Patrick Cassidy - "Famine Remembrance"

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Information: http://www.sandwell.demon.co.uk./pcassidy/pc5.htm

Though the immediacy of the event is no doubt diminished, many if not most Americans of Irish descent came to be in this country either directly or indirectly as a result of the great Famine which decimated Ireland in the mid 19^th Century. Patrick Cassidy re-wrote parts of an original work, first commissioned by the Irish Echo newspaper and an organization of Irish-American refugees of the famine and, along with the Saint Patrick's Cathedral Orchestra and Choir, recorded this moving tribute to the millions who lost their homeland and their lives in that tragedy.

This piece was a dramatic departure from the type of music I usually review for this column. While I am admittedly not a follower of classical music, I found myself drawn again and again to "Famine Remembrance". The music portrays the deep sadness and emotional loss of the era to which it is dedicated, but at the same time the delicate melodies temper the gloom and round out the disc, making it not only a fitting tribute to a time and a people, but an engaging beautiful work of art.

Famine Remembrance" begins and ends with a somber funeral march, and in between there are some emotional and memorable moments. Cassidy drew from two famine-era poems by Lady Jane Wilde, (mother of Oscar Wilde). Her stirring words are perfectly suited to the music:

H - "Ice Cream Genius"

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Information: http://www.marillion.com

When Fish, front man for U.K. rock sensation Marillion, decided to part company with the band a few years back, many fans left with him. This was an unfortunate move for them because Fish's replacement, Steve Hogarth, made the band whole again (even if being whole meant charting new and different musical territory). Now in 1997, Hogarth has stepped away from the band temporarily in order to do a little solo work of his own and created "Ice Cream Genius".

Hogarth, or "H", as he calls himself for this incarnation is a multifaceted character. He is both a riveting and tremendously entertaining live performer and a talented, multifaceted musician. The most striking aspect of "Ice Cream Genius" is the depth and complexity of the arrangements. H's experimentation with sounds and textures is especially apparent on "Cage", on which he uses a variety of unusual sampled sounds for the rhythm track and some refreshingly unusual synth voices for the melody. His toe tapping, pop sensibility comes through loud and clear on "You Dinosaur Thing" and "Really Like".

As with the string of post-Fish Marillion releases, the real gems on "Ice Cream Genius" were saved for last. "Better Dreams" is nothing short of genius, both lyrically and musically. A story depicting a man named Leo whose lives a lie. Nothing I could say about this song could possibly do it justice. "Better Dreams" is one of the best songs I have ever heard from H (in any incarnation) and I am moved every time I hear it. Also powerful is "Nothing to Declare", which rounds out the disc. A longing piece about waiting for a love who has gone away and who probably will never return:

Fuego del Alma - "Dicho y Hecho"

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If two winning entries in a row weren't enough, here's a third that fits the bill. Together since 1994, Fuego del Alma is billed as a blend of Flamenco guitar, jazz and Latin/Afro-Cuban rhythms. When I think of Flamenco, or any kind of Spanish/Latin music, what generally comes to mind is a complex, but predictable set of tunes. What I hear when I listen to "Dicho & Hecho" is a bunch of damned fine musicians playing their hearts out and making music that breathes new life into a format that has been widely perceived to be static and (maybe) a bit passe. The band, featuring guitarists John Bateman and Eric Manning-Tano, Bassist Chuck Manning and Percussionists John Sutton and Jon Chambliss, is amazingly adept and authentic-sounding -- so much so that I instantly became nostalgic for the tropical beaches and nightlife of Cazumel where I enjoyed my first taste of live and lively Flamenco music. Vocalist David Checa appears on this thirteen song disc and his voice is a pleasant punctuation spaced liberally between purely instrumental pieces. Some of the tracks, at least to my admittedly unattuned ear, began to sound like others, but there was enough variety on this disc to make it still sound fresh after several listenings. My favorite track was a piece called Cartegena, on which Checa's vocals are first showcased. I also very much enjoyed the intricate guitar work throughout, especially on the track Jaquemate, a decidedly smooth, Steve Hackett-like guitar track that grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

All in all, I would say that "Dicho & Hecho" is a good choice for anyone looking for Flamenco music with a twist. I liked this disc from beginning to end; it's quality, original music from a genre that is, of late, often maligned for its lack of originality.

Peter Gabriel - "Eve: The Music and Art Adventure"

Interactive CD ROM Game

Realworld

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Information: http://www.realworld.on.net

Peter Gabriel is one of the most sought-after artists in the realm of music today. I know from personal experience that his fans are among the most loyal (and possibly most obsessed) in the business. One of the things that keeps him so fresh and captivating is the fact that he doesn't pump out an album or two every year to keep the record executives happy. As a matter of fact, it has been nearly six years since we've seen a full-length studio disc from him -- the Internet news group devoted to the discussion of Gabriel and his former gig, Genesis, are practically burning with rumors of his upcoming release which is supposed to hit the record stores sometime before the end of this year. In the meantime however we have been graced with the next best thing: A new multimedia CD-ROM called "Eve". Expanding on the ground he broke with "X-plora 1", his first, rather autobiographical CD-ROM, "Eve" is actually a game. You might ask, aren't there more than enough boring games already than anyone could possibly play? The answer is, in a word, yes -- but "Eve" is no ordinary game. Whereas most of the fare on the shelves at your local software store contains one of three things (blood, guts or some other form of violence), "Eve" is not a game of shooting or killing. Along with computer programmers and musical collaborators, Gabriel employed psychologists, psycho therapists and visual artists to come up with an adventure which is not only fun to play, but also unlike any other game that has come before it.

The objective is simple. Using a clever and easily mastered interface, the player travels several different worlds, "searching" for pieces of music. There are four worlds (five actually, but we'll leave the fifth one up to you to figure out): Mud, The Garden, Art and Nature, and Profit. Interspersed throughout these worlds are a plethora of houses, fields and other artifacts to explore. While snooping, the task is to find the special musical pieces which, when put together, will create a very special surprise. Finding some of the pieces is as easy as moving the mouse cursor over them. Many though require some rather sophisticated puzzle-solving before they can be retrieved. Along the way, a player will encounter several interesting diversions, not the least of which are several buildings which contain what appears to be television monitors. As the player chooses "channels", video footage of people interviewed about all manner of relationships streams across the monitor. Some of the people are simply "man on the street" types, while others are the various "Eve" collaborators (including Peter himself). The topics of discussion are different in each room you find, but they always involve relationships, from dating to sex to breaking up. Each time a channel is clicked, different footage appears. This video footage was completely unexpected, but an ingenious way to apply interactivity with the primary thread of "Eve": relationships.

So what's that special surprise I mentioned before? Well, as I said you travel the worlds, searching for musical pieces, which accumulate as you find them. Once you find the special place within each of the worlds, you get to actually do something with those musical pieces. The "special places" are actually virtual music studios where you can manipulate several alternative takes of popular Peter Gabriel songs. These takes can be mixed, matched and re-recorded any way you want. As someone who tries to keep up on all the various remixes Gabriel releases, I can say that not a few, but most of these alternative takes are unveiled for the first time on "Eve". For fans, the opportunity to remix the man's songs is worth the fifty-odd dollar price tag on this game!

As an example of what you can do, the first world in "Eve", called "Mud", contains pieces of the song "Come Talk to Me" (originally released in 1992 on Gabriel's "Us" album). After all the pieces are collected, there are several different versions of the song just waiting to be played with and manipulated. Not only can you remix the songs, you can record the mixes and even save and over dub them later! When you finally get the mix sounding just the way you want it, then it's off to the exposition room, where a sort of music montage created by the world's artist awaits. In the case of the world "Mud", the artist is Yoyoi Kusama and her artistic experience is really something to see. You can control the experience by changing it (your changes to the artwork change the mix you created as well). And then when you finally decide you've had enough, it's on to the next world, with a new song, new puzzles and a whole new motif waiting to be found. The worlds contain more than just hidden musical pieces as well. There are all kinds of surprises lying in wait for you as you explore "Eve"

What's great about "Eve"? I think the concept itself is brilliant. My copy came with a limited edition book which described the making of the adventure. From reading that book I can say without a doubt that this project was certainly not thrown together over night. A whole lot of work went into making it original, fresh and like nothing ever done before. That labor of love, paid off! Another plus is the quality of the musical pieces. While there is no appreciable new music to speak of (other than sound textures and background music added during the search phases, and the new versions of previously released music), what is there is of surprisingly high fidelity. The only real flaw with Gabriel's first CD-ROM was the sound quality of the musical clips. A lot has happened with computer sound technology in the last few years! Also, the setup and installation of the program was a piece of cake, a claim that could not be made (by PC users anyway) about "X-plora 1".

What's not so great about "Eve"? In order to not sound like a complete sycophant, I had to find something wrong with this piece! The user's manual alluded to the player's ability to create nearly seamless remixes of the various songs featured throughout the game. The quality of the mixes, while still very good fidelity-wise, was quite choppy. Also, many of the song segments which were meant to go together did not do so very elegantly. Lastly, though over dubbing was supposed to be an easy option, I had a very difficult time actually getting the recording studio to over dub. When I did finally make it work, the choppiness of the mix was even more pronounced than before.