title: Love it. Especially my favorite song [Smokey Places] Brings ...

text: Love it. Especially my favorite song [Smokey Places] Brings back memories of dancing to this song on the jukebox as a young child.


title: Great price hard to find

text: My son loved this it came in great condition it was a wonderful gift


title: This is what a reissue compilation should be.

text: The audio quality is excellent and the minimal packaging is elegant, each cd held in a slip case that's a tiny recreation of the original LP sleeve. Simple, no frills, no nonsense. Just the music. Perfect.


title: Awesome Cd sung under the anointing

text: This woman of God has a special anointing that is like no other. This cd has truly blessed me. If you are ready to get your praise on, this cd will most definitely help you get there. Purchase this cd and you will not regret it.


title: Four Stars

text: Loved it


title: Quick delivery

text: Good album


title: MARRY ME CAROLINE!

text: This is top aussie pop mate, think Crowded House in terms of production and songwriting but for the boys (and girls) we get to hear the fantastic vocal and songwriting talent of Caroline Kennedy. If you like You Am I, Died Pretty or the Deadly Nightshades (like I do ) then you wont be disappointed with Deadstar. Any recordings are worthwhile but this one is a good place to start, follow this one up with "Milk".One more word on Caroline - if you think that Dusty Springfield can deliver a sexy vocal have a listen to Deadstar.


title: Five Stars

text: Daywind soundtracks are always top rate!


title: I'll Be Seeing You 5 CD set

text: These CD music is exceptional value and great music and the price was right and worth it for the total purchase.  Delivery was reasonable and ready for our Mother's Day gift for Grandma .. She was delighted to get it and most happy to listen to every one of them.  Thank you for such a great deal offer.


title: Great CD!

text: This is a great cd by Don Francisco.  The songs are so unique.  His style is a mixture of folk/country, but still some REALLY stand out, like "Adam, Where Are You?"


title: Five Stars

text: I truly love MAMAMOO


title: The E album has all the MADE songs it that ...

text: The E album has all the MADE songs it that are available, but the instrumental tracks. If you just want the songs, E has them all.


The cd came in perfect shape, for the price you get a poster, stickers, post card and a little photo of one of the members. While A only has six songs on it, I really enjoy it.


title: Best Ted Heath Ever

text: One of the most fantastic albums for swing bands ever!!!  And this record was flawless!!!  Now if I can just find the other three volumns of that concert........


title: Five Stars

text: Great music! The best of the best Pink Floyd offers on CD.


title: Not As Good As I'm Used To

text: I love Toto but this one was kind of disappointing. Bobby Kimball seemed to struggle. Still one of my all time favorite bands.


title: Buy this album.

text:
Where did you go?  Why are you not here?!

This little known release from 2002 is a beautiful bit of washed out punk rock splendor.  And by bit,  I mean it.  I think the whole album is around 27 minutes.  Fast,  energetic,  and original,  it is a shame these guys vanished somewhere in the dying breath of Indie and the unplanned pregnancy of emo.
I charted you on CMJ!

My copy got scratched after all the plays. Glad to find it once more.


title: Disappointed

text: The DVD didn't work at all and CD had a scratch on 2 songs


title: Outstanding....

text: Just outstanding. One of the hidden treasures.


title: Very good!

text: I love this so much! So cute and no damages and the album is great!


title: Very relaxing

text: Very peaceful and relaxing. Before I knew it, time had flown by. Great for personal use and businesses offering alternative therapies(Reiki, Massage etc.)


title: Neil’s best work

text: Another great work. Just saw it performed in its entirety live.  When the discussion among fans turns to which is the greatest work, I say which ever one I’m listening to at the time! He has so many great works. If I had to pick it would be Similitude. If you haven’t seen these performed live get the DVD’s from Morsefest. Better yet go to Morsefest in August.  This year Steve Morse will be there also!


title: Christian Rock at its best

text: Enjoy the music and lyrics.  Christian rock at its best.  These young men put together a sound.  I wish they would make a come back.


title: Good content, great gift

text: This album is pure scripture.  Kids of all ages love to listen & sing along!  I always give this as a baby shower gift & it is always appreciated.


title: A nice collection for digging a bit deeper into his catalogue

text: I'm really thankful that they're offering original albums here, rather than yet another compilation. This way, you get to hear a couple of his songs that you have not heard on the various Jose Alfredo compilations available. Unfortunately, the sound quality of these recordings is not quite as good as what is available on his greatest hits compilations. The sound quality is not bad, it sounds sort of like mediocre vinyl rips, but it should be noted. The compilation comes with three separate jewel cases containing the three albums: Cuando Lloran Los Hombres (1964), El Cantinero (1971), and Si Nos Dejan (1976). The dates of the original releases of these albums are best guesses on my part, because this information is scarcely available online and less so in the compilation itself. The jewel cases do not even come with a booklet insert, which is mainly where this compilation loses a star for me. Furthermore, on the back of the box set, and on the discs themselves, it labels the discs as disc 1, disc 2, disc 3, not as the original names of the albums, which can be confusing. I am still somewhat confused by the fact that one of the "original albums" contained in this set, Si Nos Dejan, was released 3 years after the death of Jose Alfredo. This leads me to the assumption that the cantautor had little to do with the track selections on the albums, but again this is something I would have loved to read about in even small booklets that could be contained with this compilation. Overall, I really like Jose Alfredo, so I'm glad that these old albums have been resurrected in CD format, but the packaging itself was very lackluster and the sound quality leaves a bit to be desired. Lastly, I recommend you buy this album, and most other Mexican albums direct from Mexican record stores. The shipping will be more expensive, but the overall price will still be less, because American sellers of these albums tend to overcharge and absurd amount, really a shame.


title: Jose Alfredo is great, the other interpreters are a mixed bag

text: All the songs sung by Jose Alfredo are great. The other songs included are a total mixed bag and really messed up the flow of this compilation. I found myself constantly having to skip tracks to get back to Jose Alfredo, because I didn't like a lot of the other interpreters. Still, there are a few good songs by other singers, such as Chavela Vargas' interesting take on "Un mundo raro" and Yolanda del Rio's "Tierra sin nombre". Another annoying thing about these other interpreters is that often there will be an interpretation of a great song, but no version by Jose Alfredo. Take "La noche de mi mal" for example, I don't think the version by Pedro Vargas is very good; I would much rather have the version by Jose Alfredo here or at least Amalia Mendoza. Anyway the compilation still has a lot of good music, I just don't think it has a very good flow, mostly because of the mixed bag of extra interpretations. The music videos that come on the DVD are also very cool.


title: POWERFUL

text: Another amazing release…


title: La Mas Completa Coleccion

text: It doesn't matter if you understand the language it is very beautyful, I bought this for a friend that is Hispanic and she was well pleased with it.


title: Five Stars

text: great


title: Not a cover CD but still good!

text: Ha I goofed thinking this was a Floyd cover tunes CD, but I was pleasantly surprised it was actually a good collection of tunes in the same vain as Pink Floyd. Only bands I'd heard of were Hawkwind and Gong b4 I bought this. Very reminiscent of the early jams of the Floyd's catalogue.


title: Not able to view

text:
The DVDs only works in Europe

Not able to view dvd

Not happy with this purchase at all


title: Great Album

text: What great album. Never really knew the blues origins of ZZ Top, growing up when they were known more for their radio hits, but these guys were awesome!


title: Los Bukis

text: Very nice Cd


I bought two Javier Solis "Las 100 Clasicas - 42 Anversario CD/DVD - One to give away as a gift and the other for me.  His music is like no other and the sound of his voice is heart felt. Great quality sound.


title: Love this

text: Listened to this album as a kid.  Love that it is on cd so my kids can listen and learn some of the same fun songs


title: Amazing!

text: The amazing Ed Sherran!


title: As described

text: Timely arrival & as described.


title: Great comic. Preorder shipped quickly

text: Great comic. Great condition, good corners, and proper shipping for a comic.


title: Keith Richards Devil Music

text: We had this when it came out, and our copy got damaged, we were shattered, having found it again we are whole again. One of the best ever compilations we've heard, have always loved the Stones and Keith, he's the real deal and the people that influenced him we listen to also.  Just a fabulous mix.


title: Enjoyable renditions of Kern's music

text: Although this is not the best Joanie Sommers' album - her Bossa Nova album tops them all - it is nevertheless enjoyable.<br />Recorded in the spring of 1992, Miss Somers' voice still had that unique "fresh" sound that was so appealing on her earlier albums,  The musicians (pianist Paul Smith, drummer Frank Capp and bassist Jim DeJulio are first rate.  If you're a Joanie Sommers fan, this is a worthy addition to your collection.


title: Made us feel like we were back at Disney World!

text: We love everything Disney and this is a great cd of all the music that fills the air at Disney World during their Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! The kids wanted to listen to it even after Halloween!


title: Dominican Artist, Composser and Music Arranger was such a humble person.

text: I had the opportunity in being the recording engineer Anthony Roberts the American with Dominican blood that run's through my vein's  from my parent's side. This Merengue Album which was recorded in Washington Hight's NYC at the recording studio of recording artist Henrry Hiero & Victor Roque from the Merengue Band La Gran Mansana at Mora Recording Studio. As Victor Wail's recording engineer he in trusted in me my experience over the year's working with many Dominican artist on tour in NYC and from other Spanish country's in giving him a quality sound records of the native instruments from his country, the tambura which I milked with 3 mic's the slap, the rim shot and the stick. The guira which sound like a hi hat sound and congas elec. bass and piano percussion section all recorded together live before the brass was recorded , chorus and vocals were later recorded. This definitely is a Merengue album to have full of fantastic music arraignments, compositions by the late Victor Wail.

attachment_type: IMAGE


title: holding out

text: Saw this in previews on Broadway a couple of days ago and loved it.  But I'm holding out for a Bway cast recording with James Barbour, who was magnificent in the lead.  This is probably worth buying if you can't wait, though -- the music is great and Natalie Toro is also amazing as Mme. Defarge.


title: One of the best Hadjidakis records.

text: This is perhaps my favourite Hadjidakis record. He is one of the top Greek contemporary composers and almost everything he has written is beautiful. However, this one has amazing lyrics; very bitter at times but not pessimistic. Actually it is uplifting. This is not a CD I would recommend to someone who wants to get to know Hadjidakis music, but, if you already like him and want to discover more of his works this must be considered TOP priority.


title: Four Stars

text: I purchased this CD as a gift.  I arrived within the estimated delivery time and the recipient enjoys it.


title: This Collection Started My Classical Music Passion

text:
The monaural version of this collection of light classical music works is the one my parents bought for me in 1960 and began my impassioned journey into classical music.  I decided finally to upgrade to stereo after over 55 years.  I am, therefore, very biased about this collection.  This review is for the stereo version.

