Scene Missing

Editorial Reviews
KB - Portland Pitooh
"Scene Missing follow JVA's acoustic-pop bent, delivering an haunting, melodic and often surprising sounding album."

About the Artist
It was probably his early training as an actor that made Jim Walker of JVA approach his music in a more visual and theatrical way.

Born in Los Angeles, Jim Walker played lead roles in several plays in college as well as having featured roles in the films Last Chance Dance directed by Phil Joanou (U2 Rattle & Hum, Final Analysis), and the horror film Graduation Day. Eventually acting lost out to music and he and his band Lost Anthony began a relentless full time attack on the Greater L.A. Basin.... read more

Album Description
Cinema is the inspiration behind JVA’s latest disc, but don’t bother trying to decipher how the songs may be related to any specific movies. None of the songs relate to any particular movie plot - it's more about the images and moods that have come from watching various films over the years.

Scene Missing is a follow up to his 2000 release "Ancient Chinese Secret"

Combining understated arrangements with inventive lyrics and strong vocals, the disc builds on the acoustic sound that JVA regularly delivers to live audiences in Portland with cohort Tim Ellis.

JVA, whose work is often compared to Elvis Costello, Squeeze and Aimee Mann, brings in the contributions of several other Northwest musicians for the disc, including Nancy Hess, Lara Michell of Carmina Piranha and Craig Carothers.

Scene Missing

Average customer rating:

Another great trip down the MFU memory lane
The best of the three Double CDs ORIGINAL soundtrack release

The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Vol. 2

Manufacturer: Film Score Monthly
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Vol. 3
Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Saint/Secret Agent
In Like Flint / Our Man Flint: Original Motion Picture Soundtracks

ASIN: B0006SSQ7U
Release Date: 2005-01-04

Tracks:

First Season End Title
Vulcan Affair (Suite No. 2)
Iowa-Scuba Affair
Shark Affair
Deadly Games Affair (Suite No. 2)
Meet Mr. Solo
Giuoco Piano Affair
King of Knaves Affair: Suite No. 2
First Season Main Title [Revised]
Deadly Decoy Affair
Spy With My Face
Second Season Main Title
Alexander the Greater Affair
Ultimate Computer Affair
Very Important Zombie Affair
Dippy Blonde Affair
Seadly Goddess Afair
Moonglow Affair

Tracks:

One of Our Spies Is Missing
Third Season Main Title
Sort of Do-It-Youself Dreadful Affair
Galatea Affair
Pop Art Affair
Come With Me to the Casbah Affair
Off-Broadway Affair
Concrete Overcoat Affair
Napoleon's Tomb Affair
Alternate Fourth Season Main Title
Fourth Season (End Title)
Test Tube Killer Affair
Prince of Darkness Affair
Seven Wonders of the World Affair

Customer Reviews:

Another great trip down the MFU memory lane.......2005-10-19

Volume 2 (comprised of 2 CDs) is another first rate compilation of the series' original music and not to be missed by U.N.C.L.E. fans. The liner notes are wonderful and add a lot to ones appreciation of the music.

My only problem is that THE CDs ARE COPY PROTECTED! Considerable work is needed to get the music onto your iPod, if you really want the music in your mp3 collection. This is a major hassle and a surprise, since the first set in the series was not copy protected.

The best of the three Double CDs ORIGINAL soundtrack release.......2005-07-12

Many of us have always thought The Man From UNCLE had the best music for a TV series ever, and this three double CD release confirms this. Wow! I'd be just happy with one CD, but having SIX (three double CDs packages) is absolutely out of this world, I mean, a lifetime wait come true.

Indeed, this is an unbelievable collection of three double CDs packages with the complete series soundtrack, and I mean the complete music, not a tune is missing.

And this is the ORIGINAL Man From Uncle music. Let me stress the point: this is the four years ORIGINAL soundtrack with the original recordings as they were heard throughout the series, not a no-name orchestra doing personal versions of the stuff. The audio transfer is very, very good, the music from late episodes is even in stereo.

Each individual CD carries over 70 minutes of music. All in all there you have the four TV seasons main titles and all, absolutely all of TMFU unforgetable music.

This is not a chronological release, meaning, all CDs have a mix of music from all four TV seasons. Volume 1 is heavier on early TV seasons stuff, fans of Jerry Goldsmith will love it. Those of us who prefer what Gerald Fried and later Richard Shores did with TMFU music, then volume 2 is mandatory. If you are a fan, you can't miss any of these six CDs. However if buying all three double packages is too much for you, you must go with Volume 2, no questions asked. Volume three is the weakest of them as it brings "suites" and a whole CD with "The Girl From Uncle" soundtrack, but you have a bonus "Open Channel D" beeper.

Each package is gorgeous, each with a glossy color booklet with extensive liner notes with details on how each tune was written to a specific TV series episode and how it was used onwards. You have bios on the composers, on how the recordings were made, even an overview on how many instruments were available in each of the years the music was recorded.

So, throw away your Hugo Montenegro Man From Uncle CD, this is the REAL thing.

Average customer rating:

Will Parker - a voice to remember

The Listeners

Manufacturer: New World Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

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Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B0000030IV
Release Date: 1995-10-20

Tracks:

Mourning Scene
Pantaloon - He Who Gets Slapped: Ballad
'Anatomy Lesson'
'Peacock Pie': The Ship Of Rio
Old Shellover
Cake And Sack
Tillie
The Listeners
Billie In The Darbies
Billy In The Darbies
Evening
Love Winter When The Plant Says Nothing
For My Brother; Reported Missing In Action 1943
'Childhood Fables For Grownups': Two Worms
'Childhood Fables For Grownups': The Duck And The Yak
'Childhood Fables For Grownups': Lenny The Leopard
'Childhook Fables For Grownups': Tigeroo

Customer Reviews:

Will Parker - a voice to remember.......2000-05-19

As a former student and friend of the late Will Parker, I can say that without a doubt the re-release of this recording is a fitting tribute to his skills as an interpreter of American song. The intensity with which he approached every work he sang is most definitely in evidence here. The rarely-heard "Mourning Scene" of Rorem alone makes this recording worth the investment.

Average customer rating:

not good experience
It'll Go Down In A Storm In The States!!
Hatfield plus Henry Cow
A must have for National Health Fans

Missing Pieces
National Health
Manufacturer: East Side Digital
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Progressive | Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Playtime
Egg
If I Could Do It All Over Again I'd Do It All Over You
Space Shanty
Hatfield and the North

ASIN: B000000PM0
Release Date: 1996-10-10

Tracks:

Bouree
Paracelsus (Inc. Bouree Reprise)
Clocks And Clouds
Agrippa
The Lethargy Shuffle & The Mind-Your-Backs Tango
Zabaglione
Lethargy Shuffle Part 2
Croquette For Electronic Beating Group
Phlakaton
The Towplane & The Glider
Starlight On Seaweed
Walking The Dog (Extract)

Album Description

National Health was founded in 1975 by two keyboard players - Dave Stewart of fearsomely complex experimental group Egg and Alan Gowen, one of Britain's leading jazz-rock writers and players. This CD was originally released in 1996. 12 tracks. Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews:

not good experience.......2007-01-04

I did buy the music Missing pieces after it was shown in reference with an Autism notice. It was totally misleading and not worth any money at all much less the money I wasted in it. This has turned me off from trusting Amazon in the future.

It'll Go Down In A Storm In The States!!.......2005-03-01

This might seem ironic, coming from an avowed "non-completist" like myself, but I do put forth, even if you have much of the National Health canon, THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE!!!

This is a remarkably cohesive assemblage of previously unheard material from its early formative period, before their first album, National Health was released. At the core were of course, keyboardists Allen Gowen and Dave Stewart, guitarist Phil Miller, bassist/French horn maestro Dirk "Mont" Campbell, and the drum stool shared by Pip Pyle and Bill Bruford, plus a bit of help from the lovely Amanda Parsons on occasional vocals, and additional guitarage from Steve Hillage and Phil Lee.

This early version of National Health was meant to be a mini-orchestra of sorts, but due to the onset of logistical and economic realities, they were forced to pare it down. Two major things stand out on Missing Pieces:

1) The band's sound and character was very fully formed already

2) The compositions of bassist Mont Campbell are featured prominently, a side that not many were able to hear previously.

Dave Stewart points out in the hilarious liner notes that Mont and him used to have contests to see who could write the most complicated pieces. The listener would be hard pressed to say who won. The songs run from the sublime to the ridiculous, often within the same song!!

Campbell's "Bourée" for instance starts off innocently as a textbook Mozartian exercise in French horn quartet writing but quickly becomes totally unhinged and begs to be used to scare away pesky lawn insurance salesmen. "Clocks and Clouds" (with Amanda Parsons' lovely soprano voice!)may well be the only song ever written about antiquated weather measuring devices. The really serious compositional highlights include "Paracelsus", "Agrippa" and "The Lethargy Shuffle/Mind Your Backs Tango". For sheer nuttiness (and it even abounds in the more "serious" pieces) there is a version of the vocalized drum solo "Phlakatoon" performed by a table of audience members at a Canadian club show (much to the band's astonishment and amusement, Pip Pyle is heard to quip, "You know, it took us 3 weeks to record that!") and a hilariously noisy all-out attack on the old R&B chestnut "Walking The Dog". How often is it that you get a group of deadly serious musicians that don't take themselves the least bit seriously? Also of note is "Starlight On Seaweed", a Mont Campbell song reworked by Dave Stewart and singer/wife Barbara Gaskin (after they heard a not-so-great sounding audience recording of the song from several years previous) to dazzling effect. The recording quality is not always consistent, but the sheer joy and complexity of these performances vastly overshadows that little flaw. And Dave Stewart's hilarious liner notes certainly don't hurt; in fact they made the package even more enjoyable for me and made me want to take up blindfolded sledgehammer tossing!

Allow yourself to fall under the spell of Missing Pieces and you too will find yourself dancing foxtrots in 17/4 and vocalizing drum solos!!

Tea break over, back on your heads!!!

Hatfield plus Henry Cow.......2003-07-10

Being a Hatfield and the North fan, I discovered National Health way after they had ceased to be. A Google search for Hatfield will find the Calyx web site - and an excellent summary of what was to become National Health.

In short, Missing Pieces is 50% Hatfield and the North, 30% Henry Cow and 20% Frank Zappa at his rhythmic best. Harmonically challenging and always enjoyable, go and buy this CD today. My only regret is that I have only recently discovered the group. Long may their CDs remain available.

A must have for National Health Fans.......2000-06-08

Simply put, you'll want this CD if you like National Health. Don't get confused: Missing Pieces incorporates tracks which are not available on the "National Health - Complete" collection (or, obviously, on the three regular LP's/CD's the group produced) and this CD is therefore essential to anyone who likes NH.

Tracks:

Bouree
Paracelsus (Inc. Bouree Reprise)
Clocks And Clouds
Agrippa
The Lethargy Shuffle & The Mind-Your-Backs-Tango
Zabaglione
Lethargy Shuffle Part 2
Croquette For Electronic Beating Group
Phlakaton
The Towplane & The Glider
Starlight On Seaweed
Walking The Dog (Extract)

Album Description

Customer Reviews:

not good experience.......2007-01-04

It'll Go Down In A Storm In The States!!.......2005-03-01

Hatfield plus Henry Cow.......2003-07-10

A must have for National Health Fans.......2000-06-08

For those new to the group: don't buy this CD, get the Complete collection. Brilliant music and quintessentially British. This is "prog rock" with a hell of lot of impish improvising, sly musical remarks, and English whimsy. Very, very good.

