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Trollheart · 07-10-2011, 12:13 PM

Crusader --- Chris de Burgh --- 1979 (A&M)

(First of all let me preface this review by advising/warning you that I have a real bone to pick with Chris de Burgh --- two, in fact; one general one and one to do with this album --- and will be verbally slinging a lot of mud in his direction. I've waited a long time to be able to air my views on him, and here seems the perfect place. Given that, though, do be advised that I am/was a fan, loved his early music and although I take serious issue with the title track on this album (see the review for more on that) I do love the album and will not in any way be slating it. I mention this because it may get a little wearing for some people. If you prefer to read just the review and ignore my rantings on the man himself, you are of course free to skip directly to that point. Hey! Where are you going? Did you think I was serious???)

God-damn Chris de Burgh, anyway! I loved his music up until the point he released that cringeworthy single, and it became a hit. After (I can hardly bring myself to utter its name!) “Lady in red”, de Burgh ceased to become a serious artist for me and became just another mainstream pop performer. The validity of classic albums like “The getaway”, “Spanish train” and of course this one remains, but after “LiR” I never again listened to a CdB track, never mind an album.

What really annoyed me about that record was that a) he could write so much better! LiR was a single more suited to the likes of Boyzone or Backstreet Boys, or a hundred other vacuous pop bands. It was unworthy of him, and yet now he is best remembered, commercially, for that odious single. And b) the ridiculous, pompous, condescending “story” he told about its writing. I remember seeing him talking to one of our national TV chat show hosts, and the explanation he gave was thus: “Have you ever gone to a party, and seen this gorgeous woman dancing, walking around, charming everyone? You fall in love with her instantly, and want to know who she is, wish you could know her. And then you realise she's your wife?”

Well? Anyone? Eh, no Chris, because we all live in the real world, and most of us who are married either go to parties to escape our not-so-beautiful wives, or drag them along hoping to slip away and check out the talent later. That's not really fair, is it? I'm sure many of us go to parties and have a great time with our wives, but has ANYONE EVER had the experience Chris cites above? I'd be willing to bet a month's wages no-one has. If I still worked. Which I don't. But I still bet the percentage would be close to zero percent.

That's what annoys me about him: the disconnect from the common man. NO-ONE could ever give that story any sort of credence, no-one could identify with it, so why did he tell it? To rub in our faces how beautiful his wife is? Sadly, but perhaps inevitably, the curse of the “song-for-the-wife” duly hit, and they split up. I bet that song haunts him now, and cackles in his head late at night. I sure hope it does. It's always a bad idea to write a song for/about your wife or girlfriend, almost as bad an idea as getting their name tattooed on your body. Nothing lasts forever, and unless you're very lucky, you'll regret doing such a thing. I guess in some ways having a song written for or about her is seen as the end for the wife or SO: what can you do to top that? Surely this is as good as it's ever going to get? It usually is, and the only way from there is down.

So, like most sane people, I hated hated HATED “The lady in red”, and still do, and will to my dying day. But that doesn't stop me from appreciating de Burgh's earlier work, and although as I say I have an issue --- a major issue --- with the title track, I think “Crusader” stands as one of his best albums.

------- Rant over, for now. Review begins ------ Rant over, for now. Review begins ------ Rant over, for

His fourth album, and following on from the somewhat low-key and not entirely successful “At the end of a perfect day”, “Crusader” hits all the right spots. It's peppered (typically) with love songs, has some quite rocky tunes, some quiet, introspective ones, and of course has the powerhouse title track, all almost nine minutes of it. If I had to pick a favourite CdB track and album, I think the answer to both would be “Spanish train”, with perhaps “Borderline” from “The getaway” coming an honourable second, but the trouble with “Spanish train” is that it does suffer from a few duff tracks, whereas “Crusader”, for the most part, is a tour-de-force of songwriting and musical talent. Helped out by most of the Alan Parsons Project here, Chris de Burgh produced an album that, at the very tail-end of the seventies, was years ahead of its time.

