Black Moon Pyramid

Black Moon Pyramid

Track Listings

1. Return of the Pharaoh (Intro)

2. Gettin' Dangerous

3. Fool Fool

4. Hole in the Sky

5. Touch the Rainbow

6. Spinx' Revenge

7. You and I

8. Silent Angel

9. Black Moon Pyramid

10. Serenade of Darkness [Opus #1, Adagio con Agresso] [Instrumental]

11. Visions in the Night

12. Aqua Solution [Instrumental]

13. Aquarius Dance

14. Silent Angel [Guitar Version]

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Now stocking the German edition 'Black Moon Pyramid', the 1996 studio album by Germany's top metal guitarist. 12 tracks.

Black Moon Pyramid,Axel Rudi Pell,Steamhammer UK [Spv],Hard Rock,Heavy Metal,Pop,Rock

The Essential Andreas Vollenweider
Average customer rating:

A Must Have Harp Album

A Musical Experience

Less Than I Expected

Not just "essential Vollenweider", simply essential!

from Solo Piano Publications

The Essential Andreas Vollenweider

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | New Age | Styles | Music
Meditation | New Age | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Magic Harp

Book of Roses

Magical Journeys of Andreas Vollenweider

Eolian Minstrel

Kryptos

ASIN: B000058T7P
Release Date: 2001-02-13

Tracks:

Behind The Gardens, Behind The Wall, Under The Tree...
Flight Feet & Root Hands
Belladonna
Angoh!
The Play Of The Five Balls
Pyramid
Pearls & Tears
See, My Love...
Moon Dance
Passage To Promise
Dancing With The Lion
Wanja The Wanderer
Night Fire Dance
Cor Do Amor
Stella
Pace Verde

Amazon.com

The Essential Andreas Vollenweider surveys the Swiss harpist's career from his 1981 worldwide debut, Behind the Gardens, Behind the Wall, Under the Tree..., to 2000's Cosmopoly. In 1981, Vollenweider was a breath of fresh incense capable of creating sweet, poignant melodies with an electro-acoustic harp that reached from deep bass lows to shimmering highs. As Vollenweider's music progressed, world-music elements came to dominate his sound. Sometimes, as on "Belladonna" from 1982's Caverna Magica, the fusion resulted in world-music kitsch as Middle Eastern and Brazilian vocals wafted over snappy lounge rhythms. By the time of 1984's White Winds, Vollenweider had coalesced his multicultural approach into sweeping suites. The Essential Andreas Vollenweider concentrates on his upbeat, jazzier material, leaving the more textural, emotionally ambiguous pieces aside. Nevertheless, there's a breadth of vision represented on this CD that shows a musician always searching. Vollenweider's albums are meticulously recorded, with each instrument given its own space, creating an encompassing sense of architecture. But the remixes here improve the sound dramatically, especially on the earlier works. For the Vollenweider fan, there's nothing new here, but for the uninitiated, this is a good place to begin exploring the works of a New Age pioneer. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews:

A Must Have Harp Album.......2003-07-01

Andreas Vollenweider has created great music and this has his best songs. The only other album I own by him is "Dancing With The Lion". My dad bought the cassette a long time ago, I listen to it sometimes but not a lot. Andreas Vollenweider is the second harp player I heard, the first was Hillary Stagg and I can see a big difference in their music mostly because of the background instruments.

All of the songs on the album were good but I found "Wanja The Wanderer" a bit strange and so did my dad when he listened to it, so I don't think I'll get his album "Kryptos". Here are my favorite songs: Behind the Gardens, Flight Feet and Root Hands, Belladonna, See My Love, Moon Dance, Dancing With The Lion, Night Fire Dance and Cor Do Amor. The only reason I gave the album 4 stars was because some songs sounded a bit strange.

The bonus material on this CD includes: songs with new mixes, mulltimedia cd including the music video of pearls and tears and a new song "Pace Verde"

If you don't own any albums by Andreas Vollenweider and are thinking of buying one I would recommend this one the most but if you already have this one I would recommend "Down To The Moon".

I hope you enjoy his music!

A Musical Experience.......2002-03-28

This composer has never let me down from the very first time I heard his CD entitled, Down To The Moon. I was in a restaurant having lunch, and even though I was having a conversation with three other people, I was constantly drawn to the music playing in the backround. I asked the waiter for the name of the composer. After lunch, I ran out and purchased the CD. That was several years ago. I now have all of his works, and find that each one is as moving as the first time I listened to him. With this album, you'll get a sampling of his work, that will keep you coming back for more.

Less Than I Expected.......2001-09-16

I have most of Vollenweider's CDs already, but was willing to purchase this one because I was interested in the remixed versions. In my opinion these "new" versions have not changed enough to justify the price of the CD. However, if you intend to purchase only one Vollenweider disc, this would be a good one. My recommendation: purchase a used disc.

Not just "essential Vollenweider", simply essential!.......2001-04-29

Made in CAN in 2000, Serial# SK-89507, Playing Time 72:47

First of all, let me just say that, contrarily to what's stated on the cover artwork, there is NO multimedia section on my copy of this disc.

Still, this 12th album by AV covers material from all his albums, except his first (which, contrarily to popular belief, only half of which is on "The Trilogy" set), "Eolian Minstrel" and "Live".

