Shadowfax ‎- Shadowfax (1982) Original US Pressing - LP/FLAC In 24bit/96kHz

SHADOWFAX. Nice name for a progressive rock band. At least that's how they started off. Named after Gandalf's a horse in Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings. They are often classified as new age, but their first album really wasn't, it was rather quite like a more rocking version of OREGON and had a mixture of hard and soft songs. And really their latter albums weren't completely although they lost some of their harder edge and devoted themselves to more mellow fair.

Three of the founding members actually got together four years earlier in 1972, CHUCK GREENBERG - winds, G.E. STINSON - guitars, and PHIL MAGGINI - bass. DOUG MALUCHNIK joined on keyboards in 1973 and finally STUART NEVITT, who had worked with MALUCHNIK, came along in 1974 for drums/percussion and the ensemble was complete. Their first album, "Watercourse Way", was recorded in 1975 and released in 1976 on the ABC/Passport label. This album may not have been well know among progressive music fans, but with its spectacular cover art and well crafted music, it was a treasured item in the collections of those that knew them at the time. So much so that it was commented on in the CD liner notes of the re-release that fans were always showing up with well worn copies of the album requesting new versions be made available.

The band disappeared for a few years after they debut and then resurfaced on the Windham Hill label in 1982 with a self-titled album of new material. MALUCHNIK was out but they brought in a few extra musicians who contributed additional instrumentation on various songs. In 1983 they released "Shadowdance", which saw them getting a little heavier. JARED STEWART was brought in for full time keyboards along with JAMIL SMADZINSKI, who had contributed to a couple songs on the previous albums, as a violinist for all the tracks. Once again they had several guest musicians on board. They even brought back two pieces from their first Passport albums. Next came "Dreams Of Children", 1984, which is probably the Windham Hill album that comes closest to the heaviness present in of some of the music on "Watercourse Way". DAVID LEWIS replaced their keyboardist from the last album. 1986's "Too Far To Whisper" saw the band returning to a more 'new age' style overall. The core band remained the same, except for the violin seat, filled by CHARLES BISHARAT, and had another set of special guests contributing to various tracks. They moved on to another label and cranked out five more albums.

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