Customer Reviews

Songs Without Words

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

 

 

"Everything I Do" by the original composer, Michael Kamen, is alone worth the price of the entire CD. Everything else is an incredible bonus.

There are many different styles here, as well as several very familiar names. No one person will likely enjoy every piece played here, but each person should find a few favorites. I've listed some of my favorites below, but you might well have others.

John Corey's "A Hollywood Nocturne" really grabbed me with it's contrasting image of sadness and loneliness against, as Corey put it in the notes, "the beauty, wealth, and grandeur or Hollywood".

Then, overly familiar or not, Michael Kamen's "Everything I Do" indeed was a highlight.

Diane Warren's playing of her song which has been recorded by Celine Dion and Patti La Belle is also a personal favorite.

However, I found Carole King's "Blue Modal Morning Alive" my favorite, with its evocation of Idaho's wilderness.

Other notable ones include David Benoit's "Major Dreams, Minor Lies", Jim Brickman's "Generations, Stephen Sondheim's "What Can You Lose?" and the opening "Water Fountain" by David Foster. All in all, a very satisfying CD.

I love it. They were playing it at a restaurant I went to not long ago (outside terrace, nice warm evening, breezy, etc...), and it was the PERFECT CD to enjoy a glass of wine. I recommend it to all the music lovers and wine afficionados.

This is a strange CD. The songs are familiar (in some cases, too familiar as in "Everything I do") yet the arrangements present these songs in a new light.

This is a great cd for relaxing listening or dinner music. No, it's not groundbreaking, earthshattering, new stuff. Just very nice to hear.

I actually bought the CD because the arrangement of the all-too-ubiquitous "Everything I Do" was so well arranged that I wanted a copy of it. And the Jim Brickman Generations cut is a second favorite. Great to relax, take a bath, de-stress by, or enjoy a lazy Sunday morning in bed with coffee, a croissant and a newspaper.

A very good compilation of original compositions; includes some familiar pop ballads-

Good to listen to after a long day...

I picked this one at the used cd store, and it proved to be a decent find. Nothing fabulous mind you, but a good one to throw in while you're cooking a nice dinner perhaps. Every time I listened to it, however, it nagged at me, "Where have I heard this?"
Well, I went to the doctor the other day, and was in the waiting room, and -you guessed it- this was playing. So if this helps you at all, it's doctor's office music, which some may consider to be one step above elevator music. Proceed with that in mind.
Now I know why everytime I hear it I feel the need to shell out a ten dollar copay.

I didnt anticipate much from this CD when I bought it as the reviews were two pronged. I also knew what I was buying unlike some people who must've heard raves about the other namesake from Fred Hersch and bought this one accidently. It doesnt do enough justice to this CD especially if its judged by those who anticipated a piano jazz collection and accidentally purchased this one.

There are some tunes that are outright melodious,and well, the over hyped "everything I do" is just somewhere in the middle. The most beautiful ones are the compassionately rhythmic "songs without words" by eric bazilian and the meditatively soothing john corey's "hollywood nocturne". I think this CD doesnt intend to provide some insight into contemporary piano classical tunes, it just intends to provide a pleasant, relaxing ambience, to which end, it definitely succeeds.

The ambience that this work generates is very suitable for a formal evening supper or just to fall asleep listening to some charming music.

Careful, there are a lot of CDs titled "Songs Without Words." I bought what I thought (and what was represented on this site) as a used copy of Vol. 1 of the Windham Hill collection by that name. What I received was something very different from Brentwood Records.

Although most of the wordless songs on this disc aren't bad,they aren't especially great either."A Hollywood Nocturne" is perhaps the best thing here,with its evocation of neon lit late nights and the night owls who walk amongst them.Other than that there is mostly filler and miscellaneous fluff that you forget as soon as the songs are over.Windham Hill really didn't try too hard to come up with a great set, and it shows.Very disappointing.

If you ignore the title, this CD is an absolutely fabulous collection of instrumental music. However, I was disapointed that I was *singing* along to songs "without words". I feel that there are many other popular "theme" type songs that would have fit very well onto this album (and also don't have words!), but instead found everyone's favorite Robin Hood sap song. Nice try, but next time, hum a few bars and see if you remember the lyrics!