The collection consists of 70 compositions by 42 composers and is concentrated on the Romantic Period although you'll find two significant outliers - Handel and Mozart. The compositions are contained on 12 records stored in individually labeled sleeves and stored in a box that is slides out of a covering box.  The recordings are made by 4 orchestras:

New Symphony Orchestra - Alexander Gibson and Sir Adrian Boult, Conductors
Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Victor Desarzens and Josef Leo Gruber, Conductors
Orchestra Filarmonica di Roma, Massimo Freccia, Conductor
Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts Symphonique de Paris, Rene Lebowitz, Conductor

The collection is accompanied by a guide to the composers and their music.  This guide consists of shortened versions of articles from Reader's Digest and other sources such as magazines and books.

I judge a classical recording based upon 3 criteria: 1) engineering, 2) conducting, and 3) orchestra performance.  My listening setup lies between the low end and the upper end of the listening quality spectrum.

Engineering
These recordings were made in the 1950s by RCA Custom Records Staff for Reader's Digest using Cyclophonic Miracle Sound (perhaps a coined word for marketing purposes to try to set them apart from RCA trademarked terms such as Living Sound).  The recordings being analogue are very musical and lack the airiness associated with digital recordings.  Detail, the ability to capture the delicate elements of the original presentation, is excellent and some of the best I've heard on vinyl.  My listening system easily produces an impressive soundstage with these recordings and imaging (the ability to place instruments on that stage in 2D or 3D) is exceptional on many of the recordings. There is some muffling on a very few presentations, but this is rare.  Overall,  I have to say that these records are truly some of the best I've heard on vinyl.

Conducting
Conducting to me seems to be a very personal choice.  I found a few interpretations of the compositions not to my liking.  Others like the Swan Lake Suite absolutely brought emotions out of me - a hallmark of Romantic Period music.  With Sir Adrian Boult on the podium you know the conducting will be superb.  However individual interpretation of a work by a conductor can make it sound special (such as Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra), and for the most part it seemed that these conductors played it safe.  On occasion there is embellishment and enhancement of certain passages,

Orchestra

The Vienna State Opera Orchestra was the only orchestra that I recognized.  It is well established with a long history.  The others seem to have disappeared although new orchestras using their names have emerged.  There is nothing objectionable about the performances I have so far heard (6-7 records), and the performances are quite impressive.  So far the New London Symphony Orchestra seems to have the upper hand.  All four orchestras are quite competent, and I believe you will be very pleased.

Conclusion
This is a marvelous collection to start your children into the world of classical music.  Many of the selections are the same as accompanying music to Looney Tunes cartoons and Fantasia.  For many of us these cartoons were the gateway to a lifelong involvement with classical music.  If you have a competent listening system I suspect you'll enjoy the presentations over and over.  The feeling of spaciousness combined with imaging and soundstage are seductive.  The recordings sound great on good to excellent quality headphones, and in some cases even better than with speakers thanks to the great level of detail.  The collection contains so many of the well known light classical compositions that for the price it is a steal.  I got mine for less than the 1960 price.  Highly recommended.


title: Fans of Villa-Lobos should not be surprised by the flamboyancy of this remarkable score, but should rejoice this excellent album

text:
The history behind Heitor Villa-Lobos' “Floresta do Amazonas” (Forest of the Amazon) is interesting, yet confusing, yet unfortunate, but in the end, rewarding and immensely gratifying, given the final end product this history ultimately yielded. It started off as a film score to William Henry Hudson’s "Green Mansions", which is set in Argentina and starring Audrey Hepburn (as the bird-woman Rima) and Anthony Perkins. But given that this endeavor was new for Villa-Lobos, he assumed (or expected) the movie to adapt itself to the score, and not the other way around. And when MGM jettisoned most of the score in favor of another by Bronislau Kaper, Villa-Lobos was deeply offended and decided to re-use and recast his music, transferring sections, adding a brief overture, and commissioning his friend, poet Dora Vasconcellos to write the lyrics for four new songs to Portuguese texts (Sailing Ships, Twilight, Love Song, and Sentimental Melody).

What we have here, therefore, is an extended symphonic poem, or rather, a multi-section rhapsody, or rather still, a multi-section symphony (not far removed from his “official” twelve symphonies Villa-Lobos has written from 1916 through 1957, which are free from structural rigidity, but abounded with scenic (cinematic) touches). Its “Love song” and the “Sentimental Melody” are first cousins to the famous Aria in Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5. In so many ways, it sums up what Villa-Lobos’s had been composing before this: the landscape of Brazil with its exotic colorations and intricate textures, Amerindian chants mixed in with energetic dance rhythms, bird-song, and occasional folk-like themes, a pantheistic portrayal of nature, universal love, and extinction, sometimes violent and passionate, other times lyrical and even sublime.

Performing editions seem to vary among recordings currently available, how much so I’m not certain. Villa-Lobos, after re-casting the music, went further to extract the music into a suite, which he recorded in 1958 with the Symphony of Air and with Balduína "Bidu" de Oliveira Sayão as the soprano. That recording continues to remain special for many listeners since then. Fast forward to 1992 and Yevgeny Svetlanov recorded an ostensibly complete edition with his famed Russian Federation State Symphony (formerly the USSR Symphony) with Natalia Gerasimova as the soprano. As typical with Svetlanov, there’s no holds barred in the music making, milking out every ounce of the melodic ideas to their very last drop. And the performance is thoroughly Russian in temperament (even Gerasimova’s singing), but not distractingly so. But it remains unclear what edition was used in that Russian Disc album (the booklet note, which is grossly underannotated, is hardly helpful), although it could be Heller’s. Three years later, Alfred Heller, the president of the Villa-Lobos Music Society, undertook the monumental task of collating the various manuscript sources, many of them riddled with errors, and recorded the music with the Moscow Radio Symphony with Renee Fleming. Their efforts, released by Delos, are revelatory to say the least.

And now we have this one. Let me state straight away that although the other recordings of the work are excellent on their own terms, this album boasts the best performance and interpretative insight, the best sound, and the best overall presentation. It is the type of album that support and enhances the music’s communicative appeal, and reveals the music further upon repeated listening. And I cannot say enough the editing job done by Roberto Duarte, who, like Heller, maintains the integrity of the work, and convincingly so that the music, notwithstanding its sections (20 in Delos, 23 here in BIS), somehow flows. The Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra) is simply excellent here and totally at home with the idiom (which is no surprise, especially since it is recording the great composer’s symphonies under Naxos as we speak). And Anna Korondi’s Portuguese singing is beautiful, delightful, yet immaculate.

As I said above (sort of), you really cannot go wrong with either version listed above (if you do get Svetlanov’s recording, please be warned that the whole album is not indexed, the sections are not even listed or itemized). Villa-Lobos’ abridged version will remain special, Svetlanov’s Slavic rendering a force to reckon with, compelling and well-prepared though it is, Heller’s album very well done, and again, revelatory, but Neschling’s conception a bit more revealing and more faithfully recorded. But press me to choose, and I must go with this BIS album, for its artistic value to simply too high to ignore and pass up. But the others have merits of their own well deserving and worthy of appreciation and enjoyment. So it is that other side of me wanting to hear what others have to say of Villa-Lobos’ remarkable melting-pot of a composition.

And so I did, and with no regrets. I’m not sure I should claim that this work is Villa-Lobos at his best and at his most representative (akin to, say, Smetana’s Ma Vlast or Orff’s Carmina Burana), but then again, I’m beginning to see it in that manner.

Enthusiastically recommended (and with warm thanks to fellow reviewer and close friend Mel Sobel who, with buoyancy, brought this album to my attention).


title: How can one singer create so many excellent albums? Sinatra is truly the singer of the ...

text: How can one singer create so many excellent albums?  Sinatra is truly the singer of the 20th century, perhaps the greatest singer of all time.  This is not to detract from the achievements of Pavarotti or Caruso, Elvis Presley or the Beatles, Crosby or Bennett, Aretha or Barbra or Billie or Ella Fitzgerald.  Although, I must say that most of the current crop of singers could take lessons from the Voice.  You may not like his sometimes arrogant personality (but you can tip your hat to his many gifts to thousands of charities), but there is no denying the greatness of that golden voice.


title: Culbertson is a very fine musician and could obviously handle difficult music on a ...

text: Culbertson is a very fine musician and could obviously handle difficult music on a standard acoustic guitar.  The electronic tone is uniquely appealing: capturing the fluid line of an electric guitar but maintaining a tone more like an acoustic instrument.  The recording reveals some of the background "clicking" you would usually expect with an acoustic instrument.  The selections on this CD include some all-time favorite standards of familiar classical pieces.  I wish this CD had included Mr. Culbertson playing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."  His version of the song as heard and seen on Youtube is mesmerizing.


title: Not bad at all

text:
There may be more profound interpretations of this powerful symphony out there but this one is perfectly fine. I also have Solti's US version (which is ok) and Zubin Mehta's version with the VPO.

I think the Mehta/VPO is performance is the best one, everything considered, the interpretation, the playing of the VPO and great singers. However, it's quite expensive!


title: Five Stars

text: good!


title: A highly enjoyable Liszt recital in French and German

text:
Huntley Dent, Fanfare magazine

Liszt was so lionized that it seems unlikely he would complain about any of his music being neglected, but his Lieder were not widely performed. His 84 “orphaned songs,” as he called them, contain very few greatest hits, and it is still rare for dedicated Lieder singers to program them. (Jonas Kaufmann, who has sung the three Sonneti di Petrarca extensively, is an exception.) An inveterate tinkerer, Liszt often made two or three versions of the same song, and at times switched the music out entirely. (On the present disc we get the fourth version of Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth.) His settings of famous verses by Goethe, for example, were overshadowed, and still are, by rival versions, usually from Schubert or Wolf.
 But a well-selected program like this new one from French lyric tenor Cyrille Dubois shows how lovely Liszt’s songs actually are. Dubois first came to wide notice as Iopas in an award-winning Les Troyens (Warner). He then gained enthusiastic praise for the lead role of Nadir in The Pearl Fishers (Pentatone). Dubois has a slender voice, almost a tenorino, I’d say, which he uses with elegance and stylish musicality. The timbre is perfect for a melting Romantic love song, and the tone is steady all the way through, except for some dryness on higher notes at louder dynamics.
 It is often pointed out that being an intimate genre, German art songs were intended for small rooms rather than concert halls, and the singer doesn’t need a powerful voice—too much power is often a detriment, making a song sound operatic. In recent times I can’t think of a French tenor who stands out in Lieder, the typical territory being chansons and mélodies. Here Dubois sings in French and lightly accented German; his voice placement is forward, so his German isn’t quite right on consonants that should come deeper in the throat. But with clear diction and a feeling for the text, he is ahead of the game even without a native speaker’s German.
 Included are probably the two best known of Liszt’s songs, Die Loreley and Oh! quand je dors, but they aren’t the most famous melodies here. That distinction goes to vocal arrangements of two piano favorites, Liebesträume Nos. 1 and 3. Liszt also made piano and vocal versions of the Sonetti di Petrarca, and I recently reviewed a unique album from baritone André Schuen (Fanfare 43:5) that gave us the early and late vocal versions along with the magnificent piano version that appears in the Italy book of Années de pèlerinage. Adding a new wrinkle, Dubois sings the first version, which is preferred by almost every singer, in French. Since these are my personal favorites among Liszt’s songs, it is fascinating to hear how the Sonetti change character when sung by Kaufmann with passionate power, by Schuen with a dark, mellow baritone, and by Dubois’s combination of sweet tone and passionate delivery.
 Of the 25 songs on the program, eight are in French and seven are revisions. It would take a Liszt expert to straighten out all the variants represented here, and there is no assurance that a later revision made any particular song better. Suffice it to say that this is an outstanding release, not only for Dubois’s singing but for the first-rate pianism of Tristan Raës—as you’d expect, Liszt’s piano parts are of solo quality. Full texts and translations are included.


title: Good SACD remastering of Ormandy’s late RCA Shostakovich

text:
Huntley Dent, Fanfare magazine

These two iconic Shostakovich symphonies, the most popular and the last, have the advantage of capturing Eugene Ormandy in one of his best composers—the other was Rachmaninoff—but they might not be considered as coming from the conductor’s prime period. Symphony No. 15 was recorded in 1972, when he was 71, Symphony No. 5 in 1975, three years later. RCA thought enough of the former to issue it as part of a short-lived series of high-resolution digital releases labeled High Performance. Ormandy and the Philadelphians gave the Americana premiere of the Shostakovich 15th, adding to a string of previous premieres of Symphonies 4, 13, and 14. Together, those events and a number of prestigious recordings found Ormandy riding high.
 In collectors’ circles there were perennial complaints about the slowness of Sony in getting such well-regarded LPs into CD format. Sometimes the lag time was decades, as with the 15th, which wasn’t released until 2000. Matters are a bit blurred by Ormandy’s transfer from CBS/Sony to RCA in the 1970s, which gave rise to some needless duplications, but now that the two labels are merged, reissues have been freed up. According to ArkivMusic, Ormandy’s versions of Symphonies Nos. 1, 4, 5 (two readings, the earlier one being on Sony), 10, 13, 14, and 15 are currently available.
 What motivated a small reissue label like Dutton to dip into these recordings is that Michael Dutton has acquired the rights to remaster into multi-channel SACD the Quadraphonic mix the RCA issued in addition to the stereo LPs. Dutton worked from the original multi-track tapes, and the sound quality is impressive. RCA Dynagroove was far from a high point in audio history, but the Philadelphia Orchestra sounds full-bodied all the way down to the double basses, and the overall sonority is clear and spacious. Here and there one finds quirks, such as the artificial separation at the opening of the finale of Symphony No. 5, where the timpani pound away in left field while the trumpets blare in far right field.
 As to the performances, I can only speak as a committed non-fan of the conductor. Ormandy produced celebrated orchestral sound but rarely got to the heart of the music. His remake of the Fifth Symphony is big, rounded, and confident. He gets a strongly accented first movement, and you never lose sight of the orchestra’s major status. But there’s really no interpretative insight, and comparisons with great Russian conductors, past and present, are to Ormandy’s detriment. He is reluctant to ask for soft dynamics, so the haunting Lento is overstated and obvious. Even loud climactic passages lack intensity beneath the loudness.
 Symphony No. 15 fares better and undermines my memory of it as a bland reading with no contour. What memory failed to imprint is that Ormandy delivers really stunning orchestral playing. Individual sections—the brass choir at the start of the second movement, the woodwinds in the Scherzo—are exceptional, as are the solos by the flute in the first movement and the cello in the second. Fortunately, RCA gave Ormandy impressive sound that captures every detail in Shostakovich’s odd but compelling orchestration. There isn’t much of an interpretation—my memory served on that account—and Ormandy isn’t exactly someone you turn to when an enigmatic work like this one is at issue, but his Shostakovich 15th definitely has merit.
 Dutton has been generous with fillers, which were also issued in Quadraphonic. The Hary János Suite is a reminder of Ormandy’s Hungarian roots, but there isn’t much gypsy in his soul, and the music-making is cheerfully anodyne. Again we get exaggerated stereo separation along with a cimbalom of Godzilla dimensions. The inclusion of Shostakovich’s incidental music to Hamlet is cause for bemusement when the recording is by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. It’s true that the score was composed for an avant-garde, even zany stage production in Moscow, but Arthur Fielder? Never be ruled by preconceptions—his reading is more exuberant, varied, and earthy than the recent DG account with the Boston Symphony under Andris Nelsons. In addition, the 1968 recorded sound from Symphony Hall is first-rate, in fact the best on both discs.
 Surround-sound collectors can be assured that this double disc has much to offer, in performances that range from only fair (the Kodály) to impressive (the Shostakovich 15th and Hamlet). A well-established Shostakovich collection in conventional stereo, however, probably doesn’t need this addition to the shelf.


title: An outstanding reading in superb sound, lacking only the best singers

text:
Huntley Dent, Fanfare magazine

In its lavish sumptuousness and its ambition to out-Wagner Wagner, Gurrelieder is Schoenberg’s contribution to the behemoth streak in late Romanticism. The booklet for this reissue of Pierre Boulez’s 1975 recording with BBC forces includes an overhead shot of the orchestra, conveying its real immenseness (a performance typically involves 150 musicians and 200 in the chorus). To attend a concert performance of Gurrelieder is an event almost on the scale of the Mahler Eighth, although the legendary medievalism of the text brings the work closer to Das klagende Lied. (I’ve never seen the piece on a program I might have attended, and no wonder. Seiji Ozawa gave the Boston premiere in 1974 with the Boston Symphony, after which it returned only twice, in 1979 and 2006. Zubin Mehta alone has conducted the complete work with the New York Philharmonic, premiering it in 1983 with a second appearance in 1991.)
 The tale of the Danish king Waldemar and his love for Tove, who is destined to be murdered by Waldemar’s jealous queen, attracted Schoenberg’s interest in 1900. He wrote a song cycle for tenor, soprano, and piano under the title Gurrelieder after Gurre, which was Waldemar’s castle in Denmark. He abandoned the work after it failed to win a Viennese competition—Schoenberg submitted the finished score a week past the deadline—and when he returned to the songs in 1903, he embedded them in the gigantic structure we have now. The fact that the nine songs for Waldemar and Tove in Part 1 are the same as in the original accounts for the lack of dramatic interaction. The basic story is filled out by the Wood-Dove’s lament, which relates the death of Tove. This song went on to become a famous excerpt on its own, sung and recorded by many notable mezzos and sopranos. Boulez recorded it independently with Jessye Norman.
 Part 1 lasts around an hour and is followed by a very brief Part 2, which is given over to an additional song for the embittered Waldemar after Tove’s death. Part 3 is 45 minutes long and adds two new soloists (a Peasant and Klaus the Jester) along with four men’s choruses. The scenario depicts Waldemar’s knights rising as a horde of the undead to engage in a riotous hunt. There is an episode for a Speaker titled “The Summer Wind’s Wild Hunt,” where Schoenberg introduced the vocal style of Sprechstimme (or Sprechgesang) for the first time. The role therefore demands a singer who can hit the pitches, not simply a trained actor. The turbulent plot resolves itself in the peace of sunrise greeted by mixed chorus.
 Such late-Romantic spectacles were created with the expectation that an orchestra would somehow find the means and the willingness to engage not only around 50 or 60 extra musicians but also women choristers who sit mutely until the final paean to the sun, along with six vocal soloists of Wagnerian caliber. Somehow a surprising number of complete recordings have accumulated—ArkivMusic lists readings under 15 conductors. Buyers can afford to be choosy, and I primarily choose for the two lead roles of Waldemar and Tove. Among the leading contenders, Ozawa has the benefit of Jessye Norman, a glorious Tove, and the Heldentenor contribution of James McCracken. One standard recommendation, Riccardo Chailly with the Berlin Radio Symphony, does well with Susan Dunn and Siegfried Jerusalem. But the ideal singers are Ben Heppner and Deborah Voigt, who are both riveting on an obscure and now hard-to-find recording with James Levine and the Munich Philharmonic (if it becomes readily available again, I will enthusiastically nominate it for the Classical Hall of Fame).
 In such a strong field Boulez’s soloists miss rising to the highest level. Jess Thomas brings a Wagnerian voice to Waldemar but is stolid and inexpressive in the role. Soprano Marita Napier, who was unknown to me, sings securely and musically but lacks star presence, which leaves the vocal honors to Yvonne Minton as the Wood-Dove. She’s lovely, but one must consider that Ozawa has Tatiana Troyanos and Chailly Brigitte Fassbaender. The Fanfare Archive has no review of the Boulez, but the performance features what you’d expect, wonderful clarity and precision in the orchestra, along with excellent recorded sound.
 The stereo recording is available only digitally or on the used market, which makes this SACD remastering by Michael Dutton even more attractive. The original was released in Quadraphonic format by CBS, and Dutton has done the remastering from the quad tapes. Everything sounds spacious and natural from top to bottom. I don’t want to lessen Boulez’s contribution, since for me, his best period as a conductor was in the 1970s with the BBC Symphony. By any measure he is exceptional here.
As a generous bonus we get Roussel’s Symphony No. 3, recorded in 1975 with the New York Philharmonic and also released in Quadraphonic sound. Boulez’s way is too objective and cool, however, barely keeping up with Leonard Bernstein’s passionately exuberant performance, also with the Philharmonic. Both come in excellent sound, even if Bernstein’s lacks SACD capability.
It’s great to have such an outstanding version of Gurrelieder back in superb sound, and if it weren’t for the superior soloists on other recordings, Boulez would get my most enthusiastic recommendation.


