Remembrance & Discovery 1

On this CD:

1. Virtuoso Etudes (7) on Gershwin Songs, for piano Etude on Gershwin's Embraceable You
Composed by Earl Wild
Performed by Richard Glazier

2. Virtuoso Etudes (7) on Gershwin Songs, for piano Etude on Somebody Loves Me
Composed by Earl Wild
Performed by Richard Glazier

3. Jilted, song (from Of Thee I Sing, musical)
Composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Richard Glazier

4. Strike Up the Band, musical Meadow Serenade
Composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Richard Glazier

5. Love Walked In, for piano (transcription from Gershwin)
Composed by Percy Grainger
Performed by Richard Glazier

6. The Man I Love, transcription for piano (transcription from Gershwin)
Composed by Percy Grainger
Performed by Richard Glazier

7. Impromptu in Two Keys, for piano
Composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Richard Glazier

8. Sleepless Night (Melody No 17) for piano
Composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Richard Glazier

9. Preludes (3) for piano
Composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Richard Glazier

10. Three-Quarter Blues ("Irish Waltz", Melody No. 32)
Composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Richard Glazier

11. They Can't Take That Away From Me (for the film Shall We Dance)
Composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Richard Glazier

12. Promenade, for piano (Arrangement of "Walking the Dog" from Shall we Dance)
Composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Richard Glazier

13. Primrose, musical Ballet Music
Composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Richard Glazier

14. Sixteen Bars Without a Name
Composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Richard Glazier

15. Concert transcriptions for piano from Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" Bess You Is My Woman
Composed by Beryl Rubinstein
Performed by Richard Glazier

16. Concert transcriptions for piano from Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" Summertime
Composed by Beryl Rubinstein
Performed by Richard Glazier

17. Concert transcriptions for piano from Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" I Got Plenty of Nuttin
Composed by Beryl Rubinstein
Performed by Richard Glazier

18. Violin Piece for violin (Gershwin Melody No 40)
Composed by George Gershwin
Performed by Richard Glazier

Remembrance & Discovery 1, Music, Gershwin, Glazier, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Composers

Halo 2, Vol. 1
Average customer rating:

BUY! BUY! BUY!

Great game - great music

Hug your pillows girls

best video game soundtrack ever.

classical music listeners stop complaining

Halo 2, Vol. 1
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Sumthing Else
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Art of Halo

ASIN: B00067RF6E
Release Date: 2004-11-09

Tracks:

Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix
Blow Me Away - Breaking Benjamin
Peril
Ghosts Of Reach
Follow (1st Movement Of The Odyssey) - Incubus
Heretic, Hero
Flawed Legacy
Impend
Never Surrender - Nile Rodgers
Ancient Machine
2nd Movement Of The Odyssey - Incubus
In Amber Clad
The Last Spartan
Orbit Of Glass
3rd Movement Of The Odyssey - Incubus
Heavy Price Paid
Earth City
High Charity
4th Movement Of The Odyssey - Incubus
Remembrance
Connected - Hoobastank

Amazon.com

Further proof that the 15-year-old male is the nexus of contemporary popular entertainment, this anthology of music from and "inspired by" the sequel to the earth-conquering Halo saga also showcases how capably the video game industry can trump even Hollywood's vaunted production values. The original synth-heavy underscore by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori is filled with enough brooding, mock-Goth atmospherics, and pulsing exotica of indeterminate ethnicity to give the Hans Zimmer stable a run for their money, while a slate of (mostly) worthy rock star guest turns give it a welcome edge. Legendary axe-slinger Steve Vai's sinewy riffing punches up the reworked main theme and "Never Surrender," while alt.metal contenders Breaking Benjamin serve up the suitably dramatic inspired-by cut "Blow Me Away." But it's Incubus' four-part "Odyssey" suite that's the centerpiece, bridging 1970s prog and modern rock with its moody aura and evocative musical dramatics. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

BUY! BUY! BUY!.......2007-03-05

This CD stayed in my truck's CD player for months before getting tired of it. Enough said.

Great game - great music.......2007-01-10

My son wanted this Cd. I had never sat long enough to listen to the music when he played Halo, so I didn't have a clue what I was buying. He let me listen to some of the tracks once it arrived and I had to "borrow" it from him so I could download the cd onto my pc. Needless to say I bought volume 2 and the original Halo soundtrack cd as well. They may belong to my son, but I love these cds too!

Hug your pillows girls.......2006-08-06

THe only reason I am writing anything about this album is because it contains the Odyssey by Incubus, and its probably some of their best work and will go down as their most unnoticed. While the rest of your nerds are huggin your pillows at night thinking about your video games and the "gnarly instrumentals" on this album you sit there and bash Incubus' work. The first track by them, Follow, is not all that great however it was re-released on an additional cd with their Alive at Red Rocks DVD and it sounds sooooooo much better on that cd (with some real lyrics) But after listening to the Odyssey I was really hoping this to be a new direction for Incubus, a more proggressive/conceptual sound. Whether this is the direction they go on with their new album is yet to be heard. Its a shame that this work will go unnoticed, and the only reason it will be that way because a bunch of losers decide to try and impress people with (what they think) is a sense of music just because its of a classical nature. Yes, the rest of the music on the album is amazing, and I give big ups to its composition, but come on people, show some love to good music when its presented to your faces.

best video game soundtrack ever........2006-08-03

i understand that many people are a bit angry with breaking benjamin and hoobastank being in here. i'm not particularly happy myself with the last track, but i think contemporary music is appropriate here, albeit lyrics may not be the greatest form of expressing the mysterious feeling behind everything. i think o'donnel and salvatori have what it takes to compose a score of music, but it's not a score, it's a soundtrack. i found that if you don't like them you can just skip them. the second to last track is a great way to end the soundtrack.

classical music listeners stop complaining.......2006-05-10

The worst part of this album was songs with lyrics (breaking benjamin, techno, hoobastank)...i dont understand then why people are upset with the incubus - follow has one word the whole song (two if you count "yeah") and their instrumental songs are brilliant, floyd-esque at times. for those of you reading others criticizing this album, ignore them, ignore the three bad songs on this album, and purchase it and enjoy it.

Average customer rating:

Best CD I have ever heard
One song turned me into a fan!
Buy Victory Bonds
best cd in a collection of 300-400
I think everything he does is great and this is no exception

Remembrance
John McDermott
Manufacturer: Angel Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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A Time to Remember
Celtic Tenor
Timeless Memories: Greatest Hits
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Love Is a Voyage

ASIN: B00000IP3P
Release Date: 1999-05-04

Tracks:

US Armed Forces Medley: Caissons Go Rolling Along, The /Anchors Aweigh / Semper Paratus / Air Force Song, The / Marine Hymn (The Halls Of Montezuma) (Crawford/Gruber/Lottman/Miles/Offenbac/Savino/Van Bosskerck/Zimmerman)
Roses of Picardy (Weatherly/Wood)
I'll Be Seeing You (Fain/Kahal)
Lili Marlene (Leip/Shultze)
We'll Meet Again (Charles/Parker)
And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Bogle)
Green Fields of France (Bogle)
Christmas in the Trenches (McCutcheon)
Battle Hymn of the Republic (Traditional)
Faded Coat of Blue (McNaughton)
Shenandoah (Traditional)
Wall (Murphy)
Flowers of the Forest (Traditional)
One Small Star (Bogle)
In Flander Fields: Ashoken... (Traditional/Unger)
Taps (Traditional)
America the Beautiful (Bates)

Customer Reviews:

Best CD I have ever heard.......2004-12-22

That is a very strong statement but it is true. If you can listen to this CD and stay dry-eyed then your heart is stone. John McDermott has an incomparable voice and teamed with great, great songs this CD is perfect.

One song turned me into a fan!.......2003-04-17

I bought this CD because I heard "One Small Star" on the radio and was enchanted and touched by the voice and the song. Now I cannot stop playing the CD! "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is so powerful, I listen to it over and over. "The Green Fields of France", "Christmas in the Trenches", and "The Wall" bring tears to my eyes each time I hear them. I have already ordered more of John McDermott's music and the DVD of "A Time To Remember". Sentimemtal stuff? You bet, and every American with any patriotism in his heart should buy and listen to this great work.

Buy Victory Bonds.......2002-06-15

I have a CD with the exact cover but some of the songs differ. John McDermott brings the atmosphere of the war years (both WWI and WWII) home to you. His voice is flawless as Irish tenors go. If you like tenors or thematic "war" songs this is for you. I enjoyed "Lili Marlene", The Rose of Picardy Square", "Christmas in the Trenches" and "The Wall." However I must have played "And the Band played Waltzing Matilda" 10-15 times in a row. Both because of McDermott's voice and because of the story it had to tell.

best cd in a collection of 300-400.......2001-12-03

This is the best album or cd I've ever gotten for quantity and quality of songs. But there are three above all" "The Wall", a searing memory of the Vietnam War; "Ashokan Farewell", one of the most beautiful melodies I've ever heard and, despite its being used for background in the PBS Civil War series, written in 1983/4 by Jay Ungar; and the BIG ONE--"One Small Star" by Eric Bogle of Australia, who has two other fine ones on this cd. "Star" is one of the finest examples of how music can heal those grieving for lost ones and I've been trying very hard to get it played in NYC and DC. I bought a copy for the husband of Sandy Bradshaw who was an attendant on Flight 93 which she and those brave passengers took down over Pennsylvania to prevent the hijackers from flying into a target in DC. He lives here in Greensboro. If you agree with the last part of this, please join me in getting it heard far and near.

I think everything he does is great and this is no exception.......2001-07-31

If like me you are a folk music fan there is a hidden treat on this CD, "Shenandoah." I've heard a lot of artists sing this but Mr. McDermott is the best. Many songs on this CD can be found on the Danny Boy CD. It's still a must have. Some of his best work is on this CD. My father sang "I'll be seeing you" and "We'll Meet Again" so I found those songs very emotional. Any song on the CD is worth the price of the whole. I believe "Shanandoah" is the jewell. It's a great collection of music.

Average customer rating:

Very impressive sound.

My Remembrance of You
Diana Jones
Manufacturer: New Song
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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West
The West Was Burning
Viridian
A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection
Waterloo, Tennessee

ASIN: B000ETUEU8
Release Date: 2006-06-27

Tracks:

Pretty Girl
My Beloved
All My Money On You
Pony
A Hold On Me
Up In Smoke
Cold Grey Ground
Fever Moon
Lay Me Down
Willow Tree
My Rememberance Of You

Customer Reviews:

Very impressive sound........2007-02-10

I am not a huge country western fan but do like well recorded, well constructed music. This CD is both. The sound quality is first rate and the lyrics are exceptional. I would classify this as cross between bluegrass and country and will appeal to a large audience. Anyone who appreciates quality music should like this CD.

Average customer rating:

Remembrance

Manufacturer: Mo Better Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

Smooth Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

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Something To Ride 2
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Ladies' Choice
Stay a While

ASIN: B000A2GP7K
Release Date: 2005-02-15

Tracks:

When Summer Comes
Dancing In the Sun
Until Tomorrow
Human Nature
Love Will Conquer All
One Last Time
When A Child Smiles
Moods
Renewal

Product Description

A Smooth Jazz Tribute to the Late Great Saxophonist George Howard!!

Average customer rating:

essential george winston
Stick to the piano
Not his best work
Icepicks in your ears
There is better "essential" George

Remembrance-A Memorial Benefit
George Winston
Manufacturer: RCA Victor
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Plains
Montana: A Love Story
Night Divides the Day: The Music of the Doors
Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions: A Hurricane Relief Benefit
Forest

ASIN: B00005R0AM
Release Date: 2001-11-06

Tracks:

Lament
Where Are You Now
Remembrance
Where The Sun Rises First
Farewell/Kindness Emerging/America, My Country 'Tis Of Thee
Daughters & Sons

Amazon.com

Few albums recorded in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are as poignant as George Winston's EP, Remembrance. A benefit album, Remembrance reflects a loss of both life and innocence. Solo piano tracks "Lament" and "Remembrance" are pensive works with Winston playing open-ended melodies over simple, mournful chord structures. Winston also plays three acoustic guitar tunes, a rarity on his CDs. The most surprising track is an eight-minute solo harmonica medley that culminates in "America/My Country 'Tis of Thee/Taps." Winston gets a tortured sound in one of his most emotionally conflicted performances. Remembrance doesn't just serve a good cause, it also serves good music. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews:

essential george winston.......2003-12-31

the unitiated will cringe that this is not a carbon copy of Decemeber, and has the nerve to feature other instruments besides piano, but folks, this CD has more soul than anything I've heard in years. The mix of solo piano, guitar, and harmonica tell an amazing tale of passion and emotion. The guitar work invokes comparisons to John Fahey, while the harmonic mimics a bagpipe band. George's piano work speaks for itself.

