2 comments about Scary Sound Effects.

1. There is a witches riddle on this cd that I had heard during a Halloween Dance Music DJ Set years ago and I have been looking for it ever since. I accidently stumbled across it this year just in time for Halloween. I am a DJ and this is a great cd to get some quality halloween samples for your HALLOWEEN Sets. It has a variety of different sayings and noise effects that you can incorporate into Halloween DJ SETS for all to enjoy. although there are many used copies available here on AMAZON, don't expect to find this baby in your local record store. Nobody has itin stock. Online is your only option. But don't worry....you could get lucky!! Finally, I found what I have been looking for every Halloween. This is a GREAT CD!!!



2. Best CD I have found so far. Love it and recommend this one over all the others. I agree with 1st review 100%. Order one for next year NOW!

5 comments about The Family Stone [SOUNDTRACK].

1. The best thing about this movie was the sound track. The movie itself is very disappointing. I expected more comedy after
   seeing the trailers. It is very predictable and the change
   that Sarah Jessica Parker's character goes through is totally
   unrealistic. I'm glad I didn't see this at Christmas when
   it came out - one of the story lines is depressing.



2. After seeing the film and loving the music i was very excited to purchase the cd. Upon receiving it I was very dissapointed. The CD is actually only the classical pieces composed especially for the movie. The actual songs played in the movie like, "Fooled around and fell in love" are not on the CD. If you want the CD for that music don't bother. I do like the music but an entire CD of almost the same song played fast then slow is not what I was after. I do have a baby and it puts her to sleep so it wasn't a total loss.



3. I completely agree with all the other reviews. What a disappointment. All the music is instrumental, it isn't the fun music from the movie.



4. The score for this film fit the emotional, heart warming, and funny feel that this amazing movie gave. I loved the film and loved the music.



5. None of the good songs in the movie were inclouded on the sound track. I was very disappointed.

5 comments about Heart of Christmas.

1. This is a "must have" Christmas album. I bought it for my mom this year and we listened to it over and over. I highly recommend adding it to your holiday collection. Sergio's voice is just beautiful.



2. I had this Christmas album many years ago on an LP vinyl and played it many times. I was delighted to find in on a CD. I love Christmas music -- especially the unusual songs you don't hear often. This CD has a few of these. I recommend it highly.



3. This album has been played in my house at Christmas since I was little. As soon as the Christmas tree went up and we began to put up the lights, I would hear Sergio's voice and know Christmas was truly here! The album my mother has is scratched and I was so glad to find this on cd. Now I can play this wonderful music in my own home for my family. Sergio's voice is beautiful. For anyone that loves a classic Christmas collection...this is for you.



4. I've had the original record for over 30 years, and always play it at Christmas. My mother, a first generation Italian, loved it too. It always made her happy, because it includes songs her mother sang to her as a little girl. I'm glad to see it is still available. A must addititon to any collection.



5. My mother loved this album, and Christmas just wasn't Christmas without Sergio! The "Panis Angelicus" and "Ave Maria" alone are worth the price of the CD - I don't know that I have ever heard either of them more beautifully sung. My mother died before this came out on CD - and the vinyl was gone years ago. We would occasionally check it out of the library to listen, even though it wasn't Christmas. She would have loved having this on CD. I bought one for my sister and one for myself. We can't bear to listen to it just yet - maybe next year - but it is a treasure. Buon Natale!!!

2 comments about Jan Peerce Sings Hebrew Melodies.

1. The Kol Nidrei arrangement by Max Bruch is sheer "heavenly".



2. Descubierto por Arturo Toscanini, como tantos otros notables (recordar al menos al gran tenor español Miguel Bienvenido Fleta), el gran tenor neoyorkino de origen judío Jan Jacob Peerce será uno de los artistas titulares del Metropolitan Opera House de Nueva York durante los años treinta, cuarenta y cincuenta. A pesar de ser una grabación de los años cincuenta, en ella descubrimos a un Peerce en plena forma, con una capacidad vocal extraordinaria, un fraseo y una dicción imposibles de comparar, no creo exagerar con esto, con otro cantante del momento.

