Pulse by Pink Floyd |
| On The Night by Dire Straits |
| MCMXC A.D. by Enigma |
| Songs From A Secret Garden by Secret Garden |
| The Wall by Pink Floyd |
| ReLoad by Metallica |
| Ten by Pearl Jam |
| Hell Freezes Over by Eagles |
| HiFi Violin Superior Sound Series by Leonidas Kavakos |
| The Music of Olympic National Park by Mars Lasar |
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Tony loves: Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) Shine On your Crazy Diamond (the guitars are excellent!!) Hey You (everybody loves this song. :D ) |
| COMMENTS: Recorded live in Europe and The United Kingdom in 1994.All songs written or co-written by Roger Waters and/or David Gilmour.It has never mattered which of Pink Floyd's leaders (Barrett, Waters, Gilmour) is at the controls, the band has always been about grandeur. The epic scale of their psychedelic explorations, the life-altering themes of their recordings, the ground-breaking, conceptual stagings, all have helped in the construction of the group's mythology. And more than any other rock band's, Pink Floyd myths have lived on and prospered even as the band and its fan-base have evolved with time.A live, double-album, PULSE works not only as a great extended postcard of 1994's biggest tour, but as Pink Floyd's myth re-charger. Consider the facts: the release was celebrated with a laser-light show atop the Empire State Building, and the spine of the CD package features a perpetually blinking light. But, as is always the case with Pink Floyd, there is reason to their madness. The blinking light harkens back to the heartbeat that is the unifying theme of their classic DARK SIDE OF THE MOON album, which is performed in its entirety on disc two.Disc one is an approximation of the band's first set, featuring a powerful run through Syd Barrett's "Astronomy Domine" (the definition of late '60s British psychedelia), as well as a host of songs from 1987's MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON and '94's DIVISION BELL. But the second set is the true keeper of the two. Having made its tour debut on the 25th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing (how's that for a myth?), DARK SIDE loses none of its glow when transferred to a live setting. David Gilmour ably handles Roger Waters' vocal parts, but escapes comparisons by throwing the focus on instrumental interludes that further the imagination--"On The Run," for instance, sounds like a true precursor to The Orb's ambient noodlings. Still, the radio hits ("Money," "Us And Them," "Brain Damage") are all re-interpreted enough to sound novel, but familiar enough to feel like ours. In this way, Pink Floyd are our own Homer, our own Jason & The Argonauts: their stories have been with us forever, but we never mind hearing them again |
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Tony loves: You And Your Friends (love it so!!) Heavy Fuel (like the drums) Private Investigations (love the beautiful guitar tune) Money For Nothing (just love it, it's pretty cool) กก |
| COMMENTS: Dire Straits: Mark Knopfler (vocals, guitar), Phil Palmer (guitar, background vocals), Paul Franklin (pedal steel guitar), Chris White (saxophone, background vocals), Alan Clark (keyboards), Guy Fletcher (keyboards, background vocals), John Illsley (bass, background vocals), Chris Whitten (drums), Danny Cummings (percussion, background vocals). Producers: Guy Fletcher, Neil Dorfsman, Mark Knopfler. Recorded live at Les Arenes, Nimes, France and Feyenoord Stadium, Rotterdam, Netherlands in May, 1992. All songs written or co-written by Mark Knopfler |
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MCMXC A.D. by Enigma
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Tony loves: Sadness actuall, i love every song in this album. the album is a whole body that can't be divided into pieces. i love the voices in this album. it's so soothing and magnetic. it's the greatest album i ever heard. |
| COMMENTS: Enigma includes: Michael "Curly M.C." Cretu.All songs written or co-written by Michael "Curly M.C." Cretu."Good evening. This is the voice of Enigma. In the next hour we will take you with us into another world, into the world of music, spirit and meditation. Turn off the lights, take a deep breath and relax." So begins the experience of MCMXC A.D. The soft female voice with a beckoning European accent amidst an ethereal backdrop of harmonic soundscapes is followed by Gregorian chanting, and, finally, the beat. "Start to move slowly. Very slowly. Let the rhythm be your guiding light."Perhaps this is what a techno artist would create to incite monks to dance: innocent grooves, sacred texts. Until, there enters another breathy, sensual woman with sultry French talk. By now there's a compelling dance groove, which builds for a few minutes, then finally plateaus into a space filled with dripping sounds where the beat is kept afloat by the rhythmic panting of our seductress. Gradually this grows as more instruments are added, and she continues, this time in English, with "The Principles Of Lust." Finally the panting becomes erratic, the Monks sing backwards, and Enigma has another fan. |
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Songs From A Secret Garden by Secret Garden