This cd IS George Winston at his best, and I am grateful for his gift.

Stick to the piano.......2003-09-09

I dont get G Winston sometimes. I love his piano work, it is at times breathtaking. December is one of my favorite CDs ever. I even loved his remake of the Doors music. But the harmonica? My COuntry Tis of Thee? C'mon I could almost do that. I saw him in concert and he did the same thing, pulled out the harmonica and the dreaded "slack key" guitar... George wake up! We all paid to see you play the big black 88 tooth monster you are sitting in front of.

Not his best work.......2002-11-19

First: Too much money for too few tracks.

Second: What on earth was he thinking with the harmonica?

I'm a George Winston fan, but this CD was a disappointment. Worth the money only if you're a sufficient Winston fanatic that you want this CD on principle, to complete your Winston collection. Otherwise, spend the money on a different Winston album, because this one just doesn't display his talent.

Icepicks in your ears.......2002-11-07

I am a fan of George Winston and usually expect high quality music from this very talened man. But, Remembrance is the worst CD he has created. I kept thinking, "George Winston did this?" The piano music is very beautiful but the harmonicas trying to sound like bagpipes is the most painful noise to come out of a speaker. I tried to listed to the CD twice to give it a chance but had to stop when it got to the harmonica noise. The CD is now in my donate to the Goodwill box if anyone would want waste a dollar to buy it. At least my purchase price went to a good cause.

There is better "essential" George.......2002-09-19

I agree with some of the other reviewers about track 5 (the dreaded harmonica track!) that it really doesn't belong on this CD. For just some reason, it is kind of like grating fingernails on a chalkboard compared to the other tracks. I for one like GW playing guitar. I have seen him in concert many times, and I have always enjoyed him playing slack key. If you are one of the die hard fans of George, you still should invest in this CD. If you are new to him, December, Autumn, Summer, Winter into Spring, or Forest are great first time intro CD's to GW. Still, this is a good effort and for a great cause. I don't regret purchasing it, but he has done better.

Average customer rating:

Hans Krása: Brundibár

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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Douglas Lilburn: A Song of Islands; Aotearoa Overture; Forest

ASIN: B000K97RKC
Release Date: 2006-12-12

Tracks:

Scene One
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene 6
Scene 7
Scene 8
Serenade
Scene One
Scene Two
Scene Three
Scene Four
Scene Five
Scene Six
Scene Seven
Overture For Small Orchestra
The Butterfly
Yes, That's The Way Things Are
Birdsong
The Garden
Man Proposes, God Disposes
The Old House

Amazon.com

Among the recently discovered works by Czech-Jewish composers written at the concentration camp Terezín (a way-station to the Nazi gas chambers) was the children's opera Brundibár (Czech for "bumblebee") by Hans Krása, born in Prague in 1899 and murdered in Auschwitz in 1944. Performed by the camp's children 55 times - with the cast changing as the performers were deported and killed - it became a symbol of the prisoners' undaunted creativity. Assessing the purely musical quality of the Terezín works is almost impossible in view of the wrenching circumstances of their inception and the composers' still developing talents and creative powers. The miracle is that they exist at all.

The music of Brundibár is a mix of pleasant pop tunes, jazz, patter songs, a bit of Stravinsky and a lot of Kurt Weill. The singers speak more than they sing; the ensembles, from duets to chorus, are almost entirely in unison. The orchestration (here as well as in the fast, rhythmically pungent Overture) is colorful and inventive. The story: a brother and sister try to collect money to buy their sick mother milk by singing and dancing in the street but are drowned out and scared away by the organ-grinder Brundibár. A sparrow, a cat, and a dog suggest that there is strength in numbers. When passing schoolchildren join their songs, they attract attention and donations. The moral: ask for help, take a stand, don't submit to bullying! Unfortunately, the famous Tony Kushner's English adaptation of the libretto is distressingly infelicitous; he even misspells "Aninka," the sister's name. The performance, using adult voices, is excellent. The settings by the American composer Lori Laitman (b. 1955) of five poems by children murdered in the death camps capture the mood and character of the texts with uncanny empathy, from bitter humor and defiance to dreamy tenderness, soaring lyricism, and heartbreaking sadness. This is a new arrangement for soprano and clarinet (another version with bassoon was performed in New York in 2001 by the Festival Chamber Music Society). --Edith Eisler

John Corigliano - Of Rage and Remembrance ~ Symphony No.1
Average customer rating:

Excellent

Angry and spiritual music

800 performances later...

Terrific absolute music too

The best of two

John Corigliano - Of Rage and Remembrance ~ Symphony No.1
Corigliano , and Slatkin
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music
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John Corigliano: Phantasmagoria; To Music; Fantasia on an Ostinato; Three Hallucinations

Concerto Grossi 1-5 (Dig)

ASIN: B000003G1M
Release Date: 1996-09-17

Tracks:

Of Rage And Remembrance (Chaconne Based Upon Symphony No. 1, Movt. 3)
Symphony No. 1: Apologue: Of Rage And Remembrance
Symphony No. 1: Tarantella
Symphony No. 1: Chaconne: Giulio's Song
Symphony No. 1: Epilogue

Product Description

International Hymns on 5 CDs ~ Spain ~ Ireland ~ Israel ~ South America ~ Italy

Amazon.com

Corigliano's most famous piece of music is the score to the film Altered States. Actually, all of his music kind of sounds like that-- alternating moments of poignant lyricism with explosions of rhythmic energy. The son of the former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, Corigliano literally grew up around the orchestra. So it's no surprise that his music is orchestrated with almost preternatural skill and brilliance. The First Symphony, inspired in part by the AIDS tragedy, is both an angry and a moving work. Leonard Slatkin plays it with the kind of manic energy the music demands, and the sound quality is terrific. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-02-01

Of Rage and Remembrance is a great piece, very interesting techniques used, worth checking out!

Angry and spiritual music.......2006-01-23

It is interesting, at a time when we are seeing compositions written about, dedicated to, and in memory of those lost in the September 11th terrorist attacks and the subsequent reactions, to go back to works written about WWI, WWII, and other wars that inspired so many great works. This CD of John Corigliano's Symphony No. 1, is a personal reaction to the loss of friends and family to the AIDS epidemic, during a time, a decade or two ago, when AIDS was a worldwide headline and crisis (It still is today, really). The image of the AIDS quilt on the cover of the CD brings back many of the feelings the nation had at that time. This highly personal and intense symphony spurned a 12-minute cantata based on the symphony's 3rd movement, which vocalizes with words, the powerful impact of the loss of life to AIDS.

Each movement of the 40-minute Symphony No. 1, has a personal reference to someone Corigliano has lost to AIDS. The opening movement is subtitled Of Rage and Remembrance, and the rage can be seen on page 1 with a score marking of "ferocious". Aleatoric elements give a fearful tone: playing with string vibratos, odd wind rhythms, brass slidings, and percussion clatterings. The Rage section also has instrumental instructions such as hysterical and nasty, which lead into the cacophonous poundings. The middle section has long sustained strings, but in the distance, is an off-stage piano playing Issac Albeniz's tango, a favorite piece of one of Corigliano's pianist friends. The dissonant strings continue the minds' rage (almost creepily) while the remembrance in a fog is represented in the tonal and major-mode piano work. The opening hysteric poundings and aleatoric elements return, but all ends with the distant piano, as if in a distant memory. The second movement is a tarantella, an Italian dance form, taken from a set of piano pieces. The tarantella was dedicated to a friend who eventually succumbed to the AIDS virus. A bouncy and tuneful theme is varied amongst more aleatoric extra-musical devices, like string and brass glissandi and constant speeding and slowing of the dance tempi, often give way to freneticism. The horrific and often grotesque dance is attributed to his friends' madness as a direct result of the disease. The third movement's melody, subtitled Giulio's Song, was taken from a tape Corigliano was reviewing of he and his friend, Giulio Sorrentino, improvising at college in 1962. Giulio also died of AIDS, and the cello, he was an amateur cellist, represents his friend. With long sustained chords, Corigliano adds soloists, and printed in the score, remembers other friends who have died from AIDS with each solo entrance. Eventually the pounding and throbbing from the first movement, reprised in the second movement, finds its way here too. The short fourth movement epilogue is announced by sustained falling brass clusters and a reprise of the Albeniz piano solo, cello solo, and other previous themes, ending in the finally silenced cello solo. Scored for large orchestra, a large battery of percussion (including anvil, flexatone, whistle, whip, and ratchet) a string section including mandolins, the music is intense, often dissonant mixed with polytonality, and exhibiting great tunefulness with energetic rhythmical themes, not to mention many "chance" techniques. The music is highly personal and intense.

The accompanying 12-minute cantata, scored for low strings, chorus, solo mezzo, chimes, and timpani, is entitled Of Rage and Remembrance and opens with an impassioned mezzo solo, a vivid textual depiction of Corigliano's feelings in the symphony. Various soloists recall Corigliano's friends who died and were marked in the symphony's score of the 3rd movement. The chorus, in musical aleatory, recall those they personally lost to AIDS through chanting; and in a haunting ending, a lone boy soprano quotes Psalm 23 in Hebrew. Perhaps even more moving than the actual symphonic movement, Of Rage and Remembrance is a deeply-felt addition to the disk.

Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra out of Washington DC with various Washington choruses and soloists, give sincere and electric performances. Sonically and overall, this RCA disk surpasses the earlier world premier on Erato with the Chicago Symphony under Barenboim with Slatkin's extroverted style. Even though this work was written in the late 1980's and first performed in the early 1990's, the subject and intense personal connection holds up. Gritty and sentimental, the symphony is a masterpiece.

800 performances later..........2005-10-27

In the fifteen years since its premiere, Corigliano's AIDS symphony has achieved 800 live performances, giving it claim to being the most established orchestral work since Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra. The reason, I think, is that Corigliano has written a work whose emotional range and depth of intention rise to the tragic occasion. This is the greatest work of art inspired so far by AIDS, along with Tony Kushner's "Angels in America."

I heard a performance in San Francisco last week with the same forces on this CD--Slatkin and the National Symphony--and Corigliano's music still had the power to deeply shock and move a listener. The "metal percussion" battery in the first movement is ear-splitting and unnerving, an outcry of rage that alternates with the lyrical expressions of remembrance--the twin themes of the symphony. Other reviewers have already pointed out the musical landscape of the work. The ghostly off-stage playing of an Albeniz tango (a favorite piece of the dead pianist who hauants the first movement), the frightening fractured tarantella in the second movement that vividly depicts both AIDS-induced dementia and a dance of death, the lonely solo voices in the third-movement chaconne that each stand for other departed friends: these are enduring musical gestures of pity and love.

The idiom of this work is essentially tonal and therefore easy for audiences to grasp. But it's not "soft" tonality, or regressive in any way. One can ponder why Corigliano hasn't lived up to the enormous potential of his First Symphony, just as Kushner hasn't lived up to the potential of his play. Leaving that aside, the music endures and will continue to as long as the plauge is with us.

Terrific absolute music too.......2000-07-25

The extra-musical considerations of these works are interesting in and of themselves, but they are in no way necessary for an understanding and enjoyment of these considerable achievements by Corigliano.

The composer has come some way from the piano concerto that Hilde Somer recorded in San Antonio back in the late '60s. There is the same rythmic pulse, the same intense desire to innovate while remaining accessible. There's more content in ideas and art surrounding those ideas that remind me strongly of Penderecki, Panufnik,Rieti, Nicholas Flagello and Creston without in the least way being derivative. Corigliano, truly an original voice, deserves to be in such distinguished company.

My only concern is that these works have been pinned as so occasional that they might meet the fate of period pieces, much as some of the fine 1970s works of Gould, Carter, or Gregg Smith: we don't hear them any more because they've been so oft-discussed and fraught with situational association.

The National Symphony has mended its somewhat slack ways proliferated under the Slavka regime. Antal Dorati would have been proud to hear the exquisite execution DC's superlative orchestra affords these affecting works.

