Italian Folk Music: October 2010

Aria Review

Alan Sorrenti is a song writer well known for some aggressive commercial and disco hits but in his youth he was a sperimental and intellectual folk -singer.
His masterpiece Aria is inspired by Tim buckley starsailor and Peter hammill's vocal voice. The work is rather experimental and psychedelic and not easy to listen but was a best seller in 1972. His work was such rated that he was called by pink floyd for a tournee in Italy together and peter hammill decided to partecipate directly to the successive sorrenti's work (coem un vecchio incensiere).

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Product Description:
The avant pop Aria is the first LP from Sorrenti. Originally released in 1972 on Harvest, the album opens with the long title track, which occupied all of Side A of the original vinyl. It's a dreamy suite that opens with acoustic guitar, ends with a remarkable violin solo from future Mahavishnu Orchestra member Jean Luc Ponty and features the incredible instrument-like voice of Sorrenti. Creating a blend of folk renderings with a melodic, avant-garde jazz backdrop, Sorrenti has rendered a vocal tapestry on par with anything Van Morrison or Tim Buckley has committed to tape.

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Aria [Import] Review

Alan Sorrenti is a song writer well known for some aggressive commercial and disco hits but in his youth he was a sperimental and intellectual folk -singer.
His masterpiece Aria is inspired by Tim buckley starsailor and Peter hammill's vocal voice. The work is rather experimental and psychedelic and not easy to listen but was a best seller in 1972. His work was such rated that he was called by pink floyd for a tournee in Italy together and peter hammill decided to partecipate directly to the successive sorrenti's work (coem un vecchio incensiere).

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Product Description:
Reissue of 1972 debut album. A great Italian prog album with incredible vocals & guest appearances from Jean Luc Ponty & Toni Esposito (of Opus Avantra fame). 4 tracks.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Blue Sugar [Super Audio CD - DSD, Import] Review

I was strolling on the Champs Elysee in Paris a few years back, wandered into the big Tower Record store and "found" this amazing album being played at many of their headphone "listening" stations.It was a must buy, must have, must play repeatedly album.There is not a bad song on the album.Zucchero's voice has always reminded me of another of my favorite singers ... Joe Cocker.So, if you love Joe Cocker's raw, gut-wrenching, spine-tingling, emotive music ... buy anything you can find by Zucchero ... you'll love the sugar-man, as I do. This is definately a DID (desert island disc) ... the one you'd most want to have with you to survive SURVIVOR!

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Product Description:
Bran New 1998 Album from Italian Megastar Zucchero. 12 New Songs Written, Arranged and Recorded by Sugar.--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

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20 Chansons d'Or [Import] Review

adamo, one of the great originals in the french language area and beyond. a classic!!

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Product Description:
2006 Issue of a Digitally Remastered Selection of 20 Great Golden Songs from the Recordings of a French Legend.

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Songs Of Transformation [RARE] [Import] Review

This features some of Martyn Bates best singing and was originally recorded around 1995 and was supposed to be released by Virgin Records in 1996. Due to personell change at Virgin the album was shelved until recently when MMM in Italy brought it out again in 2007. Max Eastley is better known for albums such as Buried Dreams and offers sometimes good improvisational backings to Martyn's songs here. This album is somewhere in between the Chamber Music albums, the Murder Ballads albums with Mick Harris and the 12,000 Days albums with Alan Trench (of Orchis). This album is directly available from the publisher at the regular price or from the musicians via their website eyelessingaza.com/mb.html . (Seems like distribution has not really reached Amazon ... .)

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Product Description:
Tracklisting:1 If All The Young Men (3:00)2 John Barleycorn (7:46)3 The Cherry Tree Carol (5:24)4 George Collins (8:17)5 The Red Herring (3:06)6 Nottamun Town (5:24)7 Down In Yon Forest (4:15)8 Two Magicians (9:53)9 Cruel Sister (5:56)

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Blue Sugar [Import] Review

Spirito DiVino [Super Audio CD - DSD][Import] Review

I buy and sell used CDs on Amazon, and this "hobby" affords me to get to try out and keep some great music for myself.Zucchero's Misere is one of these keepers. I ususally know within a few notes if I want to burn a copy for myself, and with this guy, I knew it FAST...after the first few operatic notes, it starts DRIVING with a rhythm I KNEW i had heard before...the second song sounds like PRIME day ( late 60s) Joe Cocker with Santana's drummer...thats because it IS Santana's drummer, the FANTASTIC Michael Shrieve, from the Woodstock-era Santana....what a combination !!! and what a GREAT ROCK ALBUM....sounds like the BEST of the 60s and 70s come BACK TO LIFE....I'll be buying more of the sugarman....marty smith

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The Land Where the Blues Began [Original recording remastered] Review

The Land Where Blues Began is Alan Lomax's master ensemble of the music that shaped American music. It is the music that influenced the works of Miles Davis, Tom Waits, Ewan McColl and most recent Norah Jones. Take the tour of the Mississippi Delta of the 1930s and 1940s and listen to the story who gave birth to the Blues with such legends as Muddy Waters, Leadbelly and Fred McDowell.We need more music hunters like Lomax to record our music heritage for future generations. Lomax cross many towns and landscapes to get these first time field recordings of the now Blues greats. Lomax 'cornbread-and-poteen odyssey' across the American heartland is well documented in his candid conversations with the bluesmen and the story of how the blues became daddy of all modern-day music. It's told through those legends and through work songs, hymns, ballads, sermons, stories and smoky bars. The album captures the vivid sounds and the impossible to hold back energy and soul of the Blues fathers that changed American history.NOTE: The CD is chronicled in the book of the same name by Alan Lomax as an addition to adding to your Blues collection. The book also includes a 4 track CD sampler as well. It won the 1993 National Book Critics Award for nonfiction.

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Miserere Review

Miserere [Import] Review

I buy and sell used CDs on Amazon, and this "hobby" affords me to get to try out and keep some great music for myself.Zucchero's Misere is one of these keepers. I ususally know within a few notes if I want to burn a copy for myself, and with this guy, I knew it FAST...after the first few operatic notes, it starts DRIVING with a rhythm I KNEW i had heard before...the second song sounds like PRIME day ( late 60s) Joe Cocker with Santana's drummer...thats because it IS Santana's drummer, the FANTASTIC Michael Shrieve, from the Woodstock-era Santana....what a combination !!! and what a GREAT ROCK ALBUM....sounds like the BEST of the 60s and 70s come BACK TO LIFE....I'll be buying more of the sugarman....marty smith

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Shake [Enhanced, Import] Review

Zucchero Fornaciari is a truely amazing rockstar, on this 2001 cd Zucchero teams, yet again, up with some of the biggest names in the world of rock and blues like Roy Rogers (a famous slide guitarist doing a great job on Porca L'Oca), Zachary Alford (who played drums with artists like Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie) and John Lee Hooker!
The cd starts of with Sento le Campane, together with Porca L'Oca one of the big rockers on this CD. The second track, Music in me, has a bit of a trance beat and gives Zucchero and vocalist Chance the chance to give it all they have.Porca L'Oca features Roy Rogers and reminds me of O.L.S.M.M. of the '95 Spirito DiVino album. Ali D'Oro is the beautiful duet with John Lee Hooker (recorded just weeks before his death), Ahum is a great duet with Chance that really shows how much Zucchero has been listening to Moby lately. Scintille is one of Zucchero's slower songs with both beautiful lyrics and music. The 2001 summer hit in Italy was Baila (sexy thing) a great song with catchy lyrics and music. One of the (many) highlights on this cd is Dindondio, beautiful music and Zucchero's great voice in top form. Zucchero finishes this cd of with Rossa mela della sera (great lyrics), Shake (another feel good song :-D) and Tobia (a touching ballad about Zucchero's dog... ehm....).
You should buy this cd NOW, and if you don't believe me, here's what the Billboard people said about it: "a stunning album with unfailingly excellent material"

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Product Description:
Late 2001 Return of 'sugar' after a Three Year Absence from the Recording Scene. His Backing Musicians Include Ace Bassist Pino Palladino and David Sancious (An Original Keyboardist with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band). The Late Bluesman John Lee Hooker Puts in a Cameo Appearance and May Well Be his Final Recording.

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Medieval Harp Review

After hearing and taping a few cuts from this overlooked and little-known album about 5 years ago on NPR, I found this music to be as if someone had gone back in time to the Middle Ages and recorded it. Then recently, I found it on Amazon through sheer serendipity. I can't say that it's "authentic"sounding since no one really knows what medieval music sounded like. But, it sure sounds sweet and gentle. From courtly dances to dreamy psaltery pieces, this CD takes you all the way back to the Crusades, even.

A worthy successor to the harp/psaltery records of the late, great Elena Polonska, this is a CD no Early Music lover should be without.

So, why 4 stars? The album insert had no background info on the pieces. But, that's OK. If you're into medieval music, buy this one.

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Zucchero & the Randy Jackson Band [Super Audio CD - DSD, Import] Review

don't buy this album as the first one of Zucchero, take BlueSugar - a great album that will blow you away, incredible songs. This album here is a bit harder to understand, Zucchero is an italina r&b hero - great songwriter. Listen to the music, you will enjoy it!!!

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White Spirituals from the Sacred Harp Review

Sacred Harp music is authenicately American.The shaped notes are intended to allow individuals who do not read music to read the Sacred Harp music.It also allows the individual pitching the music to move the musicinto the range of the singers rather than using a true pitch.The melodyis in the tenor line which is sung by both genders.The music has an openharmony - altos may float above sopranos or below tenors for example.Thebeat is strictly kept and there is little variation in volume - this is notyour standard choral music.
The hymn tunes used are traditional - youwill recognize some of them.The words are traditional - heavy into theIsaac Watts and company hymns.
While I'd always recommend standing in thecenter of a singing group as an introduction to this tradition, this albumis an acceptable second choice.With any luck it will make you want tosing the music as well.

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Guccini Live Collection [Import][Live] Review

This great CDof Francesco Guccini contains some of the most famous songs of this ecleptic artist, that is not only a good italian singer but also a good writer (4 works for the moment and a dialectal dictionary). A reasonto buy this CD? To try the emotions of a dream that lasts, the same in theyears, from 30 years, getting new year by year...as the good wine. Thesongs are new, the musics and the arrangements are modern, but the contentsof each song will take you in a journey through his whole musical carrer.Language: Italian

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I Successi di Miguel Bose [Import] Review

It was a nice surprise to find out that you sell Miguel Bose's music, especially in other language than Spanish.This CD is completely in Italian, which is Bose's second language, and it is very good.I have almost all of his music, and it is great to have his music in different languages.

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Product Description:
Miguel Bose Has Spanned Over 25 Albums and 35 Films in his Career as an International Pop Star. Bose Appeared in Pedro Almodovar's "High Heels" and Worked with Andy Warhol on Two Videos. His Music is Diverse Deriving Various Musical Influences that have Made Him a Crossover Success in Many Languages.

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Children's Songs of the World Review

I wanted a tape of songs that would help me teach a variety of foreign languages in song to my children.While this is a pleasant listening tape, it is not a tape of songs sung by native speakers; rather, it is sung by one singer who sings like an opera singer, not like a singer with whom you can sing along.I know some of these songs well, and the words are not sung clearly enough by the singer that I could make out the words I did know.
If you want to become familiar with the melodies of some foreign songs, this is a nice tape, but you won't learn much from it otherwise.I gave it three stars.

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1.0 [Enhanced] Review

As worldbeat continues to spread and diversify, it's really refreshing to come across something not only new and original, but captivating as well.As far as I know, this is the first group to take traditional Italian folk songs and fuse them with dance electronics.Rather than being just another entry in the often tired worldbeat arena, this album sings, pops, bounces, and sparkles.The female vocalist, Fiamma, is excellent, and the musicians with her are equally as talented.
As is true with the most sophisticated and skilled worldbeat practitioners, the group does not limit themselves to their native melodies and instruments.Inspiration is drawn from sources as diverse as Finland and the Celtic world.Aside from programming and keyboards, instruments include accordion, tin whistle, bouzouki, and uillean pipes.
This is a top-notch release!

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La Tarantella: Antidotum Tarantulae Review

I heard this recording in a shop on a Friday evening a couple of years ago. I listened for a couple of minutes and I bought it then and there. This is a very unusual Early Music recording.

Instead of the usual polite and rather staid Tarantellas we often hear on recordings of Italian folk music today, this is wild and untamed music, much more suited to dancing tarantula venom out of one's system!

Christina Pluhar's L'Arpeggiata ensemble includes: three singers, 2 Baroque harps, theorbo, 4 Baroque guitars, 2 archlutes, colascione (a kind of lute), 3 "chitarra battente", psaltery, lirone, viola da gamba, cornamuse and percussion. The sounds are very rich and colourful.

The singers, Marco Beasley, Lucilla Galeazzi and Alfio Antico, sing with great verve and "naturalness" - Marco Beasley, for instance, is a tenor, but he doesn't let himself get too bogged down by his Classical technique here. This is music with a Folk origin and everyone concerned with this recording seems to have kept that in mind. The result is full of energy, colour (as I said) and rhythmical energy.

I cannot describe the music on display here, it defies description. However, take my word for it, this is a great recording and I think you will find it as fascinating as it is entertaining.

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Amerigo [Import] Review

Having been for a long time a Guccini lover by now I know by memory most songs by this incredible Italian songwriter (or, as he considers himself, a simple storyteller). Making an exeption for his Best Of album, Guccini Live Collection, which I believe to be his best one, this is, in my strong opinion, the best original recording. Since it came out in 1976, it was first sold as an LP, and that explains the fairly short length of the album compared to today's CDs. Nevertheless, I believe every second of this album is worth it's price. Contrarly to most of today's lyrics, Guccini's songs are actual poems that reflect on society, personal experiences, the sixties, politics and much more. Amerigo compares the America dreamed of by his generation and the America lived by his uncle who immigrated here as a mine worker. 100, Pennsylvania Ave. is the story of a girlfriend of his that he left in America when he came here and goes over their dreams and how their lives were back then.
Eskimo went on to became one of Guccini's most simbolic songs. In this one he lines up all the dreams of his generation by talking about the experiences of an old but strong relationship he had in his twenties. Le Cinque Anatre (The 5 Ducks) is a poem about the immigration of ducks that can be comparred to life.Mondo Nuovo (New World) talks about the world that is changing with computers and technology and the bad things about it.
An album I always bring with me wherever I go. I listen to it every day...

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The Deep River of Song: Alabama Review

I have heard some of these recordings, particularly"Knock John Booker (To The Low Ground)" for more than 40 years. This is the real thing, the core of Black traditional music. Too much is focused on the blues which sprang out of this kind of music and other traditions at the turn of the century. I came to this music in part out of my own leading participation in the current revival of Black string band music, especially fiddling and banjo.

Now even if there isno real string band here, no fiddling, and no banjo player, the real music and ethos of Black music, the basic rhythms of the church and play music that came from West Africa, as well as the more linear progressions of the blues that point to the area between the coast and the Sahara, are all here in their glory.

Much is said about the great Vera Hall. It is a shame that no one has put out an all-Vera Hall CD so one does not have to collect a dozen different Lomax collection reissues on various labels to have a CD's worth of her singing.

What seems important here is the versions of Black or general folk songs and blues we are used to hearing from white folk singers and white traditional sources like "Railroad Bill," "Hush Little Baby," and "Ain't Gonna Rain No More."

Also the music captured here as children's game songs, or children's games remembered by older people, show a side of blakc music reaching back to the earliest of times."Knock Johnnie Booker" such a song, as I said, has echoed in my mind since I first heard it on a Library of Congress sampler back in the early 1960s.The tune isn't about the funny character Johnny Booker, many white singers sing about following a minstrel version of the song.Instead it is about the reality of being a slave and getting beaten by the Master or the Mistress.But what a rhythm.My friend Clarke Buehling has been trying to teach the world the importance of the Juba Rhythm not just to patting it, but to his 19th Century minstreal banjo playing. But one listen to the Johnny Booker here, especially if you have heard the rhythm around you again in children's games growing up Black, you know what it is.

