Too Smooth! Really.

This 1993 cassette's contents are so smooth it might make you puke.

01. Light on the Mountain (5:38)
02. Owyhee Slack-Key (2:42)
03. Bitteroot (2:47)
04. Wind River (4:38)
05. Icicles (3:53)
06. Stanley Riggins (3:12)
07. Going to the Sun (3:36)
08. Rocky Mountain Home (3:45)
09. Pend Oreille (4:24)
10. Teton Skyline (4:34)

11. River of No Return (7:28)

I mean, it's like carving Mount Rushmore out of cotton candy.  Impressive, but what’s the point?

Light on the Mountain

You tell me if you make it to the end and stay awake.

See you on Monday with a special Valentine's compilation to stir more earthy appetites!

  

Do You Love THESE Folks?

It's a 1990 cassette.  Half the tracks are by the glorious "Zamfir & Friends," and they're thin gruel compared to the tracks by the Ciocirlia Orchestra.

01 - Joc de Doi de la Mehadica - Ciocirlia Orchestra (1:28)
02 - Toata Lumea-Mi Zice-Asa - Ciocirlia Orchestra (1:52)
03 - Joc din Cimpoi - Ciocirlia Orchestra (1:40)
04 - Sirba Munteneasca - Ciocirlia Orchestra (2:24)
05 - Rustemul de la Listeava - Georghe Zamfir & Friends (2:00)
06 - Joc de Doi - Georghe Zamfir & Friends (2:05)
07 - Joc din Bihor - Ciocirlia Orchestra (2:10)
08 - Mindrele - Ciocirlia Orchestra (1:35)
09 - Invirtita - Georghe Zamfir & Friends (2:20)
10 - Rustem - Ciocirlia Orchestra (1:35)
11 - Hora de la Goica - Ciocirlia Orchestra (1:35)
12 - Iea Afara - N Batatura - Ciocirlia Orchestra (2:43)
13 - Doina Oltului - Ciocirlia Orchestra (3:14)
14 - Doina de Jale Ciocirlia - Georghe Zamfir & Friends (10:48)
15 - Hora ca la Caval - Georghe Zamfir & Friends (2:07)
16 - Trandafir cu creanga - N Apa - Ciocirlia Orchestra (2:17)
17 - Ia - Mi Taicuta Papucei - Ciocirlia Orchestra (3:02)
18 - Jon din Banat - Ciocirlia Orchestra (1:41)

There's even a few tracks with vocals (refer to the cassette liner for details).

Only a Rumanian can tell if these sound authentic.

Folksongs from Rumania

See you on Thursday, folks!

  

The Honky-Tonker in the Del

It's a 1961 LP.  The performances are very competent but very pasteurized.  These are like Lawrence-Welk-show versions of exciting music.

01. Happy Days Are Here Again (2:12)
02. Where the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day (2:22)
03. Blue Eagle (2:16)
04. Home (2:15)
05. Lazy River (2:10)
06. Saturday Night (1:55)
07. The Waltz You Saved for Me (2:39)
08. It Looks Like Rain in Cherry Blossom Lane (2:39)
09. Goofus (1:52)
10. Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland (2:33)

 Del Wood was a gal who took this name so as to not be considred "just a girl" in the record bins.

Honky-Tonk Piano

See you on Monday!

  

How Long Can You Tread Water?

It's a cassette from 1987.

1. Continuum (7:26)
2. Lucid Dreams (8:46)
3. Astral Flight (9:42)
4. Secret Entrance (4:09)
5. The Chariot (4:00)
6. Metropolis (10:36)
7. Harmonic Convergence (15:37)

Go to Atlantis 

See you on Thursday.

  

Now They Can Be YOUR Favorites, Too!

... if your threshold is VERY low.

This is singularly unimpressive when you consider that this came out several years after Don Dorsey’s Bachbusters, which proved that 1980s tech could indeed produce startling, inventive, and stirring synthesized versions of classical music.

By contrast this album is uninspired. If  Bachbusters is possible, why produce something which is so bland? Why do it at all? 

