Customer Reviews

Windham Hill Retrospective

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The first Andy Summers CD I picked up was XYZ and I really like the dark beautiful sound of it, but I haven't found another one that compares. I'm not a fan of jazz and it seems that all his albums following are jazz instrumentals. I picked up World Gone Strange and Retrospective on the same day and so was a bit disappointed when I first listened to them. But, they are starting to grow on me. I like World Gone Strange, Charming Snakes, and Oudu Kanjaira as they are the least jazz-like. This album is nice when you want something quiet to listen to, but I prefer his XYZ vocals.

A few weak cuts, but the good cuts are very good. I had read about Summers' instrumental CDs for years, and bought this compilation as a way of finally checking out what he had been doing. Interesting stuff. I sell CDs that I don't listen to, and I'm not selling this one. I just program it to the songs I like (about 2/3 of them). Some people will want to just download the cuts they want, but I prefer the better sound quality of the CD. By the way, this music isn't really jazz, as some people keep calling it. It's more like jazz-influenced, instrumental progressive rock. If you're looking for pop songs, skip it. As always with more advanced music, give it a few listens before giving up on it.

Andy Summers played guitar with Police. Afterwards, he made three solo CDs for Private Music during 1989-1991. This retrospective features performances from each of the three.

It sure isn't bad music. It does seem a little hard for Windham Hill, but then music doesn't need to be very hard to be hard for WH. Some of it is jazz, and the rest is pop instrumental.

Police fans who dont have the previous three records probably will want this. But for most of us, this is very pedestrian fare.