Dance With the Stars

Gabrielle Angelique | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 8, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Harpstone Music
• ASIN: B000HWXAEO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #406,860 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From MainlyPiano.com, September 1, 2006

By 

Kathy Parsons (Florence, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dance With the Stars (Audio CD)

I have to admit that when I received "Dance With the Stars" for review, I was a bit skeptical. Celtic music was done to death a few years ago, so I was happily shocked to be completely blown away by Gabrielle Angelique's incredible voice and amazing story songs. Since I started listening to this CD about a week ago, I've become completely hooked, and have found myself driving around with the volume cranked up as loud as I could stand it. Wow! Angelique's voice is the focus on this CD, as it should be, and she also plays the accompanying harp and keyboards. The background instrumentation is perfect in its simplicity - ambient keyboard washes, harp, and the occasional rhythm track to set the soul to dancing. Several of the songs are fairy tales that charm with their innocence and purity, but others are darker and more painfully emotional. The tales are fascinating - mermaids, fairies, Wuthering Heights, lost love, found love, a bonny boat - and all of the lyrics are included in the beautifully illustrated booklet that accompanies the CD. Some of the songs are original, some are traditional Celtic songs, and some are cover tunes, yet the whole album is a cohesive package. I hate to gush, but this CD has really captured my imagination!

The title track opens the CD with a feeling of mystery. One of the darker melodies, the words and Angelique's sweet voice immediately draw you in and prepare you for the journey into days of old and fairylands where anything is possible. One of the surprises is "Wild Horses" by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. What a gorgeous melody, and Angelique puts heart and soul into it. I like everything on this album, but my favorite track is "Fairy Realm." The driving beat is infectious, as is the sound of the fairies laughing as they dance and play with innocence and abandon. The singer is the holder of the key to the realm, but she obviously has knowledge of the outside world where wars rage and blood is spilled. None of that exists in the Fairy Realm. Great song! I also really like "Wuthering Heights," which was written by Kate Bush, but Angelique makes it her own. Passion and desperation run through the song, and yet Cathy's voice is clear and strong in knowing what she wants. "A Mermaid She Was" is the delightful tale of a mermaid who has lived on the land for awhile and pleads with the ocean to let her come home again. "Anachie Gordon" is the tragic love story of a young woman forced by her parents to marry a rich man while in love with another. A traditional Scottish song, Angelique infuses it with defiance and loss as her heart breaks for her beloved Anachie. The CD closes with a poignant ballad by Enya, "May It Be."

What a knockout of an album! Very highly recommended!

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-own CD...., June 8, 2009

By 

William L. Davis - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dance With the Stars (Audio CD)

Not long ago I was exploring a craft show, examining the multitudes of charming creations brought to life by the many unique minds assembled there, when I stumbled upon one lot that especially caught my intrigue. I've always had an attraction to beautiful music, though for the better part of my musical endeavors I've committed myself primarily to creating and absorbing intense and barbaric death metal, the more passive interest drew me closer, and I met a kind girl that was distributing an array of albums featuring artwork that was appropriately representative of the beautiful music I was soon sampling with the headphones provided for which to experience certain featured albums. I was immediately taken by the primary featured artist; Gabrielle Angelique. I was so moved by what I heard that I'd decided to purchase at least two of her works before moving on, anxious to later absorb the albums in full. Thinking the girl distributing the CDs to basically be a label representative assigned to promoting at conventions, or a distributor, asking some questions about the music I was suddenly exploring, I came to realize that I was talking to Gabrielle Angelique herself! Despite having only just that minute discovered the artist I tell you that I was truly star-struck, having just then been touched by her fantastic work, to be talking to her was pretty exciting. Just as I would have expected after hearing the music, Ms. Angelique I knew immediately was as passionate of a person as such perfect music would suggest. Even if you don't have the pleasure of meeting her in person, to own her albums is to possess a timeless helping of her passion; the passion that fuels Ms. Angelique's drive to compose melodies with her Heavenly voice and its enchanting, entrancing compositions. Personally, my love for Celtic music has been strong since the day I first heard Enya, and like so many others, beyond my small, casual acquaintances with the music and my discovery of the great Maire Brennen, I never managed to dig deeper into the treasures that the genre includes, and believe me when I tell you that there are treasures to be found, and Ms. Angelique's work, in my opinion, should be at the top of your list if you really mean to expand your horizons of musical beauty. Gabrielle Angelique's music takes me to fantastic, gorgeous soundscapes, as one might expect; even talking to her in person I felt drawn into the same fantasy realms that no doubt are the visions that she embodies. The music draws me out of dismalness, its soul-cleansing substance helps me to wash away negativity and focus on the light in life. I think even the most negative and pessimistic of minds stand a chance of rising from self-imposed misery by spinning Gabrielle Angelique's discs. If you're awash in negativity and want another tool with which to see the light, Ms. Angelique's music is the medicine your soul needs. If you're a fellow optimist but like me are always open to new reasons to face the world around you with hope and happiness, ditto. I truly think if everyone owned at least one of her CDs, there would be that much more light in the world, as I myself have known very dismal days that might have been brightened had I then been surrounded by such beauty. Maybe my praise sounds over-the-top, but I speak from the heart, and Ms. Angelique is not paying me for the words you see here. These are the precise thoughts that filled my head as I spun her music on my drive home. I stopped at a lunch party first and I can tell you that the beautiful day in the mountains was all the more beautiful for the music that still reverberated in my soul. Perhaps I've elaborated enough. Perhaps not. If I haven't yet convinced you enough, I'll leave you with this final note; you would do good to take Ms. Angelique's music into your life and into your heart.