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Tony loves: the beautiful melody in this album. so tranquil and serene. actually, i thought it's too sad the first time i heard it. but a friend of mine strongly recommended it to me. so i listened to it more often. then i began to love it. not so sad at all. just tranquil and serene. feeling like strolling in a forest enjoying the scent of the nature.... |
| COMMENTS: Personnel: Rolf Lovland (arranger, conductor, piano, keyboards); Gunnhild Tvinnereim, Rhonan Sugrue, Irish National Chamber Choir (vocals); Des Moore (guitar, mandolin); Asa Jinder (keyfiddle, keyharp); Fionnuala Sherry (violin); Andrea Marlish (harp); Davy Spillane (Uilleann pipe, low whistle); Hans Fredrik Jacobsen (Norwegian whistle, whistle); Deirdre Brady (flute); David Agnew (oboe, cor anglais); Jean Lechmar (clarinet); Bjorn Ole Rasch, Jon Kjell Seljeseth (keyboards); Noel Eccles (percussion).RTE Concert Orchestra includes: John Tate (conductor).Engineers: Oskar P. Sveinsson, Andrew Boland.Recorded at Syrland Studio, Reykjavik, Iceland; Windmill Lane Studio, Dublin, Ireland; Major Studio, Oslo, Norway; Puk Studio, Kierby, Denmark. Includes liner notes by Rolf Lovland. |
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Tony loves: Another Brick In the Wall (love its rhythm and drums) Young Lust (it's so Cool!!) Hey You ( everyone loves this one ) Nobody Home ( just like its style, i don't know why, hehe ) |
| COMMENTS: Pink Floyd: David Gilmour (guitar, vocals); Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals); Roger Waters (bass, vocals); Nick Mason (drums).Additional personnel: Bruce Johnston, Toni Tenille, Joe Chemay, John Joyce, Stan Farber, Jim Haas, Islington Green School (background vocals).Producers: Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, Roger Waters.Recorded at Superbear Studios, Miravel, France; Producer's Workshop, Los Angeles, California; CBS Studios, New York, New York between April and November 1979.All tracks have been digitally remastered.THE WALL was Roger Waters' crowning accomplishment in Pink Floyd. It documented the rise and fall of a rock star (named Pink Floyd), based on Waters' own experiences and the tendencies he'd observed in people around him. By now, the bassist had firm control of the group's direction, working mostly alongside David Gilmour and bringing in producer Bob Ezrin as an outside collaborator. Drummer Nick Mason was barely involved, while keyboardist Rick Wright seemed to be completely out of the picture. Still, THE WALL was a mighty, sprawling affair, featuring twenty-six songs with vocals--nearly as many as all previous Floyd albums combined.The story revolves around the fictional Pink Floyd's isolation behind a psychological wall. The wall grows as various parts of his life spin out of control, and he grows incapable of dealing with his neuroses. The album opens by welcoming the unwitting listener to Floyd's show ("In The Flesh?"), then turns back to childhood memories of his father's death in World War II ("Another Brick In The Wall [Part 1]"), his mother's overprotectiveness ("Mother"), and his fascination with and fear of sex ("Young Lust"). By the time "Goodbye Cruel World" closes the first disc, the wall is built and Pink is trapped in the midst of a mental breakdown.On disc 2, the gentle acoustic phrasings of "Is There Anybody Out There?" and the lilting orchestrations of "Nobody Home" reinforce Floyd's feeling of isolation. When his record company uses drugs to coax him to perform ("Comfortably Numb"), his onstage persona is transformed into a homophobic, race-baiting fascist ("In The Flesh"). In "The Trial" he mentally prosecutes himself, and the wall comes tumbling down.This ambitious concept album was an across-the-board smash, topping the Billboard album chart for 15 weeks in 1980. The single "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" was the country's best seller for four weeks. THE WALL spawned an elaborate stage show (so elaborate, in fact, that the band was able to bring it to only a few cities) and a full-length film. It also marked the last time Waters and Gilmour would work together as equal partners. |
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Tony loves: The Unforgiven II (love its guitars and drums and melody) Low Man's Lyric (love its melody) actually, Tony loves every song in this album. i love their guitars and drums. it's so lively and powerful. lovely, mmmmm...... |
| COMMENTS: Metallica: James Hetfield (guitar, vocals); Kirk Hammett (guitar); Jason Newsted (bass); Lars Ulrich (drums).Additional personnel: Marianne Faithful (vocals); Bernardo Begalli (violin); David Miles (hurdy-gurdy); Jim McGillveray (percussion).Producers: Bob Rock, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich.Recorded at The Plant Studios, Sausilto, California between May 1995 and February 1996 and from July to October 1997.When Metallica recorded 1996's LOAD, the studio sessions were fruitful enough for the band to put out two records. A year and a half later, RELOAD is the inevitable follow-up. Stretching beyond Metallica's speed metal roots, RELOAD is a continuation of the experimentation that dismayed many old fans and welcomed in many new ones. As a result, many Metallica firsts are reached on their eighth album. Some anomalies include recruiting the legendary Marianne Faithfull to contribute backing vocals on "The Memory Remains" and the addition of hurdy-gurdy and violin to the mix of the wistful "Low Man's Lyric." Throughout all this experimentation, Metallica still plays hard and fast, particularly on the metal groove of "Fuel" and the relentless pounding of "Where The Wild Things Are," (a title borrowed from children's author Maurice Sendak). Metallica continues to reinvent itself in a genre where mediocrity is always just around the corner. |
