While this is not the wizard of Tolkein’s tales, there is a lot of musical magic going on here, making this a well-titled set. Gandalf is the working name of Hans Strobl. His musical creations land in the territory of things like Vangelis, Mike Oldfield and others. I’ve reviewed another reissue from Gandalf in this same issue. This one tends to have a wider musical palate than that one does. That said, everything here is purely instrumental, while a couple songs on that other disc had some spoken vocals. Of the two, I’d say that I like this one better. Still, both are quite strong.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2016  Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.

This comes in quite dramatically and builds out with a great electronic  prog sound. This really works through some definite changes as it continues to grow and develop. The guitar soloing later brings in a great rocking section.

This is a really dramatic and hard rocking prog tune. It gets a bit noisy and chaotic around the half way mark. The cut is a rather short one – at least in comparison to the rest.