Longings Past - An Angel's Tale, CD

After the success of the re-release “Meadows Of Maseilya”, here is the second album of the band “An Angel’s Tale”. This album was released in 1994 in 500 tapes and 500 CDs and today is considered to be one of the rarest epic metal gems, for many collectors. Together with “M.O.M” release, comes also the leaving of Jerrad Miller (Drums) and Jon Sayles (Bass), who actually have never felt Longing’s Past as a band to be devoted to. As a result, the tiring recordings of “M.O.M”, make them move on to another direction before the next record. So, right away it comes to Jimmy’s mind an old friend –from Enchanter- named Rich Copeland (Drums). Bass’ place takes on Kevin Rynes, who is found through a mutual friend. Longing’s Past’s music has now become dreamy and lyrical and a bit less heavy. This happens because Jimmy except for the vocals (which in “M.O.M” are his exclusive activity because of a tendonitis problem) does most of the guitar work. Lyrics are dreamier now, so it comes up the need for the music to have a different rhythm in order to follow the lyrics. Generally, Jimmy tries to be cinematic and paint pictures with sound like a classical composer! In fact, the “An Angel’s Tale” is the second part of “M.O.M”, with two extra songs, the two bonus tracks that are irrelevant to the concept. For these two tracks a second guitarist named Brennan Baylis is brought to light, who later tours also with Longing’s Past. The fact that “An Angel’s Tale” recordings go on for so long, make all the members be so tired that after the release of the album, no one has the zest to continue in the band. The only thing that Jimmy manages to do is to send 50 copies to various indie labels. Unluckily, all the answers are negative under the pretence of Longing’s Past not being right for them. The stunning thing is that, although all these labels are surprised with the capabilities of the musicians and make positive remarks, they are not quite sure if the band could sell as they have strange music! Since 1994, Jimmy has been working as a producer in his own studio named Sonic Landscapes and he does recordings for some bands. Moreover, in 2000 he releases an album titled Jimmy Shellberg’s Groove with funky and experimental sounds. Since 2002, he has formed The Love Gypsies, who have released three jazz albums. Arkeyn Steel Records with this release completes Jimmy Shellberg’s and Enchanter/ Longing’s Past’s chapter and wants to thank the metalheads all over the world for supporting every reissue of the company and for making them almost sold-out! [Info from Arkeyn Steel catalogue]