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2006-04-23T02:18:00.000-07:00

Steven Curtis Chapman: Greatest Hits

Steven Curtis Chapman: Greatest Hits
Steven Curtis Chapman: Greatest Hits Artist: Steven Curtis Chapman (Usually ships in 24 hours) In 10 years, Steven Curtis Chapman has charted 26 No. 1 hits, three Grammy Awards, and 32 Dove Awards (Christian music's equivalent of the Grammys). This release offers some of Chapman's best work in addition to two newer singles, "Not Home Yet" and "I Am Found in You," and rerecordings of "Lord of the Dance" and "The Walk," from the brilliant Signs of Life release. The latter two, labeled "Abbey Road versions," sound live, with soulful harmonica and additional guitar work not heard on the originals. Chapman's catalog of hits traces a developing and masterful artist who gains confidence and quality with each new release. --Michael Lyttle Listen to Neal Morse If you like SCC, check out the musical genius of Neal Morse! Great way to get introduced to SCC I really like Steven Curtis Chapman's songs. The music is very good guitar-driven rhythms and the lyrics are great. This Greatest Hits cd captures the best songs from the first half of his career (First Hand to Signs of Life). I wish it would have included "Let Us Pray" and "I Will Not Go Quietly", but other than that I found it to be a wonderful way to hear a lot of his songs. This CD is a great place to start you SCC collection; I'm sure Greatest Hits 2 is in the working to gather songs from his latest cds (Speechless, Declaration, All About Love, and All Things New). Now go out and get it! (I would have given it 4.5 stars but amazon does not allow that yet!) the best of the early years This collection contains some of the strongest songs of Steven Curtis Chapman's early career, and serves as a launching pad for all the albums to come. He has grown in strength and confidence over the years, and this album singles out those tracks that have captured him at his peak through each stage.

Two brand new tracks, Not Home Yet and I Am Found In You, give us a glimpse of the Steven Curtis Chapman to come - a much more audibly passionate and uninhibited artist than when he first started out. New versions of Lord of the Dance and The Walk (recorded at Abbey Road Studios) start to capture some of the energy found in Chapman's live performances.

With so many excellent songs to choose from, it must have been difficult to narrow it down to these 14 tracks. You may be surprised at some of the songs that are missing, but you definitely won't be disappointed with any of the ones that made the cut.

Larry Hehn, author of Get the Prize: Nine Keys for a Life of Victory

2006-04-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

WOW Hits 2006

WOW Hits 2006
WOW Hits 2006 Artist: Various Artists (Usually ships in 24 hours) great mix Like all of the WOW collection, WOW 2006 has a wonderful mix of music: the hits of today and a few great ones that aren't on the radio as much. WOW is helpful for when you want only the good songs of artists, not their whole CD. WOW! REALLY! In the past, I have purchased a number of WOW CDs. After listening to each of them, I have found that there are only a few songs that I really like. The rest are okay or so so. This creates the problem of wanting to skip over songs. With so many songs on them, that's a pain, so the CDs mostly sit on my shelf.
This CD is the first that lives up to its name. I find that I can pop them in the player and just enjoy. There are a few songs in a row that are more country than my tastes, but still they are nice. What a great compilation of songs! Truly WOW! WOW 2006 is my "Christian Pump" disk!!! I love it!!! I have never written a review before this - but I had to write one for this disk set because it is so powerful!!! I absolutely love WOW 2006. I have several of the previous WOW disks, but this one tops them all by far. I prefer the bronze disk because it is really gets me "Pumped up." I listen to it when I work out - it is so motivating and exilarating; I usually end up pushing myself an extra 20 minutes or so, just so I can listen to the music!!!!

