J.R. Blackmore & Friends Voices Tracks: 1. Voices 2. Guardian Angel 3. Beethoven 4. Destructive 5. Incomplete 6. Devil in Disguise 7. Jeckyll & Hyde 8. Victorious 9. Nanshu 10. We Are Rock 'N' Roll 11. Dreams Line up: J.R. Blackmore - Guitars Charly Zeleny - Drums Danny Miranda - Bass Paul Morris - Keyboards Markus Engelstädter - Vocals on tracks 1 & 8 Oliver Hartmann - Vocals on tracks 2 & 6 Michael Bormann - Vocals on tracks 3 & 5 Cathrine Jauer - Vocals track 4 ELA - Vocals track 9 Dave Esser - Vocals on tracks 7 & 10 Malte Rathke - Keyboards track 11 Record Label / Year of Release: J.R. Blackmore Records 2011 Notes: Describing this masterpiece of an album is quite a challenge. Looking at the artist “Blackmore & Friends”, people may wonder who these friends are. And find out soon enough, that they are familiar with some of them, since they are already renowned in the rock music scene. Yet, of some of them, you may have never heard before. Which, if you choose to follow Jurgen Blackmore’s Invitation, sends you on an acoustic expedition, a voyage of discovery for your ears. A voyage indeed: It’s a Rock ‘n’ Roll trip to the orient. Some of the tunes on VOICES would best be described as ‘Oriental Rock’. In general, the album sportsmanifoldness of epic proportions, especially regarding the voices, as the album titlefittingly tells us. Jurgen Blackmore has carefully arranged the music around the artists to give them room to express themselves in their own way. Each song is alittle adventure, which one can explore many times and still find something new. The stories, which the lyrics are transporting are an especially inspiring part of this journey. Again, Blackmore has enabled the artists to create their very own stories by giving them enough scope for development. Which is a terrific concept. This way, the audience gets a much better grasp of what the the performer is trying to express. Unlike in an actual storybook, the stories of VOICES are non-contiguous. They tell of individual encounters, emotions and metamorphoses. Sometimes politically inspired, sometimes addressing the love for Rock ‘n’ Roll, even describing encounters with mythical creatures like demons or guardian angels. Of course, likewith any good album, there is a ballad in there, too. The musical arrangement carries Jurgen Blackmore’s distinctive and unmistakeable signature, who already convinced many international fans and critics of his talent and his magnificence as a songwriter with his orchestral, purely instrumental album “Between Darkness & Light”. Not only does Blackmore present us with his personal choice of artists on VOICES, he also gives his guitar play a very individual, oriental touch. The co-producer for this album is the New York based keyboardist PAUL MORRIS(DORO, RITCHIE BLACKMORE’S RAINBOW, JOE LYNN TURNER), who in turn hired bassguitarist DANNY MIRANDA (BLUE ÖYSTER CULT, QUEEN, MEAT LOAF) and drummer CHARLIE ZELENY. The VOICES are: OLIVER HARTMANN, ELA, DAVE ESSER, MICHAEL BORMANN,CATHRINE JAUER and MARKUS ENGELSTÄDTER.