Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
their final CD?, July 22, 2002
This CD, on import only, is not the best bel canto CD (Shimmering, Warm and Bright fits that title) but it is still a curious musical journey. In some countries, this CD is titled "IMAGES", which is also the best song on this set. The artwork for "RUSH" is much better than the cover of "IMAGES"...if you care about such things.
Anneli has lots of fun singing these songs, especially 'Dinosaur-Slipper Man', and there are plenty of spare moody numbers. But it does not match Magic Box or Shimmering. Still, one of my favorite groups ever! Check out Anneli singing on the new "a-ha" CD (also on import only... such a shame that all the great Norwegian artists can't find a record contract in the states.)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best albums available..., January 28, 2004
Rush/Images has to be one of the most moving albums available. Well, actually, it isn't available. This alone helps to keep it so mysterious and magical. Anneli Drecker, vocalist, leads the listener through the experience of the "Return of Saturn" phenomenon. Have a listen to the chilling "Idly i de-ice," for example, or the haunting experience that is "Sun." By the end of the album, you're listening to a beautiful and melancholic fairy tale, "Heaven." The album has no weaknesses, in my opinion, and it's Bel Canto's most profound effort to date. Indeed, "Shimmering Warm & Bright," "Birds of Passage," and even "Magic Box" contain different pieces of Bel Canto's magic that cannot be found in "Images/Rush." But, is that not the point? I believe that you will find Bel Canto's richest textures in either Shimmering or Images/Rush.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Uneven but unique sounding ambient, January 12, 2004
This was my first exposure to Bel Canto doing an album in the ambient category - I'm not familiar with "Birds of Passage" which I've heard is also an ambient album.My first impressions were that "Images", "Verena" and "Rush" are the best tracks on the album, but after a few listens I discovered the much more subtle beauty of "Idly I de-ice", which I think is the only track from this album I've heard on the radio before. I also warmed to "All I want to do" and "Heaven" after a while, but the other tracks are not really up to the same listenability, although they are far from bad. I've read that this record was going to be promoted by the same person who was responsible for launching The Corrs when they took off in a big way, and this album lost out as a result. Judging by the stronger tracks here I also see no reason why this album doesn't deserve to be better known than it is. "Rush" is a really groovy track, for instance. On the whole, I also prefer Bel Canto with this ambient backing to the poppier style of "Magic Box" and "Shimmering..." I discovered that Torbjørn Brundtland, later one half of Röyksopp, has participated on almost all the tracks on this album. Also, Bel Canto have their own unique sound, so their records are always something special for that reason. From what I understand this owes much to their inspiration from the Cocteau Twins, made much more accessible to the mainstream in the form of pop or ambient. Annelis vocal style has more room to shine over these ambient arrangements than in the poppier ones. My overall judgement, therefore, is four stars, despite some unevenness of the tracks here.
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by Bel Canto 
