Customer Reviews

Ballads Before the Rain

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

 

 

Ballads before the rain is an exceptional cd. Its dialogical style, Ray on piano and Roy on guitars, create mysterious happenings in nearly one hour. Ray with some some of the most beatuful and original piano arrangements I ever heard, and Roys evocative guitar sounds - for the most part in the background. Together they have created music for intellectual and philosophical minds, music that affect every part of you. If you want to forget or loose yourself for some time, please listen to this cd: Two fabulous musicans who knows the art of musical interaction and improvisation. This is one of the best cds this year.

This is not rock music. The piano is closest to new age and classical style with an occasional blues and jazz feel. Manzarek's and Roger's rock background does show through on some tracks with the piano and guitar providing some nice rhythm.
The opening track, the classical Gnossienne, is nice but the guitar didn't quite fit the piece. The good news is that the album gets better as it progresses and the guitar accompaniment works brilliantly on most other tracks. I'm a fan of piano music and was pleasantly surprised with this album. With the exception of the Gnossienne track (very good but not perfect) I don't think anyone could have played piano more beautifully or with more feeling than Manzarek does on this album.

I've always loved Ray Manzarek's post-Doors musical releases, though they have been few and far between. This one - Ray's latest - is among his most consistent. Together with guitarist extraordinaire Roy Rogers, Manzarek constructs aural soundscapes of unsurpassed beauty. Ambient music which is not "elevator music" is a rare thing indeed. This release by Manzarek and Rogers - in essence - would best be classified as "mature, romantic blues-inspired music which is ideally enjoyed accompanied by a bottle of vintage wine". HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

One has to be cautious before buying an album like this. A 1960's rock icon, now pushing seventy, teams up with a slide guitarist and releases an instrumental album that includes 2 of his own pop classics from 40 years ago, plus a couple of post-classical tunes and some unknown material.... However, I gave it a shot and found this to be some very well conceived and powerful music.

Ray is on piano throughout, and his keyboard prowess has not diminished in the least in all this time. Roy is of course in his prime as a guitarist. The balance between the 2 musicians sounds good to me, probably more piano than guitar, but why not. You're not gonna rock out wearing a bandanna and swilling a beer to this album (unless you really want to), but it is a mature pleasure without being a task to listen to.

All in all, I find this one quite a bit more consistent than most of Ray's other offerings (even with the Doors), as there is not a single track here that I would select to skip over. No experimental rock synthesizer, no blaring pounding noise, nor do they wimp out with acoustic excess. They just make the best instrumental music that they know how to make. This might not be among the greatest albums in the history of music, but it is quite listenable.

It's been mentioned that this album contains an unspecified Miles Davis cover, but I didn't find any. Also, I would bet that in their sessions they tried more Doors covers than the 2 that appear here, and that they discarded all but the ones that worked best. That's fine with me - no one wants to hear inferior retreads of favorite tunes. The 2 Doors standards included are quite fine. As for the rest: track 1 is Satie. Track 3 is apparently something from a much longer suite by de Falla - (if anybody knows which sub-piece, I'd like to know.) Track 6 is a tune by a friend of Ray's named Darryl Read. Tracks 4 and 7 are Rogers originals. I think the others might be new, maybe one with some Miles influence in it, which I will be sure to listen out for in future playings of this.

This collaboration between Doors' keyboardist, Ray Manzarek, and guitarist Roy Rogers is very easy to listen to. I especially like their interpretations of two Doors songs, Crystal Ship and Riders on the Storm. Perfect to listen after a rough day at work.

Fans of Roy Rogers will be sorely disappointed by this release. His guitar playing is sparse and barely audible. And Ray Manzarek's keyboard playing sounds like something you would hear at a Holiday Inn cocktail lounge.