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Tony loves: tony loves their drums. their music is very rhythmic and very lively. however, tony thinks the content of some songs are detestable. never mind, tony loves their music. :D |
| COMMENTS: Pearl Jam: Eddie Vedder (vocals), Mike McCreedy, Stone Gossard (guitars), Jeff Ament (bass), Dave Krusen (drums).Additional personnel: Walter Gray (cello), Rick Parashar (piano, organ, percussion).Engineers: Dave Hills, Don Gilmore, Adrian Moore.Recorded at London Bridge Studios, Seattle, Washington from March to April, 1991.All songs written by members of Pearl Jam.TEN, Pearl Jam's debut album, was released less than a month before Nirvana's NEVERMIND, and although it took longer to climb the pop charts it also hung around longer, eventually outselling its Seattle rival. Together, the two albums reinvigorated rock and roll, whose share of the pop marketplace had been slipping through the late 1980s. But while Nirvana's bruising punk rock was an all-out assault on the classic-rock dinosaur, Pearl Jam's accomplished hard rock was an attack from within the system. The drawn-out, bluesy guitar riffing and anthemic choruses that dominated TEN instantly gave away roots in the same popular hard rock and heavy metal that Nirvana was intent on crushing. Indeed, before forming Pearl Jam, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament (who between them wrote most of the music on TEN) were the core of two '70s-influenced metal bands, Green River and Mother Love Bone. But in place of the self-aggrandizing, larger-than-life singers that led most such bands, Gossard and Ament found Eddie Vedder, a ravage-voiced vocalist more apt to identify with the abused and misunderstood children he was singing about than with any other rock stars. When he exploded into one of TEN's many memorable choruses, Vedder offered transcendence for the people who needed it most.The storyline of the album's breakthrough single, "Jeremy," was typically vague and elusive (despite a highly suggestive video), but the message was not. The meek and the misunderstood, Pearl Jam seemed to be saying, would rise and inherit the world, even if it was only a world of their own invention. |
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Tony loves: Hotel California (the guitar! so great!) Love Will Keep Us Alive (a beautiful song) I Can't Tell You Why (love the melody so much....) Desperado (both the words and the melody are beautiful and sensible) |
| COMMENTS: The Eagles: Don Felder (guitar, vocals); Glenn Frey (guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals); Joe Walsh (guitar, organ, vocals); Timothy B. Schmit (bass, vocals); Don Henley (drums, percussion, vocals).Additional personnel: Jay Oliver (keyboards); Timothy Drury (keyboards, vocals); John Corey (keyboards, guitar, vocals); Gary Grimm, Stan Lynch, Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Scott Crago (percussion, drums).Producers: Eagles, Elliot Scheiner, Rob Jacobs (tracks 1-3, 5-15); Eagles, Stan Lynch, Rob Jacobs (track 4).Engineers: Rob Jacobs (tracks 1-4), Elliot Scheiner (tracks 5-15).Recorded at Warner Burbank Studios, Burbank, California; The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, California; Sounds Interchange, Toronto, Canada. Includes liner notes by Sal Manna.All songs written or co-written by members of The Eagles except "Love Will Keep Us Alive" (Pete Vale/Jim Capaldi/Paul Carrack).HELL FREEZES OVER features four new studio tracks along with live material from the Eagles' return concert on MTV."Love Will Keep Us Alive" was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, and "Hotel California" was nominated for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. HELL FREEZES OVER was nominated for Best Pop Album.In a disappointing year of virtual reality performances, the Eagles' highly touted tour of America was a triumphant affirmation of enduring pop values, from a band that literally wrote the stylistic book on the singer-songwriter/rock'n'roll synthesis during the '70s. And as a band member jokes in a droll intro to their live set, "For the record, we never broke up, we just took a 14 year vacation."So now we have one of the most anticipated reunions in rock history.Certainly the internal pressures which tore the band apart haven't been papered over, judging from post-tour statements. From the outgrowth of all that creative tension is a remarkably tight live set, and a four-song prologue of new Eagles material, all as fresh and melodious as the originals.Not surprisingly, the strongest of the new tunes, "Get Over It" and "Learn To Be Still," come from collaborations involving Don Henley. The latter a dark folkish ballad offering reassurance in the face of life's small, bitter defeats, the former a four-on-the-floor, chicken fried rocker which decries the self-victimization of Americans. And their live rendition of classic tunes really hold up: all are brimming over with elements of country, R&B and blues, sedate, funky grooves, seamless five-part harmonies and sweet soaring guitar solos and duets--all the sounds and flourishes which add up to the Eagles trademark California rock. |
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