Romantic Melodies

Mannheim Steamroller

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 21, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: American Gramaphone
• ASIN: B00007KLF5
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,497 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #93 in

  Music > Indie Music > New Age

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Composer Chip Davis projects the image of a sentimental, amiable fellow. And his easy-listening instrumental pop music (embellished with lite-classical accents), made famous by his bestselling Mannheim Steamroller Christmas recordings, closely mirrors those qualities. On Romantic Melodies, Davis (with periodic contributions from the London Symphony) creates a subdued disc that meanders for 52 minutes in search of a spark that never ignites. Davis's low-key melodies are pleasant enough, but in most cases, they're too simplistic to achieve much emotional depth. "Dancin' in the Living Room," for example, a tepid, sax-based attempt to capture the romantic charms of everyday life, sounds like something hatched by your cousin's wedding-reception band.

Things improve on the disc's second half with such tracks as "Chakra 4" (with its David Arkenstone-like rhythmic sheen) and the classical-flavored "Seven Stars of the Big Dipper." For romance, though, you could do better seeking out early releases from pianist Jim Brickman such as No Words, By Heart, and Picture This. --Terry Wood

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Old material repackaged, January 21, 2003

By	William Merrill "eclecticist" (San Antonio, TX United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This set does live up to the title, with some lush and romantic themes. However it is merely a collection of previously released tracks, not new material. The songs come from the Fresh Aire CDs, other Steamroller discs, and the Day Parts series. (Technically speaking the Day Parts cuts are NOT Steamroller music, since Chip Davis put those CDs out under his own name and not M.S. But since Davis is the guy behind MS, that's a fairly meaningless distinction.) Anyhow, the selections here are romantic, especially the beautiful "Nepenthe" from FA6. The song sequence was also thoughtfully laid out so that the songs flow from one to the next pretty seamlessly. Still, the lack of new material makes this not much better than a "mix tape" you could have assembled yourself. As a curiosity point I counted all of the M.S. collections of re-packaged material. There are now nearly as many of those (6) as there are Fresh Aire albums (8).

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Romantic Musical Adventure with Chip and The 'Roller, December 11, 2003

By	rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is collection of Davis' romantic melodies from other CD's and some added for this.

Especially fond of the beautiful oboe on "Bittersweet," "The Sign of Love," and "Nephenthe."

There is variety here, from some big-band type in "Slo Dancin' in the Living Room" for Chip's mom to nature inspired pieces of "Moonlight at Cove Castle" and "The Seven Stars of the Big Dipper."

Good mood music to set tone or just for enjoyable backdrop. These also make great special occasion pieces, as notes suggest some have even used at weddings, etc.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good "best of...", July 14, 2003

By	H. Pons "Nowhereman" (Nowhereland) - See all my reviews

Chp Davis don't have any new complete record, from FA8 (it doesn't include the summer song and bird song records, most ambient than music. This one is onlya a compilation, if you have a FA and Chip collection, don't buy it. If you don't have any, buy it, is good.

1. Serenity: Impressions
2. Sunday Morning Breeze: Sunday Morning Coffe II
3. Bittersweet: Summer song
4. Slo Dancin' in the Living Room: Romance II
5. Kanbai: Romance I

6. The Sign of Love: Impressions
7. Teardrops, Raindrops: Summer song
8. Chakra 4: FA7
9. Amber: FA3
10. The Seven Stars of the Big Dipper: FA7
11. Moonlight at Cove Castle: Romance II
12. Nepenthe: FA6