Customer Reviews

Between Green & Blue

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since Patrick O'Hearn has not released anything since "Metaphor", "Between Green and Blue" fills the gap as the next best thing. In fact, this debut album by David Helpling is about as good as anything that O'Hearn has ever done. The same brilliance of mood is accomplished, ranging from ominous and unsettling ("Stormchaser") to ultimately peaceful ("End of An Era") with many interesting sonic stops in between. Dreamy synthscapes paint an ambient landscape while the percussion, bass and guitar leave you not far from progressive rock territory. The mastering of this recording is about as good as it gets - your higher end stereo will love it. And, the cover art is appropriately mysterious in line with the title. When I play this album for people that I know, they inevitably love it.

Helpling's debut is remarkably accomplished and mature, sounding very much like a missing Patrick O'Hearn album. Using soft-focus digital synthesizers and exotic percussion, "Between Green and Blue" drifts along in beautiful 3-dimensional suites of depth and grandeur.

This debut album from New Age musician David Helpling is a really beautiful album and a wonderful hidden gem. The album cover perfectly showcases the mood of this album: Moody and mysterious yet very much at the same time, calming and peaceful.

Patrick O'Hearn fans will certainly enjoy this CD a lot because it borrows a lot of the styles of what Patrick O'Hearn composed and recorded during the 1980s. The most O'Hearn inspired tracks are the beautiful opener "Stormchaser" with it's stormy melody and exotic rhythm, the eerie "Alone At the Shore", "Wild Things" and "The Blue Sun" which almost sounds like something that could've come from O'Hearn's 1986 album "Between Two Worlds".

However other songs also have a distinguishable style with "Emeralds" being such a beautiful and heavily rhythmic beat, hauntingly beautiful melody, and a really cool chord change during the middle of the song.

While this album might have been slightly clouded by being a little too much like copying O'Hearn's 1980s style music, "Between Green and Blue" is a fabulous debut album from Helpling and I highly recommend purchasing a copy of this wonderful album.

After buying this from Amazon, I promptly popped it into my CD player and played the entire thing. Anyone who reads this needs to listen to 2 songs (among all the rest!) a few times, and the sound from both will fill your ears and mind with pure, wonderul, joyful and enspiring music. Those 2 songs are "Worlds" and "Emerald". Buy it folks!!!!!! It's a keeper. Thanks to David Helpling for a 10 star CD.

If you're a fan of Patrick O'Hearn's sound, I think you'll be pleased with this album that might fall somewhere between "Between Two Worlds" and "Metaphor" of O'Hearn's. It's relaxing, but cheery -- excellent for solid listening or background ambiance.

I bought this album based on Amazon.com recommendations, and I was VERY pleased with it. I'll be looking for more of Helpling's material.

Between Green and Blue may be David Helping's debut album (1997), but it sure sounds like the work of a mature musician. The multi-instrumental disc covers just about all the ground there is in symphonic electronica, along with its exquisite use of percussion, bass, and guitar -- from start to finish it's just captivating, moody, and mesmerizing. The aural landscapes that Helping creates get into your head and if you are not careful, you'll find yourself listening to this album over and over, just as I do. This is one for the all-time best list for its genre.

An incredible masterpiece of creativity with pleasant melodies. The music sets your mind free to wander with its interesting rhythms and patterns.

Similar to his other efforts, I eagerly await his next. We seem to shuffle all of Mr. Helpling's music in the studio throughout the day.

This cd is amazing. I first heard 'Share the secret' back in 2000 on 88.1 KCWC the Star-gate ( a college radio station in Wyoming). I was hooked by the first minute into the song. I went and purchased the album and was amazed at the consistancey of the songs. I've always been very skeptical when it comes to purchasing new age music. You can't go wrong with Helpling, I've since purchased 'Treasure' and 'Sleeping on the edge of the world', all are amazing musical journeys. ***Highly recommended***

David is a newly discovered favorite musician and composer whose music I was introduced to via his other superb album "Sleeping on the Edge of the World". This one predates "Sleeping..." but it is no less wonderful.

There are so many layers and textures to these compositions it is easy to see why he won special acclaim for this effort. His mixes are crystalline and the placement of instrument voices perfectly interweave and compliment the themes of his songs which are multilevel and exquisitely layered. The sound is lush and vibrant yet never crowded or damped down by the layering. David is assisted in his mixes by another engineering guru in the studio, Howard Givens, and both ensure that the various instrument voices are beautifully articulated. Especially the percussion which is outstanding.

Now to the songs themselves. I must admit that Song #3 "Alone at the Shore" is my favorite because of its hypnotic loop that weaves a feeling of joyous enchantment each time I listen to it's gorgeous melody that stays in one's memory. #8 "Worlds" has a marvellously seductive groove that evokes both sexy and wistful feelings; #9 "The Blue Sun" is accented by some absolutely genius effects. Song #11 "Emeralds" shimmers with a dazzling belltone synth voice and is another song that gets replayed over and over. An absolutely stunning CD that delivers both beauty and exotic nuances that are guaranteed to tantalize. A real treasure.