Druid

Druid

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Take Trance, House, Nubreaks, Electronica, Drum 'n' Bass, Synthpop, Techno, Futurepop, EBM, Cybergoth, IDM, UK Garage, Club and Euro and toss it in a Blender.

Mix to taste.

Serve immediately.

Dance and Rave often.

Tracks:

The Green Groves of Erin - The Flowers Of Red Hill
Appalachia Waltz
Chief Sitting In The Rain
Mama
Butterfly's Day Out
Druid Fluid
First Impressions
Etienne Et Petunia
F.C.'s Jig
College Hornpipe
Pickles
Old Country Fairytale
Schizoozy
Star of the Country Down
Speed The Plow Medley
Fair Dancer Reel

Customer Reviews:

Welcome to "alternative" classical music!.......2007-02-19

It's wonderful to hear three such talented musicians put together a collection of non-classical music on revered instruments. This is not "The Yo-yo Ma Show" with two other guys! The music is varied but the performances are great and -- in some cases, e.g. Appalachia Waltz -- fantastic. I was driving the first time I heard the title piece and immediately started sobbing and had to pull over; it was that beautiful! This would be a good CD choice for children to listen to, as it gives a fine exposure to the amazing sounds that the three instruments can make when in the right hands.

It's Yo-Yo so it's Exquisite.......2007-02-12

Yo-yo Ma has never been content to stick with the standard cello classics. Of course he has recorded the classics - the magnificent Bach Cello Suites (incredible and the visual DVD only enhances the effect), Vivaldi, Beethoven, Faure, Dvorak, etc. His evolution as an artist is an on-going process, thus there's Yo-Yo playing Tango (Astor Piazzolla), Yo-Yo playing Jazz (Claude Boling), Yo-yo playing Brazilian music or John Williams. And now we have the Apalachia Waltz, a beautiful, virtuoso and haunting piece.
I, too, found many of the sounds unique. For a real experience, listen in a darkened room with a pair of superior earphones - the things you pick up will shock. I literally turned my head several times, convinced that the artist was in the room.

As one reviewer noted, this is not supposed to be the rustic sound one might imagine or (the reverse) simply an intellectual exercise. The artist (with able assistance) seems to draw on some kind of inner reserve and literally pour his soul into his newest project. I, for one, applaud this widening of the boundaries between genres and hope that it continues.
Let's not forget the other artists, particularly Meyer. Many times the celebrity saps all the attention leaving a wake of sore feeling in their wake. Ma has always been one to give credit where credit is due and in this case it is due to those who ably assisted him. My grade - A

Love it- great for weddings.......2007-01-24

I used this and Appalachian Journey for my wedding music. I used Track 2 (Appalachian Waltz) as my entry music. The rest I just had playing on a cd player as background music while my guests were waiting on me. It was perfect for our outdoor Fall wedding. Hearing track 2 always brings the memory of our beautiful day flooding back.

Stellar album.......2006-11-10

This disc is top-notch in all respects. The playing is great by Ma and O'Conner for sure, but the bass work is awesome. Meyer is as good a player as there is in the world at the present time in my opinion. I am a cellist and bassist and find it difficult to believe that some of the things he does are possible. If you like top quality string playing, order this album today.

**Superb**.......2006-07-19

I absolutely love this album -- the music resonates with one's soul. Even if you don't have a cello fetish as I, you can't go wrong with this album. It offers a wonderful range from adagio to allegro.....A true musical feast. I especially enjoy Butterfly's Day Out and First Impressions. Dolce...

Average customer rating:

This CD is Nice..... But I like Jane Austen Companion Better
Beautiful vocal music

Jane Austen's Songbook

Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Jane Austen Companion
English Country Dances
Pride and Prejudice: The Original Soundtrack from the A&E Special Presentation
English Country Dances from Playford's Dancing Master 1651-1703 - The Broadside Band
Pride & Prejudice

ASIN: B0006OR15C
Release Date: 2004-12-28

Tracks:

