Best Portuguese Music
Amalia Rodrigues is the unchallenged queen of fado--the Portuguese equivalent of flamenco or blues--and one of the greatest singers on record.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I recently discovered Fado after seeing Misia sing Lagrima on a DVD recorded in Leipsig. So I Googled Misia and found out about a whole genre of "pop" music which I had never heard of before. In my search, I found that one name stood out above all the others. With an open mind and complete ignorance, I played this over several. times. There were two familiar tunes: Lisboa Antiga and Coimbra, pop tunes from the 50's and 60's. They beat - thump, thump, thump, thump - like a human heartbeat. The response in my core is the same listening to Amalia's Gaivota as Maria's Suicidio."
"Amalia is the acknowledged queen of Fado."
"Love it."
"I am very pleased with the purchase, I recommend the seller."
"Not only that her incredible voice and interpretation style made her the "Queen of Fado" for decades, but I find the music that she sings to be one of the most passionate in the world."
"Still I thought I liked Mariza's voice better with that deeper and huskier and at times playful voice."
"Amalia, brought music to the millions."
"My absolute favorite collection of Amalia."
Recorded in 2005, with an orchestra (Sinfonetta de Lisbon) led by Jacques Morelenbaum, the beautiful fado singer transports the listener to a timeless evening in Lisbon. The special bonus DVD is a documentary called Mariza And The Story Of Fado, which examines the art of fado, its history and development through interviews with and performances by Mariza and other fadistas, musicians and experts.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This isn't what Amazon says it is. The 2 disc version does NOT have a DVD of the concert, but a CD of it plus a feature with Mariza on Lisbon and Fado. She looks more radiant and beautiful in this performance than in her others."
"I was introduced to Mariza on recent trip to Portugal followed by seeing her in concert in DC."
"Be sure to read the lyrics in English and Portuguese at Mariza's Official Website. It helps also to learn a few Portuguese words so you don't lose your place while listening to the song."
"If you have never heard Fado, I think this is the place to start."
"I Love the song she performed about the people of her home land."
"This is a breathtaking DVD & CD."
"some of her cd and dvd have been played.....i wanted to say the amount of time being played but I lost the count; the Concert em Lisboa is certainly one of them."
"I had heard of Mariza by chance from a fellow fan of Amalia Rodrigues and rented the DVD of the Lisboa concert."
Starring Cristina Branco, Mariza, Aldina Duarte.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Excellent show but I did not read accurately the description so I expected a Mariza only recording and it included Aldina Duarte as well."
Best General
Amalia Rodrigues is the unchallenged queen of fado--the Portuguese equivalent of flamenco or blues--and one of the greatest singers on record.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I recently discovered Fado after seeing Misia sing Lagrima on a DVD recorded in Leipsig. So I Googled Misia and found out about a whole genre of "pop" music which I had never heard of before. In my search, I found that one name stood out above all the others. With an open mind and complete ignorance, I played this over several. times. There were two familiar tunes: Lisboa Antiga and Coimbra, pop tunes from the 50's and 60's. They beat - thump, thump, thump, thump - like a human heartbeat. The response in my core is the same listening to Amalia's Gaivota as Maria's Suicidio."
"Amalia is the acknowledged queen of Fado."
"Love it."
"I am very pleased with the purchase, I recommend the seller."
"Not only that her incredible voice and interpretation style made her the "Queen of Fado" for decades, but I find the music that she sings to be one of the most passionate in the world."
"Still I thought I liked Mariza's voice better with that deeper and huskier and at times playful voice."
"Amalia, brought music to the millions."
"My absolute favorite collection of Amalia."
Best Greek Music
On this, the audio-only component of his third made-for-television concert production (filmed in 2005 in Las Vegas), Yanni continues in his adopted role of True Egalitarian, playing a few bars to open a piece, then fading into the background to let other musicians (on violin, trumpet, sax, didgeridoo, hammer dulcimer, even keyboards) command the music's flow. (Consider "Playtime," where Ming Freeman plays the jazzy piano solo, and the disc's previously unreleased track, "The Storm," pairing violinists Samvel Yervinyan and Sayaka Katsuki in a showy duet that is reminiscent of something from Bond.). Thus while the musicianship is first-rate, the production is superb, and some tracks are terrific (too bad "Standing in Motion" fades out so quickly), this disc is more about the jamming and less about staying on compositional task.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This concert DVD will blow you away!!!!"
"Awesome musicians!!"
"This concert it amazing."
"Cd in excellent condition."
