Merlin from the New World Music Collection - Medwyn Goodall

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Very Easy Listening
Disadvantages:	A Little Repetitive

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Medwyn Goodall is one of my favourite composers of "new age" music. I find his music very relaxing and inspirational on the whole.

Merlin is the second CD of a trilogy set. The first is Druid and the third is Excalibur (see my reviews of those too). The set is released on the New World Company label and is available in most new age shops or on their website www.newworldmusic.com and is also available on Amazon.

The CD is approximately 43 minutes long and has seven tracks, as follows:

Myrrdin
Mystic Potions
Tyntagyll
Lady of the Lake
The Sword
Alchemy
Druid's Return

Throughout the CD the music flows very gently, washing over you in waves. There are no dramatic tempo or volume changes making it perfect for relaxing in the bath or meditation. It is also very good background music as it does not really grab your attention at any point. If anything, I found it a bit repetitive with each track sounding fairly similar to all the others.

My favourite track, which also happens to the be shortest at a minute and a half, is Druid's Return. This track has quite haunting pan pipes on it which I particularly like. The whole CD is purely instrumental although there is the odd bit of voice with no words, the voice being used as another instrument.

Whilst this is a soothing CD, I feel that it is perhaps a bit short at 43 minutes and not necessarily value for money. If I were to recommend any of the trilogy set, I think it would be Druid which strikes more of a chord with me. I would definitely recommend Medwyn Goodall as a composer though, with some of his Native American inspired music being very good.