title: A very fine remastering of La bohème coupled with stunning Verdi and Puccini duets

text:
Huntley Dent, Fanfare magazine

In our era when almost every new opera release has to be graded on a curve, it’s a pleasure to return to La bohème in a set that might not be perfect but undoubtedly features great singers. Enjoyment is increased through the remastering efforts of Michael Dutton, who has successfully resolved some sonic issues in the original RCA release on LP and subsequent CD reissues—more about this later.
 Reviewing an RCA reissue in 2006 (Fanfare 29:4), Arthur Lintgen seconded some generally held opinions that have persisted for decades, the first being that the gold standard among modern stereo recordings of La bohème is the Karajan set on Decca with Pavarotti and Freni. I agree with Lintgen that Pavarotti’s more lyrical approach and lighter tone suit Rodolfo better than Domingo’s voice, and that Freni was an ideal Mimì. But he also notes that Solti, who might be expected to drive the score too hard, does surprisingly well. I’d go further and say that Solti, who had headed the Royal Opera, Covent Garden for a decade beginning in 1961, understood the tender aspects of the score. He conveys all the famous love music with care, supporting the singers rather than pushing them. Only in a few places does he resist a lingering moment of rubato that would be more idiomatic.
 If Solti runs counter to his stereotypical image, Caballé takes hers to new heights. Her Mimì is even more fragile than Freni’s, and the portrayal of a timidly lovable heroine becomes heartbreaking when expressed through Caballé’s famous (and still astonishing) floated pianissimos. As Mimì and Rodolfo exit at the end of act 1, she alone takes the high note and does it with the softest delicacy. More importantly, Caballé feels the character from the inside, and therefore the soft singing isn’t just a signature gesture. It is fully incorporated into a genuinely moving characterization. There were times when Caballé’s lack of dramatic force was a handicap, but this isn’t one. She’s inspired.
 Domingo was on his way to becoming the all-purpose tenor of half a century’s standing (I once read that he has sung 109 roles in five languages, and that was 20 years ago before he became a quasi-baritone). Such versatility implies a certain generalized approach, and Domingo’s detractors would say that he’s too safe, conventional, and professional. There aren’t many roles where he would be my first choice, certainly. But here in his youthful prime in 1973, his Rodolfo shows genuine tenderness, and although “Che gelida manina” starts out rather safely, when the aria soars on a climactic modulation, Domingo opens up the voice and soars with it. I’d only say that Caballé’s “Mi chiamano Mimi” rises to a higher level of artistry.
 No one else in the cast is entirely memorable. Sherrill Milnes is in best voice and doesn’t lapse into the blustering that would afflict his later singing. He sings Marcello splendidly as long as you don’t require more emotional involvement in the wrenching conformation with Mimi in act III. Judith Blegen has most of Musetta down pat, especially the character’s catty side, and she’s technically superior in the waltz. The part that’s missing is the character’s charm and flirtatiousness, rather a major limitation.
 Dutton is following Pentatone in reissuing some stereo recordings in the ill-fated Quadraphonic format. RCA put its most famous engineer, John Pfeiffer, to the task, but this was the lamentable Dynagroove era, and the sound, as experienced on LP and CD, was dry, bass shy, and constricted on top. Working from the original tapes, Michael Dutton has corrected most of these flaws, making the recording a much easier listen. He has brought out the best side of the musical values, but now, somewhat ironically, I find the hybrid SACD too spacious. The voices and orchestra are at a distance, and it was hard to find a volume level with sufficient impact. Sometimes the singers actually seemed to back up a step or two. These issues will vary widely from one audio system to the next, so I will underline that the singing and playing are no longer a trial as far as the recorded sound goes.
 On CD 2 Dutton has generously included another Quadraphonic RCA release, 46 minutes of duets by Verdi and Puccini sung by the label’s two starriest attractions, Leontyne Price and Domingo. At the time of the recording sessions in July 1974, she was 47 and he was 33, and the age difference only served to make them strive to surpass themselves. The duets are from Otello, Un ballo in maschera, Manon Lescaut, and Madama Butterfly. The undoubted glory, acknowledging how excellent Domingo is in all four numbers, is Price. It is nearly impossible to detect any deterioration in the voice. One feels an aching sense of what might have been if she had recorded Manon in its entirely and Butterfly with Domingo instead of the bawling Richard Tucker. At least we have those three operas, but there was no complete Desdemona.
 I can’t exaggerate the stunning beauty of Price’s singing here, and the voice sounds completely natural in Dutton’s remastering. The conducting of Nello Santi is no gift to posterity, but he knows his way around, which suffices. One might consider the Bohème a valuable addition to the discography, but for me the duets are invaluable. The absence of texts and translations is a very minor drawback.


title: Highly recommended for anyone interested in Tiomkin’s music

text:
Arthur Lintgen, Fanfare magazine

Dimitri Tiomkin is a famous Golden Age composer who has a well-established fan base, but in contrast to most of the other principal Golden Age composers, there is a substantial group of film music fans (myself included) that don’t really like his music. Dial M for Murder is a typical Tiomkin score. The music is nearly always restless and agitated, and the thematic material is mediocre at best. The so-called love theme is not particularly notable, distinguished, or even hummable. The rest of the herky-jerky music just runs its course and eventually ends. This recording also has an eight-minute suite from Tiomkin’s score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train arranged by Christopher Palmer. It sounds stylistically similar to Dial M for Murder. That is to say, both have the same omnipresent, easily recognizable sound and style despite the subject matter of the films. It is a good thing when a composer has an easily recognizable style and personal sound, but it is not so good when that sound is more irritating than enjoyable.
 Dial M for Murder is scored for a very large orchestra, including three bass clarinets, five saxophones, two pianos, and numerous percussion instruments. The music is well played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra brilliantly conducted by William Stromberg. This is the premiere recording of the complete score as reconstructed and prepared by Anna Stromberg, William Stromberg, and Patrick Russ. Film music fans will probably recognize the Strombergs as the team responsible for the excellent Tribute Classics label. Hopefully, they will be back again to do more Golden Age classics.
 The audiophile level sound is excellent in every conceivable way, and plays a critical role in presenting every detail of Tiomkin’s unique orchestration, including the raspy brass, fluttering flutes, and seemingly ubiquitous low frequency instruments of the orchestra. This recording will be a treasure for Tiomkin fans, and is so well done that it may even appeal to listeners outside of the composer’s usual fan base.


title: Two exceedingly rare works by Rossini, a treat for all lovers of bel canto

text:
David Cutler, Fanfare magazine

Rossini, the most important Italian composer of the first half of the 19th century, who transformed the form and content of Italian opera, was a copycat! Whatever the occasion, he did like to reuse his own music. The works under review, quite unknown to this reviewer, were composed for specific occasions. The longer first work was written for a congress of European heads of state brought together by Crown Prince Klemens von Metternich to commemorate the new political alliance of the time—quite topical!! It was apparently the most impressive gathering of leaders since 1815. Il vero omaggio was an act of devotion to Metternich. The music itself consisted mainly of material recycled from Rossini’s cantata La riconoscenza. As the notes say, this was originally performed by Rossini the year before, to raise some money. He even apparently created a bit of controversy by saying that due to the shortness of time to compose the work (Il vero omaggio) and explaining that the cantata was like the long act in an opera, he would like a large fee, the sum of “100 louis- d’or.” This led the organizers of the congress, the Royal Chamber of Commerce in Verona, to believe it was a completely new work! Rossini issued instructions that the score be returned to him after the first performance on November 3, 1822, thus leaving the organizers with nothing! It also created problems for musicologists, however, as there was very little to work with. The newly composed finale was found to exist amongst music left by Rossini. The notes go on to tell us that numbers 1–6 are almost entirely taken from the earlier La riconoscenza, with adjustments to vocal parts. The booklet in some detail further explains how the remainder was reconstructed after part 6. The cantata itself does differ from an operatic act in that there is no dramatic progression and the omaggio simply becomes a concert of vocal music by Rossini!
The edition in this recording is reconstructed and conducted by Herbert Handt, leading his Czech forces. It can occasionally sound less than zippy, but it is stylish and atmospheric. It is immeasurably helped by the singers, especially countertenor Angelo Manzotti. His singing is a spectacular tour de force—he gets around the coloratura without too much strain—and poignant as well. His opening duet with soprano Tatjana Korovina is very effective. Manzotti was born in 1971 and had sung falsetto from a very young age; he was only around 26 when he took part in this concert, so it is quite an achievement. He does sound remarkably like a contralto, just keeping to the good side of a hoot on occasions. This sound is apparently due to a special technique he has developed. Near the end of the piece, there are a lovely couple of lines at “è gia ispirato,” just meltingly sung. This is worth the price of the disc. The bass is the Argentinian Hernan Iturralde. He has a very pleasant oak-like timbre, and he too traverses the runs and coloratura with consummate ease. Veteran Italian light tenor William Matteuzzi is the fourth member of the cast. As a Rossini specialist, he certainly has the notes, though this reviewer has never quite been a fan due to his occasionally slightly uningratiating tone. The finale gives a verse each to the chorus, followed by each soloist as the cantata ends with a big flourish. Matteuzzi has the stage to himself for the second, even shorter work. The other cantata was written in tribute to the controversial Lord Bryon, the British poet and politician who died of a fever in 1824. The music in this piece comes from the moving prayer “Nume cui il sole è trono” from Maometto II. This short work was performed in London in June 1824, just two months after the poet’s death, and is poignantly performed by Matteuzzi and Handt.
Both of these works are extremely rare, and yet again Bongiovanni is to be congratulated in letting us hear them. For all bel canto followers, these are a must. The soloists are good, especially Manzotti, with the bass not far behind. The recording is well balanced, considering it is from a live performance. The text and some good notes are sadly only available on the Bongiovanni website. Recommended.


