Task

Task

Track Listings

1. Jet

2. Park

3. Court

4. Pool

5. Drop

6. Term

7. Pass

8. Pad

9. Task

10. Log

11. Cut

12. Tape

13. Gulf

14. Source

15. Path

16. Drift

Tracks:

Aragon
From The Same Hill
Inland Sea
Two Rapid Formations
Slow Water
Sparrowfall (I)
Sparrowfall (II)
Sparrowfall (III)
Alternative 3
Quartz
Events In Dense Fog
'There Is Nobody'
Patrolling Wire Borders
A Measured Room
Task Force
M386
Strange Light
Final Sunset

Customer Reviews:

Okay but not great.......2007-05-05

I am a big fan of Brian Eno's early abstract work. I like the way he took simple ideas and explored them until they became transformed into something completely different. For example, on "Music for Airports" he recorded women singing single notes, made tape loops of varying lengths from those recordings and let them circulate until many different combinations of notes and silences emerged. The result was beautiful and other-worldly. So, when Eno recorded an album of "soundtrack material" (for non-existant films) it seemed that he had stumbled onto a great outlet for his music. Instead, this is a collection of pieces that sound like floor sweepings from the "Another Green World" sessions. The pieces are short and often sound like passing thoughts that never developed into anything of substance. There are some nice moments on this recording, including some great bass parts and guest appearences by people like Robert Fripp but overall this is one of the weakest of Eno's early recordings.

Fabulous Eno...........2005-08-01

This isnt really an ambient recording...it was done before "ambient music"...very ethereal pieces...love it. Its a great recording if it doesnt go over your head.

Remastering errors.......2005-07-05

Does anyone have the final word on the degree to which Astralwerks (sic) have screwed up these Eno 'remasters'?

'Another Green World' has the first bars of 'Everything merges with the night' missing, 'Climate Study' is missing from 'More Music For Films, and someone below states that the intro to
'Quartz' on this album is also truncated. Are Astralwerks just a bunch of amateurs or something? Eno must be well pleased with this mess..

Difficult, undeveloped ideas........2005-06-14

A collection of 18 pieces, some intended for specific films, some evidentally not, Eno's "Music For Films" is one of his most difficult ambient records. The music contained within this disc is moody and cinematic, but its also fractured. With most the tracks less than two minutes long, ideas often do not get the chance to develop to their fullness ("Aragon", "Alternative 3").

Having stated that, there is some fanastic material on here ("From the Same Hill" with some great guitar/synth interplay, the Frippertronics piece "Slow Water", edgy and bizarre "Quartz") that makes it worth seeking out for fans of Eno. For the more curious, try "Discreet Music", "Music for Airports", or "No Pussyfooting" (Fripp & Eno) for a better introduction.

Another Mastering Screw-up.......2005-06-02

The music here rates 5 stars, but be warned: the opening sustained note at the beginning of track 10 (Quartz) starts late, cutting off about half of the note. If that's not important to you, order away.

Average customer rating:

ISSUE RESOLVED ON THE EUPHRATES
Enjoiyable, but lacking, too.

Handel: Belshazzar

Manufacturer: Archiv Produktion
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Minuets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Samson
Handel: Alexander's Feast
Handel - Joshua / Kirkby, Bowman, Oliver, Ainsley, George, The King's Consort
Handel: Solomon
Handel: Radamisto

ASIN: B0001ZWGHY
Release Date: 2004-06-15

Tracks:

Overture
Vain, Fluctuating State Of Human Empire!
Thou, God Most High, And Thou Alone
The Fate Of Babylon, I Fear, Is Nigh
Lament Not Thus, Oh Queen, In Vain!
Behold, By Persia's Hero Made
Well May They Laugh/Oh Memory! Still Bitter To My Soul
Opprest With Never-Ceasing Grief
Dry Thoes Unavailing Tears
Be Comforted: Safe Though The Tyrant Seem/Methought, As On The Bank Of Deep Euphrates
Now, Tell Me, Gobrias
Behold The Monstrous Human Beast
Can You Then Think It Strange
Great God! Who, Yet But Darkly Known
My Friends, Be Confident
All Empires Upon God Depend
Oh Sacred Oracles Of Truth!
Rejoyce, My Countrymen
Sing, Oh Ye Heav'ns!

Tracks:

Let Festal Joy Triumphant Reign!
For You, My Friends
The Leafy Honours Of The Field
It Is The Custom, I May Say, The Law
Recall, Oh King! Thy Rash Command
They Tell You True
Oh Dearer Than My Life, Forebear!
By Slow Degrees The Wrath Of God
See, From His Post Euphrates Flies!
You See, My Friends, A Path
Amaz'd To Find The Foe So Near
To Arms, To Arms! No More Delay!
Ye Tutelar Gods Of Our Empire
Let The Deep Bowl Thy Praise Confess
Where Is The God Of Judah's Boasted Pow'r?
Call All My Wise Men

Tracks:

A Singony (Allegro Postillions)
Ye Sages! Welcome Always To Your King/Alas! Too Hard A Task The King Imposes
Oh Misery! - Oh Terror! - Hopeless Grief!
Oh King, Live For Ever!
No! To Thyself Thy Trifles Be
Yet, To Obey His Dread Command
Oh Sentence To Severe!
Oh God Of Truth! Oh Faithful Guide!
You, Gobrias, Lead Directly To The Palace
Oh Glorious Prince!
Alternate Hopes And Fears
Fain Would I Hope
Can The Black Aethiop Change His Skin?
My Hopes Revive
Bel Boweth Down!
I Thank, Thee, Sesach
A Martial Symphony
To Pow'e Immortal My First Thanks
Be It Thy Care, Good Gobrias
Great Victor, At Your Feet I Bow
Say, Venerable Prophet
Tell It Out Among The Heathen
Yes, I Will Build Thy City
I Will Magnify Thee

Customer Reviews:

ISSUE RESOLVED ON THE EUPHRATES.......2005-06-19

One question I might find among the more difficult in my life would be - which is my favourite Handel oratorio? I suspect that my answer would generally be 'the one I heard most recently', and that, as I write this, is Belshazzar. It is a magnificent thing, a heavenly thing. It has taken me longer than it should have to come to an appreciation of what makes Handel the phenomenon - as a genius, as an artist, as a craftsman - that he is, but I am comforted to reflect that no less a genius than Haydn, at the age of nearly 70 gaining a more thorough knowledge of Handel in performance, was driven to say that he felt a mere apprentice. In his sense of how to pace a dramatic narrative, in his instinct for how to use the human voice in song and above all in chorus, in the matchless flexibility and adroitness he displays at word-setting and in the audacity of his melodic and harmonic effects I can think of nobody who can approach Handel on his own terms.

Belshazzar was not a great success at the box-office, although this may have had more to do with difficulties in the casting than because it was deemed insufficiently biblical for oratorio, which seems to have been the fate of Hercules. It seems to me to be perfectly well described as oratorio in other ways too, with (for one thing) the extensive use of the chorus that we find in, say, Samson but not in Hercules. The one passage that cries out for visual effects is of course the apparition of the moving finger itself. Even here the composer can go a long way with sheer power of suggestion, by the strange unaccompanied violin figure creeping upwards and the frightened brevity of the vocal numbers. Otherwise for me Belshazzar is as much an oratorio as Samson is. It has the same librettist too, the crusty and formidable Jennens, who had also collaborated with Handel on Saul and on Messiah itself. Jennens' full text is not provided, but I think if you read the synopsis first and then follow the work from the headlines to each number you will have no difficulty in catching the words, so clear is the enunciation by soloists and chorus alike. As usual, Handel was driven to make alterations to the score for practical reasons. He had been a little concerned about its length, roughly 2 hours and 50 minutes in this performance, but where he wishes to be expansive he gives us full measure - two arias in Act I scene 4 take well over 7 minutes each. The liner-essay (a good one, by Anthony Hicks) goes into the issue of the version of the score used here, and I personally have no problem with it.

I have no faults to find with the performance in any way. Pinnock is an established specialist, the instruments are period instruments and vocal cadenzas at the end of the arias are kept minimal. Anthony Rolfe Johnson, James Bowman and David Wilson-Johnson are tried and trusted Handel singers and at their best here, and Nicolas Robertson and Richard Wistreich in the smaller parts are every bit as good. The part of Cyrus is a soprano part, taken by Catherine Robbin, and when I thought I heard just one touch of strain in `Destructive War' in the final scene she makes up for it instantly in her superb duet with Arleen Auger in the following number. Auger as Nitocris the mother of Belshazzar has the biggest part, and she covers herself with glory all the way through.

The recording is perfect, and when I saw an aria entitled `Destructive War, thy limits know' near the end I felt a sharp sense of irony in the year 2005. Cyrus, Handel, Jennens, you should all have been living at this hour.

Enjoiyable, but lacking, too........2004-08-16

This 3CD set of George Frederic Handel's (1685-1759) "Belshazzar", from Archiv Production, a division of Universal Music, is proof again that transfer from vinyl to tape to disc brings with it improvements in listening that make the purchase a worthwhile addition to anyone's listening library. Written in 1744, "Belshazzar" is an oratorio in the operatic style that is wonderful oratorio, but lacking the true depth one expects to hear in an opera. London opera audiences of Handel's day agreed, as both "Belshazzar" and Handel's other offering of the period in the same style, "Hercules", were not terribly successful. Instead of the scheduled 24 performances only 16 were given and Handel never offered a full season of oratorio again. The Libretto by Charles Jennens (1700-1773) is, as the production notes say, meant "not only to show the fall of Babylon but to show it as a fulfillment of divine prediction and to confirm the biblical testimony by reference to classical history." There's only one problem, as good a quality as the CDs are, it is not possible to follow the full libretto and the accompanying booklet includes no text, which is a shame. I think the listening experience would have been increased immeasurably if one was able to follow the text of what is being sung. Nonetheless the dramatic narrative is fluid and even, and the English Concert and Choir provide nice balance to the less full vocal passages, as in Disc 3s "Oh Glorious prince", cut 10. There is enough of this throughout to keep one's interest, but disappointing if what one expects is another ""Messiah".

Cliffhangers! Music From The Classic Republic Serials

Average customer rating:

cliffhangers!music from the classic republic serials
This collection far exceeded my expectations.
Excellent, thrilling, action-packed, chilling

Cliffhangers! Music From The Classic Republic Serials

Manufacturer: Varese Sarabande
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

1990s | By Decade | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Shoot 'Em Ups! Music From The Classic Republic Westerns (Film Score Anthology)
Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection (Doctor X / The Return of Doctor X / Mad Love / The Devil Doll / Mark of the Vampire / The Mask of Fu Manchu)

ASIN: B0000014XI
Release Date: 1996-03-12

Tracks:

Perils Of Nyoka: Young Emblem-Republic Logo
Perils Of Nyoka: Arabian Intrigue
Perils Of Nyoka: Desert Intrigue
Adventures Of Captain Mavel: Tal Chotali
Dick Tracy's G-Men: Satanic Fury
Zorro's Fighting Legion: Sub Surface Action
Zorro's Fighting Legion: Sword Play
The Fighting Devil Dogs: Dale Kidnapped
The Fighting Devil Dogs: Storm And Falling Trees
The Fighting Devil Dogs: In Deep Despair
The Fighting Devil Dogs: Devil Dogs Hurry In D Minor
King Of The Royal Mounted: Main Titled/Chapter Card/Technical Credits
King Of The Royal Mounted: Maple Leaf Forever
King Of The Royal Mounted: Mounties Get Their Man
King Of The Royal Mounted: Doc's Explination (Chase & Snow Avalanche)
King Of The Royal Mounted: Mounted Fury
King Of The Royal Mounted: Renegade Trail
King Of The Royal Mounted: After The Man
King Of The Royal Mounted: Linda
King Of The Royal Mounted: Get Your Man
Daredevils Of The Red Cicle: Main Title
Daredevils Of The Red Cicle: On The Run
Mysterious Dr. Satan: Car Transfer
Hawk Of The Wilderness: Miller's Folly
Drums Of Fu Manchu: Perilous Task
Adventures Of Red Rider: Main Title
Adventures Of Red Rider: Adventures Of Red Rider Chapter Card
Adventures Of Red Rider: Malicious Purpose
Adventures Of Red Rider: Little Beaver
Adventures Of Red Rider: Horse Chase
Adventures Of Red Rider: Ace Hanlon
Adventures Of Red Rider: Little Beaver (Part 2)
Adventures Of Red Rider: Oh, Susanna Chase
Adventures Of Red Rider: At The Brink
Adventures Of Red Rider: Adventures Of Red Ryder Tech Credits

Customer Reviews:

cliffhangers!music from the classic republic serials.......2002-03-20

Great album!
I just sat back,closed my eyes,and relived great memories of these great serials that I saw as a kid.The music is so accurate
that it could have been lifted from the films instead of re-creations.I reccomend it highly!

This collection far exceeded my expectations........1999-10-18

I've been a huge fan of Republic Pictures serials for many years and was thrilled to discover this collection. James King and the CinemaSound Orchestra have captured the pulse pounding tempo of those classic Republic Serials perfectly!!! The music brought back fond memories of watching Commando Cody (The Rocket-Man), the Masked Marvel and all the rest. If you are a Republic Serial fan or just love great motion picture music, this CD is a must have for your collection.

Excellent, thrilling, action-packed, chilling.......1999-04-11

As loyal, dedicated fans of Republic Serials, we found this soundtrack to be one of a kind. When you listen to this, you will return to those thrilling days of yesteryear at the Saturday matinee, when our heros were threatened by Zardoz, the Crimson Ghost, Dr. Satan and 39013, and couldn't wait for Dick Tracy to arrive on the scene.

Average customer rating:

it could have been so much more...
One Interesting Song, One Excellent Song , Fourteen Bad Songs
WORTHY, IN SPITE OF ITS SHORTCOMINGS . . . . .

A Family Affair

Manufacturer: Drg
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
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Baker Street, A Musical Adventure of Sherlock Holmes (1965 Original Broadway Cast)
The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Original Broadway Cast)
Grey Gardens - A New Musical (2006 Original Broadway Cast)
Second Act Trouble: Behind the Scenes at Broadway's Big Musical Bombs
Two's Company

ASIN: B000AXWHA8
Release Date: 2005-10-18

Tracks:

Overture
Anything For You
Beautiful
My Son The Lawyer
Every Wants To Get Married
Right Girls
Kalua Bay
There's A Room In My House
Football Game
Harmony
Now Morris
Wonderful Party
Revenge
Summer Over
What I Say Goes
I'm Worse Than Anybody

Customer Reviews:

it could have been so much more..........2006-12-07

While the songwriting team of John Kander and Fred Ebb gave us some of the all-time great theatre scores ("Cabaret", "Chicago", "Kiss of the Spider Woman"); they also wrote some middling failures like "Flora the Red Menace", "The Happy Time" and A FAMILY AFFAIR.

A FAMILY AFFAIR (featuring a book by James Goldman) starred Eileen Heckart and Shelley Berman, two performers with little experience in musicals. It's certainly a novelty hearing acclaimed actress Eileen Heckart croaking her way through "My Son the Lawyer" and "Summer is Over". Stand-up comedian Berman reveals a reasonable tenor voice in his numbers.

Filling out the supporting roles are tried-and-true musical theatre veterans Rita Gardner ("The Fantasticks"), Cathryn Damon (who'd later get a bigger role in the duo's "Flora the Red Menace"), Bibi Osterwald (later Carol Channing's original standby in "Hello Dolly") and Larry Kert (the original Tony in "West Side Story").

While the score isn't the best ever written by the team, songs like "Right Girls", "Wonderful Party", "Anything For You", "What I Say Goes", and "Now Morris" are quite enjoyable. "Summer is Over" is a quiet little 11 o'clock number for Heckart's character of Tilly Siegel. By all accounts, the show wasn't much to write home about, and it shuttered after 65 performances.

The sound quality on this 1962 cast album is average, with hiss and flutter evident throughout the recording. Because this was one of the first (and last) cast albums preserved on 35mm magnetic film stock, the stereo fidelity of the recording has badly-deteriorated over the years, creating a harsh sonic tone on this CD premiere (refer to Mark Andrew Lawrence's review).

Nevertheless, die-hard collectors will want this title, and we should thank DRG for bringing it back into the catalogue. [DRG 19068]

One Interesting Song, One Excellent Song , Fourteen Bad Songs.......2006-08-11

John Kander is a great composer. However, before he met up with the equally great lyricist, Fred Ebb, he composed this trite, forgettable score. It isn't entirely Mr. Kander's fault that the score is bad. No, his melodies are sometimes lovely, sometimes exiting and show promise. That doesn't mean their especially memorable though. However, the lyrics really are insipid and awkward in this show. William and James Goldman (the latter to write the book to Sondheim's brilliant Follies) are not great lyricists unfourtunately.
However, there are two songs on this album that make it worth purchasing. The first is an odd little song called "My Son the Lawyer" which is quite inventive. However, the greatest song of the score is "Harmony", a very tuneful, musically inventive song. Even the lyrics aren't too bad here.
So if you like buying albums for a few songs, go ahead. However, if you're looking for an overall excellent piece, this is not for you.

WORTHY, IN SPITE OF ITS SHORTCOMINGS . . . . . .......2005-10-28

Don't let the 3-star rating discourage you from buying this album. If you're a serious student of the American Musical Theatre and/or a collector of Broadway musicals, this is a must, in spite of my low rating.

No plot summary appears in the liner notes, so I dug out my old LP only to discover none exists there either. Therefore, the following synopsis is courtesy Music Theatre International, the show's publisher:

"Gerry Siegal and Sally Nathan, a young suburban Chicago couple, decide to get married... thereby setting off a marital World Ward III! Between Sally's Uncle/Mother/Father Alfie Nathan and Gerry's extensive extended family, the couple's wedding arrangements could prove more difficult than anything their marriage might ever present. It's the biggest family feud since the Montagues and Capulets, as caterers, dressmakers, rabbis, florists, photographers and a domineering wedding planner are put through the proverbial wringer in the looniest wedding this side of `Father of the Bride!'

"An early work by John Kander (`Cabaret,' `Chicago'), James Goldman (`Follies,' `A Lion In Winter') and William Goldman (`Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid,' `The Princess Bride'), `A Family Affair' is a neurotic, tuneful, wickedly funny and universally appealing picture of what really goes into the smiling wedding portrait in the family album."

With music by John Kander, book by James Goldman, lyrics by William Goldman, a stellar cast (stand-up comedian Shelley Berman, Academy Award winner Eileen Heckart, Larry Kert, Rita Gardner, Broadway veterans Morris Carnovsky and Bibi Osterwald), and direction by Harold Prince, why did it last for only 65 performances?

Well, for one thing, the music isn't very original, and definitely not the caliber of Kander's later shows with Fred Ebb, especially their score for KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN. It seems that, this being Kander's first show, he is relying too much on formula: the lover's optimistic duet ("Anything for You"), contrapuntal ensemble piece ("My Son the Lawyer"), a march ("Right Girls"), a fight song ("Football Game"), prerequisite waltz ("Now Morris"), the look-back-and-reflect-on-my-wasted-life soliloquy ("Summer Is Over"). Other songs are derivative. Compare "Harmony" with "Quarrel-tet" from WHOOP-UP (1958), and Alfie's show-stopping, "Bolero"-inspired "Revenge" would not have been out of place in JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS. Was it necessary to include the embarrassing telephone schtick, al la "Inside Shelley Berman," near the end of "Revenge"? What motivates Gerry's suddenly cruel, ultra-macho (though well-sung) "What I Say Goes"?

HOWEVER, the incredible cast triumphs over less-than-stellar material. Shelley Berman is a surprisingly good singer; Morris Carnovsky is brilliant in his final Broadway show, a career that began in 1922; Rita Gardner is wonderful, even if she isn't given as much to sing as in THE FANTASTICKS or CELBRATION; Larry Kert is in better voice even than in WEST SIDE STORY; and I can never get enough of Eileen Heckart. Having her "Tillie Siegal" preserved on CD is reason enough for this reissue. Thank you, DRG.

The show boasts many "firsts" in the history of Broadway. It was the first musical score for John Kander, Harold Prince's first directorial effort (a producer of many hit musicals in the 50s and 60s, Prince would later direct CABARET, FOLLIES, SWEENEY TODD, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, EVITA, and COMPANY, among others), Eileen Heckart's first musical role, Linda Lavin's Broadway debut, James Goldman's first musical book, brother William Goldman's only set of Broadway lyrics, and the first original cast album to be recorded on 35mm magnetic film.

"Through this method of recording a signal to noise ration and reduction of hiss has been achieved that was never before possible. Practically all flutter has been eliminated resulting in the most lifelike tone quality ever achieved. This is, in fact, the most perfect method of reproducing actual music and vocal sound possible." (- from the original LP jacket) Well, something must have happened to the original masters, because the CD has sonic problems, especially in regards to Miss Gardner's voice. Her voice is distorted most of the time, horribly so on "Anything for You." I'm sure DRG would have solved the problem had it been possible to do so.

All in all, I urge you to add A FAMILY AFFAIR, with all its faults, to your collection. After listening to it, I dare you to avoid humming "I'm Worse Than Anybody," the show's final song. Do you know of any other song lyric that includes "schlemiel"?

(...)

Average customer rating:

In the Mood
Corey Smith
Manufacturer: Razor & Tie
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Acoustic Blues | Blues | Styles | Music
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The Good Life
Undertones

ASIN: B000CA2W7W
Release Date: 2005-11-08

Tracks:

Its Over
Something to Lose
First Dance
In the Mood
Drinkin' Again
Skin of My Teeth
Dahlonega
One Day at a Time
Wreckage
Every Dawg

Average customer rating:

PRETTYBELLE-NOT YOUR AVERAGE SOUTHERN BELLE
Mixed Emotions
Ahead Of Its Time?
unsung styne
a forgotten score brought back into the light

Prettybelle (1974 Original Cast)
Bob Merrill
Manufacturer: Varese Sarabande
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
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The Grass Harp (1971 Original Broadway Cast)

ASIN: B0000014TN
Release Date: 1993-08-17

Tracks:

Overture - Orchestra
Prettybelle - Michael Jason
Manic Depressives - Angela Lansbury
You Ain't Hurtin' Your Ole Lady None - Mark Dawson And Men
You Never Looked Better - Angela Lansbury And Men
To A Small Degree - Angela Lansbury
Back From The Great Beyond - Mark Dawson/Angela Lansbury And Ensemble
How Could I Know - Angela Lansbury
I Never Did Imagine - Angela Lansbury/Bert Michaels
A. In The Japanese Gardens/B. Individual Thing - Angela Lansbury/Peter Lombard
I Met A Man - Angela Lansbury
God's Garden - Michael Jason/Peter Lombard And Ensemble
The No-Tell Motel - Angela Lansbury And Men
I'm In A Tree - Angela Lansbury
When I'm Drunk I'm Beautiful - Angela Lansbury
Prettybelle (Reprise) - Michael Jason/Angela Lansbury

Customer Reviews:

PRETTYBELLE-NOT YOUR AVERAGE SOUTHERN BELLE.......2005-06-21

I SAW PRETTYBELLE IN BOSTON IN 1971 AND IT WAS A DOOZY. THE SHOW WAS BOLD, HARSH, CRUEL, HIGHLY ORIGINAL AND RAUNCHY. BUT THE MAIN REASON THE SHOW NEVER MADE IT TO NEW YORK WAS, THEY COULDN'T KEEP AN AUDIENCE THE ENTIRE SHOW. AFTER INTERMISSION WHAT WAS ONCE A FULL HOUSE WAS REDUCED TO SCATTERED PATRONS HERE AND THERE. THIS RECORDING SHOWS THE HIGH POINTS OF THE SCORE BUT IN KEEPING WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE SHOW THE RAUNCHY SONGS WORK BEST. ONE NUMBER ON THE CD, GODS'GARDEN SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN ADDED ON A WHIM SINCE BOTH MUSICALLY AND LYRICALLY IT HAS NO CONNECTION TO THE SHOW. ANGELA LANSBURYS' 11 O'CLOCK NUMBER "WHEN I'M DRUNK" WAS A POWERHOUSE AND WHEN SHE JOINS THE FOLKSINGER ON THE REPRISE OF "PRETTYBELLE" IT BRINGS A LUMP TO THE THROAT BUT THE LUMP COMES WHEN THE ACTING AND SINGING AT THIS FINALE IS SEEN ON THE STAGE. I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS SHOW -IT WAS BRAVE -IT WAS DIFFERENT -BUT A HARD-SELL AND IF THE GUTLESS PRODUCER HAD OPENED THE SHOW ON BROADWAY EVEN IF ONLY FOR ONE PERFORMANCE THE SHOW WOULD HAVE GAINED CULT STATUS. THIS CD IS HIGHLY RECCOMENDED-JUST DON'T PLAY IT IF GRANDMA'S IN THE ROOM-OH HELL, GRANDMA MIGHT EVEN LIKE IT.

Mixed Emotions.......2004-09-30

To start my review, I must say that the idea for this show was terrible. It does not exactly scream MUSICAL at first glance. The book is needlessly complicated, and was just a bad idea.

As for the score, it is interesting, and shows that the authors really believed in this show. The score starts off with a country western waltz type overture. Then Lansbury sings "Manic Depressives". It is a tad bit bizarre, but Angela sells it with her sing-songy voice. The music for the score is a very strong one from Styne, but the lyrics are a different story. They are tasteless and raunchy, but Merill did write tenderly for songs like "To a Small Degree", and "I Met A Man". Of course, tasteless and raunchy fit the idea of the show perfectly.

Angela Lansbury does wonders with what she is given, and the supporting cast is top notch. Also, they included the song, "You never looked better in your Life", which is one of the scores better songs, but was cut from show. Overall, if you are offended easily, keep away. Also if you want the signature Styne tunes, these have more of a country flavor. So, it is not really worth a hunt unless you are a Syne completist or a Big Angela Lansbury fan.

Ahead Of Its Time?.......2004-03-26

Or just a mistake? Since this closed out of town, no one will ever know. This musical had something to offend everyone. (Why on earth did they try it out in Boston???) The musical had many heavyweights involved (Styne and Merrill of Funny Girl fame and Gower Champion directing/choreographing) and of course, Angela Lansbury, but they couldnt make it work. Its commendable that the score was finally recorded, but what's on here isnt memorable and there are no stand out tunes. When I'm Drunk is the big eleven o'clock number and Lansbury gives it her all, but the song by itself isnt in the same league with other Styne tunes. There are a few catchy group numbers, and that's about it. Merrills lyrics are rather crude and tasteless at times, but its hard to see how anyone could've brought this off. Would be interesting to see some theater group try to revive this. Lansbury, as always, is excellent. Worth buying for her fans and theater collectors, but not something you'd play very often...

unsung styne.......2003-04-02

this is the only record we have of Angela Lansbury's performance in Prettybelle, a performance which would have given her a fifth tony award had it ever come to broadway. It is wonderful to hear Miss Lansbury do a role that is not the "normal" leading lady- she is probably the only living actress who could achieve this. Miss Lansbury is in great voice and Styne's music has a 70's feel, but is rooted in golden age broadway sound. a must have for any musical lover.

a forgotten score brought back into the light.......2002-12-12

PRETTYBELLE was written a good 20 years before THE PRODUCERS and URINETOWN pushed the boundaries of the Broadway musical. The story is about a drunken Southern woman with a multiple-personality disorder who, when her law-enforcing husband dies, discovers that he made his living murdereing and terrorizing blacks and Mexicans in their small Southern community. She decides to 'give herself' to the communities that her husband wronged, and in turn comes under the hatred of her small-minded neighbors.

But the gorgeous Southern-fried score by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill (their first since FUNNY GIRL) is now, in hindsight, one of their best collaborations. Angela Lansbury (as the title character, Prettybelle Sweet), sings a clutch of wonderfully off-kilter songs like "Manic Depressives", the sobering "To a Small Degree", the charming corn of "In the Japanese Gardens" and the unashamedly pro-alcoholic "When I'm Drunk I'm Beautiful".

This musical never made it past its month-long try-out tenure in Boston thanks to scathing reviews about its unfavorable depiction of Southeners. Angela Lansbury, as always, gave her all in the leading role, and was angered and upset that this show was not given the fanfare that it deserved.

In 1982, Varese Sarabande recruited Angela Lansbury as well as the bulk of the original cast, and recorded this re-creation of the original production. This recording preserves this musical, definately ahead-of-its-time, and is well worth another look.

Tracks:

Aragon
From The Same Hill
Inland Sea
Two Rapid Formations
Slow Water
Sparrowfall (1)
Sparrowfall (2)
Sparrowfall (3)
Alternative 3
Quartz
Events In Dense Fog
There Is Nobody
Patrolling Wire Borders
A Measured Room
Task Force
M386
Strange Light
Final Sunset

Customer Reviews:

Haikus for Eno.......2005-12-08

Haikus for Eno

1. Aragon

Climbing the far hill
Away from the city's noise
Faithful Orion

2. From the Same Hill

I am a friend who
Never calls who just stays home
Dreaming of mountains

3. Inland Sea

My soul follows the
Current of the river north
North that has no end

4. Two Rapid Formations

Day in and day out
The colors of the day smile
At me and I frown

5. Slow Water

Someone takes my hand
The edge of happiness feels
Just like tomorrow

6. Sparrowfall (1)

The night is warm while
My neighbor builds his house of
Moonlight spider silk

7. Sparrowfall (2)

The neighborhood wakes
And the colors of the day
Knock on every door

8. Sparrowfall (3)

The couple upstairs
Passionate and untiring
The windows open

9. Alternative 3

The desert sky is
Icy and clear demanding
A response from me

10. Quartz

Fog moves in offshore
And enters my mind as sound
There's no place to hide

11. Events in Dense Fog

Morning is here as
Sadness comes to the city
And dreamers still sleep

12. 'There Is Nobody'

Astronomers peer
Nomads smile and beauty
Waits for all of us

13. Patrolling Wire Borders

I consider those
Whose only blanket is a
Sidewalk in winter

14. Measured Room

Love is all around
It's just across that street where
Everybody lives

15. Task Force

My only window
Faces west and needs washing
This explains a lot

16. M386

The Pleiades hang
And sparkle, memories fall
Bright and hard and cold

17. Strange Light

My heart has put up
A sign - "For Sale by Owner"
It's move-in ready!

18. Final Sunset

Where the light is warm
And soft, where the freezing nights
Never end-but where?

After "Music For Airports" this was a letdown.......2004-09-02

My First 2 Eno albums were "Plateux Of Mirror 2 (Harold Budd)" and "Music For Airports". Both of which have become soundtracks of my life. Actually one of my favorite songs is "Not Yet Remembered". It has been with me through so much, and I still listen to it and get a whole range of emotions. I even purchased Harold Budd albums as a spinoff from this album.
I actually heard "Music For Airports" as background music in the movie "Nine and 1/2 Weeks", looked it up in the film credits, and ran out to buy that album, which I also love and still listen to. I decided to explore more of Brian Eno, as I desired new songs and new experiences. So, my 3rd Eno album is "Music For Films". I am not at all impressed , yet. I realize it was recorded in 1978, but some of the songs sound so cheap, like a casio tone keyboard. Or remind me of music from the "Dawn Of The Dead" film. The spacy noises sound too seventies. All I am saying is that it sounds dated. I am sure it will grow on me, and perhaps this review is premature, but I don't see this album being a "staple" in my life as the other 2 have been. This album isn't so much musical, I wouldn't even call the tracks "songs",it can be described more as "sound effects".
Yet, I am not giving up, I am going to buy buy more Eno albums. I am sure there is another gem out there.

Soft, Soothing and a great instrumental artistry.......2004-04-01

I really enjoyed listening to all of this entire album,this was my second "Brian Eno" purchase, the other being "Ambient 1/Music for Airports" which I bought a few years ago.
I'VE BEEN A FAN OF Brian Eno's ever since I listened to both Bowie's"Low and Heroes" album and watching the documentary film of the making of U2'S "Unforgetable Fire" album 1984.
I think this album is a continuation of his work from "Roxy Music" in the 1970's and from his album "Another Green World" in 1974.
I feel that the reviewer who described this recording that "Brian presents 18 portholes into 18 different worlds that range from ethereal to downright eerie" was extreamly accurate and best suited to this ambient music.
I wasn't fustrated as some people were with the length of the tracks, he did follow through with what he intended to do with his music and I was fulfilled with listening to this disc, I didn't feel like I wanted more,It was very satisfying.
The Liner notes says these tracks are fragments, which is a good description for the tracks since they only clock in at a average of 2 minutes a piece.
Wonder, bliss, melancholy and obliqueness, low-key and sad are words that hits it right on the mark.Thank-you Brian for this interesting and challenging work.

18 Technicolor Worlds.......2003-12-13

'Music For Films' was my first Brian Eno purchase. It was a good choice, because it prompted me to check out many of his other works as well.

The best description of the album I could give is that Brian presents 18 portholes into 18 different worlds that range from ethereal to downright eerie. It's perfect for late light listening in the dark with headphones.

Recommended for any Brian Eno fan, or anyone who enjoyed the instrumental tracks on David Bowie's 'Low' and 'Heroes.'

Eno's Dramatic Ambience.......2003-03-06

Upon closely examaning this album one might be perplexed by 18 seperate ambient pieces that rarely reach the 3 minute mark. But the originator of this genre can and does pull it off very nicely with MUSIC FOR FILMS.

True it does seem that many of the pieces are just starting to flow into a groove but instead simply end. Most notable for me is M386, which features an excellent bass riff, that sounds similar to Lalo Schiffrin's Dirty Harry soundtrack.

SLOW WATER is also a favorite of mine that I wish would have been lengthened because of its light phased airyness, it does sound like slow moving liquid.

Somehow this minor inconveinence can be easily overlooked simply because most of the pieces contain similar instrumentation, and overall atmosphere. Once you have listened to the running order of the pieces you become more familar with how and when the tempos and instrumentation changes.

MUSIC FOR FILMS is a nice compliment to MUSIC FOR AIRPORTS and serves as a more ambient pop music length, if there is such a thing. This is a great alternative when you have become tired of the lengthy repetition of the latter but still want to hear the same sort of music.

The book entitled THIS AMBIENT CENTURY, which chronicles ambient music from turn of the century Classical all the way up to the present has a good couple paragraphs about this album, which involves a Pennsylvannia steel mill and LSD. If nothing else it gives a great perspective on this album that is mostly passed over by Ambient fans.

Tracks:

Gro Hoffnung (Dialog)
Opening Theme
Eine Ganz Besondere Sache (Dialog)
Living Home
Inside the Locker
Kein Mitleid (Dialog)
Castle
Training
Heldentog (Dialog)
Albrecht
Too Weak
Ein Gros Abenteuer (Dialog)
Two Brothers
No Pity
ReiDich Zusammen (Dialog)
Death Forest
Flight
Die Winterliche Landschaft (Dialog)
Back to the Castle
I Am Afraid
Privilegiert (Dialog)
Task
Confrontation
Ich Konntw Nicht Anders (Dialog)
Lake Scene
Death of Albrecht
Last Match
Last Scene

Customer Reviews:

The magic of Herr Corbeil..........2005-10-15

Yet, again... another great masterpiece by Mr.Normand Corbeil (Hitler:The Rise of Evil,The Statement,Pentagon Papers). He's a talented composer!I was introduced to him through the mini-series of Hitler: The Rise of Evil by CBS which, by the way,have captivating scores especially 'Geli's Theme','Helena's Theme' and another one which i cant remember. Too bad it does not come in CDs.
I have not heard of the other composers, but from the result that they achieved for the scores of NAPOLA, I can say it is a work of art! The scores are so beautiful that you will immediately escape into another world! The Opening theme is wonderful!
I have not heard of other tracks besides the one that they play at the official website, but seeing Mr.Corbeil's name as the composer and heard two to three songs from the album, it is justified enough that this is one album that is truly captivating!

Average customer rating:

Can't believe it's on amazon!

Cartoonland
Juxtapose
Manufacturer: Senseless Sketchbook Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005RW9A
Release Date: 2001-10-09

Tracks:

Man's Crisis of Identity in the Early Years of the Twenty First Century
21st Century
Wind of Change
Morning in Reality
Sinless Conception
Car Insulation
Surf Goblins
Graffiti
Opus 24
Photogenic Aliens
Livin' in the Darkworld
Cartoonland
15 Seconds to be Named
Conversation at Jupiter

Customer Reviews:

Can't believe it's on amazon!.......2003-11-24

A Gotta Get CD. This band produces a "one of kind, very unique sound". To Bad that their other CD isn't on sale. If you like the first Cd, you gotta have the rest.