'Tis in Vain, Alcanzor
William
Oh Nancy
The Irishman
The Joys of the Country
Go, and on my Truth
Plus ne veux jamais
Her Hair is Like
Sweet Transports
Airs de Ballets de la Caravane
Of Plighted Faith
The Soldier's Adieu
Je croyais ma belle
Sous un Berceau
From Night till Morn
Filles Charmantes
Catch: Joan said to John
La Danse
My Phillida
Chanson Bnoise
Thy Fatal Shafts
Lucky Escape
Think your tawny Moor
The Wedding Day
The Marseillaise March
Arietta Veneziano
Somebody
The Heaving of the Lead
Captivity
Queen Mary's Lamentation
The Poor little Gypsy
When the hollow Drum
Faint and Wearily
Collin's Ode
Begone, dull care
The Mansion of Peace
The Match Girl

Album Description

Julianne Baird writes: "Music and the social status it expressed was an integral part of Jane Austen's life. Her novels are replete with details of domestic musical activities. Accounts of public concerts and private balls as well as music programs with hired musicians fill her letters. A dedicated amateur herself, Austen ordinarily played at the pianoforte at least an hour a day before breakfast from the 8-book music collection now preserved in her home at Chawton. For nieces and nephews she practiced 'country dances,' a number of which appear in her collections. Austen painstakingly copied and bound music that especially interested her. Two books are in her own hand - one of piano pieces and the other (Book III), of vocal music, recorded here in its entirety. Some pieces contain her own suggestions for ornamentation. Prominent themes are naval affairs, country life, drinking songs, love, Turkish and Moorish motifs, female character pieces, and the French Revolution. The novels of Jane Austen reveal her as a keen observer of early 19th century English society. Now, through her Songbook, she herself springs to life: her special likes and dislikes, her boisterous sense of humor, her passions, the way she amused herself and what she was like relaxing with her family and friends." This is a very special album indeed.

Customer Reviews:

This CD is Nice..... But I like Jane Austen Companion Better.......2007-01-16

This CD is nice but not one that I will listen to often.
The fact that you get to hear what music Jane Austen liked is quite amazing. When you think I'm listening to music that Jane Austen listened to over 200 years ago.
However I'm not a great fan of Opera Music and that is probably why this CD is not one that I will listen to often.
But if you like listening to Opera Music. You will like this CD.

Beautiful vocal music.......2005-10-17

This collection is wonderful and gives us an opportunity to experience some of Austen's favorite music.

Average customer rating:

Not bad for Yes-lite, but some of the falsetto vocals can really sting...
Ah, nostalgia..
Yes And Starcastle Fans Take Note
No--Seriously, Folks
Druid Rules!

Toward the Sun/Fluid Druid
Druid
Manufacturer: Bgo - Beat Goes on
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Starcastle
Fish out of Water
Second Album
Fountains of Light
Air Conditioning

ASIN: B0000070E3
Release Date: 1997-08-12

Tracks:

Voices
Remembering
Theme
Toward the Sun
Red Carpet for an Autumn
Dawn of Evening
Shangri-La

Tracks:

Razor Truth
Painters Clouds
FM 145
Crusade
Nothing But Morning
Barnaby
Kestrel
Left to Find
Fisherman's Friend

Album Details

If You Ever Wondered What a Progressive Band from the 70's that Featured Gary Numan's Drummer and One of the Men Behind the Teletubbies Records Would Sound Like, Wonder No More. Because That's What this Is!

Customer Reviews:

Not bad for Yes-lite, but some of the falsetto vocals can really sting..........2006-05-04

I've gotta be frank here, folks: if I didn't love the bass guitar so much, and if Neil Brewer didn't play it like a Chris Squire copycat, I probably wouldn't listen to Druid much anymore. Too little of the music is inspired, original, or exciting.

Actually, when Dane Stephens sings a bit lower (i.e. in his normal vocal range), he sounds quite a lot like Jon Anderson. Unfortunately, he occasionally causes me to wince when he sings in a screechy falsetto voice, especially on a few songs from the first album. And any harmonies are dubbed by Dane himself, so you don't get the rich harmonic vocals that some other prog groups can produce. His guitar playing is adequate, but not remarkable.

Ditto for the keyboard player, Andrew McCrorie-Shand. Not a lot of soloing prowess is exhibited, though he handles the keys adequately in an early-period Yes Tony Kaye sort of way. I do think the drumming (by Cedric Sharpley) is very good, and the bass playing is (as I've already noted) quite entertaining in places.

