{"id":39093,"date":"2014-04-02T16:22:33","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T21:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=39093"},"modified":"2014-04-02T16:59:43","modified_gmt":"2014-04-02T21:59:43","slug":"michael-bormann-love-is-magic-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/michael-bormann-love-is-magic-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Bormann | Love Is Magic<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Michael\u201cSomething old, something new, something borrowed, something blue \u2026\u201d How accurate this couplet is in reference to the \u201cbest of\u201d or catalog albums, being released in dozens each year with some previously unreleased tracks or the other bonuses? Most certainly, the rhyme is nothing far-fetched when it comes to the new release of Michael Bormann, one of the best voices in Teutonic hard rock, known from performing solo as well as fronting such acts as Jaded Heart or Rain. A rundown on last eighteen years of his thirty-three-year long musical career is titled Love Is Magic (Best of Ballads)<\/em> and, consequently, focuses on more mellow part of his works. And as in the couplet, there is \u201csomething old and new\u201d indeed, and \u201csomething borrowed\u201d too \u2013 15 songs in total, two of which were never released before, and two cover versions. There are also some re-recordings\/modifications to another few tracks, all these flavors to be picked up by the skilled ear of Mr. Bormann\u2019s avid fan.<\/p>\n

The album starts with the piano-based power-ballad \u201cI Wanna Hear Your Voice\u201d (taken from 2008 Captured Moment<\/em>, Bormann\u2019s third solo album). Next is \u201cSinging For You.\u201d The song\u2019s title should ring a bell if you cast your mind back to the 2007 release by Mark Sweeney (ex-Crystal Ball), to which Bormann essentially contributed as a producer, songwriter and an instrumentalist. In comparison with Sweeney\u2019s mellow original, Bormann\u2019s rich-sounding acoustic rendition of the song is slightly country-ish genre-wise and less polished. <\/p>\n

And while you have to be Bormann\u2019s fan to recognize the origin of the third track \u2013 it\u2019s \u201cCan\u2019t Stop Missing You\u201d from the singer\u2019s 2002 self-titled solo album, enriched with wailing guitar sounds \u2013 with the fourth \u201cHelp\u201d you don\u2019t need any knowledge in melodic rock specifically. And yet, you\u2019ll still find yourself amazed at how different a well-known Beatles classic can actually sound, with Bormann\u2019s very emotional vocal performance and his breathy but warm voice falling into place with this re-arranged, slow version of the evergreen (similar to cover versions of \u201cHelp\u201d delivered by Bon Jovi during their early-\u201890s gigs). <\/p>\n

A love song \u201cTwo Of A Kind\u201d comes from 2006 Conspiracy<\/em> album, the second in Bormann\u2019s solo discography. This track features him sharing the microphone with a female singer relatively unknown at the time of its release (now Anette Olzon, known also as Anette Blyckert, is a well-recognized name because of her involvement with Nightwish). It\u2019s followed up by the new track \u201cSomebody Like You\u201d, the sixth on the album \u2013 and although both are drastically different in terms of lyrics, music-wise it comes close to Poison\u2019s 1988 hit single \u201cEvery Rose Has Its Thorn\u201d.
\n\u201cThe Best Is Yet To Come\u201d is again the 2002 self-titled record revisited \u2013 a slow, bluesy track and a real showcase to Bormann\u2019s vocal abilities. The expected throwback to Bormann\u2019s days in Jaded Heart (and their brilliant albums Trust<\/em> and IV<\/em>, respectively) comes with \u201cLove Is Magic\u201d and a dramatic, soaring power ballad \u201cWay Back Home.\u201d Towards the end of the record, there\u2019s also a couple of tracks from Michael\u2019s last solo effort D-i-f-f-e-r-e-n-t<\/em> (2010) \u2013 \u201cWas Mir Fehlt\u201d (a male\/female duo, sung entirely in German), the acoustic \u201cThink Twice\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t You Tell Me,\u201d an independence manifesto and an excellent soft rock track music-wise. And more \u2013 an atmospheric, sensual ballad \u201cI\u2019d Die For You\u201d, initially released on 2006 Stronger<\/em> album by Bormann-fronted act Rain and soppy \u201cGo Goin\u2019 Gone,\u201d again from the singer\u2019s 2008 solo album. And as for the grand finale, Michael delivers \u201c\u00dcberleben\u201d in his native German language. It\u2019s another previously unreleased track, and in spite of obvious language differences and certain \u201croughness\u201d of German phonetics, the song\u2019s mellow and melodic enough to fit the rest of the predominantly English-language material.<\/p>\n

Apart from being one of the best German rock vocalists, Michael Bormann\u2019s also one of the busiest; hence, it\u2019s difficult to name Love Is Magic (Best of Ballads)<\/em> a \u201cdefinitive\u201d representation to his vast discography. It\u2019s more or less representative to his solo career, with a few musical treats for his fans in between. Nevertheless, the compilation can sugar the pill in the case of listeners waiting for a brand new material, and what they\u2019ll surely appreciate is Bormann\u2019s fresh approach to his catalog as well as the potential of the new tracks and covers included. It\u2019s a good soundtrack to spending a romantic evening by the fireplace with your loved one or unveiling your inner hopeless romantic, but most of all \u2013 it\u2019s a very pleasant listening altogether, much recommended for every hard rock fan. <\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nMichael Bormann<\/p>\n

Track List:
\n1) I Wanna Hear Your Voice
\n2) Singing For You
\n3) Can\u2019t Stop Missing You
\n4) Help
\n5) Two Of A Kind
\n6) Somebody Like You
\n7) The Best Is Yet To Come
\n8) Love Is Magic
\n9) Way Back Home
\n10) Was Mir Fehlt
\n11) Think Twice
\n12) I’d Die For You
\n13) Don’t You Tell Me
\n14) Go Goin’ Gone
\n15) \u00dcberleben<\/p>\n

Label: RMB Records<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/www.michaelbormannpage.de\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Columnist — \u201cSomething old, something new, something borrowed, something blue \u2026\u201d How accurate this couplet is in reference to the \u201cbest of\u201d or catalog albums, being released in dozens each year […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,1103,9063,5350,9064],"class_list":{"0":"post-39093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-hard-rock","10":"tag-love-is-magic","11":"tag-michael-bormann","12":"tag-rmb-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}