Love Drum Talk

Love Drum Talk

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The 1998 edition of Babatunde Olatunji's "Drums of Passion" series focuses on themes of "love." He mixes the traditional drums of west Africa with an easygoing blend of highlife, pop and jazz. Don't expect any lyrical revelations though, with words as philosophical as any thing you've heard from The Spice Girls or The Beach Boys. But that is probably not the point here, as the album rolls through its lightweight themes with a luscious tropi-pop attitude. This is certainly not one for fans of rootsy African drumming, but if you like highlife and Afro-pop with a romantic twist, Love Drum Talk will speak to you. --Louis Gibson

Tracks:

Oklahoma!
Carousel
State Fair
South Pacific
The King And I
Cinderella Waltz
Flower Drum Song
The Sound Of Music

Customer Reviews:

Irresistible.......2005-07-29

From beginning to end this CD is pure delight. A great recording has great music, a great performance, and great sound; this one scores on all three counts.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's musicals dominated Broadway in the 1940s and 1950s, and American musical theater has produced no more consistently eloquent and durable voice than Richard Rodgers. From his fertile genius flowed a surprising number of memorable songs, many of which have passed into and become an accepted and beloved part of modern American culture.

This well-filled CD (77:36) features symphonic arrangements (all but two by Robert Russell Bennett) of the music from Oklahoma (1943), Carousel (1945), State Fair (1945), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), Flower Drum Song (1958), and The Sound of Music (1959). All the great tunes are here in suites from each musical that average 10-12 minutes in length. The arrangements are expert: rich, varied, and colorful. The performances are polished, idiomatic, and irresistible; Kunzel and this orchestra are thorough masters of this kind of material. And Telarc's sound (recorded 1991) is state-of-the-art (engineer Michael Bishop deserves to take a bow).

In short, there's nothing here to cloud your listening pleasure (the only quibble I can imagine is that some of your favorites may not last long enough), so it's hard for me to envision anyone with ears and a taste for music who wouldn't enjoy this CD. Warmly recommended. Finally, if you like this one as much as I do, you might want to know that the same team has produced a companion volume, the Lerner & Lowe Songbook for Orchestra.

"Some Enchanted Evening" with Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops.......2003-12-26

Erich Kunzel's Rodgers and Hammerstein anthology with the Cincinatti Pops Orchestra is one of the best and most ravishing instrumental Rodgers and Hammerstein albums of all time. With sumptuous arrangements and warm, natural Telarc recording, this glorious 77-minute CD presents sweeping, melodic arrangements of over 60 Rodgers and Hammerstein selections, spanning eight scores, and Kunzel allows the Pops to play with a characterful and polished understanding of the Rodgers and Hammerstein idiom. The disc is enough to cheer you up on a dull day and make you smile, and it might even want to make you feel like a convert to Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals.

This CD has all the scores arranged chronologically. The OKLAHOMA! suite that opens this disc promises a feast for the senses, Kunzel ably evokes the territory's "bright, golden haze" in the way he conducts the various excerpts, until you feel the atmosphere of the country charm of the show, and the love-affair between Curly and Laurey. Then, in CAROUSEL, he ably evokes the pathos of this tragic R&H masterwork, especially in the truncated Waltz, but he leads a wonderfully melodic "June is Bustin' Out All Over" and a devotional "You'll Never Walk Alone." Although this suite does not include Billy's pivotal Soliloquy, it includes "If I Loved You" as an expression of his love for Julie, and within minutes you could be soaked in the ups and downs of the show's mood.

