Mau, Melanie & Martin Schnella: Pieces to Remember

German musicians Melanie Mau and Martin Schnella are no strangers to the progressive music scene. For a short time both were members of Frequency Drift (played on the Last album) and Schnella joined Seven Steps To The Green Door for their 2015 release Fetish. The duo has been dabbling in acoustic covers albums and in 2018 released their second such effort titled Pieces to Remember.

The duo covers a wide range of artists: REO Speedwagon, Kansas, Journey, The Police, Peter Gabriel, Threshold, Spock’s Beard, Ayreon, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, The Eagles, Nightwish, Genesis, Transatlantic and even Madonna.

The opening tune, “Can’t Fight This Feeling� works pretty well in the acoustic format. There is no doubt Schnella is a fine acoustic player and Mau’s vocals are really quite lovely. Schnella’s backing vocals offer a nice accompaniment. The Kansas tune “With The Heart� is another enjoyable listen as Mau’s lead vocals nail it and Schnella’s acoustic arpeggios do the song justice. Added percussion and bass help to flesh out the sound. Solid vocal harmonies highlight Journey’s “Be Good To Yourself� while the acoustic picking and rhythm guitar on “Message In A Bottle� are very well done. The bluesy/funky take on Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer� and the Threshold tunes, particularly the vocal arrangement in “Stars And Satellites� are more highlights.

Whether you will like every song here is all about personal taste. I could have done without the Madonna cover but that’s just me. Overall, I found Pieces to Remember easy to listen to, very well recorded with excellent vocals and instrumentation. They have treated these songs with the utmost of care, and really, that’s what it’s all about.

You can order yourself a copy via mail-order by sending Martin an email at: martinschnella@gmx.de

Track Listing:
1. Can’t Fight This Feeling (REO Speedwagon)
2. With This Heart (Kansas)
3. Be Good To Yourself (Journey)
4. Message In A Bottle (The Police)
5. Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel)
6. Mission Profile/Stars And Satellites/Snowblind (Threshold)
7. Land Of Confusion (Genesis)
8. Like A Prayer (Madonna)
9. Lay It Down/Carie (Spock’s Beard)
10. Valley Of The Queens (Ayreon)
11. Amaranth (Nightwish)
12. A Touch Of Evil (Judas Priest)
13. Wasted Years (Iron Maiden)
14. We All Need Some Light (Transatlantic)
15. Love Will Keep Us Alive (The Eagles)

Added: May 12th 2019
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Artist's Facebook Page
Hits: 815
Language: english

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