Heart Of The Valley

Jeff Larson (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 22, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Human Nature
• ASIN: B002JLFO0Y
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,159 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Magical Heartfelt Collaboration!, October 11, 2009

By 

Nancy Holtz (Hastings, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Heart Of The Valley (Audio CD)

Hi I've been hitting the replay on this cd since it has arrived. I knew at the first mention of Gerry Beckley (America) and Jeff Larson getting together and putting together this new cd, that it was going to be a Magical Masterpiece for sure. Getting to hear these songs in their entirety was like spending comfortable time with a friend. It is very hard for me to pick a favorite on this set of songs. Each and everyone of them have a unique well rounded blend of Gerry & Jeff and a touch of new magic. The lead song Heart of the Valley is full of rich acoustics and smooth piano accompanyment, add from the heart harmonizing vocals and lyrics, and this completes this sincere gem. This song settles in your bones quickly and you will find yourself humming along with the haunting outro inspired by Neil Finn (Crowded House) and brought to life nicely vocally by Jeff Foskett. I can hear a nice hint of Timothy B Schmit in Jeff's vocals on this song. Sudden Soldier captures me right from the get go, once again we are treated to a well blended rich acoustics, drums, and keyboard wizardry. I love, Jeff & Gerry's vocals, harmonizing and the way this song climaxes in a rocking way. Matt Beckley's touch of magic producing this is right on. The right back at you magic that is going on between Gerry & Jeff will carry you on to each song and will have you wanting more. Airport Smiles is a gentle blurr, even though it is short, it is packed full of the heartfelt magic between Gerry & Jeff, Jeff's neat added Airport clip sets the setting nicely. Minus Marci is a shinning, toe tapping gem, this song needs to find it's place in a movie soundtrack or tv show. It would make a real nice live show, jammin treat as well. Calling is filled with Gerry's sentimental ballad side, as well as his love for orchestrated backing, I also love how Jeff's vocals bring this sentimental gem to a nice visual blurr. I love how the trombone and euphonium add a soft sensual blurr to complete this in a much appreciated way. Ryland Steele (was in Matt Beckley's group TEA) adds his drum style to round it off in a new way. I also love the way the acoustics and piano play back and forth to each other in the middle bridge of this song. Next up is One Way Ticket and this song has won me completely, I love the freshness of it. I love knowing that Gerry's son Matt Beckley added his magical touch in producing this new rockin gem. This song has it all, rich, rocking acoustics, harmonizing that takes you a level higher and I have no problem hitting the replay on this song. I would have loved to be in the recording studio watching this gem unfold. Jeff shines brightly on Five Mile Road, his way with fitting his vocals to each song is very evident on this song, it gives that hauntingly mesmorizing blurr, that I sooo love to hear in Jeff's songs. Rusty Young of Poco adds a nice touch with the steel guitar. Southern Girl shines every sooo brightly, Jeff's bluegrass, country edge side is accompanied nicely by Dewey Bunnell's (America), you will love humming along with the harmonizing vocals and rustic acoustics. It is sooo easy to hear all the heartfelt collaboration going on in these songs. Jeff's way with Two People at Once captures you in a heartbeat. Simply Jeff and Gerry shining their softest sentimental sides. The lyrics in this capture my curiousity. I simply love this song. The harmonizing part in this song carries you back to the early days of the Beach Boys sound and makes you wish you could turn time back and be a part of that time era once more. Wishing Well is filled with the magic that I have always loved about Gerry's way with lyrics, as well as Jeff's individual lyric and vocal style. I feel that they have connected 100 percent on this song. One Lit Window is the perfect magic to end this new cd. The softness of this song spells out the collaborated magic that has become realization in the completion of this Gerry \ Jeff Heart of the Valley cd. Thanks Gerry for the new gems,it's always a pleasure to be treated to your Kiss of Life way with your love for music. It's nice knowing that Gerry & Jeff wrote 2 of the songs together on this cd, Minus Marci, and One Lit Window. I have been a long time fan of America's,Gerry Beckley's solo works, as well as Jeff Larson's works, and I will always look forward to new cds coming our way. Congratulations to Gerry, Jeff and Hank Linderman, Matt Beckley, and all that are a part of this new gem. I gladly recommend this cd to all! My Life Highway is sooo much richer because of having this music to accompany my days and nights. Shine On Jeff & Gerry!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Larson cd!, October 5, 2009

By 

Phyllis Diller "Phyllis" (Las Vegas, Nevada United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Heart Of The Valley (Audio CD)

I've kept this cd in my player for the past month and have been listening daily to all the tracks. Incredible cd from start to finish. I've always felt that Beckley and Larson's musical style would blend perfectly and so I was delighted to see that they collaborated on this CD. Another reviewer has already given a breakdown of each song, so I won't do that, other than to say that my fav song is probably Minus Marci -- but there are 4 or 5 absolute gems on this cd. Two People at Once reminds me a little bit of Gerry's Inspector Mills in that it's a ballad/story type song. I'd like to comment on how strong the recording and production is on this album. Sometimes independent labels have recordings which are sub par -- especially compared to the recordings that are done on major labels, but this CD sounds great -- whatever studio was used was top notch and is better in my opinion (from the recording standpoint) than Larson's previous cd's. Keep this CD in your vehicle for a while and you'll end up loving every song on the cd. I'm already hoping that these two guys have several more CD's planned!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Perfect Collaboration!, October 23, 2009

By 

T. Drum (Horseheads, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Heart Of The Valley (Audio CD)

OK. In my opinion, this is far and away the greatest CD Jeff has ever released. Gerry Beckley has done miracles for Jeff's range of materials. What a team! To be honest, Gerry's songs, which he wrote most of on this CD, are superior to any songs that Jeff has released (and I have all of his CDs). That's not a slam at Jeff. It's just that Gerry has been around a LOT longer and has such a library of songs to choose from. Jeff's voice has never sounded stronger on this CD. Bottom line? The best Jeff has released to date, and hopefully, he and Gerry will collaborate again. "Two People at Once" had me believing that it was Gerry singing vocal and not Jeff. Their vocals are so much alike.There is nothing wrong with singing songs that some other artist wrote, Jeff. Especially if the songs were written by the leader of America (the band, not the country. LOL).