Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Wall is a Great CD, October 16, 2003
I'm not sure why this album has received bad reviews, as I find it one of my favorites of my 30+ TD works to date (yes, I'm a fan). This is indeed a soundtrack, and my personal view is that the Froese gang is at their best when they have a theme to build on. I can't say there is one track on here that I dislike, but there are some favorites to be sure. "Silence the Barking Monk" (whatta title!) flows well, with good rhythym, and plenty of layered sounds to explore while chillin' with the system turned up. "Zhu Zhanji", "No More Candles Burning", and "Lights of Beijing" are also well constructed pieces, again with lots of detail to hold your interest. Then we come to "Snow on Dragon's Peak". Wow! I didn't think they'd ever be able to capture the "mountain majesty" of "Yellowstone" (from Le Parc) again, but they did it here. This track suffers from being too short (IMHO), and could have been developed into several themes, easily being a 12 to 15 minute piece. This is one of their best tracks. This CD has enough depth for eyes-closed listening, enough rhythym for working or driving to, and enough mood for background music. Hard to see where improvements could be made here. Enjoy!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still interesting after all these years, December 11, 2000
I ordered this disc for the simple reason that I didn't own it. My first listening was through an old-fashioned stereo with massive speakers (3 way system with hefty 12 inch woofers.) The first cut on this disc is something else...bass that rattled my teeth, a galloping rhythm which progressed through the song, and washes of multilayered electronic sound effects. I kept thinking, 'how do they do this?' Cuts 3,5 and 6 bear up just as well. Back at my home, through my elegant but smaller Bose speakers, the effect is diminshed as I can't feel the air moving in the room. No, this is not the best thing TD had done, but it is certainly not the worst. I remind myself that this is a soundtrack to a movie. In all due respect to the earlier review, this disc seems to have more in common with TD's earlier work than most of their recent releases, being more abstract and less tuneful. Considering the title, the music is remarkably free of the usual rubber-band and wooden bamboo flute effects most of us westerners associate with Chinese music. This is good TD more worthy of investigation.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Majestic Ambience, October 21, 2008
Released in early-2000 on the TDI Music label, Edgar and Jerome Froese produced 11 interesting tracks for this motion picture soundtrack. Obviously with Eastern musical influences, the soundscape is mostly meditative, but there is some clubland sparks that smoothly slides into the mix.
The elegant Cradle of Prodigies is the standout selection, though the bouncy Meng Tien, along with Zhu Zhanji and Tiger Forest are highly expressive. There is a majestic ambience that flows throughout and it is a solid, stand-alone artistic work.
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