No Fear Here

Track Listings

1. End of Days

2. Is This Thing Called Love?

3. Queen of Fates

4. Forever

5. Bewitched (By Your Love)

6. Be the One - Susaye Greene,

7. Letting You Go

8. Ha Ha Hey (Laugh Til You Cry) - Susaye Greene, Jesus Montoya, Brian Wayy

9. Lovemagic

10. Bali Ha'i

11. Secrets

12. Unvelievable

No Fear Here,Susaye Greene,Orpheus Records,Contemporary R&B,Pop,R&B,Soul/R & B,Soul/Reggae/Rhythm & Blues,Urban

No Fear Here

Tracks:

Fanfare
Prologos: Invocation and Instructions to the Audience
Traveling Music
Parados: The Frogs
Hymnos: Evoe!
Dialogue: "Pluto!"
Parabasis: It's Only a Play
Dialogue: "That Was Some Banquet!"
Evoe for the Dead
Invocation to the Muses
Fear No More
Exodos: The Sound of Poets
If You Can Find Me, I'm Here
I Remember
When?
Take Me to the World

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

After unearthing Stephen Sondheim's youthful effort, Saturday Night, a couple of years ago, producers desperate to bank on the name of one of Broadway's last living titans continue chasing after obscure offerings. The Frogs was a 1974 adaptation of a play by Aristophanes and was staged by the Yale Repertory Theater for a week. This recording, the first complete one, boasts the presence of Nathan Lane, Davis Gaines, and Brian Stokes Mitchell. In Broadway star power, that's like having Jim Carrey, Brad Pitt, and Tom Cruise in the same movie. Evening Primrose was a 1966 ABC special, which spawned a couple of songs ("I Remember" and "Take Me to the World") that made it into the cabaret and solo recital repertories. Granted, these two pieces are for Sondheim completists, but they do provide an interesting glimpse into the mind of one of the musical theater's most brilliant auteurs. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews:

Primrose Shines, Frogs Leaps!.......2005-08-27

This recording is arguably one of Sondheims greatest! The Frogs, which appears here with a brilliant cast (Nathan Lane, Brian Stokes Mitchell among others) is one of Mr. Sondheims oddest pieces of theater. Although it was recently revived on Broadway with a new book by Mr. Lane and that recording is probably better, the entire first half of this recording (which is The Frogs) is brilliant for nostalgias sake and for the amazing expierence of the music itself. Mr. Sondheim has created such music for The Frogs! Very grandiose and stunning!

But it is really the final four tracks on the album (The Evening Primrose) that shines. The Evening Primrose is also an interesting Sondheim show but this one is quite possibly worth the price of the album itself. This recording (the only LEGAL one i know of) of the show is... well... perfect. The music is Sondheim at his best, the singers (Neil Patrick Harris plays the lead) are terrific and it just sounds glorious!

The Frogs might be an interesting and entertaining reason to purchase this album but it will The Evening Primrose that will make you scream with joy!

Can I sell it On Ebay!!!!.......2005-06-01

Contrary to other reviwes posted I will tell you that the Evening Primrose on the Mandy Patinkin Cd "Dress Casual" IS the "Primrose" to own. This one was in my opinion under acted and undersung. While Mandy Patinkin is always over the tip, Ms Peters is one of the best Interpreters of Sondheim's works and the orchestration on this is much darker and deep, like the subject matter of the piece. I found this whole CD lacking, given that just like the "Dress Casual" I bought it only for the "Evening Primrose" selections. Thank the GODS for CD Burners so I can compile my own best of Sondheim CD.

Very Good Evening Primrose.......2004-04-15

I find the Evening Primrose here much better than that on "Dress Casual." Firstly, because the two performers--Neil Patrick Harris and Theresa McCarthy--are both amazing singers. Also, because both of these performers are younger and thus, their voices are more "youthful". For this musical, in particular, "youthfulness" is important; Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin are simply to mature to effectively do these parts. I find Neil Patrick Harris, in particular, absolutely superb, and his version of "Not While I'm Around" (on the NYP Sweeney Todd recording) is far and away the best I have ever heard (except for LuPone's dismal British accent). This Evening Primrose alone is worth the price of the CD.

The Real Thing........2004-02-17

>The Patinkin-Peters version of "Evening Primrose" is in Patinkin's "Dress Casual" CD, the studio recording that became the basis of his Broadway concert. I believe this was the first time all four songs were recorded.

Possibly, but on THIS disc we have the first time all four songs were recorded UNDER SONDHEIM'S SUPERVISION, and that makes all the difference in the world. Mandy Patimkin greatly distorts "If You Can Find Me"'s melody; Bernadette Peters's voice is under the accompaniment on "I Remember", and the arrangements on "Dress Casual" are over-elaborate, gooey, and unrestrained. Neither singer effectively plays his character. No, the "Evening Primrose" you want is right here.

Addendum.......2004-01-31

If you're looking for the Mandy Patinkin "Dress Casual" CD (as an alternative or supplemental "Evening Primrose" recording), note that Amazon has it listed, for some reason, under "classical music".

Average customer rating:

Shakespeare's Songbook, Vols. 1 & 2

Manufacturer: Azica
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
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Shakespeare's Songbook
Songs and Dances from Shakespeare
Shakespeare Songs
Shakespeare's Musick (Songs & Dances from Shakespeare's Plays) / Pickett, Musicians of the Globe
William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Two-Disc Special Edition)

ASIN: B0002IQL08
Release Date: 2004-07-06

Tracks:

Ah Robin (Round)
And Let Me The Cannikin Clink
And Will He Not Come Again
Be Merry, Be Merry
Black Spirits
Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind
Bonny Sweet Robin
But Shall I Go Mourn
Can'st Thou Not Hit It
Come Away
Come Away, Hecate
Come Live With Me
Come O'er The Burn
Come Thou Monarch (Version 2)(Round)
Come Unto These Yellow Sands
A Cup Of Wine
Farewell, Dear Heart
Fathers That Wear Rags
Fear No More
Fie On Sinful Fantasy
Fill The Cup (Round)
Flout 'Em And Cout 'Em (Round)
Fools Had Ne'er Less Grace
For I'll Cut My Green Coat
The Friar And The Nun
Full Fathom Five
The George Alow (Version 1)
Get You Hence
The God Of Love
Hark, Hark The Lark
Have I Caught My Heavenly Jewel
Heart's Ease
Hold Thy Peace (Version 2)(Round)
Honor, Riches
I Am Gone Sir
I Loathe The I Did Love
It Was A Lover And His Lass
Jepha
Jog On
Jolly Shepherd (Round)
King Stephen Was A Worthy Peer
Lawn As White
Love, Love, Nothing But Love (Version 2)
The Master, The Swabber (Version 2)
No More Dams
An Old Hare Hoar (Version 1)
O Mistress Mine (Version 1)
Orpheus With His Lute
O Sweet Oliver
Pardon Goddess Of The Night
Roses Their Sharp Spines
Sigh No More, Ladies
Some Men For Sudden Joy (Version 1)
Take, O Take Those Lips
Tell Me, Where Is Fancy Bred
That Sir Which Serves
There Dwelt A Man In Babylon (Version 1)
There Was Three Fools
Three Merry Men (Round)
Tomorrow Is St. Valentine's Day
Under The Greenwood Tree
Up And Down (Round)
Urns And Odours Bring Away
Walsingham
Was This Fair Face
Wedding Is Great Juno's Crown
What Shall He Have (Round)
When Arthur First In Court
When Daffodils Begin To Peer
When Daisies Pied
When Griping Grief
When Icicles Hang By The Wall
When That I Was And A Little Tyne Boy
Where The Bee Sucks
While You Here Do Snoring Lie
Who Is Silvia
Why Let The Strucken Deer
Willow, Willow (Version 1)
Will You Buy Any Tape
The Woosel Cock
You Spotted Snakes

Tracks:

Awake, Awake
Battle Of Agincourt
Bride's Goodmorrow
Broom
Callino
Carmen's Whitle
Chi Passa
Come Kiss Me, Kate (Round)
Come Thou Monarch (Version 1)
Cup Of Wine (Version 1)
Damon
Daphne
Diana (2 Versions)
Dulcina
Eglamore
Eighty-Eight
Fortune My Foe
George Alow (Version 2)
Glass Doth Run
Goddesses
Go From My Window
Greensleeves (2 Versions)
Guy Of Warwick
Hem Boys (2 Versions)
Hey Ho for A Husband (2 Versions)
Hobbyhorse
Hold Thy Peace (Versions 1 & 3)
Hunt's Up
I Cannot Come Every Day (2 Versions)
In Crete
In Peascod Time
Jack Boy (Round)
King Cophetua
King Lear
King Solomon
Light O Love
Loath To Depart (2 Versions)
Love, Love (Version 1)
Master, Swabber (Version 1)
Mounsier Mingo
Mounsieur's Almaine
My Mind To Me
Nutmegs (Of All The Birds)
Nutmegs (Wooing Of The Baker's Daughter)
O Death (2 Versions)
Old Hare Hoar (Version 2)
O Mistress Mine (Version 2)
O' The Twelfth Day Of December
Oyster Pie
Peg A Ramsey (2 Versions)
Phillida (3 Versions)
Please One
Pyramus
Queen Dido (2 Versions)
Ratcatcher
Rich Jew
Robin Goodfellow
Robin Hood
Rogero
Rowland
Sellenger's Round
Shore's Wife (2 Versions)
Sick, Sick (3 Vesions)
Some Men For Sudden Joy (Round)
There Dwelt A Man (Version 2)
Titus Andronicus
Tom A Bedlam (2 Versions)
Troilus
Troy Town
Wellady
Whenas We Sat In Babylon
Where Is The Life
Whoop
Why Let The Strucken (If Care Do Cause)
Willow, Willow (Version 2)
Will Ye Buy A Fine Dog
With A Fading

Average customer rating:

English is an asset and a drawback
You Will Love Opera After Hearing Carmen In English
A wholly credible "Carmen" -- finally!
I love Carmen!

Carmen (Sung in English)
Bizet , Bardon , Gavin , Plazas , Magee , and Parry
Manufacturer: Chandos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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Mozart: The Magic Flute
The Barber of Seville / B. Ford, D. Jones, A. Opie; G. Bellini [in English]
Verdi: La Traviata
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro
Mozart - Don Giovanni / Garry Magee · Cullagh · Banks · Plazas · Shore · Tierny · PO · David Parry

ASIN: B00007JGRN
Release Date: 2003-03-11

Tracks:

Prelude
In The Plaza
Just Look At That Delicious Morsel
Here Come Our New Soldier Boys
Jose! There Was A Girl Here Looking For You Just Now
Off With You Old Soldier Boys
Corporal! Sir!
We Have Heard The Bell Summon Us To Meet Here
Ah, Just Look!
But Why Hasn't She Come, Our Carmencita?
Love's A Bird Wild As Any Rebel
Carmen! We Will Follow You High And Low!
The Cheek Of It!
Give Me News Of My Mother!
Your Dear Mother And I Were Leaving Church This Morning
I See My Mother's Face!
Wait A Moment - I'm Going To Read The Letter
Come And Help
So, Corporal: Tell Me What Happened
Well, Carmencita: What Do You Have To Say For Yourself?
Where Are You Taking Me?
There's An Old Bar In The City
Careful - It's Lieutenant!
Entr'acte
From Far Away Mysterious Sounds
Bravo, Bravo! More! Keep Dancing!
Hurrah! Hurrah! The Torero!
Who's That? It's Escamillo, The Bullfighter From Granada
Hurrah! Hurrah! The Torero!
You're Most Kind
We'll Come With You, Senor Torero
Toreador, Be Ready!
At Last! We Got Rid Of Them As Quickly As We Could
There's A Little Job That We're Starting!
Being In Love Is Not A Reason

Tracks:

To Bid You Welcome To Our Bar
La La La La La La La La...
Back To Camp!... Go At Once!
That Flow'r You Threw To Me I Treasured
No, It's Not Love At All!
Hello! Carmen!
Lieutenant Fair, It's True
The Sky Above The Open Road
Entr'acte
Keep Going, Dear Old Friend, Kep Going!
Right! Let's Stop For A While
Shuffle! Cut Them!
In Vain You Would Avoid The Bitter Things They're Saying
You're Back!
As For That Man, It Should Be Easy!
Is This The Place?
I Say That There's Nothing To Fear
It's Him! I'm Sure It's Him Over There!
Escamillo Is My Name, And I Come From Granada
She Had A Lover Here
Hola! Hola! Jose!
You Should Take Care, Carmen
Alas! Jose, Your Mother Is Ill
Entr'acte
A Few Cuartos! A Few Cuartos!
Here They Come! Here They Come!
If You Love Me, Carmen
It's You! It's Me!
Viva! Viva! What A Corrida!

Customer Reviews:

English is an asset and a drawback.......2004-07-20

The best thing about this recording of Carmen is the libretto. Conductor David Parry penned this facile and dramatic English translation. He avoids the pitfalls of literal translation to achieve an idiomatic flow that matches the rhythm of the original lyrics. I use this as a reference libretto for any of the French Carmens.

Unfortunately, the performance suffers from being sung in English. The singers declaim their parts with such proper British diction that Carmen comes across as a school marm. The spoken dialog is delivered beat for deliberate beat and is dripping with reverb. It makes the plaza, tavern and mountain pass all sound like a sewer pipe.

This is a good first Carmen for someone trying to understand the work. The libretto itself is a good investment for further listening. For an enjoyable performance with an emphasis on character and action, I recommend Regina Resnik on the London Double Decker set.

You Will Love Opera After Hearing Carmen In English.......2004-02-09

What a perfect introduction to opera. This newly released recording will surely get you hooked into opera. Carmen, a French opera by Georges Bizet, is the most recognizable and most popular in the opera world. It's famous melodies- the overture, the Habanera, The Toreador Song have all been featured in everything from cellular phone ring tones to Superbowl Commercial (last year's Superbowl with The "Opera In English" label has been making Italian operas into English for a number of years now. Also on the market are Verdi's La Traviata in English (with soprano Valerie Masterson as Violetta) Handel's Julius Caesar with Janet Baker and even Wagner's epic Ring Of The Nibeling sung in English. This is a terrific recording and I highly recommend it if you want to get into opera. Listen to this version first and then try the real, original French version Bizet had written. Patricia Bardon is sensational, sexy and dramatic as Carmen.

The real strength of this version is the dynamic drama. With the advantage of being sung in English, we get better insight on characters' emotions and motives, and we understand the drama a lot better. Carmen is all about great drama. Bizet drew the plot from the French writer Prosper Merimee's dark short story. Carmen is the ultimate femme fatale- a devil-may-care, sexy Gypsy living in Spain, seduces the conservatively raised soldier Don Jose, stealing him away from his fiancee, the passive Micaela, living a life of underground smuggling and rowdy taverns. "Habanera" and "The Gypsy Song and Dance" are very expressive of Carmen's extraordinarily liberal lifestyle. Don Jose, however, has fallen deeply in love- as he shows us in his song/aria "The Flower Song". But Carmen soon becomes tired of his constancy. Don Jose wants a committed, monogamous relationship with Carmen. But Carmen will not submit to love, since she is first and foremost a carnal creature. Eventually, she falls for the handsome Toreador Escamillo. Don Jose, consumed by jealousy, stabs Carmen at a bullfight after Carmen declares her love for Escamillo and rejects Don Jose's love. Don Jose's crazed, obscessive personality shines through in the English version as well. This tragedy has been done in English before so don't think this is the first time. Back in the 50's, there was a film, starring black actors "Carmen Jones" which was treated the same way as this opera- more like an English Broadway musical and with the dubbed singing voice of Marilyn Horne as Carmen. All in all, this recording is excellent.

A wholly credible "Carmen" -- finally!.......2003-09-17

This recording really sells "Carmen" as a drama. Although I have two other recordings of this opera and have seen it performed several times, it never quite worked for me dramatically. But thanks to the fine performances, conducting, and translation here, I've become a "Carmen" convert. Producing a good English-language performance of a foreign opera, especially a warhorse like "Carmen," is much more difficult than it might appear. You need performers who not only can sing the parts (of course) but also can sing *English* and make it halfway intelligible and make it sound like English and make it dramatically convincing to English-speakers. The singers on this recording do an excellent job all around. Don't be put off if you don't recognize their names -- they are up to the task musically and (especially) in their acting. Admittedly, as with *all* English-language recordings, some passages are very hard to understand without reading along, but most of the time the words are clear and effective. I would recommend this recording to any opera beginner or opera lover, even those who normally turn up their noses at performances in translation.

I love Carmen!.......2003-08-15

I do. I can think of no other opera with more melodic inventiveness, and few others with so sure a dramatic pulse. Carmen is popular and it thrills me to say that it is also a very good opera - not always true of popular things.

