Pangea - III (2002) - What happened to this? Anyone Heard it?

[Geoff]

Hey dudes. Browsing the web today (ironically it wasn't even for this, but for a bit of info on the Passion Risk CD) when I came across this review from a pretty cool little website/blog called Rockunited.com:

 

PANGEA: "III" 9

2002

Review by 14 July 2002

Danish Dynamite!!! Exclusively here at AOR-Europe we bring you a preview review of the new k-i-l-l-e-r release from Pangea. This is straight from the lads, a pre-master copy, as they are still talkin' with labels about where and when to release this little gold nugget. After only a couple of years at Now&Then/Frontiers they decided to go separate ways due to contract problems. I believe they simple couldn't agree terms, not enough danish with their coffee or something :-)

Their previous two albums was a nice mixture of guitar rock a'la Van Halen, Extreme and their own Scandinavian sound. They have often been comprered with Skagarack in the past and there's a little truth in this too. One thing's for sure, if you enjoyed those previous albums...you're simply going to l-o-v-e this CD. Recorded at Hot Sound Studios in Denmark with Torben Lysholm (vocals/guitar) & Tony Olsen (drums), behind the drivin' wheel themselves this time (with some help from Richard Jensen). Their 'new' bass player Jan Engstrom, is actually an old member of the band. He was the keyboard player from 1989 to 1991. III is a bit more 'aggressive' than the first two albums and everything is louder/heavier than before. I simply love the guitar work of Lysholm as he shreds in the best tradition of Bettencourt, Van Halen with a touch of Dan Huff.

This doesn't mean they've decided to get rid of all the melodies and harmonies. No! No! No! The material is even catchier than in the past, and you can't find many bands out there with a better groove right now. Opener "Hold Your Fire" grabs you by the throat with its 'larger than life' approach and dead catchy chorus. "Don't Let Go" may be more about groove while "2 Am" knocks you to the floor with a killer hook. "Little By Little" has verses with a very 'oriental' sound before the chorus hits you with some Extreme/King's X hooklines. And for 'softheads', check out the pure AOR of "Shoot" for a simple, yet very effective way to write a marvelous hit (yeah baby!). Other highlights would be the arena rock of "What Do You Want Out Of Life" and "House Of Love". Both are blessed with some catchy hooks in the Scandinavian tradition of rock and as always, great guitar work. "Time's Up" and "Dating Godzilla" may not have the best choruses I've ever heard, but the groove... wow... guitarmageddon. "Godzilla" is actually so much Van Halen (their groovy material) that it hurts. The only minor downsides here would be the rather goofy "Never" and "You're A Blessing". Well, the first one is not really bad, just different somehow... while the latter has some cool guitarwork, but the chorus sucks big time. Their debut album was OK, the second release was good, while 'III' will simply blow your head clean off. Check out some appetizers at the site below. Cheers to Jan, Torben & Tony and a big Hello? to all the labels out there.

Contact: pangea@worldonline.dk

www.pangeaweb.dk

So after my erection died down I looked everywhere in the net to see if there were any MP3s available anywhere, but not only are there no MP3s, but there is not a single other word on the net about this album. So is it possible that this reviewer was the only person in the world who heard this album? Has anyone here ever heard it? I really, really want to get my ears on this one.

Also, how on earth did a label not pick this one up? Assuming it's as good as the reviewer suggests (and based on other stuff on that blog, I'd tend to think he's got a pretty valid opinion) and with the name they carried from their first two albums, I'm amazed that none of the labels would have picked this up? Especially an MTM? And why did the band give up on releasing it too? Anyone have any info on this story at all?

For the record, here's the cool blog/website where I pasted this from:

http://www.rockunited.com/archive_p1.htm

[Stefan]

They released their 3rd album in 2010 called Retrospectacular. Some songs from the review are on it. See main page for details.

[Geoff]

Oh well spotted mate. Looks like all but 4 of those songs mentioned in the review made that album. I'll admit it, I did forget about that one. I remember being pretty underwhelmed by that CD. I wonder if the songs left out were many of the best? Thanks for pointing that one out!

[Stefan]

I wonder if the songs left out were many of the best?

 

Torben posted this on the main page (under the 'Retrospectacular' release):

 

'...Some of the softer and more melodic songs that was on the original master was left out because we felt that the harder stuff was the strongest material so we let go of the softer and more melodic...'

 

 

And from Lion Music:

Pangea, have existed as a band in its trio formation of Torben Lysholm (Vocal and Guitar), Jan Engstrøm (Bass) and Tony Olsen (Drums and Percussion) since 1991. In 1992 the band entered a production deal with a producer and studio owner and their debut album “The First” was released in Japan and Southeast Asia in '95. Once the and was ready to release their second album “Manchild” in the spring of '97 a couple of European labels found interest and both albums were released in Europe late in '97. Having high hopes for their third album the band took a big risk and made an expensive album only to discover that the economic market in Japan collapsed resulting in no label willing to pay anywhere near the asking license price.

 

This however turned into a crisis for the band on a larger scale with the studio where the album was being recorded suddenly closed down. Only drums, percussion and vocals were saved from revivable backups, the rest was gone. The band went through several phases of “what do we do now?” which ultimately resulted in Torben Lysholm leaving the band in 2004 going on to produce and mix for acts such as Acacia Avenue, Section A etc. Jan and Tony auditioned several musicians to replace Torben but no replacement was found and the band finally called it quits in 2008. However, the trio regrouped a little while later and decided to finally finish their third album and see where it takes them.

 

Torben Lysholm comments, “We decided to redo the whole thing and oddly it was not too difficult. We had worked so much on the previous production of it that it was all still in our backbones even all these years later. We've changed stuff here and there which appeared to need it after reviewing the album ourselves for several years. Lyrically I teamed up with Martie Kolbl. I heard some stuff she had written and I really liked her style of writing. Odd twists and stuff I'd never come up with myself. She wrote the lyrics for 5 songs and I am happy that she's finally going to see the fruit of her labour after all this time”.

 

 

You're welcome chump

[Glen]

Pangea had some good songs, but just missed the mark....am i right?? Not listened to any of their stuff for ages.

[Stefan]

Pangea had some good songs, but just missed the mark....am i right?? Not listened to any of their stuff for ages.

 

Some? I thought the 'Manchild' release was excellent.

[Geoff]

 

Pangea had some good songs, but just missed the mark....am i right?? Not listened to any of their stuff for ages.

 

Some? I thought the 'Manchild' release was excellent.

 

 

Yeah, I was going to say the same. I think 'Manchild' is a really good album.

 

Thanks for the info, Stefan, that's really cool. Answered all my questions. I actually had no idea 'The First' was their first album (always assumed it with the title, but thought, as per the dates on the Frontiers release I have, that it was released in 1998).

 

Anyway, my favourite song is actually from that album, and is called 'Maybe tomorrow.' Goddamn I have always loved that song so much.