2006-04-19T04:11:00.000-07:00

Lanza: Greatest Hits

Lanza: Greatest Hits
Lanza: Greatest Hits Artist: Georges Bizet (Usually ships in 24 hours) Easy listening I have always liked Mario Lanza and the album is wonderful and relaxing. Lanza of the joyous voice! This album has some really splendid songs, and yes, it's a good introduction to the King of the high last notes. I grew up with one of Lanza's albums and more or less learned to sing by singing along with his wonderful warm voice. What good energy he had... and too bad he died so young (sigh). It certainly lifts my spirits to listen to his music again and I hope anyone reading this will take a chance and get to know him too. Not bad as an introduction to Lanza I recommend this collection as a good starting point for those interested in this extraordinary tenor. It's not a complete representation of the man by any stretch of the imagination, but it includes a handful of unforgettable recordings that will make newcomers to Lanza sit up in astonishment.
Highlights include the immortal Serenade Golden Days from The Student Prince, Beloved (from the film version of the Student Prince, and arguably Lanza's best English-language love song), Because You're Mine, If I Loved You, and the stirring Addio Alla Madre from Cavalleria Rusticana. If love songs seem a little over-represented at the expense of arias and (notably) Italian Neapolitan Songs, then blame BMG for their habitual neglect of Lanza's more serious side. In any event, this is essentially a one-CD version of the three-CD set, The Mario Lanza Collection. All of the renditions are the same as on the earlier CD, as are the sound sources. With the exception of The Student Prince Serenade, most of the selections here have never sounded better.
Be aware, however, that several of the arias are in fact retakes of more familiar versions. Vesti La Giubba, for instance, is an alternate take from Lanza's May 1950 session, and although the tenor is in great voice, the orchestra lets him down on the climactic phrase by moving on before he has finished his High A on the word "infranto". The Flower Song is even more unrestrained than the familiar take - great fun, but not the kind of recording you'd want newcomers to Lanza to hear! (Lanza never quite "nailed" this aria, but his heart was in the right place.) La Donna E Mobile is the familiar 1950 version in the first half, but is replaced by an inferior retake in the second half, followed by an edited-in High B ending (on "pensier") from the original recording!
The only truly bad recording is the inexplicably popular With A Song In My Heart. Lanza is unfocused, and strains his way throughout the piece. Yours Is My Heart Alone is somewhat better, but is easily surpassed by the tenor's 1956 recording with the conductor Henri Rene (and currently unavailable on CD).
The "Greatest Hits" are here: the million-selling Be My Love, Loveliest Night of The Year and the aforementioned Because You're Mine. I have to confess to an aversion to the first two - Lanza was often a far better singer than these recordings suggest - but most fans, I'm sure, will continue to cherish them. Besides, what tenor since Lanza has ever sung Be My Love without straining his way through the wretched thing and then fudging the High C at the end? Lanza made it his own, and to be fair to the song, it is actually a very difficult piece to pull off, as Messrs Domingo, Carreras and Leech will no doubt attest. But that was also one of Lanza's most under-appreciated strengths - he made everything sound so easy. Listeners accustomed to the laborious efforts of most present-day tenors will be astounded by the freshness, ease, and sheer bravado of these performances.

2006-03-26T09:50:00.000-08:00

Queen - Greatest Hits

Queen - Greatest Hits
Queen - Greatest Hits Artist: Queen (Usually ships in 24 hours) Click Here for more information Queen brought a whole new meaning to the phrase over the top. While rock roll flamboyance stretched back at least as far as Little Richard, Freddie Mercury continued to camp it up, taking little seriously and smirking at the music's growing pretensions while partaking in them no small bit. Many of the band's singles hold up extremely well, such as "Killer Queen" and "You're My Best Friend". The quartet's canny sense of melody and sophisticated vocal harmonies--not to mention Mercury's raised eyebrow--have traveled well through the years. --Rickey Wright Highly Recommended Excellent choice for Queen fans; a compilation of some of the best there is. Awesome trip down memory lane This album is great! It contains some of the more obscure hits from Queen as well as the popular ones. The only thing missing is Bohemian Rhapsody. Not quite all the hits, but it's a start! With the greatest hits album of "Queen", we don't have all the hits, for a band of their magnitude of success has to eventually release a dual CD set (which they did) that can cover all the ground. Before that though, we had "Classic Queen" and "Queens Greatest hits".

