David Maslanka: Quintets Nos. 1-3

On this CD:

1. Quintet for Winds No. 3
Composed by David Maslanka

2. Quintet for winds No 2
Composed by David Maslanka

3. Quintet for winds No 1
Composed by David Maslanka

Tracks:

Eine Kleine Nachtmusick, K. 525: Andante
Symphony No. 29 In A, K. 201: Andante
Le Nozze de Figaro: How Delightful To Wander, Fanned by The Breath Of The Evening
String Quartet No. 22 in B-Flat, K. 589: Larghetto
Die Zauberflote: A Young Lady Or A Wife
Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat, K.452: Larghetto
Symphony No. 4 in D, K. 19: Andante
Clarinet Quintet In A, K. 581: Menuetto
Sonata in A, K. 331: Theme, Variations 4 And 5
Sonata in D, K. 448: Andante
Clarinet Quintet In A, K. 581: Allegro

Customer Reviews:

Great.......2006-02-15

This music is great for both kids and adults. It is much nicer then the baby Einstein version. It is great to listen to and I often play it during my son's nap time.

This is great for baby...and good for mom and dad, too!.......1998-12-10

This selection of Mozart's music is sure to be pleasing to baby whether in or out of the womb. This CD delivers some beautiful peices that are performed at a level that can be appreciated by parents as well as little ones. Do not, however, limit your personal collection of Mozart to this CD. There are many other works and performances to be explored!

Average customer rating:

No Masterpiece, But Good Stuff
Postmodern Polyphony
Flash and No Substance
thousands of notes for no apparent reason...
Still Searching

Naive & Sentimental Music
John Adams , David Tanenbaum , Esa-Pekka Salonen , and Los Angeles Philharmonic
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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On the Transmigration of Souls
Road Movies
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ASIN: B00005UW1A
Release Date: 2002-07-30

Tracks:

Naive and Sentimental Music
Mother of the Man
Chain to the Rhythm

Amazon.com

Dedicated to conductor (and fellow composer) Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Adams's Naïve and Sentimental Music is an awe-inspiring work of ambitious scope. It seeks to tackle the polarity between the naïve and the sentimental artist (the former oblivious to her place in nature, the latter preoccupied with location in the order of things) and uses wild juxtapositions to advance Adams's investigation. A wafting flute and harp open the three-part, 44-minute piece, but they are overcome by lurching brass, rumbling percussion, reedy woodwinds, and a palpable urgency. The second movement, "Mother of the Man," is, by vivid contrast, an almost ambient piece, floating on broad-stroked violins, bowed vibraphone, bell-struck percussion, and David Tannenbaum's textured guitar work. And then comes the final movement, "Chain to the Rhythm," the most recognizably minimalist excursion in what amounts to a symphony--in every way but its name. Cells of sound, oboes, cellos, vibraphones jut out as clarinets oscillate and twitter. There's a shimmer, a stammering vibrational effect, and a return to the first movement's growing urgency. Has the naïve artist discovered, anxiety-ridden, the insurmountable pressure of the sentimental artist? It's for the composer to know and the listener to find out. In any event, Naïve and Sentimental Music stands out singularly as Adams's most astonishing large-scale instrumental work, a piece that demands repeated listens and never disappoints. --Andrew Bartlett

Album Description

The album is 48-minutes of Adams most ambitious symphonic work to date performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Nonesuch Records. Slipcase. 2002.

Customer Reviews:

No Masterpiece, But Good Stuff.......2007-04-10

Naive and Sentimental Music is not the masterpiece that Harmonielehre is. Although they employ similar orchestral forces and have similar compositional structures, the former doesn't reach the kind of tension or exuberance that the latter achieves. Nevertheless, there's also a lot of beautiful music here, and if you're a fan of John Adams you will probably find this piece worthwhile.

Postmodern Polyphony.......2006-06-12

Reading this bunch of intelligent reviews for John Adam's work is a great experience. No one seems to be bored by this score and the music intonates lots of different feelings.

Personally I find this music a masterpiece. Not because of all the obvious skill displayed from composer and performers alike. Nor because (as most agree) the orchestration is perfect.

What I think the core of this artistic achievement is John Adams ability capture the Zeitgeist of 1999. It is as if the optimism, all the hype and drive of the 1990s found its way into his score. This is very much music for a certain place at a certain point in history.

Adams also turns this upside down when melancholy and irony takes over in the last movement. There is a ambivalence at play not heard in many film scores (nor in most music at all).
The analogy with Mahler is obvious - a classical composers takes the simple and perhaps sentimental pop idiom then turns it into monument of his time.
John Adams is - I think - the better composer, but the fate of his music (and its critics) will be very similar indeed.

Flash and No Substance.......2006-05-28

As a composer I do actually admirer Adams' skill as an orchestrator and I do like his 'Harmonium' best for it's 'naive' very American(to a British ear) beauty which has a lovely sense of unfolding harmony.
Unfortunately a lot of his music-and this cd is included-is to me just flash technique.Flash,showy and yes-impressive orchestral writing.BUT there seems to be no real substance here.The first and third movement start very nicely indeed.But as other reviewers have said the music quickly loses direction and descends into more complex showy(percussion driven) music as if he is trying to show off his technique.It lacks any real depth.It reminds me of much current film music that is very brilliant highly skilled complex orchestral writing but with not much real musical worth.That is forgiveable because it is written to enhance action on screen.But this ain't no great symphony.His Chamber Symphony is also highly praised but again it's all flash technique to me and not much else.Fast Ride,Loopalooza,Grand Pianola,Century Rolls all to me are brilliant technically flash pieces BUT with no real musical core.
Danielpour suffers from this shallowness too-he is again a brilliantly skilled guy.
There is a relentless tediousness to these movements-almost as if he is scared of rests!

thousands of notes for no apparent reason..........2006-01-23

The following is from my review of a live performance of Naive & Sentimental Music by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. All comments apply equally to this recording.

*********

Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen is conducting tonight, and he trots onstage displaying the "boyish good looks" and "hip wardrobe" that are inevitably mentioned whenever you read about him. The first half of the program is Naive and Sentimental Music by John Adams, which I am particularly looking forward to. I was obsessed with musical Minimalism during my formative geeky teenage years, especially the Holy Trinity of composers Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and John Adams. I wore out my LPs of "needle stuck in the groove" Minimalist classics such as Glass' Einstein on the Beach and The Photographer, Reich's Music for 18 Musicians and Octet, and Adams' Harmonium and Shaker Loops. I've also continued to listen to the newer music by all of these composers (with varying degrees of disappointment) here in the "laser beam stuck in the aluminum" CD era. John Adams has certainly made out well for himself in the "establishment" orchestra and opera world over the years, becoming perhaps the most performed and applauded contemporary composer out there right now. (Interestingly, though, his "official" website is awful compared to Phil's and Steve's...)

A massive orchestra is assembled on the stage for the nearly hour-long Naive and Sentimental Music, including a rogue's gallery of percussionists playing such exotic instruments as almglocken, high anvil, Chinese gongs, "ranch" triangles, and sleigh bells. The usual full complement of brass, strings, and winds are also joined by two harps, piano, celeste, guitar, and -- as if Adams couldn't get all the sounds he wanted from the 100+ other instruments on stage -- a Kurzweil synthesizer.

There's something I've noticed listening to quite a few newly composed orchestra works over the years: beware of huge percussion sections -- more often than not, it turns out the composer is trying to compensate for a lack of melodic and harmonic interest by throwing in as many gadgets, toys, and strange sounds as possible to keep things "interesting." Unfortunately, Naive and Sentimental Music confirms this observation.

The first movement begins with the awkwardly amplified guitarist (who is actually one of the CSO's string bass players) strumming chords rhythmically and accompanied by flutes and strings attempting to establish a very unmemorable melodic line. More and more instruments join the mix playing what are probably various permutations of that feeble melody, those percussionists keep busy back there running back and forth between different instruments, and Esa-Pekka tries to hold it all together with curious but entertaining arm gestures. You get the idea that this all sounded cool when Mr. Adams pressed play on his expensive MIDI music software set-up, but that real human beings are being asked to do some pretty strange inhuman things and that there are probably more time signatures and polyrhythms going on here than anybody should ever have to keep track of. It keeps building and building, yet just sitting there making lots of noise and not really going anywhere... and then it's over.