It starts off with “Carry on”, which starts gently, like a ballad, but then kicks into high gear and gets the album going in fine style before things slow down for the first of the many ballads. “I had the love in my eyes” is a warning to appreciate your lover, as they may end up being taken away by another man if you don't pay them enough attention. ”Show me a man secure in his love”, offers de Burgh, ”And I'll show you a lucky man.” Wise words. It's very Leo Sayer-like in its melody, almost a waltz of sadness. It's followed immediately by another ballad, the far superior “Something else again”, in which de Burgh places his woman on a pedestal. ”If a man should say to you/ Love just brings you pain/ Tell him no/ My woman's something else again.” It's a very loving ballad, and somehow, despite the starry-eyed optimism of it, fails to drown you in sugar. It actually sounds quite sincere.

It leads into one of the absolute masterpieces on the album. When I was much younger, and had no money for records, nor even anything to play them on, should I somehow cobble the necessary five or six pounds together, I got my music --- like most people --- from the radio, mostly late at night when I couldn't sleep. It was there that I first heard the legendary “Spanish train”, as well as the somewhat overused “A spaceman came travelling”, and this song too. “The girl with April in her eyes” is just a perfect fairytale set to music, as a girl comes to a palace, seeking shelter for the night, but is turned away. She finds succour with a common man, and dies in his cottage. He buries her, and is amazed the next morning, when, in the heart of winter, he sees her grave covered in flowers. ”The morning was bright/ All the world snow-white/ But when he came to the place where she lay/ His field was ablaze/ With flowers on the grave/ Of the girl with April in her eyes.” It still makes me tear up.

It's made even more poignant by the fact that we are introduced to the bad king in the opening lines, and told he wishes for winter to go away: ”There once was a king/ Who called for the spring/ For his world was all covered in snow.” Here, he has his chance but misses it through his wickedness and lack of humanity. As in many of de Burgh's songs, the nobility are seen as generally bad (see “The Tower” on “Spanish train”) and the commoner good (again on “Spanish train”, “Just another poor boy”), as the poor man helps the girl and is rewarded by the flowering of his fields. The song is played against a simple acoustic guitar and de Burgh's wracked, agonised voice as he cries ”On and on she flies/ Someone help the girl with April in her eyes!”

This for me typifies what Chris de Burgh was about, back in the seventies and eighties, before he got seduced by the easy money and the empty pop song. Even when he turns up the juice he could still rock out a great song back in those days, as “The Devil's eye” demonstrates (sorry), with the voice of Satan coming through the TV, using it to enslave all of humanity without them even being aware of it. The band really get going on this, with a great guitar solo halfway through. There's also a cheeky reference to previous album “Spanish train” on it, excellent, as the title track of that album also features the Devil.

It is of course though the title track that is the centrepiece of this album, and whereas it's completely revisionist history, and has virtually no basis in fact at all, it's a great song, split into four sections and running for 8:48. Just to be pedantic, and to get this out of my system, I now intend to use the rest of this review to historically adjust the lyric, so you'll have to bear with me if you will. If you can ignore the historical inaccuracies and the huge, almost criminal liberties taken with the truth for the purposes of making this an exciting story to tell with music, you will find “Crusader” a fantastic piece of music, a great song and a real opus that (almost) closes the album. Just don't use it as the basis for any report on the Crusades, ok?

Part I; The Fall of Jerusalem:- Begins with the “bishop” (read, the Pope) lamenting the fall of the Holy City and asking what can be done to regain it? His priest tells him he must sanction a crusade, and that the knights of Europe will take the city back for him, and for God. The whole piece is backed by nothing more than an acoustic guitar, sounding like a medieval lute, and de Burgh's voice.

”'What do I do next?' said the bishop to the priest/ I have spent my whole life waiting/ Preparing for the feast/ And now you tell me Jerusalem has fallen and is lost/ The king of heathen Saracen/ Has seized the holy Cross'” ---- The Muslims had not “seized” the Holy Land. They were there first, and it was the Christians who, during the First Crusade, took it from them in the “name of God”.

Then the priest said 'Oh my Bishop/ You must put them to the sword/ For God in all His mercy/ Will find a just reward/ For the noble men and sinners/ And knights of ready hand/ Who will be the Lord's Crusaders/ Send word throughout the land/ Jerusalem is lost.” --- This was nothing more than a chance to gather together men who were at a loose end, fighters and killers who at the moment had no war to fight in, and who would kill at the drop of a hat. It was also the Pope's chance and intention to deal a crippling blow to Islam, and take “back” the Holy Land, proving once and for all that Christianity was the most powerful religion in the world. As ever, East versus West.

'Tell me what do do'/ Said the king upon his throne/ 'But speak to me in whispers/ For we are not alone/ They tell me that Jerusalem has fallen to the hand/ Of some bedevilled eastern heathen/ Who has seized the Holy Land.'” And the reply comes ”Lord, we must call upon our foes/ In Spain and France and Germany/ End our bitter wars/ All Christian men must be as one/ And gather for the fight/ You will be their leader/ Begin the battle cry.'”

The muslims were not bedevilled, nor really heathens, as they also believed in God, but called Him Allah, and His prophet, Mohammed. There WERE no wars to stop at the time of the Crusades, nor would they have been halted to allow the participants to go and fight in the East. Such a suggestion is ludicrous. As mentioned above, the knights and soldiers were all hanging around, itching for a war, and what they got was one not only sanctioned by the Church, but encouraged by the Pope himself, who promised full forgiveness of any sin for those who were ready to kill for Christ. In fact, there were many rivalries between the different factions, notably the French and English knights, and it was far from a comfortable truce between old enemies.

Part II: In the court of Saladin --- In this short piece we meet Saladin, greatest of the Saracens, who is painted by de Burgh as a heathen villain ”Whoring and drinking/ Snoring and sinking/ Around him his army lay/ Secure in the knowledge that he had won the day.” He refuses to believe that the Christians are coming when a messenger comes with the news, news he surely must have expected. The music gets more dramatic here, leading to the climactic battle. (Of course, muslims do not drink at all, as it's against their religion, but hey, let's not let the facts get in the way, eh?)

Part III: The battlefield --- ”Closer they came, the army of Richard the Lionheart/ Marching by day and night/ With soldiers from every part/ And when the Crusaders came over the mountain/ And saw Jerusalem/ They fell to their knees and begged for her release/ They started the battle at dawn/ Taking the city by storm/ With horsemen and bowmen and engines of war/ They broke through the city walls/ The heathen were flying/ Screaming and dying/ And the Christians' swords were strong/ And Saladin ran when he heard their victory song.”

Total and utter poppycock! Far from taking Jerusalem, Richard never even got in sight of the Holy City, trying three times to assault it but failing every time. Saladin never ran, though there is a small grain of truth in the lines referring to that. However it was at Acre, as Richard retreated to the sea, then returned to help his garrison who were trapped in the port city. There, apparently, Richard's singular (some would say insane) courage in facing the entire Saracen army on his own, awed Saladin's men so that they slunk away, and the day was won. But Jerusalem was never taken, and the muslims held on to it.

I suppose in fairness the facts would have got in the way of a good story, and not made so entertaining a song, but really, I'm shocked at how de Burgh twisted history to make it fit his vision. The music is excellent though, powerful and exciting, evoking the march to Jerusalem, the battle that never took place, and the victory that also never happened.

Part III: Finale
At the end, the music drops right back to the sparsity of the opener, with the lone acoustic guitar being plucked as the wise man speaks to his fool, asking if such a “coaltion of the willing” (hah!) could ever be put together again, and the fool tells him that times have changed: ”There is only greed and evil in the men who fight today/ The song of the Crusader has long since gone away.” For the actual finale the band comes back in full-strength, and a choir and orchestra takes the song to its “triumphant” close.