title: A lovely piano recital from Jeeyoon Kim

text:
Ken Meltzer, Fanfare magazine

In the last issue of Fanfare, I reviewed the Namus Classics CD, 10 More Minutes, featuring pianist Jeeyoon Kim. Another Kim recital on Namus—Over. Above. Beyond.—follows a similar approach. As with the accompanying booklet in 10 More Minutes, Kim again provides a “User’s Manual” (with illustrations): “1. Use high-quality, closed-ear headphones to listen to some or all of the CD as you read the program notes for each piece [Reviewer’s note: Pictures of earbuds, a car CD player, and an iPhone are also featured here, each surrounded by a red circle and diagonal line through the middle.] 2. Let each piece of music awaken in you an image of nature and then, at another time, try to find that image. 3. When you find the perfect expression of your thought, photograph it with your phone. 4. Then kindly share your expression via #OverAboveBeyondProject.” As with 10 More Minutes, the liner notes for this recital are the pianist’s brief, personal reflections on each work, rather than the typical historical/musicological analysis. Here, for example, is Kim’s note for Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess: “This gorgeous piece of music is like taking a time machine to a place long ago, then walking into the presence of an empress of a country that is about to be taken over by another authority. I bow down before her with sincere respect. She is strong yet gentle and compassionate, always caring for her people and the future of her country. It is a moment of elegance, imbued with a sense of hope and magnanimity.” I include all this information, without comment, because I suspect it will give you a sense of whether Over.Above.Beyond. is the type of project you might want to explore further.
In my review of Jeeyoon Kim’s 10 More Minutes, I noted: “It’s clear that the artist’s goal is to provide an hour of soothing, intimate, and (again) meditative listening to beautiful music. And Jeeyoon Kim succeeds in that venture.” There is a similar aesthetic at play in Over. Above. Beyond. The majority of the featured music is of a reflective, introspective nature that benefits from Kim’s attractive tone and sensitive phrasing. And as in 10 More Minutes, the recorded perspective, suggesting a small recital hall or salon, is a fine complement to the artist’s concept. While most of the pieces might be classified as “miniatures,” there are a few extended works as well. Brahms’s fascinating Variations on an Original Theme, op. 21/1, makes a welcome appearance. And the disc concludes with a fluent and charming performance of the Mozart Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman.” Fans of Jeeyoon Kim will no doubt want to add this disc to their collection. Those not familiar with the artist will, I think, find much to enjoy as well.


title: A compositional voice channeled through the medium of electronic sounds, with mesmerizing results

text:
Colin Clarke, Fanfare magazine

This is volume one of Soundings in Pure Duration and can be heard in 5.0 surround sound or in stereo. As a foremost composer of electronic music, James Dashow has at his hands an extraordinary palette, and it is good that the very present sound on this release enables a full immersion. Bruce Sayler’s excellent notes aptly describe the journey of the disc as “not unlike the unitary experience of a huge symphony, each part featuring a different, virtuoso soloist.”
The program begins with Sounding No. 4 (2012) for viola (the excellent Nick Revel) and octophonic electronic sounds. What is fascinating is how the electronica supports the viola soloist, sometimes in a halo-like fashion, sometimes in an underpinning one, while sometimes the two engage in fragmented, frenetic dialogue. The performance is audio-only; the DVD itself shows a photo of the soloist with performance details.
Dating from the very next year, Sounding No. 2b is for pre-recorded percussion and octophonic electronic sounds. Inevitably, the surround-sound gives the finer experience here, as there are so many percussion effects. It is a remarkable 12 minutes, wherein the music describes a large-scale descent. Listeners may find links to Stockhausen, although in Dashow’s case gestures can be more recognizably derived from musical events performable on traditional instruments. On both moment-by-moment and larger levels, this is one of the finest percussion and electronics pieces I have come across. The sheer compositional command is astonishing; one intuitively knows that Dashow is absolutely aware of the sounds he wants.
The sheer beauty of the harp in Sounding No. 5 is but one aspect of this piece. The manipulation of the sound enables the harp’s sounds to come, not from one sound source, but from multiple angles. This is one of the most sonically attractive pieces of core electronica (that is, serious composition as opposed to ambient sound) that I have come across. Lucia Bova is a superbly alive, present harpist.
Soundings No. 6 is for octophonic electronic sounds and therefore has the purest electronic element so far. As the most recent of the pieces here, it might perhaps signal a change of direction for this series. The subterranean opening sounds also seems to send a signal: It ushers in cavernous spaces. The lines likewise have their own positions in space, creating a sort of sound counterpoint in 3D, almost as if the listener is inside of, even part of, the interweaving lines. At one point the music seems to explode into dance, just at the point that the acoustic expands. There is a clear foreground/background perspective, used to fine effect in the closing seconds of the work.
The guitar is the featured instrument in Soundings No. 3, a virtuoso vehicle for Arturo Tallini. Heard in hexaphonic sound, there is a pronounced poetic dimension here as well. Tallini is a brilliant player, fresh and clean of delivery, occasionally even finding hidden dance-like elements to the music. Given Tallini’s pedigree, his command is unsurprising: He is Professor of Guitar at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, and leads the Master Courses in Contemporary Music Interpretation there.
Soundings No. 2a is for pre-recorded percussion and hexaphonic electronic sounds, and has a sort of meditative slant to it. A Wergo compact disc of Dashow made Mike Silverton’s Want List in 1990, a disc including two works that also feature solo instruments and electronic sounds. Dashow has an individual voice that he chosen to channel through the medium of electronic sounds, often mixed with a human performer; the results are mesmerizing.


title: For the McCormack completist, it doesn’t get any better than this

text:
Barry Brenesal, Fanfare magazine

This isn’t the first John McCormack compendium that Ward Marston has worked on. He previously produced the complete Victor and HMV acoustics (begun for Romophone and completed for Naxos) on 11 CDs, then a four-CD set on his own label of the complete Odeons. Here, on 16 CDs, is the rest: the complete Victor and Gramophone Company electricals (all available takes), the surviving radio broadcasts, 1904–1906 acoustics that McCormack made on cylinders and platters for several companies, and a few odds and ends—including three cuts made individually by 10-year-old Cyril McCormack and his eight-year-old sister, Gwen, in 1915, with vocal accompaniment (and a few elegant flourishes) by their father on some choruses. I mention these last items not because of any intrinsic musical value (whatever their charm, especially to family members), but because they are a palpable indication of the efforts Marston, his associates and friends have gone to in order to provide as great a sense of completeness as is possible today for this audio document. It is a remarkable accomplishment in all respects, made greater still when one considers the varying (and sometimes very poor) condition of the surviving materials.
John McCormack needs no introduction to collectors who would be interested in such a trove of his performances. Michael Aspinall’s liner notes concisely state the tenor’s most notable singing virtues as “lovely vocal emission, breath control, musical intuition, clear and meaningful enunciation and constant discipline,” as well as two subtler skills, “a linear tension” (courtesy of Gordon Ledbetter’s John McCormack: The People’s Tenor) and “a sinuous, continuous but inflected and flexible line.” Listening even for an hour to recordings of his that have been posted in frequently indifferent sound on YouTube will confirm this judgment. If we were to put all this together with other aspects of the man that feed into these traits—including (but not limited to) his excellent memory, a voracious appetite for music, both old and new, and a shrewd assessment of his own vocal and theatrical strengths and limitations—we can begin to acquire some understanding of how McCormack made the magic he wrought upon nearly everything he sung in his lengthy prime. In the end, though, something eludes us, and it is part of what draws us back to the tenor, knowing the same spell will be cast.
When I first received this set, I admit to immediately turning to the selections featuring McCormack’s children with the tenor’s obbligato. After that, I listened on the same disc to a 1912 Victor of Silver Threads Among the Gold. This as it happens is a Victorian ballad I dislike, not for its sentiment, but for its mawkish lyrics and banal tune, awkwardly written for the voice. Listening to our tenor sing it, however, made it seem like spun silver for the length of the disc. I’m not a believer in the theory that great musicianship can transform even trash, but McCormack is one of a very few artists in my experience who manages to do just that, time and again. Even though his qualities have been so well elaborated upon by Aspinall, there remains something of unknown alchemy added to the mix that goes beyond analysis. Many other great and highly gifted singers, in my opinion, lack this. A very few, including McCormack, Schipa, and Vanni-Marcoux, can turn dross into beauty, and beauty into something ineffable that withstands shifts of time and taste.
Necessarily McCormack recorded over and over some selections that would sell the best, and every version that has survived is present in this set. True, we don’t need many recordings of the same Irish and Victorian ballads (though an argument can be made for observing how the voice, treatment, and engineering changed for a given piece of music over the years). But even if one is deaf to their appeal, the great profits these bestsellers brought to recording companies and the popularity of the tenor’s concerts enabled him to also issue Schubert and Wolf, Mozart and Handel. Could he have done more classics? Absolutely. As much can be said about Schipa with his seemingly endless series of Italian and Spanish ephemera, in comparison to the classics. But as with Schipa, it is perhaps in McCormack’s more popular fare that the tenor’s strengths shine the most—when the music doesn’t get in the way, so to speak. The qualities of the singer shine all the more brightly for what they can bring to material that is otherwise lacking. You may not like When the Children Say Their Prayers or Come Back to Erin, but there’s a strong chance that after you’ve heard John McCormack sing it, you’ll want to hear it at some point, once again. And even if you don’t, you’ll want to return to McCormack, impressed by his extraordinary art.
The sound quality on this release varies from poor (a sadly incomplete Auf Flügeln des Gesanges from a 1932 The Inside Story radio broadcast) to startlingly vivid (The Harp that Once Thro’ Tara’s Halls on a Gramaphone 1930 disc), depending entirely upon available sources. Ward Marston discusses in print the problems he encountered locating good copies—or any copies—of some of this material, and how he sought to clean up each selection without significant interference with the music itself. This is easier said then done, even though today’s computerized digital programs make changes less painfully than the analog of tape editing a couple of generations ago.
All matrix and record numbers are included, as well as dates, venues, recording companies, and accompanists, where available. Taken all together, this labor of love is a must for the McCormack collector, or to any fancier of vintage opera and song that relishes great performances.


title: Five Stars

text: Great music!  Fast delivery.


title: Five Stars

text: Great music! Fast delivery.


title: Another great selection

text: More great new Greek music!  Again a great selection with some nice upbeat tunes.  The seller was very courteous and prompt also.


title: On keyboard Bach, I find that Janssen is a ...

text: On keyboard Bach, I find that Janssen is a photo finish with Perahia, but both both of them finish second to Schiff.


title: Delightful gems.

text:
I have arrived at the view that Haydn is for the musically more mature; this is after nearly sixty years of avoiding him - I have come to regret the wasting of so much time!

Like many people, I have considered Haydn principally in terms of his "thousands" of symphonies and felt the title "Papa" probably apposite. However, having spent an increasing amount of time in getting to know his chamber works, I have altered my opinions dramatically and have long since thought Schumann's judgment facile and ungrateful.

