Act of Free Choice [Import]

Act of Free Choice [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
This guy comes from Australia. French newspapers say 'It's something between Kraftwerk and Belle & Sebastian'. Produced by I. Caple (Tricky, Tindersticks...).

Tracks:

The Koran, The Ghan And A Yarn
Dive
Breathe
Kerosene
The Deserters
Float
Sad
Talk Mister Nation
Salt (I Don't Want To Go No Further)
The Last Great Magician
Found Wanting

Customer Reviews:

Poor reward for a minor masterpiece.......2005-10-06

David Bridie is a major music talent and I find it hard to believe that his best solo album is available on Amazon for $3. I prefer this CD to his follow up but both are great pieces of music and well reward the listener. If you get into it, you can find his stuff also with "My Friend the Chocolate Cake" and "Not Drowning, Waving".

A gem.......2004-12-28

Once in a while, I like to go downtown Halifax, where a CD store sells used CDs for litterally 1$. These are the CDs that just haven't sold, and don't look like they will. The owner of shop even discourages me buying from it, saying that the reason they are in that section is because they are crap. They may often be the case, but even so I search for good artists that slip through the cracks. I found this album in it, and was amazed. David Bridie has his own unique style that I could probably listen to forever. It has quickly become one of my favourite albums.

David Bridie tends to be smooth and down-tempo, with a soothing voice that expresses everything he sings about. Most of his songs have a dark tone, but with a light of hope. This is the kind of music you want to listen to late at night and on rainy days. I can't express his style, for it is completely unique, but I highly recommend him.

The best track, hands down, is the orchestral song "The Deserters". It is slightly different from the rest of the album, and worth the cost of the CD alone (in my opinion).
Other favourites include "The Koran, The Ghan and a Yarn", "The Last Great Magician", and "Kerosene".

You must at least attempt to listen to this artist, he's overlooked enough as it is.

ULTRA-SMOOTHEST OF DOWNTEMPO-INDIE...........2002-04-17

....this entrancing album rises gently from the shadowy ethereal spirit of the great David Sylvian. With a voice able to melt your heart, Bridie takes us along for a private ride into the sensual darker-pastures of our souls. A strange and bewitching melancholia emerges from this rich brew of unique mid-tempo songs. The whole production, with its subtle electronic flourishes, are all flawlessly positioned, and will leave you breathless with their exquisite beauty. Only the magnificent European songs written and sung by one Perry Blake can compete with the talent of Bridie in all of his post-Japan/Sylvian reverence. "Act Of Free Choice" is an album for rainy nights and scented candles and a fine bottle of vintage merlot. Australia has given us no finer artist than David Bridie in the year 2000. His debut album is a splendor-filled oasis of sonic reflection and the warmest of human passions. RELAX, TURN OUT THE LIGHTS, COME...BE ONE WITH THE BEAUTIFUL DREAMER!

Average customer rating:

Alfred Deller - Portrait of a Legend

Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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

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

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

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

General | Folk | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0001L1B7Y
Release Date: 2004-06-08

Average customer rating:

David Bridie - an outstanding talent
Bridie picks up the torch..
An incredible CD!
More people need to hear this.

Act of Free Choice
David Bridie
Manufacturer: EMI
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000058A96
Release Date: 2004-12-21

Tracks:

The Koran. The Ghan And A Yarn
Dive
Breath
Kerosene
The Deserters
Float
Sad
Talk Mister Nation
Salt (I Don't Want To Go No Further)
The Last Great Magician
Found Wanting

Album Description

This guy comes from Australia. French newspapers say 'It's something between Kraftwerk and Belle & Sebastian'. Produced by I. Caple (Tricky, Tindersticks...).

Album Details

The Debut Solo Album from the Not Drowning Waving and My Friend the Chocolate Cake Main Man. An Emotionally Charged Recording featuring an Eclectic Mix of the Traditional and the Contemporary. Co-produced Br David and Ian (Mansun, Tricky) Caple. Thealbum Has Received Widespread Critical Acclaim in Australia Where David Has Spent the Last Few Months on Tour Picking Up Equally Impressive Write-ups for his Live Show.

Customer Reviews:

David Bridie - an outstanding talent.......2004-08-09

The album "Act of Free Choice" is a superbly crafted series of songs, incorporating orchestral arrangements, piano balladry, electronica and David Bridie's own husky lyrics. The net effect is sublime, with many thoughtful ruminations on traditional Australian life, and also the people of Irian Jaya, whose struggle for independence from Indonesia is one of Bridie's most public causes.

This album is quite unlike a typical rock or pop work, and it totally eschews the hackneyed and over-produced musical fare that typically dominiates our airwaves and album charts. The songs have a lyrical atmosphere that combines both melancholy and quiet joy - particular highlights for me are "Dive", "Kerosene" and "Deserters".

Although this album was released around 4 years ago (in 2000), it seems to reveal more every time it is played. It gained quite an amount of radio airplay at the time of its release (largely on the independent stations) and is widely regarded in Australia as one of the best new releases of the past few years.

For American and other non-Australian listeners who want to gain a sense of the best of contemporary Australian music, ignore Kylie Minogue and her ilk - try this album instead. Also definitely worth a listen is Bridie's more recent release, "Hotel Radio". - Pallando, Sydney, Australia

Bridie picks up the torch.........2001-10-19

David Bridie has grabbed the torch from the likes of David Sylvian, as the previous reviewer noted, and run with it..

I can't think of a better equation than that. Maybe if Nick Drake had survived and had a little more Ozzie flavor added he would make something similar sounding to this album.

'hold onto your head now' David implores, and you had better. The ideas come quick and veiled within one another...

You'll find yourself popping this disc in when you can't think of what to play because you know you haven't completely figured it out yet. You may never and this will keep it sounding fresh for years I suspect.

thanks mr B... keep the great music coming..

An incredible CD!.......2001-07-21

The front man for bands like Not drowning waving and My friend The Chocolate Cake has released what I consider the best CD I have heard in years. There are too many great songs on this CD to name a standout track. (Not one "skipper") Gentle piano soundscapes over a wash of atmospheric sounds and Bridie's unique vocal arrangements make this the best CD of its kind since David Sylvian's "Secrets of the beehive" in 1987. This is a must have for anyone that enjoys fragile, but moving music. It amazes me that this CD and this artist will never get the recognition in the USA he deserves. Thanks Australia!

More people need to hear this........2001-07-16

Australian Rock looks to be in good shape right now with the likes of David Bridie and Powderfinger flying the flag with excellent recent albums. It's evident on first listen that Bridie's 'Act of Free Choice' sounds like nothing else out there, at once urgent, graceful and haunting, you can expect these 11 songs to take over your mind and senses for a good while to come. The sparse beats and subtle atmospherics may find an influence in Massive Attack, yet Bridie goes one further marrying these tracks to lovely unfolding melodies. Nowhere is this more evident than on 'Dive' which just envelops you in it's sheer beauty, 'Kerosene' too, has this power. Even the more minamilist songs have a hypnotic pull with Bridie tackling social/political as well as personal themes. It's one thing to enjoy an album, another to come away from it feeling transformed and somewhat beholden from the experience. It may not be widely heard ...yet, but this is essential listening.

Average customer rating:

A Benchmark Australian Record

Act of Free Choice
David Bridie
Manufacturer: EMI Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

Pop | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00004W9UZ
Release Date: 2000-09-05

Tracks:

Koran, the Ghan and a Yarn
Dive
Breath
Kerosene
Deserters
Float
Sad
Talk Mister Nation
Salt (I Don't Want to Go No Further)
Last Great Magician
Found Wanting

Album Details

The Debut Solo Album from Not Drowning Waving and My Friend the Chocolate Cake Main Main David Bridie.

Customer Reviews:

A Benchmark Australian Record.......2000-08-16

Act of free choice is not only a benchmark Australian record but might be one of the most amazing intimate piano centered mood pieces every recorded. Simple melodies, amazing production, great lyrics and layer after layer of sounds are some of the reasons why. This is an Australian record however. This ain't no crossover pop fluf ala Savage Garden which might as well be American. Mr. Bridie surrounds his songs with the Politics, Geography and history of his country. From the "Biggots On The Radio" comprising "Float" to the Full Orchestra Accompanyment on "The Deserters", and the bittersweat lament of blind faith, "Sad" Act Of Free Choice is a mysterious, provacative and haunting record that will hold interest whether it is your first or hundrenth time playing it.

As good as this record might be, Mr. Bridie's talent becomes staggering when one considers his musical history: Not Drowning, Waving, My Friend the Chocolate Cake, the new Telek record on real world to name a few, Wow.

Act of Free Choice
Average customer rating:
Act of Free Choice
David Bridie
Manufacturer: Emi Gold
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music
General | Folk | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0002B9E5O
Release Date: 2002-09-24