Customer Reviews

In the House of Stone & Light

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Music should be something that touches a part of your brain, grabs onto it fiercely, and refuses to let go until the melody is infused into your psyche. Well, that's exactly what Martin Page does for us with this album. From who I believe is the greatest musician to ever walk this Earth comes what I also believe to be the greatest CD ever fashioned. The opening track, "In the House of Stone and Light," reaches beyond the mainstream easy listening genre to areas previously virgin to musical touch. It grips you with a complicated melody with harmonics that seem to fill every cell in your body and uplift your spirit. Once you hear "Keeper of the Flame," you will never forget it, making it one of the most infectous melodies I've ever heard, and helping to define this album and give it a well deserved position at #1. If there was ever a reason to turn on your CD player, this is it.

Songwriter, singer and bass player, Martin Page, came in 1994 from behind the "pen" after writing several successful songs for acts such as Starship and Heart, to record this, his first and (so far) only solo work. This is definitely one of those cases where you're left wanting more. His lyrics are amazing: simple, yet touching. And the combination with the music is just perfect. Reminds a lot of the sound of Simple Minds, The Blue Nile, Mike and the Mechanics and Phil Collins' "Both sides..." album. No wonder, Phil Collins sits behind the drums for most of the songs. I certainly hope to hear back from Martin Page soon. In the meantime, this is a highly recommendable album that doesn't sound aged even after 8 years of its release.

Without a doubt Martin Page's "In the House of Stone and Light" evokes the most powerfully emotional response I have ever experienced, song after song, on an album. The poetry of the lyrics could stand on its own, but Page sets them to music that perfectly illuminates the lyric. This album resides in my car's cd changer and definitely gets the most play of the 100 or so albums that I listen to on the drive. I find that when I've become to invested in the pettiness of daily life, I listen to this album, which is both life-affirming and thought provoking and it takes me away. I can sing along exhuberantly or I find myself weeping at the poignant lyrics of "The Door." Normally somewhat detached, this wonderful collection touches even my husband who, upon listening for the first time, found himself lost for words. Get it and discover a truly wonderful collection and a gifted artist.

I first heard "In the House of Stone and Light" in 1994, but was not able to find the single for it. I finally found the album in early 1995 and took a leap and bought it for only one song. Imagine the sheer joy I found when I discovered that every single song on the album was something special. This album takes you through a journey of spiritual rebirth ("...Stone and Light") to the pain of domestic abuse ("In My Room") to the uplifting ("Light in Your Heart") to a somber reminder of the sacrifices of generations past ("The Door"). This album had a strong, yet largely unnoticed run of success in 1995. I firmly suspect that this was because so many people discovered this album and felt it was truly a gem that was uniquely theirs (I know I did). For "In the House of Stone and Light" to have achieved the widespread popularity without and shred of help from the entertainment promotional machine speaks volumes to how special this album truly is...

Words really can't describe the pure beauty and honesty Martin Page's music has. I saw him perform on Regis and Kathy Lee when his album first came out, and he mentioned that Phil Collins (my favorite of all-time) played drums on a few tracks. I bought the album and fell in love with it. Martin Page has written some of the 1980s' biggest hits - like "Free Bird/Baby I Love Your Way". All songs on this album are written by Page himself, with the exception of two, in which lyrcist Bernie Taupin, a long-time musical confidant of Elton John's, contributes his lyrical talents. It has upbeat, positive tunes like "In The House of Stone and Light", soft-romantic songs like "Keeper of the Flame" and "Light In Your Heart", as well as some compositions you wouldn't expect to hear on a pop-album. "Shape The Invisible" poetically captures the dark state the world is in. "In My Room" relives the horror of a boy living in a home with a father who phsyically abuses his wife, and "The Door", a song which travels back into the middle of the 1900's when Jews were being taken to the concentration camp Treblinka and tortured and eventually killed. Page's music can be compared to artists like Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Sting and Elton John. He, like these three famous artists, is from Britain, with some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard - poetic and pure in the most honest way. It's a shame it wasn't more well heard - then we might see another album by this very talented person.

I couldn't quite believe that out of over 20 reviews here, the average qualification of this record was of 5 stars. And that for a Cd of a relatively unknown artist?. I was somehow skeptical, but curious too. And out of curiosity I finally got my copy, only to find that yes, it should be considered one of the best albums of the 90's. The best reason that I can find for this album not having the success it deserved, is that it appeared in the 90's, not somewhere in the mid or late 80's. What a shame, born in the wrong time!. Having written some great hits of the 80's (like Heart's "These Dreams" or Starships "We built this city") makes no surprise the fact that Page's album sound so into that decade. In external reviews, I have noticed certain criticism because they say that Page borrows "shamelessly" from the style of well renowned artists. Certanily, there's no denial that you can find traces of Phil Collins in "I was made for you" (with the drums provided by Phil himself), Peter Gabriel in "Monkey in my dreams" (not only derived by the use of the key word "Monkey", but must of all because of the sound of the voice and choruses), Sting on "Put on your red dress", and a combination of Paul Young and Robert Palmer in "Light in your heart". But the similarities with others artist's styles, and the diversity that it provides, seems to me a very natural consequence, since Martin Page, at the time, was a songwriter used to write for other performers, thinking about particular styles. And let me tell you: I rather have a CD with a very diverse range of topics and styles, than to have a CD in which all the songs are alike. In that sense, this album, for me, works like a greatest hits package. Yes, all that you have read here in this reviews is true: this is a great CD. Go ahead and get yours.