Actually we've only just begun... now it's time for the second movement, "Mother of the Man," which we learn from Mr. Adams' (really really long) program notes is a "gloss on Busoni's Berceuse elegiaque." That poor bassist-turned-guitarist is front and center again here, strangling all of his notes. Bowed vibraphone is featured prominently, setting an ethereal mood and promting everyone to nudge their companion and point at the stage -- "Look at that... they're playing the vibes with violin bows... isn't that cool?" Things meander along pleasantly here, occasionally becoming dissonant but mostly floating in an almost New Age-y bliss. Fellow audience members are nodding off in droves, and frankly I consider joining them a few times... The low brass chords concluding this movement are particularly lovely, but frankly you can enjoy this same kind of mood in about half the time by simply listening to Busoni's Berceuse elegiaque instead.

As is customary at the end of every slow, quiet movement performed at Orchestra Hall, the audience coughs, hacks, shuffles, and converse amongst themselves in the most obvious way possible. It would almost be funny if it weren't so embarrasing... do the audiences do this in L.A. too, I wonder? And what about Finland? Esa-Pekka offered no clues...

At last we arrive at the final movement, "Chain to the Rhythm" which lives up to the probably unintended masochistic implications of its name. This is a real "garbage pizza" of a loud and clattery mess where Adams empties out everything in his bag of tricks including repeated clarinet eighth-notes fading in and out ripped right from the pages of Reich's Music for 18 Musicians. The percussionists are running around beating the sh*t out of everything in sight, brass players and blatting out chords all over the place, the poor string players are fiddling around with endless ostinatos, and Mr. Salonen is doing a modern dance worthy of Martha Graham. For the first time that I could see, the Kurzweil synthesizer lady finally does something for a couple minutes, but even her amplified instrument can't be heard above all the clutter. The guitarist looks happy to be sitting this one out, and after thousands of notes have been hurled at us for no apparent reason, the whole thing suddenly stops. Several people leap to their feet shouting "Bravos" and whistling so loud you'd think the Bears had just made it to the next round of the NFL playoffs, while the rest of us clap politely and can hardly wait to get a cocktail during intermission to soothe our frayed nerves and throbbing eardrums.

Still Searching.......2004-12-19

The earlier music of John Adams has been some of the most touching and engaging music to me, and it remains in my regular listening repertoire. With the "Chamber Symphony" being one of my all time favorite works of Adams from years past, I have increasingly lost interest in his most recent music.

His recent "Naive and Sentimental Music" is, unfortunately, no exception to this trend. While everyone else raves about this new work, this piece feels overblown and meandering. Being one for really giving it all I can, it seems that this piece will not do it for me, and this is after hearing it performed live and having listened to the CD at least 15 times.

Somehow, it seems I am one of an extremely small number of listeners (perhaps the only one) who does not enjoy this work, unike the rest of the current concert audience. I have had a similar experience with "On The Transmigration of Souls".

Nonetheless, Adams still has an exquisite command of the orchestral palette, and his music exudes the energy and atmosphere of a true master able to unfold a musical intention with conviction. Where his intention takes this listener is not anywhere very intriguing or moving.

I am still searching in his new work for the journey his earlier work is still able to take me on.

Average customer rating:

Great album for a wonderful cause!

Red Hot and Latin Redux

Manufacturer: Nacional Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | International | Styles | Music

Mexico | International | Styles | Music

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Rock en Español | Latin Music | Styles | Music
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Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
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ASIN: B000FUF88E
Release Date: 2006-07-25

Tracks:

Pepe & Irene - Los Lobos
Yolanda Niguas - David Byrne
Gente Que No - Todos Tus Muertos
What's New Pussycat? - Los Fabulosos Cadillacs
El Son Del Dolor - Youth Brigade
Wanna Be Loved - Buju Banton
Quien Es Ese Negro - Mellow Man Ace
Padre Nuestro - Reign
Whoever You Are - King Chango
Aguas De Marco - Cibo Matto
Una Hoja Una Raiz - Laurie Anderson
Cosas Que Me Ayudan A Olvidar - Andres Calamaro
Que Bonita Bailas - Nortec Collective
Peligroso Pop - Plastilina Mosh
Sol Tapado - Thievery Corporation
Sister Twisted - Kinky
Crosseyed And Painless - Brazilian Girls

Album Description

This 10-year anniversary re-issue of the groundbreaking benefit album includes new bonus tracks from Brazilian Girls/Kevin Johansen, Thievery Corporation, Nortec Collective, Kinky, and Plastilina Mosh. It also features re-mastered tracks such as the original groundbreaking bilingual collaborations between David Byrne/Café Tacuba, Fishbone/Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Los Lobos/Money Mark, and Laurie Anderson/Aterciopelados. Profits will go to the Red Hot Organization to continue fighting AIDS in the Latino community and in Latin America.

Customer Reviews:

Great album for a wonderful cause!.......2006-07-25

I loved the original edition of "Red Hot & Latin" when it came out 10 years ago, but the new re-issue track is even better! Highlights include the new bonus tracks from Brazilian Girls/Kevin Johansen, Kinky, Nortec Collective, and Thievery Corporation....but the older material also holds up quite well.
I still think that Fishbone and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs' collaboration on "What's New Pussycat" is such a blast - those guys should tour together again some time!

This album was truly groundbreaking when it first came out - there were bilingual collaborations from many acts, WAY before this was commonplace. Any fan of Latin, world, or alternative music needs to own this album.....plus, all the proceeds go to fight HIV/AIDS in Latin America and the U.S. Latino community, so it's for a worthy cause.

Silvestre Revueltas: Centennial Anthology 1899-1999

Average customer rating:

Spirited playing of fine compositions
Magical Compositions Brilliantly Performed
Stokowski's Sensemaya
A Compendium of Revueltas Works
Abstract but deep.

Silvestre Revueltas: Centennial Anthology 1899-1999

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Carlos Chávez: The Complete Symphonies
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Latin American Fiesta
Revueltas: Orchestral Music

ASIN: B00000K2F1
Release Date: 1999-09-14

Tracks:

Sensemaya
Redes: Los pescadores, Funeral del nino, Salida a la pesca, Lucha, Regreso de los pescadores con su companero muerto
Itinerarios
Caminos
Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca: I. Baile, II. Duelo, III. Son
Danza geometrica
Cuauhnahuac
Sensemaya

Tracks:

Janitizo
Alcancias: I. Allegro
Alcancias: II. Andantino
Alcancias: III. Allegro vivo
El renacuajo paseador
8 x Radio
Toccata (sin fuga)
Planos
La Noche de los Mayas: I. Noche de los mayas
La Noche de los Mayas: II. Noche de jaranas
La Noche de los Mayas: III. Noche de Yucatan
La Noche de los Mayas: IV. Noche de encantamiento
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: I. Caballito (Antonio de Trueba)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: II. Las cinco horas (Anonymous)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: III. Cancion tonta (Federico Garcia Lorca)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: IV. El lagarto y la lagarta (Federico Garcia Lorca)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: V. Cancion de cuna (Federico Garcia Lorca)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: VI. Serenata (Federico Garcia Lorca)
Cinco canciones de ninos y dos canciones profanas: VII. Es verdad (Federico Garcia Lorca)

Customer Reviews:

Spirited playing of fine compositions.......2007-07-07

This Revueltas anthology is very well played by first class orchestras. The selections by Mata and de la Fuente are particularly played with spirit and verve.

Magical Compositions Brilliantly Performed.......2007-05-03

If you enjoy Bartok & Stravinsky, you will adore Revueltas. Among the 15 works are two versions of sensemaya plus Cuauhnahuac and La Noche de los Mayas, all richly evocative of the ancient Mayan culture which underlies that of Mexico - bold tributes to proud traditions not unlike the musical paintings of the Caucasus peoples rendered by Khachaturian. The music of Revueltas deserves much wider performance in the world, but probably will not be often heard due to its technical complexity and the need for specialized native instruments for some of the passages. At least Leopold Stokowski recognized the brilliance of this spectacular work.

