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Verve Remixed, Vol. 3

It's an idea that never should've worked in the first place: Verve classics remixed by today's hottest DJs and producers. Yet here's the third installment in the successful series and quality control remains high. Granted, there are a few tracks on each compilation that don't work as well as others and Verve Remixed 3 is no exception. The Postal Service take on Nina Simone's "Little Girl Blue," for instance, makes for a pleasing listen, but sounds too much like the former (the Album Leaf does a better job at staying out of Simone's way). Adam Freeland's "Fever" and Max Sedgley's "Peter Gunn," however, get the balance right. Both songs have been updated for the dancefloor, but Sarah Vaughn's exquisite vocals remain front and center. Then there's Lyrics Born with Jimmy Smith's "Stay Loose," which keeps Smith's groovy organ work in the foreground, but makes a funky track funkier yet. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Customer Review:

Three times a charm.

"Sing, Sing, Sing" and that's what I do when I hear this tune. The RSL remix really puts me in a great mood. Another stellar track is "Just One of Those Things" - sparingly gorgeous. Already a BG fan, this remix reaffirms my belief that there is something really special going on with that team. More than groovey, emotional too- Remix #3 is a great listen.

-B.A.

NEITHER FISH NOR FOWL

I bought this album after hearing two tracks from it on the Santa Monica public radio station KCRW. The Peter Gunn theme sung by Sarah Vaughan appealed to me; it's hard to find more catchy themes than those written by Henry Mancini. The cut that really hooked me, though, was the Astrud Gilberto song with that hypnotic piano. I don't know the original recording so I assume that the piano was done on the remix. This is the only cut on the CD that I felt was improved by the remix. Most of the remix components do not match the aural quality of the original recordings; the remix components sound pasted on, like a cutout baseball cap stuck on the Mona Lisa. It isn't that the original recordings from the 1950s and 60s are masterpieces, but they are stylistically so strong that putting new electronic sounds over them makes them into weird, unappetizing hybrids --- neither fish nor fowl. Don't get me wrong. I am happy that I bought the CD. As I say, that one cut (Astrud Gilberto) is powerful and haunting.

Unfortunately... 2 stars. I had high hopes.

As a big fan of Remixed 1 and 2, I was very excited to hear that 3 had come out. But upon listening to it, it turns out that I'm only keeping 6 out of the 13 tracks on my playlist. Little Girl Blue, Speak Low, Fever, The Gentle Rain, Peter Gunn and Stay Loose made the cut. Everything else was very discordant-sounding to my ears, with none of the electronic groove that I was used to on the other albums. My tastes may be too mainstream to truly appreciate the unusual choices made by the more experimental remixers.

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Keywords: Club/Dance; Dance Music; Electronica; House; Jazz Collections; Pop; V/a Compilations;

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Barrio Fino

Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee balances dance music with philosophical tunes on this 21-track CD. The engine driving this collection is the smash single "Gasolina," with its basic reggae beat and its catchy chorus "Dame mas gasolina!" ("Give me more gasoline"). Also highly danceable are "No me Dejes Solo," featuring guest singers Wisin y Yandel, and the English-language pop-reggaeton tune "Like You." But Daddy Yankee also reflects on his barrio on "Salud y Vida" ("Health and Life"), a rap tune that questions society's endless pursuit of material things. Like fellow raggeton artists Tego Calderon, Daddy Yankee admires big-band salsa. Among his influences he counts noted singer Andy Montanez, who guests on the track "Sabor a Melao." Montanez's distinctive gruff vocals add a soulful flavor to the track. --Ramiro Burr

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Customer Review:

an energy boost!

About the album well is amazing isn't the best album of reggaeton, but isn't the worst, THIS IS THE ALBUM that make a place for reggaeton in the world. "lo que paso paso" "Gasolina" "Corazones" "Salud y vida" the man is amazing.

