Customer Reviews

Masters of Chant, Chapter III

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gregorian music set to modern-day electronic beats may be nothing new but on 'Masters Of Chant Chapter III' they interestingly enough revamp well-known classics to give each their own unique twist, such as Depeche Mode's "Blasphemous Rumors", New Order's "Blue Monday", Duran Duran's "Ordinary World", and a heart-wrenchingly beautiful rendition of Sting's "Fields Of Gold" which only serves to elevate my enjoyment because many of the tracks covered here are some of my all-time favorite songs from the 80s and 90s. For a very long time I was reluctant to buy this because I initially thought the concept sounded cheesy but trust me when I say it's anything but that! They brilliantly reconstruct these old masterpieces and make them their own so I'm really happy to have received this as a gift for Christmas. Its been spinning in my stereo ever since and I honestly can't stop listening to it!

I was reading a thread at Sarah Brightman's fan forum at her website one day and found out that she guest sung on "Voyage Voyage" and "Join Me" (the original and a stunning trance remix by Schiller are both featured here) under the alias Hepsibah and her breathy operatic voice is as gorgeous as ever. Her appearance on this record was my real motivation when it came to giving this enchanting group a chance because I'm a huge aficionado of her work but I'm hooked for good now and must give Frank Peterson (the producer of Sarah Brightman, Enigma's first album and now Gregorian) my praises for his incredible knack for talent.

There is not a dull moment on this CD, the beautiful Gregorian choir is breathtaking, every song is mastered with a standard that amazes me and voices that draw me. Once again Frank Petersons team have created a CD so wonderful that I often wonder "Could it get any better?"

There are interludes which guide you from song to song, and these are beautiful, in fact if you listen to the entire CD through, you won't feel like you are listening to a CD, you will feel like you are in heaven!
I do have favourites though. "Join Me" (Written by none other than Ville Valo from HIM) is a stand out (Sarah Brightman sings in this) which makes it simply stunning. 1000 times I have listened to this, and I love it just as much as when I first heard it. "Blue Monday," (New Order) "Ordinary World," (Duran Duran), "Blasphemous Rumours," "Fields of Gold," (Sting) "Before the Dawn," "Wicked Game,(Chris Isaack)" "Out of the Cold" and "Voyage Voyage" (another Sarah Brightman imput) I would give a million stars too and would still pay 100 bucks if these were the only songs on the disc. All the other songs are amazing too, "Be" being very a powerful song, Elton Johns "Sacrifice" recreated perfectly. "I won't hold you back" is very relaxing ... There is wonderful use of electric guitar, piano and strings and don't be put off by the type of songs being sung, and Gregorian Chanting is no laughing matter, the vocals are deep, sometimes dark, and very beautiful. The Gregorian versions of these songs are better than the originals. This CD is simply amazing.

After moving to Germany, I was introduced to the Gregorian Masters of Chant 1 & II and was thrilled to hear many of my favorite songs arranged in wonderful styles, making me love them all the more. I immediately let other friends in on these fantastic releases and I've been anticipating the Masters of Chant III release. I'm very pleased with their latest selections. Sarah Brightman again lends her beautiful voice to enchanting versions HIM's Gothic `Join Me.` For those fans who haven't yet seen the songlist, here it is:

Join Me
Be
Blasphemous Rumours
Only You
Blue Monday
Sacrifice
Ordinary World
Fields Of Gold
Before The Dawn
I Won't Hold You Back
Wicked Game
Out Of The Cold
Join Me (Chill Out Version)

Gregorian has once again created an album full of moving and well-paced pieces such as Neal Diamond's `Be,` Depeche Mode's `Blasphemous Rumours,` Yaz's `Only You,` and New Order's `Blue Monday.`

Fans of Elton John, Duran Duran, Sting & Chris Isaak will appreciate these Gregorian versions of some of their most memorable ballads. `Fields of Gold` is a real compliment to Sting and was one of the reasons I snatched up the album the moment I saw it! Toto's `I Won't Hold You Back` is a touching arrangement bringing back many memories.

I've read many reviews of the first two Master Of Chant albums and would like to ask fans if they know the orginal artists for `Breathe` and `Make Us One` which have been featured on alternative releases of the first Masters of Chant album.

For you Gregorian fans, this is another must-have! Enjoy!

Frank Peterson created one of the best sound projects ever made, Gregorian. An essemble of church vocalists and singers from the distant places of Europe decided to give an etherical and sublime twist to well known pop and rock songs. Enhanced by the voice of Sarah Brightman under the pseudonim of Hepsibah, this album shows an incredible quality and a superb sonic magic. Songs such as Only You, Sacrifice and Fields of Gold enhanced their nature with the superb voices of those men. At the same time songs like Join Me, my personal favorite from that album, Wicked Game and Blue Monday traveled through time and space to find their inner sublime poetry when sung by Gregorian and became world music classics. Treat yourself with the wide variety of now-world-music-hits of used-to-be-not-so-nice-one-hit-wonders sung by the outstanding quality of a bunch of interesting and clinicaly severe music dreamers. A must-have album for the people who enjoy being completely different and still going mainstream. No more to say, listen to it and you will be mesmerized by them also.