Greatest hits gives the fans the arena stomping anthems "We will rock you" "We are the champions" and "Another one bites the dust" which have been embraced by sports teams, players, and gym and stadium soundsets everywhere. The soothing song "You make me live" is on here, with vocalist Freddie Mercury in prime form. Fun, funny and catchy pop songs like "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle race" grace the track listing as well. There are lesser known, non radio played songs like "Now I'm here" "Play the game" and "Seven seas of rhye" that we get to explore. The 17 track album rounds out with the powerful, uplifting song of "I want to break free". It's not all of the greatest hits, but considering how many this band really had, you can't put them all on one album. This however, was a great start to help celebrate one of the greatest bands of the past 50 years, whose music I never tire of listening to.

2006-03-26T00:21:00.000-08:00

Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story

Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story
Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story Manufacturer: Shout Factory (Usually ships in 24 hours) Click Here for more information In his wildest satirical dreams, not even Christopher Guest could top Off the Charts for sheer folk-art eccentricity. And yet, the creator of A Mighty Wind would find comedic inspiration in Jamie Meltzer's hilarious and sincerely affectionate tribute to the subcultural phenomenon known as the song poem. For over 50 years, a small, strictly amateur music industry has thrived on the fine-print ads that appear in alternative newspapers and music-industry magazines, inviting would-be songsmiths to send in their lyrics (and perhaps even "earn royalties") when their songs--and we use that term loosely--are set to music, recorded by seasoned musicians, and returned to their creators as a kind of one-shot fantasy fulfillment of dreams that will never come true. What drives Meltzer's film is a uniquely American combination of pathos, fringe-dwelling ambition, and free expression by assorted misfits and "regular folk" who seek elusive immortality by turning their lyrical musings into trash-art that's simultaneously fascinating and pathetic. But despite the end-credit claim that not a single hit has resulted from the estimated 200,000 song poems that have been recorded over the decades, Meltzer's not out to ridicule these wonderfully ungifted artists. Instead, Off the Charts gives a memorable spin to the flipside of the American dream. --Jeff Shannon Really, it is "Non-Violent Taekwondo Troopers" is perhaps the greatest pop song ever recorded, better even than "In My Life", "What You Do to Me", "Lexicon Devil", or " Be My Baby". Caglar Juan Singletary (and Art Kaufman) have given something of real beauty to the world. Sublime. Caglar Is King I am on a list that has been raving about this film- so I bought it even though I didn;t think it would be the kind of movie I would like.

They were right, I was wrong.

This movie is awesome- and the main reason is C-A-G-L-A-R! His songs are very cool- and he is very cool too. I didn't much like the rest of the song poets, however I liked all the guys who wrote and sang the music.

I don't know what all the hoopla is over Gene Marino. I think it's admirable he put such effort into these little songpoems. He sure didn't have too.

There is also not much I can say about Garry Forney. He kind of exemplifies why people like me had such a bad impression of the industry and why I didn't think I'd like it. [...]

But I guess the ends justify the means, because I really like this movie. Especially you know who! "Thank Jehovah for Kung Fu Bicycles and Priscilla Presley" Have you ever heard of Caglar Juan Singletary (the man behind the song `Non-Violent Taekwondo Troopers')? No? How about Nilson V. Ortiz (The Thing), or Gary Forney (Chicken Insurrection)? Probably not...should you know these individuals? Not unless you're kin...so why am I bringing them up? Well, I think many of us have seen the tiny, little ads in magazines (usually in the back), tabloids, or comic books that entice readers to send in poems and have them translated into songs, with the inference of possibly entering the music business and/or reaping the accompanying rewards (be they in the form of recognition or financial, or both) only to dismiss them as scams and wonder just what kind of people fall for such foolishness? Well, the three I mentioned earlier are individuals who responded to such ads at one point or another, and have all had their words transmogrified into songs, for better or for worse...

In the documentary Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story (2003), Jamie Meltzer allows us a glimpse behind those ads I mentioned previously, detailing not only those with aspirations of having their words transformed into songs, but also those craftsmen who take on the responsibility turning someone's dreams into a vinyl reality, for a price, of course...as the film begins, Meltzer examines this rather extensive subculture, focusing on a relatively small, eclectic group within the whole, specifically the more inspired (or demented, depending on your view) elements. How it actually works is you would send in your poem to the advertisement listed, and they would respond telling you they will take your poem and turn it into a professionally produced song, complete with singer and musical accompaniment. All you have to do is send in some cash...and it's usually not a meager sum, but then what price can you put on stardom? Once the cash was received, the work would begin, and a record produced, with a copy of going back to you.

