Postcards

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
John Adams' "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" begins this album which features works ranging from the Renaissance to the present. Other composers respresented include Milhaud, Nelson, Praetorius, and Ticheli.

Tracks:

I Am So Ordinary
Me
I Believe In Love
Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?
Amen
Feelin' Love
I Don't Want To Wait
God Is Watching
Carmen
Happy Home
Autumn Leaves
Saturn Girl
Hush, Hush, Hush
Bethlehem
Tomorrow I Will Be Yours
Postcards From East Oceanside

Album Description

GRAMMY-winner for Best New Artist in 1997, alt-rock singer-songwriter Paula Cole rose to stardom with her signature hit "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" from her 1996 Warner Bros. debut album This Fire. The acclaimed disc also delivered "Me" and the smash "I Don't Want To Wait," a song that amassed global fame as the theme to TV's Dawson's Creek. A key performer in the first Lilith Fair tour, Cole's unique artistry deepened on 1999's soulful alt-pop-skewed Amen, whose stand-outs include the title track and "I Believe In Love." All these and more favorites—plus 2 previously unreleased tracks "Tomorrow I Will Be Yours" and the title track "Postcards From East Oceanside" —make this first-ever Paula Cole compilation an ideal way to explore her distinctive music.

Customer Reviews:

A beautiful CD.......2007-06-17

How many of us have bought a CD just to be bummed that there are only a few songs we enjoy, Or a few fast ones that upset the flow of the mellow ones we had begun to relax to? This one is a relaxing, beautiful, enjoyable experience from begining to end. This has become one of my favorites.

Songs a bit baffling, but CD is worth having.......2007-05-16

If this is supposed to be a greatest hits album, I'm not sure how "I Want to Be Somebody" and "Pearl" were left off while a couple of lesser-known songs made the cut. (I love all of Paula's songs, but the inclusion of "Saturn Girl" and "Carmen" is hardly what I expected on a greatest hits collection when the other two tracks I mentioned were left out.) The CD also includes three tracks which never appeared on any previous Paula Cole albums. "Autumn Leaves" is a movie soundtrack song from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and shows off her jazz singer talents. It's songs like these that show off Paula's versatility as an artist. "Tomorrow I Will Be Yours" was recorded in 2001, but you could have fooled me. It sounds very much like many of the songs on Harbinger, Paula's first CD, minus the introspectiveness. And I love it. If you're a Paula fan who has all of her CD's to date, this song by itself is reason to buy this CD (even though you already have most of these songs). The final track, "Postcards From East Oceanside" was recorded during the Amen sessions. It's a beautiful song which would have stuck out like a sore thumb on that CD since the concept of the song is very introspective, while "Amen" (the whole CD, not just the song) was anything but that.

Paula makes you love music.......2007-04-04

I saw Paula in her early days, I was actually selling the tickets at the door at one of her shows in Scottsdale, AZ at "The Rockin Horse", she opened for Jeffrey Gaines. As soon as she started singing, my attention was all hers. She has a voice that just moves you and makes you want to listen to more. I have followed her career since then, and have passed along many recommendations to freind to get her music. I even had a few KAROKE bars get some of the songs that were not the big "hits" because I loved singing them. My faves are "Ordinary", "I beleive in Love" and "I don't want to wait", and "where have all the cowboys gone". Keep on singing Paula... I'm so glad you are back!!

Paula the Great!.......2007-03-09

This is a great cd! Her greatest hits plus two more! Paula has been sorely missed, and this cd has all her greatest songs on one CD!

You don't have to wait anymore.......2007-03-05

Berklee Music grad Paula Cole burst into the spotlight when her self-produced second album, "This Fire," asked the question "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" Much like Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car," Paula observed the situation that her man was miring them in ("I will wash the dishes and you'll go have a beer") and ached to escape. With the advent of "Lilith Fair" artists (Paula was on the first of these tours), she became a standard bearer for women singing about women's issues.

"I Don't Want To Wait" was cut from the same cloth. By being chosen as the theme to the a teen drama on the nascent WB network, her ode to teenagers in puppy-love gave her another hit. She also went deeper with the ballad "Hush Hush Hush." Written as a conversation between a victim of AIDS and his father (sung beautifully by Peter Gabriel), Paula captures perfectly an emotional conflict. It was these songs and the "This Fire" album that brought Paula the best new artist Grammy in 1997.

Despite the fact that her middle album is her best album, she had releases on either side. Her debut, "Harbinger," contains as many great singles as "This Fire" did. The anthem "I Am So Ordinary" is a triumphant description of women trying to break out of their predetermined roles, and should have been a smash. That her first record label went out of business right after "Harbinger's" release is probably what prevented that. The follow-up to "This Fire," the more spiritually based "Amen" is a forthright confessional album that probably was too honest in the dawning of "Hit Me Baby One More Time" pop puff princesses. Paula was not about to make her career into that of a silly poptart and as "Amen" failed to meet the peaks of "This Fire," she quietly left the music scene. (Her appearance with Chis Botti notwithstanding.)

There are two new songs on "Postcards." The melancholy title track is just the kind of song that would have made a perfect teen-drama theme song, and "Tomorrow I Will be Yours" hearkens to the beauty of the songs on "This Fire." The real surprise, however, is the standard "Autumn Leaves." Rescued from "Midnight in The Garden Of Good and Evil" soundtrack obscurity, it is a perfect showcase for the richness of Paula's voice. It is enough for you to long for a full album of standards. Were it to be so. But with a mere three albums of material to pick from, "Postcards From East Oceanside" is a strong collection from a singer-songwriter who deserved a better fate. If you have Annie Lennox, Sara McLaughlin or Natalie Merchant in your collection, Paula Cole's greatest hits will fit in nicely.

Postcards of the Hanging: The Grateful Dead Perform the Songs of Bob Dylan

Average customer rating:

Simple twist of Dylan
dylan and the dead love hate relationship
When Bob and Jerry hung out, what did they talk about?
Excellent Covers
i bet this makes dylan laugh

Postcards of the Hanging: The Grateful Dead Perform the Songs of Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead
Manufacturer: Grateful Dead / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0002T2Q6A
Release Date: 2004-08-31

Tracks:

When I Paint My Masterpiece
She Belongs to Me
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Maggie's Farm
Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
Ballad of a Thin Man
Desolation Row
All Along the Watchtower
It's All Over Now Baby Blue
Man of Peace

Customer Reviews:

Simple twist of Dylan.......2006-12-02

This is a pretty good collection of tunes. The copy I have also has the bonus disc with Queen Jane and The Mighty Quinn. The All Along The Watchtower is the one now available on Truckin' Up To Buffalo. It Takes Alot To Laugh features members of the Allman Brothers Band.

dylan and the dead love hate relationship.......2006-06-08

the dead and dylan have a long musical history a poor soul un wisely says that the dead dont do dylans music justice the sheer stupidity of the stament makes me laugh dylan is one of the most influential writers of are time but come on he wrote almost all his songs with three chords because to him the words were everythining and because his musical skill allowed no more the dead on the other hand are an extremely diverse group of incrediable musicians so if you want to here dylans classics played and sung by highly skilled musicians this disc is 4 u if u cant stand the thought of someone other than dylan singing his tunes by dylan butno matter what u do dont get "dylan and the dead" its horrible. because dylan does not have the greatest voice with out a studio but he is a genuis and very close to the dead when jerry died he referred to jerry as more like a big brother rather than a freind...ive seen over 56 dead shows as well as 6 dylan shows and have seen each do each others songs numerous times these songs arent being played by the dead for the first time for some tribute album but for the thousandth time because the dead loved dylan and he loved the dead

When Bob and Jerry hung out, what did they talk about?.......2005-12-04

There is a danger in reviewing the Grateful Dead. As a guy with kids, a job, and a mortgage, I am certain to fumble details that are common knowledge among true deadheads. I apologize in advance.

"Postcards from the Hanging" makes me believe there is a different way to live. It combines the loose, behind-the-beat Dead interpretations of some of the best poetry of the twentieth century. The result is a longing to live cleaner, easier, more creatively, and closer to the heart. This is what art is supposed to do.

So maybe I am not as discriminating as some of the other reviewers (there probably are better verisions), but nervertheless I was moved.

"Postcards" for me combined two sentimental memories. I was taken back to when I was thirteen, taping "Blood on the Tracks" off of Stereo X in the basement on a Sunday night. I was taken back to when I was 21, working in the lumber yard and listening to all-Grateful-Dead Saturdays on Utah's start-up community radio station. How could I resist this combination of two heroes from simpler times?

I was unable to resist another combination--"Dylan and the Dead." Ouch. (Who wanted to include eleven minutes of "Joey"?) Stay away from "Dylan and the Dead." Confidently immerse your ears in "Postcards."

Look, for the Dead to be about psychedelic interpretation of folk music--which on some level they were, they had to do Dylan's work. Dylan was and is the godfather of all post-modern American folk music. The combination is a natural one. For the casual fan of the Dead, this is probably the most accessible package of their Dylan work.

And yes I do agree that Jerry is by far the better voice for Dylan's lyrics. When Bob and Jerry got together, what did they talk about?

Excellent Covers.......2005-08-01

The Grateful Dead is probably the most famous "cover band" of all time. And the artist they covered more than any other was Bob Dylan, and this is their best work covering his songs.

Whether you are a fan or not, or a fan of Bob Dylan or not, you should enjoy this cd very much. "Desolation Row" is the best track on the disc, though "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again", "When I Paint My Masterpiece" and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" are strong efforts. A previous reviewer recommends "Dylan and The Dead" vs. "Postcards.........", but trust me, this is a MUCH BETTER collection. Do yourself a favor and pick this up. If you are Dead fan it is a must have. If you are not, it is still a great disc to listen to and you will soon be a Dead-head afterwards.

i bet this makes dylan laugh.......2005-04-28

this cd is good backgound music if you like the dead but if you're a dylan fan then this album will make you laugh. the postcards they are referring to are the ones that they are sending from their hanging and because they have good taste they choose to go out singing dylan which i have to admire but do not buy this album if you are a big fan of dylans version which everyone should be because you will be dissappointed. i got respect for the dead but they could never reach what dyaln did music wise. buy dylan and the dead if you really want to hear a good dylan and dead cd because dylan is in his prime on that cd and it will make any true dylan fan smile and say (...)

Average customer rating:

Postcards
Peter Ostroushko
Manufacturer: Red House
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Sacred Heart
Coming Down from Red Lodge
Minnesota: A History of the Land
Heart of the Heartland
Heartland Holiday: Live at the Fitzgerald

ASIN: B000FFL2SE
Release Date: 2006-06-06

Tracks:

Manassas Junction
Baghdad Blues
St. Augustine Lullaby
Saturday Night Guys Cruising Van Nuys
When The City Of Angels Sleeps
Dayton Cakewalk Delight
Bemidji Blues
Cashdollar's Berkshire Blues
Tecumseh
McCully's Waltz
Montenegro
Meditation On The Thin Space At St. Paul's Chapel

Average customer rating:

Seasons of Romance
Steve Kuhn
Manufacturer: Postcards
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000371N
Release Date: 2000-01-04

Tracks:

Six Gun
Romance
Visions of Gaudi
There Is No Greater Love
The Pawnbroker
Remember
Clotilde
Good Morning Heartache
Looking Back

Album Description

Steve Kuhn presents his sonorous piano in the unusual format of two different quartets (one with Tom Harrell, and one with Bob Mintzer, with neither of whom he has previously recorded), as well as in trios. From the heartrending and definitive version of Quincy Jones' "The Pawnbroker," which features Bob Mintzer's soulful musings, to the fragile, poignant, and pensive rendering of "Romance," to the moving portrait of love lost highlighting both Kuhn's mastery of piano tone and his harmonic subtlety and sensitivity on "Good Morning, Heartache," this recording explores all the nuances of love, all the seasons of romance we all experience.

