CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

America, Why I Love Her

by: John Wayne

Release Date November 27, 2001
A patriotic, heart-warming CD for all. John Wayne's rich baritone voice and accent perfectly express the John Mitchum poems and hearing them reminds us we have much to appreciate in this country. Everyone should listen to this daily! I do!

The volume must be turned up higher than the rest of my CDs, which causes the next CD in my 5-disc player after this one to be very loud!

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Titanic (1997 Original Broadway Cast)

by: Maury Yeston, Judy Blazer, Brian d'Arcy James

Release Date July 01, 1997
I'll admit it: I was coerced into participating in a local production of Titanic The Musical recently and while I never had, nor do I have any desires to perform on stage, I almost reluctantly fell in love with this incredibly moving story that involves an absolutely amazing musical score. I played Benjamin Guggenheim, who along with some of the most famous millionaires in the world (John Jacob Astor, George Widener and the Thayers, literally the Bill Gates and Donald Trumps of their day) died as the Largest Moving Object on the earth slipped beneath the waves, April 15th 1912.

First, one major difference between this re-telling of one of the greatest maritime disasters of all-time and others, there really isn't any two or three ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Songs of Angels - Christmas Hymns and Carols

by: Robert Shaw, Robert Shaw Chamber Singers

Release Date October 18, 1994
I really enjoy this CD, it reminds me of the music I grew up. I was looking for something to just have on in the background, in my home during the day. I was disappointed that there were too many songs I didn't know, but this was the best choral music CD I could find so far that included both religious carols and non-religious carols.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Prelude: The Best of Charlotte Church

by: Charlotte Church

Release Date November 26, 2002
I was introduced to Charlotte Church's music when I saw one of her concerts on PBS. This cd is a good collection of her music.

Her music ranges from opera to Broadway to traditional Celtic to pop.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Beyond Imagination

by: Opera Babes

Release Date January 14, 2003
I have enjoyed this CD from the first time I heard a copy I had borrowed from our city library. I have heard both pro's and con's concerning the singing capability of these two ladies. Personally I have enjoyed this CD for many many hours and I cannot wait (actually I will have to) to get the next CD (used).

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Kern & Hammerstein II: Show Boat - Frederica von Stade, Teresa Stratas, Jerry Hadley, Bruce Hubbard, John McGlinn, London Sinfonietta & Ambrosian Chorus

from: EMI Classics

Release Date October 03, 2006
Show Boat deserves the deluxe treatment, a complete recording of the original score, including reprises of the big numbers and dialogue from the major scenes so that the interwining of song and story comes across. It took over 70 years for such a recording to come to pass, and the achievement is no small victory.

But what a dull, lifeless album! McGlinn is true to the original tempos, but they are far below the speed most musical theater enthusiasts will be comfortable with. An even bigger problem is the casting. Frederica von Stade has a too-mature voice and odd intonation. She sounds like a deep voiced German, not an American girl. Yet this is the work that inaugurated the American musical as an art form. Most actresses have trouble ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Super Nova

by: Wayne Shorter

Release Date October 25, 1990
This CD brings back an important transitional album for tenor-saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Doubling on soprano (which he had recently begun playing), Shorter interprets five of his originals (including "Water Babies" which had been recorded previously by Miles Davis) and Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Dindi." He definitely used a forward-looking group of sidemen for his "backup band" includes guitarists John McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock, Walter Booker (normally a bassist) on classical guitar for "Dindi," bassist Miroslav Vitous, both Jack DeJohnette and Chick Corea (!) on drums and percussionist Airto; Maria Booker takes a vocal on the touching version of "Dindi." The influence of Miles Davis' early fusion period is felt throughout the music but there is nothing ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone

from: Tzadik

Release Date August 22, 2000
I bought this to fill out my "jazz core collection" as noted in The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings: Eighth Edition (Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings) (I'm working from both ends now), and I expected jazz. This is some kind of avant garde, fancy jazz, but not what I was hoping for, and not what I will listen to on a regular basis. This is a very musically, sonically, and tonically challenging work, and I consider the performances excellent, but simply put, this album will not bear up to repeated listening. When it comes to jazz, I know when I'm in the mood for Bill Evans, and when I'm in the mood for Duke Ellington, and in the mood for Billie Holiday, or in the mood for Miles Davis, etc. I will never be "in the mood" for John Zorn. This album sounds like ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Jackie O - The Opera

by: Michael Daugherty, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra & Chorus, Christopher Larkin, Nicole Heaston, Stephanie Novacek, Eric Bowens, Jonita Lattimore, Wayne Koestenbaum

Release Date August 12, 1997
Michael Daugherty is one of the most idiosyncratic of modern American composers. His work shows a consistent, perhaps occasionally tiring, obsession with pop culture, and despite his awesome technique (he has a Ph.D. in composition and worked at IRCAM with Pierre Boulez), his work is almost invariably accessible and melodic.

His debut opera, "Jackie O," is tantalizing evidence of his diverse talents. This is a man who understands how to write for the human voice, and the music here is extraordinarily eclectic, with Verdiesque arias and brilliantly inventive contrapuntal vocal excursions standing beside catchy pop tunes and blues riffs. The scoring is superb as well. Daugherty's resourcefulness and energy are breathtaking.

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CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Book of Days

from: Ecm Records

Release Date February 01, 2000
When I heard this album in vinyl edition, about 16 years ago, I was very surprised to hear how the human voice can be used as a musical instrument, producing all sorts of sounds and evoking images and feelings without using a single word. This is what Meredith Monk and her vocal ensemble have achieved, with only a faint use of musical instruments such as keybords and pipes, by using mainly the voice as a vehicle to convey these feelings and images. For example "Plague" is a piece with sounds where the music is almost absolutely absent, to create the nightmarish impression of a serious disease. "Madwoman's vision" uses sounds that give us the impression of wailing. Other tracks like "Early Morning Melody" or "Eva's song" are lighter, "easier" to listen.
Although ... Read More: