CROWN OF THORNS
ALBUM.....LOST
CATHEDRAL.....AVAILABLE ON CD
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Crown Of Thorns had to wait a long time to unleash
themselves on
the unsuspecting public, but having finally
done so, everyone agrees
it was worth the wait.
Formed at the dawn of the decade by Jean Beauvoir
recruiting Tony
Thompson of Chic and The Powerstation, Micki
Free of Shalimar and
top session bassist Michael Paige, Crown Of
Thorns quickly became
the subject of a fierce major label bidding
war. Interscope emerged
as the winner, reportedly paying them a cool
million dollars for the
honor.
Vocalist Jean Beauvoir, was an original member
of The Plasmatics,
one of the most outrageous rock acts ever.
He recorded platinum
albums with them and performed some of the
most O.T.T. shows in
history. From there he moved on to join Little
Steven as a bassist and
then guitarist/co-producer, but after two
albums and three hugely
successful world tours he left to pursue a
solo career. This resulted in
the Platinum selling single "Feel The Heat"
from the "Drums Along
The Mohawk" LP, produced and performed by
himself, and tours
with The Eurythmics and Tina Turner. Besides
that, he co-wrote
songs with the likes of Kiss, The Ramones,
Lionel Ritchie, John
Waite and many others. His most recent project
was Voodoo X,
whose LP "Volume 1 - The Awakening" is considered
a classic rock
album.
Having put the band together, Crown Of Thorns
enlisted the help of
Paul Stanley of Kiss to co-produce certain
tracks on the album. Other
notable collaborations were with Jim Vallance
(Bryan
Adams/Aerosmith) on "The Healer" and "House
Of Love", and
Beau Hill (Europe/Winger) on the title track.
Fate decreed, however, that the resulting
self titled debut album
would never see the light of day as an Interscope
release. With
musical climates changing and management differences
the album
was delayed for well over a year - then finally
the band was free to go
elsewhere! Enter Alfa Records, Japan and Now
& Then Records,
UK. Crown Of Thorns liked what they had to
offer and promptly
signed with them, allowing the record to be
released.
The album arrived in shops mid April 1994
to much critical acclaim.
This was promptly followed by a packed out
show at London's
Marquee Club. With the album receiving rave
reviews everywhere -
Kerrang! dubbed it "One of the finest American
Hard Rock albums
in recent years" - it entered the Metal charts
a week after release
and stayed there for an incredible six months!
Crown Of Thorns returned to Great Britain in the
summer where
they toured extensively and capitalized on
the glowing reviews of
their showcase gig. This time, however, Tony
Thompson was
replaced full time by Hawk Lopez, recommended
to Jean by former
Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo. Crown
Of Thorns were
back in the UK throughout November as special
guests to Skin's
"very raw and very hard" UK tour. There, they
won many new fans
and helped highlight the release of "Raw Thorns",
a collection of
12-track demos.
Building upon the foundations set by their
activities throughout 1994,
1995 marked the dawning of a totally new era
for Crown Of Thorns.
Almost a year after the Marquee debut, the
quartet found
themselves once more in London, this time
headlining the "Gods of
Rock" spectacular held at London Astoria,
but with new guitarist
Tommy Lafferty, a long time collaborator of
Jean and contributor to
many of his solo projects, lead guitarist
of the highly successful
Voodoo X and on his own acclaim founder of
the group From the Fire,
whose album "Thirty Days And Dirty Nights"
was produced by Jean.
1995 has given Crown Of Thorns the opportunity
to show its stadium
potential when Jean was asked by Jon Bon Jovi
to be special guests
to Bon Jovi and Van Halen for three months
throughout all of
Europe, playing to over a million people and
with raving audience
response. With their re-recorded "Are you
Ready" single CD
climbing the UK-charts and after Crown Of
Thorns performance at
the prestigious Rock am Ring festival in Germany,
the band finalized
deals with the other territories and returned
home to the US for a bit
of a rest. But not for long! They soon after
headed back into the
studio for the completion of their new album
"Breakthrough", that
was released in early 1996 and raised
even more eyebrows when the
foursome headed back on the road to give their
audiences an earful
of their hard hitting yet melodic new material!
The band toured
extensively mostly in Germany to sold out
audiences, kicking ass as
usual!!! Soon after the touring assault, the
writing began for the
album "Lost Cathedral". Crown
of Thorns recruited the talent of
"Little Steven" Van Zandt from Bruce Springsteen's
E-street band
for some co-writing and Max Norman of Ozzy
Osbourne/Megadeth
fame to mix the album. After months of hard
work, the album has just
been released and is taking the world by storm.
The press is calling
this album the "best CofT album to date".
Do not miss this one!!!
LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM
Jean Beauvoir has released two solo albums, Drums
Along
The Mohawk and Jackknifed. Virgin has released
a CD with
tracks compiled from these two CD's as Rockin'
In The
Streets.
Tommy Lafferty can be heard on the album Thirty
Days And
Dirty Nights by From The Fire, which was produced
by Jean
Beauvoir.
Voodoo X can also be found on the soundtrack
for the movie
Shocker with The Awakening
LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM
LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM
REVIEWS
How good are these guys? Yep
- bloody good! It's been a
couple of years, but Jean and
the guys are back and are in
full melodic glory, with some
of the best hard rocking tunes
this year. Crown Of Thorns have
created a couple of
classic rock albums, but there
are some that favoured the
debut over their last record.
Good news for you here. The
band, while retaining
the heavier flavour and the Led
Zeppelin influence of
the second album, seem to have
re-captured the urgency
and the flair of the debut. True
also that this record
has more hooks and choruses than
ever. The band couldn't
have picked a better opener than
Lost Cathedral, with it's
huge guitar sound building towards
that kind of a chorus
that gives you goosebumps, and
makes you want to replay
it over and over. A great anthem
and a COT instant classic.
Live & Die takes a couple of
listens to get into, it
is darker and less immediate. A really
moody track that is lyrically
even darker. Still, once a few
listens have passed, the
chorus is there for good.
Motorcycle Loretta is
one of my favourite tracks, with a
very Zepish and heavy
guitar riff that leads into another
anthem like chorus, that
never hangs around long enough
to get sick of. Lyin'
is a big, overblown and fairly fast
paced power ballad, that
really rocks.
A great vocal and some killer
harmonies. Free Me is another moody
mid paced tune that will also
take some listening to. Another great
vocal. Greed Of Love gets things
rocking again. The band use some
female backing vocals to add
to the already huge sound, and the
chorus is almost like a bridge
to the next verse. Cold Blooded Bitch
isn't as heavy as it sounds,
and is the closest thing to the old COT on
the record. A good mid to uptempo
rocker. End Of The Road is a
great power ballad, and one
of the best tracks of the album. Although
We're Fools is a hard guitar
driven number until the chorus, where it
turns into one of the most commercial
number the band have ever
recorded. Something like the
Beatles on speed! Great chorus and
harmonies. Waisted Prime is
a moody mid paced ballad, and again,
another very commercial number
compared to the rest of the album.
Another highlight. Hell Of A
Night is pretty different! An electronic
drum backs the tune with a keyboard
accompaniment and a sound I
can't really describe. Maybe
something Prince would record?! If You
Need Me wraps up another great
Crown Of Thorns record. A huge
ballad, if not the biggest on
the record, and one that AOR and hard
rock fans should love regardless.
A lighters in the air kind of song.
Any fan of the bands' previous
work should get into this right now,
and hopefully with a wider promotion,
the band will pick up new fans.
A very contemporary record,
while retaining everything we love
about this sort of music. Great
record!
PRODUCTION: 94% SONGS:
93% VIBE: 92% ATTITUDE: 94% RATING:
86%
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Here it is! The third
album by one of the most beloved bands for the
lovers of 90's Melodic Rock.
Once again Jean Beauvior delivers a
unique set of songs that prove
us how talented he is. He does almost
everything from producing, writing,
arranging and of course singing.
His look is still horrendous
but who cares when the music is that good
( Is Jon Bon Jovi reading this?).