Postcards from Bundanon: Very Best of Riley Lee

Average customer rating:

A great sampling of the shakuhachi stylings of Riley Lee!
Sampler
Wonderful, blissful, Magical instrument and player..

Postcards from Bundanon: Very Best of Riley Lee
Riley Lee
Manufacturer: New World Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Sanctuary: Music from a Zen Garden
Oriental Sunrise
Yoga Tranquility
Satori - Music For Yoga And Meditation
Music for Zen Meditation

ASIN: B00005AKCQ
Release Date: 2001-03-06

Tracks:

Morning Rain-Sparkling Light
Voices of the Night
Ancestral Beings
Spirits Dance
Sacramental Lullaby
El Sueno/The Dream
Felucca to Zanzibar
Prayer for Children
Shimmer
Suzuru/Cranes Nesting

Amazon.com

Bundanon is an artists' retreat/nature preserve found south of Sydney, established by the late Australian painter Arthur Boyd. Shakuhachi (a flute made of bamboo root) player Riley Lee, a Texas native, spent part of the 1990s as an artist in residence at the center while he recorded music and performed in his adopted home country. Postcards from Bundanon, a compilation of works from eight recordings made during the decade, commemorates his stay and Boyd's memory. Listeners charmed by the ethereal, meditative tones Lee coaxes from his flute on such gems as Oriental Sunrise and Sanctuary: Music from a Zen Garden will find Postcards to be a more diverse affair, mixing solo works with collaborations with assorted instrumentalists (harp, tablas, koto, bass, didjeridoo, et al.). Lee explores a broader expressive range here, at times introducing trace elements of classical ("Sacramental Lullaby") and jazz textures (heard in the unusually inviting "Shimmer") into his slowly evolving soundscapes. While still gentle in spirit, Postcards offers a touch more musicality and mystery, and a little less bliss, than the two recordings mentioned previously, though Lee again demonstrates an astonishing command of this ancient, rudimentary instrument. The evocative "Morning Rain: Sparkling Light," for example, is as lovely a piece as Lee has ever recorded. --Terry Wood

Customer Reviews:

A great sampling of the shakuhachi stylings of Riley Lee!.......2006-10-02

If music-making can be thought of as a living, breathing meditation, then it doesn't get any cleaner and purer than this. Calm, clean, clear and minimalistic, the shakuhachi playing of Riley Lee commands the attention with its simplicity, shedding the mundane cars of the day and refocusing the mind to another place and time, or--more appropriately for a Zen art--to nowhere. To nowhen. To nothing. I'm used to a rougher, breathier edge to shakuhachi music but Riley Lee's technique, while still nuanced in tone and execution, sounds smooth, rich and polished--almost buttery. It's extraordinarily soothing to listen to, whether he's playing alone or with other musicians, as he does in some of the tracks here--with guest artists playing instruments ranging from koto and folk harp to didgeridoo, Indian tabla and electronica. After studying in Japan for nine years, in 1980 Lee became the first non-Japanese to attain the rank of grand master in the shakuhachi tradition. It shows. "Postcards from Bundanon" offers a retrospective of Lee's recordings, featuring ten selections from nine previous albums, and providing written context for each. Try also Riley Lee's other work, and Richard Warner's "Quiet Heart / Spirit Wind." Compare with the shakuhachi fusion of "Meditative Flute," featuring Kifu Mitsuhashi and Toshiko Yonekawa, and Kazu Matsui's "Stone Monkey." And for a similar album featuring the Native American flute, try R. Carlos Nakkai's "The Best of Nakkai: In Beauty We Return."

