Actually quite enchanting after a few listens
930298
I got this from our library a few days ago and at first was NOT impressed. However a few more times through it and I realized the songs are quite delightful and fun, and the cast is really quite good in their roles. Definitely a pleasurable listen in a very little known show.
3065677
Admittedly, I did not buy this soundtrack for a very long time because I felt it might be redundant to Fellowship of the Ring. How wrong I was! This music is even more beautiful than Fellowship, in my opinion. Several scenes are deeply moving, causing me to recall very emotional scenes from The Two Towers, but the soundtrack does not conjure images from the film with every track--it is enjoyable without having seen the movie, of course. I have, of course, listening to Fellowship countless times in the many years since I bought that first album, and now regret having not bought the two sequels sooner. I find that listening to all three in a large playlist while at work helps pass the time. It is so beautiful and inspiring that it always puts me into a joyful mood, no matter how the day is otherwise going. It can be quite escapist, to be honest.

My opinion of the three has changed quite a bit since listening to them all fairly regularly for a while. My first choice is The Two Towers, followed by Fellowship, and thirdly, Return of the King. However, it's quite a toss up between FOTR and ROTK--with the former only edging ahead because of the novelty of the opening scene, and chronologically how I prefer to conclude with ROTK while listening.

Rather than going to random play, what I often do is play the first few tracks of Fellowship, the first few of Two Towers, an reserve the last few track of ROTK for the end of the playlist. Now, everything else gets randomly shuffled. The result is a natural beginning and ending, with the majority of each of the three scores combined in the middle. Beautiful!
3838594
I bought this on vinyl and I sat mesmerized for the first half of the album, then flipped it over and was actually sad when it was over. I wanted more, like a drug addict, I needed more!

This music will tell you a story, take you places, but you must really listen to hear the layers of sonic beauty. From the outside this might sound like noise to some, but once you settle in its beautiful and uplifting.

 This is not what I would call background party music, it must be listened to. Headphones or speakers, park yourself and enjoy.
1392266
I can't explain it, but this music (after listening to the cd 3+ times) seems brilliant in every way (lyrically, vocally, musically).  It's awesome.
1852167
I bought 'Another Language' soon after its release and have listened to it dozens and dozens of time since then. I've listened to it while driving in the car, at home in the morning, at work and on and on. It's one of those albums that has worked its way into that category of albums that most avid music fans have - albums that we can't imagine not having in our lives.  That's how strongly how I feel about this one.

This album can be best described as a perfect blend of post-rock and ambient.  What I hear primarily are keyboards and guitar that are seamlessly blended together and almost indistinguishable much of the time paired up with more traditional drums that provide some rhythm and weight here and there.  The mood is mostly tranquil and meditative, but there are a few little climactic moments throughout.
3727818
while it was a bit jarring at first, I find that it's nice upon repeated listenings.  I like the narrative/letter reading bits, and the lutenist is quite well, and Sting does a good job with the vocals.  It certainly doesn't deserve the slew of 1-star and 2-star reviews from self-professed experts and snobs.
1075446
I admit, I tend to have a somewhat unsophisticated instinctive attraction to conventionally beautiful voices (warm, rich, soothing tones, gorgeously articulated vowels and the like) ;)  , so it took a  listen or two to warm up to this rendition, but I soon recognized that this voice and interpretation are beautiful and expressive on their own unique terms, perfectly capturing the disjointed surrealism of the lyric, and this is now my favorite version.
3783343
When I first purchased "Touch", I remember it took me so little time for this album to grow on me. Heidi Happy's vocals, provide a melodic touch on a few of these tracks. Without a doubt, her hallmark performance from this album, comes from the title track; "Kiss in Blue" with Boris Blank. After watching the video, notice the way she smiles at the camera, as she teases the viewer, while her outer beauty seduces the listener's appreciation for the song. After noticing her in this video for the first time, I've considered giving my left nut, just to have the rare pleasure of having dinner with the lovely Heidi, while "Kiss in Blue" is playing in the background, along with various other tracks from this album. Other favrorites include; Tangier Blue, which has more of an electronica fusion with dark atmospheric background moods, along with a blend of electroncia jazz. Trackless Deep is the only track that has a pop edge to it; definitley a treat for the pop music enthusiast. "Bostich (Reflected)" took a while to grow on me, as I never particulariy cared about the original version but this version definitely has a pretty cool remix to it. I don't particularily care about; "Part Love" or "You Better Hide". Takla Makan is the only track that doesn't sound like it's even apart of the album as it has more of an experimental edge.

Either way, you can't go wrong with this album as I even like it better than their 1999 "Motion Picture" album, which sounded more like an experimental album; yet it contains pretty cool artwork. The bonus tracks for "Touch" are definitely a treat as I prefer all of them. Most of them are very short, ranging between 2:33-3:15 minutes long; Umbria being one of them, which has an interesting jazzy-ending to it, but I was really hoping they could have dragged it out a minute longer. I only wish they included the extra track; "Tiger Dust" (which is only featured on the dvd); since they have already included 6 bonus tracks. At first, I thought it was because of the limitation of what an 80 minute cd only provides but as it turns out, there was enough space to include it in there after all, which would have clocked out the cd at 78:05 (with a little more than a minute to spare).
3818260
At first when I got this CD I popped it into my stereo CD player at work and listened for a few minutes.  I thought... "Damn... this is crap."  But then, later in the evening I went home and decided to give it another try.  This time listening to it using my headphones.  Then I thought "Damn... this is GOOD!"

Conclusion: "Sounds of light" doesn't make good ambient background music, it's best listened to using headphones.  I also found it to be surprisingly mentally calming while doing "breath watching" meditation.

The recording is very well done, (you can hear the sound of the friction mallets as they draw them around the inside of the bowls) and is very clear.  However the sound of the mallets does sound a little like a shop saw cutting a pipe a long way away, if you think this will bother you then, don't buy it.

In the liner notes is an interesting story:

"In preparing to record Octaves of Light we set our intentions to anchor in the energies of illumination and enlightenment.  As we began, our pinon incense sparked into a flame and, at the same time, the halogen light over head mysteriously went out, so the only remaining source of light in the room was a circle of candles.  Continuing our session by candle light, suddenly and unexplainably the overhead light turned back on.  This switching off and on of the light repeated for the duration of the recording.  We felt the presence of angels."
1217600
When i first listened to it it was clearly Our Lady Peace, my favourite band, but seeing as i didn't know the music i sat there entranced. To begin with it was too hard to differentiate between songs when you've never heard any of it and it's just in the background, but then after listening once through it was even more exciting.

  As time has gone on, Our Lady Peace has become more and more refined and this new album is no exception. Ultimately beautiful and melodic, it brings a new level to music that has been produced to perfection. Many would say that this is their best album yet, however i have to point out that sometimes slightly more raw music is the most interesting, i.e. their older, slightly more diverse music.

  I still have to give this album the hightest rating available though, because it is an amzing album of perfected levels. With variation in pace and instrumental focus it would be hard to get bored of this music and when you know it well enough, it is a good choice for background music as it won't distract you.

  Overall, i say that this is a further development in Our Lady Peace productions and deserves a lot of credit. Listen to the album!
3472962
After listening to them for over ten times, they finally touched my heart and I love them! Several of them became my favorite! Give it a try and be patient. You will be happily rewarded.
3102879
One of the more intriguing CDs out there, this is a tribute to Hildegard von Bingen, a German nun/visionary in the middle ages.  These are all songs that she herself wrote.
These surprisingly feminist religious pieces are attacked head-on by this choral group, who manage to create a sound that is startlingly medieval.
True, I've never lived in the middle ages.  But in listening to this album, I could almost feel cold, ancient stone under my feet, and see the nuns pacing stoically by.  It feels very authentic.
There's a sound to this music that isn't entirely uplifting ... although it's very moving.  Many of the notes are minor keys, giving the songs a tone of quiet forboding or despair, even while the lyrics are devout prayers of the most touching sort.  Somehow I imagine that in the middle ages, that conflicting sense of devotion and despair was rather common.
The artists also supplement von Bingen's prayers with moments of electronic sequences that are so out of place that they shock you into a smile.  The singing sounds so medieval, so understated, as though it's coming from a cold, empty church.  And then suddenly, there's a sequence of shocking electronic music.  It is actually brilliant and effective.  In the CD notes it says that this was done to make up for the lack of visuals that one would really have seen in a church.  Instead of visuals, we get a sequence of powerful, modern sounds.  And then they go back to the chorals.
This really is an outstanding album.  If it sounds intriguing to you, I recommend getting it, even though it's a special order.  It's scary to think it could go out of print some day and you could lose your chance.
2711207
Definitely not Erasure's usual sound, and it took listening to it through a few times before I really came to like it, but I sure did after I gave it a chance. It deserves consideration firstly for breaking the mold: the tracks are longer, more emotional, and less upbeat than Erasure's typical (or, indeed, the typical of most pop artists). But the songwriting is superb, and the songs captivate you more and more as you listen to them. This may've been the album that ended their streak at the top of the charts, but that doesn't mean that it isn't one of their best (or that their subsequent works aren't also excellent).
3181537
A friend of mine suggested this album to me. I borrowed it from my local library and to be honest, the first time I listened to it, I wasn't that impressed. However, I have a policy to always listen to an album twice through before making a final decision as to whether I like it or not and by the time I had gotten through the second time, I was hooked. I liked it enough to buy the entire album and not just download a song or two.
1646354
I could not get into this record when I first heard it. My prior review was very critical. Now a week later, and after listening to this about 100x's, I must say, I have sunk my teeth into a number of tunes and I can't get enough. Very cool and imaginative album. It just takes some time to figure out the ingenuity of it all. Enjoy.
4070449
I will admit the first time I listened to Alan's newest CD... well, all I could think was that it was nothing like the old stuff and I did not like it.  I brought it to work and listened to it a few more times.  After the 5th time through, I started to really enjoy all the tracks.

I have listened to it many more times since then, and I love it more and more.  It IS VERY DIFERENT, but it just may grow on you in time.  Do not give up on it after only once through.

I have to give this 5 stars... simply because I enjoy listening to this CD.
379011
On the first listen, I was not immediately drawn in by Dralion. The music was not my usual genre: it seemed overly dissonant and electronic. There did not seem to be any sense of continuity between the tracks. Some had a pseudo-African drum beat, one reminded me of the intro to Ricky Martin's "La Copa de la Vida"...it sounded like a synth-induced roaring soccer crowd.
Twenty or so listens later, I've grown to love Dralion, mostly for the solos by Erik Karol, French countertenor and poet of sorts. His voice is clear and soaring, angelic and genderless. I had not heard of him before Dralion, but the instant I heard his voice I fell in love with it.
I still have not seen all of Dralion (I have ordered the DVD), but after listening to the music repeated times I have come to understand the blend of futuristic electronic music and Asian, African, and Hispanic influences, much as the show is a blend of mythology and international influences. Although it is not something I would normally buy, I have to recommend Dralion for its amazing blend of cultures and themes and its gorgeous vocals by Erik Karol and Agnes Sohier.