...one star needs to be deducted; CD can't be used in PC drives (which is how I listen to my music). This is a major handicap and ticks me off no end.

First off, let's get one thing cleared up first, just because, there are Gregorian chants going on this CD, it does not mean this is like Enigma. The guy at the music store told me if you like enigma you will like this. That is not true. Gregorian is a different stream of ambient/new age music, not in anyway related to the enigma kind of sound. Enigma is a class apart, they are unique. The major difference is that Enigma comes up with original content, use samples and basically create moods and sound pictures. On Gregorian, master chant series (There exists no1 to no4) the concept is basically to take a gregorian chant group who basically sing your popular English hits in a Gregorian chant flavor. And this is not a bad thing at all, it's a nice concept and let me tell you, I never imagined, the hits if sung in this manner and with the beautiful soothing music accompanying the Gregorian singing could sound so mind blowingly novel and unique. Infact it is an aural treat. So this CD is great in it's own right as it is a totally different kind of sub-genre within ambient music which I never knew had the right to exist. Imagine Elton john' sacrifice, Sting's Fields of Gold or Duran Duran's Ordinary World sung in a Gregorian flavor. Can you imaging what that would sound like ?. Let me tell you it sounds real beautiful. Cool stuff. If you listen to this volume, you'll be wanting to get your hands on all the other three volumes as well. The music is captivating and the singing is flawless. You can listen to it with the volume up or you can turn the volume down and keep the music in the background which serves as good ambient fare while doing work. This is a fantastic CD. Get this. Vikram's both thumbs go up !!!!. Also the female vocals are by the famous Sarah brightman. You wont see her name on the jacket as she sung under a pseudonym "Hepsibah". There is not a bummer on this CD. The whole CD is pure Gold !!!!


Vikram

I own this CD, plus their second CD. Both CDs I LOVE! The songs sound amazing & beautiful!

I first heard their music while looking around at a store called Enchantments in Maine this just-passed summer. This was the first CD that I bought. I was instantly hooked! The next time I went there, I bought their 2nd CD. Fell in love with that, too. I plan to buy the whole collection soon.

I definitely give this a 5 star rating, & I recommend this CD (along with the other CDs) to anyone who is looking for music to sit & relax to. (Or fall asleep to, like me)

U cannot miss this one. Great pop songs get a nice remake into Gregorian chants. Great music to listen to while having guests over for drinks/dinner or when reading the sunday paper.

Heard tracks of this cd yesterday, thought nothing special about it but today I caught myself listening to the following tracks again!...ORDINARY WORLD, FIELDS OF GOLD & SACRIFICE. Not as good as the first cd but better than the second one. I give this cd **** out of 5stars. C'mon guys check it out. It's worth spending your money.

Gregorian, headed by German producer Frank Peterson (Enigma, Sarah Brightman), is formed of a group of talented studio musicians singing pop songs in the monophonic Gregorian style (Gregorian chant is based on eight modes and stepwise melody). As Peterson himself has stated, not all modern pop songs are well-suited to the Gregorian style.

On Chapter III, Peterson has remixed songs by Neil Diamond (Be), Elton John (Sacrifice), Depeche Mode (Blasphemous Rumors), Duran Duran (Ordinary World), Sting (Fields of Gold), Chris Isaak (Wicked Game), and HIM (Join Me). Of the many songs, I was only familiar with Sting's Fields of Gold and Wicked Game, so I'm not able to compare those to their original versions.

To be honest, I tracked down the Japanese import of Masters of Chant Chapter III for the two haunting covers of HIM's Join Me, sung by Sarah Brightman (who appears on several other tracks including Voyage Voyage). Brightman is a frequent Gregorian collaborator (Peterson is her producer), but due to contractual obligations, she's credited as Hepsibah on Gregorian albums.

Because of some of the limitations of Gregorian chant (mainly, no harmony, and everyone sings the same note), despite careful orchestrations, the album does suffer from a feeling of sameness. There was a certain novelty on the first Gregorian album (monks singing Losing My Religion?). However, Peterson turned Gregorian into a successful franchise, and the group has gone on to put out six CDs and several DVDs, including a darker CD called The Dark Side: The Original which features covers of Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein, Evanescence, Nick Cave, Sisters of Mercy, The Doors and Alanis Morrisette.

I grew to appreciate the individuality of the tracks after repeated listens, and new tracks such as Before the Dawn and Out of the Cold (written by Sarah Brightman's sister Amelia) hold up well next to established classics. Instrumentation is subtle and includes exotic touches such as the Indonesian gamelan and Irish tin whistle. Tracks are carefully sequenced and segue seamlessly into the next track.

The three French tracks Voyage Voyage, Ouragan, and Juste Quelques Hommes (the last two are only on the Japanese version) are actually some of the better tracks. My favorite is the Schill Out version of Join Me, which adds pulsing techno beats to Join Me, making it more urgent (the song has been accused of prompting suicides, so it's ironic to hear "monks" asking if you'll "join me in death").

Overall, the music makes for pleasant background music, but there is little differentiation between the tracks. However, there were a handful of strong tracks that I really enjoyed, including Voyage Voyage, Join Me, and Sting's Fields of Gold.