About reggaeton for the people that don't know anything and spoke a lot of s**t about, well let me tell u this is the heart of the people of the ghetto in Puerto Rico, is the mix of the sounds of our latin culture, reggaeton is DANCE isn't about social problems, that's why u listen salud y vida or corazones = HIP HOP and not reggaeton, the topic of the sex is in all kind of latin music, when I wanna listen a good album of hip hop talking about social problems I listen 79 but when I Wanna enjoy a good time with my girl in the disco I listen Da-ddy Yan-KEEE! About the song Gasolina of course is stupid, but man the music, the chorus, IS AMAZING who cares about the lyric of this song or everyone was talking trash about the vengaboys for the stupid song "UP N DOWN" in the 90's, these are songs created with one objective "Dance" another question about the new latin movement? Reggaeton isn't reggae isn't HIP HOP so don't try to judge the movement, just enjoy it.

Hot Daddy Yankee

i love his cd barrio fino it is the bom my favorite song on is "no me dejes solo" and he is so hot i say my self i might be able to go to one of his concerts some day and get his autograph.

This Man Is So Fine.

I went to a concert of his,and i couldn`t keep my eyes oh him, and his music is catchy and club banging.
You should tottaly buy this,along with don omar`s cd totally tight.

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Keywords: Latin; Latin Pop/Rock; Reggae; Reggaeton;

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The Understanding

In 2002, the Norwegian duo of Svein Berge and Torbjorn Brundtland found a sweet spot between wispy Moon Safari-style pop and Boards of Canada-like atmospherics on the widely-admired Melody A.M. The Understanding sounds relatively absent-minded, careening around the room like a panicky fly. Some of it works well; the bouncy "Only This Moment" resembles Fischerspooner at their silliest (and thus, most fun), while "49 Percent" gets a huge lift from a New Jack vocal courtesy of Chelonis R. Jones. But the record is too often thwarted by syrupy synth-pop ("Follow My Ruin") as well as the lack of shifty downtempo rhythms and avant-garde underpinnings that kept Melody so pleasantly grounded. They haven’t lost their knack for subtle hooks and well-placed cross-rhythms, like the slippery keyboard squibble that glides its way into "What Else Is There?" But the sophomore curse is hard to overcome, and though there’s plenty here to recommend, Berge and Brundtland aren’t able to break the spell. –Matthew Cooke

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Futures

Limited Edition;

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Customer Review:

Pure Norwegian Bliss... Get the "repeat" button ready!

I originally heard of the Norwegian group Royksopp when visiting Amsterdam. I had MTV Europe on in my hotel room (MTV Europe actually still plays music, what a concept!) and I saw the video for "Poor Leno" and was instantly hooked. Of course, when you hear a song so instantly infectious to your ears, you think, how the heck can they possibly follow this up?

The answer is "The Understanding," an absolute gem of a disc that builds on the bands beginnings and takes their music one step beyond, creating swirling cinematic melodies coupled with beautiful, emotive, yet understated vocals. The first single and video, "Only This Moment" is sublime. (Be sure to check out the video online at the Astralwerks website.) The song is plaintive, emotional, melancholy, and at the same time "funky", albeit in a Norwegian Electronica sort of way.

I have had this disc for two weeks and it has yet to leave my CD player. Call it electronica, dance, downtempo,or whatever you like... this music is gorgeous and cinematic. Music based in electronica can sometimes be cold and inaccessible, but Royksopp know how to put emotion in their music. Royksopp's music is rather hard to categorize... Let's call it "Norwegian Bliss".

Note: The limited edition 2CD set is worth the extra few dollars! It includes bonus tracks, mainly instrumental, unavailable elsewhere.

The understanding of why different could be mediocre

Fist of all, Royksopp's newest album "The Understanding", does not suck by any means. It is a great album that shows the musical duo's depth. It also shows their ability to evolve and make a sound that is entirely unique (just like with their first album.)But just like with evolution, there is always something that gets left behind. In the case of The Understanding, it seems as though the older, raw, retro-synthish, old-skool electro-popish Royksopp that we all came to love so much, grew up and matured into something that we arent sure how to deal with. Maybe I will learn to love the new evolved Royksopp as much as the old one, hopefully. But I dont think I could ever give up those days of listening to Melody A.M. on vinyl,,,,,,,ahhhh how nostalgic! But hey, dont think that the new album is not worth picking up, any true Royksopp fan needs it....So check it out, and maybe you will see that I was wrong!

Excellent, but unexpected

The Melody A.M. album is one of my all-time favorites. Something about it transcends any particular genre, and I find that I can listen to it in the company of other electronic music, pop, world, classical or jazz and it just feels... at home.

The Understanding is an entirely different story. While some tracks sound "characteristically Röyksopp," many sound like they're by a different duo altogether. That's not to say the album isn't fantastic, but the sound wasn't quite what I was expecting. I agree with those who label this album as a little more "pop" or a little more "dance" than the "electronic" label of Melody.

The bonus tracks are interesting, but not really all that exciting (at least after listening to them all twice through). Choosing between this and the standard album (with its more appropriate CD-insert booklet) should be the hardest part for you. Definitely pick this up.

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Keywords: Ambient Breakbeat; Club/Dance; Dance; Dance Music; Downbeat; Euro-Dance; Pop; Trip-Hop;

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The Light in the Piazza (2005 Original Broadway Cast)

Like a shimmering pearl, The Light in the Piazza emerged from a sea of revivals, rehashings, and movie adaptations to secure 11 2005 Tony nominations, including Best Musical. Based on an Elizabeth Spencer novella (which was also made into a 1962 film), it follows a mother, Margaret (Victoria Clark), and her daughter, Clara (Kelli O'Hara), as they take a vacation to Italy. There, Clara and a young Italian (Matthew Morrison) fall in love, but Margaret is determined to keep them apart.

The Light in the Piazza doesn't fit the model of most Broadway scores, with a splashy opener here, a swing number there, then the big ballad. The score is more of a unified whole, sometimes jarring, sometimes following the patterns of speech, and sometimes unfolding in glorious sheens of sound. (Heck, some of it's even in Italian!) In that sense, it's similar to another unconventional American musical set in Italy, Stephen Sondheim's Passion, which is more chamber opera than musical, and composer-lyricist Adam Guettel (song of Mary Rodgers, grandson of Richard Rodgers) seems the most likely heir apparent to Sondheim in the current generation of musical theater creators. O'Hara's voice soars in the score's most beautiful moments ("Say It Somehow," the title song), but Clark enjoys two exquisitely lyrical moments with "Dividing Day" and "Let's Walk." She was one of the show's six Tony winners (for Leading Actress), along with Guettel's score and the orchestrations, scenice design, lighting, and costumes, while O'Hara (for Featured Actress), Morrison, Craig Lucas's book, and Bartlett Sher's direction were also nominated. --David Horiuchi

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Customer Review:

An amazing musical!

This musical is a breath of fresh air for many after seeing many of the recent things coming out on Broadway. Nominated for 11 Tonys (winning 6 of them), The Light in the Piazza, is truly an amazing musical! I stumbled upon this CD after looking up Matthew Morrison (created the role of Link Larkin in Hairspray) recent theatre credits. I am very glad that I did since this musical is simply a beautifully done piece. I recomend this to anyone who is a fan of musicals from the 1980s. The sound is similar to Sondheim's "Passion" and is sung beatuifully all over. If you only buy one musical CD this year, this is definately the one to go for!

Beautiful...

I have always love Guettel's works, but this one is so outstandingly brilliant that I cannot stop listening to it! Thank you so much for writting such breathtaking music!

The Light In the Piazza Burns Clear

Having listened to the music but not having the privilege of seeing the Tony winning musical, I have to say I was caught up in the lovely, light music and the crystal clear voices of the performers. It took a good 3 "listenings" to help me to decide that I did really like this musical. Although the music is not as memorable as some, it has it's moments and I have enjoyed listening to it over and over. I was a bit disappointed not to learn of the secret of Clara in the libretto but I still enjoyed the overall performances and voices.

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Keywords: Cast Recordings; Country-Pop; Int'l & World Music; Music Theater; Musical Theater; Pop; Showtunes / B'way;

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