"On Yanni Live he proves it once again and delivers one of his best live performances since live at the Acropolis!"
"The thing that made e disappointed is that the the CD that i guess it has bonus track "World dance" did not work,looks like empty!!!"
Best Corsican Music
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is very good album and has beatiful songs."
"What a joyous occasion when we find new music that truly moves us... from the moment i muvrini opened their set i was captivated by the sound of Corsican blended with Celtic, and other forms of world music."
"I can very highly recommend this CD, the music is beyond words.....it touches my soul....I hope lots of people will enjoy this music."
Best French Music
"Digital Love" starts off silly and gets sillier, but the monosyllabic lyrics lull the senses just right, allowing the song's summery groove to grab hold with authority. "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" is a resounding standout amidst the retro/Vocoder deluge that transpired after Cher's Believe turned the kitchy disco device into a worldwide pop music trend, spinning a clever groove around an ever-escalating string of computerized seduction.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I could listen to this forever, And vinyl really does bring out all the nuances, And I will love it more when I get a new needle for me player."
"The art work upon opening the LP is interesting and the LP's are finely pressed... Ok, the songs are stellar and sort of flow into one another making for one cohesive listen... STANDOUT TRACKS: Face to Face, Digital Love, Harder Better Faster Stronger, Something About Us & Aerodynamic..."
"Unfortunately, after receiving my copy of this record, I found a rather unpleasant click/pop that occurred at the beginning of Aerodynamic. To clarify, I borrowed my friend's copy of Discovery and the clicking/popping did not occur as in my two copies!"
"Nothing wrong with my copy far as I can tell."
"My son is a drummer and finds 90% of the music in this cd great practice resource....."
"Love it."
"best daft punk album!way better then newer lp."
"Obviously the album itself is gold, but vinyl buyers beware - you're not gonna be happy with how this sounds."
Best Swiss Music
Back from a 15 year hiatus, Celtic Frost return with Monotheist, their brand new studio album.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Clearly visionaries Warrior and Ain have being studying their contemporary metal as there are shades of Sunn 0))) here. Monotheist sounds like everything up until "Into the Pandemonium" pulled together, and because of this the mood shifts from aggressive to avant-garde. And lastly, I absolutely dig the last track "winter", it's the perfect ending song to celebrate the death of one of greatest metal bands ever to live."
"Celtic Frost have come back in an amazing way with this awesome album."
"The atmosphere is darker, heavier, and slower than any of their other albums."
"Some people will argue it's not really CF without Reed St. Mark or what have you, Sesa is awesome on the drums by the way at least in my opinion. Hats off to Tom for always being creative and knowing when to move on, it's not Frost without Martin or Tom and Tom has his next project allready going."
"So, the long and short of it is, fourteen whole years after what was supposed to be their initial swansong came out ("Parched With Thirst Am I And Dying" was released in the early Nineties), Celtic Frost finally blasted back onto the scene with "Monotheist" in 2006. Still armed with huge instrumental chops, the rest of the band employ the perfect amount of propulsive drumming (including just the right number of blasts and thrash beats), and augment it with memorably heavy, darkly sludgy/doomy riffs, musclebound rhythms, and a handful of emphatic guitar solos, to boot. The set begins with "Progeny," which blasts out of the starting gate with thundering, churning power chords anchored by double-kick drumming and iced by really memorable vocals any lyrics. "Ground" brings back that eminently memorable lyricism (in the form of an anthemic chorus, where Fischer belts out "Oh God, why have you forsaken me?! "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh" begins with a melodic guitar and bass intro before taking a turn for the heavy side by filtering in some huge, booming riffage. The curiously-named "Os Abysmi Vei Daath," with its crunchy, churning power chords and punching rhythms, and the succeeding "Temple Of Depression," which boasts some ultra-chunky riffage, both work similarly. Then, following a bouncy little introductory drum solo, the seven-minute-long epic, aptly-entitled "Obscured" adopts a heavy doom metal vibe, and one with another truly unforgettable performance from "Warrior." The first part of it, "Totengott," is a positively bone-chilling piece that evokes vintage Sunn O))) (and, subsequently, Black Sabbath); and is sure to get the tiny little hairs on the back of your neck to stand up."
Best Dutch Music
The Silent Force was an instant #1 in the band' s heartland and. charted well in many European countries.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I am not sure about the guitar amps being used, but I want to say that different ones may have been used for the Mother Earth album and this one."
