Younger Than Springtime 1959-1961 - Jan Johansson & Arne Domnerus

Advantages: As sublime and musically adventurous as ever
Disadvantages: Value for money?

...Following on from his virtuosic performance as saxophone soloist on Giya Kancheli's "Night Prayers" (on the ECM New Series CD Caris Mere), Jan Garbarek continues his interest in Northern European tradition and brings it face-to-face with more conventional jazz patterns in this 2CD set. There are some fascinating moves here, even by Garbarek standards. The use of a boys' choir on "We Are the Stars" followed by the voice of Jansug Kaknidze accompanied by the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra on "The Moon Over Mtatsminda" is a remarkable diptych of innocence and experience. Though Garbarek, by his own admission in the booklet notes, does not feature on the latter as writer or player, his justification for including it in an album under his own name is totally sound. It's not the only high point. Don Cherry's "Malinya" is a great homage... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet, Alan Jay Lerner's lyrics, Frederick Loewe's music-most of it.
Disadvantages: Some shopworn, predictable tunes and weak orchestrations.

..., 'Shan't I have the normal life a maiden should? Shall I never be rescued in the wood? Shall two knights never tilt for me? And let their blood be spilt for me? Oh, where are a maiden's simple joys?' Still in the sunny days of Camelot, Guenevere enthusiastically leads the celebration of springtime in the bold, brash, gay (in the old sense of the word) and occasionally risqué 'The Lusty Month of May.' It's the month 'for every frivolous whim/ Proper or im-!' as a certain perfume wafts through the air. What is it? Just 'that dear forbidden fruit!' Her slyness comes forth on 'Then You May Take Me to the Fair,' wherein she aims cannily for the wounded pride of three knights in persuading them to challenge and best the newly arrived French braggadocio, Sir Lancelot du Lac. When she asks Sir Sagramore about inviting the Frenchman... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Very cheap on Amazon at present
Disadvantages: The weakest of the band's albums

...When I first got a copy of “More Than You Think You Are”, I was distinctly unimpressed. For the first time, a Matchbox Twenty album didn’t immediately grab me and make me want to put it on constant play. The problem was that, on first listen, it didn’t seem entirely like either of their previous albums, which had grabbed me for different reasons – the lyrical thoughtfulness of their second album “Mad Season” or the more rocking style of their debut “Yourself or Someone Like You”. It took a visit to the USA last year for me to start getting into the album. The American Airlines flight we were on had a track from the album on one of the in-flight “radio” stations and, while we were there, MTV was playing “Unwell” on their daily chart countdown. As the show happened at pretty much the same time I was getting ready to go out most days... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful