Adiemus III: Dances of Time

Adiemus

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 23, 1999)
• Original Release Date: March 23, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Higher Octave
• ASIN: B00000I8UU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #80,369 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Adiemus is a studio creation of Karl Jenkins, the former Soft Machine keyboardist whose first album, Songs of Sanctuary, spawned the unlikely hit "Adiemus," heard on a Delta Airlines ad and compiled on the mega-selling Pure Moods collection. Plugging into Gregorian chant, ethereal Celtic music, the hybrid language of Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance), and the layered vocals of Enya, Jenkins hits all the exotica buttons. His Enya is Miriam Stockley, who can sound like a boys choir or an African tribe. The initial Adiemus album had an undeniable charm and exoticism, and, despite its advertising lineage, gorgeous melodies. While Adiemus II was mired in Jenkins's symphonic aspirations, Adiemus III regains some of the charm of the original. But Jenkins's writing is overly precious, drawing on superficial aspects of global dance rhythms that make Adiemus come off like Disney's "It's a Small World After All." --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An attempt at variation, but ends up too folky., March 30, 1999

By	J. Altman (Claremont, NH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I first heard the Delta Airlines commercial I instantly noticed the song and wondered who had composed it. Eventually I found Adiemus and really enjoyed their first album, Songs of Sanctuary. It was rich, expressive, and most of all original. The second album, Cantata Mundi was basically more of the same but had a more orchestral feeling, and overall wasn't as good as the first, but wasn't that bad either. Then there's the third album, Dances of Time. It's not that this album is really bad, it's just that it doesn't provide anything new. Carl Jenkins appears to have wanted to transcribe the unique sound of Adiemus onto other styles of music such as the tango, and square dance but the result is instead a mishmash of folky dance rythms, and classical waltzs. I still feel that Songs of Sanctuary was the best and it just got worse from there, which is a shame considering that the style had a lot of potential. Many of the songs in Dances of Time are upbeat and "move" but overall it seems too contrived. A for effort, C for implementation. Sometimes change is not a good thing. If your a big Adiemus fan you might want to give Dances of Time a go, but otherwise stick with Songs of Sanctuary and leave the others be.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sadly rather stilted, October 18, 1999

By	Chris Hillery (Vacaville, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I think "Adiemus 2" is one of the best CDs in my collection, and the original "Adiemus" is also pretty wonderful. However, in 3, Jenkins slipped up. The beauty and grand feeling of the first two are replaced by jigs, and pretty trite ones at that. Phrases are unnecessarily repeated, and obvious hooks are run over and over to the point of distraction. And fairly frequently, the music will just bounce to a stop and then go on again, a technique that grows tired very quickly. In the service of this style, the instrumentation and vocals (which are still pristine) sound awfully contrived, even pretentious. There's some very impressive musical ability on display here, but it too often just doesn't amount to anything with emotion.

I really wanted to like this album, but I just can't. There are some good moments, but it's too hard to let the sounds carry you away when you're busy rolling your eyes. Give this a miss, but run, don't walk to pick up "Adiemus 2".

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Adiemus, June 8, 2000

By	Martin Byker (South Africa) - See all my reviews

When the first Adiemus album was released, I knew, withconfidence, that anything from the pen of Karl Jenkis will be good. Iwas, however, disappointed when I bought Adiemus III - Dances of Time. But don't be discouraged to buy this CD: It grows on you, to such an extent that your neighbors will beg you to please turn down the volume of your stereo system. My advice when listening to it is to listen to it very loud (you must have a good stereo system).It entrances you, and it is a breath of fresh air in this world of Brittney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and others. It is a marriage between baroque and rythmic styles of India, Africa and Europe, which gives to it a very mysterious flavour. No harsh tones used here, just pure music. It will keep your ear glued to the speaker. So buy it. buy it now.