   Pero Peerce no era solamente el gran tenor de los escenarios norteamericanos y europeos. Era, probablemente junto con Richard Tucker, uno de los exponentes de un judaísmo agraviado por los acontecimientos recientes de entonces al que se le había dado el don y la gracia para expresar, cantando, el orgullo de su procedencia hebrea. Una auténtica demostración de fuerza interpretativa que es calidad vocal, por supuesto, pero que es también un maravilloso despliegue del caleidoscopio cultural y folklórico del que, afortunadamente para nosotros, se enorgullecía. Es decir, presentes todos los elementos para hacer de éste un registro entrañable.

2 comments about Merry Magic.

1. I love Christmas music and I love jazz. Eric Reed put together a fine CD in "Merry Magic" starting off with a "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" with vibraphone and piano that just has to put you in a good mood for the holiday season. The vocals are smooth ("Santa Claus is Coming to Town" for example, with Reed singing and playing) and a "Winter Wonderland" piano with jazz trio that is a nice upbeat alternative to the Guaraldi album we always play. The "Santa Baby" is in no way like Eartha Kitt's classic--a nice rhumba interpretation that is so cute. Get this if you love jazz at the holidays--a perfect hostess gift, by the way to any lovers of jazz on your list.



2. Eric Reed is a monster pianist. Under the right circumstances, he could record a Christmas album that would become an instant classic. This, however, is an unfortunate example of what happens when an overconfident artist tries to do everything himself.
   
   Reed produced and arranged this album himself. Probably if he had hired an objective producer, that producer would have told him to hire an arranger. Reed's arrangements are second-rate. His version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" has been downshifted into a parody that serves as the worst example of an annoying trend: Reed attempts to put a fresh twist on nearly every song. It's an admirable goal, but he doesn't have what it takes; and the result is like a restaurant that serves hamburgers with a knife and fork, and swordfish crumbled over salad. It just doesn't work.
   
   I hope this isn't the last Christmas album from Eric Reed. He's one of the truly original voices of his generation; and with his gospel background and feel for the blues, there's no doubt in my mind he could record an album that would rival "A Charlie Brown Christmas." But this isn't it. He needs to hand over the reins of his next project and focus on the piano.

3 comments about The John Fahey Christmas Album.

1. The latest in a series of Christmas John Fahey albums, and perhaps the prettiest, with flute, piano and cello arrangements gracing some less obvious Xmas pieces - this is Fahey at his most New Age. Enjoying its lambent simplicity, the listener would never realise that this is an album made by a man on a kind of precipice. Fahey was being gradually overwhelmed by various health and financial problems, and after this album nothing was heard from him for five years. (The silence was finally broken by the dark gratings and howlings of "City of Refuge" which includes a ghastly 15 minute noise sequence called "On the Death and Disembowelment of the New Age".) But as Fahey's Xmas albums go, this is probably the best. The somewhat mechanical syncopation of previous Christmas outings is abandoned for a kind of crystalline purity of melody which represents, in its way, one of Fahey's most extreme statements (as "City of Refuge" represents another).



2. Of the more than six thousand titles in my music collection, more than two hundred of them are Christmas albums. And starting the week of Thanksgiving, The John Fahey Christmas Album spends more time in my CD player than most of them. There's an intimacy to Fahey's music that befits the holiday season. Whether it's the solemn beauty of "Silent Night" or the gaiety of "Jingle Bells," Fahey's playing is mesmermizing. On about half of the tracks Fahey is accompanied by cello ("Angels from the Realms of Glory," "Good Christian Men Rejoice"), piano ("Spanish Carol) and/or flute ("Christ Is Born as Child of Man," "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming") to wonderful effect. If you have found some of Fahey's secular music inaccessible, this is certainly not the case with his Christmas music. This hour-long album is as important as Phil Spector's or Elvis Presley's or Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas albums. Throw another log on the fire, pour yourself an egg nog and enjoy. ESSENTIAL



3. My daughter loves John Fahey guitar. She grew up with his music and was thrilled to get this CD before Christmas so she could fill her home with the same music she grew up with. Received the CD in the mail so fast I didn't have time to question the shipping date. Thank you!

4 comments about Toolbox Classics.

1. This CD is a compilation of familiar classical pieces and is really fun to listen to! You will enjoy trying to identify the tools used. Both my dad and dad-in-law like classical music and are tool-types. This will be a great gift. (I already got one for my husband - that's how I've heard it.) I'm sure the inspiration was Home Improvement's theme song (or maybe this music inspired the show?). I'm not sure that the music is played note-by-note as it was composed and the pitch isn't perfect anyway, but you can recognize the pieces! It's a great gift!