Sampler.......2005-01-24

If you're not into Riley Lee's shakuhachi yet, this would an excellent album to find out whether you like him. There are takes from eight of his discs. If you're a fan and own virtually every disc he ever made, this would be surplusage. If you're just a fan, like me -- it's a wonderful recording.

Wonderful, blissful, Magical instrument and player.........2002-01-04

I had the wonderful experience of attending Riley's Breathing Workshop at The Woodford folk festival in Australia. He is an inspiring teacher, and the shakuhachi is a wonderfully haunting instrument. This album is a good 'intro' to the music of Riley Lee, and shows the breadth of compatability this instument has with other instruments - ie, didgeridoo....

Affairs of the Heart: Music of Marjan Mozetich

Average customer rating:

Juliette Kang
Mahler meets Glass--and so much more
Schmaltz that works
This may be the best CD in my 500+ classical collection

Affairs of the Heart: Music of Marjan Mozetich

Manufacturer: Cbc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B00005Y7MN
Release Date: 2000-08-15

Tracks:

Affairs Of The Heart: Con - Juliette Kang
Postcards From The Sky: I. Unfolding Sky
Postcards From The Sky: II. Weeping Clouds
Postcards From The Sky: III. A Messenger
The Passion Of Angels - Nora Bumanis/Julia Shaw/Marc Destrube/Diane Berthelsdorf/Roger Cole/Christopher Milard

Customer Reviews:

Juliette Kang.......2006-03-23

I bought this CD because I heard Affairs of the Heart on Radio Two, CBC, Here's to You show, and every few minutes found myself exclaiming over Kang's magnificent performance. A treasure.

Mahler meets Glass--and so much more.......2003-05-26

After hearing Passion of Angels on public radio, I ordered this cd and have lived with it over the last six months, a mainstay in my travels. New things keep revealing themselves to me in the tonalities which intially I classified simply as contemporary versions of High Romanticism. Some of the repetitions, too, I lumped at first in with post-modern Baroque minimalism. But these classifications, while handy, and while they may explain some of the residual styles informing the pieces on display here, do not do justice to the whole. Mozetich has accomplished something new from the remains of the tradition--and it is a legacy worth preserving. I have liked this cd so much I have given it as a gift. Mozetich has left us a gift indeed.

Schmaltz that works.......2003-03-24

You have to give Mozetich credit for writing such anabashedly Romantic works as he entered the 21st century. The album's liner notes detail his struggle to pursue this path. Decades ago, professional critics and musicologists would have railed against these regressive works. Now, I think they've just thrown up their hands and joined the classical public in luxuriating in the saccharine nature of these works. The "Postcards" and "Passion" have received lots of airplay on Canada's CBC2 radio network. That's how I heard them. Initially, I regarded them as pleasant, contemplative ear candy. But then, something happened. A sweet young woman I knew died suddenly. At once, the "Postcards" and "Passion" took on a whole new meaning for me. I realized that they reflected her nature perfectly. Those works were a great consolation to me through my mourning period. Even Mozetich's shameless use of the main theme from Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" symphony in the "Passion" works. The "Affairs" concerto flirts dangerously with the sterile, mechanical style of John Adams in its orchestral accompaniment, but Mozetich's lush Romantic harmonies and melodies still manage to triumph. Like me, you may think you've become too jaded and post-modern to enjoy such sugary music. But let down your guard for a few minutes and come with me to wallow in this near sublime Romanticism. I did it; you can too.

This may be the best CD in my 500+ classical collection.......2003-02-28

I'd like to meet Marjan Mozetich.

I bought this CD for "The Passion of Angles" that I heard on PBS a few months ago. But before I could get to my "passion", which was the 5th cut, I started at the begining........to my wonderous ears appeared "Affairs of the Heart" that I have grown to love with as much or possibly even more passion.

Now understand that I am a classical freak. Example, I currently have 21 CD's of just 3 works. I love anything from Beethoven on to Rachmaninov, not much outside this, although I am always looking for the next "classical" contemporary composer.

