CD reviews

Слухаєш музику Віктора Косенка в її на превелику рідкість змістово ідентичній інтерпретації Марією Крушельницькою, і, стримуючи сльози, думаєш: які ж молодці українці, що можуть писати таку витончену, майстерну, ніжну й величну фортепіанну музику, що сприймається як досягнення дійсно європейського музичного мистецтва! Адже "в обществе" кажуть, що справжньої української фортепіанної музики не існує. Ну, то, дійсно, у тому "обществе" така музика і не повинна існувати. Залишається лише вельми великий біль з того, що такі глибокі музиканти, як Шопен, Скрябін, Косенко так рано пішли з життя... Отож, шануймо їх музику і музикантів-виконавців, що дають нам змогу любити і не забувати прекрасну музику.

Просто вражаюче! Такий сонячний, життєрадісний альбом!
І музика, і слова - чудові, налаштовують на хвилю позитивності, несуть світло і тепло, заряджають енергією!
Я в захваті!
Ця зміна Mad Heads мені дуже сподобалася.
Дякую за автограф.
Дякую Mad Heads за те, що подарували такий несподіваний вибух хороших емоцій!

Такого драйву я давно не чув! Це супер-пупер, дійсно прорив у вітчізняній естраді. Веселіша за все звичайно загадка, хто ж наклав у бобік, ще дуже подобаються емайл та рожеві сиропи. Отже, я вже бачу і наші сусіди як і ми "Захворіли ми на бум бокс –
Остання фаза"
Музикантам бажаю не звабляти обертів та бути найкращими

Це абсолютно чудовий диск! Я давно захоплююсь творчістю Вагіфа Мустафа-заде, маю кілька його альбомів. Але цей диск особливий - дійсно цінний, рідкісний запис (live), зроблений у студії Українського радіо. Всі твори дуже цікаві - і власні композиції Вагіфа, і виконання "The man I love" Гершвіна. Мені дуже подобається трек 2 - "У пошуках". Але, напевно, понад усе я люблю фантазію на тему азербайджанської народної пісні "Gara gashyn vasmasi". Я слухаю ії постійно - виразна мелодія, яскрава гармонія, цікаві імпровізації, теплий, глибокий голос Ельзи ханум. Надзвичайно! Окрім того, ця композиція демонструє творчу спадкоємність доньки Вагіфа і Ельзи - Азізи. З її творчістю я познайомилася ще раніше :). Дуже дякую вам за диск!

Hello from Poland, Beautiful, etheral "world" music from Ukraine. I like this very Much! All the Fleur cd's highly recommended! Thank You Very Much UMKA! Best Regards. Jacek

Загалом диск сподобався. Просто я люблю музику з використанням різних смичкових інструментів: скрипочки, віолончелі і т.д. До цієї пори для мене еталоном є альбом Lake of Tears "Вічна осінь". Я навіть просидів цілий день за цим диском. Але чи то може настрій був не відповідний до такої музики чи ше шось... більше я його потім не слухав. Можу порадити цей диск всім меланхолікам і тим хто страждає депресією. Вам стане ще гірше:) А може краще хто зна? Єдине незаперечно - для України це унікальна музика, так як ніхто такого більше в нас не грає.
Найбільше сподобалося: Карусель, Как всё уходит, На мягких лапах, Колыбельная для солнца.
Моя оцінка 8.

Назва альбому відповідає нашим сподіванням знайти любов і ніжність, відображену в музиці. Чудові голоси виконавців, підбірка пісень, аранжування - все співзвучне назві і знаходить відлуння в душі.

Rechi trohy nezvychni yak dlya Ani Lorak. Meni brakuye trohy lirychnosti, nizhnosti, yaki holos Ani Lorak tak dobre vmiye peredavaty (zhadaymo lyshen' "Ya vernus' "). Zahalom, za zahidnymy standartamy, albom - serednyachok, za ukr. mirkamy - tse, zvisno, proryv. Odnak, shchob dosyahnuty chohos' bilshoho treba robyty "bilshe"...

Pidozrili na hitovist', na moyu dumku, "Car Song" ta "Don't Talk About Love".

"Untie Me" duzhe nahaduye rosiys'ku Alsu i pisni brakuye hlybyny holosu "spravzhnoyi" Ani Lorak...

Odnak prydbaty albom obov'yazkovo varto!

So here it finally is, the newest album of my favorite singer Ani Lorak. I knew for long that it would be an album mostly sung in English. Quite frankly, since Ruslana's Wild Dances remake of her gorgeous 2003 album Дикi Танцi I'd prefer Ukrainians not to sing in English, but the truth here is that Ani's English is pretty good. I never got ill feelings to hear her sing in that language, but why do Ukrainian artists do it at all? At first I suspected that it was targeting at the international market. Well sure, nobody would object to selling thousands of records in England or the US, but now I believe the reason is something else: It appears that an Ukrainian singer singing in English is more respected domestically than those who perform in Ukrainian or Russian language. Well, that's only speculation but appears to make sense to me.

When I finally received this disc I already knew three of the tracks, namely the preview single clips of "A Little Shot of Love", "Smile" and "Car Song". No doubt, Ani is going through a transition, and this album's style sees her singing harder than ever. Already "Smile" was clearly a true rocker, while the newer "Car Song" is more of a pop tune. Since 2002 Ani is affiliated with American songwriter Pam Reswick. She, together with American singer Taryn Murphy, signs responsible for four of the eleven songs on this CD. Reswick has composed for acts such as Aussie singers Tina Arena and Emmanuel Carella (whose vocal coach was Susie Ahern, another one of my great but unsung heroes!). The Reswick/Taryn team penned "A Little Shot" and "Smile" and thus took care of two of Ani's biggest successes (at least in Ukraine) in the most recent past.

