Ten out of ten! (Come on: you KNEW I was gonna say that, didn't you?)
Heresy and creed --- Ten --- 2012 (Frontiers)
Anyone who read my review of Ten's last album, "Stormwarning", will have been aware that I was very disappointed. Oh, the review was warm enough, but if you read between the lines and compare it to my gushing writeup on 2000's "Babylon" you'll see I was very underwhelmed, even dismayed by how sub-standard I found the album to be. The first album from the Manchester AOR powerhouse in five years, at the time, I had been eagerly awaiting any new material from them, so when "Stormwarning" came on the market I of course jumped at it. But after listening to it I found it fell far short of what I have by now come to expect in over five years of listening to Ten's music, and I felt hugely let-down. It just didn't grab me instantly the way every other album from this band has. I was distinctly unimpressed, and wondered if after half a decade the Ten I knew were no more? Perhaps they had been away too long?
This album puts all that worry to bed and blows the previous album out of the water. THIS is what I expect, even demand, from Ten. I've listened to the album about five or six times now, and each time I hear it I'm happier. I started just including it in a rotating playlist, and even then every track I heard I loved. I soon decided time to listen to the whole thing, start to finish, and with the addition of the tracks that had not so far made it into my shuffled playlist, I was even happier. There's not one single bad or even slightly sub-par track on the album this time around, whereas with "Stormwarning" I really had to work to find one I liked, and that I wasn't just saying I liked because it was Ten and I was reluctant to give them a bad review. Which, in the end, I did, as the album really did not merit anything else. It was a big big disappointment, though in fairness I only listened to it the once, a situation I will probably redress once I've finished this review, to see if I missed anything, if I was overly harsh, and if the album speaks to me now in ways it did not last year.
But this one has gone right in near the top of my favourite Ten albums (and I don't mean my ten favourite albums; I'm talking about the albums from Ten which I like), right up there with "The name of the rose", "Babylon" and "Return to Evermore". There are more lineup changes, with some returning members and some new ones. The core of the band, which has remained as centred around Gary Hughes on vocals and John Halliwell on guitars, remains, with bassist Steve McKenna returning after a seven-year absence, making up the old trio that recorded such gems as "Return to Evermore", "Babylon" and "Spellbound". They're joined by two new guys, with Darrel Treece-Birch replacing Paul Hodson on keyboards and new drummer Max Yates. Last time out they had Neil Palmer supplementing Halliwell's guitar work, this time they've replaced him with Dan Mitchell, though it must be pointed out that Gary also plays guitar on the album, so in effect it's almost a triple attack at times.
The first thing that stands out about this album is that it opens on an instrumental. Truth be told, Ten don't do very many of them, and most of the ones they do are sort of preludes into the next track, which indeed is how this turns out, but to the opener itself first. "The gates of Jerusalem2 is quite short, just over a minute and a half, and the first chance for Darrel Treece-Birch to show off his chops on the big booming sombre organ intro, over which Halliwell and Mitchell lay an arabic-styled guitar line which is quite sitar-like at times, recalling the likes of Rainbow's "Gates of Babylon", or indeed their own "Rome" from "The twilight chronicles". There's heavy, powerful percussion and a thumping bassline too before the whole thing explodes into the first vocal track, "Arabian nights", which as you might expect keeps the eastern theme but lets loose the twin guitars, like charging stallions waiting to be unleashed and pound across the desert sands.
Some great soloing, then the powerful clear voice of Gary Hughes comes through with the vocal, though in truth at first he has to struggle to be heard against the blistering wall of guitars. They quickly correct this though, and the song has as good a hook as any fan of Ten will expect and want, with a very hard punch from the guitars, one of them carrying on the arabian-style melody while the other grinds off in the background. Not too much in the way of keyboards here, as the song is generally guitar-led, but you can hear them swirling and bubbling along during the song. It's a great opener (I know the instrumental is really the opener, but this is the first track I would really count as being judgeworthy) and sets the scene for an album that never lets up in quality and never once looks like disappointing in any way.
It's a powerful rocker and the tempo doesn't slow for "Gunrunning". Now, using war as a metaphor for love and relationships and sex is nothing new, but I love the way Gary uses the military imagery here. It's a real boogie rhythm with a danceable bass line that defies you to stay still. Gary's vocals are much clearer here as the guitars don't quite take a backseat but tone it down a little, though Halliwell does rip off a Lizzy-style solo early in the song. Again there's an amazing hook and you really have to take your hat off to Gary Hughes' songwriting. Treece-Birch gets to shine near the end of the song, where his synthlines accompany Gary's vocal alone, but the guitars quickly pile in and to be fair, he's swamped out of it. He's surely there still playing, but it is quite hard to make out his contribution.