By "classical" I mean if it doesn't have a melody, count me out. It has to have a melody.

Mozetich is my man. These two pieces are understated works of art. They have beautiful, simply stated melodies....they are not over orchestrated, and the combination of harp and violin in these concertos is just plain breathtaking.

...Unhesitatingly, and without conditions, this is one of the best composed, played and recorded pieces that has come down the pike since Rachmaninov's piano concertos.

It would have been interesting if Marjan would have put a second movement in the middle of these two pieces and called the whole work something like "The Affairs of the Angles". Bravo Mr. Mozetich...I would like to meet you.

Maybe you can get Ken Schermerhorn and the Nashville Symphony to play these works.

Tracks:

Blocking The Sun
Ben's Letter
Dirty Little Secret
I Wish I Was A Girl
California
My Crazy Life
How I Roll - (summer mix)
Breathing
Pocket Full Of Numbers
New World
Still Behind Me

Album Description

54 Seconds were born in Southern England but burst out as a musical force in Austin, TX. Best described as psychedelic-pop headphone music with swirling guitar textures and freakish keyboards. The band renders excellent melodies, heartening lyrics, and eerie, otherworldly atmospheres that wrench the listener's gut. Spencer Gibb and his band mates, Rachel Loy (bass), Stewart Cochran (keys), and Jeff Botta (drums) bring widely disparate influences to the table to create their original sound. Son of Bee Gee's Robin Gibb, Spencer is both a music and film producer, having created several noteworthy videos for the band and won a SXSW Film Festival Jury Award for Best Music Video.

Album Description

Average customer rating:

An excellent second recording by Teja Gerken
Brilliant fingerstyle guitar

Postcards
Teja Gerken
Manufacturer: Teja Gerken Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B0009VIFOI
Release Date: 2005-07-02

Tracks:

5927 California Street
Planxty Bongwater
First Smile
Full Moon Waltz
Nine Bridges
Sapphire Blue
Subterranean Intelligence
Noe Valley Sunday
Old World
Precision & Emergency
Day of the Dead
City For Sale

Product Description

San Francisco guitarist Teja Gerken is pleased to announce the release of his second CD, Postcards. A collection of solo compositions for acoustic fingerstyle guitar, the album continues the direction of Gerken's critically acclaimed debut, On My Way (1999, LifeRhythm Music). Gerken has chosen to use the opportunity of a new release to offer a glimpse into the current state of the San Francisco Bay Area fingerstyle guitar scene. In this spirit, Postcards features originals, as well as tunes penned by five of Gerken's local colleagues: fingerpicking legends Duck Baker and Dale Miller, Celtic guitar sensation Steve Baughman, San Francisco Guitar Quartet member Patrick Francis, and bluesman Pete Madsen. Recorded with steel-string, classical, and 12-string guitars, Postcards blends myriad influences into a musical style that hovers around the perimeters of folk, contemporary classical, and world music. As true solo instrumental pieces (captured without overdubs), the album's compositions highlight the polyphonic qualities of fingerstyle guitar in a beautifully intimate recording.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent second recording by Teja Gerken.......2005-08-26

Teja Gerken's second CD, "postcards," is a remarkably good recording of solo fingerstyle guitar. Recorded without overdubs, what Teja (and occasional friends) play is what the listener hears. It's plain that Teja took his time after the release of his first CD, "On My Way," to ensure that "postcards" came out just right. The mix of instruments and songs on this recording span the scope of the instrument, with tunes played on six-string, 12-string, and classical guitars, as well as varied harmony, from angular fingerstyle to a jazz waltz.

In addition to seven self-penned pieces, "postcards" sports five tunes penned by Bay Area fingerstyle professionals: Steve Baughman's tongue-in-cheek "Planxty Bongwater", Patrick Francis' "Full Moon Waltz", Dale Miller's "Noe Valley Sunday," Duck Baker's "Old World," and Pete Madsen's "Day of the Dead." Gerken adds his own spin to each of them, and it's a credit to his ability that these players have entrusted him with their tunes.

Like "On My Way," his first recording, "postcards" opens with a tune dedicated to an important local venue. "5927 California Street" is named after the address of San Francisco's Bazaar Cafe, an all-acoustic venue where Gerken has for several years hosted a successful monthly event focused on acoustic guitar. The harmonic content of the tune sets the mood for the rest of the recording, opening with an angular cascade of notes and falling into rhythm and rich and somewhat mysterious-sounding harmonies almost immediately.

"5927 California Street" is followed by fingerstyle guitarist and frailer Steve Baughman's puckishly named "Planxty Bongwater." The word 'planxty' was coined by ancient Irish harper Carolan to describe pieces written for patrons. Baughman, who has no patron - or maybe he does? -- turns the form on its head with advanced harmony and rhythm, and Teja takes pains to ensure that the tune retains the feel of Baughman's

Teja's own "First Smile" is a lovely delicate filigree of a tune, but it has a certain amount of attitude as well. It's loose-limbed and it saunters; it's impressionistic, with just a dab of film noir. Patrick Francis's "Full Moon Waltz" is evocative of jazz waltzes, bringing to mind Bill Evans' "Waltz for Debby"; it's almost pianistic.

"Noe Valley Sunday," played on a 12-string, shows Gerken wielding a light touch on the notoriously difficult instrument. It calls to mind early early Peter Lang and Leo Kottke - playful but serious music, showcasing Gerken's significant technique without hammering listeners over the head with it.

Classical guitars clearly hold no terrors for Teja, who showcases a remarkable tone and subtle but insistent interior melodies on Duck Baker's "Old World."

"Precision and Emergency" requires a footnote: the title of this upbeat DADGAD tune comes from an inexact Internet translation of an Italian web review of "On My Way."

That review also noted - as Gerken wryly notes in the liner notes - that it was "a duty to buy the CD." Not bad advice for "On My Way," and by all accounts, good advice for "postcards." It's a selection of remarkable tunes played with excellent technique to deliver a consistent and aurally satisfying experience.

Brilliant fingerstyle guitar.......2005-07-17

My two favorites on Postcards would be "Full Moon Waltz" and "Precision & Emergency".

His choice of nylon string classical is really perfect for the waltz. There are moments when I would swear I heard elements of Laurindo Almeida and even the immortal André S. This is one of the most interesting guitar-songs that I've heard in a long time. The song was written by Patrick Francis, and Teja does full credit to the composer. Anyone who can write songs this good is definitely worth checking out.

Precision is virtually a clinic on pull-offs at high speed. The song is aptly named--the urgency in the rhythm is barely controlled. He generates a huge tone, even though he's capo'd at IV. I think this arrangement would challenge even the greatest masters.

Postcards is definitely a fun ride for fingerstyle fans.

Highly recommended.

Dave King

Average customer rating:

Some people just don't get it ...
Bizarre and boring
Dreamy, perfect CD for pondering life.

Just So Happens
Gary Peacock & Bill Frisell
Manufacturer: Postcards
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Metheny / Mehldau

ASIN: B00000371J
Release Date: 1994-10-19

Tracks:

Only Now
In Walked Po
Wapatis Dream
Home on the Range 1
Home on the Range 2
Through a Skylight
Red River Valley
Reciprocity
Good Morning Heartache
N.O.M.B.
Just So Happens

Amazon.com

Gary Peacock is one of the great bassists of jazz, a stellar and flexible accompanist who has worked with such pianists as Bill Evans, Paul Bley, and Keith Jarrett, as well as with Miles Davis and tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler, a giant of the 1960s avant-garde. He's also one of the finest bass soloists, with the unusual combination of a huge, rich sound and guitarlike fluency of line. More than that, Peacock has a gift for melodic improvisation and a genuine expressive capacity; he's a master of bends, slurs, and slides, which give the bass an almost vocal dimension.

He's paired here with guitarist Bill Frisell, and the result is sustained musical dialogue between two partners with the keenest listening skills, responsive to one another's every nuance and subtle shift in direction, matching, mirroring, and moving one another's lines along. The program is largely improvised, and there are common interests in both the spontaneous kernel of melody, as on "Through a Skylight," and the pure sonic exploration of "Wapiti Dream," with its squiggles of guitar synth and high-bowed bass. Peacock's "N.O.M.B" is a luminous ballad in which the two pass the melody back and forth, a technique that works just as well on the CD's sole standard, "Good Morning Heartache." The two versions of "Home on the Range," played without irony, show the depth of their sources, while Peacock's solo version of "Red River Valley" seems to resonate as well with the folk motifs he once explored with Albert Ayler. This is superior duet playing, sometimes roaming free, but often etched with incredible care and economy. With Frisell's very bright guitar sound and Peacock's darker-hued bass, there's an arresting play of light and shadow. --Stuart Broomer

Album Description

Just So Happens presents the fascinating combination of legendary bassist Gary Peacock with eclectic guitarist Bill Frisell. Together, they create original duet compositions, play a poignant, affecting version of "Good Morning Heartache," and surprise the listener with fresh interpretations of two traditional American tunes, "Home on the Range" and "Red River Valley". Just So Happens also features Peacock playing bowed bass for the first time on a recording since his work with Albert Ayler in the 1960's.

Customer Reviews:

Some people just don't get it ..........2007-05-22

... and that's fine: there is a lot to get. However, I find it hard to believe that anyone who listens to either Bill Frisell of Gary Peacock extensively would find this album terribly out of character for either of them.

While I'm not dissing the above reviewer who offered one star for this album, please take his advice with a grain of salt. For the uninitiated, his is excellent advice. If not familiar with either of these mercurial artist's work, this is NOT a good place to start. It is a difficult album.

However, if you are one of the Frisell or Peacock faithful, than this album will strike you in much the same way it struck the other reviewer here.

Frisell is extremely tasty (for lack of a better term) on this record. And he and Peacock play off one another as you would expect from two players of this caliber and sensitivity.

I have had this album since it was first released, and I still listen to it faithfully as kind of a musical centering mechanism.

It's a very relevant album. Good stuff.

Bizarre and boring.......2004-03-10

I bought this without listening to any cuts. Mistake. Though the cuts couldn't possibly show the breadth of zigs and zags of nothingness. I have the weirdest collection of music and rarely do I dislike something. This takes the cake. It is like listening to a psychotic on downers--nothing makes sense.

Dreamy, perfect CD for pondering life........2000-09-27

Great CD that treads the line between beautiful and bizarre, with some great playing by Frisell and Peacock. My favorites are the elastic Repciprocity and the windswept Good Morning Heartache. NMOB and Just So Happens are beautiful as well, like a kaleideoscope that keeps shifting with a colorful and strange vision. The more I look and Listen, the more I like. Bill and Gary at their most poetic. Lots of space, this is a great artistic statement. If you like the Haden/Metheny Duet CD, this is a "must listen" companion.

Average customer rating:

Postcards is Profound

The Postcards

Manufacturer: Reference Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Styles | Music

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Anthems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Partsongs | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

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Mozart Concertos
Reference Jazz Etc.: First Sampling
In Formation
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Ports of Call

ASIN: B00000159T
Release Date: 1995-01-13

Tracks:

Blow Ye The Trumpet
N'Kosi Sikelel' i Afrika
Spaseniye sodelal
Wo ai Yang guang
Sakura
Gamelan
Pueri Hebraeorum
Gracias a la Vida
Cantique de Jean Racine
Geist der Liebe
Geographical Fugue
Betelehemu
Insalata Italiana
Cindy

Customer Reviews:

Postcards is Profound.......2005-02-12

This recording exemplifies why the Turtle Creek Chorale is the premier men's chorus in the country. Each track on this album demonstrates their mastery of several different choral styles and cultural nuance. Breathtaking!

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