Music review: Last Autumn鈥檚 Dream 鈥� 鈥業n Disguise鈥�
New albums filled with covers usually don鈥檛 draw my interest unless there鈥檚 something unique about the material or the group providing the new inspiration absorbed from the original tracks. The latest release from Last Autumn鈥檚 Dream gets my approval on both points.
Last Autumn鈥檚 Dream is a rock band formed in 2002 by Swedish vocalist and keyboardist Mikael Erlandsson and German guitarist Andy Malecek from Fair Warning fame. Since the band鈥檚 debut album in 2003, Last Autumn鈥檚 Dream has released a variety of melodic hard rock albums and has experienced several lineup changes.
On 鈥淚n Disguise,鈥� the band is still fueled by the powerful vocals of Erlandsson and Peter 鈥淧ac鈥� Soderstrom fluidly replaces Malecek on guitar.
Wanting to pay tribute to the songs that played a role in influencing the group over the years, the tunes selected by Last Autumn鈥檚 Dream are delightfully unexpected and very well executed.
The familiar Steve Miller opening guitar riff from 鈥淛et Airliner鈥� is given new life by Soderstrom and Erlandsson punches out the vocals in rousing fashion. The same winning formula is applied to Loverboy鈥檚 鈥淲orking for the Weekend,鈥� Sweet鈥檚 鈥淲ig-Wam Bam,鈥� Bachman-Turner Overdrive鈥檚 鈥淗ey You,鈥� ABBA鈥檚 鈥淲hen I Kissed the Teacher鈥� and 鈥淎ll the Way鈥� from Kiss.
The biggest surprise of the album is a glorious cover of Angel鈥檚 鈥淚鈥檒l Bring the Whole World to Your Door.鈥� Being a huge Angel fan, I was pretty pumped when I read the track listing. I can still vividly remember seeing the band perform at the Stanley Theater when I was in high school. From the front row, I witnessed one of my more memorable and flamboyant concerts of 1979.
Needless to say, I was not let down by Erlandsson mirroring the spirited vocals of Frank DiMino and Soderstrom capturing the fiery guitar riffs originally laid down by Punky Meadows. If you can flawlessly nail down an Angel tune, you are solid gold in my book.
The set closes with Fair Warning鈥檚 鈥淟ong Gone.鈥� The soaring power ballad finds Erlandsson singing, 鈥淚 can feel my heart still holding on.鈥� I must confess that my heart is still holding on to the memories created by these tracks. Kudos to Last Autumn鈥檚 Dream for a job well done.