Beyond These Shores - Iona

Advantages: 3 or 4 good tracks
Disadvantages: 3 or 4 unbearable tracks!!!!

...I am a huge Catatonia fan and having all their previous releases I could not wait for the release of this,unknown at the time, last album. I had previously heard 4 or 5 songs at a charity gig that I thought were great so I had very high expectations for the album. The first time I listened to Paper Scissors Stone I was very dissapointed. The mother of Misogyny, Godspeed, Imaginary friend and Shore leave are basically awful, there is no other way to describe them. It seems as though a lot of songs were rushed to get the album released on time. On a positive note, the album is still worth buying for the brilliant songs, Is everybody here on drugs? Stone by Stone, immediate circle and Fuel which are typically brilliant Catatonia classics.... Of all Catatonia's albums this is by far the weakest in my opinion. If you are looking for a good... Read review

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Advantages: One of the most powerful scores for a long time
Disadvantages: I have none

...THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING After John Williams' fantasy/adventure score for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2001 proved to be less than expected, the film music community was not waiting for anything really special for the rest of the year. So it was quite a shock when Howard Shore's score for The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring appeared with its dynamic and powerful score that blew everybody away. Howard Shore has never been considered as an epic composer. Shore was mostly known from his scores for David Cronenberg's films, as well as the equally understated score for Silence of the Lambs, the more religious Dogma, the silly Mrs. Doubtfire and the quirky Ed Wood. So when it was announced that Howard Shore would be scoring The Lord of the Rings, many score fans were a little dubious about his suitability... Read review

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Advantages: Some great music
Disadvantages: Compilations!

.... Shore, The Fellowship (Lord of the Rings) 6. Wagner, Ride of the Valkries (Apocalypse now) 7. Saint-Saens, Organ Symphony No 3 in C minor (Babe) 8. Williams, Main Theme (Star Wars) Now I do like this CD, especially the Mahler, apparently Thomas Mann was inspired to write Death in Venice after seeing Mahler in tears on a train leaving Venice, and it is a gorgeous expressive piece. There is a lot of variety within the CD, which for a compilation works in its favour however I am listening to it now and the usual arguments against a compilation ring true. The touch and depth of the Rachmaninov makes it a really poignant opening to the CD, and the tinkling xylophone that follows it with the opening of Hedwigs theme sounds really odd and out of place, which is why I would prefer to listen to a complete work but that's just me, I know I'm odd... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful