Kaleidoscope World

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This CD expansion of a compilation of early singles and EP cuts by New Zealand's best known alt-pop band has a couple of flat spots. But both the 18- track length and the generally robust health of Martin Phillipps' songwriting make it a generous offer that's hard to refuse. Phillipps was actually to do more consistent work on Brave Words and Submarine Bells, but Kaleidoscope World finds him working out early versions of his continuing obsessions--death, the environment--in a fascinating manner. It also includes one of his all-time greats, "I Love My Leather Jacket," a gorgeous rocker about the premature loss of a friend. --Rickey Wright --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Album Description
Kaleidoscope World is the Chills' essential document, a collection of tracks from early and mid-'80s EPs, singles, and compilation cuts. The influence of Syd Barrett and early Pink Floyd is stronger on these early tracks than it would be on subsequent releases, both on the easygoing sing along numbers and the more experimental outings. The highlight (of both the album and the Chills' career) is their New Zealand hit single, the haunting 'Pink Frost'. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

A Beautiful Mind: Original Motion Picture Score
Average customer rating:

Haven't I heard this before?

a beautiful score

A Beautiful Mind

Haunting, lovely, majestic

Dark

A Beautiful Mind: Original Motion Picture Score
James Horner
Manufacturer: Decca U.S.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music
The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Legends Of The Fall: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Beautiful Mind (Score) (Sl)

Apollo 13: Music From The Motion Picture

Road to Perdition (Score)

A Beautiful Mind (Widescreen Awards Edition)

ASIN: B00005TPFV
Release Date: 2001-12-11

Tracks:

A Kaleidoscope Of Mathematics
Playing A Game Of 'Go!'
Looking For The Next Great Idea
Creating 'Governing Dynamics'
Cracking The Russian Codes
Nash Descends Into Parcher's World
First Drop Off. First Kiss
The Car Chase
Alicia Discovers Nash's Dark World
Real Or Imagined?
Of One Heart, Of One Mind
Saying Goodbye To Those You So Love
Teaching Mathematics Again
Prize of One's Life... The Prize of One's Mind
All Love Can Be - Charlotte Church
Closing Credits

Amazon.com

This Ron Howard film parlays the troubled story of Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash Jr., a gifted Princeton mathematics professor tormented for decades by paranoid schizophrenia, into something considerably richer than typical Hollywood triumph-against-all-odds fare. Howard has teamed here again with frequent collaborator James Horner, and it's the composer who deftly shades the film's difficult emotional landscape and helps impart a compelling humanity. Horner's first task is not inconsiderable: musically portraying the arcane realm of mathematical theorems that are the story's backdrop. In doing so, the composer leans heavily on modern minimalist technique, bright flourishes that recur briefly throughout an orchestral score that increasingly reflects Nash's bleak inner landscape in its quietly somber and brooding tones. And while Horner has frequently been accused of excessively repeating himself in his scores, the neo-minimalist gambit employed on this reflectively pastoral, postmodernist soundscape neatly nips such criticism in the bud. Nash's triumph is ultimately an intensely personal one, well reflected in Welsh soprano Charlotte Church's lilting performance of the Horner/Will Jennings ballad "All Love Can Be." This enhanced CD also features notes by the director and composer, as well as exclusive photos and the film's trailer. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

Haven't I heard this before?.......2007-06-20

As other reviewers will tell you yes this is another Horner machine made soundtrack. But it still sounds good! If you are a Horner fan by all means buy it otherwise "at your own risk"!

And another thing that gets me is no one even bothered to mention "Alicia Discovers Nash's Dark World" I happened to like this one this is the song that plays when he is in the hospital.

a beautiful score.......2007-02-09

James Horner's soundtrack for A BEAUTIFUL MIND is as psychologically intense as the film it so effectively embellishes.

Charlotte Church provides an appropriately eerie and largely non-verbal soprano to this remarkable motion picture score, yet one that would seem only quirky were it not so beautifully embedded in a musical stream that draws one inexorably and almost vicariously into the emotional turbulence of the Princeton mathematician John Nash.

There is an angelic nature to the shape and texture of this music, one that is able to turn demonic as the story line requires. Both by brilliance and by dementia, Nash seems the object of external forces, rising with supreme heroism (at least in the film's version of events) to conquer. The music is there at each score, coaxing the viewer into empathic solidarity with this deeply troubled man and his long-suffering and preternaturally beautiful wife.

This is mood music of the deeply engaging variety. Its lush tonal landscape is achieved under the baton of the composer himself. The score's vast range of volume and expression would certainly have made it a joy to watch in performance.

Alas, we don't have that.

But we have this.

An ethereal, compelling, even gripping tone poem. Buy it.

A Beautiful Mind.......2006-08-09

Absolutely gorgeous - my husband keeps it in his car and listens to it whenever he's driving.

Haunting, lovely, majestic.......2006-04-04

The sound track for "A Beautiful Mind" stayed with me long after the movie. The CD has all the themes that made the movie so emotionally powerfull. James Horner, composer and conductor, perfectly matches the excitement of genius and the terror of mental disability. Charlotte Church's clear and gentle voice compliments the music and used instrumentally creates a haunting refrain. I loved the movie and this music is wonderful.

Dark.......2006-02-20

This is one of the darkest and most emotional soundtrack, and yet it is filled with more inspiring songs.
Best soundtrack ive ever heard.

Average customer rating:

Kaledoscope World...
Pop has a higher dimmension, SOS is in it
Appreciate Prior Reviews from fellow reviewers
TWO CONSTANTS
More lush, dreamy jazz-pop from SOS

Kaleidoscope World
Swing Out Sister
Manufacturer: Island / Mercury
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Adult Contemporary | Pop | Styles | Music

Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

It's Better to Travel
Somewhere Deep in the Night
Get in Touch with Yourself
Where Our Love Grows
Living Return

ASIN: B000001FQC
Release Date: 2003-07-07

Tracks:

You On My Mind
Where In The Wotld
Forever Blue
Heart For Hire
Tainted
Waiting Game
Precious Words
Masquerade
Between Strangers
The Kaleidoscope Affair
Coney Island Man
Precious Words (Instrumental)
Forever Blue (String Mix)
Masquerade (Instrumental)

Customer Reviews:

Kaledoscope World..........2007-01-31

"Swing Out Sister" did it again with this collection. This actually outdoes "Twilight World." That is no easy feat! Get yourself a copy, press play and let the music move you...Five stars!

Pop has a higher dimmension, SOS is in it.......2006-06-15

This was my first CD on SOS. There is excellence in everything about it, you can find bacharac and "onda nueva" rhythyms all together. This is a cd for background conversation music, crusing in the highway or just having a good wine while savouring the fine things in life.

Appreciate Prior Reviews from fellow reviewers.......2005-06-20

This is a very good CD. I am basically a Jazz fan but this pop CD is good listening. I like the Jazzy instrumental and improvisation despite the fact that it is classified as a Pop. Some reviewers compared this music to Burt Bachcarat and other Cool pop era music. I can understand the comparison. However, I would rather like Duke Ellington's remark on music which he said, "there are only two kinds of music, good music and bad music". To me, this is good music. When I listen to this CD, it reminds of the days when I did my jogging on the beach at Rio de Janeiro, to be more exact, along Avenida Alantica at 2am. The beach was quiet, pitch black, the air was humid and warm with a sense of eroticism filled the air and I was alone running from Leme, Copacabana, Ipanema then Leblon. So, this music is just like that, a sense of erotic romanticism, fast pace, a sense of up tempo and it is overall warm.

TWO CONSTANTS.......2004-06-13

COLORS THAT DIFFUSE, BRIGHTEN AND SWAY.CRISP BREEZES.SWOONING MELODIES. REFRESHING PHRASING AND ORCHESTRATION. A PURE VELVET TOUCH HERE.
CONNELL AND DREWERY turn up creative juices and change gears. this album celebrates two constants in their career which started with this recording.1a. never repeat the same thing.2b. show the world our range.
there is a tremendous nod to the 60's pop engine here but more over it has a opening movie score feel.TO BE MORE SPECIFIC it is the brainchild of SOMEWHERE DEEP IN THE NIGHT, but more in the birth stage.
to me it holds itS own head held high with nostalgia to be sure but heartfelt and completely filler free of the trappings of what was on the radio at the time in the late 80's or what is on the radio now. for all that matters.
when this album came out i swooped it up immediatley because i never knew if the band would make any more music. lucky for those of us longtime fans and music enthusiates they continue to this day.
THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE LUSH, FLUID FEEL SWING OUT SISTER.
HOPE, EXUBERANCE, MELODIES, ORCHESTRA, HEART, SOUL,RYTHUM AND BLUES. WHAT MORE CAN YOU WANT. THIS BAND IS TIMELESS AND TRUE.JAZZY AND COMPLEX. NOT FOR YOU AVERAGE MUSIC LISTENERS.NOT COCKTAIL LOUNGE EITHER.CLEAN AND PURE. A GEM.

More lush, dreamy jazz-pop from SOS.......2004-03-02

With British jazz-pop group Swing Out Sister's 1989 followup to It's Better To Travel, Kaleidoscope World might as well be titled It's Better Than It's Better To Travel, because it is. Orchestral and string arrangements abound in their glory, making more full the usual brass section, and the songs are just as dreamy and upbeat, and maintain a consistency in sound. And all that despite having the same producer save the group-produced "Coney Island Man."