Haydn shared a few years of the middle of the 18th. century with Bach and given his following so closely upon the heels of the Barok, his music is astonishingly innovative and I think he receives far too little credit for the pioneering work he did. His string quartets truly are of the first order and given that he "invented" the genre, extraordinarily forward and musically developed. Mozart did nothing to advance the form which Haydn left as a wonderful foundation upon which Beethoven and Schubert could build.

Whilst many of the quartets have a certain cerebral aspect to them, the piano trios do not. Not because of any lack of inventiveness on the part of the composer but due to their being intended for a larger and different audience to whom Haydn's publishers might sell a lot of sheet music; it should be remembered that Haydn was widely known and popular from Italy to Sweden. There is no hint of "commercialism" in these works however.

This complete set of piano trios has a strong homogeneity; they all fit together well and balance nicely. A quirky exception here is the very individual E major Allegretto (Hob.XV:28) heralding a chorale prelude and later suggesting that we are in for a three part fugue. No chorale, no fugue. Another of Haydn's witticisms perhaps?

The Beaux Arts' readings are "safe" and I have no quibble with this. Another reviewer has found them "bland" but with this I do not agree. Frankly, I think it difficult to make a proper judgment because, as has been pointed out elsewhere, the strings are not at all well recorded and for much of the time the pieces sound like a piano sonata with occasional string accompaniment.

This situation is less annoying than it otherwise might be as the piano really has a stand-alone part and the overall nature of the works is surprisingly undiminished in the apparent absence of the strings. In any event, the violin and more particularly the 'cello whose principal function was to bolster the rather fragile bass of the early Viennese fortepiano, don't have much to say that is of great musical consequence. To a degree, this "imbalance" is characteristic of the trio form as it was employed by Mozart, Beethoven and others; it was well into the nineteenth century before Mendelssohn distributed the musical parts more evenly but a contrived imbalance of musical composition is one thing - that of shortcomings of recording quality is quite another. The "solo" nature of the piano in this instance merely serves to demonstrate what an unusually fine pianist Menahem Pressler is. In other respects the recording is very good.

These trios are immensely satisfying, partly due to their delightful nature and partly because they don't demand much in the way of intellectual involvement from the listener. I should like to have awarded five stars; generally, the set deserves them but I feel some penalty has to be imposed in respect of the poor microphone balance. Musically, this collection is a superbly performed joy and others surely will share my delight in it.


title: PINK FLOYD ROIO-NOV 17TH 1974...Back to the way back machine again !!

text: Ok, so thisis another roio from the floyd..this one is very special and has been one of the best concerts from that tour in my opinion (another being the boston gardens show on june 18th or even the april 26th show in LA.) If you are collecting old shows, thiz is one you want for your collection. This is actually the first live roio I ever collected now that I think of it...and it was after I listened to it that I decided I wanted to collect as many old floyd shows that I could. I now have over 150 live shows and still like to collect them when I can. Try to find those other 2 shows if you can, they were really great in my opinion too. If you love the Floyd and are just starting out this is a good place to start !


title: Five Stars

text: Great to have princess back great cd .


title: Five Stars

text: Delivered on time and with great quality. Recommended.


title: Crazy good.

text: This is the kind of classical piano album we dream of.  She is like a new Maurizio Pollini. Ms. Yeol, please become prolific!! We need lots more music from you. The sooner the better.


title: A perfect piece of my childhood

text: I grew up listening to this song with my mom- it brings back a lot of memories for both of us. :) The copy she had bought a long time ago got all scratched up over the years, and we haven't been able to listen to the CD all the way through for quite some time now. I finally decided it was time to get a new copy, and I was pretty skeptical about where to get it. Although I spent more than I would have liked on the CD, buying a used copy for almost original price, I'm super impressed with what I got. The CD was pristine, the case and artwork were perfect, and most of all, we could listen to every flawless song. Thank you NEMR!


title: Beautiful music, happy to have found it!

text: This collection of 2 discs with German pop/folk music is outstanding, and in my experience, very hard to find. We were fortunate to have ordered the last set available from the seller, and happy to enjoy the beautiful music. Although it was listed as used on Amazon item description, the discs and the jacket are very much like new/very little used. We have this item since last Christmas/ four months; the recording quality is great, and we are very pleased with the music selection and quality.


title: not what I expected

text: This was not wha I expected.  How Great Thou Art, was great,but the only song on it<br />I must have misunderstood what it was about


title: Don't waste your money!!

text: Basically just two guys talking about how they made millions but nothing really about how you can do it, I found it quite boring and useless.


title: Five Stars

text: my daughter loves it


title: Great storyline

text: Great acting, strong storyline, fantastic scenery, and excellent dialogue.


title: Challenger Makes Elgar on Salisbury Cathedral Come Alive

text: Everything about this recording is amazing!!! John Challenger’s playing is top notch.  He uses every color available on the Salisbury Cathedral Willis organ.  The 32 Open Diapason in the pedal division really shines through and adds the right amount of foundation.  This is a recording you can put on and listen to all the way through.  Besides you can never go wrong with Elgar!!! I recommend highly!!!


title: Riverside Organ/Organists Never Disappoint

text: An excellent recording of an excellent organ.  It is most enjoyable to hear these 5 different organists associated with both The Riverside Church and its' organ.  There is a great deal of different music played by these musicians that shows all the colors of this magnificent instrument.  I highly recommend this recording.


title: Madame Durufle Recording

text: I had the privelidge of hearing Madame Durufle play in person and it is great to hear her on this organ it brings back great memories.  Very pleased with the recording!!!


title: Good condition

text: My mother passed away last year and my dad always sang this song to her. I got this record for his bday. Great shape and good song. He Loved it.


title: Five Stars

text: Love their voices they can sing to me in any language


title: Great music from a talented group!

text: The album came sealed with all the extras!  I can listen to it over and over! Great music!


title: Love it

text: Awesome CD


title: This never gets old.

text: Some of the greatest rock songs are on this CD. Kicking it off with Let It Go was the perfect start to such a great album. Definitely a favorite.


title: Indescribable; God's Powerful Word

text: An exciting, incredible presentation of the universe created by God's holy and powerful word; images of the heavens displaying and proclaiming His glory. Louie Giglio puts planet earth and its blessed inhabitants into true perspective in the grandness of God's design...just awesome!  A must see! I have shown this presentation to prison inmates when teaching them about the purposeful, powerful, saving and loving word of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every Christian home should have one to share with those friends and neighbors who may be seeking their God.


title: Five Stars

text: Super!


title: PERFECT CONDITION

text: WE USED AS A MASTER COPY  FROM WHICH CDS AND MP3S WERE REPLICATED. BROUGHT BACK MANY CHILDHOOD WONDERFUL MEMORIES


title: The best there is!

text: Awesome album and pressing. Does not get any better than this. I am very grateful to the folks at Music Matters!


title: A nice addition for the original cast collector

text: Despite its limited run in New York, the musical is a fine addition for anyone interested in seeing the changes from the original cast recording.  The vocals are fine and I enjoyed listening to the original songs again as well as finding how the new songs fit into the show.


title: received in a timely manner, will do more ordering at a later date.

text: cd is great, quality sound.


title: Amazing 🤩

text: Amazing 🤩 came with this little poster with the songs on the back, can with 2 photo cards and ID card I got yunho.


title: Great singer in this band

text: Great music and great singer in this band


title: Hilarious

text: Hilarious


title: Great Songs

text: Amazing set of songs. I've loved the Marias for a while and decided to collect the vinyls. Vinyl was in great condition.


title: great recording

text: great recording


title: George  was actually a very good singer!

text:
Great C.D. for anyone who likes George Burns.

Actually I just caught his "old" movie "God" staring John Denver and him.

I have several of his C.D.S.
I would buy any of his music.... course I am 71 years old and appreciate his slant on older type songs.

The classic, "I wish i was .... again.  Tells of his love of life towards the end, and his wishes to "do it all over again." Thus the title.

Amazon and it's affiliates always have provided me with decent prices and wonderful service.

Since I am from Minnesota - one of the 11 or 12 states that was going to tax Amazon - it has chosen to drop all of it's affiliates... to avoid taxing it's products, which is a shame - because when Amazon dosen't carry some of the items I wish to buy.. I have often bought it on Amazon through one of it's affiliates!

it's ironic because the states like Minnesota won't realize the tax revenue it hoped for by passing the legislation.  It simple caused Amazon to drop all of it affiliates - in those states ...

P.S. This has been a non-paid commercial!

Steve.

Buy the C.D. Anyway!


title: Everyone should have this information

text: Art appears to have a good understanding of biblical teachings--I highly recommend this teaching series.


title: Five Stars

text: Love this CD, it brings back good memories.


title: Great cd and experience

text: Incredible... Shipped from Russia faster than I've received/shipped orders to/from California. I'm still in awe... Great cd and experience!


title: Very relaxing

text: I was sorry to hear about the experience of the first reviewer. I own this album and I enjoy it very much, especially the summer cornfield side. It does just what the liner notes says it does, induces a relaxed, meditative state. I bought my copy at a used record store and it has some defects which can be annoying. Finding a good copy of the Environment Series LPs can be hit or miss, as with any used LP. I would recommend a good record cleaner to anyone who buys used LPs. I've had good luck with this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/CONRAD-Disco-Antistat-Disco-Antistat-Cleaner/dp/B000BFXIVW


title: The dolphins!

text: This is a great CD. I really like it. At the very beginning of each "part" you will here dolphins :). You will here alot of different intruments. From the Trumpet to the Flute to the Peino. This CD is about an hour long so, is can be a good time-waster. If you really like dolphins, and alots of different kinds of intruments this CD will most likely be for you!<br />Over-all, this is a GREAT CD!!!


title: Excellent flashlight, just the right size and comes with ...

text: Excellent flashlight, just the right size and comes with rechargeable battery and charger. It has a extremely bright beam which reaches out 150 yards plus and has a very good run time. I have been pleased with the purchase.


title: Great album! One of my new favorites

text: Great album! One of my new favorites! I was fortunate enough to see him live. What an incredible artist and performer! Originally was looking for this particular CD because of the "Black Sabbath" cover, but instantly fell in love with rest of the tracks.


title: Pretty Girls, Cute Music, how can you go wrong?

text: The photo book is small but nice, and all of BESTie's songs to this point are on this album (As far as I know).  They haven't put out too many but the songs are enjoyable.  I really like Hot Baby and Love Options. If you like cute poppy music and pretty Korean girls, BESTie won't disappoint on either end.


title: Best flugelhorn, IN THE WORLD!!!

text: After I first heard this album, I immediately went out and bought a flugelhorn. Well, I of course am no Chuck Mangione,  I loved and lost this album. How happy I was to find it again. Now where is my flugelhorn,  hehe...


title: Guitar "Soul" Music

text:
I have a very limited appreciation of music. It must be a guitar thats played in such a manner, that it's music merges with something inside of me and makes me feel warm and cozy. I call it"Flow Jam", because it flows into your ears and through your mind and heart.

 My favorite artist [in no particular order] are"Jimi Hendrix","Tommy Bolin","Robin Trower",and of course,"Frank Marino


title: Awesome! Finally found it!

text: Thanks for having this CD in stock! Also thanks for protecting it in this awesome package! I needed to replace the one I bought almost 20 years ago. I'm old enough now to know to take care of my 💿<br />finding this to stream is difficult but now no worries. I can just pop it in the player and chill! Thanks again! Q Williams


title: Smooth Sounds

text: I love Lalah Hathaway.  I like all of the songs on this CD. I bought it for the Luther Vandross remake, but all of the songs are nice.


title: Five Stars

text: Nice music


title: Five Stars

text: Great LP


title: The best CD compilation of gospel songs

text: The best CD compilation of gospel songs .  I have other CD's, but this is my favorite.  He loved The Lord, and it resonates in these hymns. and the way he sings them.  I highly recommend Tennessee Ernie Ford for anybody that needs the warmth of gospel, and the way he delivers it.


title: This is the best Darby Mills album EVER

text: This is the best Darby Mills album EVER. If they had had better representation in the US, they could have been equal to any rock band out there. This CD is an unsung Hero along with the whole band. Darby's Voice crystal shattering perfect as ever.


title: The best I heard

text: I really like it. I heard it in Classical South Florida, 89.7 FM and it is incredible. If you hear often the 4 seasons you will be surprised about this CD. Sorry no words to described. You have to buy it and listen to it. It has an extra CD, what else can you ask for?


title: bringing the harmony of nature home

text:
I play this inspiring music when I practice qigong. It makes me feel supported in many ways as I try to bring peace and harmony into my life.

Trish


title: Great Dead show!

text: Great show! Fast shipping and great packaging.


title: Great setlist and good jams but the recording is low quality.

text: Great setlist but the recording is low quality. Great packaging and fast shipping.


title: Replacement

text: I am very happy with the cd. It was a replacement for albums and CDs from the past. I'm happy.


title: High Quality Story is Highly Recommended to any Family, School, or Library

text:
This high quality story is highly recommended to any family, school, or library and will expand typical lessons.

As a long-time former public educator and government servant, I cannot express my appreciation of this story enough. Today's Government and history text books combined with educational cultures deeply cultivate Marxist ideas and with a shallow selfish focus. Both our American education and government system leadership seem steeped in delusional consensus.

This story brings context to the ideas of: states rights vs federal one size fits all policies; ripple effects of taxation; ways and means of living; duty and a higher calling; politeness and civility; servant leadership; and an alternate point of view of southerners not being generalized into selfish, cruel, slave driving, and people depriving agricultural companies.

Today people turn to governments for solutions, but governments don't seem to make good providers either. e.g. Detroit and Flint.


title: Great Entertainment, Performances by Musicians and as hosted by Murray the K

text: Music as performed by sixties icons,and as presented in a montage by Murray the k


title: Five Stars

text: Was surprised that I enjoyed all of the songs.


title: Five Stars

text: Love him!


title: Great if you are a die hard NIN fan

text: There are 36 tracks.  No lyrics.  A handful of the songs are really amazing.  The others are slow and methodical but still have the unique trent reznor sound.  Definitely worth it if you already like reznor's style.  Otherwise, you might be disappointed.


title: Pure Joy

text: Beethoven's piano concerti bring out his very best.  It is a shame he stopped at five.  This is a fine recording with a great soloist and conductor, and the sound quality is great.  Highly recommended.  I can listen to 4 and 5 over and over again without tiring of them.


title: Amazing

text: I knew of Steve Turley from his conservative commentary online. However I stumbled upon a video of him giving a classical guitar performance and immediately ordered his CD. He's an amazing player. Gothic Jam and Konyubaba are the highlights of this CD.


title: Not for everyone

text: Excellent rock musicians playing satiric compositions with a lot of black humor.<br />Those with an open minded sense of humor will enjoy this disrespectful hilarious songs.


title: Worth it!!!

text: This album is worth every single penny spent. Loved all the tracks.


title: One Star

text: I expected so much more from this book. This book is not needed to pass the B5 ase


title: 60's flashback

text: i've been searching for years for this,lost mine to an old girlfriend.since i owned a 1964 gto, it brings back memories.these were given away free at pontiac dealers!


title: Five Stars

text: Excellent


title: I still listen to her music

text: I love her stories, and the way she finds the good side of things.  What an inspiration.


title: Five Stars

text: Terrific reading by Matt Dillon that captures Kerouac's exuberance.


title: Five Stars

text: Good product, good delivery


title: Minor cosmetic issues, otherwise excellent

text: CD works, shipped on time. The case was cracked slightly on the front and the outer original plastic wrap was very "scuffed" looking but overall nothing wrong.


title: Her voice is truly a gift from God.

text: The second CD from this multi-talented Christian woman is awesome! I've often thought her voice is comparable to 80's rocker Pat Benatar's and I love it. My favorite cut is "Give You Rest." Her powerful voice truly uplifts you on that particular ballad! All-in-all a terrific sophomore effort. Kudos to her AND her amazing band!


title: Quick delivery, good quality

text: CD was delivered quickly and all works well. Love their music.


title: It looks new but skips

text: It came looking brand new but on a few songs, it skips once to a few times. I've looked carefully at it and didn't see any scratches. I did however notice some lines (the lines the needle sits on to play music) on the record merge a few times and then unmerge.


title: Brings Back Memories

text: I have loved this album since I was young, living in Vermont and listening to radio Montreal. The music is sunny, harmonies are georgeous, the language just makes the music more endearing, whether or not you literally understand it.  I'm so happy to have the cd after carrying the vinyl for years. Buy it!


title: You CAN go home again

text: Music is the one link that can take our minds away from day to day strife.When I am listening to these songs I reminded of a less stressful time. Each song evokes a special memory.


title: Wonderful Collection of contemporary Love Songs

text:
Song List includes
Since I fell for you-Michael Bolton
Feel So High-Des"ree
Someone to Watch over me-Nancy Wilson
Time after Time-Johnny Mathis
The sweetest days-Vanessa Williams
I'm in the mood for love-Sheena Easton
They say it"s Wonderful-Tony Bennett
Smoke Gets in your eyes-Patti Austin
I Don't know Why-Shawn Colvin
The man I love-Etta James
Chains-Tina Arena


title: Verdelle is so hot

text: This cd was a straight-to-Ipod selection for me. It has all of her 20 released tracks - the 6 singles from 1965 to 1967, and the 11 tracks from her one LP in 1966, plus three new edits / mixes. All tracks were very clean renditions from their original vinyl. Talk about bringing back memories! And her voice is so clear and passionate. Highly recommended purchase for any fans of Verdelle. Now to find out more about her...


title: Super hard to find

text: Super hard to find


title: Not as expected

text: I received my album only to find that the cover is torn up. Every corner is wrecked and creased. The cover also has "Sampler album not for sale" printed on the back. The L.P. is dusty as well. I'm disappointed.


title: Great music!

text: Likes it


title: Phenomenal!!!!!

text: Hello, I discovered Michael Africk's music in 2011 and I become an insist supporter! His Music is Amazing and he puts a unique style to each and every song and his voice is outstanding!! This CD from 2010 is Amazing!! I love each and every single. The Duets with Mai Kuraki ("Love One Another, "Never Gonna Give You Up" and Girlfriend/Boyfriend) and the singles Mr. Knuckles were involved with ("RED and "Never Gonna Give You Up") are all Amazing!! I am so thrilled that I was able  find and purchase not one but two copies of this Phenomenal CD!! May I say...Mr Michael Africk you are an Amazing Person, Artist and Entrepreneur....Proud to be one of your supporters!! God Bless You!


title: Era la música que buscaba

text: Me agrado su sonido y su musica


title: Perfect

text: Perfect


title: Five Stars

text: My daughter very much like the cd and the artwork!


title: Collection of some of their Greatest Hits

text: A wonderful collection of some of their greatest hits over the last few years, especially 2nd CD. Just love it!


title: She was the best

text: its as terrific listen


title: Get it

text: a must-have for any collection


title: Five Stars

text: Amazing collection of Jazz and Swing. Love it!


title: Tasted like chemicals

text: Mine came possibly spoiled, though I never thought a pickle could and the exp date was fine. They tasted and smelled like lemon furniture polish, so horrible. No returns so I’m stuck with the loss but I emailed them they should check their product for spoilage.


title: Love it

text: Excellent


title: Disturbingly bad

text:
I normally keep an open mind to the music I encounter. I received this CD for free at a music festival, so I gave it a try. That is what prompted my first-ever Amazon review.

The music portion doesn't sound so bad, but it is really just a backdrop for the words. This isn't something you can dance or even tap your foot to. The singing is poor, to say the least. The lyrics are carefully-chosen, adjective-laden, and pretty much sheer nonsense for a musical setting.

For more info on the lyrics, read some of the 100+ reviews of his book by the same name ([[ASIN:B000HWYQX8 Wild Animus: A Novel]]). He must have a lot of money to get the book published and to cover all the production and marketing for the CDs. I'm not sure any publishing company would have ever accepted this.

I suppose some may say that you can't judge art, or that it will grow on you. I understand what they mean, but I feel this isn't even up to that level.

What about my copy? I just tossed it in the trash. First time I ever did that. Its pungent scent did sting my nostrils and lurid sounds pierced my very eardrums.

Please don't consider paying money for this unless you've listened to samples of it first and read some of the book reviews. Your ears will quite possibly thank me.


title: Pretentious, long-winded, badly written bloody bores....

text:
So off went the Emperor under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and at windows said, "Oh how fine are the Emperor's new clothes!" Nobody would confess that he couldn't see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.