While watching this documentary, I think what surprised me most was seeing the level of professionalism and seriousness displayed by the individuals or companies who turn these submissions into music. They weren't especially high tech, and usually worked alone out of their homes, but they didn't appear to be in the business of scamming or fleecing these people of their money (although I'm sure some are). They truly seemed interested in providing what they advertised, despite the quality of the material they often received, and believe me, there is a level of awfulness that goes beyond comprehension (this seems sort of an absurd aspect, to have accomplished musicians work with generally such amateurish material). There was a very creepy element about some of these individuals who submitted their works, but you won't be able to deny the sincerity in their desires. They didn't appear to have delusions about stardom, but only wished to hear their words in a format that could be enjoyed by others...and as creepy as some of these people may seem, they really can't compare to those who actually collect this material, those who scrounge, scavenge, and pontificate the virtues of said music...these guys probably scared me the most (probably because I could identify with them more than anyone else in the film). I think the part I liked the most was when we saw, in a split screen, the artist performing a song, and the person who wrote the poem hearing the song for the first time. It's funny how these original writers react to hearing the songs created from their words, especially when they get something not quite what they expected. The film closes with one individual, now that he has his words translated into to music, deciding it's time to take his music to the people, and he and his son go on tour (all of one stop...you gotta start somewhere).

The actual documentary lasts about an hour, and the rest is made up of a plethora of special features including a director and producer commentary track, Sunburst Studio sessions (featuring the recording of six songs), deleted scenes (7 in all), a feature called the Iowa Mountain Tour, Live!, `Off the Charts' premiere party, Columbine Records Presents `America Sing!'(a variety TV show featuring a number of songs), and a song-poem advertisement gallery with commentary. If you enjoy this, I would also recommend the book/CD combo Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music (I think someone already mentioned it), and another film titled Driver 23/Atlas Moth (2002), which doesn't so much pertain to `outsider' music, but is a great film about one mans dedication to his craft and the lengths to which he goes through in following his dreams.

Cookieman108

2006-03-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

ABBA - Gold: Greatest Hits

ABBA - Gold: Greatest Hits
ABBA - Gold: Greatest Hits Artist: Abba (Usually ships in 24 hours) Click Here for more information Anyone looking for the key to Abba's enduring appeal should look no further than "Voulez Vous" and "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" for their answer. There was an innocence to the Swedish quartet, even when they were singing about one-night stands and the invitations to them. Gold establishes that the band, while appreciated as campy, were actually multifaceted in their execution. "S.O.S." has a raw urgency in its chorus, and "Does Your Mother Know" draws its energy from classic '50s rock roll. Likewise, you don't have to be Priscilla to swoon over "Mamma Mia" or "Dancing Queen." And when it comes to drama, those soaring vocals on "The Winner Takes It All" turn the song into a bitter anthem of every relationship that has ever fallen apart. The much-covered "Lay All Your Love on Me" is practically epic. --Steve Gdula Better Now than Then I recently went to see Mamma Mia on Broadway. The thin and contrived plot is nothing more than an excuse to sing about 30 Abba songs -- as if an excuse were needed. Still, the musical did remind me again that beyond the buoyant pop sounds always instantly identifiable with Abba, the group -- even as relationships were falling apart -- had some insightful things to say lyrically about relationships and the pain of their end even as that end is inevitable. So, all these years after the group imploded, it's clear to me at least that Abba was more than bubble gum. And they are always welcome to make the occasional shuffle visit to my music player. Great compilation! I love ABBA, and I got my ABBA fix from this CD. Certainly worth purchasing. Hello ABBA fans! If you love ABBA as much as I do, then ABBA Gold is the CD for you!
It has 19 of their Greatest Hits, including Dancing Queen, (which is my favorite), which was performed in 1976 at the wedding reception celebrating the marriage of the King of Sweden to Silvia Sommerlath. Probably their biggest ever single, it not only topped the chart for six weeks in Britain, but also in numerous other countries, including Australia, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, New Zealand and most importantly, the USA. Buying ABBA Gold was the one of the best investments I have ever made, so, if you love ABBA, you need to get this CD TODAY!