Jorn
Dukebox
Rating
Style: Hard Rock
Release date: August 28th 2009
 

Jorn Lande has certainly proved himself one of the most dedicated personalities of Rock music. He is also one of the most talented – after all, what else but talent could have propelled him to records dozens of albums with one band or another. Alice Cooper, Ayreon, Millenium, Eric Singer, Rudolph Schenker, Masterplan, Tobias Sammet…the list of highly regarded bands and musicians he’s worked with goes on and on….. 

With the aptly-titled “Dukebox” AFM Records have released a retrospective of Mr Lande’s solo material. To pick a couple, we find songs such as the Dio-esque ‘Soul of the Wind’ and hook-laden ‘Lonely Are the Brave’ (both these tracks from the “Lonely Are the Brave” album of 2008). 

Frankly I’ve always hated the inherent arrogance of these ‘Compilations/Greatest Hits’ type of things. After all, if you don’t have certain songs in your record collection then just get hold of the album and if you already have those songs…well, then what’s the point in buying the compilation! 

Anyway, for those yet unfamiliar with the band, Jorn distils the classical elements of Hard Rock (Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Dare, Magnum, Rainbow…..) into songs dominated by a soulful and European singing style that emphasises every single note. These songs could be quite standard fare for this music genre but one can’t deny that they’ve been produced to very high standards. 

The bottom line is that “Dukebox” contains some great songs but notwithstandingly remains a pointless release.


Tracklist

01. Man of the Dark
02. Starfire
03. Young Forever
04. Soul of the Wind
05. Living with Wolves
06. War of the World
07. Sunset Station
08. We Brought the Angels Down
09. The Inner Road
10. Tungur Knivur
11. Stormcrow
12. Out to Every Nation
13. Lonely Are the Brave
14. Blacksong
15. Shadow People
16. Duke of Love

Label: AFM Records
Distribution: Target (Denmark)
Reviewed by: Chris Galea
Date: September 23rd 2009
Website: www.jornlande.com