Albion - Lakesongs Of Elbid (CD 2024, 76:56, Private Release) The tracks:   1- The Lake Isle Of Innisfree (2:11)   2- Arthurian Overture (Based on themes from Trevor Jones' 'Merlin' OST (1998) (9:35)   3- Pagan Spirit (7:56)   4- The Dream Of Rhonabwy (6:59)   5- Llyn Cwm Llwch (3:26)   6- Finding Avalon (7:18)   7- Canens (Maya) (2:34)   8- Barrett's Privateers - A Tribute To Stan Rogers (5:35)   9- Black Lake (Llyn y Fan Fach) (4:18) 10- Llyn y Fan Fawr (Sister Lake) (5:33) 11- Silvaplana Rock (7:55) 12- Camlann (6:28) samples      facebook      Can I really say I have received the number 1 of the 2024 annual list already? Yes, I can. What Albion UK delivers at Lakesongs Of Elbid is of exceptional class. This is an hour of goosebumps. I'm completely blown away and that doesn't happen to me very often. Albion is the band of Joe Parrish-James. After releasing several singles and the suite, Prydery this is the band's first full-length album. The name Joe Parrish-James may seem a little familiar because he's also the guitarist of Jethro Tull. Joe is a highly classically trained singer, guitarist, flautist, composer and arranger. And now he is also the producer of this wonderful album. He wrote and arranged everything for Lakesongs Of Elbid and what he writes is quite complex. To perform music like this you also need excellent band members and he has them. Second guitarist Jack Clarke is also so good that he replaced bassist David Goodier in Jethro Tull when he had to have surgery. Bassist in Albion is Peter Szypulski and the new drummer is Ollie Medlow. And they're top class musicians too. When you think of Albion's music, think of the Middle Ages, beautiful quiet melodies that transition into prog/metal and end in classical guitar playing. And that in a way that most bands in that genre absolutely can't match. The arrangements are phenomenal and Joe Parrish-James has a fantastic voice for this genre. His flute playing is also quite impressive. That may have gotten a little rougher, but let's not blame Ian Anderson for that :-). The names of the songs on this album also clearly indicate what you should think about when it comes to the music: in addition to songs about lakes (Lakesongs), these include Arthurian Overture, Finding Avalon and Pagan Spirit. Albion UK is a completely original entity in the prog/folk/metal scene. For me, Albion is the revelation of recent years. This is so unique and so insanely good. This band deserves to become very big. Leave that to Joe Parrish-James. ***** Arne van Os van den Abeelen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy?