Way of the Stone [Import]

way of the stone [import]

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Product Description
Features Personnel from Zero 7, Dandy Warhols, Primal Scream and Dexy's Midnight Runners as Well as Mick Talbot.

Way of the Stone,Andy Onyx,Villiage Green,Rock

Way of the Stone [Import]

Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (1966 Original Off-Broadway Cast)

Average customer rating:

Jaques Brel still lives
Fabulous Show
Jacques Brel lives on through English Translation of his songs
A Little Night Music....
Fine Singer / Actors Do Brel Justice

Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (1966 Original Off-Broadway Cast)
Jacques Brel , Ocr , Elly Stone , and Mort Shuman
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
The Fantasticks (Original 1960 Off-Off Broadway Cast)

ASIN: B000067AS5
Release Date: 2002-05-28

Tracks:

Marathon
Alone
Madeleine
I Loved
Mathilde
Bachelor's Dance
Timid Frieda
My Death
Jackie
Desperate Ones
Sons Of.
Amsterdam
The Bulls
Old Folks
Marieke
Brussels
Fanette
Funeral Tango
The Middle Class
You're Not Alone
Next
Carousel
If We Only Have Love

Amazon.com

At the time of this show's 1968 Greenwich Village debut, French singer-songwriter Jacques Brel's body of theatrically insightful ballads was already an obscure but deeply influential treasure trove for many American musicians. The revue's success would go on to influence artists as diverse as Leonard Cohen, Bowie (who covered "Amsterdam" shortly thereafter), and Sinatra, and it may even be responsible for one-hit wonder Terry Jacks's revival of "Seasons in the Sun".

More important, the pioneering musical-without-a-book helped introduce Brel's oft-brooding, ever evocative art to a wider American audience--and arguably had an evolutionary influence on Broadway itself. This complete reissue of the 1968 boxed set cast album offers up a rich cross-section of Brel's songs about life, death, and love--and typically sharp-eyed observations about the human follies that season them--deftly performed by a cast that includes Elly Stone, Alice Whitfield, Shawn Elliott, and, crucially, rock pioneer, Brel associate, and co-producer Mort Shuman. This new edition fleshes out the set with the sessions' only unreleased song, a sprightly take on the deliciously cynical "The Middle Class." --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

Jaques Brel still lives.......2007-04-02

The CD of the original cast is still fresh and still gives Brel's music the most fitting rendition

Fabulous Show.......2007-02-22

This compilation of Brel's songs remains one of my favorite musicals. I would recommend it to everyone!

Jacques Brel lives on through English Translation of his songs.......2007-02-12

Although I've never heard but one Jacques Brel song in French (song by he, himself on the DVD - which is a MUST BUY), I heard this "album" shortly after it came out, in the early 70's. My dad got me turned on to this music and it's stayed with me all these 40+ years. This is very special music to me and I'm thrilled to have both the CD and the DVD.

A Little Night Music...........2007-01-23

I can't explain why I might review this...it's been a long while since listening. Yet it was a show that was transformative obviously not just for me. I'm thinking Bowie and other thoughts that way...and it shaped my hopes and dreams and now, older and not so well, I listened to this tonight at 2AM, not sleeping again, recalling how I heard it then, how I hear it now.
I had a good friend who was in the show for one summer, maybe 79 or 80. Just a sad staging in a little town in Appalachia trying on some Paris. We had a dinner theater in our town, which meant an old building , some tables, small area and a stage kind of and some curtains. Rather ambitious for the town, they staged summer shows of Brel. And other things too, finally. My girlfriend as she often did hooked me into her evenings and I made drinks there as well as gave a few musical efforts and some easily forgotten attempts at choral support. On nights someone didn't show. You actually also made the food and sang the show, in those days for your audience, who tended to tip fairly poorly and be the local lawyers and med school doctors dragged out by wives seeking a cultural night of dinner theater. It was a kind of starving kids for ten bucks sing, act, cook, serve vodka/tonics, smoke and tell you the story of Boheme life while mixing blue cheese from packets of powder and creme in a frenzy preparing to figure out who plays the piano well enough as the player won't being pissed over low wages and a remark made about his big derrière. That kind of a summer. Songs probably wasted on the young.

All that said, it was/is a lovely collection of songs. Even better an experience when you learn and sing the French and can then argue incessantly about the translations and "feel" of the shows on two continents. I loved then to sing them, and find a tune floating in my head tonight from no where-just there- when "No. Love You're Not Alone" actually woke me. The American film was awful, the show best seen in revival and smoky nights in clubs. Then, in 1980 or so, it made my life richer, it's probably a good thing Susanna was such a friend...though I didn't understand, we dragged ourselves to a lot of meaning.And that rather odious experience in the Bahamas.

I think this worthy of time and listening. And a big moon would be cool, to walk on the shore and hear it once more. Think I'll slip out awhile.

Fine Singer / Actors Do Brel Justice.......2007-01-15

In 1966, an American producer named Nat Shapiro introduced Eric Blau to Mort Shuman. Five years earlier, Mr. Shapiro had introduced Mr. Blau and his wife, Elly Stone, to the songs of Jacques Brel. After hearing a recording of one of Brel's concerts, Elly Stone informed her husband that Brel was the greatest songwriter of the 20th century, and she induced him to be the very first to translate Brel into English. Shortly thereafter, Elly Stone premiered Brel's love song, Ne me quitte pas (Don't Leave Me) to American audiences in the off-Broadway revue, O Oysters, along with the first English Brel translation, Carousel, showcasing Brel's melody for La valse a mille temps (The Waltz A Thousand Times As Fast) and loosely translated lyrics.

Unbeknownst to them, about the same time Elly Stone heard her first Brel recording, Mort Shuman was undergoing something of a revelation across the Atlantic. In the midst of a successful career writing rock and roll songs (including hits for Elvis Presley, and the ubiquitous teenage anthem, Save The last Dance For Me), Mort Shuman had been wandering restlessly around Europe, and came to settle for a time in Paris. There, he became acquainted with Brel's music, and, later, with the man himself, and the two became close friends. Shuman convinced Brel that he should be allowed to translate some of his better-known songs into English, and bring them to America. More on the strength of their friendship than Shuman's reputation as a songwriter, Brel agreed, but a problem soon emerged. Although Shuman had mastered French surprisingly well, he was finding the task of translating Brel's songs quite daunting. After several attempts, Shuman found his English versions sorely lacking. He realized that it was not only that he had become too enraptured with Brel's work to find the objectivity required to do them justice, but it also became apparent that Brel's songs reflected too much of the French philosophy and politics to appeal to an American public largely besotted on syrupy, trite love songs.

Shuman returned to America, vowing to find a way to introduce Brel's songs to an English speaking public. By this time, Nat Shapiro had heard Elly Stone perform Eric Blau's first translations of Brel, and wanted more. In November 1966, Nat Shapiro persuaded Mort Shuman to hear Elly Stone perform at Julius Monk's Plaza 9, despite Shuman's reluctance, which derived from his belief that only a male singer could do Brel justice. At a table with Shapiro and a very nervous Eric Blau, Shuman applauded politely. "She's good", he told Blau, "the translations are real good". It must have rankled him somewhat that it was Blau and not Shuman who first successfully translated Brel to English.

Nat Shapiro also had the idea for the perfect venue to introduce Brel to America - an off-Broadway show. Not exactly a revue, since that implied that the songs had been heard before, what eventually took shape was the first "libretto-less" musical, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. In addition to Elly Stone and Eric Blau's enthusiasm for Brel's music, Elly's amazing talent had won Shuman over and convinced him to work with Blau on the translations. Two years later, their labor of love finally introduced Brel's songs to an American public that was as ready for Brel, as Brel's songs were ready for America.

I am somewhat puzzled by the negative reviews by those who insist that Brel's songs can never be appreciated in anything but the original French. When Eric Blau realized, as Mort Shuman had earlier, that Brel's songs could never be translated exactly to American English (steeped as they were in French life and politics), they agreed to go for the next best thing. They opted to translate Brel's songs as closely as they could, but, when this was not possible, they kept Brel's melodies while attempting to retain the spirit of his writing, if not his actual words. What resulted were often very good translations indeed. One only has to compare the French text of songs that became Jackie, the Old Folks, Brussels, the Middle Class, Madeleine or Amsterdam to realize that, for the most part, the narrative and spirit (and sometimes even the lyrics) closely matched Brel's originals. Two additional translations, Song For Old Lovers and My Childhood, which also resembled the originals, were recorded by Elly Stone on her (now very rare) self-titled Columbia album. Miss Stone also recorded Goodbye My Friends for her second album, which was arguably a superior version of Brel's Le Moribond than the dreadful version by Rod McKuen, Seasons In the Sun.

In other cases, the translations altered Brel's songs in such a way as to make them more palatable to American tastes, while retaining Brel's concept. Thus, Jef, a song in which a man tries to cheer up a drinking buddy who has lost a great love, becomes a love song, in which one partner attempts to bolster the melancholy spirit of their beloved. In fact, some would argue that the beautiful prose of No Love You're Not Alone not only equals the poetic imagery of Brel's original lyrics quite adequately, they are actually an improvement. Conversely, When We Only Have Love was transformed from a love song to an anthem for brotherly love, yet did not destroy Brel's concept or his "poetry", but successfully built on it. Brel, by the way, often pointed out that, in his culture, it would be unforgivably vain for a songwriter to compare himself to a poet. To the French, poetry is not only a much higher art form than songwriting, Brel did not consider songwriting an art at all, but merely "a craft". All told, there are, in fact, only a few songs in this show where the lyrics, content, spirit, tone and / or subject matter were completely altered from Brel's originals.

When the show premiered in Canada, the creators were terrified that they would be taken to task by the French Canadian press for daring to present Brel in English there, as Brel is highly prized in Canada. Instead, it was the English Canadian press who savaged the show. But the French Canadian journalist, Rudel-Tessier (a bi-lingual writer, quite familiar with Brel in French) stated flatly that, although in translating the work, some of Blau / Shuman went in and some of Brel came out, he found it marvelous to have Brel in English at all. And, he gently chided his peers by pointing out that, while Shakespeare is quite popular in French, the Bard will never be quite the same in French as he is in English. So, to those who say you cannot appreciate Brel's songs in anything but French I reply, this show was written for those who never have, and never will, understand a single word of French. Does anyone really think that those who only speak French should be deprived of Shakespeare?

Even if none of this were true, I would like to point out that Jacques Brel himself, armed with exact French translations of the English lyrics, personally approved every song that was written for the show before the decision to produce it was finalized.

Besides, the passion and reverence that these performers feel for Brel and this material is evident in every song, and to those who claim that this show is an insult to Brel, I answer that it's an insult to the efforts of this fine cast to suggest that they had anything but his best interests at heart, and, as someone who is quite familiar with Brel in French, I believe they succeeded brilliantly. And as fine a songwriter as you can argue that Brel is in French, well, Elly Stone is equally as fine a singer in any language, and I bemoan the fact that she virtually squandered the balance of her career championing Brel's work, when she could have made a major name for herself, based solely on her own talent. Having seen Elly Stone perform live many times (in and out of this show), I will attest to the fact that, in her prime, she had the most impressive voice I have ever heard in a concert hall.

And in the end, it was Brel himself who gave the supreme complement to this effort. At one point, Eric Blau fretted when, in order to more closely translate Brel's lyrics to la Mort (My Death), he and Shuman had to alter Brel's melody. When they sent the new song to Brel, he responded, "You have improved it; it's better than mine". A year after the show opened, Brel flew in to New York to see it. That night, he led a standing ovation for the performers, and modestly told Blau and Shuman repeatedly that they had not only exceeded his expectations, in many instances, they had improved his work. He also told Elly Stone that she was, "the finest lady performer" he had ever seen (including Piaf, whom she was often compared to unfairly) and he told her that he wanted to write new songs specifically for her. Unfortunately for us, he never had time, but it was a testament to her talent and artistic integrity that Brel offered.

And if Brel himself was pleased with the translations featured in this glorious production, why should anyone quarrel with that?

Average customer rating:

POWERFUL VOICES
Best discovery in music in a quite some time.
Larger Than Life
very good
"brilliant arrangements and performances ~ The Ten Tenors"

Larger Than Life

Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0002SPPG4
Release Date: 2004-09-21

Tracks:

Water/Va Pensiero
Stonde
The Way Away From You
Angel
Por Una Cabeza
Together
Feet Lift Off The Ground
Cast In Stone
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World Anthem
Destiny Lies
Thunder Point
Conquest Of Paradise
Bicycle Race

Customer Reviews:

POWERFUL VOICES.......2006-02-28

Young tenors at their individual and collective best. Powerful, dynamic, and emotionally charged performance.
Good selection of vocal works for the newcomer, some light, some heavy.

Best discovery in music in a quite some time........2005-07-08

I happened to see this ensemble perform in concert on PBS one night last winter during a fund raiser.

All that I can say is, "Wow".

Since that time I have purchased this CD for myself and as gift to three other music lovers; all of which have offered me their gratitude.

It is not very often that a musical experience of skill and talent surfaces. They hold us within the magic of voice, combined with musical stanzas and lyric, and the chemistry of TEAMWORK.
The gentlemen excel in such offerings as Vangelis' "Conquest of Paradise", "World Anthem", and the melancholy Irish "Thunderpoint", which sends chills down my spine.

If I can choose one group to open the next Olympics celebration it is The Ten Tenors.
I can only hope that they broaden their US tour.
I can also only hope that they continue to produce and record more albums.

Bravo

Larger Than Life.......2005-07-04

Yes, clearly the name alone is a homage/copy from the Three Tenors and, no, they aren't as operatic as the others. However, they are 10 guys who sing a cross between choir, Broadway, opera and a capella. That said, you'll find these guys encapitvating. First of all, the operatic aspect is a misnomer, because when they're having fun, they're at their best. Listen to them do their Dancing Queen Melody. Not only is it well done, it's fun and hysterical.

This all said, the CD contains a bonus DVD disc, which in my opinion blows away the CD. Not that it's as well produced; however, you need to see these 10 guys interact to get the idea of how good they are. Their faces express the emotion, as all 10 of them work together to take you across various musical genres. Their interaction is what makes them special, which is why I say, "Buy this CD for the DVD"

very good.......2005-07-04

Delta Air Lines featured most of this album on thier in-flight audio, and I heard it on a long flight and its equally long return. Bought the album after that. Not a fan of opera, classical, or pop, I was surprised to find that The Ten Tenors did all of these better then any of the three genres' more popular artists. I enjoy the album and recommend it as adult contemporary.

"brilliant arrangements and performances ~ The Ten Tenors".......2004-10-23

Rhino Records presents not just Three Tenors or Irish Tenors...but the latest surprise on the classical scene is The Ten Tenors with their new album "Larger Than Life", featuring a fourteen track compact disc and four cue bonus Live DVD...Australian gentlemen who will thrill you with classical vocal repertoire of ballads and even a classic rock tune or two.

Students in 1995 studying opera classics, they performed in 1998 while attending the University and began touring...haven't stopped since ~ their individuality and comradeship with close touching harmony will soon grab you and never let go ~ outstanding performances "STONDE" [Patrick Abrial/Jean Marc Grossi/Thierry Micaelli], beautiful beyond words, "POR UNA CABEZA" [Carlos Gardel/Alfredo Le Para], the tango from the film "Scent Of A Woman", the vocal is extraordinary, "SUNDANCE" [Andy Arthurs/Philip Chambon], folk genre beat with tempos that get completely under your skin, terrific arrangements by the composer, "DESTINY LIES" [Craig Atkinson/Stewart Morris], lead vocal by Jason Turbull reads like a Top Ten New Age Hit, full orchestra and chorus abound ~ "CONQUEST OF PARADISE" [Vangelis], non stop harmony and brilliant orchestration with the full voices of The Ten Tenors, enough power to light up a big city block ~ "BICYCLE RACE" [Freddie Mercury], the ultimate big hit of Queen, brilliant arrangements by Shannon Brown and Drew Graham.

If you love classical and outstanding vocals by young talent, then this one has your name on it...watch out world here comes some of the best of the best around today...hats off to Rhino and Warner Bros. for this one of a kind release...hope to see more of the same...piano, arranger and synthesizer by Steven Baker..the DVD is really a trip and a half...great job by one and all ~ The Ten Tenors

Total Time: 56:12 on 14 Tracks/DVD on 4 Tracks ~ Rhino Records 76525 ~ (9/21/2004)

Goldilocks (1958 Original Broadway Cast)

Average customer rating:

A beguiling album
Broadway FLOP yields a HIT original cast album
a classic cult musical
Straight from Broadway's Golden Age: It's Goldilocks!
Worth your investment - A real delight!

Goldilocks (1958 Original Broadway Cast)
Joan Ford , Walter Kerr , and Jean Kerr
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000027WO
Release Date: 1992-05-19

Tracks:

Act I: Overture
Act I: Lazy Moon
Act I: Give The Little Lady
Act I: Save A Kiss
Act I: No One'll Ever Love You
Act I: Who's Been Sitting In My Chair?
Act I: There Never Was A Woman
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Act II: Heart Of Stone

Customer Reviews:

A beguiling album.......2004-10-31

Someone had a brilliant notion in getting Leroy Anderson to write a show. (It wasn't the first time; he was hired for "Wonderful Town" but was ditched in favor of Leonard Bernstein.) That it didn't quite work may owe to the fact that he was largely written out, the best of his imperishable vest-pocket tone poems long in the past. Still, this is an utterly captivating score, superbly interpreted. If you want a complete idea how it sounds you might want to get MCA's budget two-disc anthology of Anderson conducting his own music, including several of the show's dance numbers; they almost make you forget how great Arthur Fiedler was with this master of the pops.

Broadway FLOP yields a HIT original cast album.......2004-02-13

This is another splendid original cast recording from Goddard Lieberson and Columbia records. Great score by Leroy Anderson by a fine cast headed by Elaine Stritch who is in great voice here. Don Ameche is her nemesis/love interest and Pat Stanley nearly steals the show with her first act number "The Pussy Foot."

The record is short (45 minutes) and does not include the dance pice "The Town House Maxixe" which can be heard on MCA's Leroy Anderson collection. What is on the CD is quite delightful and Sony has done a first rate job coaxing excellent sound from the early stereo tapes. The booklet gives a good essay on the history of the trobled show and a detailed plot summary.

a classic cult musical.......2002-10-19

GOLDILOCKS is one of my all-time favorite 'lost musicals'. It struggled through three months and 161 performances on Broadway, only to close after scathing reviews and dwindling audiences.

GOLDILOCKS was written by theater critic Walter Kerr as a love-letter to the silent movies that had captivated him as a child. The story concerns sardonic silent-actress Maggie Harris (Elaine Stritch) who has a stormy love-hate relationship with her cocky director (Don Ameche). Complications arise in the form of beautiful Lois Lee (Pat Stanley), who sets out to steal him for herself. Maggie decides to make one more picture under the assumed name of Goldilocks, and makes one last grab at romance...

The reason why the show failed so miserably was the weakness of the book, which was magnified a thousand times over by the greatness of the score; which features "Lazy Moon", "Lady in Waiting", "The Pussy Foot", "Where is the Beast in You?", and my personal favorite "I Never Know When to Say When".

Through its lovely cast album, the musical has a devout cult following and no wonder. Elaine Stritch in her first Broadway leading-role (after years of supporting work in revivals of PAL JOEY and ON YOUR TOES) and the sparkling score of Leroy Anderson is fantastic stuff. Highly recommended.

Sony Music.

Straight from Broadway's Golden Age: It's Goldilocks!.......2001-06-29

I first discovered Goldilocks through the double draw of Leroy Anderson and Elaine Stritch. Elaine Stritch I already knew as Joanne in Company singing "The Ladies Who Lunch", and Leroy Anderson was one of my favorite composers, known for such light programmatic and novelty orchestral pieces as The Syncopated Clock, Belle of the Ball, Bugler's Holiday, The Typewriter and Plink, Plank, Plunk. That combo of names caught my eye as I was flipping through the record bins one day, and as I scanned the album cover I saw the names Don Ameche, Nathaniel Frey and Margaret Hamilton which absolutely clinched the deal. I left the store with the record and went straight home to play it. From the moment I dropped the needle (yes, I've had it that long) I was captivated, and it has since become one of my perennial favorites.

The score is top notch, particularly in the material for Stritch and the perfectly cast Don Ameche. It does sag a bit in the material for the secondary couple, but I think that's because it's the primary couple who are the comedians while the secondary couple gets stuck with the sappy side of romance. Yes, there are book problems. Walter Kerr later admitted that they kept beefing up the comedy at the expense of the love story, and reading through the book (which through an incredible stroke of good fortune I found at a local Half Price Books) that's a fair criticism. But this weakness doesn't overwhelm the show and make it unworkable. I have to agree with the assessment that with The Music Man already running featuring a slightly more lovable con artist and a sweet rather than brassy leading lady, Goldilocks wasn't able to measure up to the competition. Taken on its own terms though, Goldilocks works wonderfully.

To mention particular favorites of mine in the score, I have to start with Stritch's Act 2 torch song, "I Never Know When To Say When". Why didn't this become a standard? It stacks up with the best Broadway has to offer. You can hear the pain in Stritch's voice as she laments the mess she's made of her relationhips. "Give the Little Lady" near the top of Act 1 doesn't really cover much in the realm of plot, but it's just so much fun, and "The Beast In You" never fails to get me laughing. All of these feature Stritch alone or with the chorus, but her duet with Ameche, "No One'll Ever Love You", is just as good, and Ameche's solo number, "I Can't Be In Love", in which he discovers to his astonishment that he is indeed in love, is priceless. Then on top of that is "Bad Companions" for Don Ameche's shady sidekicks Nathaniel Frey (an excellent comic character actor who appeared in many better known shows such as Damn Yankees and She Loves Me) and Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West sings!) which is a hoot from start to finish. These are the standouts in my book, but the whole score is eminently listenable, pleasant and tuneful. Of course with Leroy Anderson writing the music it couldn't be anything else.

I sometimes wish I had been born 30-40 years earlier so I could have actually seen what I am only able to get the barest hint of from reading the libretto and listening to the cast album. I strongly recommend to anyone who has had enough interest to wind up here reading these reviews to make this show a permanent part of your collection. More people need to know this show!

Worth your investment - A real delight!.......2001-01-14

Having learned about the life of Leroy Anderson through the recent PBS story on his career,I was very interested to hear this famous composer's only Broadway show.

This original cast recording is a gem. The majority of the songs are first rate, the perfomers are all first rate and the recording quality sounds as fine as anything on the market today. What a shame that the show had such serious problems, such as a weak book and opening with such hits as West Side Story and Music Man already running on Broadway.

Tracks:

Here We Go
Midnight Visitor
One and One
Giant Bohemoth
Mother Says
Birdcall Morning
Home
I'll Tell the World
Turn to Stone
Comin' Down

Product Description

After The James Gang and before Rocky Mountain Way, Joe Walsh moved to Colorado and formed a short-lived group called Barnstorm with bassist Kenny Passarelli and drummer Joe Vitale. The result is this remarkable and intriguing 1972 album most often referred to as Walshs debut solo effort. What it truly is, though, is a richly textured acoustic/electric album that ebbs and flows with sounds and segues ranging from spooky to sweet, plaintive to psychedelic, from melodically enticing to ballbusting organ-guitar crunch rock. Its less than 40 minutes in length, but by its end the listener feels like he/she has been taken on a musical adventure of the best kind. The album didnt produce any hits per se, but charted in the Top 100, gave the world the first version of Turn To Stone, and resulted in a uniquely barnstorming national tour, wherein Joe Walsh reconfirmed if there ever was any doubt - his stature as a premiere musician. Joe Walsh next hit with Rocky Mountain Way and in 1975 added his unique energy to The Eagles, but this landmark early album is as good as anything the rocker did before or since. 1. Here We Go 2. Midnight Visitor 3. One And One 4. Giant Bohemoth 5. Mother Says 6. Birdcall Morning 7. Home 8. I'll Tell The World About You 9. Turn To Stone 10. Comin' Down

Customer Reviews:

"Creative" editing ruins this CD.......2006-05-16

This is one of my favorite records, and I've been trying for years to get it on CD. I have the original vinyl, but those Dunhill pressings were never much good. So, I was very happy to see that the record was reissued on CD. Unfortunately, there's some tape hiss, but most distressing, track 3, "One and One" has been edited to fade out with a long pause between it and the next tune "Giant Bohemoth". On the original vinyl, these two tunes seque into each with no fadeout of any kind. The edit on the reissue totally disrupts the "flow" of the album. Very, very disappointing.
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE******************
Apparently this reissue was initially released using a set of incorrectly marked master tapes. The reissuing company has now found the correct masters, have cut a new digital remaster and is now circulating the corrected issue of this record.

Absolutely terrible sound quality!.......2006-04-15

I'm not sure which edition Wayne Klein is referring to in his review but it certainly wasn't this one. As noted by another reviewer, Hip-O Select completely dropped the ball on this one, using the wrong master tapes to produce this CD. It is LOADED with tape hiss, so much so that I could not get through the entire disc before turning it off. I have been in touch with Hip-O's parent company (Universal) and they acknowledged the mistake, saying that a vastly improved edition with the correct master tapes will soon be in stores, but after nearly a year it has yet to appear and when it does the consumer may not be able to distinguish between the two editions. It's hard to understand a mistake like this not being caught before production. But it's worse that a company would allow unsuspecting consumers to buy this garbage and then not rectify the matter after all this time. Great music, bad business practice. I'm keeping my vinyl!

Classic Walsh album finally available on CD again.......2006-03-13

Atmospheric and fascinating Joe Walsh's Barnstorm (aptly named)brought forth this terrific album after Walsh left the James Gang. Everything from the inspired opener "Here We Go" to the unusual "Birdcall Morning". From the instrumental "Giant Bohemoth" which slides right into the stunning "Mother Says" the album doesn't miss a beat.

The biggest song here "Turn to Stone" would show up again in a slightly inferior version on "So What?" but the original primordial monster is here. Featuring crunchy a guitar lick and a stunning guitar solo Walsh never got this experimental again. The album closes out with the acoustic guitar/haronica driven "Comin' Down" which provides a tranquil close to a magical album.

Like the 2005 Japanese re-release the magical sound qualty of the original recording has been retained. This is, in fact, the best the album has ever sounded (although honestly I can't compare it to the original Mobile Fidelity release since I never had it but have had the other import versions). Walsh never got better as a songwriter than here (although he came close with another couple of strong albums such as "The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get"). A marvelous reissue, this classic album only lacks bonus tracks and outtakes which would have made this classy package complete.

Average customer rating:

great singers, great songs

Encores from Encores!

Manufacturer: Drg
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Opposite You
Brian Stokes Mitchell
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Great Musicals

ASIN: B00008XERI
Release Date: 2003-05-06

Tracks:

Overture [From Do Re Mi]
Make Someone Happy [From Do Re Mi] - Heather Headley, Brian Stokes Mitchell
All My Life [From Do Re Mi] - Nathan Lane
Tommy, Tommy [From Tenderloin] - Sarah Uriarte Berry, Patrick Wilson
Good Clean Fun [From Tenderloin] - David Ogden Stiers
My Gentle Young Johnny - Debbie Gravitte
Hostess With the Mostes' on the Ball [From Call Me Madam] - Tyne Daly
It's a Lovely Day [From Call Me Madam] - Lewis Cleale, Melissa Errico
Where or When [From Babes in Arms] - David Campbell, Erin Dilly
Johnny One Note [From Babes in Arms] - Melissa Rain Anderson
I Wish I Were in Love Again [From Babes in Arms] - Christopher Fitzgerald, Jessica Stone, Jessica Stone
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered [From Pal Joey] - Patti LuPone
Zip [From Pal Joey] - Bebe Neuwirth
I'm Talkin' to My Pal [From Pal Joey] - Peter Gallagher
I Am Loved [From Out of This World] - Marin Mazzie
Nobody's Chasing Me [From Out of This World] - Andrea Martin
From This Moment On [From Out of This World] - Gregg Edelman, Marin Mazzie
Falling in Love With Love [From the Boys from Syracuse] - Rebecca Luker
He and She [From the Boys from Syracuse] - Mario Cantone, Debbie Gravitte
Sing for Your Supper [From the Boys from Syracuse] - Sarah Uriarte Berry, Debbie Gravitte, Rebecca Luker

Customer Reviews:

great singers, great songs.......2006-05-03

Some of broadway's best singers are on this album, including Brian Stokes Mitchell, Debbie Gravitte, Marin Mazzie, and Rebecca Luker. (The cd is worth buying for Rebecca Luker's song alone!) The songs are beautifully orchestrated and sung. Most are light hearted and fun, leaving me with a good feeling when listening.
If you're a fan of broadway showtunes, I believe you'll enjoy this album.

Average customer rating:

Best
Better than is thought of here
I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but........
Don't buy this deluxe edition -- buy the US release
SKIP THIS VERSION AND GET THE LONDON ONE WITH PATTI LuPONE

Sunset Boulevard

Manufacturer: Decca Broadway
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Original Broadway Cast)
Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition)
Dreamgirls: Music From The Motion Picture [2-CD Deluxe Edition]

ASIN: B000BSM29I
Release Date: 2006-05-23

Tracks:

Overture / I Guess It Was 5 A.M.
Let's Have Lunch
Every Movie's A Circus
Car Chase
At The House On Sunset
Surrender
With One Look
Salome
The Greatest Star Of All
Every Movie's A Circus (Reprise)
Girl Meets Boy
Back At The House On Sunset
New Ways To Dream
Completion Of The Script
The Lady's Paying
New Year's Eve
The Perfect Year
This Time Next Year
New Year's Eve (Back At The House On Sunset)

Tracks:

Entr'acte
Sunset Boulevard
There's Been A Call / Journey To Paramount
As If We Never Said Goodbye
Paramount Conversations / Surrender (Reprise)
Girl Meets Boy (Reprise)
Eternal Youth Is Worth A Little Suffering
Who's Betty Schaefer?
Betty's Office At Paramount
Too Much In Love To Care
New Ways To Dream (Reprise)
The Phone Call
The Final Scene

Customer Reviews:

Best.......2006-08-19

The American recording is the best of the show as a whole... Glen Close doesn't have a huge voice... so... satisfy yourself by getting recordings of the big songs from the other Normas...but if you are looking for a recording of the show... the American recording is tops. George Hearn? Judy Kuhn? C'mon. The Best. As a footnote... there were two major American tours... the first used recreations of the original broadway set and costumes designs... it starred Linda Balgord and it flopped. I still have the playbill from the Chicago stop. The Petula Clark toured in a scaled down version. So. There.

kmc

Better than is thought of here.......2006-07-22

I hate to rain in Goodstuff's parade but there WAS a touring production. The sets and costumes were different than the original production which leads me to belive Goodstuff was right in aserting that Webber didnn't sanction it but never the lessthere it was. It stared Petula Clark (of the song DOWNTOWN fame) and it wasn't very good! This deluxe set is quite good in that it has steller acting/singing from the main cast members.

I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but...............2006-02-15

Our friend from Croatia has his facts a little skewed. They must have lost something in the translation.

I lived in L.A. at the time, and it was well known Ms. LuPone and Mr. Webber had not gotten along at all well during the London rehearsals of this show. So much so that, in what I am sure was meant to be a slap in LuPone's face, the telephone "hold" music used for the ticket phones was Barbra Streisand's early recording of Norma's songs, not LuPone's.

As a matter of irrefutable fact, it was none other than Faye Dunaway who was announced for the L.A. run of the show. It seems she had sold herself quite well to Mr. Webber. Only problem was, reportedly, when rehearsals started in L.A. they found she couldn't even come close to singing the part. He fired her, she sued, saying (and I'll never forget the quote) of Mr. Webber, "This is another capricious act by a capricious little man". They settled out of court, La Faye got a couple buckets full of cash, which made her much more favorable to Mr. Webber, Glenn Close continued what is probably still her greatest performance, and La Faye and La LuPone sank into the background.

A curious footnote to all this is that Mr. Webber was apparently so turned off by all this, he never sanctioned a touring company for Sunset Blvd., and it therefore never toured the U.S., regardless of the reports that the touring produciton had been at least partially built and was eventually just written off.

As for this version of the American production, it sucks. Stick to the original release. Or, for that matter, give LuPone's version a try. They're both good performances. Patti sings the hell out of it, without a great deal of characterization (if you loved her in Evita.......), while Glenn acts the hell out of it, and actually sings it much better than you might suspect.

And if they ever make a movie of it (don't worry, they won't), I just hope they don't get that Rossum girl they used for "Phantom".

Don't buy this deluxe edition -- buy the US release.......2006-01-03

I recently bought this deluxe edition thinking that the audio quality would be better than the regular US release since it has been 'remastered'. When I listened to it, I could hear some noise specially in silent moments (such as in conversations). When I listened to my highlights CD (US release), the audio quality was much, much better. So, I suggest that this 'deluxe edition' not be considered if you're thinking of buying the original American cast recording of Sunset Boulevard. Better stick with the regular US release.

SKIP THIS VERSION AND GET THE LONDON ONE WITH PATTI LuPONE.......2005-12-15

Sunset Boulevard is certainly one of the best scores Andrew Lloyd Webber has ever written. The composer admitted that it was his wish for a long time to make a musical based on the 1950 classic movie directed by Billy Wilder. After the successful 1991 revival of Joseph and the amazing Technicolor dreamcoat, Webber began working on Sunset together with Don Black, his long-time lyricist on "Tell me on a Sunday" and "Aspects of love" and Trevor Nunn as a director.

The plot concerns Norma Desmond, once a big silent movie star, who, after 20 years of being out of the picture business, still believes to be "the greatest star of all". She accidentally meets a 20 years younger unemployed writer Joe Gillis, who grabs the opportunity to edit the script she wrote for her big comeback to the screen, even though he knows it will never happen. That fact is also evident to Norma's butler, Max, but none of them has the heart to tell her the truth. Eventually Joe becomes Norma's lover and uses all the benefits that a life with an elderly and a rich woman has to offer. In the end, when Norma finds out that Paramount won't shoot her script and that Joe is in love with a young girl, she shoots him. When the police arrive at her house on Sunset Blvd, she is in a world of her own, completely unaware of who or where she is, thinking that she is in the studio making her comeback movie and says to all that she is "ready for her close-up". The plot itself is very beautiful and original, showing what can become of a human being when one can't deal with the rejection or acceptance of the present.

When it became known that Andrew Lloyd Webber is going to make the musical based on this classical film, almost every woman in show business wanted the role of Norma, from Angela Lansbury to Meryl Streep or Liza Minnelli. However, the honor went to Patti LuPone, who became well-known in the musical theatre after she played the lead in the Broadway production of Evita in 1979. She delivered a stunning performance at Webber's Sydmonton festival in 1992, refusing to use the book on the stage, which, together with her amazing vocal abilities, secured her the role. The contract was signed stipulating that LuPone will play Norma in London as well as on Broadway.

The show opened in July 1993 in London. The reviews were mixed, as they usually are, but LuPone was fantastic in the role, as well as was Kevin Anderson who played Joe Gillis and Daniel Benzali in the part of Max. The LA premiere followed in December with Glenn Close playing the lead and Alan Campbell as Joe, with George Hearn in the role of Max. Rumors started that Paramount, who was co-producing the show with Webber, wanted Close to reprise her role on Broadway. Webber kept repeating that LuPone will take her Norma to New York, but in the end he yielded to pressures and canceled LuPone's contract, making Glenn Close her replacement. LuPone sued him and won a hefty out of court settlement. And this is the main problem with this recording: Glenn Close is singing the lead. Singing it BADLY. Unfortunately, Ms. Close's vocal abilities are more than limited as this recording is proving: she is struggling all the way through; unable to hit the notes and find her voice. But that's not all. She decided to overcome the lack of a good voice by screaming and sobbing the dialogue parts. The result was anything but satisfying: she is totally unconvincing. Her stage presence may be strong, as seen in the Lloyd Webber's Royal Albert Hall DVD, but the bottom line is she doesn't have a singing voice and range. She won a Tony only because Broadway had no other new musical to compete in the 1994 season. Patti LuPone's performance on the London cast recording is quite the opposite: she has a beautiful voice that can sing properly all the notes as it were intended and acts the dialogue in a very subtle and persuasive way. In other words, Patti gives an impression she IS Norma, while Ms. Close sounds as if she is acting it BADLY. The bad choice of the leading lady certainly didn't help the American premiere. It was probably one of the main reasons why the show didn't last too long on Broadway.

The same thing can be said for Alan Campbell, who plays Joe Gillis on this recording, as he suffers from the same lack of good singing, not like the original Joe, who is superbly portrayed on the London cast recording by Kevin Anderson. Judy Kuhn as Betty and George Hearn as Max are good, but I like their London counterparts better.

As far as the score, it is simply beautiful. The rich and lush melodies perfectly bring the old Hollywood alive, and jazzy threads work perfectly. The themes tend to repeat themselves, but that is almost a Lloyd Webber standard, and here they form a nice whole so you don't notice it much. The two big numbers, "With one look" and "As if we never said goodbye", performed by Norma, are pure gold. Other melodies include "The greatest star of all", sung by Max; "The perfect year", Norma's hail to the New Year; "Sunset Boulevard" in which Joe sings about her new life with Norma; "Too much in love to care", a beautiful duet between Betty and Joe and many more. The orchestrations on this recording, however, sound a bit metal to me and aren't as good as in the London recording. The material here is revised and some new passages are added, together with a new company number, called "Every movie is a circus". The fact that this is a digitally remastered new release is not an important fact, due to the problems mentioned above.

The score here is complete but that is not much of an asset due to the lousy cast performing it. Therefore I would advise the potential buyers to skip this recording without thinking and purchase the original /world premiere/ London cast with Patti LuPone. That 2 CD recording has all the musical numbers and music, with an edited version of dialogue; just like the original recording of The phantom of the opera. . Only original recording will give you all the benefits of this show, while this one will only make you wonder.

Unless you are a die-hard Glenn Close fan, avoid this at all cost.

Average customer rating:

Hb3

Manufacturer: Axisbold
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CAGP0M
Release Date: 2004-06-01

Average customer rating:

A Rose By Any Other Name...
"Thus I salute the stronghold, safe from dread and dismay!
Free at last!
I Love This Recording
The Goodall Ring - 1975 - Restored and Remastered

Wagner: The Rhinegold
English National Opera
Manufacturer: Chandos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005B550
Release Date: 2001-05-22

Customer Reviews:

A Rose By Any Other Name..........2007-07-02

The figure of speach may not be completely correct in this instance, but, well, I hope you get the point. In any case, for a Dutch speaking person, like I, to hear 'The Ring' in a language other than the original German feels - almost shockingly(?) - natural. Certainly, this modern English translation, to me, is as least immediate, and probably even more immediate, than the original (archaic) German text. And in music drama, immediacy is essential. Maybe it is also the wonderfully natural translation, I don't know, but it works for me, the Ring in English.
But most of the credit has to go to the music, the singers, and the recording as such. I believe that this (originally analogue) remastered recording has one of the best recorded sounds and acoustics of any Ring, studio or 'live'. It is wonderfully clear but warm, kind of velvety (very unlike Solti), with beautifully natural balaces between voices and orchestra. Audience noises can be heard (including a delightful little ripple of laughter) but never really obtrusively so, thankfully. And I love the thunderclap-sound effect when Donner strikes his hammer against the rocks - very tastefully done, and lending extra power to the scene.
All the time one reads in reviews everywhere of the very slow speads at which the music is conducted by Sir Reginald Goodall. Well, that may be so, but I, for one, am certainly endeared to Sir Reginald Goodalls 'caressing' of the music, as a result of which wich the Leitmotifs come out more clearly than ever. The slow - but nonetheless very concentrated, and always involved - playing has, to me, an almost mesmerizing effect. Certainly, compared to many other recordings, the music may sound stretched almost beyond breaking point. But in the end, I think it is really just that: a matter of speed, no more. The concentration never falters and the dramatic arc never saggs. There is live 'music magic' going on here, I feel, even if the English National Opera Orchestra may not be (as precise or as diciplined as) a Wiener Philharmoniker or a Bayreuther Festspielorchester. Certainly, Sir Reginald Goodall must have loved this music and these opera's: one feels a slowly beating but constant loving pulse that energizes the drama and the music.
But we also have the singers. And what a great singers! While the best may be yet to come (with Alberto Remedios as Siegmund and Siegfried, and Rita Hunter as Brunnhilde), we here, in The Rhinegold, already have one of the most commanding of Wotans (Norman Bailey, with wonderful burnished timbre). Also, Emile Belcourt stands out as a wonderfully sleek but full-voiced Loge. Derek Hammond-Stroud's Alberich may not be as black as Gunther von Kannen's (for Barenboim), for example, but there is enough anguish, frustration and anger to lend his character a convincing reality and depth. And the giants too, are a winning pair. Especially Fafner (Clifford Grant) is as imposing and powerful as one may ever wish.
With all the rave reviews, here and elsewhere I can't wait to hear The Valkyrie, (especially) Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods. This certainly is a winning 'Ring', to be kept alongside any other 'great' recorded 'Ring' out there, IMHO. To me, it can hold its own alongside any other favorite recordings.
Please, sample this Ring (try for example the Chandos website for fragments of all of the music) and decide for yourself. Highly recommended.

"Thus I salute the stronghold, safe from dread and dismay!.......2007-06-12

Okay, so we have the Solti, Bohm, Karajan, Levine, Janowski, Goodall, and Sawallisch Rings on the market (I haven't listened to the other Ring recordings yet, sorry to say). And all of these leave me to one conclusion: the many differences lead me to believe that all of these ring sets have their own authenticities and setbacks. And here they are:

TIMING (Estimate):
Solti's Ring: 14 hours, 30 minutes
Bohm's Ring: 13 hours, 30 minutes
Karajan's Ring: 14 hours, 50 minutes
Goodall's Ring: 16 hours, 50 minutes
Janowski's Ring: 14 hours, 0 minutes
Levine's Ring: 15 hours, 20 minutes
Sawallisch's Ring: 14 hours, 0 minutes

CONDUCTING:
Solti: Solti's conducting is driven with sheer muscle, but sometimes he makes the Ring overemotional. His Walkure & Gotterdammerung Preludes are clear examples: they're annoyingly bombastic. Nonetheless he almost seldom loses control with anything. His clear focus on the drama is astonishing.

Bohm: I must say his live Bayreuth recording brings out some of the best. He puts more faith in the orchestral score, but he also gives it more intensity. His tempi are some of the quickest, but they still don't seem rushed at all (except maybe "Wohin schleich'st du eilig und schlau"). I especially like his "Forging Scene" & "Hagen Summons the Vassals"; both are the most energetic on disc.

Karajan: Karajan's chamber approach is very interesting. Instead of going for the drama or the energy, the conductor goes for the beauty. Almost everything in his Ring sounds very ethereal because of his excessive use of lyricism. His orchestral preludes (except Walkure Act 1) sound more beautiful than others, and much of the soft parts (such as Siegfried Act Three Scene Three) are controlled nicely. His "Funeral March" and "Immolation" are recommendable. Siegfried Act Three Scene Two could have improved with more tension.

Goodall: Oh, boy. While I do praise Goodall with his amazing attention to detail, his ridiculously sluggish tempi will tick some Wagnerites off: everything is slower than adagio moderato. But I did enjoy listening to the slow beauty of his "Wotan's Farewell/Magic Fire Music". This was recorded live and sung in English.

Janowski: This is a very classical Ring. Instead of bombast, spacious, or lyrical passion, maestro Janowski gives us the straightforward approach. He goes straight for Wagner's original intentions (precise tempi, dynamics, flow of leitmotivs, etc.), which makes this another exquisite Ring. "Hagen Summons the Vassals" is probably the fastest I've ever heard (along with Sawallisch's). Rheingold Scene Four can be best described as "sensational".

Levine: While he does stay true to the score like Bohm, this conductor makes for a somewhat dull Ring. His handling of the orchestra is nice, but the moderately slow tempi he chooses is flawed. It should be more animated. His beautiful "Funeral March" and "Erda's Warning" are two of the few flawless features.

Sawallisch: I guess you can say that Sawallisch is half-Karajan, half-Janowski. While he does stay true to the orchestral score like Janowski, he also puts in a little Karajan-like lyricism. At some points he loses track with orchestra and singers (as does every live recording) but Bohm has more control. This was also recorded live.

ORCHESTRA:
Solti's Vienna Philharmonic: The woodwinds are the most beautiful in Solti's Ring (the "Forest Murmurs" is clear evidence of that). French horns and Wagner tubas make this a recommended listening. The strings in "Heda Heda Hedo" could've added a bit more work, but they are strikingly spectacular everywhere else. The orchestra gives it their all in Siegfried Act Two & Three, but they are at their weakest in Walkure Act One & Three (Bohm's Bayreuth does it better). Overall, it's the loudest and certainly most bombastic out of all the Ring orchestras combined.

Bohm's Bayreuth Festival: The ultimate Wagnerian orchestra gives it their all. The brass both high and low are the most powerful, while the woodwinds are the most delicate. The strings are muffled only a few times, otherwise the eighteen anvils are perfectly loud and clear. Erda's scenes aren't as effective as Janowski's, but the entire Walkure is more successful than Janowski's when it comes to tone & technique. Overall, this orchestra is the most dramatic.

Karajan's Berlin Philharmonic: The entire orchestra sounds polished, not to say that it is bad. Indeed the drama is still there, but much of the suspense is lacking (the scenes with Fasolt and Fafner come to mind). The brass sometimes overpowers the strings, which can be a serious problem. Gotterdammerung "Three Norns" Scene sounds very mysterious, very eerie.

Goodall's English National Opera: This orchestra sounds nice, even if the sluggishness can bring them down at times. The Flight of the Valkyries doesn't sound too good in a slow tempo, but the entire orchestra does sound lucid here. Siegfried Act One Prelude is the creepiest. All of the leitmotivs are heard loud and clear, just like in Janowski's version.

Janowski's Staatskapelle Dresden: This orchestra has the same force & flair as does Bohm's Bayreuth Festival, only Dresden sounds much clearer due to the fantastic digital sound. Even minor details are found in this Ring. I can hear harps in Flight of the Valkyries! The strings imitate the Siegfried forest very well, while the woodwinds representing the songbird are wonderful (but not as wonderful as Solti's songbird). Dresden's "Magic Fire Music" (along with Berlin's) is the most extravagant.

Levine's Metropolitan Opera: The brass and woodwinds are the true stars. The strings sound too tired to continue on in Siegfried & Gotterdammerung. The Finale to Rheingold is absolutely stunning (the trumpets and trombones will not disappoint), and the Second Act of Walkure is the most impressive, the most refined.

Sawallisch's Bavarian State: Wrong notes in this live recording won't matter, as the entire orchestra gets everything going in all four nights at the opera. The strings never surrender to imperfection, and the winds are marvelously aligned. I just wish that some of the singers would keep up with the orchestra.

SINGERS:
-Wotan
Solti: Hans Hotter is the superior Wotan. He sounds powerful throughout the Ring (except Rheingold, in which a less stellar George London performs).

Bohm and Janowski: Theo Adam in Bohm's live recording is another treat. While he is not as equally impressive as Hotter, he can certainly conjure up everlasting emotions. Adam sounds weaker in Janowski's studio recording, but he still doesn't disappoint.

Karajan: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau plays Wotan in "Rheingold," while Thomas Stewart replaces Fischer-Dieskau in "Walkure" and "Siegfried". I don't think Fischer-Dieskau was a good choice; he sounds too humane and too light. Stewart makes an astounding improvement in both "Walkure" and "Siegfried".

Goodall: Norman Bailey has that divine spark that Hotter used to cherish. He's heavy and unblemished, and he handles the English text with flair and sheen.

Levine: James Morris is a notch below Hotter, Adam, and Bailey, but he overpowers Fischer-Dieskau pretty much throughout the Levine's Ring.

Sawallisch: I may be biased, but Robert Hale just didn't do it for me. He sounded dull and tedious, and his Wotan's Farewell wasn't enough to sadden me.

-Brunnhilde
Solti and Bohm: Birgit Nilsson is the best Brunnhilde on the market. Her Valkyrie cry is delightful, and her final scene in Gotterdammerung is brilliant beyond belief.

Karajan: Regine Crespin is without a doubt one of the finest Brunnhildes after Nilsson. She's fantastic in Walkure Act Three. I just wish she stayed on as the Valkyrie later on in the Ring (Helga Dernesch is no good in Gotterdammerung, sorry to say).

Goodall: Rita Hunter is at her strongest in Walkure and Siegfried. She is at her weakest in Gotterdammerung. What may have caused her downfall in the fourth installment? "The world may never know."

Janowski: Jeannine Altmeyer is basically the most controversial Brunnhilde on CD. Some people say that she's too light and weak, while others say she sounds young and very enchanting. I'm with those who think Altmeyer was a good choice, but you yourself (the shopper) are going to have to decide whether she's good or not.

Levine and Sawallisch: Hildegard Behrens is just like Nilsson and Crespin: while she's not the best, she is definitely another perfect Brunnhilde of choice. She's at her most dazzling when she performs Walkure (Levine) and Siegfried (Sawallisch).

-Siegmund & Sieglinde
Let's see. For the Siegmunds, we have James King for Solti and Bohm. Jon Vickers for Karajan, Alberto Remedios for Goodall, Siegfried Jerusalem for Janowski, Gary Lakes for Levine, and Robert Schunk for Sawallisch. For the Sieglindes, we have Regine Crespin for Solti, Leonie Rysanek for Bohm, Gundula Janowitz for Karajan, Margaret Curphy for Goodall, Jessye Norman for both Janowski and Levine, and Julia Varady for Sawallisch. Hmm . . . Jerusalem is good . . . and so is Vickers . . . Janowitz is charming, and so is . . . Oh, what the heck? All the singers for Siegmund and Sieglinde are fantastic. Two exceptions, though: Robert Schunk doesn't sound heroic enough, and Jessye Norman for Levine's Ring doesn't sound young and innocent enough.

-Siegfried
Solti and Bohm: Wolfgang Windgassen may very well be the best Siegfried for the ages. His `Forging Scene" in both renditions are defiantly inspiring. His last scene in Gotterdammerung is celestial and overwhelming.

Karajan: Jess Thomas (Siegfried) and Helge Brilioth (Gotterdammerung) may not be as ideal as Windgassen, but they do know how to be a magnificent heldentenor. Thomas pulls it off with Act One and Three.

Goodall: Wow! What a singer that Alberto Remedios! He never drags in either of the last two installments, and he uses the correct emotions in every scene that he is in.

Janowski and Sawallisch: Rene Kollo's Siegfried is a poetically expressive one. In Janowski's version he sounds playful when he's in Mime's home, and he sounds willed when he's in the Gibich Hall. He is not good enough in Sawallisch's version, however. His tiresome "Forging Scene" is obvious evidence of that.

Levine: Oh, Reiner Goldberg. At least you tried. Seriously, he sounds too tedious (especially in Gotterdammerung Act Three Scene Two) and too old. I don't know Levine should've chose Kollo when he recorded his Ring.

-Alberich
Solti and Bohm: Gustav Niedlinger has a heaviness that overwhelms a few other baritones. When he sings his only sequence in Gotterdammerung Act Two Scene One, his emotion is so pure that his son Hagen would've drowned himself in tears (Too melodramatic? Sorry about that.). The only problem is that his character sounds too one-dimensional. Alberich isn't just some cardboard-cutout bad guy. He has a very good reason why he wants to take revenge on the world. Overall, Niedlinger is amazing throughout Wagner's Ring (He deserves many awards for "Bin ich nun frei?").

Karajan: I guess you can say that Zoltan Kelemen tries his best throughout. He is not good in Rheingold, but he gets better in Siegfried and Gotterdammerung.

Goodall: Derek Hammond-Stroud is three-dimensional, but not that much. Still, he can sound very demanding in Rheingold Scene One and Siegfried Act Two Scene One.

Janowski: Siegmund Nimsgern may be the most humane Alberich yet, but it's all good. He sings with more passion than Kelemen and more robustness than Hammond-Stroud. Niedlinger's ferociousness puts him below, however. "Schaf'st du, Hagen, mein sohn?" is noteworthy.

Levine and Sawallisch: Ekkehard Wlaschiha is one hell of a vigorous Alberich. I praise him in Rheingold Scene One and Three. His performance in Siegfried (both versions) could've improved with more distrustfulness towards Mime and the Wanderer.

-Mime
Solti and Karajan: Gerhard Stolze is the creepiest Mime ever known to humankind. This dwarf outsings other Mimes on the market. When he sings "Die stucken! Das Schwert!" his anger and fear is the most effective to almost all Ring listeners.

Bohm: Erwin Wohlfahrt wins second place. He gives a first-rate performance in Siegfried Act One, but loses some of his edge in Act Two. He is an exceptional Mime nonetheless. Look for him in Karajan's Rheingold, also.

Goodall: Gregory Dempsey isn't emotional enough. He doesn't sound fearful or depressed at all, which makes him the dullest Mime for the Ring.

Janowski: Peter Schreier is for Siegfried, while Christian Vogel is for Rheingold. Vogel is less than perfect, while Schreier is way beyond outstanding. Schreier is less ghoulish and more benevolent, more three-dimensional than Stolze and Wohlfahrt. The only flaw I can find is his handling of "Die stucken! Das Schwert!" He could've added a bit more fear in that sequence.

Levine: Heinz Zednik is yet another excellent mime. He is equal to Schreier when it comes to humaneness and lyricism. His performance in Rheingold Scene Three is pure gold, while his performance in Siegfried (particularly "Willkommen, Siegfried!") is a stunning achievement.

Sawallisch: Helmut Pampuch is just like Schreier and Zednik: he's very VERY good. Nuff said.

-Loge
Solti: Set Svanholm may be the weakest Loge. He is not very ominous throughout all of his scenes, and his lack of a sinister atmosphere is greatly affects the entire Rheingold. But he'll soon be forgotten later on in the Ring.

Bohm: Why the heck would the conductor have Wolfgang Windgassen play both Siegfried AND Loge? The demi-god needs to sound different from a son of a Walsung. Still, it's satisfactory, and his "Ihrem ende eilen sie zu" gives great foreshadowing.

Karajan: Gerhard Stolze is easily the most entertaining Loge to listen to. His scenes in Scene Three are delightful.

Goodall: Emile Belcourt isn't as good as Stolze, but he certainly can make some of the best of an English-speaking Loge.

Janowski: Peter Schreier is the most eccentric out of all of them, and that's a fact. Much of his singing involves imagination, peril, vengeance, and deviousness. Belcourt depends only on imagination and deviousness, Stolze only vengeance and deviousness, and Windgassen only peril. His odd conversations with Alberich and the gods/goddesses are classic.

Levine: Siegfried Jerusalem doesn't seem like a good choice for Loge. He's better off playing Siegmund or Siegfried, but not a demi-god.

Sawallisch: Robert Tear is on par with Stolze and Schreier. Sometimes he takes things too low, but all is forgiven with his management of character development.

-Everyone Else
Uh-huh, what can I say? Everyone else does a good job in all Ring recordings (maybe not in Swarowsky's version). Matti Salminen is the perfect Hagen (Janowski, Levine, and Sawallisch), while Kirsten Flagstad is the most brilliant Fricka (Solti). The Norns and Rheinmaidens do a splendid job in Solti, Janowski, and Levine. The Vassals (male choir) are at their unsurpassed in Bohm and Goodall. The only flawed Erda is Anne Collins (Goodall), maybe too light and too heavy at times. All in all, no one here is graded C or lower.

CONCLUSION: I have yet to listen to Barenboim's Bayreuth presentation and the essential mono recordings (Furtwangler, Krauss), but I'm pretty sure that have their advantages and disadvantages. So there you have it. We have the histrionic Solti, the energetic Bohm, the otherworldly Karajan, the spacious Goodall, the calculated Janowski, the relaxed Levine, and the serious Sawallisch Rings. They have their own authenticities and setbacks, and they certainly have their own significances for Ring listeners everywhere.

Sir Georg Solti: Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring Cycle) / Sir Georg Solti

Karl Bohm: Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen

Herbert von Karajan: Der Ring des Nibelungen / Karajan / Berlin Philharmonic

Goodall: Wagner: The Ring Cycle (Box Set)
-The Valkyrie (Part 2): Wagner: The Valkyrie
-Siegfried (Part 3): Siegfried (Goodall Ring Cycle/Chandos Opera in English)
-Twilight of the Gods (Part 4): The Twilight of the Gods (Goodall Ring Cycle/Chandos Opera in English)

Marek Janowski: Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen

James Levine: Der Ring Des Nibelungen

-Wolfgang Sawllisch: Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Ring Cycle) / Sawallisch, Bayerischer Staatsoper

Free at last!.......2004-09-18

I've enjoyed listening to the Ring cycles by Solti, Bohm, and Furtwangler, but my pleasure has always been dampened by the necessity to follow the dramas with a German/English libretto. This performance freed me from that burden and allowed me to listen to the Ring with my ears alone for the first time. And what a delightful experience it was! I found I could understand about half the words the first time through. but that was enough for me to understand what the characters were saying and concentrate on Wagner's great music. Some of the characters (Loge and Alberich, for example) are almost perfectly comprehensible, while others (Fricka in particular) might as well be singing in German. The sound itself is superb, with perfect balances between orchestra and voices. Goodall's conducting is famously slow (about half an hour longer than usual), but he is never slack and he reveals a wealth of detail in the orchestration. The singers are a mixed lot, with Loge, Alberich, and Mime particularly effective. Bailey is hardly the grandest of Wotans, but he is solid and convincing. In any event, for us non-German listeners, this recording is a real treat. I would not recommend it as a first Ring (Bohm is a good choice, though some of his tempi are rather hectic), but as a supplement to a recoding in the original language, it is hard to beat. Give it a try! As for me, I'm ready to go on to "Die Walkure" (pardon me, "The Valkyrie").

I Love This Recording.......2002-04-05

I was a little suspicious when approaching this English-language version of Das Rhinegold. I was considering assembling this as my third RING set (behind Solti and Levine) and had listened to THE VALKYRIE (Die Walkure) with a little initial disappointment. Although the live sound quality was very interesting, the tempo was much slower than I was used to and thus a little disconcerting, and the English words were harder to understand than I had hoped. Nevertheless, I persevered and listended to THE RHINEGOLD (probably my favorite of the four RING operas, although I know this puts me in a minority) and was amazed. Best of all, after listening to this album I revisited the Goodall VALKYRIE and discovered a new appreciation! Now the Goodall set ranks as one of the best I've heard. It just needed to get under my skin a bit.

What's so good about it? Three things stand out for me: First, the slow tempi that were a litle rough at first actually allow, upon repeated listenings, a new discovery and understanding of Wagner's unfathomable genius. Every nuance is slowed down just enough to be fully accessible. Second, the modern English translation really does make this a different experience...my initial mistake was thinking that English lyrics could allow me to listen to this as background music, and that's not the case. However, if one devotes the same attention to this as a German recording, the time wil be richly rewarded. Finally, the smaller orchestra creates an almost chamber music-esque setting, which compliments the music in an undefinable way. Despite being in English, this is almost more Germanic than original-language recordings.

I still probably wouldn't get this as the first foray into Wagner's RING (I still think Solti or Levine are the choices for that). But for someone who already has some familiarity with the work, this will provide a lifetime's enjoyment. Cudos to Chandos for resurrecting these recordings!

The Goodall Ring - 1975 - Restored and Remastered.......2001-06-08

I have been curious about this for years. When I saw the packaging, I wondered whether this was the same Ring that has been kicking around for a couple of decades from the Sadler's Wells performances of the mid-70s. News flash: It's the same. However, the box says that it's been re-mastered with something called 24-bit digital mastering. Since I never heard the old records, I have no idea if this is better. Judged on its own, the sound is terrific. This live recording really places the listener in the theater with clarity and authentic spaciousness. So often, a live recording will capture the audience up close, then the orchestra, then the singers, cataloguing every throat being cleared and every bow being tapped. Somewhere in the distance, the singers voices follow their heavy tread over the stage. Not here. There is an intimacy to the sound here that approximates sitting in about the tenth row back in a large hall. It doesn't sound like the opera's being played in your room; it sounds as though your room has been transformed into a medium sized theater. I found it uncanny.

As to the experience of the drama in English, that too is remarkable, at least for someone like me whose home-tongue is English. The drama takes on an immediacy that I have never experienced before. This factor alone is why you should explore this Ring. I can't overemphasize the impact on me that this recording had on me because it was in English and because it was well-acted. Surely this is what Wagner meant, at least dramaturgically (obviously allowing that you can't actually see the action).

Overall, the singing is competent, and in some places, it's excellent. None of the cast really stands out musically. Norman Bailey's wobbly Wotan could have certainly benefitted from a deeper, richer tone. Still, and perhaps more importantly, he creates a god who is clearly unsure of where the moral highground is, even when he's standing on "an open space on a mountain summit." Everyone, for that matter, is dramatically convincing, especially Emile Belcourt (Loge) and Derek Hammond-Stroud (Alberich) and Robert Lloyd (Fasolt), all of whom, by the way, have excellent diction. And speaking of diction, I almost could have done without the libretto when the men were singing. Not so with the women, whose diction was uniformly wanting.

Goodall's pace is notoriously glacial. Still, it's interesting to hear it parsed in this way, and I never had the feeling that I was going to fall off the world. Which is to say that the tempos were deliberate, not affected. This was definitely a labor of love for RG and the English National Opera. The orchestra is a little thin sounding, and perhaps, not entirely up to the score. Occasionally a horn mis-blew and a cello creaked. This is unavoidable in live performances, I suppose. Still, there is a surprising sense of smallness to the ensemble, even though there's never a moment when the balance between singers and players is lost. As a result, the overall effect is a balance of clarity and urgency that is clearly the upside of Goodall's idiosyncratic "vision" of the score. Not a huge or "erotic" sound, but always committed, intelligent, and sometimes impassioned.

For all of its flaws, this is an astonishing and, for me, an indispensible recording because it made me listen to this opera with new ears. While it's not the most lyrically pleasing recording (Karajan) or musically authoritative (that would be Solti, IMHO), dramatically, this Rhinegold excells any recording I know of. I will definitely buy the rest of the set.

Nothing Means Anything
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Nothing Means Anything

Manufacturer: Permanent Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CADU1Y
Release Date: 2002-08-27

Ain't But the One Way
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Sly Is This Really The Last We'll Be Hearing From You?

Sly's Last Stand: Who In the Funk Do You Think He Was? Syl's Final Album

The True Story Behind This Album

Modern Sly

Not on Par

Ain't But the One Way
Sly & the Family Stone
Manufacturer: Warner.Esp
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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High on You

Back on the Right Track

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ASIN: B000025199
Release Date: 2001-06-04

Tracks:

L.O.V.I.N.U.
One Way
Ha Ha, Hee Hee
Hobo Ken
Who in the Funk Do You Think You Are
You Really Got Me
Sylvester
We Can Do It
High, Y'all

Album Description

UK reissue of the funk legend's 1983 album for WEA. Tracks include, ''One Way' and 'You Really Got Me'.

Album Details

Reissue of 1983 Release. Only Recommended for Hard Core Fans.

Customer Reviews:

Sly Is This Really The Last We'll Be Hearing From You?.......2006-11-28

'Ain't But The One Way' is the last Sly & The Family Stone album ever released.It is often described as being from 1983 but it's not-it was released in 1980 as a follow up to the previous years 'Back On The Right Track'.Unfortunately the album is nothing really special.Sly seems to wish the album to be a little slicker but that slickness is tracing paper thin and only works well on "Ha Ha,Hee Hee" and that only sounds like an weak Earth Wind & Fire."L.O.V.I.N U","One Way","Hobo Man" and "We Can Do It" are all highly funky and try at pop hooks but for some reason end up sounding very,very,very,very formuliac and boring.There is really nothing here that Sly Stone hasn't done since 1973 and he sounds pretty board a lot."Who The Funk Do You Think You Are" is by far the best thing on the album-it draws Sly back to the rock ideom he'd abandoned early in the 70's:if he's taken a cue from this song and arranged an album of songs in a more diverse mode this album would be salvagable.A cover of "You Really Got Me" is nice but Sly isn't known for covers and it just shows he's down to the end of his bag of tricks."High,Y'all" is a fairly pleasant attempt at replicated Sly's late 60's sound but it also points out this albums main weaknessess:'Ain't But The One Way' is just Sly Stone recycling the past because he has nothing new and innovative to offer.This should be a testement to all artists facing drug addiction in some way because that was a large part of Sly's decline.If your one of those people who has to have every Sly album around by all means get this one.But me,even being a person tolerant of R&B mishaps of all kinds and especially of the Family Stone I found this dissappointing.Maybe you'll feel differently.

Sly's Last Stand: Who In the Funk Do You Think He Was? Syl's Final Album.......2006-09-05

As described above, this was a reclamation project by producer Stewart Levine and I'd have to say he did a darn fine job. "Ain't But the One Way" still grooves underneath the studio gloss Levine produced. It actually mostly worked!

Starting off with the poppy bass and horn lines on L.O.V.I.N.U., Sly keeps the old Family Stone vibe together. The old school funk of the title track keeps it going. HA, HA, HEE, HEE, written by Pat Rizzo, who ended up replacing original member Jerry Martini, also has a nice old band vibe to it -- breezy and light, not dark and heavy.

HOBO KEN follows next, ostensibly a sort of a tribute to his last manager, Ken Roberts. "Hobo Ken, be your friend/If you let him" it goes over and over. The uptempo standout WHO IN THE FUNK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE tells us, "Remember facts are easy to find/If in the max/Is what you're trying to climb". Huh?

The zoned out version of the Kinks' YOU REALLY GOT ME doesn't work. The 44 second confessional SYLVESTER, however, works and might have been something more had Syl made it longer.

WE CAN DO IT sounds like a rote workout with horn charts galore that fail to cover up the lack of anything here. HIGH Y'ALL closes the album with a little play on S&FS' earlier hit I WANT TO TAKE YOU HIGHER and tries to capture some of the old spark. However it degenerates into the same canned generic funk that permeated the tune before.

Overall "Ain't But the Way" is an interesting view into Sly's final released recording, now about 25 years old, before he went off to a reclusive life of being an ex-rockstar living in the 90210 zip code.

Album credits include original members, his brother Freddie Stewart, Jerry Martini, Rose Banks, Cynthia Robinson and latter-day members, sax player Pat Rizzo and drummer Andy Newmark (a well-known LA session drummer later on), as well as scads of LA session players.

Sly we're still waiting for your follow up album!

The True Story Behind This Album.......2004-08-21

Since no one has really gotten into it here, I thought I'd write and clarify the circumstances of this recording for all of the Sly freaks, funk freaks, and other potentially-interested buyers.

By 1976, Sly's career was at an extremely low point. He hadn't had a significant commercial hit in years, he had lost his management, the original Family Stone was long gone, Sly's drug problems were apparently getting the best of him, and former bassist Larry Graham was putting Sly to shame (on record and in concert) with his more funky, pop, and upbeat version of the original Family Stone formula with his band Graham Central Station. In fact, Sly was struggling so much at this time that he actually toured (in support of his attempt at Philly International soul "Heard Ya Missed Me, Now I'm Back") as an opening act for the famous P-Funk Earth Tour in late 1976. It was a sad irony to see Sly opening for two bands (P-Funk and Bootsy's Rubber Band) that had been so inspired by HIM in the first place. At the end of tour, in fact, two of Sly's backup singers (one of which was his cousin) defected and joined P-Funk where they later recorded as The Brides of Funkenstein.

Sly dropped out of visibility, surfacing two years later in 1978 when he had left Epic and signed to Warner Brothers, and began working on his latest in a series of "comeback" LPs, "Back On the Right Track." Opinions are varied on the musical quality of this album (I think there are some great songs on there, but nothing resembling a chart hit) but commercially, it fared poorly. That must have hurt Sly after all the comeback hype. I don't think he even toured in support of the album. And I remember seeing Sly on the Mike Douglas show at this time. He was dispirited and so out of it on drugs that he could barely speak. Mike and the other guests just stared at him in disbelief.

He dropped out of sight again until around 1980, when word was that Sly was now in George Clinton's camp. The plan was for Sly to guest on some P-Funk releases, and for Clinton to produce (or co-produce) Sly's next album for Warners. This made sense, since Sly and Clinton were label mates at Warners (via Funkadelic and Bootsy). Clinton was talking the Sly project up in the press, Sly made cameo appearances during P-Funk's 1981 tour, and he and original Family Stone trumpeter Cynthia Robinson are on two versions of "Funk Gets Stronger" from Funkadelic's summer 1981 LP "The Electric Spanking of War Babies." Supposedly, the original version took up an entire side of a projected double album, but was later edited down. Personally, I love these tracks but objectively, they sound as if the main priority in the studio that day was getting extremely high, there happened to be a few instruments laying about, and the tape recorder was running. The same can be said for most of the Sly/P-Funk collaborations, the most significant of which is the P-Funk All Stars' 3-part "Hydraulic Pump" 12-inch (the complete version is available on the P-Funk All-Stars CD "Hydraulic Funk"). Like a lot of Sly's material with P-Funk (which is spread out over several releases), it sounds like they were trying to take a little bit of music and make a lot of out of it.

By late 1981, Clinton had become involved in a bitter dispute with Warners, with the end result that Funkadelic left Warners (they haven't released an album under the Funkadelic name since then). That also threw a wrench into the Sly project, which hadn't yet been completed. And supposedly, Sly just vanished, leaving the album unfinished. Warners brought producer Stewart Levine in to salvage and complete the project, and the album was released two years later in the spring of 1983 with the title "Ain't But the One Way." The cover photo (with Sly jumping over a fence wearing camouflage pants) dated back 5 years to the "Back On the Right Track" photo sessions. Sly must have been long gone if they couldn't even get an up-to-date photo for the cover of his album!

If you look at the album's personnel listing, you will see the names of many original Family Stone members, and also the names of many studio session players. That suggests that the basic tracks were cut with Sly, Clinton, the Family Stone (maybe augmented by some players from P-Funk), and that the project was completed later with Levine and the studio musicians. That's probably why the album has a glossy, generic sound to it. If you listen closely, you can hear traces of the Sly/Clinton approach underneath, especially in Sly's lyrics, singing attitude, and electric piano playing. If you want to compare the two approaches, listen to the demo version of "Who In the Funk Do You Think You Are" from the first volume of George Clinton's Family Series, and compare it with the Levine-produced version on the "...One Way" album.

As far as the music, it sounds far more inventive and inspired than Sly's previous LP "Back On The Right Track." Hardcore Sly fans know that there is not a single Sly LP without at least a few moments of genius, however fragmentary. If you're sensitive to Sly's musical "codes," you can hear that they had some good ideas going, lyrically and musically. You can hear Sly's stoned wit in good effect. But you can also hear that the ideas were left in a skeletal and incomplete state, and were completed by someone else with a very different production concept. The strongest songs to me are the poignant rehab ballad "Ha Ha Hee Hee," the cover of the Kinks "You Really Got Me," the vignette "Sylvester" (another song seemingly dedicated to Sly's mother), the "I Want to Take You Higher" retread (called "High Y'all"), and a few others.

You have to give Clinton credit for inspiring Sly to break out of the playing-it-safe mold of his recent records and push the envelope here. And Stewart Levine also deserves a bit of credit for achieving a professional sound in the end with what he had to work with.

If they had completed this album with the original team, it would probably have been the strongest and most interesting Sly album in a LONG time. It might have even been a commercial success. But unfortunately, it fell victim to music business chicanery and drug excess. "Ain't But The One Way" turned out to be Sly's de-facto farewell to the music business. He hasn't relased an album since then and for the rest of the 1980s, it seemed like he was in the news for one drug-related offence after another. The funny thing about it is that on the Mike Douglas show I mentioned above, one of the few coherent things I remember Sly saying was - and this is a quote as best I can remember - "I'm gonna release one more album and if it doesn't go platinum - BYE Y'ALL..."

Modern Sly.......2003-09-15

First of all, this album was recorded in the beginning of the 80's, when Sly was trying a new formula, just like everyone else, due to the latest crash of the disco era. Even in the cover art he seems like being skating, flying in a jump. Modern, and shinning bright like in "Fresh". He bounces like a new gifted artist in "Ha Ha Hee Hee" in a kool groove line. He surprises in "You Really Got Me". This song, that was a trade mark from the Kinks and Van Halen, always dressed as a heavy rock, gains a new funky stomp here, something that seemed almost impossible before. In "Who In The Funk Do You Think You Are" he question this new situation in a nice drive around the old funky disco beat. This is one of the best cds from his latest work but for sure you won't buy it. You would prefer to buy the new Rhino collection "Sly And The Family Stone - Who In The Funk Do You Think You Are: The Warner Bros. Recordings". You will find all the tracks here available and much more.

Not on Par.......2002-07-07

outside of "Who in the Funk do you think you are"?&Parts of "Sylvester" is this worth listening to.this is one of the Records by a Artist that you hope in many ways is Bootlegged&never put out fully because it doesn't even begin to Capture the Greatness that this Artist once displayed so well.this Album is like a Boxing Match when a Guy has been knocked down two times&He is getting ready to take another fall&then you have to throw in the White Towel well this is the Scene with this Album.SLy Stone Sadly here was doing a 3rd-Tier Version of Himself Here.

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