| 1. Gleann |
| 2. Fadó |
| 3. Mhuirnín Ó |
| 4. Of This Land |
| 5. Court to Love |
| 6. Golden Ball |
| 7. Bridge of Tears |
| 8. Autumn Leaves Are Falling |
| 9. Let Me See |
| 10. Loch Na Caillí |
Editorial Reviews
Clannad's particular mix of Celtic, pop, and ambient styles is in fine form on this album, with no lapses in performance. They're as smooth as ever, and they should be after so many years together. While their more pop-oriented songs, such as "Court to Love" and "The Golden Ball," are pretty but unexceptional, Clannad really shines on the more traditional songs. These include the fast-paced, heavily rhythmic "A Mhuirnín Ó," the sorrowful "The Bridge of Tears," and the smooth, relaxed "An Gleann," which is the most successful blend of pop and traditional styles on the album. Máire Brennan's voice has never been more beautiful or controlled, and Landmarks is a fine effort all around. --Genevieve Williams
What the Critics Say
Clannad are engrossed in the weather ... and their New Age- traditional albums are the solemn-sweet same every time, awaiting the moment when domestic mood calls for the comforting sigh of gentle rain on the roof.
Landmarks,Clannad,Atlantic / Wea,British Folk,Celtic Fusion,Celtic New Age,Celtic Pop,Celtic/Irish,Contemporary Celtic,Ethnic Fusion,Int'l & World Music,Pop,Popular Music
Average customer rating:
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Looking for Landmarks
Two Loons for Tea Manufacturer: Sarathan Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00006HCTE Release Date: 2002-09-03 |
Tracks:
- Blue Suit
- Looking for Landmarks
- Dying for Love
- Blood for Sugar
- Sad Diamonds
- She's Not Worth the Worry
- Shape of Strange
- Green Limousine
- Emily
- The Prisoner
- This Mortal Rodeo
- Emily Dickinson
Amazon.com
All that can be sensual, mysterious, and sexy about pop music is found in Looking for Landmarks, the second release by the collective Two Loons for Tea. Led by singer Sarah Scott and songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Kochmer, Two Loons infuse their album with flourishes of jazz and progressive rock. Yet despite its complexity, the disc is accessible, thanks in large part to Scott's thrilling melodic narrations. She is a confident explorer whose gossamer vocals transcend classification; Scott touches on funk or allows her voice to trail off into a world-weary vibrato reminiscent of Billie Holiday. The album's roster of guest musicians, including drummer Matt Chamberlain (Garbage, Fiona Apple), guitarist Trey Gunn (King Crimson), and violinist Eyvind Kang (Bill Frisell), complements the songs' deep well of world rhythms, style, and experimentation. Landmarks is expertly executed; its many luminous layers radiate through flawless, organic production. Finally, the disc massages the ear with exotic soundscapes that reward the listener with subtle but endless detail. Pop hasn't seen an outfit this sophisticated since Portishead. --Beth MassaAlbum Description
"Looking for Landmarks" is an album of delicious sensuality and ear-expanding musical eclecticism from the Seattle-based modern-pop collective Two Loons for Tea (led by Sarah Scott [vocals & lyrics] and Jonathan Kochmer [guitars, composition & production]).From the voluptuous rhythms of "Blood for Sugar" and "She's Not Worth the Worry," to the hip-thrusting funk-rock of "Shape of Strange" and the sage-scented melodies of "Sad Diamonds," "Looking for Landmarks" is an enigmatic pop masterwork that establishes Two Loons For Tea as one of contemporary pop's most passionate and adventurous new groups.
"Looking for Landmarks" features performances by some of the finest musicians and technicians of our time, including producer Eric Rosse (Tori Amos); drummer Matt Chamberlain (Garbage, Fiona Apple, Elton John, Macy Gray); engineer Kevin Killen (Elvis Costello, U2, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush); Warr guitarist Trey Gunn (King Crimson, David Sylvian); bassist Brad Houser (Edie Brickell, John Doe, Critters Buggin); bassist Paul Bushnell (Ednaswap); percussionist Mike Dillon (MC 900 Foot Jesus, Pigface, Critters Buggin); violinist Eyvind Kang (Bill Frissell, Mr. Bungle) and soundscapist Jeff Greinke (Land).
The result of all this virtuosic firepower is a sprawling album that honors no musical or lyrical boundaries. In Scott's and Kochmer's fanciful creative world, loose-limbed R&B rhythms mingle with bluesy vocals, supple jazz-rock melodies, ethereal guitars and lyrics that possess the haunting allegorical power of dreams. With its poetic allusions and musical eclecticism, "Looking for Landmarks" accurately captures the exquisite strangeness of our fast-changing age.
Customer Reviews:
Blown Away.......2007-07-11
Gorgeous.......2007-07-09
Or maybe you love Two Loons for their genre-fusing genius. This love starts the same way, simply enough, with Sarah Scott's voice. Doesn't she sound, 1 minute and 41 seconds into track 8, exactly like Joan Armatrading? But Sarah Scott's voice has many sounds, from Tori Amos to Norah Jones to Nelly Furtado to Macy Gray, and your list soon grows too full. So you turn to the music, but this list is no shorter. The melody of "Blood for Sugar" sounds like a delightfully relaxed Paul Simon. Portions of the "Shape of Strange" remind you of Me'Shell NdegeOcello. You begin to understand that Two Loons is trip-hop and pop and jazz and rock and electronica, and even folk and funk, on occasion. You begin to understand that this is one of the most sophisticated, pleasurable, and entirely fresh albums you've had the fortune to hear in a long time.
Looking out.......2005-02-20
It certainly says something about the musical quality if it's produced by Tori Amos' former producer Eric Rosse, and has Fiona Apple's drummer Matt Chamberlain. It's a bit more accessable than their smooth debut, starting out with alluring powerpop "Blue Suit," with its sinuous Hammond melodies and catchy hooks.
But with the second song, they lapse into deeper turf, with the swirling title track and the prog-flavored "Dying For Love." After that, it's a tangle of flexible jazz-rock and ethereal ballads. Sometimes the songs are a mix of the two, like in the sultry, panoramic "Prisoner." And at the very end is a hidden track: a slow, atmospheric song, which builds up slowly to a stately prog-jazz beat. Very weird, but also very interesting.
"Looking for Landmarks" is a teeny bit more accessable than its predecessor, with those wicked pop hooks and catchy rhythms. But Two Loons For Tea don't fall prey to the dumbing-down that many bands do. Their music stays complex and multilayered, even when it's catchy -- listen to "Green Limousine's" atmospheric opener, before Two Loons start to rock out.
The two Loons -- that is, the ones that are always there -- are Sarah Scott and Jonathan Kochmer. Scott contributes her sweet vocals and songcraft: "And I was not born for morning,/or abstract love, or silent notes." And Kochmer, as well as being cowriter, also contributes four kinds of guitar, plus bass and string arrangements. But he's not the only one.
The instrumentation is so complicated that it's sometimes hard to sort out, as in the glittering last half of "Dying For Love." It doesn't hurt to have Matt Chamberlain doing some of his most impressive percussion work, backed by Rosse's piano, Hammond and Casion, and Eyvind Kang's exquisite string arrangements. Meshed together, the instrumentation is lush and almost intoxicating.
Few pop bands can reach the heights of Two Loons For Tea, and "Looking For Landmarks" proves that their debut was no fluke. Definitely something to check out, while waiting for their forthcoming third album.
THIS IS YOUR CUP OF TEA.......2002-12-09
A unique and possibly timeless album.......2002-10-02
First... what genre is it? It's some kind of pop, but touches so broadly and frequently on other genres (rock, ambient, Asian, funk, folk, alternative, jazz, classical, etc.) that it doesn't fit neatly into existing categories. Two Loons somehow melds these influences into one coherent sound. Are they forging a new genre? Eclectipop? Smartpop? Sophistipop?
Every song is a unique gem, but consistently features strong and confident vocal performances by Sarah Scott and superb supporting musical performances by her multi-instrumentalist bandmate Jonathan Kochmer (and the 19 other musicians they rounded up -- the quality and diversity of contributors to Two Loons for Tea is remarkable, ranging from jazz musicians in the NYC Knitting Factory crowd, to Tori Amos' original producer, Eric Rosse).
Here's some brief reviews of each song in an attempt to convey the sprawling beauty of this album:
1. Blue Suit: A peppy power-pop ditty with driving percussion and guitars and a rousing chorus. Great for opening an album, though it's more mainstream than the album as a whole. Distinctly a summer-time song.
2. Looking for Landmarks: Deservedly the title track (and the real beginning of the album) with the relaxed sensuality Two Loons achieves better than most anyone else: consistently transports one elsewhere. Lovely and moving lyrics ("Do you hear the chorus in the canyon / as you spend another evening alone? You must accept / when an ending comes / breathe... just breathe"). Especially nice are the vocal lead-in to the chorus, sparkly acoustic guitar lines throughout (which evoke summer sunlight on a windy lake), and an outro that exhales soft and accepting sighs into silence.