But what about the whole album? After listening to it a few times I have to say that this CD is full of great tracks which are all very entertaining and qualified to become radio busters. I first heard the opening track "Right Away" and tracks #5 ("To Be on Top") and #6 ("Don't Talk About Love") at a concert I've seen of Ani in late May 2005 in Киев. The latter is a great ballad, one of those tunes that gives me goose bumps. During the show Ani related that it has a personal background. Ani herself composed the music for no less but five songs herself, something which became evident only with her last release Анi Лорак. Interesting is track #8, a song called "Why". It's actually a cover version of the K-otic track "I Really Don't Think So", and it fits into Ani's repertoire pretty well. Track #11 is a live classic of Ani, which we all will know from Tina Turner: The Mike Chapman/Holy Knight composition "Simply The Best" is usually the closing of any concert I've seen of her in the last two years. I personally can't hear it anymore, but I have to give credit to a well-produced version offered here.

It may be also interesting to many that this CD contains the three single clips I mentioned at the beginning of my review, viewable on a computer. Very much to my delight the CD ends with two songs sung in Ukrainian, but those are only alternating versions and expand the track number to thirteen: "Розкажи (Rozkazhy)" is the remake of "Tell Me Lie", while "Чекаю ("Chekaju")" is the alternate version to "Untie Me". Both are great tracks per se, and I have to say that I prefer the Ukrainian versions in any case. And that is what leads me to this conclusion: No doubt, Ani is Ukraine's most professional singer and artists. However, I feel that with her singing in English, something gets lost with the music, at least for my ears. This is a very solid, good album!

the son of her 'dyki tantsi' album is somehow a remix of
some tracks of the ukrainian CD (shigirigidayday from Kolomyyka, hey ya hey
and trembity from znayu ya, etc.) and this track took the best of the spirit
of all these previous wild dances. The result is obvious, this is simply the
best track of that hutsulkyy project !!! Some people would certainely be
more precise to comment on it, but english is not my native language so I
can't hardly explain all the feelings and thoughts I had concerning that
song. Deeply influenced by ukrainian folkore, modernised in an outstanding
way, I shall hope Ruslana shew the way and made people to get interested in
using our folklore as a basic to our modern songs - as turkish, spanish or
greeks composer are already doing now, and they do very well ! Only for this
song, Ruslana deserves respect, as a composer, singer and performer ! The
whole CD is enjoyable, but to be honest I'm not such a fan of remixes
generally, but I must admit the ones on the CD are quite good, if not very
good. I loved to discover the full ukrainian version of wild dances, which
is according to me better than the english one (some differences in the
backing vocal wich make that track more ethnic). The insrumental version
shew me how GREAT the arrangement was ! it is nearly self-sufficient ! On a
word : Congratulations, Ruslano !

first time i listened to that song, I hated it. it was for me a cheap way to
maximise the 'wild spirit', but then I got used to it, and now I love it ! i
have my doubts about the remixes, but as I said I'm not much a fan of
remixes generally speaking. so I won't comment further.

I tell you right now : the new arrangments of this song (ckajy meni) for the
english version are BAD, considering the original ukrainian track was great
!! why did she modify it, whereas it was perfect like before. I think
Ruslana should move on, I mean, Wild Dances was a great track, Dance With
The Wolves was a necessary follow-up, but I'm afraid people will get
'annoyed' by Ruslana's "Hey!". I've heard of a new project, totally
different and I can not wait for it ! Ruslana is a great artist, and I'm
confident she'll show what she's capable of.

hanks to her website, I already had a good preview of what I'll find on her
CD. This one is a masterpiece. So modern, and still so musically influenced
by ukrainian (folk) music. She has a delightful voice, and I guess she knows
it, but she's also very talented as a composer ! This CD is enjoyable from
the very beginning to the very end, which is rare enough to mention it ! My
very favourite track goes to 'Мрій Про Мене' because it's the one reflecting
most what makes to me that CD so special : real ukrainian touch in modern
music - other artist to do so is Ruslana. Not these stupid 'remix' of
traditional folk songs (please spare me this), this album was the perfect
ally to Ruslana's wild dances as it's showing another part of ukrainian
influences. Talking about Ani Lorak, not the CD but the singer, I'm so
disapointed by her try-out in english. I dont have anything against that
language, I have something against the traks in her lastest CD 'Smile'.
What's that ? What made me proud happy and interested by her as an artist
just disapeared. She's now no more than a modern pop-artist that could be
originally from everywhere in the world. There's now way to guess that she's
ukrainian in her songs. It's only commercial - and I would say 'cheap'. The
songs are moreover disgracious according to me (Another little shot was
poor, but Smile is even worse, not to mention 'car song') so i'm so
disapointed by the way Ani Lorak chose.

Interesting mash up of beats and old folklore records. A pleasurable record. there are so many dance records out these days that it's hard to make something sound different - or interesting. While not being overly original it still manages to sound tasty. I'd give it a B with hopes of some more interesting avante-gardisms next time around.

More and more proving themselves to be a classic rock band capable of almost anything. Shades of Freddie Mercury in many of the tracks...and the band has the talent to lay a solid and creative foundation. They keep getting better and better. Highly recommended! Now when does an album in English come out - that would be something! The world is waiting!