Stokowski's Sensemaya.......2005-10-10

Great, great release. One of the reviews here (by "127") said that the Stokowski version of Sensemaya was interesting "historically but not musically" and I just wanted to strongly disagree with that. Leopold Stokowski has the orchestra playing in a different time-signature than the composer wrote! The piece is written mostly in 7 but this performance seems to have put the whole thing into 4 (it's probably more complicated than that but you get the idea) and the resulting performance is even more hectic and bombastic than the other recorded version of Sensemaya on the same CD. I don't know why Stokowski did this, but this performance is the most unique I've heard (of the piece.) Whether or not this is a "good" thing I don't want to get into but the recording is definitely very interesting and worth a listen.

A Compendium of Revueltas Works.......2003-04-09

Unlike many people I think, I've been a fan of Revueltas since I was quite young...I first heard Sensemaya at the age of 12 and was blown away. Unfortunately, for years most of his music was rather hard to find...darn near impossible actually. However, the composer has recently picked up a number of higher profile champions (including Esa Pekka Salonen) and a spate of rereleases during his Centennial a few years ago. Such a rediscover is long overdue!

This current CD is part of the Centennial celebration of Revueltas. It consists of a compilation of orchestral recordings by Eduardo Mata, chamber recordings by David Aetherton and the Jalapa Orquestra Sinfonica under Herrara de la Fuente. The results are quite stunning, with enough material to keep you listening for quite some time!

The first CD contains exclusively orchestral music under the baton of Maestro Mata. This is prime stuff indeed. The CD begins with Revueltas' most renowned piece, Sensemaya, a dense, barbaric orchestral fantasy inspired by a Cuban poem that details a traditional snake-killing ceremony in the Santeria religion. The piece is dominated by short pithy melodic statements which are gradually layered over each other to create greater and greater tension. The result is deeply compelling, Stravinsky's Rite is combined with Varese's Arcana...with native Mexican rhythms and instruments thrown in.

The other works on the album are also extremely compelling. They can be broken down into abstract orchestral works, chamber pieces and music for film. In addition, Revueltas shows two definate sides, one is the convinced modernist, who shows a lot in common with Varese, and even Scriabin. The best work in this vein is the Danza geometrica (and it's chamber version Planos). The other big vein is the "nationalistic" vein, of which Revueltas was a greater exponent than his compatriot Chavez. Many works on this CD, Itinerios, Homage to Garcia Lorca, and others display a sense of wild abandon present in traditional fiestas. And yet, even here, Revueltas is a formalist and modernist, treating his material less as color and more as another structural element.

The other really wonderful work on this disc is La Noche de los Mayas. Culled from a film score, this is beautifully written film music and quite ahead of it's time. It's not hard to imagine these Revueltas strains as an inspiration to Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein and the like. The work is structured as a large symphony, dominated by a broad, tonal but dissonant theme in the brass. There is a wealth of detail in this work that I come back to over and over.

Much of this material has very little competition. The chamber works have been basically neglected on CD and many of the orchestral works are only available on this disc. Sensemaya has significant competition however. Salonen has done a really wonderful disc of this material, which also includes a great reading of Noche. Bernstein has perhaps the best reading of Sensemaya available on his Latin American Fiesta album (which also includes a wonderful rendition of Chavez' Sinfonia India)But Mata's reading is nearly as good as Bernstein and just as good as Salonen. Overall, for breadth and depth of music covered, this is a superlative disc and the one to get.

Abstract but deep........2003-02-05

I've got this cd when I first heard of this composer. He is the biggest composer that Mexico has had to offer to the classical music scene. Mexico has a variety of notable composers such as Chavez but none of them match Revueltas impact on the scene.

This cd pretty much has all of Revueltas' major works including his most known one: Sensemaya. That piece has been conducted by Bernstein and Stowkowski with the latter being on this disc. There is two performances of Sensemaya which includes the one mentioned above and a new version.