3. Dying for Love: Flamboyant ethnic-flavored guitars and percussion leading to verses with insistent and shoulder-bobbing rhythms, and then a soaring chorus. There are many ethnic influences in this piece (Balkan, Brazilian, and Spanish), and somehow it all works.
4. Blood for Sugar: Wistful and poignant song with world-weary singing and lyrics of bittersweet delicacy ("a tuxedo / a promise / a ceremony, a compromise / she's trading blood for sugar") and choruses with a Phil-Spectorish wall-of-sound luxuriousness. But Two Loons again surprises by veering off into what sounds like Central-Asian bazaar music and again, they make this unlikely juxtaposition work.
5. Sad Diamonds: Simply vocal and guitars and simply one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Shivers and tingles every time. Although the lavish instrumentation of the rest of "Landmarks" is fabulous, a duo acoustic album from Two Loons would be a special treat.
6. She's Not Worth the Worry: This must be why Two Loons is compared to U2: imagine U2 shucking Bono for a female vocalist and hiring a chamber orchestra: you'd get something very like this song.
7. Shape of Strange: How strange indeed! Suddenly the Two Loons musical mystery bus goes on soul-funk caravan complete with booty-shakin'-bass and rousing gospelesque call-and-response vocals. But Sarah Scott's confident vocals and allusive lyrics stamp it unequivocally as a Two Loons tune.
8. Green Limousine: The only song on the album that flaunts this band's Seattle roots: a brooding dark insistence and explosive soft-verse / loud-chorus structure reminiscent of Seattle alternative (spiked with Floydish doses of prog-rock?). There's so much going on in the chorus that the listener becomes delirious which may be the intended effect given some of the lyrical content ("he's the freeway pharmacist / the cars are waiting in a line / while he read Voltaire / in his wheelchair / edge of the freeway / drive-through heroin / and caviar / the freeway pulses / with the blood of the city"). The soloed vocals at the end are a chilling and perfect lead into:
9. Emily: The album began in summer, and now we're led into a haunted house in the hollowness of winter. Spare and dark music, creepy subliminal sounds, and a supernatural experience in a wide stereo field.
10. The Prisoner: A good song, but maybe a tad long. Great vocals in the soaring chorus and bridge. Still head-and-shoulders above lots on the radio these days.
11. This Mortal Rodeo: The best way to describe this gently enigmatic tune may be "world-wise-sophisti-pop". The string sections could be an imaginary and melancholic Bollywood soundtrack, the guitars and percussion convey wisdom of weary workers in a village square, the horns are a haunting cry from a lovesick mermaid, and the lyrics encourage a thoughtful re-evaluation of the privileged in this world.
12. Emily Dickinson: The album closes with an instrumental version of Track 9 (Emily). One now feels as if one has passed on and gone to a parallel universe floating above the album you have just heard.
And that's a good way to summarize "Looking for Landmarks": it's like the Number-One-Pop-Album in a parallel universe where heart, soul, beauty and mind matter more than image or trends. This is a truly unique and possibly timeless album.
Average customer rating:
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Landmarks
Clannad Manufacturer: Atlantic / Wea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B0000062RS Release Date: 1998-03-03 |
Tracks:
- An Gleann
- Fado
- A Mhuirnin O
- Of This Land
- Court To Love
- The Golden Ball
- The Bridge Of Tears
- Autumn Leaves Are Falling
- Let Me See
- Loch Na Cailli
Amazon.com
Clannad's particular mix of Celtic, pop, and ambient styles is in fine form on this album, with no lapses in performance. They're as smooth as ever, and they should be after so many years together. While their more pop-oriented songs, such as "Court to Love" and "The Golden Ball," are pretty but unexceptional, Clannad really shines on the more traditional songs. These include the fast-paced, heavily rhythmic "A Mhuirnín Ó," the sorrowful "The Bridge of Tears," and the smooth, relaxed "An Gleann," which is the most successful blend of pop and traditional styles on the album. Máire Brennan's voice has never been more beautiful or controlled, and Landmarks is a fine effort all around. --Genevieve WilliamsCustomer Reviews:
For everyone who loves good music!.......2004-05-05
I love this album, and enjoy playing it just about all the time. I highly recommend it to everyone who loves good music!
landmarks Clannad.......2003-08-01
A pleasure to behold...........2002-06-06
Smooth as silk.......2002-04-09
Clannad is magick!!
Celt-evator music.......2001-11-07
The general flaw in these _Landmarks_ is their generally thin, saccharine quality. If anything, these "relaxing" songs are _too_ soft and high-pitched. In the background on most tracks, pipes quiver tremulously with a cloying, not gentle, effect. Even the few tracks that do show signs of life, such as "A Mhuirnin O", are likewise sugar-coated with airy techo-jazz; and "The Golden Ball" (easily the worst track here) is, at best, suitable for recomposition as elevator music in a Dublin highrise.
