Reviewed by David Cranson

A retrospective of Magdallan/Magdelan's two albums and one EP. You get nine tracks from the releases plus seven unreleased eight-track demos. As '80s influenced American rock goes the stuff from the Ken Tamplin-led album is good. "I sincerely believe that it would be virtually impossible to top the 'Big Bang album," is one of his quotes from the liner notes. This is questionable as it reflects his time with Shout (originally) and Joshua in style as well as his solo stuff. That's not to say it is bad, just not over-the-top brilliant. With Philip Bardowell on vocals the style changed significantly and the material took on a darker edge. Funnily enough, this gave it a more spiritual feel, for me. The album's been released under the original spelling, so the demo tracks are all from the Tamplin era. There is nothing outstanding about them, or much which is obviously "Christian". They are basic love songs in the main. In saying that, the quality of the recording, is better than some would expect from demos. Some of them were offered to other bands I believe, if some of the websites are to be trusted. It would have been interesting to hear some unreleased stuff from the later line up also, but that might have caused confusion with the band name(!). Of the originals, "End Of The Ages", "Dome Of The Rock", "Love To The Rescue", "Soul Child" and "Bourbon Way" are my picks. I would also have included their version of "War Pigs" (yes, that one!) from 'The Dirt' EP. So, as retrospectives go, not bad. It'll be interesting to hear what, if anything, comes of a muted House Of Lords reunion. It will be interesting to compare where Larry Cordolla is now in comparison to this and other releases over the past few years.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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