"Silent Force contains the trademark WT angelic vocals, but with far more organic and original symphonic orchestration and backing choirs than any of their previous works, following a widening trend in the wake of other "operatic" female vocal-fronted bands like Nightwish, Epica, or Octavia. Stand out tracks that immediately captivate the listener and run through one's mind long after the CD has been turned off are Jilian (an orchestrated and epic metal anthem), Memories, Forsaken, See Who I Am, and It's The Fear (catchy chorus, probably a good choice for the second single)."
"Within Temptation is a talented band from Holland or Netherlands if you prefer who's lead singer is Sharon den Adel and she's as pretty as her voice is. Some of the best songs are "See Who I Am", which starts with a huge sound then smartly slows down only to come back with the big catchy chorus, "Jillian (I'd give my Heart)" is just great with it's gigantic intro followed by the choir and Sharon's impeccable voice on the choruses and Stand my Ground" is slick the way it starts out sedately then explodes into a "don't mess with me" warrior mentality with the orchestra and choir. Similar Bands. Nightwish, Edenbridge, Visions of Atlantis, Dreams of Sanity, Enya, Loreena McKinnett."
"I love Nightwish, but their music is missing an element that keeps their music from speaking to me on a complete level. And I found that missing piece in Within Temptation."
Best Tyrolean Music
Yodeling Songs Of The Alps by Fritz Schroeder.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great CD was a Christmas Gift for my Dad and he loves loves it!"
"Several of the songs are sung in English."
"I was initially disappointed when I heard Western yodeling in the first 10 or so tracks, but the artist's skillful singing grew on me and this is one of my favorite CDs today."
"Sure the references to saddles and such are a clue, but the real dead givaway is the dulcet quavering tones of the steel guitar."
"Love the Swiss yodelers!!"
"The first half of this cd had nothing to do with Alpine yodeling. The second half sounded like it had the same yodelers on every cut, but at least they were authentic and the sound quality was good."
"I am very disappointed with this item not only is it not swiss German or Austrian but it is some Australian nut called fritz Schroeder singing in English sounds more like slim dusty.is there anything you can do about this as my husband is having a mental fit.dont you have any real yodelling songs from the fatherland."
"I asked for a CD with yodeling by Ruedi Rymann, and his name was displayed on the page with this CD, as was his most famous song, Dr Schacher Seppli, so I assumed they would be on the CD."
Best Austrian Music
Take the remix skills of these two chefs de musique ; add a dash of fresh electronic ingredients, including Roni Size, Rockers Hi-Fi, David Holmes, Alex Reece, and others; run it through a beats processor; and you have one sumptuous and definitely not calorie-free meal.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Sounds great and very quite."
"Feel free to dance, make dinner, clean up the house, or sink into the couch."
"I think that I've have three copies of this double CD session."
"Along with Kid Loco's A Grand Love Story it's probably my favorite DJ album from the very early noughties."
"Compulsively listenable, forming an excellent compendium of long-distance cruising music, K&D Sessions is a must-have for any modern music listener."
"Enjoy the beats, the flow, the development of the music."
"The CD was visually scratched and once I was halfway through playing it was indeed unable to play the rest of the album."
Best German Music
Classic holiday album from 1963 contains lushly orchestrated Christmas favorites.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This cheerful music helped me through some rough Christmases over the years, and having a crystal clear CD is the frosting on the cake."
"Along with his delightful treatment of such standards as "Winter Wonderland," "White Christmas" and even the tiresome "Little Drummer Boy," you get the bonus of some outstanding Kaempfert originals including the title track and the absolutely infectious "Jingo Jango." I have always loved this collection; I purchased it on vinyl on its first release way way back; and was overjoyed when it was finally made available in CD."
"A wonderful Christmas CD by Bert Kaempfert that brought many great memories back, as my family had the LP version of this album when I was a young boy."
"This was my favorite Christmas album growing up and wanted to find it again."
"I asked him if it was possible to burn albums onto CDs. I remember my late father telling me he thought it was because it was one of the first commercially-successful Christmas albums that could be played anywhere because it didn't have vocals."
"For a long time it was only available at high cost as a "collector's item"."
"This music brings back such memories for me."
"I grew up listening to this music at Christmas time."
Best Danish Music
It's jammed full of bubblegum pop classics, ranging from the Eurodisco opening track "Happy Girls & Boys" to the Madonna -esque ballad "Turn Back Time."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The Barbie girl song is the reason for this album."
"Who didn't love Barbie Girl or Dr Jones!"
"Always enjoyed the super popular Aqua songs (Candyman, Barbie Girl, Doctor Jones, etc) but was very surprised on just how great of a singer she is when I heard the slower songs (for the first time about two days ago)."
