Customer Reviews

Arcane

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a gorgeous album that completely defies categorization. Throughout the album, one can hear elements of jazz, classical, trance, pop, and world music (from all continents). Despite this eclectic blend, everything holds together for an album that can be enjoyed start to finish.

I have yet to meet anybody who doesn't like this album. As a matter of fact, I have yet to play it for anybody who hasn't purchased it for themselves shortly thereafter.

While I like every single track (rare for me), standout tracks are, IMHO, My Mother is Not the White Dove, Youth and Age, and Morecambe Bay.

This is one of the most beautiful records I know, and I have quite a few. Here a various musicians playing very different styles, coming together at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios to record a calm and focussed album where all songs - however different they are - have a unique atmosphere. This is World Music at its very best - too bad there was no follow-up to this wonderful album.

9 tracks may not seem like a lot of music for a CD in this day and age; particularly when those cuts have titles like "Ginger","Chinese Canon", and "Cage Dead (Word Version)." But, like all of the Real World recordings, this album is a radiant example of the music that happens when individual talents collide and fuse together.

Recorded during the famous "Real World Recording Week," which brings together diverse artists to see, quite simply, what will happen, this album is jazzy and meditative in its overall feel. Tracks like "Chinese Canon", "Ginger", and "Morecambe Bay" will be precious gems to someone looking for a balm to the hectic everyday life. For those who find solace through more energized tracks, "Yodel 3" and "Youth and Age" provide a welcome boost of energy.

For those looking for a "world music" collection of excellent quality and wide variety of styles, this album is a must.

Here it is... one of the only Realworld Records releases that I can genuinely and enthusiastically say I did NOT enjoy upon first hearing it. There are a couple of great songs here -- "Morecambe Bay," "Chinese Canon," and, to a lesser extent, "My Mother Is Not the White Dove." The remaining tracks are nothing more than stuffy, pretentious noodling masquerading as artistic exploration. I can understand the desire to honor the deceased with "Cage Dead," but the end result comes off sounding downright corny. Meanwhile, "Ginger" sloughs on for what seems like hours without ever really making a musical statement. No offense to the customers here who obviously enjoyed the album, but I just didn't "get it."