Ambient Lounge Vol.6 [Digipak] - Various Artists

Long Live the Live Lounge

Advantages: Great sense of fun and music abilty, lacking ego!
Disadvantages: The Automatic and Fiddy!

Covers have always been a bit of a hit and miss affair. Some people do it well, some people don't. It can be commercial suicide and ruin artists' credibility. The recent trend over the years, pushed particularly by Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley, and other ventures such as Warchild, is that an artist can perform live, or record a cover and still retain their credibility and not come over as a sell-out. Maybe it's just that people have lightened up a little, or maybe it is just because there are things like the Live Lounge, that encourage well-picked songs to do as a cover. Granted that the concept is not a new one, and even Jo would not say that. But, I think the idea of the Live Lounge is maybe new. For the last couple of decades, musicians and music lovers have been concerned about what is cool and what is now. Noone would have dared ...

paulosdekathos 07.06.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Radio 1's Live Lounge Vol.1 - Various Artists

Live Lounge - Simply Brilliant

Advantages: Brilliant Covers, Great Original Versions
Disadvantages: Data Listings on MP3 Players Is Sketchy

I actually downloaded this rather than buy the CD, but then had the wonderful surprise of The Blonde coming home and depositing it in my lap having just been out shopping. She bought it because I had been wittering on about how much I loved Jo Whiley on Radio One and especially the covers that the artists did on the live lounge. It seems to have got through.... I might have to try that tactic when I want a new suit *grin* Anyhow.... The album covers are actually pretty non-descript. The front shows some guitar cases with plenty of stickers, a couple of Mike stands and a bright red label with Radio One live lounge emblazened upon it. It does a job I suppose. The reverse of the CD has the track listings on, and since it is a double CD, there really isn't that much room for anything else. The tracks involved are as follows ...

beevorm 17.11.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Radio 1's Live Lounge Vol.1 - Various Artists

Uninhabited. Ambient Sounds of Nature

Advantages: A wonderful symphony
Disadvantages: None

I must admit that I am a fan of ambient music. By this I mean music that employs the ambient sounds of nature, melding and mixing them with newly-composed pieces of music. This type of music has been around for many, many years. An early example which you might have heard is the Nightingale recorded by the BBC in 1920 when it sang along to the cello playing of Beatrice Harrison. It really is a delightful piece, still re-broadcast every-so-often by the BBC to this day. The CD Uninhabited, Ambient Sounds of Nature might not be in the same class as that tiny little Nightingale, but it is a really suburb CD. The tracks are Tempestuous, Turblent, Rolling booms, Passionate, Uninhabited (the title track) and Random Flashes. The performance is by Levantis. Each piece uses modern music combined with natural sounds (the voices of humans ...

Martinscholes 22.11.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Ambient Sounds Of Nature Vol.1 (Uninhabited) - Various Artists