I actually have the cassette of his music. I want the CD too.
I remember listening and hearing "In The House of Stone And Light" years ago on the radio when I was in 1st grade or something. Always been a favorite of mine. And some other favorite co-written songs include "We Built This City" and "These Dreams" (These Dreams, rocks my socks!) This album is very good.
It also includes great artists like Brenda Russell ("Piano In The Dark" another fave), and Phil Collins (he got great joints too)
Each song on this album is very DEEP. It is too bad, songwriters like this are scarce, these days. Ya gotta look deep for them. Most of the good ones were back in the day! Retro ones, still at it today ;)

"In The House of Stone And Light"-Very soothing and mellow song, reminds me of faraway lands. Something ethereal. One of my favorites; it stirs the soul

"Shape The Invisible"-"Why can't we shape the invisible?, he asks in the song. A universal theme about how life is, sometimes life can be challenging and sometimes we can get discouraged. An inspiring song

"I Was Made For You"-A beautiful, soft and mellow love song. This reminds me of 80's type music.

"Keeper Of The Flame"- A fun, upbeat song about keeping the flame going. :P A cool song to chill to.

"In My Room"-A serious, haunting song about a boy who witnesses domestic abuse. It's very well written, and the background is, even so, haunting.

"Monkey In My Dreams"-Unique song about obstacles. To me, it sounds like obstacles, lol.

"Put On Your Red Dress"- I can imagine a smooth jazz version of this song, because of it's mellow pop rock background. Another smooth love song.

"Broken Stairway"-a melodic, piano ballad about relationships gone wrong. It is indeed beautiful. I love the piano and I love piano ballads.

"Light In Your Heart"-The beginning of the song is the best.

"The Door"-Another haunting song about the Holocaust and a woman who remembers it all from her past.

I love how all of these songs are deep, well written, by a songwriter who prolly could (given the chance) write like Nicholas Sparks. ^_^ And his songs are so ambient and ethereal, and very worth lisetening to.

Great CD!

Martin Page's 'In the House of Stone & Light' is a true masterpiece. Released in '94 Martin's debut album/CD contains 10 of the most poetic, lyrical, heartmoving and infectious compositions you'll ever hear. I really can't say enough about this CD, now and always this one will remain in my all-time top ten.

Now OOP, I highly recommend you purchase one used, the price is definitely right.

I've listened to this album forever--since I hunted it down after hearing "The House of Sun and Light". The title song is a beautiful, spiritual song on an incredible album. My favorite is "I Was Made for You"...probably one of the most moving, evocative, romantic songs I've ever heard.

When I bought the album and did some research on Martin, I found that he wrote a lot of songs for other people to perform (like Richard Marx has/does). I am hoping Martin is still doing that, but nothing would make me happier than to have a follow-up to this album some day. I still love it; it's graduated to the iPod; it reminds me that not everything is superficial.

If making music may be considered a craft, Martin Page should be regarded as one of the most gifted and skilled craftsmen around. I have come across his name regularly on albums by other artists in his capacity as a guest musician and/or contributing songwriter. In view of his tremendous achievement on this 1994 release, his one and thus far only solo album, it seems a shame that this multitalented British artist has spent most of his career "slaving away" in the service of others.

Subtlety and finesse are clearly his weapons of choice on "In the house of stone and light", proving one does not need to raise one's voice in order to be heard. And while on the subject, Martin Page's soulful vocals, though "sung from the throat", are able to conjure up a warmth and feeling of intimacy excellently suited to illustrate this honest, introspective musical journey. The instrumental accompinement to his spirited vocal performance is kept fairly minimal, yet to maximum effect, building on a highly melodic foundation of ultrarefined, omnipresent keyboards and expertly dosed guitars. His music encompasses only the finest aspects of the work of other singer/songwriters like Larry Tagg (whose wonderful debut CD "With a skeleton crew" is very much in the same vein), Marc Jordan, Sting, Richard Page (of Mr. Mister fame, no relation), Marc Cohn, Jude Cole and Rich Wyman. Or indeed Phil Collins, who played drums on several tracks. It is apparent that his lyrics adhere to the same standards of excellence. He does not settle for anything less than profound, without ever overstepping his bounds into the realm of the pretentious.

At the risk of echoing the words of some of my fellow reviewers (who in this respect kind of stole my thunder), some of the songs deal with topics one would hardly expect to encounter on your basic poprock album. (Then again, this isn't just any album...) Most strikingly in my two favorite tracks, the unsettling "In my room" (in which a young boy's mother is being subjected to an ongoing reign of terror at the hands of her husband, an alcoholic) and the deeply moving "The door" (about a concentration camp survivor who is still being plagued by the memory). But i do not mean to imply that the lyrics generally tend toward the depressing. "In the house of stone and light" features some positive, upbeat songs as well, such as the beautifully sung title track (great vocal bridge), "Keeper of the flame" and the hopeful "Light in your heart", co-written by Elton John's longtime companion/composer Bernie Taupin. "Shock the monkey" (!) soundalike "Monkey in my dreams" on the other hand (also co-written by Taupin) may be a fun uptempo track to listen to, but packs a nasty punch from a lyrical perspective. Other highlights include the philosophical "Shape the invisible", the romantic "I was made for you" and the intense vocal and piano only "Broken stairway", all jewels in Page's crown shining with understated elegance.

On the self-produced "In the house of stone and light", from which all but two compositions may be credited exclusively to his name, the versatile Martin Page can be heard on lead and backing vox, guitars, basses, keyboards (incl. programming) and piano. He was aided and abetted by a number of lesser known musicians (apart from Phil Collins, that is), who shall remain nameless at this time. Despite the fact that it's been six years since he came up with this album, which i hear took him two years to make, i continue to bravely hope against all hopes that he will someday grant us an encore. Those mildmannered connoisseurs who are looking for musical grace and emotional depth (as opposed to a great many decibels and superficial entertainment) will have a hard time finding a better album.