The best of two.......2000-06-29

It is amazing (although perhaps not once you hear this music) that a modern symphony dealing with a difficult and controversial issue like AIDS should be given not one, but TWO excellent recordings by major American orchestras (the other being the premiere recording with the Chicago Symphony and Daniel Barenboim). But that simply indicates the importance and magnitude of this piece. It is certainly one of the best symphonies by an American composer, possibly one of the greatest symphonies of the 20th century. And of the two recordings available, this is to my mind the finest. Slatkin's direction is much tighter, giving the faster more rhythmic sections more clout, whereas in Barenboim's version, the orchestra lacked that precision. Some might prefer Barenboim's Mahleresque sound (like an orchestra so big it can barely hold itself together) but Slatkin achieves amazing power through precision without sacrificing the work's epic breadth. As an added bonus, there is the choral work 'Of Rage and Remembrance' which you should listen to only after hearing the symphony.

Average customer rating:

A superb evening of Ives, the best in decades
Something of a disappointment
a wonderful summary
Ives is Ives
The Mood of Time

Ives: An American Journey
Michael Tilson Thomas , Charles Ives , San Francisco Symphony and Chorus , and Thomas Hampson
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Charles Ives: Symphony No. 2 / The Gong on the Hook & Ladder, or Firemen's Parade on Main Street / Tone Roads No. 1 / Hymn: Largo Cantabile, for String Orchestra / Hallowe'en / Central Park in the Dark / The Unanswered Question - Leonard Bernstein / New York Philharmonic
Ives: Symphony No. 2 & Symphony No. 3/Bernstein Discusses Charles Ives
Ives: Holidays Symphony
Ives: The Symphonies / Orchestral Sets 1 & 2
Ives: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-4

ASIN: B00005UED6
Release Date: 2002-02-05

Tracks:

From The Steeples And The Mountains
The Things Our Fathers Loved
The Pond (Remembrance)
Memories
Charlie Rutlage
The Circus Band
The "St. Gaudens" In Boston Common
Putnam's Camp
The Housatonic At Stockbridge
In Flanders Fields
They Are There!
Tom Sails Away
Fugue From Symphony No. 4
Psalm 100
Serenity
General William Booth Enters Into Heaven
The Unanswered Question

Amazon.com

Michael Tilson Thomas is an expert Ivesian. His 1970 recording debut was with Three Places in New England, still available from DG. Here, he redoes the work with the interpolation of a chorus singing the poem on which the last movement, "The Housatonic at Stockbridge," is based--unusual, not as effective as the orchestral version, but fascinating. Tilson Thomas cites Ives's desire for performers to creatively shape his music, and this disc vindicates his editorial liberties by making Ives's surprising music even more unpredictable. The choral contributions are fine, too, but baritone Thomas Hampson steals the show with seven songs that display his empathy with Ives's varied styles and the range of the composer's music, from cowboy songs to touching elegies. The way Hampson bellows a Brooklynese "Coytin" (for "Curtain") at the end of the first song of Memories is worth the price of purchase. Here's a disc to be entertained by, and moved as well. The recording was made at SFS concerts, and we're privileged to share the audience's experience. A must-have for Ivesians and the curious. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

A superb evening of Ives, the best in decades.......2005-12-18

Tilson Thomas's PR team should put out a ocntract on me; I rarely express enthusiasm for him. So let me bow especially low to this superlative 1999 concert of Ives as viewed from his most melodic, least revolutionary perspective. This is Ives as recording angel of ice cream socials and Fourth of July parades.

In the Seventies MTT made good but not exceptioanl recordings of Ives's major orchestral works. Here he concentrates on songs and orchestral bits and pieces, except for the extended Three Places in New England, which is x-rayed with exceptionally detailed sonics. Thomas Hampson secures his position as the best singer of American songs with highly dramatized, unbuttoned singing--his Charlie Rutlage, a Texas-accented elegy for a fallen cowpoke, and the familiar General William Booth Enters Into Heaven are instant classics. Chorus and orchestra enter in the spirit of bumptious good cheer, and overall a good time was had by all, even though the crowd was sent home sobered up by the supernaturally melancholy Unanswered Question, which never fails to send a shiver through the listener.

Something of a disappointment.......2004-01-12

I was very much looking forward to the latest Ives recording from Michael Tilson Thomas, whose reputation as an Ives specialist began with his first recording of the Three Pieces in New England, made in 1970 when the conductor was only in his mid-20s. That this disc came some way from living up to my expectations is perhaps due to a combination of over-optimism, uneven performances and what I feel is a less-than-ideal selection of works.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the opening of the disc: a fine performance of the craggy, dissonant brass and percussion work From the Steeples and the Mountains, a highly impressive miniature which swells from its dissonant opening to a climax where sound seems to echo off in all directions. However, I'm less convinced with the rest of the purely-orchestral program: this reading of Ives' classic Three Pieces of New England lacks a little of the gracious flowing lines of Tilsom Thomas' earlier 1970 recording; in addition the experiment of adding a recently-found choral part to the finale merely demonstrates how right the composer was to leave it out. For his extract from the Fourth Symphony, Tilson Thomas chooses the slow movement fugue. I am guessing this choice was to emphasise the "accessible Ives", but this is by far the weakest movement of the work (it was in fact arranged from the first movement of Ives' then 20-year-old First String Quartet), and even a good performance--as here--can't entirely hide up its conservative, almost academic writing. That perennial Ives classic The Unanswered Question, which closes the work, is an infinitely finer work, but unfortunately Tilson Thomas cannot match the transcendence of his own--distinctly slower--Chicago Symphony Orchestra recording from 1986.

The rest of the disc concentrates on various incarnations of Ives' bewildering variety of songs, and as a result comes into partial competition with what is to my mind one of the finest Ives discs around--a recording of selections from the songs and the sets for orchestra with Susan Narucki, Sanford Sylvan and Music/Projects London under Richard Bernas (if you're an Ives fan and don't have this disc, I suggest you rectify this immediately). The songs are extremely uneven in quality--ranging from trivial kitsch to outright masterpieces--and their styles vary just as much.

Most of these songs appear here in orchestral garb, but in three of them Tilson Thomas accompanies Thomas Hampson's baritone on the piano himself. The salon song The Things our Fathers Loved is one of the examples of irreparable kitsch, but rather better is the bipartite Memories which switches from camp to sentimental at its midpoint. In contrast, Tom Sails Away is one of Ives' finest songs, but in this recording its effect is compromised by Tilson Thomas' rather insensitive playing in the piano part.