And what of this recording? Carmen sits well in English, so it is good to hear in translation, although some of the detais in the text jar. Escamillo refers to Jose as "my dear", which sounds rather peculiar, and the guide's line to Micaela: "it's not exactly inviting, is it?" sounds distinctly Middle England rather than Rural Spain. Some of the performers, not least Carmen herself, make the words work, although there are long tracts, especially with the chorus, where the language is distinctly indistinct.

The soloists are, by and large, strong. Patricia Bardon's deep, Handel-friendly voice adapts well to Carmen and she colours the music with phenomenal detail, sounding sexy and provocative from the start with an edge of pride and anger that emerges as the show goes on. She is out of her depth above the stave, though, and some extra top notes in the second act don't show her off to her best advantage. I have previously said that Julian Gavin is poorly served by recordings, though here he sounds much more even and gives a thrilling and musical performance (but his wooden spoken lines let him down). Mary Plazas is a lovely Micaela, rich-voiced and sincere (and word-perfect), but Garry Magee sounds miscast as Escamillo, lacking the ballast at the bottom of the voice to do justice to this tricky role.

The supporting cast is good (Mary Hegarty seems to do nothing but Frasquita these days!) but the really treasurable thing is the conducting. Stepping out of Italian Ottocento, David Parry turns his hand to this French Comedie with an appropriate lightness of touch. His pacing and handling of the set pieces is exemplary and the enrtractes go with a real swing.

Tracks:

Rhinestone Cowboy
Gentle on My Mind
By the Time I Get to Phoenix
Dreams of the Everyday Housewife
Heartache Number Three
Please Come to Boston
It's Only Make Believe
Crying
Blue Grass Medley
Milk Cow Blues

Average customer rating:

One of the enduring voices of the last century

Have No Fear, Joe Turner Is Here
Big Joe Turner
Manufacturer: Ojc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Blues | Styles | Music

West Coast Blues | Regional Blues | Blues | Styles | Music

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Nobody in Mind

ASIN: B000000Z2Q
Release Date: 1996-10-01

Tracks:

Rocks In My Bed
So Long
Howlin' Wind
Woman You Must Be Crazy
How Come My Dog Don't Bark

Customer Reviews:

One of the enduring voices of the last century.......2001-01-24

Joe Turner made some great jump blues records in the thirties, forties and fifties, but I have always felt that his jazzy blues outings on Pablo Records in the seventies and eighties were even better...Turner gets to stretch his performances, the musicians are allowed to jam on and on, and everybody seem to be cool and comfortable. Listen to "Rocks In My Bed" for a taste of how good a simple blues can get! This album must not be confused with the similarly-titled album of hits from the forties, which, however, is also a gem. To understand Turner in his later years, try the album with Roy Eldridge, Milt Jackson and PeeWee Crayton ("Nobody In Mind"), as well as the wonderful album reviewed here...

Average customer rating:

a voice teacher and early music fan

Purcell: Odes

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Odes | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000057DI
Release Date: 1990-02-13

Customer Reviews:

a voice teacher and early music fan.......2006-05-17

Henry Purcell looked like a Florentine prince, was hail-fellow-well-met in tavern and taproom,wrote for the church and also for the stage and salon, was in fact a most likeable young man, as well as a "very great Master of Musicke." He literally invented the English celebratory style in music. The odes on this disc with their heavy reliance on trumpets and kettledrums demonstrate very well the celebratory aspect as well as the exultation of the music itself. All of the solo voices are excellent and are included to some extent in each of the odes. "Come, ye sons of art,away" was the ode for what was to be Queen Mary's last birthday-30 April 1694 and is the least ostentatious of the birthday odes. It is a countertenor's dream, for Purcell favors this voice as the soloist thruout. Some of the these solos for the countertenor heard quite often on their individual solo albums are: 'Sound the trumpet,sound'-'Strike the Viol'-and 'Come ye sons of art, away'."Welcome to all the Pleasures" was composed for the inaugural celebration of a so-called Musical Society in 1683. One of the outstanding solos from this ode is for the tenor-'Beauty,thou scene of love' and is sung beautifully on this disc by John Mark Ainsley. The ode :Yorkshire Feast Song also called 'Of old when heroes thought it base(1690)' features the countertenor more than the other voices and my favorite countertenor: Michael Chance performs them splendidly. This ode was written for an obscure gathering of York nobility. The instrumental accompaniment is excellent and I found the entire disc to be very entertaining.