Those of you who are still caught
by the melodies of their selftitled
debut album will get crazy with
"Lost Cathedral" because it's
stucked somewhere between this
one and "Breakthrough"...although
much closer to the former, I'd
say. The sound is polished and almost
every track offers a melody
worth the listen. The titletrack is quite
possibly the top one in this
release and contains an epic intro that
bursts into some strong guitars
and a chorus to kill for.
"Live and Die" is an AORish
mid-tempo track driven by the
keyboards of Mr. Beauvior. A
nice acoustic guitar solo by Tommy
Lafferty opens "Lyin'", the
fourth track and once again the
keyboards appear in "Free Me"
that delivers another good melody
and a solid rythym section formed
by Paige and Lopez. Then, a
couple of rockers steal the
spotlight being "Greed Of Love" a better
product than "Cold-Blooded Bitch"
which is straighforward rock and
roll and along with "Motorcicle
Loretta" the weakest tracks of this
release.
For the European edition there
two bonus tracks ("Although We're
Fools" and "If You Need Me")
which is something that makes me
glad because not just the Japanese
have the right to listen to extra
songs. "Hell Of a Night" is
a nice funky tune added with some
programming. It's pretty original
and I know some of you won't like it
but give it a chance because
it is really catchy after some listens.
Well, quite a long review this
time, but I think these guys deserve it.
They write good tunes and this
third album (plus "Raw Thorns and
"21 Thorns") is the confirmation
that Crown Of Thorns have
established as one of the hottest
melodic rock band in the nineties...
whether this decade is good
enough for them is entirely different
kettle of fish.
RATING 8,5 out of 10
****************************************
CROWN OF THORNS ? "Isn't this
the Swedish Death Metal-band
that once got some name problems?"
you may ask yourselves now.
Well, you're partly right -
this is CROWN OF THORNS but the
American version that forced
our Swedish heroes to rename into
THE CROWN. Anyway, American
CROWN OF THORNS play
some kind of Progressive Rock
'n Roll and may be known to some of
you because of former releases
like "21 Thorns" (1995) or
"Breakthrough" (1996).
Main songwriter Jean Beauvoir
(Vocals) and his fellows Tommy
Lafferty (Guitar), Michael Paige
(Bass) and Hawk (Drums) have
already gained a great reputation
with the former releases but to
anticipate my final opinion
of "Lost Cathedral" let me tell you that
they've beaten theirselves with
this release . . . Opening the 70:52
minutes with the title-track,
CROWN OF THORNS surprise for the
first time - astonishing guitars,
Jean's outstanding voice (is there any
better singer in the Rock-business
nowadays ?) and lots of
atmosphere prove the progress
CROWN OF THORNS went through
- other songs like "Live and
die" or "Motorcycle Loretta" (could
really advance to a new byker-hymn)
are in the same vein and
especially the really calm ballad
"Lyin' " (a mixture betweeen
rockin' rebellion and pure disappointment
- performed brilliant by
Jean) knows how to convince
the kind of writer whose ears have been
hurted by lots of crappy releases
in the past weeks. Also songs like
"Second Chance" or "Greed of
Love" are something special - at
least I don't know of any different
Rock-band that captures such an
atmosphere and such feelings
in its musical compositions . . . Other
tracks like "Cold-blooded Bitch"
or "Although we're Fools" show
just another side of CROWN OF
THORNS - the more
heavy-orientated one but this
without losing the typical way CROWN
OF THORNS have once chosen.
All songs on this release are
on a real high level and therefore we'll
find lots of highlights but
no failures - a real surprising fact, isn't it?
Mentioning another highlight
(if not THE highlight of "Lost
Cathedral") one must face the
ballad "If you need me" that nearly
drives tears into your eyes,
so better listen this together with your
partner. At the end of this
output CROWN OF THORNS surprise us
with another new feature on
"Lost Cathedral" - "Standing on the
Corner for Ya" is once again
a very melancholic track (and nearly
reaches the level of "If you
need me") but this time it's performed
unplugged and gives a clear
view of the band's sound without any
electrical gimmicks - really
amazing !
All in all let me tell you that
- if you like Rock or Progressive Metal -
there's no way around this release
- according to my opinion, "Lost
Cathedral" has set a new standard
in the Rock-genre go on,
CROWN OF THORNS - give me more!!!
AOR BASEMENT
*****************************************
CROWN OF THORNS- "Lost Cathedral"
(Frontiers Records FR
CD003, 1998)
Crown of Thorns second album
"Breakthrough" seemed to lose the
pace their debut release created
in Europe. I thought both were
decent releases though both
were much more straightforward than I
expected from a band featuring
Jean Beauvoir.
Starting off with the title
track here, I've never heard these guys
sound so interesting before
and there seems a renewed emphasis on
melody and a real rounded power.
"Live and Die" adds embellishing
keyboards and is very AOR, and
easily personable as a result. This
is pure and simple melodic rock
with a slightly dark feel and a
stomp-athon of a drum sound,
even if the mix is a little imprecise in
places.
"Motorcycle Loretta" is more
down and dirty and is much more like
what I associate with Crown
of Thorns, sort of like a heavy
Autograph mixed with Kiss. Even
with a simple backbone it's given a
clever structure as "Greed of
Love" further points out: this is old
school melodic rock that wants
to make its point in an overall context
rather than making a quick surface
effect and then leaving you
hollow. The definitely not-PC
"Cold-Blooded Bitch" could easily
have covered well worn ground,
but navigates its own course and has
a deep quality.
Favourites to me are "End of
the Road" and, particularly, "Wasted
Prime" where keyboards are again
injected more prominently to
bring the sound much more into
a pure AOR sphere.
Crown of Thorns seem to have
renewed depth and fresh quality. I
don't always go much for the
relatively heavy stuff, but this is so well
and cleverly presented that
it really gets under your skin much more
than most.
An album of uniform quality
rather than just being a couple of great
tracks and a few fillers.
AOR ZONE
***************************************
CROWN OF THORNS - LOST CATHEDRAL
(NOW &
THEN/FRONTIERS RECORDS FR-003)
Wow....what can I say? I was
stunned when I listened through this cd
the first time. This is Crown
of Thorns third cd, and this one is their
BEST one, I think. Their first
one is also very good, but their 2nd one
had it's ups and downs.
On this cd I can't complain
about anything though. The opener "Lost
Cathedral" has got a huge chorus
that makes you play it on and on
again. A great opener. 2nd track
"Live and Die" has got much keys
in the background with a more
pompier sound. In fact all tracks are
up-tempo AOR-monsters. Lots
of riffs, great hooks, lots of keys and
for once Jean Beauvoir hasn't
"overproduced" his works like he
usually does. The cd has a very
straight-forward
style. Maybe a little
harder than their debut, but
with tracks similar to "Dying For Love",
"The Healer" & "Til' The
End" from their debut.
"Although We're Fools" is probably
their most commercial track yet
with a chorus that makes me
think of Mott the Hoople's track "All
The Young Dudes" but in a much
more up-tempo way of course.
(don't get me wrong here) The
track "Wasted Time" is also
mentionable, goes in a mid-tempo
all through with a typical AOR
chours. The ballad "If You Need
Me" is also VERY good. A great
power-ballad in a perfect Crown
of Thorns style...If You like their
debut You're gonna LOVE this
one....This cd is definitely a top 5 of
1998....so get it NOW!
Produced by: Jean Beauvoir
Grading: 93%
******************************************
CROWN OF THORNS - Lost Cathedral
(NOW & THEN/Frontiers,
1998
Jean Beauvoir is unique in the
AOR business. He has kept his own
unique style over 10 years now.
The new album is actually the best
stuff I have heard from him
in for a long time. Great modern AOR
with pomp traces and great choruses.
The sound is also good. Well
produced with a flirt for a
tougher sound. This is how I would love to
hear Glenn Hughes perform. Jean's
voice actually has a lot of Glenn
Hughes vibes.
Best tracks on the album are
really not worth mentioning cause it's
solid all through but I have
to mention "End Of The Road" which is
an epic sounding slowie with
tremendous power in the refrain. Great
piece of work and a sure buy
if you're into quality based AOR. I am,
so a big bravo to Jean and his
crew.
Pär
****************************************************