The Pond (Remembrance)--another of Ives' finest songs--appears here in a version for women's chorus and orchestra. This transcendental homage to the composer's father is in fact much more subtle and rhythmically complex than it appears at first, and it has appeared in a bewildering variety of versions (three of which appear on the Bernas disc mentioned earlier). Similarly restrained in means is John Adams' careful baritone-and-orchestra version of the touching song Serenity: it's well-judged and well-sung here, and Adams avoids the pitfalls that David Del Tredici walks into in his entirely unnecessary orchestration of In Flanders Fields.

By contrast, Charlie Rutlage is an absurdly over-the-top piece of cowboy kitsch that disintegrates into violent discords as the words describe Charlie's death: this voice-and-orchestra version isn't half as good as Sanford Sylvan's voice-and-piano reading on the Bernas disc. Similarly eccentric is The Circus Band, a bizarrely outrageous confection for chorus and orchestra (based on an early orchestral march) that lacks some of the lustre of similar Ives effects. The bizarre Ives is also at work They are There! This near-hysterial rant (not actually as militaristic as it sounds at first) is heard in a chorus-and-orchestral version that lacks something of the sheer outrageousness of Ives' own voice-and-piano recording (even though Tilson Thomas takes an effort to try to copy the style of that reading).

The chorus-and-organ setting of Psalm 100 ("Make a joyful noise unto the Lord") is an intriguing piece of writing that well merits its exposure here, though it can't match General William Booth Enters Into Heaven for sheer unbuttoned craziness. This setting of Vachel Lindsay's poem, heard here in a version for baritone, chorus and orchestra is one of Ives' most endearing creations: its remarkable mix of modernism, bizarre wit and sentimentality, topped off with the sudden introduction of a hymn tune at the climax, is typical of the composer at his best. Unfortunately, this performance misses out on the last edge of hysterical ecstasy that is so necessary for the work to have its full impact (in my opinion it's easier to bring off in the voice-and-piano version).

I realise I am perhaps being overcritical of this disc, but it seems to me that a disc by such a fine Ivesian as Tilson Thomas should be held to a very high standrd. Though I was personally disappointed by this recording, it may well appeal to those who know little of the composer: however, I fear that Ives specialists are likely to be underwhelmed.

a wonderful summary.......2002-12-21

Charles Ives has always been a puzzle to me. From time to time I have listened to his music with a complete lack of resolution. Did I actually like it? Is it just an American marketing phenomena? Would we hear as much of him if he were, say, an Australian composer? I am still totally uncertain, but I love this CD for its variety of styles, variety of forces and general good humour. If you are immediately dismissive of Ives, can I suggest you start with the two songs called 'Memories'? Have a listen to this CD with an open mind - you may not like it all - even most of it - but one thing is certain and that is that this is not run-of-the-mill music.

Ives is Ives.......2002-06-15

I grew up on movie soundtracks and scores from the likes of Bernard Herrmann, Dimitri Tiomkin, Alex North and others. We have lost many of these composers but not their music they have left us through the years. That's a gift to all of us. I have been slowly looking at "20th century" composers from the "classical" arena to enhance my listening pleasure and my nature or "quest" to always seek out music that I am certain I must have passed over. I discovered Charles Ives after reading up further on Aaron Copland and his foray into many diverse areas of musical composition. One door opens another. Ives' name and compositions seem to have come up frequently. So far Charles Ives' music doesn't have the melodic quality of Copland or many contemporaries yet it does seem to have roots resulting in American musical motifs very strangely orchestrated resulting in some twisted profoundness. What attracts me is how Ives' music almost seems as if it were composed for film. Ives is Ives as I have found out. I enjoy this recording. It is strange, contemplative and definitely esoteric. Abrupt turns abound but that is the strength of Ives.

The Mood of Time.......2002-06-15

This collection of Ives compositions is exceptional. This CD makes for very good listening. I play it when I am alone in the car. The pensive music realy captures the mood of time.

Average customer rating:

"Real" classical music for little ones
Very Relaxing, yet still super
Just what we harried ADULTS need to unwind!
Beautiful bedtime music for babies
Peaceful, beautiful, soothing piano music

Perchance to Dream

Manufacturer: Delos Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Reverie: Carol Rosenberger
Such Stuff As Dreams
Water Music Of The Impressionists
Singing on the Water
A Child's Celebration of Dance Music

ASIN: B0000006X2
Release Date: 1992-05-22

Tracks:

Short Story
My Deal Little Mother (Mein Mein)
Andante from Sonata in C, K. 545
Erinnerung (Remembrance)
Sehr Langsam (Very Slowly)
Abendlied (Evening Song)
Schlummerlied (Slumber Song)
Mignon
Des Abends (Evening)
Berceuse, Op. 56, No. 1
Prelude Op. 28, No. 7 in a Major
Mazurka Op. 68, No. 2 in a Minor
Adagio from Sonata in F Major, Hob Xvi:23
Sinfonia V in E-Flat Major
Prelude in C Major from the Well-Tempered Clavier
Aria in G Major from the Goldberg Variations
Andante from Sonata in a Major, Op. 120, D. 664
Intermezzo Op. 117, No. 1
Bagatelle, Op. 119, No. 1
Adagio Cantabile from Sonata Op. 13 (Pathque)

Amazon.com

This is a lovingly-presented and very touching recording. Solo piano works by such composers as Kabalevsky, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Schumann, and Ravel come together in this collection intended to promote restfulness and calm in both children and adult listeners. With Carol Rosenberger's gentle playing, it succeeds marvellously. This disc is absolutely ideal for bedtime or times of quiet reflection. It might serve well in the car during traffic jams, too. Rather than just throwing together performances packaged on a theme (as a number of record companies are doing), Delos and Rosenberger seem to have tailored the interpretations to achieve the desired musical goal here. The liner notes have a lively section just for young readers. --Gwendolyn Freed

Product Description

Music for Babies/Childrem

Customer Reviews:

"Real" classical music for little ones.......2003-02-27

I bought this CD for my elder son when he was tiny; he listened to it nightly (and often for afternoon naps), and his little brother is continuing the tradition. What I like best about this compilation is that this is REAL music - real Brahms, Mozart, etc - and not watered-down versions or arrangements of the classics (like the vast majority of "classical" compilations on the market these days). (I suppose I am just a crank about this, but I grew up listening to real music, and I want my kids to do the same.) The performances are gentle and understated - not what you would want in a concert, but just right for sedating a small one.