I see this album already as returning to the heavier style of "Spellbound" and "Return to Evermore", whereas the previous one had few if any of the trademarks of earlier records. There's a great piano intro to "The lights go down" joined by heavy guitar riffs, and it's another bopping rocker with some great vocal parts and some fine solos. The rhythm section of Max Yates and Steve McKenna really come together here, and I must say the latter certainly sounds happy to be back. A lot of Ten's music is, as I mentioned in my review of "Stormwarning", quite commercial, stuff you could envisage hearing on the radio --- at least, rock radio --- and some of their previous material in fact would not be out of place in the charts. This is one such, with a great hook but paradoxically, where usually the chorus is where you find that hook, I feel that the verses, written in a slightly separate melody, are the most memorable, and it's definitely an AOR monster that should be a huge hit, but no doubt won't.
Although like most of us here, I don't get paid for writing, I try to apply a professional approach to my own writing and be as unbiased as I can when reviewing albums. If I hate an album, but it has some undeniable good points, I'll put those across and similarly if I love an album but it has some downside I won't shy from mentioning that. It's here that that downside, as such, puts in an appearance. I have always found Gary Hughes' songwriting to be original and fresh; he generally shies from copying other rock/AOR artistes and using formulae, but here I'm afraid I have to say he is guilty of at worst plaigarism and at best lazy composition. A lovely little half-ballad with a somewhat medieval feel, "Raven's eye" nevertheless not only borrows from, but steals wholesale the melody from the traditional folk ballad "Scarborough Fair", popularised and of course made famous by Simon and Garfunkel in the late sixties. The arrangement is so close to that of the ballad that you actually expect to see "Trad: arr Hughes" after the song credits, but it's not there. So I suppose you
could give him the benefit of the doubt and say he didn't realise how similar the melody was, but even I, who have never composed a song in my life (well, none that should ever see the light of day!) instantly recognised the tune, and if I, with my untrained, unprofessional ear could see it right away, how can we assume Hughes could not?
So it must be accepted that he either took the melody for use in his own song, or somehow just happened to write something not only similar but almost identical. Much as I love Gary and his music, I can't really put forward a case for the latter. Notwithstanding this, it's still a great song and indeed the first one on which Ten slow the tempo down, while still managing to retain an ominous and powerful air overall. Stylistically, it's a real harkback to "Spellbound", with some pretty mythic/fantasy imagery in the lyric:
The dragon's claw glints... reflections of light/ In the lifeless lustre of the raven's eye."* Some great acoustic guitar to open the song, with almost mandolin-style and harpsichordal keyboard adding to the medieval feel. "Right now" is the first song that gives full vent to Treece-Birch's sprightly keyboards and indeed they're very new-wave and electronic here, at least until the hard guitars of John Halliwell and his axe partner cut in. The song is typical Ten: a powerful, heavy but melodic track with great guitar and a deep, controlled vocal. It's not the best on the album, but I wouldn't call it below par at all, just not as immediately impressive as what has preceded it. Perhaps it's its similarity to previous Ten songs that does it something of a small disservice.
No such complaints about "Game of hearts", which uses again great imagery to paint a scene of taking a chance on love, with lines like
"It makes me wonder/ If I'm the victim of a loaded dice" and
"You stack the deck against me/ One more time". It's a real showcase for Max Yates, whose steamhammer drumming drives the track along at a powerful pace, and during the verses it's good to see Gary only really sings against the backing of the rhythm section, so there's no danger of his voice being drowned out. I mean, he's a powerful singer, but sometimes the two boys on guitar do tend to get a little carried away! Great keyboard lines too from Treece-Birch, his synth warbling away in the background, bubbling under but not being subsumed by the guitars.
Ah, the familiar sound of the piano introduces us to the first ballad, with beautiful swirling keys from Treece-Birch, and soft guitar. Anyone who knows of Ten's work will probably agree that one of their major strengths lies in the wonderful love songs Gary Hughes writes, and "The last time" is another triumph, destined to go down among their followers as yet another great ballad. As in most Ten ballads, Halliwell knows when to tone his histrionics on the guitar down a notch or two, and new boy Mitchell follows his lead, allowing the keys to take centre stage and frame Gary's soulful voice against the drumbeat. There's a hint of accordion in the melody, probably made on Treece-Birch's synth, and though there's nothing much new about the lyrical content, it's a great improvement on the one ballad that made it onto their previous album.
Returning to the hard and heavy style and themes of "Spellbound" and "Return to Evermore", with a shot of "The twilight chronicles" thrown in, "The priestess" is a boogie rocker with almost Led Zep tones, great guitar work from Mitchell and Halliwell, a hook many bands would kill for, and a great vocal from Hughes quite reminiscent of perhaps a lower-register Plant or maybe Coverdale. A funky little bassline helps throw a certain flavour of soul or rhythm and blues into the mix, with something of the general melody from "The alchemist" off the "Spellbound" album, which is another small criticism, or perhaps just an observation, which turns up again later, as we will see. There's nothing deriviative about "Insatiable" though, one of the fastest and hardest tracks on the album, which gives the lie to those who claim Ten are not metal. If this track isn't metal then I don't know what is.
Powering along in freight-train mode, the twin guitar attack hits you right between the eyes, and while it's certainly not one of the most original songs Gary has ever penned, it definitely provides something to bang the head to, while retaining always that melodic element that is the very core of Ten music. I must say, the two guitarists certainly enjoy themselves on this one, let loose as they are to ply their craft, then "Another rainy day" comes a little back to earth with a more restrained melodic tune, a guitar hook right from the off that should have this song rocketing into the charts, but surely won't. The harkbacks continue here, with a melody pretty much borrowed from "Standing on the edge of time", from 1997's "The Robe". Even at that, it's a great song that you're more than likely going to be singing long after you first hear it. Gary really has an eye (or ear) for a catchy chorus and a memorable hook, and this song has both in spades. With "The lights go down", this is surely the most commercial track on the album.
Great little Bruce Hornsby-style piano run which flows into a fine guitar solo, and another great strength of this band, vocal harmonies, which although they're all Gary's just multi-tracked, make this song even more a possible hit. Back to the heavy rock then with "Unbelievable", another to get the feet moving and the hair (should you have it) shaking from side to side. Those excellent vocal harmonies are in evidence again from Gary, and hooks abound in the song with some great guitar solos too. This one too, though, has elements from a previous Ten song, though for the moment I can't identify which, not that it really matters. After this final onslaught, the album winds down with two slow tracks --- well, one really. I'll explain.
The closer is actually "The riddle", and though both that and the previous track have titles that could indicate they're covers of Nik Kershaw and EMF songs respectively, they're all Gary Hughes originals: I don't think Ten have ever included a cover version of anyone else's song on their albums. "The riddle" is another beautiful ballad, driven on bright digital piano, with I have to admit quite a lot of the melody of Bread's "Everything I own" in the verses, but that's okay. It's a lovely song, really soul-searching with some expressive piano which really gives Darrel Treece-Birch his deserved spot in the band, chiming guitars from the guys and some measured drumwork from Yates. It is in fact the closer, and at that it's a fine and fitting final track, and brings the album to a wonderful close.
And that would normally be it. Thing is, the version I bought (Japanese) has an extra track, and as anyone who's read my album reviews will know, I don't feature extra, additional, bonus or other tracks not seen as part of the album proper. Ever. But, this is my journal and I am certainly not above breaking the rules I laid down myself, and this extra song is so good I feel it needs to be written of. And so, we have one more ballad, a shorter song but no less gorgeous, making "I found love" the third full ballad on the album.
It's just a few seconds over three minutes long, making it certainly the shortest track on the album, bar the opener which is an instrumental. It opens on Darrel Treece-Birch's soft and sumptuous mix of piano and keyboards, with Gary singing his heart out against this backdrop, and I really don't hear any other instruments, including percussion, so it's a real showcase for the understanding between the two, the one veteran and founder of the band, the other only just joined but already showing signs of being indispensable.
As indeed is this album, to any Ten fan, or any fan of good melodic rock.
TRACKLISTING
1. The gates of Jerusalem
2. Arabian nights
3. Gunrunning
4. The lights go down
5. Raven's eye
6. Right now
7. Game of hearts
8. The last time
9. The priestess
10. Insatiable
11. Another rainy day
12. Unbelievable
13. The riddle
14. I found love (Bonus track)
As I said at the beginning, the difference between this and Ten's previous album is the difference between night and day. I was very disappointed with "Stormwarning", and I worried that they were losing it. I was also concerned that, having left five years between albums at that point, I would not see any output from Ten for a few more years, so I was delighted to have the chance to see if "Stormwarning" was a blip. I'm glad to report that as far as I can tell, it was, and that Ten are back to making the sort of records that made me fall in love with their music five or more years ago. I'm sure with some more listens I'll get into "Stormwarning" --- I haven't really spun it since I reviewed and was so let down by it --- but this is one album I have already listened to at least ten (hah!) times, and will surely be on my regular listening playlist for a very long time to come.
Welcome home, boys! Glad you made it.
(* = There are no lyrics available for this album yet, and I should know, having searched high and low for them. So the ones quoted are just what I have been able to discern from listening to the song over and over. In the end, there were a few words I just could not make out, hence the three dots in the quote, denoting words I could not fill in. )