Audio CD review:
Michael Schenker - Unforgiven

Michael Schenker - Unforgiven

Band: Michael Schenker Title: Unforgiven Rating: Release Date: 23 February, 1999 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Rude Awakening 2: The Mess I've Made 3: In And Out Of Time 4: Hello Angel 5: Fat City N.O. 6: Tower 7: Pilot Of Your Soul 8: Forever And More 9: Turning Off The Emotion 10: Live For Today 11: Illusion 12: The Storm

Customer Reviews A great album for road trips My buddy played it for me once back when it first came out and I was underwhelmed. I put off buying this album for years because of it's experimental nature. Definatley not the classic song structure of MSG and the songs lack the bombast of his better known tunes. The music is not riff or lead based like typical MSG tracks, but rather is groove oriented. For those of you who bought the excellent instrumental "Dreams and Expressions" album, you understand the above description. I fell in love with this albums predecessor, "Written In The Sand" and was initially VERY dissapointed with this change in musical direction. Thankfully, my tastes have matured enough that I can now enjoy this underrated gem. While the albums flows pretty seamlessly, there are a couple of tracks that do stand above the others. The melody line in "Hello Angel" is positivly addicting, and it is a shame it was never played live. Not heavy enough, I suppose. "Pilot of Your Soul" was played live and is another one that gets you on the first listen. Thankfully, there are no fillers here and if you have an hour or so drive ahead of you, this album will keep you great company. how bad can it get . The vocals are brutally bad and songs are lifeless, the live show supporting this album--when the songs from this album were played got NO reaction at all from the fans. Great - but took a while to really grow on me This MSG effort is closest in style to the one that preceded it - namely Written in the Sand. Ignore the 4 stars - I would now give this 5 stars after several listens. At first I thought I was listening to a dud album, but it grew on me greatly the more I listened to it. What I like about Schenker is the complexity of his music. With every other guitar player I eventually get bored, but with Schenker's music I get more and more interested. He is the greatest rock guitarist in history in my view. Sometimes he can layer four or five complementary styles in a single track. He does not always give me what I want, but something else which I grow to realise is better than what I initially wanted. In a way, Schenker is somebody who actually corrects our expectations and tastes musically. I think Written in the Sand is slightly better, but comparisons with other albums are perhaps misplaced because of stylistic changes. If you are into Schenker, then I would definitely buy this album. If you are not into Schenker, then you need to give him a chance to cultivate your musical tastes in unexpected directions. . You can see a complete list of all Michael Schenker discography, or go back to the Michael Schenker tabs