Shostakovich: The Film Album
Average customer rating:

A Little Gift I Treasure Very Much!

recording of ligfhter music by Shos the heavy composer

yep, i'd agree

A Unique Collection of Works

Track 25 is the best

Shostakovich: The Film Album

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
All Works by Shostakovich | Shostakovich, Dmitri | ( S ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
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Similar Items:

Shostakovich: Cheryomushki, The Bolt, The Gadfly (The Dance Album)

Shostakovich: The Jazz Album

Shostakovich: Waltzes

Shostakovich: Theatre Music

Shostakovich: The Gadfly; Five Days - Five Nights (Suites)

ASIN: B00000I08B
Release Date: 1999-02-09

Tracks:

The Counterplan, op. 33: Presto
The Counterplan, op. 33: Andante
The Counterplan, op. 33: The Song Of The Counterplan
Alone, Op.26: March. The Street
Alone, Op. 26: Galop
Alone, Op.26: Barrel Organ
Alone, Op.26: March
Alone, Op.26: Altai
Alone, Op.26: In Kuzmina's Hut
Alone, Op.26: School Children
Alone, Op.26: Storm Scene: Storm Breaks
Alone, Op.26: Storm Scene: Snow Storm
Alone, Op.26: Storm Scene: Calm After The Storm
The Tale Of The Silly Little Mouse, Op. 56: The Tale Of The Silly Little Mouse
Hamlet, Op.116: Introduction
Hamlet, Op.116: Palace Music
Hamlet, Op.116: Ball At The Castle
Hamlet, Op.116: Ball
Hamlet, Op.116: In The Garden
Hamlet, Op.116: Military Music
Hamlet, Op.116: Scene Of The Poisoning
The Great Citizen, Op.55: Funeral March
Sofia Perovskaya, Op.132: Waltz
Pirogov, Op.76A: Scherzo
The Gadfly, Op.97: Romance
Pirogov, Op.76A: Finale

Amazon.com essential recording

Continuing Riccardo Chailly's topical Shostakovich recordings (he's already visited the composer's jazz-inflected and dance pieces), this collection of music for film offers the series greater heft. The music here is as entangled in politics and pop culture as the jazzy and dancy material, but here the emotions are more complex and the execution more exciting.

The films Shostakovich was scoring somehow sought legitimacy or outright approval from Soviet power regimes, but as in all his music, Shostakovich enacted subtle subversions. The parade-step march cadences of The Counterplan are exaggerated just enough to integrate all kinds of conflicting dark undertows, emphasized coyly by Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The excerpts from Alone are all over the map, spooky and turbulent and bleak in equal measures, in answer to so many mandated bright, blasting musical ventures elsewhere in the Soviet cultural regime. The works continue until 1967, with a twisty waltz from Sofia Perovskaya, which seems more like a distant comment on the notion of a dance piece than music scripted for dance. For its mix of big, lit sweeps and minute, shadowy motions, this is one of the best single-CD Shostakovich sets--themed or not--in print. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

A Little Gift I Treasure Very Much!.......2007-07-23

I have always been very good about seeing my doctors, etc. regularly, and taking good care of myself.

~flashback to 2002, at my opthalmologist's, and have just had dialators placed in my eyes, and have been shuttled into the inner waiting room until I am ready for my examination. Dr. "D" always had classical music playing at a "just right" level for relaxing. This particular day, this lovely, lilting, and sort of hypnotic piece came over the speakers, lulling me nearly to sleep. I could not get it out of my head, and was still "playing it" in my brain after the visit was over and I was at the reception desk, paying his wife for my visit, and scheduling a two week follow-up. I asked her what had been playing, and so she went in and brought out the two album cases that were in the machine. One was Schubert sonatas--I knew it wasn't that. The other album was this one, the Shostakovich film music. So I thanked her, and said I'd have to watch for it. When I went back for my follow-up, she passed me a little foil shopping bag with a ribbon on the top of it with a cheery "Enjoy, Greg"! In the bag was a copy of this album that she had picked up for me! (Such a lovely lady)

When I got home I played it, and the piece is the op.97, Romance from Gadfly...what a lovely piece of music. Just like a lazy summer afternoon, when you would, surely, see these insects floating indolently in the air.