The comparisons to Yes can hardly be overlooked. But this is a little more acoustic, and a bit less challenging - almost "nice". Overall the music is not nearly as dynamic or complex as peak Yes, thus my "Yes-lite" tag. Some reviewers seem to view the band as underappreciated or unlucky; I actually think the band is very lucky - they seem to have been little more than a good prog cover band that got the chance to record two albums. That's more than many proggers were able to accomplish back in the late 1970's.

Still, there are some good moments here. I enjoy the first parts of both albums more than the second halves for some reason. "Voices", "Remembering", "Theme", Razor Truth", "FM 145", and "Crusade" are all pretty enjoyable tunes. The second half of "Fluid Druid" is mostly dreck.

There just wasn't enough original and interesting new stuff here for the Yes lover among prog fans. Another group to which I see them frequently compared is Starcastle, whose first two albums are clearly head and shoulders above these two albums.

So, this music is good - not great - and certainly enjoyable and listenable in general. But I do find it lacking in originality. For a look at Druid contemporaries that did it RIGHT in the late 70's, check out unique groups like England, Cathedral, Cherry Five - or even the American group Yezda Urfa.

"Nice" music just doesn't fit into the top of my preference list.

I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 7.5/10; Performance = 7/10; Production = 8/10; CD length = 9/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 7.6 ("3 stars")

Ah, nostalgia.........2001-09-24

Years ago, I saw Druid live at a local theatre. .... To hear the music again on this album was a true nostalgia trip. I have the original vinyl albums, but no turntable, so I thought "why not.." and bought the CDs. I suppose it is a bit "music for musicians", but I fit that bill so there's my excuse.

OK, I admit, I was so into this stuff in the 70's that I learned to play every guitar part, and every keyboard part. If I'd had a studio I could probably have hired a drummer and made a passable copy of "Toward the Sun" - the whole album I mean. The difference is I couldn't have written the stuff, nor performed it with such confidence... nor sung it in the original key!

If you like YES, and that kind of frantic musicianship, this album will add something a little off-centre to your collection. Well worth a listen, and not just for nostalgia either.

Yes And Starcastle Fans Take Note.......2000-09-04

I have to disagree with my fellow reviewers on this one! If you are a fan of YES or STARCASTLE, you must give this a try. Guitarist/Singer Dane has a pure, high tenor voice that compares favorably to Jon Anderson. This is very fine, dreamy, mystical symphonic rock. It tends to some harder edged, more streamlined moments on the 2nd CD. But I don't see how you can like YES music and not like this. These albums are way better than anything that YES did after 1976!! The mellotron flights are full of fantasia, and many songs have a pastoral, dream-like quality. I regard DRUID as one of the must maligned and unappreciated symphonic rock groups of the 70's. They are second only to Starcastle in their ability to create complex, melodic Yes-influenced prog rock.

No--Seriously, Folks.......2000-07-08

Like their contemporaries Styx and Starcastle (pseudo-fey American bands both), England's Druid was never a serious contender to the prog-rock pantheon idolized by so many in those (ahem!) heady days of the late-70's, and no wonder. What was it about that time that induced so many helium-voiced "singers" to bleat such doggerel as "As we move, we move towards the nearest rainbow"? Good God, people. All the requisite ingredients for progressively-correct "rock" are here, all right: grand Mellotron sweeps; busy monophonic synth fills when simple restraint would be too demanding; chunky Rickenbacker bass; "unexpected" time signature juxtapositions; the usual poetic blah blah blah ad ad nauseum. So how come it's so much fun to listen to? Precisely because it isn't supposed to be fun. When ELP decided to get down and like rock out, dude, ("Are You Ready Eddy?" lurches ghoulishly to mind) it only underscored their smirky modus operandi. Druid couldn't even do that, so they took the opposite road: Seriously Deep, Operatic Symphonic Head Food. Okay, fine. (No surprise, then, that drummer Cedric Sharpley later resurfaced on Gary Numan's equally suspect THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE.) Of the the two albums, the second (FLUID) has the slight edge, if only because it contains "Crusade". Heck, any song that so blatantly wears its Carpenters influence on its sleeve while presaging Klaus Nomi at the same time is worth the ride, even if it is a messy one. Oh yeah, and singer Dane's reggae tune "Barnaby" definitely influenced bands like The Ruts and The Clash. And The Police. Not that those guys would ever have admitted it.