The fact is, though, that far from being the paragons of virtue that many movies and some history books, and de Burgh here, paint them as, the Crusaders were vicious, savage, brutal men who were happy to kill for any cause --- killing for Christ? That'll do me, and with the added bonus of a clean soul after the battle! Nice! --- and who slaughtered indiscriminately, killing as many of their own brother Christians as they did the Saracens. They also looted, burned, raped and destroyed as they went, and Richard, despite his somewhat built-up reputation, was a failure, a bad commander who had serious issues with particularly the French nobles commanding the foreign troops, lost control of his army and seemed never to really have any strategy for winning the war. Negotiating a truce with Saladin he was able to retain some of his dignity, and as the truce allowed Christian access to and presence in the Holy City, he was not seen as having been utterly defeated, but it was far from the glorious, triumphant return to England he had planned, and envisaged.

Okay then, history lesson over.! Just had to get that off my chest: it's been smouldering for about thirty years inside me now. Ignore the lyric, or take it as it can only be taken, as a very embellished record of the Crusades, and you can enjoy the track. I still do. The album ends with a very low-key track, a simple little “goodbye and thank you for listening” from Chris de Burgh, entitled “You and me”, a great way to unwind after the epic title track, and a nice calm closure to the album.

As a cohesive unit, the album really works well. Tracks complement each other, and even the massive title track does not completely overshadow some of the better compositions on the record. Its strength is, I believe, that it does not rely on the “main event” to carry the whole thing: you don't just fast-forward to “Crusader”. There are a lot of really great tracks on the album, and in many ways, “Crusader” itself is a bonus when you get to it, but by the time you do, you feel as if you have already had your money's worth.

Ah, the old days indeed. How the mighty have fallen! Listen to this for a true representation of how Chris de Burgh made his name, how good he could be when he was at his best, and try to forget that awful hit single!

TRACKLISTING

1. Carry on
2. I had the love in my eyes
3. Something else again
4. The girl with April in her eyes
5. Just in time
6. Carry on (reprise)
7. The Devil's eye
8. It's such a long way home
9. Old-fashioned people
10. Quiet moments
11. Crusader
I) The fall of Jerusalem
ii) In the court of Saladin
iii) The battlefield
iv) Finale
12. You and me

Suggested further listening: “Spanish train”, “The getaway”, “Man on the line”, “Eastern wind”, “At the end of a perfect day”

