Heaven And Earth - Windows To The World (CD)

Share this on Facebook | Share this on Twitter

Guest Musicians:
Chack Wright - Bass in 2
Haward Leese - Strings in 2,8 / Bass in 7 / Electronic Chamber Ensemble in 11
Tony Franklin - Bass in 8
Patrick D'arcy - Uilleann Pipes in 11
Peter McGowan - Irish Bouzouki in 12
Marta Collier - Bodhrán & Penny Whistle in 12

Composers:

1. Keeling/Locklear/Onori/Smith
2. Kyle/Leese/Smith
3. Bulen/Keeling/Kyle/Ponti/Smith
4. Keeling/Onori/Smith
5. Keeling/Onori/Smith
6. Blackmore/Keeling/Smith
7. Hansen/Keeling/Schellen/Schierbaum/Smith
8. Gold/Keeling/Locklear/Smith/Turner
9. Keeling/Onori/Schellen/Smith/Wright
10. Keeling/LeMar/Smith
11. Leese
12. Keeling/Smith

OK, I know that 'Windows To The World' is not a new release but this album is way too good to be ignored and since the High Priests of Metal Temple are busy, you'll have to put up with my nasty writing.
'Windows To The World' is the second album of Heaven and Earth and appears to be a lot more of a band work, than their self-titled debut, that gave the notion of being a Stuart Smith solo project. The fact that the album sounds a lot like Deep Purple and Rainbow is no surprise, since there is a strong connection between Stuart Smith and Ritchie Blackmore. The CD starts with the fast 'Dogs Of War' and continues with 2 songs, I'm sure AOR fans will love, 'Worlds Apart' and 'If Only Love'. 'Jade' sound so much like Deep Purple that you may get the illusion that Ian Gillan is singing it. One of the best songs of the album is the rhythm-blues-like ballad, 'Broken Arrow' (yes, it's about Indians). Well Mr. Smith have proved (once again) that he is great with the blues and the colorful voice of Kelly Keeling (Baton Rouge / Michael Schenker / John Norum / etc.) gives me goose bumps every time I listen to this song. The other great moments of the album are 'Prisoner' (Just check the list of the song writers above, could this song be bad? No way!) and the Celtic-like 'Years Gone By' and 'Gone by Morning'. Anyway, to make thing short, I'll stop commenting each and every song, since no matter how hard I try, I can't find any that I don't like.
I have read some reviews, around the net and the only negative thing they manage to say, about this album, is that the sound isn't that original. So what? 90% of the things we have in Hard Rock and Heavy Metal nowadays lacks originality. This album is not a cheesy copy, on the contrary, it's inspired, is performed by remarkable musicians, is well produced and it certainly worth some (or should I say a lot?) of our precious attention.