Title: Good instrumentals, cheap vocals
Product review: "Excelsior" by Bill Berends & Co. was a great instrumental album. On their 2000 CD release, Bill surprises us with female vocals (Lisa Bouchelle) - he really shouldn't have done that. Obviously, Bill isn't skilled enough to write good vocal parts. Hence, this album is great in its instrumental-only parts, but sounds like a cheap middle-of-the-road-wannabe-metal-band-with-female-singer otherwise. And was this "Endless Enigma" thing really necessary?!? I mean, this is one of ELP's best songs, and it's hard to top their own version. Now Bill comes up with a badly arranged cover version, with a female voice that sounds absolutely misplaced on this track... One more unneccessary rehash of a great classic prog composition. Two stars for the few instrumental parts that are great, as usual. Hopefully the next album will be an instrumental one. Hands off from vocals, Bill!
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