07-10-2011, 12:13 PM	#72 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Lady in red? I'll give ya Lady in Red! Crusader --- Chris de Burgh --- 1979 (A&M) (First of all let me preface this review by advising/warning you that I have a real bone to pick with Chris de Burgh --- two, in fact; one general one and one to do with this album --- and will be verbally slinging a lot of mud in his direction. I've waited a long time to be able to air my views on him, and here seems the perfect place. Given that, though, do be advised that I am/was a fan, loved his early music and although I take serious issue with the title track on this album (see the review for more on that) I do love the album and will not in any way be slating it. I mention this because it may get a little wearing for some people. If you prefer to read just the review and ignore my rantings on the man himself, you are of course free to skip directly to that point. Hey! Where are you going? Did you think I was serious???) God-damn Chris de Burgh, anyway! I loved his music up until the point he released that cringeworthy single, and it became a hit. After (I can hardly bring myself to utter its name!) “Lady in red”, de Burgh ceased to become a serious artist for me and became just another mainstream pop performer. The validity of classic albums like “The getaway”, “Spanish train” and of course this one remains, but after “LiR” I never again listened to a CdB track, never mind an album. What really annoyed me about that record was that a) he could write so much better! LiR was a single more suited to the likes of Boyzone or Backstreet Boys, or a hundred other vacuous pop bands. It was unworthy of him, and yet now he is best remembered, commercially, for that odious single. And b) the ridiculous, pompous, condescending “story” he told about its writing. I remember seeing him talking to one of our national TV chat show hosts, and the explanation he gave was thus: “Have you ever gone to a party, and seen this gorgeous woman dancing, walking around, charming everyone? You fall in love with her instantly, and want to know who she is, wish you could know her. And then you realise she's your wife?” Well? Anyone? Eh, no Chris, because we all live in the real world, and most of us who are married either go to parties to escape our not-so-beautiful wives, or drag them along hoping to slip away and check out the talent later. That's not really fair, is it? I'm sure many of us go to parties and have a great time with our wives, but has ANYONE EVER had the experience Chris cites above? I'd be willing to bet a month's wages no-one has. If I still worked. Which I don't. But I still bet the percentage would be close to zero percent. That's what annoys me about him: the disconnect from the common man. NO-ONE could ever give that story any sort of credence, no-one could identify with it, so why did he tell it? To rub in our faces how beautiful his wife is? Sadly, but perhaps inevitably, the curse of the “song-for-the-wife” duly hit, and they split up. I bet that song haunts him now, and cackles in his head late at night. I sure hope it does. It's always a bad idea to write a song for/about your wife or girlfriend, almost as bad an idea as getting their name tattooed on your body. Nothing lasts forever, and unless you're very lucky, you'll regret doing such a thing. I guess in some ways having a song written for or about her is seen as the end for the wife or SO: what can you do to top that? Surely this is as good as it's ever going to get? It usually is, and the only way from there is down. So, like most sane people, I hated hated HATED “The lady in red”, and still do, and will to my dying day. But that doesn't stop me from appreciating de Burgh's earlier work, and although as I say I have an issue --- a major issue --- with the title track, I think “Crusader” stands as one of his best albums. ------- Rant over, for now. Review begins ------ Rant over, for now. Review begins ------ Rant over, for His fourth album, and following on from the somewhat low-key and not entirely successful “At the end of a perfect day”, “Crusader” hits all the right spots. It's peppered (typically) with love songs, has some quite rocky tunes, some quiet, introspective ones, and of course has the powerhouse title track, all almost nine minutes of it. If I had to pick a favourite CdB track and album, I think the answer to both would be “Spanish train”, with perhaps “Borderline” from “The getaway” coming an honourable second, but the trouble with “Spanish train” is that it does suffer from a few duff tracks, whereas “Crusader”, for the most part, is a tour-de-force of songwriting and musical talent. Helped out by most of the Alan Parsons Project here, Chris de Burgh produced an album that, at the very tail-end of the seventies, was years ahead of its time. It starts off with “Carry on”, which starts gently, like a ballad, but then kicks into high gear and gets the album going in fine style before things slow down for the first of the many ballads. “I had the love in my eyes” is a warning to appreciate your lover, as they may end up being taken away by another man if you don't pay them enough attention. ”Show me a man secure in his love”, offers de Burgh, ”And I'll show you a lucky man.” Wise words. It's very Leo Sayer-like in its melody, almost a waltz of sadness. It's followed immediately by another ballad, the far superior “Something else again”, in which de Burgh places his woman on a pedestal. ”If a man should say to you/ Love just brings you pain/ Tell him no/ My woman's something else again.” It's a very loving ballad, and somehow, despite the starry-eyed optimism