Very Relaxing, yet still super.......1999-06-16

This CD is just wonderful for babies and adults and children. It has a good blend of music to introduce children to beautiful classical music. I think that the playing is just superb.

Just what we harried ADULTS need to unwind!.......1999-02-12

An almost perfect combination of selections for relaxing background music, which is played frequently as our dinner music.

I would have appreciated a little less "electronic doctoring" as some notes (especially the lower range) don't sound quite "true", but then again it could be my ears!

Anyway, am delighted that it does what it was designed to do...provide an enjoyable time of relaxation. Thanks.

Beautiful bedtime music for babies.......1999-01-04

This CD was given to us as a gift when our daughter was born and we always play it when putting her down for a nap or to sleep for the night. When we travel, we take it along to ensure that she will fall asleep as easily on the road as she does at home.The music is absolutely lovely and very soothing for infants and adults alike. We even ordered a second copy in case we were ever to lose or wear out the first one!

Peaceful, beautiful, soothing piano music.......1998-10-22

This is one of the most peaceful, soothing and beautiful CD's I have ever heard. I think it would put you or your baby to sleep every night. The music selection is wonderful and the artist has a beautiful technique on the piano. I loved it.

Average customer rating:

Mellow Out.
somewhat disappointing when compared to the phenomenal debut, but still a lot of magic to be found
Through Poppy Feilds and Remembrance Days
Peripheral information for serious fans.
The Dream Academy's worthy sophomore release

Remembrance Days
The Dream Academy
Manufacturer: Wea International
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Dream Academy
A Different Kind of Weather
Original Remixes & Rarities
Under the Skin
A Posteriori

ASIN: B000005S5O
Release Date: 1997-09-04

Tracks:

Indian Summer
Lesson of Love
Humdrum
Power to Believe
Hampstead Girl
Here
In the Hands of Love
Ballad in 4/4
Doubleminded
Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime
In Exile (For Rodrigo Rojas)

Album Description

The English pop-rock trio's sophomore outing, first releasedin 1987. 11 tracks, including 'Indian Summer' and 'Power To Believe'. A Reprise release.

Album Details

Now Deleted in the USA

Customer Reviews:

Mellow Out........2005-09-27

What a great forgotten group. A very hard to get album is finally available. This CD brings back a lot of memories. This is a "whatever happened to" group that was forgotten but this music embodies a great sense of love, lost and gained and a very memorable track from the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Don't miss out on the Dream Academy, a group well ahead of its time and a very personable CD with some great songs. Be prepared to be put in a "Dream-like" state of melancholy.

somewhat disappointing when compared to the phenomenal debut, but still a lot of magic to be found.......2004-12-14

The Dream Academy's second album, 1987's "Remembrance Days", is definitely not as great as their absolute masterpiece debut. David Gilmour, who co-produced all but one of the tracks from the debut, is gone. Here, every track is co-produced by Hugh Padgham, who worked with closely with Phil Collins and Genesis throughout the `80s. Now, I'm a tremendous fan of '80s Genesis and '80s Phil, & the idea of bringing in Padgham to produce the Dream Academy certainly doesn't seem like a bad one. The results are generally very strong, but, it seems that Gilmour & Nick Laird-Clowes had a major chemistry that helped give the debut its unique, arresting atmosphere. The sound overall on "Remembrance Days" leans considerably more toward a typical late `80s pop-rock sound. Plus, the songwriting is overall a noticeable step down from the previous album. Don't get me wrong though--there's still a lot of magic here. I wouldn't call this a sophomore slump--it's still a heck of a strong album with many tracks that rank among the Dream Academy's best ever, & the Dream Academy at their best is music you need to hear. "The Power To Believe" is a terrifically melodic, haunting, atmospheric story-song--it does strongly recall Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight", & in turn, it seems to have influenced Phil's subsequent "We Fly So Close" from his 1993 album "Both Sides". "Humdrum" is a mesmerizing, evocative song with incisive lyrics about the rat race people find themselves in, & is additionally punctuated by a great saxophone solo from Kate St John. The wonderfully breezy "Hampstead Girl" spotlights elegant, dreamy background vocals from Kate, as does the brilliant, transcendant retooling of "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" which also displays her masterful use of oboe--the latter track was co-produced by Lindsey Buckingham, & it's clearly superior to the hit version by the group Korgis--thankfully they didn`t leave this track off the album as they had originally intended. Also, "In The Hands of Love" is an anthemic & highly enjoyable track. A lot of the tracks though are frustrating because they're quite strong, but suffer from botched execution--"The Lesson Of Love", which was co-written & co-produced by Patrick Leonard (of Madonna fame) is a really nice, breezy song, but suffers from weak lead vocals from Nick; "Here" is pretty, but has a frustratingly rambling, aimless melody; the somewhat funky "Doubleminded" is infectiously melodic, but has some rather grating synth & is a bit slight; "Indian Summer", the first single that was released from the album, was also co-produced by Lindsey Buckingham (it also features him on background vocals)--it bears more than a passing resemblance to "Life In A Northern Town", right from the opening notes, & with the chanting on the fade--it's really strong, but the production doesn't really do it justice, & it ends up coming across as a bit sappy. Also, the confessional "Ballad In 4/4" is somewhat dull; & their reach exceeded their grasp on the album closing epic "In Exile (For Rodrigo Rojas)"--it's ambitious & it does grab you, but it fails to really hold on--it`s rather disjointed & lacking in direction--it doesn`t feel fully realized. In the end, even with all of the weaknesses of the album, there's still a heck of a lot to like/ love on "Remembrance Days"--with a little more fine-tuning this album could have easily been another masterpiece, but as it is, it falls tantalizingly short. Over the course of the album`s 50+ minute running time, you get a lot of great music--there's not a single bad song on here. The debut album is a better place to start if you're new to the Dream, but you'll definitely want to move on to this one. Short-lived though they were, The Dream Academy were an incredible band, with Nick Laird-Clowes being one of the most brilliant artists in the history of music, & "Remembrance Days" is an album definitely worth having.

