Customer Reviews

Global Drum Project (Snys)

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

 

 

As a percussionist and a Mickey Hart fan, I didn't need to listen to the sound clips to know I was going to buy & like this new CD.

This album has a slightly more updated, new-agey/spacey vibe to it than Mickey's earlier projects; Planet Drum and At The Edge. (And I'm totally cool with that.) I think it sounds better, a better mix, better production.... something I can't put my finger on..than Planet Drum or At the Edge.

I've been buying many different CD's in this genre as of late, and in listening to Global Drum Project, I heard pieces that were reminiscent of Jim DiSpirito's "Big Silence," Glen Velez's "Rhythm of the Chakra's," and Jim Donovan's "Drum the Ecstatic." Amazingly, I also caught a hint of Pink Floyd on the song "Under one Groove."

Highly recommended to anyone that appreciates world percussion music.

My only beef is that it's not an ultra long album. It definitely left me wanting for more.

Mickey Hart's ongoing passion for rhythm and the percussive potential of almost any instrument, object or process, once again surfaces gloriously on this album which reunites the core of the original Planet Drum, minus the late Babtunde Olatunji (except as a vocal sample on the opening track), and the team of Airto and Flora Purim. While the loss of these three who were at the forefront of the first Planet Drum recording in 1991 is unfortunate, the larger role given to Giovanni Hidalgo certainly helps to compensate for the loss of Airto and Purim in providing that essential Latin groove. Nigerian talking drummer Sikiru Adepoju is also given a larger role, providing a solid replacement for the loss of Olatunji. Yet "Global Drum Project" does not merely repeat the formulas of the first, great, Grammy-winning album, but gives a greater role to the burgeoning fascination with the rhythmic possibilities of electronic loops and samples, an aspect of their current explorations that are included in their live performaces as well. Although the sticker on the front of "Global Drum Project" announces this as the "long awaited sequel" to Planet Drum, it's important to remember that this is not actually the case, since the second phase of this group delivered "Supralingua" in 1998, which itself forms a transition between the first album and the current release. Despite the passing of so much time between each offering, this stripped down version of Drum shows as much inventiveness and passion as either of the two previous recordings, although its relatively laid-back impression may surprise some. Even the inclusion of actual lyrics on the album's final track, "I Can Tell You More," advances the Project into yet another realm of potential exploration. If I give it only four stars, it's because of the relative shortness of the album compared to the earlier releases, not because anything is lacking musically or in terms of exploration, and becuase there isn't a four and one half rating. Those who loved Hart's earlier outtings will surely embrace this album as well as the performances of the Project's current tour (see them if you can, they are truly wonderful in concert). Those who don't "get it," probably still won't and may wonder what the fuss is all about. But for anyone who understands that the sound of rhythm/percussion and the human breath and voice are the very soul of music, this is only the next station stop on a miraculous journey. There's so much richness and texture in this album. I could tell you more . . .

I saw this group in person and just had to have one of their CDs. Definitely not disappointed, although it's even better watching them on stage.

I am a percussionist and these cats are fantastic! I saw them play just 3 nights ago and it was mesmerizing. The recording is top-notch. Recommended. Fun, groovy and hypnotic. Get it!

Hart is so accomplished - love seeing us older ones being creative. Read his book 'Soundcatchers' published by the Nat'l Geo. Society. Great stuff, wonderful photos. Bought 2 Global Drum CDs. 1 unintentionally - no problem - have lots of kids to gift these coming holidays. Kate Russell

I found out about the Global Drum Project while watching a TV show about Pulsars. The Pulsars in the solar system create sound rhythms as they spin and Micky Hart and friends listened to these rhythms and created this music. I love the music and played it for the music teachers who attended a seminar I taught. I used it to inspire the music teachers to see how tuned in to the cosmos they are. Music is universal and we are part of it.