2. Aside from a couple of Supreme Court decisions limiting capital punishment, this has been a dismal week, with our ill-eagle, incompetent government trashing the Constitution, as usual. So -- it was an immense relief that I received through the mail a package of CDs today, one of which is Woody Phillips' TOOLBOX CLASSICS. I'm a fan of classical music humor, especially parodists like "PDQ Bach," Anna Russell, and the British composers who contributed to the Hoffnung Interplanetary Music Festivals, and I enjoy wood-working, but I'd probably never have heard of this obscure CD if it hadn't been played on our local Public Radio station. They've played at least two selections from the album while I was driving to the train station. I nearly crashed my car, laughing at Rimsky-Korsakoff's "Flight of the Bumblebee."

   There are a total of 14 lovingly parodied classical selections on the CD. Each is played with great expertise, both rhythmically and tunefully, by a trained composer who obviously knows these pieces. The difference is that the musical instruments are items found in a commercial machine shop, around a cabinetmaker's workspace, or in a better-than-average home workshop. They include a lowly broom, which, of course, enhances Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." The liner notes furnish a handsome photograph of Paul Dukas wearing Mickey Mouse ears, and the explanatory text on each piece is almost as wildly funny as the music.
   
   The tonal range of the music Woody Phillips can get from power tools, especially drills and dremels, is simply amazing. He uses several sizes of power drills in "Ride of the Valkyries," in the hysterically funny 1st movement of Beethoven's Fifth, and, to obtain that busy-bee sound, in "The Flight of the Bumblebee."
   
   One of the cleverest of all the parodies is the first one, the dawn theme from "Thus Spake Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss, made famous in the movie 2001, which uses a large drill press motor, table saw, hand saw, 50 gallon drum, pipes, and vacuum cleaner. The results are not only amazingly musical, they hazarded my recent knee replacements when I came close to falling out of my chair, I was laughing so hard. (The large drill press motor provides a growling bass that Schnittke would have latched on to for his "Faust Cantata" tango.) Another 2001 theme, Johann Strauss' "Beautiful Blue Danube," brings the album to a rousing close with a workshop orchestra of truly Mahlerian proportions -- musical saw, small & large drill press motors, 2 by 4s, pipes, 50 gallon drum, jointer, vacuum cleaner, anvil, bottles (blown on), framing square, hammer, hand plane, file, table saw, ratchet, pneumatic nailer, power mitre box, antique hand drill and hand saw. A "power" mitre box? I have a mitre box, but how would you power one up?
   
   Anyway, if you want a treat, I recommend TOOLBOX CLASSICS. While listening you might want to pop HARDWARE WARS into your home video with the sound turned off, but don't eat popcorn; you'll probably swallow it the wrong way!




3. As an afficianato of classics done with love and humour since Spike Jones Does the Classics on 78, this is clearly one of the best.
   All Warhorses to be certain, and all bringing a smile or guffah to the worthy listener. It is very hard to pick the best of this 4.0 cortege, but the complexities of the Tocata in D ring my power driver.
   The very best of this genre use very accomplished musicans to acomplish severe musical challenges, and this is no exception.
   I also note that some of the instrumentation on this superb compilation seem therminen at its best.
   Only reason to not buy this cd is a lack of a sense of humor, but then there are those from Cambridge dons [or is it dunces] whose nose's are out of shape at Wendy Carlos' Heaven & Hell.
   Even the Habanera has a fresh and vigourous sound, and the Air on G String is worthy of committed mayhem to possess.



4. not really that great, sampling it here is good enough.

5 comments about It's Christmas, Of Course.

1. why on earth would you expect the "sound" to be what she was doing over forty years ago with phil spector?
   
   instead, we get a mature, wise and warm Darlene -- great stuff for the holidays



2. Having seen her perform live on numerous occasions and having collected every solo recording that she has made (and most of her Blossoms sides as well), you can imagine how thrilled I was to have some new recorded material from one of the great pop voices of our time.
   Unfortunately, I have some problems with this album. The selection of songs is often uninspired, and the rather sparse arrangements are nothing special.
   But worst of all, John Lennon's "Happy Xmas/War Is Over" is reduced to "Happy Xmas" here. That's right, somebody (WHO?) made the decision to -eliminate the chorus-, "War is over/if you want it" - thereby eliminating both the song's great hook and its very meaning! Does this mean that Darlene likes war? Is it a statement of support about the current war (making Lennon's message as timely as ever)? Whatever the case, it ruined my enjoyment of this album.
   Darlene's vocal gifts are still amazingly strong, but I'm really, really disappointed, and sad that someone eliminated a message of peace when we need it most.



3. Darlene Love has a great rock & roll voice. She lends a a unique sound to the songs. We were disappointed however, that our favorite "Baby Please Come Home" was not on there. It's the one she has sung the last 19 years on Letterman and it's definitely her best, but it's not on the CD. It's still good and nice to get away from the traditional songs that beat in your head at every store for months before Christmas.



4. All forgetable songs - NOT including "(Christmas) Baby Please Come" for which she is primarily known.



5. If you are like me, you probably remember past Letterman shows where this fantastic singer would come out a sing a song around Christmas time. And every year I would listen in awe and ask myself the next day, "who was that?". Lo and behold, that singer was Darlene Love and now regardless of your faith, your religious conviction, let alone the time of year, you too can benefit from her powerful and souldful voice in her lastest CD, Darlene Love - It's Christmas, Of Course.

5 comments about Merry Christmas.

1. I love this CD! This is one of my favorite Christmas CD's because there are several good songs. I actually had this on cassette when it was first released and I haven't gotten tired of it after all these years.



2. An astonishing display of vocal range and artistic perfection,no one can even come close.The singing is obviously superb but the dual disc technology is amazing especially for audio and videophiles. If you love mariah or simply love to have a quality holliday cd,get this version..your expensive multichannel hometheater system will thank you.



3. Only reason I give this a higher score than the original is for the DualDisc videos. I paid 11 bucks for this and overall, am satisfied with the 5 outstanding tracks on it.
   
   All I Want For Christmas Is You (Best X-Mas song ever. Made Me tear up twice! No other songs do that!)
   Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
   Miss You Most (At Christmas Time) Lovely. The second best song here. It's so sad. Deals with longing for love and loneliness with nothing better to do than to think about HIM...*Le Sigh*
   Silent Night
   O Holy Night
   
   The only filler is Hark! and Jesus, Oh...
   
   Glad I got it though.
   
   Miss You Most is the second best X-Mas track I've ever heard.
   
   4.4 stars.



4. One side worked fine as a normal CD.
   Then I tried the other side, and was disappointed at first to find that the "videos" were only one picture per tune.
   Only later I found that there really were some music videos on the disc, but it takes a little work to find them with the menu system.
   So there are really (at least) 3 different ways to play this disc!
   I liked the music.



5. Although I was not following Mariah's career as close as I used to at the time of this release, I was very excited when I learned that the X-mas videos were going to be available for the first time on DVD (or in any format really). I give 5 stars to the Original Album and performances of the original songs. But I really did not like much the hip-hop versions of some of the songs and the animated videos. Otherwise this would have been a perfect package. But I guess they wanted to portrait Mariah as she is now and not the adult contemporary artist she used to be. My only major complaint is the quality of the new booklet. It seems that they lost the original artwork masters because the new booklet was obviously a copy of one from the old CD and the new track information was just added on the blank spaces because it is much darker in color than the rest. Hopefully next time they will have more consideration in doing a quality booklet, Mariah deserves no less.

3 comments about Have a Fun Christmas.

1. I rated this a 4 because we have heard another person's copy and liked it. We actually haven't opened this one yet, wait til next Christmas. It has a variety of old favorites, plus many funny ones that you never hear anymore. Because we have many Christmas CD's, we bought this one just for the funny songs.



2. I got this in 2006 for my two boys (ages 4 and 6) because I wanted them to hear the Chipmunk song, which was popular during my childhood. They couldn't wait to take it out this year. They love every song and ask that we play it over and over...perfect for kids!



3. THE CHILDREN I GAVE THIS CD REALLY LIKE IT EXCEPT FOR ONE SONG THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISMAS SONG WAS A LITTLE CRUDE.