Every few years or so we seem to get a pop group bent on reviving a certain soaring Beatlesque sound, in the spirit of "Strawberry Fields," "I Am the Walrus" and the later "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road."
Examples? How about Badfinger, and Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra, especially in the early-to-mid '70s; Canada's Klaatu in the late '70s; the first Ambrosia album; and at times the Alan Parsons Project.The latest contender is Freiheit - a German group, believe it or not (their English is pretty much perfect). And their bid for the Beatle's balladic mantle is based on the song "Keeping the Dream Alive," which leads off the album "Fantasy" and serves as the final track on the soundtrack for the movie "Say Anything" (both WTG-CBS Records releases).
Hearing "Keeping the Dream Alive" the first time is uncanny, for the song is startlingly reminiscent of that Beatles feel, in sound, texture and sentiment. The vocals are a bit softer than Paul McCartney or John Lennon would have offered - they're more like ELO or Klaatu.
After luring us into the melody with the '60s-ish flutes, strings and cellos of the London Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Alan Parsons collaborator Andrew Powell), we hear the first stanza and chorus:
Tonight the rain is falling,
Full of memories of people and places.
And while the past is calling,
In my fantasy I remember their faces.
The hopes we had were much too high,
Way out of reach, but we had to try.
The game will never be over,
Because we're keeping the dream alive.
Nice. Twenty years ago it might have been a No. 1 single. Who knows nowadays.
Although none of the other songs on Freiheit's "Fantasy" approaches the heights of "Keeping the Dream Alive," a few aren't bad, either - the bouncy "Kissed You in the Rain" and the wistful if overlong "Diana," for example.
In general, "Fantasy" is more an example of the slick, occasionally appealing, sometimes breathy European techno-pop that drifts across the Atlantic from time to time, a la Norway's a-ha.
And, except for maybe one other track, "Forever and a Day," which is sort of an updated, more grownup but less involving cousin to "She's Leaving Home," the group doesn't successfully retain that Beatles sound.
Which, if Freiheit plans on long-term career survival, is probably a good thing. Trying to match the Beatles song-for-song would be quite a challenge.