The full-bodied brass ensemble in "You On My Mind" kind of makes it the opening theme song to so many movies in the 1960's, or something that Dusty Springfield would do. Backing vocalists are introduced here too. Whoever thought not getting over someone could be so cheerful?

"Where In The World" is more lush, but with the same pronounced brass sections, with some pop-like sections when the backing vocalists come in.

The slow-dancing and dreamy "Forever Blue" is one of two songs using a full orchestra. Despite its dreamy tone, the words tell a different nature, urging a girlfriend that hopeless wishing won't restore her guy. The other song is "Precious Words," something that could've doubled for a mid-paced 70's disco song. The title is all that's left in another song yielding an empty world: "Loneliness says so much more/than a thousand words ever said/conversations pass me by/I'm left with silence instead." Instrumental versions of both are included.

When Corrine sings in a slightly lower register in "Heart For Hire," similarities to Sade can be detected, although Corrine's voice is smoky but higher in pitch. Another mid-paced Dusty-like song. The title refers to what the protagonist will be when the lying louse leaves her.

"Waiting Game" has a tempered Stock-Aitken-Waterman sound, with string and brass arrangements flirting with 70's-style disco. Put it another way, Dusty and the Pet Shop Boys would want to do this and put it on Dusty's Reputation album.

"Masquerade" is a moody piece where similarities to Sade can be heard when Corrine's voice is long and drawn out. This song too has an instrumental version included.

"Between Strangers" could've belonged on their previous album, what with the bass keys that can be heard.

"The Kaleidoscope Affair" is not the theme to a 60's spy movie, but this instrumental, with Corrine merely vocalizing, might as well be for such a hypothetical movie. "Coney Island Man" is another instrumental, upbeat with more vocalizing by Corrine, and sounding a lot like Basia.

A mixture of songs buoyed by energetic strings and horns, with Corrine Drewery's voice used to better effect than it was in the previous album, and a sound that occasional veers into 70's disco territory and 60's Dusty Springfield regions, Swing Out Sister's Kaleidoscope World is a world for the dreamer, but at times, with advice that the dreamer should wake up.

Beautiful Mind (Score) (Sl)
Average customer rating:

decieving

How Amazon screwed me this time

Put it on and hit the repeat button

Very surprised it didn't win an Oscar

Awesome Sound Quality

Beautiful Mind (Score) (Sl)
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Decca U.S.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music
Similar Items:

A Beautiful Mind: Original Motion Picture Score

A Beautiful Mind (Widescreen Awards Edition)

Master and Commander

Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl

Tapestry

ASIN: B00006WL5I
Release Date: 2002-10-29

Customer Reviews:

decieving.......2006-07-08

I did not know I had to buy a special Cd player for this 16 dollar cd. They range from 300-500 dollers.

My bad. I guess I had to read the FINE PRINT.

bad description, especially when this cd format is not widely known.

How Amazon screwed me this time.......2005-10-04

Amazon sent me some kind of funky CD "enhanced" version that did not play in a normal CD player. When I wrote about it some person made it very clear the it was my error -- I guess I should know that I am not very knowledgable. Of course they say that they will return it but they charged me for shipping. I know they will print this becuase they don't read anything that I send them. rob k in St. Thoams USVI

Put it on and hit the repeat button.......2004-01-01

This soundtrack is like LOTR in that you can put it on in the background and play it over and over.
Highly recommended!

Very surprised it didn't win an Oscar.......2003-09-26

This soundtrack is one of the most powerful soundtracks I've ever listen to. I believe Howard Shore won an Oscar for his soundtrack to Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring the same year that A Beautiful Mind came out... unfortunately, Horner was robbed that year, although I also too love Shore's score.

Horner opens with "A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics." It comepletely draws the listener, or watcher (if viewing the movie), in. The music literally sounds like a Kaleidoscope, as if one could litterally HEAR the different colors ... and yet not randomly, but in a cohesive mathimatical way. And then, approximately one and a half minutes into the piece, a sobering, more pensive movement, yet colored again with the interesting flurishes abundant in the first minute and a half.

I've never reviewed music before, but have been an avid listener to scores and soundtracks for years. This, along with the single piece from Castaway by Alan Silvestri, and both the scores from Empire of the Sun and Hook by John Williams, TOPS the list of all time favorites. Check 'em out!

Awesome Sound Quality.......2003-06-02

I saw this movie and was very impressed with it. Russel Crowe and Jennifer Connelly put on wonderful performances. Although one of the best parts of this movie is the haunting soundtrack. There is a bit of mathematical precision to the music and because of the multichannel aspect of the SACD, the room is filled with music. One of the things I like about this format is the fuzzyness of the music. You can hear the reverberations and things and they aren't cleaned out by the clipping. Given all the interplay on this soundtrack, this is probably the best format to hear it on.