Customer Reviews

Walls of Akendora

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Keiko Matsui has done an absolutely wonderful work with Walls of Akendora. But let's step back a bit to do some history before coming back to this wonderful album.

Keiko is a virtuoso piano player that mixes many contemporary jazz, electronica and some hints of new age to create beautiful music that is very distinct to anything else. So, please do not expect Chris Botti or Kenny G on piano. She has created a wonderful instrumental style of her own.

Keiko does an awesome job mixing both traditional instruments as well as electronic music with her world class piano. The results are very elegant music compositions that are very dynamic and carry you through a range of sensations and emotions effortlessly.

It is very hard to try to describe Keiko's music in its entirety. If you want to try some tracks, try the following and decide for yourself: "Overture for the City", "Mountain Shakedown" and "Walking through it".

The DVD adds a very nice touch as you can see Keiko's down to earth personality as she travels the world. A very nice addition to this great album.

Oh, Wow!
This is a cd that will be liked by all who enjoy George Winston, Mehdi, Danny Wright,David Lanz, or even Jim Brickman. It is the very essence of good new age. So tranquil, yet so spirited, this cd is a refreshing break from my well-worn collection, I just keep wanting to listen to it over and over again. I am amazed!
It reminds me somewhat of Kevin Kern, but still very unique. This is music to the soul. Absolutely relaxing, as well.

ALSO RECOMMENDED: Mehdi ~ Instrumental Heaven Volume 7 ..Truly a Gem...Samples are at SoothingMusic,Com...Just Listen.

For those of you like me that missed the Keiko Matsui from the 90's, with all of those melodies and jazzy funk that would become immediately ingrained in your memory banks, I have semi-good news: The horns and funky percussions are back. The bad news is maybe with too much of a vengeance. Starting from track #1, the songs are loud. Whistles blowing, drums banging, in one song I swear I even heard a fax machine going off. It's almost like she said, okay, you want loud, I'll give you loud! On the plus side, the songs are catchy, with my favorite tracks being 1, 4, and 8. Having possessed this CD for only 5 days, I am already humming the melodies- a great sign. Now the best news: cd#2-she has included a dvd that showcases earlier recorded songs. This DVD is better than the BET DVD, but falls short of the "Light Above The Trees" DVD. That is untoppable. Included in CD/DVD #2 is a video movie of Keiko's "What I did on my trip to South Africa, Eastern Europe, USA, and points elsewhere". For her to share this trip with her fans is one reason why she has such a loyal following: she shows a human side and really seems to care about her fanbase (which is smart, why alienate the hands that feed?). I particularly loved the scene when she is leaving a seemingly depressed area of South Africa clad in a full length mink coat due to unusually cool temps. (PETA people disregard this last sentence). To watch Keiko interact with the citizens of other countries, especially the South Africans, truly endears you to her. It doesn't hurt that she is also extremely attractive in the looks department. Keiko is indeed the best ambassador that Japan has blessed the world with since baseballs' Kaz Matsui. In Summary, this is the best CD/DVD since 2000, before Deep Blue. It deserves heavy FM airplay, and a place in your CD player.

WOW! Ms Matsui has really done it. I have all of her CD's and this is the BEST. She covers the full range of sounds- hard beat to soul renching soft. Whatever you do when you get this,
sit or lay down and LISTEN- give it your full attention as it certainly deserves it.
Thanks Keiko for not just writing music but creating it.

Keiko Matsui has always been my favorite modern jazz artist. It seemed to me that once Dreamwalk was released, she began to lose a lot of the flair in her music style she once had. Then, we begin to see releases like Whisper from the Mirror and Deep Blue. For many--myself included--this was a huge deviation from the traditional formula that made Keiko's music: even with the release of Wildflower, it seemed that we would no longer hear the upbeat, catch tunes we were once used to. This new experimentation with smooth jazz infused with a touch of new age wasn't particularly unwelcome for me, but more of a disappointment because her style of music was slowly falling into the new age category.

But then Walls of Akendora is released. The album is upbeat, catchy, and everything else Matsui's music once was. The bonus DVD, was certainly welcome, and helped make the purchase seem more worthwhile--especially seeing that the recording itself is only about 45 minutes. One of the things I find unique about this album is that there aren't any re-writes or new veresions of previous songs she's performed; rather, all the material is new and unique. If it hadn't been for the bonus DVD, I likely wouldn't have bought this album until it turned up in a local used bookstore, but, having listened to this CD in its entirety, it was worth every cent buying it new, and I'd buy another one even if it didn't have the bonus. This is an excellent recording and is a must-have for Keiko-aficcionados and even to those who don't own one of her recordings.

This is a great work by Keiko Matsui. It is a vivid blend of disparate elements that comes together as a whole under her gentle hand. Her wide travels really come out in this album as she explores a lot of new avenues and influences.

"Mountain Shakedown" and "Bay of Destiny" are two pieces that stand out. If you are trying samples don't miss those along with the title piece "Walls of Akendora."

There are not a lot of artist who could pull this kind of album off which makes this rise above many other works in this genre. This piece stands on both its originality and the strength of its presence. The complexity of what she is doing here is hidden behind the gentle melodies she is weaving together.

I suggest exploring her impressive catalogue. My favorites are:
Deep Blue
Wildflower
White Owl
Ring

If you prefer a more general sampling I would try:
The Very Best of Keiko Matsui
Or
Collection

I hope you enjoy her music as much as I have. Oh and her friend Kitaro was a strong influence for her back in the 80's so check out his work too. He's a little more toward new age than she is but they have similar approaches to music.

Keiko's style hasn't changed over time; instead I think it has expounded upon itself. This album is nothing short of fantastic, and it has everything Keiko fans would expect from one of her albums. There are infectious grooves (Canvas, Walking Through It, Blue Butterfly), catchy melodies as always (Gentle Sands, Crystal Shadow, Overture for the City), and dramatic, emotionally charged compoisitons (Akendora's Clock, Bay of Destiny). You have to hear them to believe them.

I was especially delighted that Keiko, as she has done before, revisited another one of her previous works (Mountain Shakedown). It's great to hear the catchy melody (if you've heard Mountain Shakedown only once before, you'd recall it the moment you heard it again) receive new life on the grand piano, fifteen years after it appeared the first time on "Under Northern Lights" in 1989.

Then to top it all off, something I didn't even notice until I got it home and opened the package: a 10-track DVD of some of Keiko's most memorable songs performed in concert. And I only paid $17 for this... wow.

I've taken a new liking to this kind of music. My wife has listend to it for years but for some reason it took a while to click with me. It's nice mellow music and well 'nuff worth having on in the evenings while I sit on the back porch watching the sun set.

Good stuff.

If I had known that this cd was "copy controlled" I wouldn't have bought it. I like her music but I'm only able to play this cd on a sony walkman player, I refuse to install third party software to be able to play it on my computer, can't even put the music in my Ipod. There are ways to circumvent the copy control but I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to be able to play this without installing some unknown software.

Keiko has won my heart w/ Walls of Akendora. The soothing sounds have really touched me in such a way to say that this is the greatest album I own by far.