The "New Age" must have more depth and passion than this if it intends to endure. I definitely cannot recommend this CD.
Average customer rating: |
Stokowski: Landmarks of a Distinguished Career
Manufacturer: Angel Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000002S6H Release Date: 1995-11-14 |
Tracks:
- Fanfare To La Peri
- Adagio For Strings
- Suite For Wind Instruments In B-Flat, Op.4: Gavotte
- Evolution (Part 1)
- Symphony No.8 In D Minor: Scherzo
- Divertimento For Band: March
- Symphony No.4 In F Minor, Op.36: Scherzo
- Pictures At An Exhibition: The Hut On Fowl's Legs & The Great Gate Of Kiev
- Suite Bergamasque: Clair de Lune
- Toccata And Fugue In D Minor
- Four Legends, Op.22: The Swan Of Tuonela
- Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune
- Finlandia, Op.26
Average customer rating:
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Landmarks
Clannad Manufacturer: RCA ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B0001BFI5A Release Date: 2005-02-22 |
Tracks:
- Gleann
- Fad
- Mhuirn
- Of This Land
- Court to Love
- Golden Ball
- Bridge of Tears
- Autumn Leaves Are Falling
- Let Me See
- Loch Na Cailli
- Gleann [Cantoma Mix][*]
Album Description
Deluxe edition, digitally remastered from the original tapes, reissue of 1998 album features 11 tracks including 1 bonus chill-out remix track, 'An Gleann' (Cantoma Mix). Includes 12-page booklet with new sleeve notes & rare photos. BMG. 2004.Album Details
Digitally Remastered Reissue features New Liner Notes from Irish Journalist Stuart Bailie plus Original Artwork and Rare Photos.Customer Reviews:
Absolutely Clannad at their best.......2006-11-23
Clannad is magick!! Highly recommended.
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Halcyon Days: A Treasury of British Light Music
Manufacturer: Asv Living Era ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B0000Y37NI Release Date: 2004-02-24 |
Tracks:
- Overture
- Lento, Ma Non Troppo
- Gaily, But Not Quick
- Cantilena
- Vivace
- Miss Melanie
- Raf March Past
- Very Slow
- Maestoso; Alla Marcia Funebre
- Fairly Slowly, But Evenly Flowing In Strict Time
- Allegretto Rubato
- Overture, Op.52
- Fantasia On 'Greensleeves'
- Country Dance: Allegretto E Leggiero
- Burlesco: Allegro
- Adagio
- Sarabande: Maestoso
- Bourree: Vivace
- Rondo In A Flat
- Allegro
- Lento Moderato
- Con Brio
Tracks:
- March
- Plymouth Hoe (A Nautical Overture)
- Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square
- Tower Hill
- The Horse Guards, Whitehall
- Rotten Row
- Covent Garden
- Westminster
- Knightsbridge March
- No.1 Wheatly Processional
- No.2 Constant Billy
- No.4 Jockie To The Fair
- No.5 Ladies Of Pleasure
- No.6 Princess Royal
- Malltraeth (Pastorale)
- Cemaes (Scherzo)
- March Of The Bowmen
- City Of Lincoln March
- Overture, Op.3
- Londonderry Air
Tracks:
- The Devil's Galop
- Sailing By
- High Adventure
- The Watermill
- Loch Laggan
- Psalm 23 - CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL CHOIR
- Southern Rhapsody
- Ecce Homo - CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL CHOIR
- Girls In Grey
- Halcyon Days
- March Glorious
- An English Overture
- Spitfire Prelude And Fugue
- Carry On Suite
- Carry On Up The Khyber
- Andante Expressivo
- The Dam Busters March
- Tarka The Otter
- The African Queen
Tracks:
- Caramba
- Two Interlinked French Melodies
- Kanikani
- Preambule
- Barcarolle
- Provencale
- By The Sleepy Lagoon
- A L'ombre D'un Buissonet
- Triste Est Le ciel
- Allons Gay
- A Mountain Tune
- Tambourin
- Passepied
- Sarabande
- Farandole
- Petite Promenade
- Andante/Medium Beguine
- Song Dance
- Fado
- Kolo
- In The French Countryside
- Carpet Dance
- Slow Waltz
- End Titles
Tracks:
- Miniature Overture (Help!)
