''The Middle-Earth Album'' is the fifth studio album by American

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Glass Hammer Glass Hammer is an American progressive rock band from Chattanooga, Tennessee, created and led by Steve Babb and Fred Schendel. Babb and Schendel, who founded the band in 1992, are the only constant members in the lineup, having surrounded the ...

, released on June 15, 2001. It is the band's second album based on

J.R.R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

's novel ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'', after their 1993 debut album '' Journey of the Dunadan'', and their second release not to be a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

, after 1998's '' On to Evermore''. It is the first album to feature singer Susie Bogdanowicz after she joined as band member, and as such the first album to feature the band's longest and steadiest line-up, which would last until their tenth studio album, 2007's ''

Culture of Ascent Culture of Ascent is the ninth studio album by American progressive rock band Glass Hammer, released on October 23, 2007. It is a concept album based on Jon Krakauer's novel ''Into Thin Air''. It was the last album with singer Carl Groves before ...

''. ''The Middle-Earth Album'' was jokingly marketed as a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

recorded during a performance at ''The Prancing Pony'', a fictional inn in Bree in ''Lord of the Rings''. The first half of the album (up to "The Man in the Wood") emulates the sound of an actual live performance at the inn, with an audience cheering and singing along as the band performs songs about the lore of

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the ''Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is t ...

; to capture the spirit of an actual band performing in ''Lord of the Rings'', the album is much more

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and acoustic-oriented than other works of the band, and heavily features traditional instruments such as

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

and

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

. The second half retains the same lyrical orientation, but is recorded as a more traditional studio album, and features more progressive elements and

electric instrument An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into a ...

Production

The lyrics of the album were written by Steve Babb, while Fred Schendel wrote the music. In a 2010 interview, Babb referred to ''The Middle-Earth Album'' and 2009's ''

Three Cheers for the Broken-Hearted ''Three Cheers for the Broken-Hearted'' is the tenth studio album by American progressive rock band Glass Hammer, released on November 3, 2009. It is their last album with Susie Bogdanowicz, as the band would replace her with new singer Jon Davison ...

'' as the Glass Hammer albums straying the most away from the band's usual sound, stating "we may throw the odd curve ball now and then."

Track listing

Personnel

; Glass Hammer * Fred Schendel –

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

, main

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitc ...

s * Steve Babb – lead and backing vocals,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, additional keyboards, percussion * Susie Bogdanowicz – lead vocals on "Mirkwood" and "Mithrandir (This Fading Age)", co-lead vocals on "The Last Ship" * Walter Moore – lead vocals on "Sweet Goldberry" ; Additional musicians * Felicia Sorensen – lead vocals on "As I Walk" * Sarah Snyder – co-lead vocals on "The Last Ship" * Dr. Thomas Hammett – vocals * Dr. David Luther – vocals * Brad Marler – vocals * Jamie Watkins – backing vocals * Tim Starnes –

* Bob Stagner – extra percussion on "Mithrandir" ; Production * Fred Schendel, Steve Babb –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* David Wyatt –

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Middle Earth Album Glass Hammer albums 2001 albums Music based on Middle-earth Folk rock albums by American artists