Customer Reviews

Live at the Royal Albert Hall

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

 

 

This has to be in my opinion the record of the year, the talent and melding of voices from Heidi Vogel and Eska Mtungwazi and Patrick Watson give credence to a hauntingly beautiful and rare melange of talent that is captured in this recording.

I never write reviews but I was so moved by this music that I had to research the band.

This is a good album, some may even think great. I personally found that I prefer the more intimate sound I'm used to with Cinematic Orchestra- the presence of actual orchestral backing changes the sound, and even the general tone/mood. The lonely vibrato of the electric pianos sounds a little less dirty (for example) when accompanied by orchestral chimes.

It's a taste thing though, and you may very well like this album as much as their other stuff. I still think "Man With a Movie Camera" is their high water mark.

I find several of the tracks on this live cd profoundly emotional and moving even after numerous listens. The people who engineered the technical aspects of this recording should get multiple Grammies for how astonishingly clean and vivid the acoustics are... particularly the large string section. The only arguable downside is that there are too many down tempo songs, which creates redundancy and melancholy. However the bluesy female vocalist is unbelievably good, the male vocalist on the folksy tune "To Build a Home" (which at first I felt did not belong, but came to truly enjoy) is superb, and the instrumentals are excellent --particularly the drumming and acoustic bass which are both brilliant and brilliantly recorded. The standout tracks are, first and foremost "Time and Space" on which the string section is just hauntingly beautiful; "Man with the Movie Camera"; and "All that You Give". Upon later reflection I should have given this 5 stars and just accepted the excess of ballads and down tempo songs.

The music of this record flows smooth and deep, as how you can expect from a great jazz session. All is made bigger and more intense by the location, for the influence of the hall on the sound. A great, great record. Strongly recommended.

Jazzers often dabble with DJs and sampling, but with Cinematic Orchestra, it has happened the other way round. Leader Jason Swinscoe started out chopping up his record collection (1960s and 70s jazz and soundtracks) for the Ninja Tune label. He has ended up with a band of fine jazz players - but not a jazz band. Through two albums (Every Day, Motion), collaborations with Roots Manuva and Fontella Bass, and a soundtrack for the Russian silent movie Man With a Movie Camera, Swinscoe has turned lots of the sampling back into live playing. It has the directness of simple loop music, but 10 times the emotional power