Tracks:

Bagatelle In A Minor, WoO 59, 'Fur Elise'
Symphony No. 6 In F Major, 'Pastorale' Scene By The Brook
Septet For Strings And Winds In E Flat, Op. 20, Tempo Di Menuetto
Batatelles, Op. 119: No. 1 In G Minor
Batatelles, Op. 119: No. 2 In C Major
Batatelles, Op. 119: No. 3 In D Major
Quintet For Piano And Winds In E-Flat Major, Op. 16, Rondo: Allegro, ma non troppo
Symphony No. 1 In C Major, Op. 21: Symphony No. 1 In C Major, Op. 21, Andante cantabile con moto
Septet For Strings And Winds In E-Flat, Op. 20: Septet For Strings And Winds In E-Flat, Op. 20, Scherzo
Bagatelles, Op. 119: No. 4 In A Major
Bagatelles, Op. 119: No. 9 In A Minor
Bagatelles, Op. 119: No. 11 In B-Flat Major
Symphony No. 6 In F Major: Symphony No. 6 In F Major, 'Pastorale,' Shepherd's Song: Happy And Thankful Feelings After The Storm
Quintet For Piano And Winds In E-Flat Major, Op. 16: Quintet For Piano And Winds In E-Flat Major, Op. 16, Andante cantabile
String Quartet In D Major, Op. 18, No. 3: String Quartet In D Major, Op. 18, No. 3, Andante con moto

Amazon.com

Classical music for children has become a genre unto itself, founded on the premise of brain-power building and all too often steering parental buyers away from the full-blown versions of particular compositions toward reorchestrated renditions. It's frequently the case that a brain-tickling classical set will be played on digital keyboards, with softened tonal colors and shapes. Not so with this excellent Beethoven set. Recognized ensembles take up the music, from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to the New York Chamber Symphony to the Oxford String Quartet and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The emphasis is on Beethoven's gentler side, from the poetic "Für Elise" for solo piano to the bucolic settings portrayed in the two selections from Beethoven's Symphony No. 6. This is neither a synapse-popping set of virtuoso performances nor an altered look at Beethoven, but it is a well-selected, well-programmed set of works that will ease a child's brain into the works at hand. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Music, Beautiful Renditions.......2003-12-14

This is lovely, soothing music suitable for babies or tired adults! I began listening to it and other "Baby Needs" CD's (the Guitar compilation is wonderful too) before my daughter was born, and have continued to play it for her ever since. Even Classical music purists shouldn't object to hearing just portions of major works-- the compensation is having a complete collection of calm, peaceful music. Highly recommended.

Soothing Music for Baby.......2000-11-05

This is a delightful collection of Beethoven's most soothing, melodic pieces. It is good for background music or for quieting a fussy or tired baby. I highly recommend it.

Average customer rating:

I get it...
Side Project or Side Show?
30 1/3 RPM?
Music to Read Bukowski By
Better with every listen

Houndog
Houndog
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Blues | Styles | Music

Electric Blues Guitar | Blues | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00000I5XX
Release Date: 1999-03-16

Tracks:

No Chance
I Brought The Rain
I'll Change My Style
Down Time
Lonely Dying Love
Eddie's Gone
All Fired Up, All Shook Down
Somebody (Stop The Bleedin')
Killin' Me

Amazon.com's Best of 1999

A collaboration between Los Lobos/Latin Playboys linchpin David Hidalgo (and what a year he had!) and vocalist Mike Halby, this self-titled debut is basically a blues album--albeit one that's a universe and several decades removed from the routine fare that dominates the blues market. Hidalgo is one of the most inspired musicians working today, and his foil possesses otherworldly pipes. --Steven Stolder

Amazon.com

This collaboration between Los Lobos's multi-instrumentalist David Hidalgo and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers/Canned Heat vocal vet Mike Halby strips off the varnish that adorns much modern blues revivalism, cutting through to a murky, minimalist framework that recalls the Delta and Chicago's South Side without being a slave to either. The tracks here offer up often dirge-like grooves so thick and lugubrious that, if this were a vinyl disc, one might check the turntable's speed. Against Hidalgo's languid, skeletal riffs and shuffles, Halby drawls and moans his way through eight originals and the collection's only cover, Junior Parker's "Change My Style," with a voice so angst-ridden and surreal, it reportedly prompted Bonnie Raitt to comment, "This is great! But is he gonna be all right?" Dub on some crackling, ticks, and pops, and Houndog would make a pretty convincing replication of four and a half great lost blues 78s. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

I get it..........2006-10-11

Judging by the mixed reviews, some people get it and some people don't...I get it. David Hidalgo is brilliant.

