Re-imagining the fabled tale of a folklore favourite has been the latest creative challenge for Chris de Burgh. The compelling result breathes music and lyrical life into a centuries-old and much-loved classic. 'The Legend of Robin Hood' finds Chris at his imaginative best, re-telling the story with cinematic vision coupled seamlessly to music of emotional depth and power. The concept for the 27th studio album by Chris emerged from his involvement in 'Robin Hood', a stage musical about the infamous Sherwood Forest nobleman and his band of outlaws. Chris was invited to contribute storylines and melodies to the musical, which will be produced later in the year. 'Since I was writing songs for this,' he explains, 'I thought, 'Why not expand the story and put an album out, too?' Chris was eminently qualified and able to do that on any number of levels. Most significantly, with his 2010 album 'Moonfleet', based on the book of the same name. 'I learned a great deal from 'Moonfleet', particularly how to set out a story in sequence,' he says. 'If I had a problem advancing the story in song, I'd just go and read the book again. This time I had to create my own version of this classic tale. In my story, Robin Hood is not a hero, but circumstances and injustice to others turned him into the hero that is now known all over the world. He initially comes across as an obnoxious young man in his late teens, but he subsequently shows a different and compassionate side and the qualities of a born leader.' As has only very recently been suggested by a respected historian, Robin Hood is thought to have been a key target of King John, his son King Henry III and their powerful justiciar (law-maker) Hubert de Burgh - who, almost incredibly, is an ancestor of Chris himself. Given the inconsistencies concerning the dates in which Robin Hood is thought to have lived, Chris tells his version of the legend as if it were many years after Robin's death, in the setting of a candle-lit tavern where a small audience has gathered to hear it conveyed by a Story Teller and enacted by his musicians, actors and singers. It has the romance and magic of a minstrel entertaining and enlightening the listener, and that is precisely what has made Chris so unique and peerless throughout his long career. 'The Legend of Robin Hood' is an album of evocative escapism and a tonic for our troubled times.
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