PANGEA – Retrospectacular (Out Of Print)
One of you asked for this, PANGEA third and last album “Retrospectacular”, released during this decade but recorded several years ago.
Pangea has existed as a band since 1983, founded by Danish guitarist / vocalist Torben Lysholm, but while released a single and gained strong local popularity, their first official album appeared in 1995, only in Japan. Once the band was ready to release their second album in the spring of ’97, a couple of European labels found interest, and both were released in Europe via Frontiers Music.
“Retrospectacular” was recorded by themselves in the late ’90s / early 2000’s with biggest production, however, their Japanese label went bankrupt, and the album, shelved.
Meanwhile, Torben continued as session musician and working at his own studio as producer (Acacia Avenue among others). He joined a new band, Mysterell, which debut CD was released by Frontiers in 2004, a more laid back AOR / WestCoast music in style.
But at the end of the decade he resurrected Pangea, and after getting a record deal, “Retrospectacular” finally was released.
According to Torben, some original tracks were replaced by newly composed / recorded songs, more rocking oriented. Overall, “Retrospectacular” is a mix of edgy AOR / melodic rock and classic ’80s hard rock akin Extreme.
On the sweet side, the melodic rocker ‘House Of Love’, the smooth midtempo ‘Shot’ and the AORish ‘2AM’ are the best examples of Pangea’s classic sound, a perfect showcase for how good these Danes are in this style. No doubt that Lysholm has a unique voice and his talent on the guitar is among the best.
For harder numbers, check out the dynamic ‘Right Between The Eyes’, the kicking ‘Hold Your Fire’ or the funk-heavy ‘Little by Little’, with the aforementioned Extreme similarity on it.
“Retrospectacular” is a really strong album mixing classic arena-ready AORish melodic rockers with punchy hard rock songs, very well produced & mixed with a vibrant sound.
As extra we added a song the band recorded some time ago, released as single.
Highly Recommended
01 – Time’s Up
02 – Hold Your Fire
03 – Right Between The Eyes
04 – Blindfold
05 – Little By Little
06 – Shot
07 – Don’t Let Go
08 – House Of Love
09 – TNT
10 – 2 AM
11 – It’s Too Late
EXTRA TRACK:
12 – You Rock the World
Torben Lysholm – Vocals, Guitars
Jan Engstrøm – Bass
Tony Olsen – Drums, Percussion
Bass on “It’s Too Late” – Christian Rajkai
Backing vocals – Jan Eliasson, Knud Lindhart, Lene Riebau, Jan Engstrøm, Tony Olsen and Torben Lysholm
Try here
www.amazon.de/Retrospectacular-by-Pangea-2010-05-24/dp/B01KBHL19U
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