Side Project or Side Show?.......2003-04-08

Houndog is a side project of David Hidalgo and Mike Halby consisting of all but one original tune. The CD has a distinct, slow motion quality to the sound with vocals often reminiscent of Tom Waits on Quaaludes. Whatever the duo sought to accomplish, it certainly was not to demonstrate their musical talents. Nevertheless, there are some relatively good songs here. In fact, arguably the two best tracks, "No Change" and "I Brought The Rain" were both covered by John Hammond in a little more tolerable fashion in his latest release, "Ready For Love". I would have liked to have heard this CD in its original form, before the engineer decided to slow it up on the playback. Interesting stuff.

30 1/3 RPM?.......2003-01-30

The first few times I listened to this, I wasn't sure if the recording was slowed down(I once had a turn table that played at a slightly reduced RPM, giving the same effect) or if that was just the way Mike Halby sang. After realizing that Mike Halby was the alto singer from Canned Heat, I knew something was messed with.
Anyway, it's a great effect. I imaging the real-time recording sounds a little less like the result of an all nite bender.

Music to Read Bukowski By.......2002-12-05

Imagine if you combined the low-down, gritty, soulfullness of Tom Waits, the electric fiddle of Papa John Creech, some excellent bottleneck and slide guitar with some dark-alley, 2AM lyrics? The answer: Mike Halby and David Hidalgo's homage to weltanschmerz, Houndog. Houndog really is bare-bones blues, as unpretentious and honest as it gets. Again, like Waits, the musicians sound as if they are on the tail end of a three day heavy binge, but can muster just enough strength for one more song. This will definitely not appeal to all Hidalgo fans (not your daddy's Los Lobos fare here). With Waits afficianadoes, however, it is can't miss. It is definitely the type music listened to late at night. In fact, the later the better. Will probably move to five stars after I give it a few more listens.

Better with every listen.......2002-11-06

Dark and hypnotic and smoky and, occasionally, fun and even funny. Probably the most amusing thing about it is that they pitched the entire CD down -- it sounds as if they recorded the vocals and music on tape, slowed the tape down, then dumped it onto the CD. Just listen to the drums -- they sound like an extreme slow-motion film sequence. Anyway, the playing is very tight, but the sound is rattle-trap brilliance.

Average customer rating:

Bella España: Music Inspired by Spain

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Orchestral Spectaculars
Symphonic Spectacular
From the Heart
Bella Tuscany: Music Inspired by Tuscany
William Tell & Other Favorite Overtures

ASIN: B000BPPVS0
Release Date: 2005-11-22

Tracks:

Aragonaise - Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Habanera - Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Seguidilla - Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Toreadors - Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
The Neighbor's Dance (Seguidilas) - Jesus Lopez-Cobos
Dance Of The Miller (Farruca) - Jesus Lopez-Cobos
Jota (Rondalla Aragonesa) - Angel And Celedonio Romero
Adagio From Concierto De Aranjuez - Erich Kunzel
Romance - Angel Romero
En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor Based On The Second Movement Of Rodrigo's Concierto De Aranjuez - Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Malaguena - Erich Kunzel
Malaga From Iberia: Book IV - Jesus Lopez-Cobos
Asturias From Suite Espanola, Op.47 - David Russell
Capricho Arabe - David Russell

Riley: The Book Of Abbeyozzud / Tanenbaum, Silverman, et al

Average customer rating:

Not Your Usual Terry Riley

Riley: The Book Of Abbeyozzud / Tanenbaum, Silverman, et al

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

Duets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Atlantis Nath
Terry Riley: Chanting the Light of Foresight
The Harp of New Albion
Descending Moonshine Dervishes / Songs for the Ten Voices of the Two Prophets
Terry Riley: Salome Dances for Peace

ASIN: B00001W099
Release Date: 1999-10-19

Tracks:

Cantos Desiertos: Francesco en Paraiso
Cantos Desiertos: Cancion Desierto
Cantos Desiertos: Quijote
Cantos Desiertos: Llanto
Cantos Desiertos: Tango Ladeado
Zamorra
Dias de los Muertos: Innocencia - Se Aparace la Muerte Innocentmente por la tarde
Dias de los Muertos: La Muerte en Medias Caladas Negras
Barabas
Ascencion

Amazon.com

After Terry Riley's revolutionary In C, it certainly never seemed that the compositionally brash cofounder of the minimalist movement would take on a lyrical bent. But that's what he's done on this collection of pieces for violin, guitar, and percussion. Violinist Tracy Silverman and guitarist David Tanenbaum play warmly and sublimely on Cantos Desiertos, finding pristine melodies and high, arching curves around which to spread their finesse. Tanenbaum gets unbelievably rich tones from his guitar, and his range is the one consistent ingredient throughout these pieces. He duets with Riley's son Gyan, himself an accomplished guitarist, on "Zamorra" and with percussionist William Winant on Dias de los Muertos. Winant's marimba and gongs are especially appropriate for Tanenbaum's resonant string work, fluctuating from an absolute crispness to a milky froth. Where Riley's chamber works, such as Salome Dances for Peace, are intensely rhythmic, these works veer much more stealthily toward a kind of glorious flowering, even if the blooms are in dusky colors and muted, curvy patterns. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

Not Your Usual Terry Riley.......1999-12-14

I have loved Terry Riley's work for many years. This CD is no exception. However, it is not the minimalist-raga Riley that I am used to. This is a set of beautifully performed guitar pieces that are melodic, tonal, and very Spanish in influence. Definitely a change from Mr. Riley's usual fair, but wonderful nonetheless!

Essential Aaron Copland: 12 Greatest Hits

Average customer rating:

Aaron Copland: Essential Classics

Essential Aaron Copland: 12 Greatest Hits

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music
ASIN: B0000D1FK8
Release Date: 2003-10-14

Tracks:

Fanfare For The Common Man
Very Slowly
Allegro
Moderate: The Bride And Her Intended
Fast: The Revivalist And His Flock
Allegro: Solo Dance Of The Bride
Meno Mosso
Doppio Movimento: Variations On A Shaker Hymn
Moderato: Coda
Buckaroo Holiday
Corral Nocturne
Saturday Night Waltz
Hoc-Down
Lincoln Portrait
Ceremonial Fanfare

Tracks:

Quiet City
New England Countryside
Barley Wagons
Sunday Traffic
Grovers Corners
Threshing Machines
El Salon Mexico
The Open Prarie
Street In A Frontier Town
Celebration - Billy In Prison - Waltz
Danzon Cubano
Lento - Molto Allegro - Adagio Molto
Andante Moderato
Allegro Vivo

Customer Reviews:

Aaron Copland: Essential Classics.......2003-11-21

This excellent introduction to the symphonic Copland repackages an earlier "Decca Double Decker" (see B000004284). Deleted are "Old American Songs" and added are "Billy the Kid" and "Danzon Cubano". These recordings were made from 1969-1994. The sonics are exemplary. The performances are all very good to excellent. Everyone has their personal favorites of these works so your mileage may vary.

Dorati & Detroit SO > Rodeo, El Solon Mexico, Dance Symphony. Howarth & London Sinfonietta > Music for the Movies. Marriner & The Academy > Quiet City. Metha & LAPO > Fanfare for the Common Man, Appalachian Spring, Lincoln Portrait with Gregory Peck, narrator. Philip Jones Brass Ensemble > Ceremonial Fanfare. Zinman & Baltimore SO > Billy the Kid, Danzon Cubano.

Gregory Peck comes across very, very well. Warm, personal, forthright. Worth the price of the disc just to hear him deliver the words wrapped in Copland's music as directed by Metha and performed by the LA Philharmonic Orchestra.

Don't expect any copious liner notes here -- there aren't any. Just a listing of what's what and who did what. Two panels of the folded sheet are needlessly occupied by advertising other "essential" CDs. I would gladly rip them out if I didn't like the overall design so much. The art direction and design of the package is stellar but lacks "essential" or any background information.

Unless I'm mistaken, there are 5 "hits" on the first disc and 6 on the second. That's 11. The subtitle here is "12 Greatest Hits". Am I missing something?