x close

Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge

---

Customer Review:

Amazing Infused Latino Sound

Wow - what a great find! My husband I heard a song on an XM world music station and went out and purchased this CD shortly after. Beautiful sound that is hard to describe. Part Latino, part jazz, part dance. Perfect for a party or for listening to while hanging out around the house. My favorite CD of the year for sure. I highly recommend you listen to it.

Warm & Cozy

This was an impulse buy after I caught a review on NPR. Some impulse buys pan out, some don't. Luckily, this one did. I teach English at a continuation high school. When the students write, I sometimes want some music that keeps us all going and yet doesn't call unwarranted attention to itself. This record is perfect, a sort of Latin Hip-Hop with club influences (no slamming beats). Since most of my students are Hispanic and Black, this is a great compromise, and it's off-beat enough to keep them interested, yet guessing.

a gritty Latin martini

Former Bodean and popular session musician, Michael Ramos, ventures out for a debut solo project. In the past, he has worked with The Rembrandts, Patty Griffin, Paul Simon, John Mellencamp, and Ani DiFranco. Loteria de la Cumbia Lounge gets its title from Ramos' studio. "Cumbia" is a popular, accordian-heavy music from Columbia, cheery ans sometimes cheesy music of the peasants. This is a mellow Latin martini, combining danceable urban grooves with an occasional nod at borderline kitsch with a twist of grit and traditional Latin instruments. From the intriguing Latin pop of "El Indio" and "Mexicanos" to the mid-tempo instrumentals which recall Sergio Mendez or Esquivel ("Romanticos Desperados," "Volcanico"). Multi-instrumental Ramos performs some of the album himself, inviting guest musicians like Brian Standefer and Russell Scanlon to add to the remainder of the songs.

---

Keywords: Int'l & World Music; Latin; Latin Pop/Rock;

---

---

x close

The Phantom of the Opera (Original 1986 London Cast)

What's left to be said about Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera a decade after its premiere? That it's maddeningly ubiquitous? A stitch-up of various themes shoplifted from the Italian operatic repertoire? A critic-proof crowd pleaser that's probably being staged somewhere in the world as you read this? A megahit that will likely outlive Titanic in the pop-culture pantheon, Phantom has largely redefined--for better or worse--the manner in which modern musicals are conceived, staged, and marketed. Its influence has reached far beyond the traditional confines of London and Broadway. A favorite example: an abridged version that was the centerpiece of Los Angeles's longest-running transvestite revue, replete with 14-inch chandeliers and a man-playing-a-woman-playing-a-man in the title role. --Jerry McCulley

---

Futures

Cast Recording;

Original recording remastered;

Box set;

---

Customer Review:

the best

This is the best cd I have ever heard. I love the music it is great.

Mess up the Phantom ---> Awful recording

I love POTO in all its interpretations. I love the ALW musical. But the OLC cast does nothing for me. Every time I hear Crawford's nasal, whiny voice I want to bang my head against the wall. Brightman's "acting" is non-existant and the passion was left out completely. Buy the Canadian CD with Colm Wilkinson, the original Swedish recording or the movie-soundtrack. But skip this sterile "performance"....

An overblown mess ~ and insipid fans

When I read the review below mine I was close to lose my faith is people who can put their dislike for something in polite words. I've never seen such shallow and insipid bashing of a movie that is just as...good...as this mess. I like Leroux's story but Webber failed to capture its essence and most of its fans or "phans" fail to understand it too. The cast, except for Steve Barton, is below mediocre (Crawford should stick to comedy, Brightman needs lessons before she ever opens her mouth to sing again...) and the music is nothing but 2-3 themes which are repeated until even a ditz can hum along. Skip this awful mess and listen to the beautiful interpretation of Yeston and Kopit, or, even better, read the book. This recording is not a keeper and I could care less if the "phans" vote my review down. (Biased as they are)

One word on the movie: At least it's what it is, entertainment. And it doesn't take itself so seriously, plus I prefer it to be a rock-opera with edge instead of "Opera Lite" for those who fail to appreciate the real thing.

---

Keywords: Cast Recordings; Music Theater; Musical Theater; Musicals; Pop; Show Tunes; Showtunes / B'way;

---

---

x close

The Company We Keep

Though the Del McCoury Band has earned renown for its wide-ranging repertoire--drawing from the rock, blues, and folk songbooks for its bluegrass adaptations--The Company We Keep finds the revered vocalist sticking close to his musical roots. McCoury's songwriting collaborations provide autobiographical highlights, from the eternal innocence of "Never Grow Up Boy" to the age-old wisdom of "If Here's Where You Are" ("then here's where you're supposed to be"). Del and his band, including sons Ronnie (mandolin, co-producer) and Rob (banjo), survey a bluegrass range that extends from the Appalachian strains of "Mountain Song" to the instrumental romp through Ronnie's "Seventh Heaven" to the deeply spiritual gospel of "I Never Knew Life." Best of all is the album's centerpiece, "Fathers and Sons," which finds the family band harmonizing on the bonds of blood. While the shifting time signatures of the opening "Nothing Special" serve notice that the music won't be bound by tradition, the album serves to celebrate that tradition and extend it. --Don McLeese