Druid Rules!.......2000-06-16

Sorry but I can't bash this band...Fluid Druid is one of the best Prog Rock Albums of the 70's. The track Razor Truth is a sparkling, loopy and bending song that sticks with me to this very day; the people who bash Prog Rock seem to jump on this group. Unfair...try bashing Styx or Star Castle instead. When I first heard their their simple ebulant sound...I knew I would be writing this kindof revue twent-five years later...

Average customer rating:

Creatures Of Habit
Peter Sando
Manufacturer: Peter Sando
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music

General | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00004TA0M
Release Date: 2000-01-01

Tracks:

Creatures Of Habit
I Don't Want To Pray For Love
John Brown
No News Is Good News
Tried And True
Desert Flower
Something I Said
They'll Do It Every Time
Summer Love
Helpless
Sink Or Swim
One Less Star
Consider Me Somebody Else
Creatures Of Habit

Album Description

Peter's songs are an eclectic mix of styles and moods that combine folk, blues, rock and country. "Creatures of Habit" brings 13 new original songs, featuring "John Brown", "Desert Flower", and "Helpless".

Average customer rating:

Druid
Medwyn Goodall
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | New Age | Styles | Music

General | Celtic | International | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Merlin

ASIN: B000056UUT
Release Date: 2000-06-19

Tracks:

Nine Maidens
Mermaid's Rock
Nine Maidens (Reprise)
Celtic Dawn
Trewa- Home of the Druids

Album Description

label: NEW WORLD PRODUCTIONS release date: 01 January 1998

Irish Heart ~ Love Songs From the Emerald Isle

Average customer rating:

Irish Heart ~ Love Songs From the Emerald Isle

Manufacturer: Pegasus
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000GHF2XW

Product Description

Irish Loves songs on 2 CD's. Track listing is on 2nd image.

Average customer rating:

The Druid Ceremony
Mortum
Manufacturer: Invasion Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Death Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000SJQSZE

Product Description

Tracks & Durations: 1. Until eternity 3:36 2. Punisher 3:03 3. Lady Lost 5:32 4. Night Spawned 3:03 5. The Druid Ceremony 4:30 6. Mother of Fear 3:40 7. The Haunting 2:56 8. A Cursed Manking 3:44 9. The Search for You 3:50 10. Outro 3:11

Average customer rating:

Prairie Druid

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

International Folk | International | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000063S4M
Release Date: 2002-03-21

Tracks:

Island Spinning Song
Lough Erne
George Sands' Bourree
All Among the Barley
Prairie Pagans
The Tankand of Ale
Wild Hog
Mina's Waltz
Fair Annie
Woodland
Land on the Shore

Album Description

This is another collection of music from Saskatoon's Paddy Tutty, a consummate interpreter of traditional folk music. It includes pageants for the seasons, love songs, ancient ballads & dance tunes from Britain, Ireland and North America.

Average customer rating:

small town blues

Small Town Blues
Michael Eck
Manufacturer: Dancing Druid Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00004X038
Release Date: 2000-07-15

Tracks:

Exit Wound
Lillie's Tune
Have You Seen My Love?
Bottle Rocket
Kind Hearted Woman
Susan Moore
Two Fingers
Yellow Ribbons
River City Blues
Broken Bottle
Dock Boggs' Blues
Marigny Blues
Dance With Me
Do You Hear Me Jesus?

Album Description

It's a hot summer night in one of those nameless small towns that dot the countryside. The kids recognize the cars driving down their streets, the waitresses all know how you like your coffee, and everyone has a pretty good idea of what's going on with everyone else... especially if it makes for interesting gossip at the pub or the beauty shop. Even if you've never been there before, it all kind of seems familiar somehow. Maybe that's because underneath, our stories are all pretty much the same. Into this scene comes Michael Eck... stolling the local streets, guitar in hand, occasionally pulling back the curtains and offering us a candid view of the Small Town Blues.

Customer Reviews:

small town blues.......2002-01-06

Since I happen to live in THE small town, I thought this would be a cool CD to have.. Mr. Eck has a very unique style of singing and playing.. Americana is about as close as I can come.. maxiumum solo acoustic is his term for it.. he sings loud and plays loud, but good... the vocals are somewhat reminiscent of some of my favorite performers, but not copies.. he's his own man..