You Must Believe in Spring [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Bill Evans | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 3, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Rhino
• ASIN: B0000C24KC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,625 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the wait, February 7, 2004

By 

David R. Cohen (Torrance, Ca.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Must Believe in Spring (Audio CD)

My 30-year love affair with the music of Bill Evans has a new magical moment. Many of the reviews here and elsewhere are a testimony to this great artist contribution to Jazz. I purchased this album (Vinyl LP), when it was released in 1981. It was always one the albums I came back to no matter what and how life was changing around us. It is simply timeless and beautiful music. The mood it captures is intoxicating and expressionistic. An artist who paints with a piano.

Having many of Bill Evans CD's, I never got around to buying the CD version of "spring". Having read back in October that this "new" re-mastered edition would be release around early 2004. I waited.

I'm glad I did. Bill Evans fans will be pleased with the sound quality and the labor of love that went into releasing what I consider a perfect recording to begin with. One may argue about the music, (is that possible?), but the quality of the original recording was always excellent. Even when considering it was 1977. In addition, there are 3 "new" tracks that according to the liner notes, were from the original "spring" recording sessions, but never released. Listening to these "new" tracks, and the mood of the original LP, brings some insight into the artist thinking and creativity, the mood the music (in the album) represented. Read the notes by Francis Davis, interesting viewpoint. Eddie Gomez base is captured and given new life as well with Eliot Zigmund percussion. The subtleties are all there, fresh and clear.

Drum Roll Please ------- I give this a Five Star, the recording, the re-mastering quality, the consideration and respect for the artist, the joy it will bring us in the years ahead.

36 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine 58 minutes, but not the best that's out there..., June 17, 2004

By 

William E. Adams (Midland, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Must Believe in Spring (Audio CD)

This is late-career Evans, recorded three years before his 1980 death and not released on LP until 1981. The original seven tracks are wistful, and the three bonus selections are more upbeat, which is a nice way to end the disc. I don't know if Evans had any influence on choosing the title, but it kind of contradicts the mood of the album. This effort has two compositions by Evans himself, one reflecting on the suicide of his ex-girlfriend, the other on the suicide of his brother. And then he does a neat five-minutes-plus dissection of the theme from M*A*S*H, commonly known as "Suicide is Painless." But we all know that it is not. There is a lot of quiet beauty here, and if you already like Evans, you should have this one. However, I think a better starter kit would be "Sunday at the Village Vanguard" and "Waltz for Debbie", both from 1961, and "The Best of Bill Evans on Verve" which covers the later 1960's. Mr. Evans had much trouble in his life, some of it due to his own heroin and cocaine dependencies, but he made beautiful recordings for nearly 25 years before his death at age 51. Every self-described jazz fan should get to know his work. A tribute poem by Bill Zavatsky is included in this CD booklet, and its first two lines are true, addressed to the recently deceased pianist: "Music your hands are no longer here to make/Still breaks against my ear, still shakes my heart." One wonders why so many artists, singers, musicians and actors whose work makes us ordinary folks happy had lives of quiet, or not so quiet, desperation.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beauty comes from sadness..., December 5, 2006

By 

Sebastien Micheletti "soulseb" (France) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Must Believe in Spring (Audio CD)

This is by far my favorite album from Bill Evans. Off course i dig about everything he did since the riverside years but this one is very special to me. I also think this one's perfect for beginners and even for people who are not quite into jazz. It is very accessible and classical (such as Satie) fans have got a good chance to fall in love with this masterpiece.
I'm ranking that one as #1 on the desert island ;-)