CD-Charts Position 1
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The People at Large

Search: Tower of Song
by: Amps for Christ

Release Date February 17, 2004
I am very new to Amps For Christ but I love 'em. Folkcore is also new to me, but I think if there ever was a band that embodied the aesthetic, it would be AFC.

Most of the music doesn't have vocals, features sitar, ditorted guitar, and world instruments, and is very tradional of Scottish and Indian melodies. In one such case, they completely cover the Scottish tune Auld Lang Syne with distorted guitar (Old Lang Syne/Tube). I loved Freddit the Mockingbird, a song which sounds Oriental in nature to the melody but it adds warped squeaking sounds and other acoustic instrument sounds to fill the void.

They are a somewhat political band (if you see them like that) by including the poem/performance "Gold On Mars." They more ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
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Long Strange Trip: Swingin' and Pickin' on the Grateful Dead

Search: Tower of Song
by: Various Artists

Release Date January 09, 2001
Strong smooth playing and classic songs. But, no amazing spark. This is professional, workman-like bluegrass style Dead, but not Old and In the Way....

The bluegrass is generally strong. I've listened to the swing versions, but they don't appeal as much. Just doesn't feel like Dead to me.

Still, it's great background music, and a bunch of tracks made it onto my iPod.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Search: Tower of Song
from: Video Artists Int'l

Release Date November 06, 1995
Strong smooth playing and classic songs. But, no amazing spark. This is professional, workman-like bluegrass style Dead, but not Old and In the Way....

The bluegrass is generally strong. I've listened to the swing versions, but they don't appeal as much. Just doesn't feel like Dead to me.

Still, it's great background music, and a bunch of tracks made it onto my iPod.

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

New Light Dawning

Search: Tower of Song
by: Kevin Scott Hall

Release Date July 28, 2000
Strong smooth playing and classic songs. But, no amazing spark. This is professional, workman-like bluegrass style Dead, but not Old and In the Way....

The bluegrass is generally strong. I've listened to the swing versions, but they don't appeal as much. Just doesn't feel like Dead to me.

Still, it's great background music, and a bunch of tracks made it onto my iPod.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Peace: Pure Classical Calm [United Kingdom]

Search: Tower of Song
by: Various Artists

Release Date March 22, 2004
Strong smooth playing and classic songs. But, no amazing spark. This is professional, workman-like bluegrass style Dead, but not Old and In the Way....

The bluegrass is generally strong. I've listened to the swing versions, but they don't appeal as much. Just doesn't feel like Dead to me.

Still, it's great background music, and a bunch of tracks made it onto my iPod.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn Maureen Forrester (Vanguard)

Search: Tower of Song
from: Vanguard Classics

Release Date May 10, 1993
I must concur with my fellow reviewer of April 11, 1999 by saying that this is a very good performance/recording (1963) of Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn-Lieder-anthology indeed! While maybe (?) not as highly acclaimed an artistic triumph as the Fischer-Dieskau/Schwarzkopf/Szell or Quasthoff/von Otter/Abbado or Bonney/Goerne/Fulgoni/Winbergh/Chailly albums, I can find nothing wrong with this particular recording. On the contrary, I find that all of the songs are being performed - when compared with those recordings that are usually considered the best - on a consistently high artistic level across the whole board. If I may be allowed to quote the eloquent and ever insightful Tony Duggan of MusicWeb (who is himself a champion of this specific recording): ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Mahler: Symphony No. 1; Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Search: Tower of Song
from: Vanguard Classics

Release Date September 09, 2003
I must concur with my fellow reviewer of April 11, 1999 by saying that this is a very good performance/recording (1963) of Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn-Lieder-anthology indeed! While maybe (?) not as highly acclaimed an artistic triumph as the Fischer-Dieskau/Schwarzkopf/Szell or Quasthoff/von Otter/Abbado or Bonney/Goerne/Fulgoni/Winbergh/Chailly albums, I can find nothing wrong with this particular recording. On the contrary, I find that all of the songs are being performed - when compared with those recordings that are usually considered the best - on a consistently high artistic level across the whole board. If I may be allowed to quote the eloquent and ever insightful Tony Duggan of MusicWeb (who is himself a champion of this specific recording): ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Hungarian Folk Music: The Legendary Folk Album

Search: Tower of Song
by: Various Artists

Release Date August 18, 2000
Granted some of the recordings are somewhat coarse, but they were recorded as early as the turn of the century. The music itelf is beautiful, this collection is a real treasure. I recommend this set to anyone interested in Hungarian Folk Music.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Rock the House

Search: Tower of Song
by: No Compromise

Release Date June 14, 2005
Granted some of the recordings are somewhat coarse, but they were recorded as early as the turn of the century. The music itelf is beautiful, this collection is a real treasure. I recommend this set to anyone interested in Hungarian Folk Music.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Vaughan Williams: Over hill, over dale

Search: Tower of Song
from: Hyperion UK

Release Date November 21, 1995
THIS MUSIC DEPICTS A SAMPLING OF RALPH V.W. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END, AND WHAT BEAUTY HE GAVE US!

Ralph Vaughan-Williams loved "the lilt of the chorus at the music hall...children dancing to a barrel organ, the rousing fervor of a Salvation Army Hymn, St.Paul's and a great choir singing at one of its festivals...the Welshmen striking up one of their own hymns...the cries of street pedlars, the factory girls singing their sentimental songs." This disc somehow reflects all of these influences. I think it makes him a true folksong specialist!

The music included herein covers the whole of the composer's long career-from "The Willow Song" written when he was eighteen, to "Heart's Music",composed three years before ... Read More: