Customer Reviews

Earth & Sky

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Personally seeing the man do a show at the infamous Baked Potato in Studio City (near Universal Studios in L.A.), I can say that this album is typical Andy Summers. He's more content in finding rich harmonic structure than to astonish with impressively fast playing. This album is a treasure that most people will never notice. With a great cast of musicans, the album is a great showcase for everybody involved to be free and expressive. Every song provides the listener with a musical landscape that is descriptive yet easily understandable to the average man (non-musician).
He uses a wide array of rhythym and find that the trance-house music style of "Above The World" is a perfect example of what music should be, played by a musician rather than be made by a drum machine. I have no doubt in my mind that this is quite possibly his best release to date. Incredibly suave in all intention and explicitly unrestricted, this album is all about feeling. And quite frankly, this album feels good all the way through.

There is no denying Andy Summer's virtuosity with the guitar, particularly when it comes to creating the atmospheric soundscapes and effects which became a trademark sound of his work with The Police in the 70s and 80s. His solo work since then has varied both in style and in quality, and "Earth + Sky" is a solid, but not outstanding, addition to his library of recordings.

The album starts out strong and energetic with "Above the World", which features some great drumwork by Vinnie Colaiuta. "Now I'm Free" has a delicate, tropical feel to it, followed by the rather sexy, slow groove of "Diva Station". The mellow vibe continues with "Return", but then finally kicks back up a notch with the title track, perhaps the strongest on the album. "Parallels" returns to the soft feel of earlier tracks and "Circus" finally gets a little funky. "Roseville" has some nice hooks to it, as does "Red Stiletto". The album ends on a very gentle note with the romantic "I Choose You."

The problem is few, if any, of these tracks really stick in the memory. It is all fairly easy to listen to, but perhaps a bit too easy. Although I have listened to this album numerous times, I have a hard time keeping any of the numbers apart in my head, and it only occasionally shows what Andy is really capable of as a player (indeed, when I saw him perform a number of these tracks live not long ago, they shone out with much more energy and vitality than comes across on the record.)

Overall I can only give the album a solid average rating. I'd instead recommend trying to catch Andy live if you want to really see and hear what he is capable of, as this album will primarily be of most interest only to his diehard fans.

Andy Summers always performs with such passion, while being so graceful to the many fans he serve. He's quite simply one of the best guitarists I know. He's just magical, his play takes you to another place (not to some local beachfront but to a real paradise). I bought this album dirt-cheap right here from Amazon. I was very lucky - I met Andy last night for his book signing at Barnes & Noble at the Grove (Fairfax, L.A.) and told him how his solo work was just simply the best, and he really appreciated it. He signed this album and my copy of his new memoir "One Train Later". A very nice guy and one of my favorite artists from 'any' genre, jazz-fusion or rock. Just listen to this particular album - for me, it actually takes stress away while sitting on I-5. This album helps me relax in this part of our world we call L.A. (The cover shows the shadow of a hillside house looking down on L.A.) I Can't wait for the next album, as he told me it would be very soon!!! **UPDATE 02-21-2007 ...As with any project, Was it meant to be? I guess "The Police Tour 2007" will dice away any plans for a new solo album 'very soon' as Andy will be one busy guy this summer (I'm sure he won't mind, either =)) But, after the tour..Let's Hope. Peace - Joe 'Bear' G

He has an ambient masterpiece: Mysterious Barricades.
An ambient and grooves: The Golden Wire.
A music meets painting: Synaesthesia.
Now he's free and did it again: Earth & sky is a music masterpiece.
That's it. Go listen.

I highly recommend Andy Summers' amazing new CD, Earth + Sky.

You don't have to have followed Andy's career since the Police to enjoy this one. While Earth + Sky does contain elements of his previous solo albums, as well as his collaborations with Robert Fripp, more than any of his other CDs, Earth + Sky features generous helpings of Andy's classic Police sound.

In fact, much of the album specifically brings to my mind Andy's Police-era instrumentals, most notably Shambelle, as well as the instrumentation for Friends and Someone to Talk To. In terms of the Robert Fripp duets, I can distinctly hear passages and structures reminiscent of Parade and What Kind of Man Reads Playboy (both from the predominantly Andy-flavored Bewitched)
in there.

Sting's unequaled talent as a songwriter and tunesmith is undeniable, but Earth + Sky is definitive evidence that the sonic stamp of The Police would not have existed without the musicianship of Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland.

Don't get me wrong. While Andy's Police style and sound is prevalent here, he takes that style and sound in exciting new directions, resulting in a magical, ethereal and supernatural mixture of instrumental jazz, pop and rock. And the lineup of musicians backing Andy on this outing is simply stellar: Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, Abraham Laboriel on bass, John Beasley and John Novello on keyboards, and Katisse Buckingham on saxophone.

Don't miss out on this one, especially if you're a Police fan.

What a joy it was to see Andy play at the Adams Avenue Street Fair in San Diego, where he played a few compositions from his new album. I finally obtained the album after much delay from the distributors, but it was well worth the wait. Each composition is unique and showcases Andy's talent as a comoser, guitarist, and also displays his excellent choice in session musicians. His playing is graceful and not "in your face" guitar styling. Perfect examples of this would be the title track, Circus, and Parallels. If you like this CD, then you may also enjoy The Golden Wire and Charming Snakes, which are some of his finest works. But of course all of his CD's are unique and musically diverse...

This is a gorgeous CD from start to finish. The tracks have a nice blend of Jazz textures combined with Rock intensity at times. The emphasis is on melody and overall song structure rather than flash. Very listenable and very polished. One of my favorite CDs.

This is a FANTASTIC,GREAT,ASTONISHING cd-album!
Buy it with confidence,you'll never regret.
With great musicians such as Vinnie Colaiuta on drums,Abraham Laboriel (solid as rock) on bass and John Beasley + John Novello both on keyboards,Andy's unique and brilliant style on gtr is at its top! There are no covers on this cd,all songs written by Andy...EXCELLENT!!!
As Italian as I am (I live in Firenze,Tuscany ,the wine "Chianti" land) all I can say is that Andy's work on guitar is like a good old Chianti wine: the more it gets older the more you like it!
Well,his ex Police partner Sting lives in Tuscany too,but his music work smells of vinagre,(expecially his latest "Sacred Love"...rubbish!!!)...not a good wine at all,don't you?
Andy,please support Sting in writing better music...

Umberto

This album includes many of Andy Summers' best compositions, it is not the most energetic album though, maybe even a bit lazy. Lazy but nice. I give it a solid 4 stars.