Through Poppy Feilds and Remembrance Days.......2004-04-08

Given that most radio oriented material (i.e., hits) rely on beats, hooks and heavy dynamic probably doomed the Dream Academy to one hit wonder status after the global success of "Life In A Northern Town." That song relied deeply on atmospherics and carried onto radio on the strength of its "Hey ma ma ma" hook. At best, the most Dream Academy could hope for was to replicate that first single and hope the warm memories of their debut could help them build their success to the next level.

With "Remembrance Days," you can certainly say they tried. "Indian Summer," the melancholy diary of a May - September romance gallantly tries to recreate the mood of that first hit, but comes up short. The blame partially rests on producers Richard Daschut, Lindsay Buckingham and Hugh Padgham, who seemed intent on transforming much of Dream Academy's baroque pop more into the slicker sheen of Thompson Twins or Phil Collins. (Think "In The Air Tonight" while listening to "Humdrum.") That's not to say that "Remembrance Days" is any less an album than the debut. In fact, the best song here, "The Power To Believe" was featured in the John Hughes movie "Planes Trains and Automobiles," a song like "In Exile" shows increased musical sophistication from the debut, and "In The Hands Of Love" could have been a hit ala Thompson Twins' "Doctor Doctor." It's the album's sole cover song that is "Remembrance Days'" weakest moment, The Korgis' ballad "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime."

All in all, a marvelous moody piece of work. Worth seeking out if Renaissance music from the mid 80's is your cup of tea.

Peripheral information for serious fans........2004-02-20

This is a great Dream Academy album, and with every listen I'm able to appreciate more of it. I'm not here to review it though. I wanted to let any serious fans of the Dream Academy know about two other projects that might be of interest. The first is "The Invisible Circus" film soundtrack--still available used here at Amazon. This was released around 2000, and the instrumental score (about 7-10 tracks) was composed by Nick Laird-Clowes. A few other Laird-Clowes originals are included under the guise of his recent band, Trashmonk. While the instrumental score tracks are fondly reminescent of the Dream Academy's folkish melodies, the Trashmonk songs are decidedly less relaxed (and didn't appeal much to me personally).

The other CD I wanted to note here is by a producer/DJ who goes by the name of Dario G. His CD, "Sunmachine," which is also available here at Amazon, is best described as pre-millennium electric anthems. It sounds a little like the music from Chicane's "Behind the Sun," only less trance-inflected. At any rate, the first track on "Sunmachine," is Sunchyme. This is only relevant on account of the song's base melody which derives heavily from Dream Academy's Life in a Northern Town, right down to the genuine inclusion of the chorus "Hey-oh-ma-ma-ma's." The original DA song isn't sampled quite enough for this to be a remix, but at the same time, Sunchyme contains so many elements of Life in a Northern Town, that it can't really be considered an altogether separate song. Anyone who might have heard this featured on a TV commercial for contact lenses a few years ago can now exhale. I, for one, am sleeping better now that I've found its source. The rest of Dario G's CD isn't bad either...given its age.

I hope this encourages someone out there.

The Dream Academy's worthy sophomore release.......2004-02-03

The trick to topping or maintaining a debut album featuring a sound unlike the danceable New Romantic/Second British Invasion sound of Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet is a hard and rocky ground, especially with a single like "Life In A Northern Town." Well, the Dream Academy's second term, titled Remembrance Days, has them maintaining that same sound, Nick Laird-Clowes's gentle vocals and guitars as well as co-producing work, Kate St. John's oboe and cor anglais, and Gilbert Gabriel's keyboards.

The reflection of a summer spent at a rented house on the shore that one really enjoyed staying at drives the dreamy "Indian Summer" which gets backing vocal support from J.D. Souther and Lindsey Buckingham, the latter who co-produced this song. There's a basso Indian-sounded chant mid-song, lending to the atmosphere.

"The Lessons Of Love" benefits from a lilting guitar and an overall gentle feel and backing choir. When Laird-Clowes sings against leaving the city of love and moving to the valley of reason, I see a true romantic at work there who believes anybody, rich or poor, even a self-made liar, can learn the lesson. This song was produced by Patrick Leonard.

"Humdrum" is another portrait of the industrial city, of the workers whose labours benefit the higher-ups, who live in a world of deadlines and are wound up so tight in this dog-eat-dog situation.

The soft percussion and the haunting aura of "Power To Believe" reminds me of Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" telling the story of a privilege-born man who turns his back on that to find a deeper truth, and the hard trials he undergoes. At the end he says "Keep me warm and dry/where other men are worrying/and other men must die/and when the lies are spoken/give endurance to the weak/and when the heart of man is broken/give the power to believe."

"Hampstead Girl" is a song of personal woes in the lonely city, and how one yearns to do whatever to cheer her up, but the timing's never right, so she remains with the blue in her eyes that look at the grey of the town. A leisurely mid-paced sound, with St. John's vocalizing reminiscent of Christine McVie.

The title of the album is taken from a lyric in the refreshing "In The Hands Of Love." The most upbeat song, a modern look back at the days of flower power and the Summer of Love, extols people: "Now that the war is over, put your hands in the hands of love." The second best song here.

"Ballad in 4/4" has a man wanting to hold onto everything despite living a life of lies, having an affair with a married woman and falling in love with a single girl but not dumping the other woman. His deeming take-home pay as the false security as opposed to the love that really makes him rich belies a more romantic nature concealed.

The folly of indecision is explored in "Doubleminded" which has a lush strings-synth section. Then the quiet minimalist guitar and oboe ditty about opening up to love because "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime." This was produced by Lindsey Buckingham and Richard Dashut as well as Laird-Clowes and Hugh Padgham.

The last song, "In Exile," is a harrowing sobering narrative, with music to match, of people exiled from countries like Argentina and Chile, recalling images of national strikes, civil unrest, soldiers firing at students, and people ending up as los desaparecidos. The tempo briefly ratchets a notch as Laird-Clowes narrates the events taking place before yielding to an angelic choir. The ending has a hopeful note, "someday we'll return there... someday we'll be free there in the land where we were born." The best song on the album.

A worthy second debut, with the same mix of reflective songs, the woeful tales of the forbidding urban jungle. And the change of producers, to Hugh Padgham of the Police and Phil Collins fame didn't hurt either. An underrated effort that should've done better.

Music Review:

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