of it, fails to drown you in sugar. It actually sounds quite sincere. It leads into one of the absolute masterpieces on the album. When I was much younger, and had no money for records, nor even anything to play them on, should I somehow cobble the necessary five or six pounds together, I got my music --- like most people --- from the radio, mostly late at night when I couldn't sleep. It was there that I first heard the legendary “Spanish train”, as well as the somewhat overused “A spaceman came travelling”, and this song too. “The girl with April in her eyes” is just a perfect fairytale set to music, as a girl comes to a palace, seeking shelter for the night, but is turned away. She finds succour with a common man, and dies in his cottage. He buries her, and is amazed the next morning, when, in the heart of winter, he sees her grave covered in flowers. ”The morning was bright/ All the world snow-white/ But when he came to the place where she lay/ His field was ablaze/ With flowers on the grave/ Of the girl with April in her eyes.” It still makes me tear up. It's made even more poignant by the fact that we are introduced to the bad king in the opening lines, and told he wishes for winter to go away: ”There once was a king/ Who called for the spring/ For his world was all covered in snow.” Here, he has his chance but misses it through his wickedness and lack of humanity. As in many of de Burgh's songs, the nobility are seen as generally bad (see “The Tower” on “Spanish train”) and the commoner good (again on “Spanish train”, “Just another poor boy”), as the poor man helps the girl and is rewarded by the flowering of his fields. The song is played against a simple acoustic guitar and de Burgh's wracked, agonised voice as he cries ”On and on she flies/ Someone help the girl with April in her eyes!” This for me typifies what Chris de Burgh was about, back in the seventies and eighties, before he got seduced by the easy money and the empty pop song. Even when he turns up the juice he could still rock out a great song back in those days, as “The Devil's eye” demonstrates (sorry), with the voice of Satan coming through the TV, using it to enslave all of humanity without them even being aware of it. The band really get going on this, with a great guitar solo halfway through. There's also a cheeky reference to previous album “Spanish train” on it, excellent, as the title track of that album also features the Devil. It is of course though the title track that is the centrepiece of this album, and whereas it's completely revisionist history, and has virtually no basis in fact at all, it's a great song, split into four sections and running for 8:48. Just to be pedantic, and to get this out of my system, I now intend to use the rest of this review to historically adjust the lyric, so you'll have to bear with me if you will. If you can ignore the historical inaccuracies and the huge, almost criminal liberties taken with the truth for the purposes of making this an exciting story to tell with music, you will find “Crusader” a fantastic piece of music, a great song and a real opus that (almost) closes the album. Just don't use it as the basis for any report on the Crusades, ok? Part I; The Fall of Jerusalem:- Begins with the “bishop” (read, the Pope) lamenting the fall of the Holy City and asking what can be done to regain it? His priest tells him he must sanction a crusade, and that the knights of Europe will take the city back for him, and for God. The whole piece is backed by nothing more than an acoustic guitar, sounding like a medieval lute, and de Burgh's voice. ”'What do I do next?' said the bishop to the priest/ I have spent my whole life waiting/ Preparing for the feast/ And now you tell me Jerusalem has fallen and is lost/ The king of heathen Saracen/ Has seized the holy Cross'” ---- The Muslims had not “seized” the Holy Land. They were there first, and it was the Christians who, during the First Crusade, took it from them in the “name of God”. Then the priest said 'Oh my Bishop/ You must put them to the sword/ For God in all His mercy/ Will find a just reward/ For the noble men and sinners/ And knights of ready hand/ Who will be the Lord's Crusaders/ Send word throughout the land/ Jerusalem is lost.” --- This was nothing more than a chance to gather together men who were at a loose end, fighters and killers who at the moment had no war to fight in, and who would kill at the drop of a hat. It was also the Pope's chance and intention to deal a crippling blow to Islam, and take “back” the Holy Land, proving once and for all that Christianity was the most powerful religion in the world. As ever, East versus West. 'Tell me what do do'/ Said the king upon his throne/ 'But speak to me in whispers/ For we are not alone/ They tell me that Jerusalem has fallen to the hand/ Of some bedevilled eastern heathen/ Who has seized the Holy Land.'” And the reply comes ”Lord, we must call upon our foes/ In Spain and France and Germany/ End our bitter wars/ All Christian men must be as one/ And gather for the fight/ You will be their leader/ Begin the battle cry.'” The muslims were not bedevilled, nor really heathens, as they also believed in God, but called Him Allah, and His prophet, Mohammed. There WERE no wars to stop at the time of the Crusades, nor would they have been halted to allow the participants to go and fight in the East. Such a suggestion is ludicrous. As mentioned above, the knights and soldiers were all hanging around, itching for a war, and what they got was one not only sanctioned by the Church, but encouraged by the Pope himself, who promised full forgiveness of any sin for those who were ready