In These Great Times

1. In These Great Times, for tenor, electric guitar, bass & drums
Composed by John Schott
with John Horton Murray, Kenny Wollesen, Trevor Dunn, John Schott

Customer Reviews:

Fine reissue of a classic set.......2006-05-24

Think about the stupidest, most formulaic Hollywood movies you can think of: cheesy action pictures, fluffy, unfunny comedies, big but stiff epics. Now imagine that one of the greatest living composers was working in Hollywood, turning out astonishing, hauntingly beautiful and stirring musical scores for these throwaway movies. That's what you get with this set: music Henry Purcell composed for some two dozen often utterly forgettable plays (trust me--I've read a number of them!) Occasionally, when he teams up with a playwright worthy of his stature, such as John Dryden, Aphra Behn, or William Congreve, the results are even better, but for the most part you can enjoy the music here without knowing anything about the original plays.

This set originally appeared as separate LPs in the 70s and 80s, and has been long out of print. That's a pity, since Purcell spent a good deal of his short professional life in the theatre, either writing the incidental music contained on these CDs, or the music for his larger works, the semi-operas (King Arthur, The Fairy Queen, and the like). Almost all of these works are enjoyable gems; certainly, they represent a pinnacle of English 17th century music. Purcell had a genius for spinning musical gold out of the most leaden lyrics (check out his Odes and Welcome Songs on Hyperion if you don't believe me), and he does the same with the song texts in these plays.

Hogwood and the AAM offer clean, listenable performances, and the sound on these old analog discs has been cleaned up and brightened--although they were pretty good, even in the late 70s. As with most Hogwood, emotional extremes are kept to a minimum, so the "otherworldly" nature of late 17th century music, so often emphasised in more recent Baroque performances, doesn't come across here. It would be interesting to see what a group like The King's Consort would do with this music, but this set fills the major gap in the Purcell canon quite nicely.

My only beef with the reissue, as with many reissues, is that the liner notes are rather thin for a 6-cd set--the lyrics to the songs, for example, are especially missed. Still, it's a worthwhile set, and a must for fans of Purcell, English Baroque music, or anyone who just wants to experience a taste of the last days of the Restoration stage.

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Gifts from musical theater heaven!
Tell Me More and more and more
Two restored little Gershwin gems

Tip-Toes/Tell Me More

Manufacturer: New World Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Lady, Be Good! (1992 Studio Cast Recording)
Strike Up The Band (1990 Studio Cast)
Pardon My English (1993 Studio Cast)
Oh, Kay! (1994 Studio Recording)
Girl Crazy (1990 Studio Cast)

ASIN: B00005RGM8
Release Date: 2001-10-30

Tracks:

Overture
Florida
Nice Baby
Looking For A Boy
Lady Luck
When Do We Dance?
These Charming People
That Certain Feeling
Sweet And Low-Down
Finale-Act I
Entr'acte
Our Little Captain
Looking For A Boy
It's A Great Little World!
Nightie-Night!
Tip-Toes
Finale-Act II
Overture
Tell Me More
Tell Me More
Shopgirls And Mannequins
Mr & Mrs. Sipkin
When The Debbies Go By
Three Times A Day
Why Do I Love You?
How Can I Win You Now?
Kickin' The Clouds Away
Finale-Act I
Love Is In The Air
My Fair Lady
In Sardina
Baby!
Finaletto-Act 2
Opening Ensemble
Ukelele Lorelei
Finale-Act II

Amazon.com

This two-CD set collects a couple of shows by George and Ira Gershwin. Both produced in 1925, the two musicals--Tip-Toes and Tell Me More--are fairly obscure and don't boast as many famous songs as contemporary Gershwin offerings such as Oh, Kay! and Lady Be Good. Still, they are bursting with wit, invention, and joie de vivre. Based on a 1998 concert production, Tip-Toes is delicious, and several songs deserve a place in the Gershwin pantheon: the ballad "Looking for a Boy," the love duet "That Certain Feeling," and the rousing dance number "Sweet and Low-Down." The score is also notable for its spectacular writing for duo pianos. Tell Me More is not as immediately accessible (indeed, it had the shortest run of any Gershwin musical, with 32 performances), but it's delivered with élan by its topnotch cast, which includes Sally Mayes, Christine Ebersole, Diane Fratantoni, and David Garrison. Under the expert musical direction of Rob Fisher (from New York's famed Encores! series), this double set is, of course, essential for Gershwin completists. In fact, just about any fan of zany Jazz Age artifacts should relish it. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Album Description

Tip-Toes, which made its Broadway debut on December 28, 1925, was produced by Alex A. Aarons and Vinton Freedley, who had been the producers of the Gershwins' smash hit Lady, Be Good! the year before. Attempting to repeat that success, they once again combined the same book writers, Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson, with the Gershwin brothers. Tip-Toes was well received by audiences and the press, and ran for 194 performances. It was given a subsequent production at the Winter Garden Theatre in London, opening August 31, 1926, running for 181 performances.

One of the most overlooked Gershwin shows, Tell Me More was also the most unlikely of Jazz Age musicals. In an era marked by lavish extravaganzas and brash star vehicles, Tell Me More, which opened on April 13, 1925, relied on charm, modesty, and an impish sense of humor. Because it failed to recoup its investment on Broadway, it was relegated to the list of Gershwin flops; because its score was largely forgotten, it has been widely regarded as a minor effort. In truth, it's a key show. As the only full-length collaboration between George and Ira Gershwin and B.G. DeSylva, it combines the delicacy and grace of the scores George had written earlier in the decade with DeSylva and the bold wit he had pioneered in partnership with his brother Ira four months earlier in Lady, Be Good! The best of both worlds, Tell Me More was a one-of-a-kind achievement.

Customer Reviews:

Gifts from musical theater heaven!.......2005-07-24

The restoration of several complete Gershwin scores in recent years has been a gift from the theater gods. These two shows lack the bite of "Strike Up the Band," "Of Thee I Sing" and other earlier releases, but they have no lack of the Ira's wit and George's effortless melodies. Upbeat tuners "Kickin' the Clouds Away" and "Sweet and Low-Down" are especially engaging, and the authentic-sounding orchestrations lend a nostalgic aura. The first-rate casts seem to be having the time of their lives.

Tell Me More and more and more.......2001-12-07

I bought this CD because I had seen the concert of Tip-Toes, which I found enjoyable if uneven: great songs in Act I and not much in Act II. But for me, the real revelation here is Tell Me More, a totally forgotten Gershwin musical from the Twenties. I only knew one of the songs, "Kickin' the Clouds Away," but this score hits all the right notes, from gently melodic to flat-out funny. And the cast couldn't be better. David Garrison and Christine Ebersole are hugely funny in the comic roles, tossing out their one-liners like the Broadway pros that they are. And what a delight to hear the romantic couple on one of these vintage recordings -- in this case, Diane Fratantoni and Philip Chaffin -- sing just like a real period couple: him with the creamy tenor voice and her with the boop-a-doop flapper sound. Their rendition of "Three Times a Day," a lovely ballad with a Kern-like flavor, is, for me, the highlight of this 2-CD set.

Two restored little Gershwin gems.......2001-11-10

Although the Princess shows of Kern, Bolton and Wodehouse back in 1917 tried to introduce a solid plot into the American musical comedy, the story lines still did not amount to much until "Show Boat " set the standard. So when George and Ira Gershwin opened with two musicals in 1925, the first was based on a mistaken-identity situation already a cliché in the genre (Bolton did the book); and the second (again with Bolton, plus B.D. de Sylva) was about the Florida land boom that also formed the basis of Berlin's "The Coconuts" the very same year.

Both "Tell Me More" and "Tip-Toes" were part of the discovery of many Gershwin manuscripts buried in a New Jersey warehouse; and we can be most thankful to New World Records for restoring the scores and bits of the dialogue in a two-CD boxed set (80598-2). The music is what you would expect from Gershwin: 1920s jazzy with that special core of Gershwin genius. Yes, a good deal of it sounds like Berlin and Kern--as did just about every other contemporary composer except Romberg (who sounded like Herbert). On the other hand, "Kickin' the Clouds Away" from the earlier show seems to be the inspiration for Berlin's "Shakin' the Blues Away" written two years later! "Tell Me More" also does not shy away from ethnic jokes (i.e., mistaking a request to disguise oneself as British for doing so as Yiddish) that do not offend at all. And if we moderns grow impatient with the rich bubbleheads of the F. Scott Fitzgerald crowd, they are still a breath of fresh air after the population of "Miss Saigon" and plays of that sort.

The game casts have voices just right for this sort of characterization and delivery. The "Tip-Toes" production is taken from the Carnegie Hall Concert version and is outstanding.

This New World set deserves a place of honor among the other Gershwin Brothers restorations on other labels. And do not forget the New World complete recording of Kern's "Sitting Pretty," which (like these two Gershwin shows) did not produce any hits but is delightful from overture to Finale Ultimo.

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MotherLode

MotherLode
MotherLode Trio
Manufacturer: © 2004 Fourth Hole Studios
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CAG2BE
Release Date: 2004-12-28

Customer Reviews:

MotherLode.......2007-04-25

Track Listing:

1. Are We There Yet?
2. That's Okay
3. Farley's Boy
4. Bad Mutha Blues
5. Six Senses
6. Broken Love
7. Break Of Day
8. Sometimes Lofty Towers
9. Therapy
10. Water Is Wide
11. Nightshift
12. Watching You Go

© 2004 Fourth Hole Studios
Product Information Provided By: "OurSpecialGift"