The songs presented here have been remastered and remixed by AV and long-time percussionist collaborator Pedro Haldemann, and tend to focus on his more joyful genre. His early albums have also been remastered a few years ago, but the selections here contain some rich textures: his earlier works are a lot more new-age and "natural" than his latest offerings. "Stella" is the only track from "Cosmopoly", an otherwise bland and generally "ethnic" album: I would even suggest you listen to the sound clip from that album, and you'll be amazed to see what sounds can come out of his harp: much closer to classical guitar than harp.

An excellent starting point for the novice; if you enjoy, start gathering the albums chronologically, as you'll notice a somewhat significant departure from "Book Of Roses" forward.

from Solo Piano Publications.......2001-04-10

I have to confess that in all the years I've been listening to new instrumental music, I've avoided Andreas Vollenweider because I really don't like harp music. When I received a copy of "The Essential Andreas Vollenweider" for review, I kind of thought, "Oh great - another harp CD." Vollenweider's is such a huge and well-respected name that I decided that this would be an opportunity to educate myself. Many "best-of" and "greatest hits" albums are compiled by labels without any input from the artists, but this collection was chosen by Vollenweider himself from albums dating from 1981-1999. Several of the older tracks were remastered by Vollenweider, so this was a great chance to get to know a bit about this artist. It really didn't surprise me that quite a few of the songs were familiar from radio play, but I was surprised that many of them I never would have guessed as being played on harp. Vollenweider developed his electracoustic harp, which has quite a different sound from the standard acoustic harp. In addition to the harp, Vollenweider sings and plays wind instruments, guitars, accordion, keyboards, percussion, and "special fx". I was also surprised at how much I found myself enjoying this album! Musical influences can be heard from all over the world, and most of the music is lively, rhythmic, and infectious. I especially like "Moon Dance", "Dancing With the Lion", and Pace Verde", but the album as a whole is a wonderful sampler for those of us who are relatively new to Vollenweider's music, and is an excellent "best of" collection for his longtime fans. I will definitely be adding more of his music to my collection! The CD is multimedia-enhanced and contains the music video to "Pearls and Tears". Highly recommended!

Average customer rating:

A catalogue of skills
Perfect review!
Heavy Metal As It Should Be

Black Moon Pyramid
Axel Rudi Pell
Manufacturer: Steamhammer Europe
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Hard Rock & Metal | Imports | Stores | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Magic
Shadow Zone
Between the Walls
Eternal Prisoner
Mystica

ASIN: B0000072U1
Release Date: 1996-04-01

Tracks:

Return of the Pharaoh (Intro)
Gettin' Dangerous
Fool Fool
Hole in the Sky
Touch the Rainbow
Spinx' Revenge
You and I
Silent Angel
Black Moon Pyramid
Serenade of Darkness [Opus #1, Adagio con Agresso]
Visions in the Night
Aqua Solution [Instrumental]
Aquarius Dance
Silent Angel [Guitar Version]

Album Description

Now stocking the German edition 'Black Moon Pyramid', the 1996 studio album by Germany's top metal guitarist. 12 tracks.

Customer Reviews:

A catalogue of skills.......2006-07-26

Jeff Scott Soto takes on revolving mike duties here, joining long time Pell associates Volker Krawczak (B) and Jorg Michael (D) and one Julie Greaux on keyboards. And darn it all but of the few Pell discs I own this is in many ways the most mature. Finally a more textured body of music from the man who has finally figured ou that he doesn't have to blather on about how ready to rock he is all the time. And once again pell has co-written most of these tunes. This is particularly important given his regular vocalist changes - ya gotta listen to your vocalist cos he's the one that's gotta sing these tunes. You only have to listen to some Malmsteen albums like Attack! to realise that if your gonna write songs it's a good idea to check you singer can actually sing what your writing.

The fire in the belly of the Pell is still there, the man putting forth a range of committed rockers. However Germanys Rock and Metal Star magazine did pretty much get it right when they summarised a clutch of songs on this album in the following manner;

Hole in the Sky - Rudolph Schenker
Touch the Rainbow - Jimi Hendrix
Serenade of Darkness - Ymgwie Malmsteen
Sphinx' Revenge - Ritchie Blackmore
Silent Angel - Bon Jovi

Which pretty much sums up this very well played but highly unoriginal release. But it is played with conviction and spirit which is what you want from a musician isn't it?

Perfect review!.......2002-06-06

The review from Nick is perfect, with only one differece, in my opinion: Pell's albums are much better than Malmsteen's albums (of the nineties, mainly), because Yngwie, with all his astonishing virtuosity and technique, seldom translated them into great and memorable metal / rock songs.
But Pell manages to do it (even without so many originality).

Very good album indeed.

Heavy Metal As It Should Be.......2000-08-10

Ok, right at the start let's get one thing straight - this is not trendy or groundbreaking metal. This is classic 80's sounding metal with big riffs, big choruses and dazzling guitar solos.

For those unfamilar with Axel's style try to imagine Malmsteen riffs and Malmsteenish (!) guitar solos (fast, melodic, but not as neo-classical). The similarities don't end their with the vocals being provided by a former Malmsteen frontman, the excellent, Jeff Scott Soto.

This is a polished album which has a great production and some fine metal anthems - Oh, and of course the guitar playing is fantastic.

Music like this is the reason that many people, myself included, started listening to metal in the first place. It won't win any awards for originality but it may just remind you how much miss the classical metal of years gone by.

If you want traditional heavy metal you won't find it played any better than this.

Black Moon Pyramid
Average customer rating:
Black Moon Pyramid
Pell , and Axel Rudi
Manufacturer: Steamhammer
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000LWJDZ0