"Love, love, love Aqua and I love this CD."
"Nothing but good pop music."
"A take back to the 90's with echos of the 80's."
"Every song is so good."
"Bought as a gift for someone who was a DJ during the time that this album came out."
Best Belgian Music
Musician/programmers Patrick Codenys and Daniel Bressanutti brilliantly hold forth with multi-dimensional layers of percussion, noise, keyboards and spoken-word fragments. Backing singer Richard 23 is given the spoltlight on "Moldavia," with Codenys and Bressanutti adding colorful mutilation to his confident wail.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The music sounds fine, I give that 5-Stars, but the Liner notes, booklet and artwork are all generic!"
"One caveat, like many of the great EBM/Industrial albums, There are tons of little details, nuances and massive amounts of soul wrenching power you'll simply never hear and appreciate unless you listen to this from a CD on a ridiculously massive, state of the art audio system (which I've been lucky enough to assemble) but even a really *good* headphone setup will give you some taste of what it is all about."
"My dad had the tape when I was young, and loaned it out (forever)."
"The album is excellent, but when I buy it anywhere was saying it was made at the time of purchase, just now I can see in the description that cd-r. very disappointed."
"Awesome lights, rolling fog, huge fans rotating slowly behind the band. The very end of the show will be forever etched in my memory- the music. gradually faded away, and all the lights went dark. All that was heard or felt was JLDM's voice repeating the words at the end of "Soul Manager" over and over and over - "I Am The Guide Of The Lost...I Am The Guide Of The Lost..." and I left with no doubt that for an hour and 45 minutes, he had been."
Best Spanish Music
MCMXC a. D. - The Complete Album DVD Haunting, evocative, mysterious, and magnificent, Enigma's Cross of Changes offers nine musical explorations of sound and sensation that dazzle and amaze.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is most likely veary openminded people with a love for nature. This is my fav album of theres with 3 of my fav enigma songs ( age of loneliness)(out from the deep) and ( The eyes of truth) All of there songs and albums that I have heard our good but I think this album is the best."
"THEIR WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE FIRST CD, HOWEVER, THE SELLER SENT ANOTHERONE WHICH WORKED GREAT AND I WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE MY FIRST REVIEW TO THIS REVIEW, THE CD HAD ALL OF THE GREAT SONGS IN IT THAT I REALLY LIKED, THE REFLECTION OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS I REALLY LOVED BECAUSE I'VE ALWAYS FELT WITHOUT THEIR AID TO THE FIRST SETTLERS, WE WOULD HAVE NEVER BECOME A NATION AND FOR THAT REASON, I FEEL THAT WE OWE THE NATIVE AMERICANS A GREAT DEAL OF GATITUDE WHICH I DON'T FEEL THAT WAS EVER GIVEN TO THEY AND THAT IS WHY I REALLY LIKED THE NATIVE AMERICAN REFLECTIONS ON THIS CD."
"Finely crafted and performed, this is a fine addition to any music collection."
Best Italian Music
King) and Michael Landau (Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis); on Spanish guitar, mandolin, charango, bajo-sexto and vihuela, Ramon Stagnaro (Luis Miguel, Alejandro Sanz, Enrique Iglesias); on bass, Nathan East (Eric Clapton, Phil Collins); on drums, Vinnie Colaiuta (Sting, Marcus Miller, David Sanborn); on piano and keyboards, Randy Waldman (Barbra Streisand, Kenny G, George Benson); on percussion, Paulinho Da Costa (Prince, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock) and Rafaela Padilla (Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz); and on trumpet, the acclaimed soloist Chris Botti.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I don't know the language but my heart understands the meanings!"
"got as a clue to wife that we are going to Italy for vacation, no judge of music though sounds good."
"This cd was for a gift, and to the person who I gives it likes it very much."
"Beautiful music from this outstanding artist."
"A lot of songs sublimate and previous albums."
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
"They pointed to the CD display adjacent to the cordoned off area and suddenly every woman waiting in line bolted to the rack to grab a copy."
Best Sardinian Music
Key to the sound are the rough-hewn su basso and sa contra singers, whose guttural quality defines everything else about the music. It's an acquired taste for those who are used to simple harmonies and tight choral arrangements, but given a chance, the sound can be quite addictive.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I lived in Sardinia for a while and became a fan of this type of music."
"Polyphonic Singing from Sardinia served as an introduction for me to this traditional style of singing that I had never known. The sustained pitches bend around a slow spiraling void."