01 - Für Elise (excerpt) - Beethoven - 1989
02 - Turkish March Medley - Mozart-Beethoven - 1989
03 - Ave Maria - Gounod - 1989
04 - Rustles Of Spring - Sinding - 1989
05 - To A Wild Rose - MacDowell - 1989
06 - Ritual Fire Dance - de Falla - 1989
07 - Pavane pour une Infante defunte - Ravel - 1989
08 - Hungarian Dance #5 - Brahms - 1989
09 - The Flatterer - Chaminade - 1989
10 - Spinning Song - Ellmenreich - 1989
11 - Gymnopedie #1 - Satie - 1989
12 - Banjo - Gottschalk - 1989
13 - Minuet - Boccherini - 1989
14 - Shadow Dance - MacDowell - 1989
15 - Liebestraüme - Liszt - 1989
16 - Waltz (in the style of Borodin) - Ravel - 1989
17 - Guitarre - Moszkowski - 1989
18 - Spinning Song - Mendelssohn - 1989
19 - Reverie - Debussy - 1989
20 - Minute Waltz - Chopin - 1989
21 - Prelude in C# Minor - Rachmaninoff - 1989
22 - Flight of the Bumblebee - Rimsky-Korsakov - 1989
23 - Rondo Capriccioso - Mendelssohn - 1989
24 - Traumerei - Schumann - 1989

25 - March from The Love of Three Oranges - Prokofiev - 1989 

26 - Für Elise - Beethoven – 1989

Allegedly Faves

To me, the best performances are Tracks 13-14, which use simple variations of electric-piano-type sounds, with a few echoing chimes. Sadly, this is the only effective approach in Baker’s repertoire. Other tracks sound like bad Tomita outtakes, or a first-year piano student’s attempts to be spiffy with sound effects.

“The Flight of the Bumblebee” sounds like a Theremin with diarrhea.

And for his finale, Baker turns Beethoven’s little “Für Elise” from a lilting tune in a minor key into a major-key pompous embarrassment. Fie, and for shame, Mr Baker!

Comparing the work of Don Dorsey or Walter/Wendy Carlos to this album is like comparing Fred Astaire to Stewart (“Look what I can do!”) from MADtv -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyvbFMGmImg.

See what YOU can do until Monday.

  

Take to the Seas!

I like some of Steve Kindler's stuff, but this 1990 release is not enough “New Age,” and way too much masturbatory “smooth jazz.” 

01. For the Americas (4:59)
02. Plumeria (4:33)
03. Agua Caliente (4:45)
04. Caught up in the Rapture (4:38)
05. Wistari Reef (5:42)
06. Little Fuji (5:00)
07. Mystic Fire (5:26)
08. Bodysurfer (4:41)
09. Across a Rainbow Sea (8:03)

Judge for yourself.

Plus, I've included a free bonus image:  Can you decipher the sticky note which was affixed to the album when I bought it at the thrift store?

See you on Thursday.

  

Dancing in the Light

It's a sassy little bit of folderol mostly played on one of them there dulcimerized thingies.

01. Ramble to Cashel (3:43)
02. Carolan's Dream (3:51)
03. Trip to Skye (3:49)
04. The Flight Home (4:53)
05. Melody from Na Casidigh (4:43)
06. Castle Kelly (4:12)
07. Light Dance (5:52)
08. Carolan's Cottage (3:39)
09. Farewell to Denmark (2:54)
10. Grace Nugent (3:42)
11. The Resting Chair (3:26)
12. King of the Fairies (3:11)
13. Wesphalia Waltz (3:09)

Light Dance

And folderol to you too!  See you on Monday.

  

Have a Peaceful New Year!

You could call it easy listening, or "new age," or just cheesy. But I find it an overall charming diversion.

01. Butterfly Suite (overture) (6:24)
02. Free at Last (5:46)
03. Bridge of Time (0:38)
04. When the Timing Is Right (4:58)
05. The Gathering (3:13)
06. Kelsey's Rain (3:13)
07. Butterfly Garden (5:19)
08. Milkwood (1:41)
09. Coloured Wings (2:19)
10. Heaven on Earth (1:15)
11. Butterfly Suite (Reprise) (2:31)
12. Dreamfields (2:10)
13. Silver Lady (Sephora) (1:52)
14. Dreamfields ( Sequel) (1:52)
15. Summer's End (3:17)

BUTTERFLY SUITE

Let me know what you think. See you on Thursday, the New Year willing!