CDs
CDs NEW RELEASES
CDs REVIEWS
LISTINGS
CDs REVIEWS
(ARTICLES)
   BEST
CDs. BEST RECORDINGS:
CLASSICAL MUSIC
CHRISTINA PETROWSKA
QUILICO
Gems With An Edge (Welspringe) As part of New Music
Concerts' Piano Marathon at The Music Gallery this weekend, Christina
Petrowska Quilico will offer comments on and performances of the
keyboard music of her first husband, the late Michel-Georges Brégent,
whose aleatorically influenced Geste, originally recorded on
the RCI label, reappears on this Welspringe disc...ROBERT
SILVERMAN
Live At The Chan Centre (Orpheum Masters). Among the Westben
Arts Festival's most innovative programs this year is Sipping with
Silverman, this coming at The Barn in Campbellford, during which the
Vancouver based pianist Robert Silverman will introduce a selection of
wines appropriate to the music he will be playing...NEW
ARTS TRIO
In Recital At
Chautaqua (Fleur de Son Classics)
When the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra opens its season Wednesday at Roy Thomson Hall, the
last player to walk onstage will be Jacques Israelievitch, its
concertmaster since 1988 and one of the most versatile violinists in
the country, with a discography to his credit of solo and chamber as
well as orchestral work...
TOP
10 LISTS
NEW RELEASES
CDs NEW REVIEWS: THE ARTICLES
 Ann
Hampton Callaway
It is BORING
BORING! It is not enough to count on your fame to cash on your CD.
True, celebrity status sells records. But, quality is to be
preserved, originality to metamorphose
 Andrea
Marcovicci was
stunning and monumental. But what is happening to Marcovicci's
talent now? She just lost it.
 A
Bigger Bang
The Rolling Stones (Virgin Records)
No, Jagger can't chicken-strut
forever, and Richards has skimmed death's surface a few times
already. They're old, but they're not
dead, yet. For 40 plus years, the Rolling Stones have strutted their
way across rock 'n' roll's youthful terrain
 Neil
Young
Prairie Wind (Reprise)
Neil Young's Prairie Wind is a
gentle-sounding, acoustic-based album that packs an emotional
wallop. It rightfully is being cast as the third in a trilogy of
albums that started with Harvest in 1972 and continued with 1992's
Harvest Moon.
 All
Jacked Up
Gretchen Wilson (Epic)
Fans of Gretchen Wilson's
chart-topping 2004 debut album, Here for the Party, might have
braced for a letdown with her latest, All Jacked Up. Feel free to
unbrace. This album's even better than the first.
 Sheryl
Crow
Wildflower (A&M)
Point to ponder while
contemplating Sheryl Crow's new Wildflower CD: will a bad review
earn a set of tread marks on my back?
 Paul
McCartney
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
(Capitol)
Is Chaos and Creation in the
Backyard the album Paul McCartney fans have been waiting for him to
make? Not quite.
Joan Bender
Star Eyes The sweet, tender,
yet powerfully cultivated voice of Joan Bender was evident in two of
her songs "Cherokee" and "So Nice". STAR EYES has 13 tracks of
multi-varied flair and genre
 Souls'
Chapel
Marty Stuart (Superlatone)
To tout Souls' Chapel as the best
gospel record this year gives it short shrift, because Marty
Stuart's latest work ranks with the best 2005 albums in any genre.
The songs shimmer, and not just because of the tremolo guitars.
 Late
Registration
Kanye West (Universal)
So this is where Kanye West wants to take hip-hop -- beyond the
sped-up soul samples that made him famous, beyond his first album's
gospel and R&B influences...
 The
Outsider
Rodney Crowell (Columbia)
With The Outsider, Rodney Crowell
has delivered an album for anyone feeling disaffected with the
modern world and its politics. At times funny, other times
thought-provoking, frequently angry and nearly always rocking,
Crowell follows in the footsteps of icons like Woody Guthrie
Fireflies
Faith Hill (Warner Brothers Records)
It's easy to understand why Faith
Hill took her time before releasing her new record, Fireflies.
Daniel
Powter
Daniel Powter (Warner Bros.)
Piano-playing Vernon native Daniel
Powter evokes a pleasant '70s groove on his major label debut, a
record that hit the big time overseas behind the single Bad Day, a
No. 1 smash in numerous European countries
Grown
& Sexy
Babyface (Arista)
Compared to today's generation of
R&B studs, Babyface seems a little old-fashioned on his latest
offering, Grown & Sexy. The romantic troubadour sounds as genteel as
ever: there are no songs dedicated to baby mama drama, getting
trapped in a closet of a married lover, or all-night grinding.
Yerba
Buena
Island Life (Razor & Tie)
The skyscrapers and concrete that
cover Manhattan make it easy to forget that the bustling place is an
island. And considering the influx of Latin immigrants of recent
years, life on this island is growing more tropical. Thus a listen
to the second album from Yerba Buena, the electic New York-based
collective,
The
Day After Yesterday
Rick Springfield (Gomer/DKE Records)
Admittedly, it was nostalgia that
prompted me to check out Rick Springfield's latest release. And at
least his photographs didn't disappoint. The hunky Aussie '80s
singer and one-time soap star has aged astonishingly well. With his
shaggy brown hair and lanky frame, Springfield's sexy looks belie
his
MEDULLA
by BJORK
Bjork has
said she finds her best, most loved music has been the songs she was
selfish in making. On her latest, the Icelandic chanteuse has cast
out even the instruments.
BLACK
MAGIC
If Bob
Marley is reggae's king, Jimmy Cliff is its prince. The veteran
Jamaican singer has the royal lineage. He started his career in the
early '60s ska scene in Kingston while still a teenager and has
grown along with the music through its many permutations.
Mind,
Body & Soul
Oh, what
feeling there is during Mind, Body & Soul, Joss Stone's follow-up to
her debut EP, a compilation of soulful covers. The not-so-pop singer
finds the emotional climax in every song on the 14-track disc. Her
husky voice is both eloquent and vulnerable, more Taylor Dane than
Mariah Carey. And Stone's vocal acrobatics are intentional, not
showy.
DURAN DURAN'S ASTRONAUT.
More than 20 years
since Duran Duran released a full studio album, the original band
returns with the sound that made them famous: catchy, simple anthems
and harmonies over driving dance grooves and slick electronic
sounds. The album is a swath of effects-layered, slow- to mid-tempo
songs, ranging from radio-friendly pop anthems like leadoff single
Sunrise to more groovy and disco-influenced numbers like Nice, which
recall the group's early '80s work on Rio.
 DONATELLA
BY DONNA RAWLINS.
A blend of romance, relaxing
moments and musical nostalgia on the edge of vocal virtuosity and
sensuality. Donna Rawlins delivered a refreshing bouquet of tunes
immersed into an ocean of feelings, remembrance and harmonious
beauty, delivered through originality, splendid musical arrangements
and sensuality...
 LET
MY PEOPLE GO
An
extremely moving socio-political statement made through lyrics and
music that capture the heart and mind with simple melodies that
make the heart sing. This is an historical musical documentation of
human struggles,
 Bonnie
Raitt
Souls Alike (Capitol)
Some things improve with age --
Bonnie Raitt, for example. Raitt, whose first LP was released in
1971, sounds better than ever in her latest album, Souls Alike. She
can still wrap her voice around a lyric and effortlessly conjure the
appropriate mood -- edgy or sweet, submissive or aggressive,
melancholy or joyful.
 Back
Home
Eric Clapton (Reprise/Duck Records)
Sure legends die and stars
inevitably begin to fade. If you're Eric Clapton, though, you simply
return home. So it is for the 60-year-old British bluesman's aptly
titled Back Home, which brings into sharp focus the reflections of a
music man of four decades who has grown to value home and family
above all else in the twilight of his years.
 Music
Of The Sun
Rihanna (Def Jam)
It's not too late for a summer
getaway after all. With her debut album Music Of The Sun, new artist
Rihanna brings us the sultry dancehall and R&B sounds of the
Caribbean islands. The 17-year-old green-eyed cutie, born in the
Barbados, made a splash onto the summer scene with her dancehall
smash single Pon De Replay.
 Tracy
Chapman
Where You Live (Elektra)
Even more bare-bones than usual,
Tracy Chapman recorded her seventh solo album not in a studio, but
in a San Francisco-area rehearsal space filled with trucked-in gear.
The result: beautifully written songs in Chapman's signature simple
and acoustic style. The memorable tracks are America and the album's
first single, Change, which has Chapman posing a string of
rhetorical questions.
 Liesl
Muller
A refined
lady who sings like a femme fatale chanteuse of "Les annees folles"
and Paris Pigale of 1930. A warm and sinfully evocative voice which
brings to life the magic, nostalgia and tender beauty of a vanished
golden era of the early days of Cabaret and Kabaret of Paris and
Berlin.
 NATALIE
DESSAY: French Arias ,
Michel Plasson, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.
Splendid
collection of coloratura soprano arias cleverly chosen from French
most lyrical operas by Donizetti, Massenet, Thomas, Offenbach and
Gounod. Natalie Dessay, the world's top coloratura soprano,
ROBERTO
ALAGNA: NESSUM DORMA
French-Italian tenor Roberto Alagna delivered a world-class album of
Italian arias, including Giordano's Fedora, Cilea's Adriana
Lecouvreur Puccini's Nessun dorma, Leoncavallo's La Bohème, I
zingari, and Zazà. Alagna took on a great vocal challenge, for he
has a medium-bodied voice
Somewhere
Down In Texas
George Strait (MCA Nashville)
While country trends (most of them
regrettable) come and go, George Strait has varied little from the
buttoned-down traditionalism that's earned him more than 30 No. 1
hits, including Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind and The Chair.
Strait's latest, Somewhere Down In Texas, won't change that.
TP.3
Reloaded
R. Kelly (Jive)
On R. Kelly's last album, Happy
People/U Saved Me, which was released after he was hit with child
pornography charges, R. Kelly chose a family-friendly, spiritual
vibe -- praising the joys of God instead of his usual wild sexual
shenanigans. With his new disc, Kelly will have plenty to repent
for. If you thought the man who came up with such freaky songs as
Bump
 Made
in China
Juliana Hatfield (Ye Olde Records)
Forget Juliana Hatfield the waif.
Ditch that memory of her song Spin the Bottle, the one that seemed
to emanate from the film Reality Bites. Forget the Massachusetts
girl who made up a third of the Blake Babies. She's gone. And that's
a good thing. Hatfield has eviscerated her past, exorcised her
previous pure-pop lyrics and dumped the foundation of her previous
recordings
Roc-a-Fella
Records Presents: Teairra Mari
Teairra Mari (Roc-A-Fella Records)
As Jay-Z's appointed Princess of
the Roc, Teairra Mari proves she's worth the royalty status with her
self-titled debut album. Merging sweet, laid-back vocals with
off-the-block swagger and style, the 17-year-old angel-faced
songbird from Detroit conveys candid accounts about the whirlwind of
emotions felt by girls when dealing with the fellas. The single Make
Her Feel Good serves as an open call and challenge to boys who think
they have what it takes to bring girls joy
 The
Legend
Johnny Cash (Columbia/Legacy)
June Carter Cash was an actress,
an author and the love of Johnny Cash's life. She also assumed a
prominent place in country music's most famous family tree, and Keep
On The Sunny Side nicely summarizes her pioneering role as a
singer-songwriter. The two-CD, 40-song set is one of two new
anthologies from the House of Cash on the 50th anniversary of Johnny
Cash's first single.
 SONGS
OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE.
Release
William Bolcom. Conductor Leonard Slatkin.
William Bolcom's ambitious
setting of William Blake's complete Songs of Innocence and
Experience for soloists, multiple choral forces, and orchestra
occupied the composer on and off, beginning as far back as the late
1950s, with most of the work completed between 1973-74 and 1979-82.
The composer's renowned eclectic bent makes itself felt in the
work's nearly two-and-one-half-hour length. Musical eras, styles,
and performance
 ANDREW
MANZE: PORTRAIT
If you're already an Andrew
Manze fan, you probably have most if not all of the recordings
represented on this compilation (22 tracks from 11 albums, ranging
from composers as well-loved as Bach and Vivaldi to the more obscure
Pandolfi and Rebel). Even so, hearing these selections back-to-back
is a reminder of just how dazzling he is, a virtuoso technician with
a limitless imagination. With Manze, there's no need to qualify his
talents (something along the lines of "well, he's quite good for one
of those early music/period performance fiends").
CORELLI VIOLIN SONATE. OP5/ANDREW MANZE,
RICHARD EGARR
For
a large part of the 20th century violinists learned Baroque sonatas
and concertos as glorified exercises (even as justification for
having to practice all those scales and arpeggios!), as respected
historical foundations that must be stood on and conquered, and
ultimately as important landmarks on the path to the "really great"
solo works ("Now, my boy, I think you're finally ready for the
Mendelssohn!"). In other words, these pieces were not regarded as
ends in themselves for the soloist, or certainly not as subjects for
involved study.
  THE
ESSENTIALS: THE BEST AMERICAN CABARET MUSIC AND SONGS CDs
Thanks to digital and
electronic media and technology, nowadays, aspiring and struggling
artists can produce their own albums and CDs. And this is more than
wonderful. Because, many highly talented artists who lacked funds or
did not know how and where to reach executives in the recording and
records industry have to a certain degree solved the dilemma and
overcome the impossibility of having their own records/albums/work
published and made accessible to millions worldwide. Thanks to this
new medium of publishing and distributing albums and CDs, an
overwhelming number of new artists were able to reach us, and vice
versa. It was beneficial to both of us. Like the Independent Film
Production new world, music has become independent and universal. Many
of the CDs we reviewed throughout the years came from artists who
recorded and produced their own music, songs and compositions. Another
beneficial and fruitful aspect of the personal and independent- self
produced artist/product- is the artistic freedom, artists began to
enjoy. Freedom in choosing their own songs, lyrics, style and format.
They are no longer at the mercy of records producers and records
companies executives. And this is wonderful too, because it gave birth
to a great number of magnificent recording artists who never had the
opportunity to see their work published and their music heard.
Fortunately to all of
us, great talents -old or new- emerge or resurface . And wonderful
gone-by-era fabulous music came back to life. Music like the cabaret
music. And this helped us to reach first class singers and become
aware of their work. Many of those self produced works became THE
ESSENTIALS. And this is what briefly, we will be talking about
herewith. There are essentials in all genres and styles of music,
exactly like it is the case in motion pictures and world literature.
And the ESSENTIALS are those CDs or recordings which are looked upon
as major, important and most significant for the genre per se. Cabaret
is my forte. Cabaret music is my favorite topic. And I will writing
about it, and about the best cabaret CDs of recent years; CDs of
American Cabaret singers and songwriters. Unquestionably, the greatest
non Parisian, non ethnically French Cabaret singer in the world and
outside France is RAQUEL BITTON who currently liv......Read
the full article
Launch
of debut album, SECRET* .
THE ALYSON GREEN QUARTET
TUESDAY 11 OCTOBER
@
606
CLUB .90
Lots Road, Chelsea London SW10 OQD
www.606club.co.uk.
Doors open 7.30pm –
performances between 8pm and 10.30pm.
Music
charge £7 Table reservations/bookings Tel: 0207 352 5953
jazz@606club.co.uk.
Alyson Green...
 STACY
ROBIN ON HER WAY TO THE TOP. IT COULD HAPPEN!
"SOME KIND OF
BIRD". RATING: 4 STARS OUT OF FIVE.
From
within her new CD "SOME KIND OF BIRD", Stacy Robin emerged as a
world-class singer/songwriter, lyricist. Once upon a time, the
substance and warmth of lyrics, the rich and uplifting musical
arrangement, the choice of musical instruments, the delicate...
RIGHT ONTO THE
TRACK by DOUG GOCHMAN.
The irresistible talent of Doug Gochman
makes you wonder whether LUCK has anything to do with fame and
success. And the answer is you bet!...
Bono
the utlimate 'ubersexual' man. Stand
aside oily womanizers and clueless wimps and make way for the
passionate ubersexual man of the future. An ubersexual? "Ubersexuals
are the most attractive (not just physically), most dynamic, and
most compelling men of their generations," says New York advertising
executive Marian Salzman, who invented the word. "They are
confident, masculine, stylish, and committed to uncompromising
quality in all areas of life." And who is ubersexual numero uno? U2
front man Bono, says Salzman because "he's global, socially aware,
confident, and compassionate...
Welcome
to his revitalized nightmare.
There are, generally, two types of show
biz folk. There are the rock stars who take their craft terribly
seriously and disdain the mundane parts, such as answering the same
interview questions over and over again. And then there are the rock
stars who are simply grateful to be a rock star, and are too
gracious to outwardly tire of the duties, no matter how tiresome.
Alice Cooper is in the latter group, and if you didn't know, or
wanted to hear it again, he'd tell you all over again why it is that
he's forever confused with Ozzy Osbourne when it comes to biting the
heads off birds.
MUSIC: THE STARS, THE GOSSIPS AND THE NEWS
  Ashlee
Simpson redeems herself on 'SNL'. Ashlee
Simpson sang -- really, she did -- without incident on "Saturday Night
Live" in her return to the scene of last year's lip-synch fiasco. "I
wrote this song after my last 'Saturday Night Live' appearance," she
said, introducing the mournful "Catch Me When I Fall." She belted out
the song with gusto, the only boost seeming to come....
 Boy
George nabbed on narcotics charge. Boy
George was arraigned on drug charges early Saturday, nearly 24 hours
after calling the police emergency line to report what he said was a
burglary in his Manhattan apartment, authorities said. The British
singer, whose real name is George O'Dowd, claimed his home had been
burglarized around 3 a.m. Friday, said Detective Kevin Czartoryski, a
police spokesman. Officers arrived at O'Dowd's...
 Jessica
and Nick deny breakup rumours. Another day,
another divorce story about Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. Magazine
reports prompted representatives for the pop star couple to issue
statements Wednesday denying they have split -- although semantically
speaking, the statements left room for a future breakup. "Nick and
Jessica have not separated," said a statement issued on behalf of
Simpson and Lachey. "Rumours to the contrary are simply not true." In
an e-mail to The Associated Press...
Eminem publisher
chasing ring-tone loot.
Grammy-winning rapper Eminem's publishing companies have filed a
lawsuit in an effort to stop his songs from being used as cellphone
ring tones. In the suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in
Detroit, Mich.-based Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated are
seeking a court order...
 Nobody's
gonna rain on this Wolf Parade.Riders on the
storm. Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner is talking on a cellphone as drummer
Arlen Thompson drives the band's tour van through pouring rain, midway
into a 20-hour drive from Vancouver to Chicago. It's an image
befitting Wolf Parade's recently acquired status as indie rock's next
big thing. The makings of the tempest: Heirs to hometown brethren the
Arcade Fire's regal torch; unwitting beneficiaries of the media blitz
surrounding all things Montreal music; anointed by Modest Mouse
frontman Isaac Brock, who produced the band's...
_Advertisement__
A NEW AND
EXCITING SERVICE TO OUR READERS!
 The
World Jewish News Agency now offers a most unusual service to its readers!
For a token fee of $500 (Regular price $2,000), our artists will design the
perfect website for you. This fee is less than what you would pay if
you struggled to design it yourself. This is especially true if you
consider the time you would spend learning how to understand the software, and
for the tedious process of designing. What’s more, a do-it-yourself website
never looks as professional as the beautiful product you will receive from us.
We will link your site free of charge to the World
Jewish News Agency, instantly connecting you to millions of readers!
Write to us at
help@worldjewishnewsagency.org
and please provide the information you want on your
site.
And very soon –within 2 to 3 days, you will have a beautiful,
clever and professional website – an absolute necessity these days for
anyone with products or services, or a message to convey to the world.
|
MUSIC
MAIN PAGE