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Quello Que Non... [Import] Review

If a line could be drawn between Guccini's early minimalist production and his approach to new sounds and arrangements that enliven his poetry, "Quello che non" would definitely be the "breakthrough" album. Originally released more than 10 years ago, this work is a pleasant confirmation of Guccini's narrative talent finally disclosed to those listeners whose musical demand had more to be desired from this authentic "troubador". In this sense, this album's blues-jazzy excursions bring on the typical flavors of his beautiful region, Emilia-Romagna, set apart from the rest of Italy due to its deep roots in freedom, innovation, and search for new ways to live the old Italian values. These songs smell of morning cappuccinos tasted in the bitterness of daily reality as seen and told, independently, by the night girls ("Le ragazze della notte") or youngsters in search of a couple identity (the dramatic "Tango"). The main title ("Quello che non") sets the inner pace for a melancholic observation of everyday life, which includes a due tribute to Guccini's region ("Emilia") and portrays life as the Author sees it in the most beautiful "Cencio", personally the album's favorite one, a touching meditation on friends coming to mind from the past between beautiful genuine memories of youth and the blunt contemplation of human beings as equals. Really a beautiful album.

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Radici [Import] Review

The sick vice of Italian songwriting is pretentiousness, the hope that by merely mixing together bundles of portentous words and images you will turn out to sound like the love-child of Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan.What sets Francesco Guccini quite aside is that he manages it; that this former high school teacher of Italian literature, who really does know poetry and writing, manages it with apparent effortless, writing the best lyrics I have read in any language, setting it to superb tunes, and singing it with a powerful, distinctively masculine voice.His triumph is the more remarkable in that his politics, as expressed in "La Locomotiva" here, are abominable, and his view of the world somewhat confused."La Locomotiva" is nothing less than a hymn to terrorism; but try and not get swept along by the power of the images, the pace, the passion.Even more majestic is "La canzone dei mesi", in which he gives a lyrical description of the months of the year that shows his grounding in the poetry of his ancestors.What to say?All the songs are magnificent.They survive the test of being sung as he often does - sitting on a chair with an acoustic guitar and a glass of wine, and NO BACK-UP whatever.But there is a special place in my heart for the heart-stopping tale of an old man and a child, "Il Vecchio e il Bambino", and how they communicate or fail to.One of the greatest singers in the world, at the height of his powers.

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Greatest Hits [Enhanced][Extra tracks][Import] Review

Nobody ever outpointed Carlo Buti in these Italian pop standards. The best of the songs on this CD---Firenze Sogna, Chitarra Romana, Reginella Campagnola, Violino Tzigano, La Romanina---are heard here in performances not likely to be surpassed. And the other, more ephemeral selections are here ennobled by Buti's performances.

Today's listeners might have some difficulty with the rigid beat and dated orchestral accompaniments on these selections---but they will have no difficulty whatsoever with the sound of Buti's voice, which remains unique nearly half a century after his death. Probably the best selectionof all is "Primo Amore", with words and music by Buti and sung to his own guitar accompaniment. Here, for once, we get to hear his voice without the semi-distracting 1930s dance-music orchestral background heard on the other selections. If "Primo Amore" is the only song you listen to on this CD, you've still bought yourself a bargain. Once heard, Buti's "Primo Amore" cannot be forgotten.

Essentially a light lyric tenor with a sweet, smallish, very beautiful sound, an incredible half-voice, and a more-than-adequate technique, Buti was a master of "fioritura": A vocal technique calling for the singer to embellish the vocal line. "Vocal embroidery" is a good descriptor for this technique---but you have to hear Buti for yourself to see how seamlessly and naturally he makes this traditional technique work in pop material.
You will hear no vocal embroidery, though, in the last selection on the CD: "Luna Malinconia", none other than Richard Rogers's "Blue Moon", here sung in the most immaculate Italian you'll ever hear from a pop star. This is a "Blue Moon" that one hopes Rogers himself heard.

There are no Neapolitan pop classics on this CD. Buti tended to prefer standard songs of the day, often bypassing the Neapolitan songs so successfully purveyed by the great Italian tenors Caruso and Gigli. Buti never had that kind of voice, never had that training, never commanded the huge sound those great artists had. He was wise enough to sing to his strengths, leaving the more heroic material to his opera-oriented colleagues. The wisdom of his decision is evident on this CD.

From the mid-1930s until midway into the 1950s Carlo Buti was the leading pop singer in Italy, with an immense following in the Italian-speaking communities in the United States as well. For today's listeners, those with patience and some understanding of the evolution of pop styles, this CD will provide great pleasure.

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Via Paolo Fabbri 43 [Import] Review

Plain and beautiful, this album is a little gem that narrates of its time, the 70's, and how the generational gaps influenced the society then. There's a lot to think about and a lot needed to be changed when abortion strikes in the heart of the middle-class. The fantastic "Piccola storia ignobile" ("A shameful short story") becomes therefore the most captivating ballad of the album. However, all the other titles bring on the chilling awareness of how too often youth is spent without a guidance, and how much the adults could help, if they could and would. Guccini embodies in "L'avvelenata" (literally "The poisoned") the ultimate outcry of anger and delusion coming from an entire generation lost in the middle of an apparent wealth. The cursing and bad words disseminated in this song were considered irreverent then. They will generate a smile now, perhaps a grin.

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Zucchero & Co. [Import] Review

Probably one of the best album's I've bought yet. I have never heard a multi artist album collection of this caliber from start to end. (Hey Man / B.B. King / zucchero) how long I have been waiting to get this on CD. I first heard it sometime back on a Pavarotti DVD.Very surprised to hear Marcy Grey bring on with the big name's good on her. Every song on this album goes deep and finds the roots of life. You want to cut yourself away from the rest of the world then listen to this on surround sound and be at piece with your self. To end off, if you ever want to make a unforgettable impression on your partnerhave a candle light dinner and whip this CD on. Say no more.

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Product Description:
Special Australian pressing of the Italian popstar's 2004 compilation of duets includes one exclusive track, 'I'm In Trouble' with Tina Arena (Aussie & French exclusive), along with his breakthrough 1991 hit, 'Senza Una Donna', with Paul Young, & collaborations with Miles Davis. Sting, Vanessa Carlton, Macy Gray with Jeff Beck, & more. Universal.

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30 Ans Ses 20 Plus Grands Chansons [Import] Review

Adamo's old hits like "Tombe la neige", "Mes mains sur tes hanches" sound familiar and fresh here. From the newer titles I find most touching "Les colines de Rabiah", "Plus fort que letemps" and "Je te dois". He is all the same as in myteen-age: a deep, strong voice, beautiful melodies and very meaningfullyrics. Who else can sing about love like Adamo!

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Ses Plus Grands Roles Review

I agree with music fan USA on their review of Mado Robin and this CD does not capture the voice at its best.If she were alive today and singing in the Opera Houses of the world she would of course be prized and admired. Unfortunately she was around at a time when the world was full of greatsingers, Callas, Sutherland, Gencer et al and the recording companies werelost for choice.Decca/London did capture her voice in the studio and wehave a live Lakme on Rodolphe (nla) but sadly not much is left for us tosavour.Her wonderful range was freaky (if that phrase can be used) surelywe need to preserve everthing we have of these singers and release as muchas possible, Decca/London take note.And surely we need more of Gencertoo.Maybe we the public should raid the archives of Decca/London andrelease many many recordings they have and are still holding onto.Thisdisc at its super bargain price, is a must for all soprano lovers let alonefor the high notes.Mado Robin was a great loss to the operatic world,sadly dying at an early age of 42.Lets preserve the memory of a veryunder-recorded artist.

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Caribbean Voyage: Brown Girl in the Ring Review

I was very satisfied with this purchase. It came shrink wrapped and in great condition. I could almost believe that it had never been opened. There was a slight musty/cigar odor, possibly from where it had been kept, but the book is in amazing condition.

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Jussi Björling: Early Swedish Recordings 1929 - 1936 Review

These are historical early recordings of the incomparable Bjorling, one of the greatest and most loved voices of the 20th century, starting when he was 18 years old in 1929, through his 25th year.
This was well before his prime, which was from 1945 to his untimely death at 49 in 1960, but the extraordinary beauty of his voice is there, with amazing strength, considering his youth. The clarity and purity of his golden tone shines through, even though these recordings show their age.
The repertoire is varied with lovely ballads mixed with well known arias. With the exception of the later arias on Disc 2, they are all sung in Swedish. Two big favorites are track # 18 on Disc 1, and # 10 (# 30 on the amazon listing) on Disc 2.
The bonus tracks: These were made in 1920, when Bjorling was 9 years old (he made his debut at age 5 !), and though these 5 tracks are not something one would want to listen to for pleasure, the sound quality being dreadful, they are fascinating and have their historical value.
Though this is far from the best Bjorling you can buy, even the less than perfect Bjorling is still remarkable, and an exquisite delight to hear.

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