Music for People [ENHANCED]

Vast

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 12, 2000)
• Original Release Date: September 12, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B00004XPTI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #103,654 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

With his 1998 debut, Visual Audio Sensory Theater, Vast's Jon Crosby unveiled his dark musical vision and gave an insight to a childhood spent learning classical music, listening to U2 and the Cure, and watching MTV. On Vast's follow-up, Crosby's adds to his debut's components a masterful understanding of how to use his gifts. For the majority of Music for People, he delicately balances morbid melodies with tender orchestration. Trombone and ethereal strings lift the downtrodden "Blue," while joyous, overblown hooks elevate the sinister "The Last One Alive." Crosby's balancing act accentuates his love for pure rock drama. Unfortunately, this passion can also be his undoing; his operatic barking on "Song Without a Name" is too grandiose to be taken seriously. In the main, though, Crosby's smoldering vocals, cryptic words, classical leanings, and twisted blend of rock and electronica posit Vast as U2's heavy-rock cousins. --Dan Gennoe

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My album of the year for 2000, December 23, 2001

By	ixion75 - See all my reviews

Obviously this disc, John Crosby's 2nd, is different from the first. It is not as heavy or as raw... but it is still rich enough in textures and emotion for several bands' repertoire. It's just an incredible trip from start to finish and I think it is one of the most polished, smooth, perfect listens in all of rock music. It has a melodicity, a harmony, a brilliance to it that is unmistakably VAST.

There is a dark, solemn, melancholy feel to the songs, drawing the listener ever closer to the sentiment being expressed. Exemplifying contemporary rock music as deep experience, and all the while attempting to express the profound, the record moves from note to note and song to song effortlessly, while constantly sustaining a rapt attention from the audience. A song like "A Better Place" to me is lyrically, emotionally, and musically on a definitive and definite wavelength alongside the first album's "I'm Dying." Ditto "Touched" and "I Don't Have Anything." I know just about anyone going through a heartbreak or a lost love can approach the sort of wistfulness and yearning inherent in the mood created by these last two songs.

Mr. Crosby's songwriting is excellent and he is obviously extremely talented. Not many 21 year olds can go into a studio and play almost every instrument on his debut album. It is pleasant to see that his musicianship has not suffered on the sophomore effort, and that his unique sound is still present, despite what must have been an increased recording budget. Not
enough has been said I think about not only Jon's playing, but also his singing, which is very fine, and also the lovely, lush interweaving of ambient, native, ritual, and world music samples and chants. Any Enigma, Enya or even Delerium can do this, but few I've heard do it in a rock and roll context. I suppose the last one to do it really well was The God Machine-- extinct legends in their own right. In fact the very same "piletze pe" vocal that is sampled in "Touched" is used in The God Machine's "Home." (When I met Jon I asked him if he knew The God Machine's music, because they were the only band whose compositions I can compare the best of Vast to. He said "I've heard *of* them, but I haven't *heard* them.")

In summary you will not go wrong popping this CD in when in one of your darker moods. While not exactly a goth-trip it is a sensual and formal foray into rock and roll's utter beauty and possibility in talented hands.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How can one compare . . ., July 16, 2001

By	Bryan DEmilio (Pottstown, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Due to poor marketing, VAST (Visual Audio Sensory Theater) does not receive the recognition it truly deserves. Music for people is a monumental original piece that takes styles from many areas of music. The album opens with "The Last One Alive", a song that starts with a simple guitar rhythm, but then the piece explodes into a song that holds many harmonic sounds on top of the main melody. It's wonderful.

The album progresses from that song into other variations of styles and rhythms. The second song, "Free," retains the original sound from VAST's wonderfully moody first album, while the song "A Better Place" seems to hold strong alternative roots embedded into the guitar melodies and string harmonies. Once the album is complete, it is easy to see that it holds musical tastes for anyone that loves any type of rock. The key to what makes the entire album so good though is that VAST keeps their signature moodiness in their lyrics and overall tone. I highly recommend it for everyone (along with their self titled first album- "VAST").

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music For People, April 14, 2002

By	Clarissa "MoonGoddess" (Ontario, California) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I can understand how some people can be disappointed with this album but it certainly doesn't deserve any bad reviews. I myself wasn't thrilled with the utter change in Music For People but I also wasn't pulling my hair out in tears. To be terribly disgruntled would be an exaggeration but when I first heard Music For People I remember detesting it almost as much as I had their first release, just because it was so completely different. Orchestration was present on Visual Audio Sensory Theater but it was never in the forefront like it is here. The first album consisted mostly of sinister goth rock with deep profound lyrics (most of which were questioning Gods existance) with gregorian monk singing to give a slight Enigma feel. My views on their first album, however, have desperately altered since I first bought it back in 98, ranking up there now with my ten favorite albums. The whole gregorian influence is still present in songs such as "What Else Do I Do" and "Song Without A Name" but they are less apparent as they bleed into the background to the point of nonexistence. In many aspects this album is more rock oriented with tunes that could have easily been sung by artists such as Queen and Pink Floyde (namely on "Land Of Shame" and "The Gates Of Rock 'N' Roll"). Jon Crosby's gorgeous male vocals (which sometimes remind me of frontman David Gahan of Depeche Mode) really shine on slower ballads "I Don't Have Anything", "We Will Meet Again" and "Blue" which swims with flowing strings. The darkly lavished "Lady Of Dreams", however, closes this album with the same atmosphere that his first album carried, only with a purer more instrumental awakening.