D
DÛke
Guest
...
"Harem" (Arabic for "forbidden," or "sinful," especially as forbidden by God) is Sarah Brightman's latest classical endeavor in which she takes on the entire Arabian culture with her operatic voice and vocalization styles. I bought it yesterday, and I will be damned if it is not one of the most godsent albums I have ever come across. There are some songs and moments in there that inspire me to believe in a Heaven! one cannot possibly hear some of her work on this album without thinking Divine.
Sure, you might look at it and, if you happen to be familiar with classical music, you might notice that track 3 is entitled "It's a Beautiful Day," which is originally arranged by Puccini. Indeed, it has been done by many - Maria Callas (which I hope you're familiar with) has a version of it, Era has a version, Schiller has a version. But from all those, it is without hesitation that I declare Sara Brightman's version (which is actually an overtake of Schiller's version) to be the most delicious sound your ears can feel. (I know, there's a confusion of senses in that last sentence, but music does that).
Tracks like Arabian Nights - at 8 minutes and 50 seconds - make and break the album. Upon hearing it, one had had enough! too much! please, turn off heaven and let me back to earth! the joy and wonderment, the entire enigma of a true musical experience is captured in this epic wonder. Consistent of 5 parts: Scimitar Moon, Voyage, Promise, Hamesha (my favorite part of the song), and Alone (my second favorite part of the song) - this musical goes from Arabian to pop to dance to world music to classical to a dream world as if the very God is beginning His creation and singing His fair well! simply too much delicacy for refined ears, just in this song...
Other tracks, like "Take My Breath Away," will take your breath away. I will not attempt to explain this track: too much injustice I've already done to this album simply by trying to put it into words, and words, especially to this song, cannot be just.
Or the track that will get everybody's attention is without a doubt "The War is Over," with an Iraqi guest vocalist, thereby it becomes an automatic message to the world.
The album does fall short in some places. Track 4, "What You Never Know," which comes right after the breathtaking "It's a Beautiful Day," had me off guard - how could such a beautiful album posses such a pathetic moment as this track 4? and no, it manages to follow one of the best songs in the album! However, there are hardly any other such horrors in the album, except for some average moments that fail amaze.
The problem of the album is that it has groundbreaking tracks that it becomes harder and harder for itself to compete with itself. It becomes harder to appreciate other tracks. A single listen to "It's a Beautiful Day" or "Arabian Nights," for example, and the listener will immediately know that it is near impossible to listen to something better than those tracks in the same album. You feel like Sara Brightman and her husband Frank Peterson, who's the producer in many cases, are pushing too many limits in such a short amount of time that they cannot compete with themselves - they're running past themselves! beyond themselves! but what a feeling that must be for them...
The other downside of the album is that, over all, it is simply too good. You listen to it with a joyful lamentation – the standard for your ears is instantly heightened, you are by the end elevated in taste and more strict - you'll be urged to donate some of your other music: you cannot stand them any more. But this is me! I listen to classical and universal wonders, and I still get the feeling that such a masterful piece of art will only punish me in the long run - eventually I will not be able to tolerate music, only godsent voices, angels, and the universal masterminds...and how rare of events are these masterminds?
If you're looking for something new and refreshing, relaxing but exciting, something that brings the worlds together, something heavenly by every sense of the word, than you cannot be wrong to spent $13 on what will be a timeless experience for you and your loved one.
Your girlfriend will love you more after it (only if she's a longtime girlfriend though), your wife would simply admire you, you will like yourself more - and your teenage kids, if any, will ask you "what was that one song you were listening to?" - while you get to tell them it was just "It's a Beautiful Day," by Sarah Brightman. After a month, you'd fail to see how you would have managed your life without such an album. That is the definition of good and beautiful music - when it becomes a part of you for eternity and a day thereafter.
Dim the lights, grab a good book (please, no Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings allowed in heaven.
), and sail asleep to dreams...
"Harem" (Arabic for "forbidden," or "sinful," especially as forbidden by God) is Sarah Brightman's latest classical endeavor in which she takes on the entire Arabian culture with her operatic voice and vocalization styles. I bought it yesterday, and I will be damned if it is not one of the most godsent albums I have ever come across. There are some songs and moments in there that inspire me to believe in a Heaven! one cannot possibly hear some of her work on this album without thinking Divine.
Sure, you might look at it and, if you happen to be familiar with classical music, you might notice that track 3 is entitled "It's a Beautiful Day," which is originally arranged by Puccini. Indeed, it has been done by many - Maria Callas (which I hope you're familiar with) has a version of it, Era has a version, Schiller has a version. But from all those, it is without hesitation that I declare Sara Brightman's version (which is actually an overtake of Schiller's version) to be the most delicious sound your ears can feel. (I know, there's a confusion of senses in that last sentence, but music does that).
Tracks like Arabian Nights - at 8 minutes and 50 seconds - make and break the album. Upon hearing it, one had had enough! too much! please, turn off heaven and let me back to earth! the joy and wonderment, the entire enigma of a true musical experience is captured in this epic wonder. Consistent of 5 parts: Scimitar Moon, Voyage, Promise, Hamesha (my favorite part of the song), and Alone (my second favorite part of the song) - this musical goes from Arabian to pop to dance to world music to classical to a dream world as if the very God is beginning His creation and singing His fair well! simply too much delicacy for refined ears, just in this song...
Other tracks, like "Take My Breath Away," will take your breath away. I will not attempt to explain this track: too much injustice I've already done to this album simply by trying to put it into words, and words, especially to this song, cannot be just.
Or the track that will get everybody's attention is without a doubt "The War is Over," with an Iraqi guest vocalist, thereby it becomes an automatic message to the world.
The album does fall short in some places. Track 4, "What You Never Know," which comes right after the breathtaking "It's a Beautiful Day," had me off guard - how could such a beautiful album posses such a pathetic moment as this track 4? and no, it manages to follow one of the best songs in the album! However, there are hardly any other such horrors in the album, except for some average moments that fail amaze.
The problem of the album is that it has groundbreaking tracks that it becomes harder and harder for itself to compete with itself. It becomes harder to appreciate other tracks. A single listen to "It's a Beautiful Day" or "Arabian Nights," for example, and the listener will immediately know that it is near impossible to listen to something better than those tracks in the same album. You feel like Sara Brightman and her husband Frank Peterson, who's the producer in many cases, are pushing too many limits in such a short amount of time that they cannot compete with themselves - they're running past themselves! beyond themselves! but what a feeling that must be for them...
The other downside of the album is that, over all, it is simply too good. You listen to it with a joyful lamentation – the standard for your ears is instantly heightened, you are by the end elevated in taste and more strict - you'll be urged to donate some of your other music: you cannot stand them any more. But this is me! I listen to classical and universal wonders, and I still get the feeling that such a masterful piece of art will only punish me in the long run - eventually I will not be able to tolerate music, only godsent voices, angels, and the universal masterminds...and how rare of events are these masterminds?
If you're looking for something new and refreshing, relaxing but exciting, something that brings the worlds together, something heavenly by every sense of the word, than you cannot be wrong to spent $13 on what will be a timeless experience for you and your loved one.
Your girlfriend will love you more after it (only if she's a longtime girlfriend though), your wife would simply admire you, you will like yourself more - and your teenage kids, if any, will ask you "what was that one song you were listening to?" - while you get to tell them it was just "It's a Beautiful Day," by Sarah Brightman. After a month, you'd fail to see how you would have managed your life without such an album. That is the definition of good and beautiful music - when it becomes a part of you for eternity and a day thereafter.
Dim the lights, grab a good book (please, no Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings allowed in heaven.
), and sail asleep to dreams...