"But he hasn't got anything on," a little child said.


title: 방탄소년단

text: I finally got my maknae line cards!!!


title: Superior

text: Mary J Blige!!!! What more can I say❤❤❤❤


title: Brilliant French folk party music from the 1967

text:
I just wish there was a band who could record it again with todays modern digital equipment.
I'm not French, but it has many nice old fashioned French songs with a nice social flavour / feel to it.
Is there any modern equivalent to match it?
If so please do tell!


title: Best band of all time

text: If you get a chance to own this, and you are cool- by all means pick it up!


title: great Item

text: The Product Is Good I Just Wanted My Item Sealed, As I Collectem Sealed. Now I Will Have To Purchase Another one Sealed Otherwise Is Good Thank You


title: Five Stars

text: Súper producción


title: Three Stars

text: The wheels are fine but did not fit the tool stand as recommended by Amazon


title: marshall has AIDS

text: this cd made me gay


title: GFTO is the GOAT of Yes albums

text:
After the bloated Tales album (which I do like), Wakeman departure and short stint with Moraz (Relayer), Yes returns with a stellar album.

Wakeman is back at the keys, and sounding better than ever. The song craft is soaring, melodic, positive and stunning.

Every track on the album is excellent. Awaken is other-worldly - the best song ever recorded on planet earth, IMO. If you want a special treat, listen to Todmobile's version of Awaken with Jon Anderson. It's on YouTube.

The extended tracks are a nice bonus. Included is Squire's iconic performance of Amazing Grace.


title: Loved it

text: Just what I expected. Thank you


title: donny osmond

text:
I loved this CD, hearing Donny sing some of these songs
brought back alot of good memories, a nice purchase for
any Donny Osmond fan.


title: Not what I expected

text: It came fast but wasn't what we expected. I bought this as a Christmas gift and no where did it say it wasn't English. Was very disappointed


title: satisfied

text: it ishits that is easy to listen to, a nice cd with  his


title: The best Artist ever

text: I got this so quick. One of my favorite artists in the world. So happy I was able to find this


title: Love it

text: Love KONGOS. Put it in CD player of car


title: Thanks!

text: It is in beautiful condition. I had to get this right after I saw it listed, made someone very happy this Christmas!


title: weak

text: bobby is obviously doing his friend/pastor? a favor. if bobby would have done the lead vocals, as always it would work, but edd cant sing, god is not served by medeocrity, this is worse. bobby's reputation is tarnished (if possible), and god gets a bad rap (what else is new?) keep on preaching edd, leave the singing to bobby.


Great information and advice presented in an ADD friendly way. The narrator has a slight speech impediment that helps keep your attention. Intentional or not it really works. Listen to it in the car while you are proceeding in your daily manic panic! You won't be sorry. If this book does not help you should question the diagnosis.


title: I loved all the songs

text: This really is a "hidden' gem...I loved all the songs!


title: Others probably more helpful

text: I meditate and have found many books and cds on the subject that have helped me to develop my practice.  I don't find Mr. Newbigging's guided meditation cd to be one of those.  I'm certain that many people will like this cd (as one can see from the positive reviews) and will find it useful but I find other meditation experts of much more value and would recommend their offerings over his.  My favorites: Tara Brach; Sharon Salzberg; Henepola Gunaratana; Sally Kempton; Jon Kabat-Zinn; Geneen Roth; Pema Chodron; davidji; Dean Sluyter; Steven Levine; Will Johnson; Donna Farhi; Charlotte Beck; Jay Michaelson; Holly Sprink; Ken Cohen and others.


title: Bulat

text: The words, the music. A marvellous collection of songs by a special artist who had a unique instinct to express the thoughts and experiences that life brings our way.<br />Okudzhava's songs will be played for generations to come.


title: TV themes "disco-fied"!

text: This album is truly unique.  TV themes transfered to the "disco" music of it's time - the late 1970's. My favorites were "Baretta's" theme, "My Cherie Amore", and especially, "Three Days of the Condor"!  "Condor" was written by Dave Grusin, a jazz musician and movie music composer, but "this" Rhythm Heritage made an even better version than Grusin's from the film.<br />All these theme's are excellent.  A great tribute to the 1970's!!!


title: Songpainter is finally available as mp3 files!

text: I wrote a review of this great album back in December of 2007, asking, "MAC DAVIS, WHERE ARE YOU?" As of today, 2/28/2013, he is available as mp3 files.  Since May 2011, this great album can be heard in today's format for computer, ipad and it's competitors.  And thank God for this because Davis's songwriting and music is univeral. He appeals to all, not just country music, but pop and soul music, too.  The album is a kick, poking fun at himself and writing down to the bottom of your soul - especially, "HOME" and "WHO EVER FINDS THIS"!  "IN THE GHETTO" and "MEMORIES" were for Elvis and then for the whole world!<br />Haven't seen him in quite a while on TV, nor the movies, but heard he was working in 'Vegas.  Wherever he is, his talent is there with him -- You are truly a gift from the Lord!!!


title: Informative and enjoyable

text: The authors have a dry sense of humor, so one could have fun while learning. The cartoons added to the fun.


title: Get your devo dance on!

text: If you like weird rock this is is it. Good songs, inventive guitar, and absorbtion of early Devo on their Tyrannosaurus Rex song!


title: FANTASTIC!!!!

text: The birds were sunning themselves on a roof across from my platform as I waited for the train listening to Tatterdemalion by The Black Watch on my little mp3 player and the sun was shining even though it was chilly. I stood there feeling so utterly wonderful cause between my ears was this wonderful music flowing in and out and around making me feel warm and cosy inside. So I suggest you go out and get this dreamy sweet thoughtful album and see what I mean..it may just make your day...you never know.


title: A career spanning review

text: This compilation, purchased for my Doris Day fan wife, was a delight to give. It was one stop shopping for a huge swath of Day's discography. The quality of the recordings are excellent, especially given the fact they were from vintage analogue recordings. This is a great addition to a music library who is looking for one Doris Day offering.


title: Five Stars

text: cd in perfect condition,arrived fast,EXCELLENT!! THANK_YOU


title: PILLOWS B-side adventures!

text: Fantastic shipping and amazing quality. Love the pillows to death. My favorite track is Skeleton lair on the first cd.


title: BRUTALITY A CLASSIC THAT KEEPS ON GIVIN!

text: Fantastic product!! Love the shipping and no scratches or shatters on the case. Over all I'm a very satisfied metalhead \m/


title: but I was disappointed in the material

text: Prompt delivery, but I was disappointed in the material.  Not one of  the best offerings of TGC.


title: Two Stars

text: yup it was scratched and would not play correctly, threw it away


title: Four Stars

text: Nostalgically good.


title: Not my favorite program

text: I worked at the program and it didn't do much for me.  Followed the steps and no results.  Maybe I didn't work at it long enough, but it seemed like a lot of fluff to me.


title: Highly recommended!

text: Great audio program.  I highly recommend Dr. Dyer's work.  I listened to it again and again.  Also liked it so much I shared it with my family and friends.


title: Five Stars

text: The music is inspiring and beautiful. I love this CD. Draws my my and heart close to Jesus.


title: Roy Buchanan - AMAZING !

text: The music is over-the-top !! CD is in good condition and I am playing it every day. What a gifted man and so sad he died too soon.


title: Yay! Been waiting for this.

text: Been waiting for the CD to come out since the series first appeared on tv. Not particularly happy it is spread out onto FOUR separate CD’s, but stil, the rolling grandeur of the orchestral soundtrack is still awesome.


title: Project Diva F Music!

text: Once I bought Hatsune Miku Project Diva F Video Game,I had to get the music.It was worth it,it comes with all the tracks including the unplayable tracks in the game,also comes with an artbook of the loading screens from the game,plus a blu-ray of some of the music videos that is used in it as well.Awesome stuff.


title: Two Stars

text: Thin sound


title: What a total waste: - of talent - of plastic - of ...

text:
What a total waste:
  - of talent
  - of plastic
  - of paper
  - of my time
  - of everything


title: Five Stars

text: The item arrived and works, I am satisfied


title: Great find for any Yelawolf fan

text: Although it's a mixed tape, I am still happy obtaining this CD.  I'm glad with the swift delivery of the CD to my house.


title: Very good selections of love songs

text: It took me a while looking for this CD of Bing Rodrigo. Very good selections of love songs.


title: The King "evil elvis" of metal

text: Excellent collection from the best metal of the early 90s.  I Really enjoy listening again to dominion or sistinas.  Danzig had a knack for melody and 50s stylized rock n’ roll


title: Best set of One Piece Opening and Endings that I could find on Amazon.

text:
I'm really please with this set of CD. Here is the list of songs included in the set.
Disc 1
01  We Are!
02  Believe
03  Hikari e
04  BON VOYAGE!
05  Kokoro no Chizu
06  BRAND NEW WORLD
07  We Are! ~7-nin no Mugiwara no Ichimihen~
08  Crazy Rainbow
09  Jungle P
10  We Are! ~Animation One Piece 10-shounen Ver.~
11  Share The World
12  Kaze wo Sagashite
13  One day
14  Fight Together
15  We Go!
Dis 2:
01  memories
02  RUN! RUN! RUN!
03  Watashi ga Iru yo
04  Shouchi-no-Suke
05  BEFORE DAWN
06  fish
07  GLORY -Kimi ga Iru kara-
08  Shining ray
09  Free Will
10  FAITH
11  A to Z ~ONE PIECE Edition~
12  Tsuki to Taiyou
Dics 3:
01  DREAMSHIP
02  Mirai Koukai
03  Eternal Pause
04  Dear friends
05  Asu wa Kuru kara
06  ADVENTURE WORLD
07  Family ~7-nin no Mugiwara no Ichimihen~
08  Binks no Sake (Bonus Track)
09  We Were! (Bonus Track)
10  We Are! (Bonus Track)
11  Eternal Waves (Bonus Track)


title: Masaaki Kishibe - World Class Artist

text:
Ordered this album, and found it absolutely enjoyable, from first to last track.  Kishibe has such a relaxed tempo and approach, that I find myself transported into a calm state, where it's just me and his guitar.  It's a terrible shame that he is not better known in the US.  The only picky point is that more than half of the titles are not translated into English - yet the music is universal, still.

Buy this if you value the sound of the acoustic guitar, with lush arpeggios, well-thought out and executed compositions.  This is a perfect album, it is one of my favorites at end of day.  Thank you, Masaaki Kishibe!


title: Highly Recommended !!!

text: well ordered selection of classics & standards - excellent for parties and gallery openings !!!


title: Highly Recommended !!!

text: Well ordered selection of standards & classics. Excellent to put on & let play !


title: Five Stars

text: Perfect condition as described... Thank you!