Reviews by Saturn Loft

There's really nothing else out there quite like this album, a sampling of one individual's huge collection of antique Victorian music boxes. You've got everything here, from tiny wheezy little mechanical snuffboxes, to beautifully pure-toned Reginas, to the giant resonant Polyphon music boxes from the taverns of old Europe. This is the kind of music to listen to while reading fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. It's an enchanting auditory adventure back to a very different era.

This album is so cool it hurts. A classic jazz recording, showcasing artists at the top of their game. How did they pull this off? I don't know, but I'm definitely glad they did. Wow.

Don't let the old dude on the cover put you off, this is a great classical album. Prokofiev's Violin Concerto 2 is fairly good, but I think it's the Violin Concerto 1 in D which is the stand-out here. Isaac Stern's violin dances and soars over the orchestra.. it certainly sounds like a challenge to play, but Stern handles it with ease. The third movement makes me think of a brilliant crimson autumn leaf being tumbled down a clear mountain stream. Really lovely.

Perhaps the most technically perfect rendition of Hildegard Von Bingen's work, A Feather On the Breath of God is a must-have for fans of early music. Emma Kirkby's voice soars with seemingly effortless grace over an austere background drone, no frills needed here. Sublime and straight to the point. A classic.

This is part of a huge collection of Ellington's music, put out by Werner Last's Favourites Jazz, but rather than list the multitude of volumes I'm just going to put this one up. 1929 is my favorite year when it comes to Ellington; his early stuff is so refreshing and energetic.
Evey one of these 33 CDs has downloadable mp3s on Amazon, so you can pick and choose which of Ellington's many songs you'd like to add. The anthology includes just about everything he put out, including some rather obscure little ditties, so it's a veritable banquet for Ellington fans.

I love Honest Jon’s Records and they’ve really outdone themselves with this magnificent collection of lost treasures from the EMI archive. You’ll find vintage global music from all over the world on this album, including rumbas, gypsy songs, crunchy gamelan tunes, African folk songs, and some extremely catchy ditties from who the heck knows where. Seriously awesome.

This is an older compilation, but the sound quality is good and it has all the usual suspects, including Mouret's Fanfare (think Masterpiece Theater), Pachelbel's Canon in D, the Brandenburg Concertos, Handel's Messiah, and so on. Excellent choice for a general introduction to Baroque music.

Want some achingly beautiful Irish vocals without a canned New Age musical backdrop? You will find them here.
Want a wonderfully mellow undertone of chanting monks in an echoing album? Also here.
If I have any complaint about this gorgeous album, it's that the sound is really, really low. But that's what the volume knob is for, I guess.

In 1857, Erastus Beadle (fantastic name!) left his home & family in Buffalo, New York and set out for the Nebraska frontier. He and some other enterprising cohorts planned to build a community called Saratoga just north of Omaha. It never quite came to fruition, but this diary of Beadle's year in Nebraska is an edifying if slightly unexciting glimpse into pioneer life.

“Oh the wild trees of my home/ forests of blue dividing the pink moon/ the iron blue of those ancient branches/ with their berries of vermillion stars.” - From the poem “The Wild Trees” by Laurie Lee
There have been a lot of ideas regarding what the song “Pink Moon” is about. Some say it’s about death, and given Drake’s emotional state at the time it makes a great deal of sense. However, I always find myself thinking of Laurie Lee’s poem. Maybe it’s because most of Nick Drake’s songs sound like they were written in a cool green forest, someplace mellow with morning sun and shimmering leaves. Strange how such a sad man could write such soothing music.