog fan in me can't help but wish there were a couple of instrumental songs on the album, but that is only a minor drawback.



Once and Future King is a perfect example of all that is great about AOR/melodic rock. While it can get a bit heavy at times, this probably shouldn't be considered a metal opera like Ayreon or Star One, though it will certainly appeal to fans of those two projects. If you are into melodic rock and metal, I highly recommend checking this one out."

I Love This Album!!!

Mr D. | Cave Creek, Az United States | 01/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, I love this album. I've had it about three weeks now and I listen to it at least once a day. Even my teenage daughter sorta likes it. Shes says it's not as weird as the other music I have and sometimes force her to listen to in the car. The music actually varies from song to song with most of the songs falling in the melodic progressive rock category. Once and Future King is a Rock Opera, loosely based upon T.H.White's classic King Arthur novel of the same name. This rock opera is the creation of Gary Hughes, the lead vocalist of the British AOR group TEN. O.F.K.,however, is strictly Hughes' baby, consisting of two separate and separately sold CDs, Part 1 and Part 2. I have Part 2 as well and it is also good but I prefer Part 1. After composing this masterpiece, Hughes, who has been a guest vocalist on at least one Arjen Anthony Lucassen's* own rock opera's, borrowed a page from the master and enlisted Arjen and several other very talented guest musicians for his own rock opera. *For those not familiar with Lucassen, he is the creator and genius behind numerous concept albums including Ambeon, Ayreon and Star One. Additionally, he has been a valued guest musician on numerous projects in addition to this album, having worked with Lana Lane, Erik Norlander, Rocket Scientists, Within Temptation and Glass Hammer. Characters Gary Hughes.............King Arthur
Lana Lane...............Queen Guinevere
Danny Vaughn............Lancelot
Bob Catley..............Merlin
Irene Jansen............Morgana
Sean Harris.............Sir Galahad
Damien Wilson, sings "Excalibur" (The Prologue) Highlights: "Excalibur",
Upon a pagan land in darkness came,
A black and heartless spawn of seed,
A cruel and wretched plague,
For the mists of time a king lay slain, Basically an intro, starting out with a piano and bell solo with background thunder and choir reminiscent of a sound track, leading into a very accessible medium fast paced, melodic prog rock number with very catchy chorus. Excellent singing by Damien Wilson. "Shapeshifter",
The perfect spell you could not resist,
I cast it well, beguiled and bewitched,
The evening fell and knocked like before,
But this time Hell had come to your door, This is a great, great song in a mainstream rock vein, reminiscent of Garbage a bluesy number with just excellent vampy, singing by Irene Jansen and great backing vocals by the cast. Who is this chick? Well, I checked and she is the sister of Floor Jansen (After Forever). No wonder she's so good, Floor's arguably the best singer in the Galaxy. Irene is apparently with a band called Karma. I will be checking them out! "King for a Day"
True Gods, they sleep,
Locked in their mountain of dreams,
They wait for the call, for the hunger,
Thry must be freed, This is slow rock song, almost a ballad, almost a waltz, a truly wonderful composition, beautifully sung by Bob Catley of Magnum. My respect for Gary Hughes is growing and growing. "In Flames"
The time has come,
There's no other way now,
This Crime is done,
It tore what remained of our reason, Another marvelous song, a medium paced, somewhat anthemic, ordered, marching style, rock number, with Bob Catley again lending his superlative style on the vocals. Great percussion and guitar. Conclusion, there's only one conclusion. The music is wonderful and easy to listen to, the musicians are top notch and the singers are emotional and captivating so, buy, buy, buy, buy. And this one's not that hard to find for a change, so buy, buy, buy, buy!!!"

Perfect ten

king wolf | Jotunheim | 08/31/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ten songs. Ten songs with lyrics that actually make sense and that, most incredibly for this age of popular music, contain perfect scansion, as well as elegant rhyme schemes.



Ten wonderful vocal melodies, each of them complex yet catchy. Ten perfect vocal performances.



Ten perfect instrumental performances to support them. Ten perfectly mixed and produced tracks, tracks which, by the way, are of such great variety -- from pure modern power metal to old fashioned eighties pop power ballads and everything in between -- that you will listen to this one all the way through every time. Ten tracks you cannot skip, because each of them would be the highlight on virtually any other album in this genre.



This album, on a scale of one to ten: ten.



Okay, that punch line was a little weak. (And for those who might not realize, "Ten" is the name of this band, even though here they are calling themselves Gary Hughes and using guest vocalists -- great ones at that.) But seriously, this has got to be the best arena rock album since Steve Perry left Journey two decades ago. Not a single weak moment anywhere."