to kill for Christ. In fact, there were many rivalries between the different factions, notably the French and English knights, and it was far from a comfortable truce between old enemies. Part II: In the court of Saladin --- In this short piece we meet Saladin, greatest of the Saracens, who is painted by de Burgh as a heathen villain ”Whoring and drinking/ Snoring and sinking/ Around him his army lay/ Secure in the knowledge that he had won the day.” He refuses to believe that the Christians are coming when a messenger comes with the news, news he surely must have expected. The music gets more dramatic here, leading to the climactic battle. (Of course, muslims do not drink at all, as it's against their religion, but hey, let's not let the facts get in the way, eh?) Part III: The battlefield --- ”Closer they came, the army of Richard the Lionheart/ Marching by day and night/ With soldiers from every part/ And when the Crusaders came over the mountain/ And saw Jerusalem/ They fell to their knees and begged for her release/ They started the battle at dawn/ Taking the city by storm/ With horsemen and bowmen and engines of war/ They broke through the city walls/ The heathen were flying/ Screaming and dying/ And the Christians' swords were strong/ And Saladin ran when he heard their victory song.” Total and utter poppycock! Far from taking Jerusalem, Richard never even got in sight of the Holy City, trying three times to assault it but failing every time. Saladin never ran, though there is a small grain of truth in the lines referring to that. However it was at Acre, as Richard retreated to the sea, then returned to help his garrison who were trapped in the port city. There, apparently, Richard's singular (some would say insane) courage in facing the entire Saracen army on his own, awed Saladin's men so that they slunk away, and the day was won. But Jerusalem was never taken, and the muslims held on to it. I suppose in fairness the facts would have got in the way of a good story, and not made so entertaining a song, but really, I'm shocked at how de Burgh twisted history to make it fit his vision. The music is excellent though, powerful and exciting, evoking the march to Jerusalem, the battle that never took place, and the victory that also never happened. Part III: Finale At the end, the music drops right back to the sparsity of the opener, with the lone acoustic guitar being plucked as the wise man speaks to his fool, asking if such a “coaltion of the willing” (hah!) could ever be put together again, and the fool tells him that times have changed: ”There is only greed and evil in the men who fight today/ The song of the Crusader has long since gone away.” For the actual finale the band comes back in full-strength, and a choir and orchestra takes the song to its “triumphant” close. The fact is, though, that far from being the paragons of virtue that many movies and some history books, and de Burgh here, paint them as, the Crusaders were vicious, savage, brutal men who were happy to kill for any cause --- killing for Christ? That'll do me, and with the added bonus of a clean soul after the battle! Nice! --- and who slaughtered indiscriminately, killing as many of their own brother Christians as they did the Saracens. They also looted, burned, raped and destroyed as they went, and Richard, despite his somewhat built-up reputation, was a failure, a bad commander who had serious issues with particularly the French nobles commanding the foreign troops, lost control of his army and seemed never to really have any strategy for winning the war. Negotiating a truce with Saladin he was able to retain some of his dignity, and as the truce allowed Christian access to and presence in the Holy City, he was not seen as having been utterly defeated, but it was far from the glorious, triumphant return to England he had planned, and envisaged. Okay then, history lesson over.! Just had to get that off my chest: it's been smouldering for about thirty years inside me now. Ignore the lyric, or take it as it can only be taken, as a very embellished record of the Crusades, and you can enjoy the track. I still do. The album ends with a very low-key track, a simple little “goodbye and thank you for listening” from Chris de Burgh, entitled “You and me”, a great way to unwind after the epic title track, and a nice calm closure to the album. As a cohesive unit, the album really works well. Tracks complement each other, and even the massive title track does not completely overshadow some of the better compositions on the record. Its strength is, I believe, that it does not rely on the “main event” to carry the whole thing: you don't just fast-forward to “Crusader”. There are a lot of really great tracks on the album, and in many ways, “Crusader” itself is a bonus when you get to it, but by the time you do, you feel as if you have already had your money's worth. Ah, the old days indeed. How the mighty have fallen! Listen to this for a true representation of how Chris de Burgh made his name, how good he could be when he was at his best, and try to forget that awful hit single! TRACKLISTING 1. Carry on 2. I had the love in my eyes 3. Something else again 4. The girl with April in her eyes 5. Just in time 6. Carry on (reprise) 7. The Devil's eye 8. It's such a long way home 9. Old-fashioned people 10. Quiet moments 11. Crusader I) The fall of Jerusalem ii) In the court of Saladin iii) The battlefield iv) Finale 12. You and me Suggested further listening: “Spanish train”, “The getaway”, “Man on the line”, “Eastern wind”, “At the end of a perfect day” __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 11-04-2011 at 12:00 PM.