- March (When I'm 64)
- Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy (Can't Buy Me Love)
- Arabian Dance (It's For You)
- Chinese Dance (Ticket To Ride)
- Dance Of The Reed Flutes (She Loves You)
- Waltz Of The Flowers (From Me To You)
- Pas De Deux (All My Loving)
- Sarabande
- The Reception
- The Orgy (Rondo)
- Danza Gaya
- Scene 1
- Malaguena (Vivace)
- Habanera (Moderato)
- Tango (Vivace)
- The Hiring Fair
- Carousing
- Round Dance
- Pas De Deux
- Hornpipe
- March
- Doll's Dance
- Round Dance
- Bobby Shaftoe
- The Keel Row
- The 98th Jacks Listed!
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British Light Music Classics, Vol. 2
Manufacturer: Hyperion UK ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000002ZZT Release Date: 1997-04-10 |
Tracks:
- London Suite: Knightsbridge
- Bal Masque (Valse-Caprice)
- The Grasshopper's Dance
- My Native Heath: Barwick Green
- Rouge et Noir
- The Peanut Polka
- Carriage And Pair
- London Landmarks: The Horse Guards, Whitehall
- A Little Suite: March
- Sailing By
- Portuguese Party
- Beachcomber
- In The Shadows
- Tabarinage
- Sanctuary Of The Heart (Meditation religieuse)
- The Westminster Waltz
- Carissima
- Girls In Grey
- The Runaway Rocking-Horse
- Robin Hood Suite: March Of The Bowmen
Customer Reviews:
Very nice music, but..........2005-12-28
Knightsbridge March was The Dull Life of A City Stockbroker.
Second volume of a highly entertaining series........2000-11-09
These aren't meant to be challenging works, but are skillfully orchstrated, excellently played, and well recorded. The variety is tremendous -- you may even recognize a few of the pieces and say to yourself, "so THAT'S where that tune came from!"
Perfect music for easy listening on a lazy Sunday afternoon, or anytime you need a break from the classical music heavyweights. Hyperion's packaging and booklet notes are, as usual for this premium classical label, uniformly excellent.
For more of this refreshing series, check out Volumes One and Three, as well as European Light Music Classics and American Light Music Classics.
Average customer rating:
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Landmarks
Joe Lovano Manufacturer: Blue Note Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000005HGU Release Date: 1991-06-04 |
Tracks:
- The Owl And The Fox
- Primal Dance
- Emperor Jones
- Landmarks Along The Way
- Street Talk
- Here And Now
- I Love Music
- Where Hawks Fly
- Thanksgiving
- Dig This
Customer Reviews:
Landmarks - is this as good as it gets?.......2003-03-18
Average customer rating: |
Haydn Wood, Vol. 2
Manufacturer: Marco Polo ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B00000461N Release Date: 1997-06-10 |
Tracks:
- A May - Day Overture
- Soliloquy
- Variations On A Once Popular Humorous Song
- Suite: Paris: Waltz: Apache Life
- Suite: Paris: Meditation: In The Tuilleries Garden
- Suite: Paris: March: Montmartre
- Roses Of Picardy (Song Intermezzo)
- A Manx Rhapsody
- Suite: Frescoes: Sea Shanties
- Suite: Frescoes: March: The Bandstand
- An Evening Song
- Suite: A Day In Fairyland: Dance Of A Whimsical Elf
- Suite: London Landmarks: March: The Horseguards, Whitehall
Average customer rating: |
Landmarks
Mulgrew Miller Manufacturer: Muse Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000008BRI Release Date: 1994-10-17 |
Tracks:
- Promethean
- Inner Urge
- Portrait Of A Mountain
- Milestones
- Sublimity
- My Man's Gone Now
- Blues Again
- I Remember You
- You're That Dream
- Soul-Leo
Average customer rating:
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Landmarks
Clifton Anderson Manufacturer: Milestone ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000000XVN Release Date: 1996-12-03 |
Tracks:
- P.G. (From Whom All Blessings Flow)
- Mommy
- Landmarks Along The Way
- Princess Neh Neh
- I've Never Been In Love Before
- My One And Only Love
- I Thought It Was Understood
- Thanks
Customer Reviews:
you have to have this one !.......2005-11-29
Great CD.......1998-05-31
World Music:
- Latin American Music
- Le Disque D'or Du Rai, Vol. 2
- Live at the BBC 1989 [Live]
- Lost Africa [Original recording remastered]
- Mexico: Sones Huastecos
- Mists Of Morning
- Music of China
- My Father's Son, My Brother's Brother
- Nineties Collection: New Scottish Tunes [Import]
- Novo Millennium: Bailao de Peao [Import]
World Music
Schumann: Symphonic Etudes Op13; Davidsbündlertänze Op6
Sometime in New York City/Live Jam [Live] [Original recording remastered]
The Best of the Ramones [Import]