The other pieces are all very interesting, and fun, too, and this is a wonderful foray into unknown or uncharted waters (at least for me). I love this album, and listen fairly frequently to it. There are 3 albums in a series, this "Film" one, a "Jazz" one, and the "Dance" one. I enjoy all of them, but this one I play most frequently.

Riccardo Chailly is a truly great conductor, I feel, and is one of the few that "take me back", or "make me think about" the conductors from earlier that I remember. This album in particular makes me think, fondly, about Stokowski, and Reiner frequently when I play it. Presentation? Or something else? I do not know, but it does, and, it IS a great album. A worthy addition to your collection, be assurred. ~operabruin

recording of ligfhter music by Shos the heavy composer .......2005-11-24

This recording is excellent. The works are rather light so one does not notice at first that the recording is that good. After some listebning I notice and i Am sure you will do too. Pirogorov and Sofia Petrovskaja i like best. Great recording.

yep, i'd agree.......2004-12-29

This is the perfect album for anyone who believes Shostakovich was only capable of writing music that expressed his inner turmoil.
Here is an album of the composer just doing his job (writing soundtracks for propaganda films) and showing he's capable of playing the field like a consummate pro.
Many of the melodies may sound vaguely familiar, and it's no wonder; they were often pilfered by other assembly line arrangers for Hollywood musicals and other upbeat entertainment.
I'd have to agree with the previous reviewer, who thinks track 25 is the best. It's the Romance from "The Gadfly", which is arguably Shostakovich's greatest melody, played here with perfection; the "lazy" pizzicato and slightly staggered fourth beat in the measure is something I haven't heard before on this piece, and it works very nicely for these ears.

A Unique Collection of Works.......2000-11-25

The film scores of Dmitri Shostakovich are certainly not his best works, but they are definetly worth a look. There is a great range of music on this CD, from the joyful 'Tale of the Silly Little Mouse' to the harshness of 'Hamlet', and Chailly and his players give solid performances throughout. I wouldn't really recommend this as an introduction to Shostakovich's works, but if you're a fan, then it would make a great addition to your collection.

Track 25 is the best.......1999-06-17

Shostakivich wrote some 'heavy' music, but in his better moments he wrote some beautiful melodies (e.g. The Jazz Suite) and film themes including The Tale of the silly little mouse'. What a pity that you have to wait until track 25 for the best piece - the Romance from the 'Gadfly' (Theme music from the BBC series 'Reilly, ace of spies'). The definitive recording of this piece was the version by the USSR Cinema Symphony Orchestra, with Khatchaturian conducting, but the version on this recording is also excellent.

Average customer rating:

amazing songwriting, pop/folk/rock at its best

Scene Missing
Jva
Manufacturer: Thon Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music

General | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005UMF4
Release Date: 2001-12-10

Tracks:

Terrified
Feet in My Shoes
Something I liked
Persuasion
Presses Down
Human
Year Zero
Red
Raving Thing
Talking Backwards
Gallery
Today

Album Description

Cinema is the inspiration behind JVA's latest disc, but don't bother trying to decipher how the songs may be related to any specific movies. None of the songs relate to any particular movie plot - it's more about the images and moods that have come from watching various films over the years.

Scene Missing is a follow up to his 2000 release "Ancient Chinese Secret"

Combining understated arrangements with inventive lyrics and strong vocals, the disc builds on the acoustic sound that JVA regularly delivers to live audiences in Portland with cohort Tim Ellis.

Customer Reviews:

amazing songwriting, pop/folk/rock at its best.......2004-07-11

JVA's albums are consistently powerful - combining eloquent and captivating songwriting with music that delivers Costello-esque catchy pop hooks as well as deep and intriguing lyrics reminiscent of what a Graham Parker-meets-Dorothy Parker album might sound like. Amazing vocals and polished songwriting on this and all of his albums. Floorboards and Ancient Chinese Secret are others you should check out...