Strictly Ballroom (Quickstep/Foxtrot/Waltz/Samba/Chachacha) - Victor Sylvester Orchestra (The)

Advantages: Great fun
Disadvantages: Bizarre

...imagine. Another Romeo and Juliet track is given the remix treatment to somewhat unsettling effect. 'When Doves Cry' starts off in a plaintive fashion, but moves into a section where the music behind the vocals makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it's intended to sound sinister, but it definitely comes across that way. The lyrics are wonderful and I always find myself impressed by this track, even if I don't necessarily enjoy it. Also unsettling, but in a different way is 'Happy Feet', another Strictly Ballroom remix. The vocals and playing of Jack Hylton and his orchestra are given enough of a 1990s makeover to sound like a dance band has never sounded before, complete with record scratching. Great fun, but very bizarre. Back to the operatic songs, but this time on the bizarre front, Benjamin Britten's settings... Read review

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Advantages: Exquisite dance music. A fesrive fantasia.
Disadvantages: A little too fast moving

.... The Arabian Dance brings in coffee followed by tea brought in by the Chinese Dance. The Russian Dance, Trepak (The Butcher Boy) is one of the most memorable on the album as is the Dance of the Miriltons (Everyone’s a fruit and nut cake tune and Inspector Gadget) played on mirliton-flutes. Mother Ginger and her French bonbon children are next. then the Waltz of the sugared cake-icing flowers (Sanctuary, The Road to Wellville and The Mighty Ducks). The dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy closes the procession and forms the highlight. Tchaikovsky uses a type of glockenspiel, the celesta, to produce “the sound of falling drops of water, as from a fountain”. The instrument, only recently invented by Frenchman Victor Mustel, brought a distinctive sound quality to the music. A Grand Waltz concludes the album as Clara awakens to find herself under... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Not a single bad or even mediocre song on the entire album.
Disadvantages: Not everyone own's it.

...Having risen to the heady heights of fame at the tender age of 15, one might expect Silverchair to have burnt out and paled into history like so many others before them. Well... it hasn't been an easy ride, but the've come through. Each track on 'Neon Ballroom', their third and most accomplished albumn to date, deals with the many problems and emotions that have been thrown at front man Daniel Johns over the bands meteoric rise to the top. Johns solid, directed, guitar work combines with an orchestra of strings and some moving piano performances from fellow aussie David helfgot, to produce a very involving sound quite unlike anything your likely to have heard before. Drawing emotions out of you left, right and center, then slaming you down before repeating the process, this album could quite possibly be the soundtrack of a generation... Read review

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