I’m about to make an admission that should send some of my loyal
\nreaders screaming for the exits. Hold on to your seats: I don’t
\nmind New Age music. In fact, I kinda like it.<\/p>\n
There is something about hearing the pure emotion of a single
\nmusical instrument, or even sparse yet intricate instrumentation,
\nthat pulls at the heartstrings. The music can take me soaring in my
\nmind to places I can only dream about visiting, and – if the mood
\nis right – it can make me long for days past, especially thinking
\nback to when my daughter was just a baby.<\/p>\n
Jim Brickman is one of the modern-day masters of piano-based New
\nAge music, and his latest release
\nMy Romance: An Evening With Jim Brickman<\/i> is a wonderful
\nexample of how captivating this kind of music can be. It,
\nregrettably, also shows what can happen if too many cooks are
\nbrought in to consult on the soup.<\/p>\n
Recorded over a two-day period, Brickman absolutely shines when
\nthe spotlight is focused solely on his piano work. Tracks such as
\n“Rocket To The Moon,” “Circles” and “Lake Erie Rainfall” are
\nstunningly beautiful, and captivate the listener in ways they may
\nnever have thought possible. But Brickman saves his own personal
\nmagic for the disc’s closing track, “Starbright (The Lullaby
\nMedley)”. I swear, if anything could make me seriously consider
\nhaving a second child, the memories this song evokes (as well as
\nthe lost opportunities) is the strongest argument I’ve heard. I
\ndefy any parent not to be moved by this selection.<\/p>\n
Even with some of the guest performers,
\nMy Romance: An Evening With Jim Brickman<\/i> works magically.
\nThe two selections with Olivia Newton-John, “Valentine” and “Change
\nOf Heart,” are surprisingly powerful, and re-affirm Newton-John’s
\npower as a vocalist, even if her pop stardom days are long gone.
\nLikewise, Donny Osmond turns in a spectacular performance on “Love
\nOf My Life,” another song which grabs the heartstrings and tugs on
\nthem like an emergency brake on a runaway train.<\/p>\n
And as good as this disc is in general, sometimes the guest list
\ngrows to be a little too much. Admittedly, the piano duet with
\nDavid Banoit, “Glory,” is well-executed, so it’s hard sometimes to
\ntell that there’s two pianos playing. But the two selections with
\nDave Koz, “The Love I Found In You” and “Partners In Crime,”
\nsometimes make it feel like Brickman is trying too hard to show how
\nmany friends he has in the business.<\/p>\n
Even with this minor flaw,
\nMy Romance: An Evening With Jim Brickman<\/i> is a spectacular
\ndisc which may just show even the most skeptical listener how
\nbeautiful and enjoyable New Age music can be. Fans of Brickman’s
\nwill undoubtedly run out to snag this disc – while people like
\nmyself who haven’t followed him closely will probably be investing
\nin his backcatalog. A wonderful addition to anyone’s musical
\nlibrary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6407],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36748","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jim-brickman","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36748"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36748"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}