---

Customer Review:

A full-speed-ahead band packed with vocal and instrumental energy and excitement

Playing Time - 51:37 -- It's difficult to maintain your place when you're already on top. Everyone's been wondering how the Del McCoury Band would follow the album "It's Just the Night," that won IBMA's Album of the Year Award for 2004. The very first item you notice about The Del McCoury Band's "The Company We Keep" (the second on their own McCoury Music label, distributed exclusively by Sugar Hill Records) is the high quality production of the 12-page fold out CD jacket with liner notes, numerous color photos, and lyrics to all songs on this generous 52-minute project. First impressions and marketing ARE important! While the music always takes priority, it's great to see their record company not skimp on the rest of the product. Del and the Boys have never been content to merely rest on their laurels. Rather, they've always been strong proponents of giving their fans 125% whether it be in live concert or on compact disc. That's the attitude that Del conveys when he sings his original (co-written with Harley Allen) "Never Grow Up Boy" about being a "guitar pickin', bluegrass singing, never grow up boy" whose dreams "can set men free." Del and Harley also wrote "Keep Her While She's There." Del also collaborated with Don Schlitz on "If Here is Where You Are." Ronnie McCoury's instrumental "Seventh Heaven" is top-notch.

The Del McCoury Band is also a full-speed-ahead band packed with vocal and instrumental energy and excitement. One song in ¾ time (When Fall's Coming Down) provides its nice contrasting rhythmic beat at track eleven. They keep their music upbeat and distinctive as they deliver the bluegrass goods written by such songcrafters as Mark Walton, Joseph New & Jeff Silbar, Larry Keel, Liz Meyer, Gary Nicholson, Jeff & Dean Presley, Jerry Salley & Susanne Mumpower-Johnson, Mark Simos & Jon Weisberger. We have to thank these writers for some very cool songs that bring out the best in this band! We have to thank the Del McCoury Band for being some of the hardest working musicians in the bluegrass business, and for being meticulous with all the details that come with the fame. Not just great entertainers, the band members are truly highly credible and professional emissaries for the genre. In eight years, McCoury's been IBMA's Entertainer of the Year. "The Company We Keep" pays tribute and expresses gratitude to all friends, family and team members who have helped make them what they are. The CD's back cover shows Del's grandkids at the head of the table and indicates that the McCoury bluegrass tradition is in very good hands. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

This is how to do it!

The same arguments plaque bluegrass over tradition , new grass or other hybrids. For me there is room for it all. The Del Mccoury Band has always maintained a balance between the old and new in both arrangements and songs chosen. In the award arena, I have heard fellow bluegrass fans state "They won another one, what about the other great bands." The fact is the Del Mccoury Band continues to maintain a standard of excellence sustained by few.
This cd is no exception. Its all there, great playing, arrangements devoid of musical cliches, and five star song. What else could anyone want?

---

Keywords: Bluegrass; Bluegrass-Gospel; Contemporary Bluegrass; Country; Pop; Traditional Bluegrass;

---

---

x close

Talking Timbuktu

Talking Timbuktu is a groundbreaking record that vividly illustrates the Africa-Blues connection in real time. Ali Farka Toure, one of Mali's leading singer-guitarists, has a trance-like, bluesy style that, although deeply rooted in Malian tradition, bears astonishing similarity to that of John Lee Hooker or even Canned Heat. It's a mono-chordal vamp, with repetitive song lines cut with shards of blistering solo runs that shimmer like a desert mirage. Toure may be conversant with some blues artists, but it is unlikely that artists like Hooker or Robert Pete Williams ever heard these Malian roots, which makes the connection so uncanny. Ry Cooder, well versed in domestic and world guitar styles, is the perfect counterpoint in these extended songs/jams, his sinewy slide guitar intertwining with his partner's in a super world summit without barriers or borders. --Derek Rath

---

Customer Review:

Talking Timbuktu

FANTASTIC !!! I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE ALBUM, I LISTEN TO IT FOR HOURS.

Heard "Diaraby " on The World on NPR...

Everytime, they asked the geo quiz I just simply could never concentrate on the question being asked and just simply melt away in the most romantic back ground music. Very nice!!

Simply Sensual

I first heard the track Ai Du while watching the movie Unfaithful. When I heard this song, I immediately went on a wild search looking for this music. It was like my soul yearned to hear it again. Needless to say, this song is my favorite part of the movie. The entire CD has a senusal, raw jazz/blues feel to it. Highly recommended.

---

Keywords: Int'l & World Music; Pop; Rock/Pop;

---

---