After a brief STATE FAIR suite, with sweeping renditions of "It Might As Well Be Spring" and "It's a Grand Night for Singing", we are brought into the disc's showstopping highlights. These highlights are the excerpts from SOUTH PACIFIC, THE KING AND I, and THE SOUND OF MUSIC. But yet Kunzel conducts the rest of the disc until the various suites amount to a series of showstoppers. These three suites present wonderfully-arranged versions of their many familiar classic songs, with well-played solos. The SOUTH PACIFIC suite presents the songs in chronological order, yet preserves the atmosphere of the show at the same time. Kunzel ably brings out the romance in "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Younger than Springtime," and contrasts it with the exotic and dreamlike "Bali Hai'i" and the comic "There is Nothing like a Dame" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair". Although the suite ends quietly with a reprise of "Dites-Moi" rather than the reprise of "Some Enchanted Evening," within minutes we are swept into the KING AND I suite. Kunzel ably brings out the Oriental pathos in this score, and he captures the warmth of Anna's rapport with the King's Siamese children in "Getting to Know You", and with the King himself in "Shall We Dance." There is also romance in the love ballads "I Have Dreamed" and "We Kiss in a Shadow." Similarly, in the selection from THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Kunzel conducts this until the orchestra soaks itself in the atmosphere of this Austrian R&H score. This SOUND OF MUSIC suite has more of a feel of the score compared to the bonus track on Sony's reissued version of the Broadway recording. You can almost feel as if you are following the progress of the Trapp family and how it lifts its spirits with the joy of music. Kunzel gives us a soaring version of the title song, and spirited versions of "Do-Re-Mi" and "My Favourite Things." He balances it with the open-air quality of "Edelweiss" and "The Lonely Goatherd." Although this suite could have included "Something Good," the love ballad written for the film, the three recollections of the songs that were cut from the movie only last for a while. And, the towering version of "Climb Every Mountain" crowns this portion of the disc, and this sumptuously-produced recording. But, I should also mention the infectuous FLOWER DRUM SONG medley, where Kunzel turns this underrated score into a work of art, until it convinces you to buy the cast recording. And, don't forget about the brief CINDERELLA WALTZ, too, when Kunzel conducts it magically, until you feel like you are in the company of Cinderella and the Prince. He is able to show how this R&H score marked a comeback for R&H after the failiures of Me and Juliet, and Pipe Dream.

Overall, this glorious Rodgers and Hammerstein recording is guarunteed to make you want to pucker your lips out for a whistle or sing along (to paraphrase another revew for Kunzel's Disney Spectacular disc) - even if this recording is music only, and as long as you know the words to the songs (and you might know a large handful of them already.) There is always a certain magic in this fine CD that makes you feel like you're sitting in the theatre watching these musicals, until it makes you feel like it is truly, to borrow two R&H song titles, "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Something Wonderful" to be in Kunzel's company for this R&H offering. It would certainly be one recording that could make you feel willing to buy the complete cast recordings of the shows. And I guaruntee that it will make you feel willing to pull out your existing copies of the cast recordings to listen to them again. I also guaruntee that it will be a cornerstone in any Rodgers and Hammerstein collection, just as it is in mine. Recommended heartily to any Rodgers and Hammerstein enthusiast and to fans of Erich Kunzel's work. And, you can play it while reading the Richard Rodgers biography, Musical Stages, until Rodgers himself would count this as his favourite disc in the afterlife.

By the way, most of the arrangements for the suites on this CD were done by the veteran R&H orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett, and it surely adds to the appeal of this recording. This itself is enough to amount to the icing on the cake, since Kunzel conducts them well on here, and since this recording still allows the suites to have the original theatrical atmosphere. And, although this recording is like the Mauceri collection of the Rodgers & Hammerstein overtures in compiling orchestral suites of Rodgers & Hammerstein, I think that I like the Kunzel recording even more because Kunzel has more magic in his conducting of these suites.

Excellent!.......2003-04-08

This is one of the best Erich Kunzel/Cincinnati Pops collections we own! A must for Rodgers and Hammerstein fans, too.

Great Arrangments.......2001-09-02

This is a first rate album with great arrangments and orchestrations. If you're a Rodgers and Hammerstein fan, you can't afford to miss this specatacular album

Average customer rating:

good god almighty!!!
A Cure for Road Rage
Stunning in both performance and recorded quality!
Babatunde lives in my heart

Love Drum Talk
Babatundi Olatunji
Manufacturer: Chesky Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Circle of Drums
Drums of Passion
Drums of Passion: The Beat
Healing Session
Drums of Passion: The Invocation

ASIN: B000003GH6
Release Date: 1997-09-23

Tracks:

Sare Tete Wa
What's Your Number, Mama?
Love Drum Talk
Bebi Alolo
Spell Monisola
Don't Know Why My Love
Mother, Give Me Love
Long Distance Lover

Amazon.com

The 1998 edition of Babatunde Olatunji's "Drums of Passion" series focuses on themes of "love." He mixes the traditional drums of west Africa with an easygoing blend of highlife, pop and jazz. Don't expect any lyrical revelations though, with words as philosophical as any thing you've heard from The Spice Girls or The Beach Boys. But that is probably not the point here, as the album rolls through its lightweight themes with a luscious tropi-pop attitude. This is certainly not one for fans of rootsy African drumming, but if you like highlife and Afro-pop with a romantic twist, Love Drum Talk will speak to you. --Louis Gibson

Customer Reviews:

good god almighty!!!.......2006-07-15

It's bluesy, sexy-earthy all about love at the heart of a drum. If i could i would dance to this all day long, for go clean clothes, food and clean bathrooms and live on air and drum.

A Cure for Road Rage.......2004-03-04

After renewing Love Drum Talk from the library four times in three months, I broke down and ordered it today. Two songs -- Spell Monisola and Long Distance Lover -- sustained me on a five-hour car trip and put me into a dance-trance. The four-year-old grandchild was singing along in her car seat. Our gluteal muscles, lungs, and vocal cords got a terrific workout. While stopped in traffic, I mastered several drumming patterns on the steering wheel. Fortunately it was snowing and we had to keep going, or I would have pulled the car over and danced on the highway. Babatunde Olatunji contributes to the possibility for joy in life, and brother, do we need him.

Stunning in both performance and recorded quality!.......2002-11-12

This is just a really fun recording! The first time through, be mindful of the volume knob on your stereo. Some of the drum beats might shoot you clean out of the house! What I mean is, it's dynamic as can be, with a very real sense of the performance taking place right in your room. I guess my review is just as much about the musical presence that Babatundi visits upon us as the care and effort with which Chesky Records used in the recording of this great musician.
I can't help but feel uplifted when I play this CD!

Babatunde lives in my heart.......2000-02-17

Anyone remotely interested in percussions and rhythm with vocals will be floored by this album just like i was. I have owned this cd for over two years and there isnt a day that goes by that i dont listen to it. Babatunde is a idol for myself and anyone that i know who has ever laid a hand on an african drum, he inspires me and this album makes my heart sing. The best parts of most song on this album are deep into them when they pick up and twist different rhythms which are complimented by vocals. Long live babatunde and the path of rhythm he has shown me.

Average customer rating:

Best of Rodgers & Hammerstein

Manufacturer: Alshire
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Rodgers & Hammerstein - The Complete Overtures ~ Opening Night / Hollywood Bowl Orchestra · Mauceri

ASIN: B000000KPJ
Release Date: 1996-05-21

Tracks:

Some Enchanted Evening
Climb Every Mountain
June is Bustin' Out All Over
Aisle Talk
Bali Hai
Opening Night
Getting To Know You
If I Loved You
Oklahoma
Curtain Time
I Enjoy Being A Girl
People Will Say We're In Love

Carmen Jones (1943 Original Broadway Cast)

Average customer rating:

A Contemporary Adaptation of Carmen
Now THIS is how CARMEN JONES should sound like!

Carmen Jones (1943 Original Broadway Cast)

Manufacturer: Decca U.S.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Carmen Jones
Carmen Jones (1962 Studio Recording)
Allegro (1947 Original Broadway Cast)
Curtains (2007 Original Broadway Cast)
Pipe Dream (1955 Original Broadway Cast)

ASIN: B00008BNUK
Release Date: 2003-02-25

Tracks:

Prelude
Opening Scene: Lift 'Em Up And Put 'Em Down
Dat's Love
You Talk Just Like My Maw
Dere's A Cafe On De Corner
Beat Out Dat Rhythm On A Drum
Stan' Up And Fight
Whizzin' Away Along De Track
Dis Flower
De Cards Don't Lie
My Joe
Dat's Our Man
Finale
Beat Out Dat Rhythm On A Drum

Amazon.com

Carmen Jones is one of the weirdest projects to ever hit the American musical theater. In 1943, lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II adapted Georges Bizet's Carmen for Broadway. The music was pretty much left intact, but Hammerstein transferred the action to WWII America. Carmen's tobacco factory became Carmen Jones' parachute factory, bullfighter Escamillo became boxer Husky Miller, and so on. As if this weren't enough, there also was the "small" detail of casting the show only with African-Americans. All in all, this ambitious endeavor makes Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme seem timid. Hammerstein's attempt at writing "black" hasn't aged all that well, but many of the show's songs retain a surprising impact. The feverish intensity of "Beat Out dat Rhythm on a Drum," for instance, hasn't dimmed over the years, and the song's been covered by a wide variety of performers, from Pearl Bailey and Marc Almond to Mandy Patinkin. The track is reprised as a bonus track at the end of the CD in a version sung by Kitty Carlisle (who's rather stiff compared to the show's June Hawkins). --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews:

A Contemporary Adaptation of Carmen.......2003-12-02

You may know that the smash grunge musical RENT is based on Puccini's opera LA BOHEME. And MISS SAIGON is MADAME BUTTERFLY, and trickiest of all AIDA is AIDA, but before all of those there was CARMEN JONES.

What makes CARMEN JONES different, however, is that it uses Bizet's original music, though it changes the setting and the lyrics (they're in English, too, rather than the original French). And who would have done such a thing? Oscar Hammerstein II (as in Rodgers & Hammerstein, I know you've heard of them. If not, shame on you, go straight to OKLAHOMA, do not pass go, do not collect CD of CARMEN JONES). This is one of Hammerstein's earlier works, and it's a great show. (There's a very successful movie version available on video, if you want to see it.)

CARMEN JONES updates the story of CARMEN. The original plot took place in Spain in 1820, Carmen was a gypsy. The first performance of CARMEN was in Paris in 1875. (Wow! Over 125 years, and it still plays regularly all over the world, talk about a great run!) What Hammerstein did was akin to what our current composers are doing with shows like RENT. He updated the show for his audience. Instead of Spaniards and gypsies, he used African-American factory workers, and set the story in 1943 during the war in a Southern town.

The story makes this a darker musical than Hammerstein's later shows like OKLAHOMA, CAROUSEL, THE KING AND I and SOUTH PACIFIC, some of which had their heavier elements, but were focused more on the romance. The tone of CARMEN JONES is more akin to his first show (the first musical) SHOWBOAT. It is also unusual not just for it's time but in general that it had an entirely African-American cast. While recent shows like Disney's THE LION KING and ONCE ON THIS ISLAND have also had predominantly African/African-American casts, these shows are few and far between. Another comparable show in terms of music and style would perhaps be Gershwin's PORGY AND BESS, though it's considered an opera rather than a musical.

Now THIS is how CARMEN JONES should sound like!.......2003-02-26

Words cannot begin to sum up my joy that Decca Broadway finally deemed CARMEN JONES fit for a proper remaster. Oscar Hammerstein's lyrics set to Georges Bizet's classic score can now be heard clearly without distortion and this CD includes a complete plot synopsis and pictures. Now we no longer have to settle for that monstroscity from Pearl CD, which was an unauthorized recording, and I hope didn't take away too many sales from Decca Broadway. For musical buffs this CD is a must-have!

Average customer rating:

BEWARE!!! Unauthorized recording! Poorly mastered!
A Unique Blend!

Carmen Jones
Original Cast
Manufacturer: Pearl
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005AV2A
Release Date: 2001-05-22

Tracks:

Act I: Prld - The Carmen Jones Orch/Joseph Littau
Act I: Opening Scene: Introducing 'Lift 'Em Up And Put 'Em Down' - Carmen Jones Chor/Robert Shaw
Act I: That's Love (Habanera) - Muriel Smith/Carmen Jones Chor/Robert Shaw
Act I: You Talk Just Like My Ma - Carlotta Franzell/Luther Saxon
Act I: There's A Cafe On The Corner (Seguedille) - Muriel Smith/Luther Saxon
Act I: Beat Out That Rhythm On A Drum (Gypsy Song) - June Hawkins/Carmen Jones Chor/Robert Shaw/Cozy Cole
Act I: Stand Up And Fight (Toreador Song) - Glenn Bryant/Carmen Jones Chor/Robert Shaw
Act I: Whizzing Away Along The Track (Qnt) - Muriel Smith/June Hawkins/Jessica Russell/Dick Montgomery/Randall Steplight
Act I: This Flower (Flower Song) - Luther Saxon
Act II: The Cards Don't Lie (Card Song) - Muriel Smith/June Hawkins/Jessica Russell
Act II: My Joe (Micaela's Aria) - Carlotta Franzell
Act II: That's Our Man - Carmen Jones Chor/Robert Shaw
Act II: Scene: Joe And Carmen (Finale) - Luther Saxon/Muriel Smith/Carmen Jones Chor/Robert Shaw
Carmen Fant - Isaac Stern

Customer Reviews:

BEWARE!!! Unauthorized recording! Poorly mastered!.......2003-02-26

I will get straight to the point: The CD is a poorly mastered, unauthorized recording of the original Carmen Jones cast recording using ancient recordings of the original 78 records. Pearl Records did not, repeat DID NOT receive Decca Broadway's permission to make this recording. However, Decca Broadway DID remaster FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTERS OF "CARMEN JONES" which sounds 100 times better than this thing and includes liner notes and pictures! Purchase the Decca Broadway recording instead. Frankly, this recording should rot!

A Unique Blend!.......2001-07-03