353. HOLY CROSS MONASTERY CHOIR - Orthodox Liturgical Hymns English language hymns from the liturgy primarily in the Znamenny style (a style of Russian chant.) There's also some Valaam style and an awesome Ambrosian style chant of the Creed.
354. HOLY CROSS MONASTERY CHOIR - Christ is Risen!: The Ancient Hymns of Pascha[/i] More Orthodox chant in English. These are chants from Pascha (Easter). Primarily in the Russian znammeny style, but also some in the following styles: Byzantine, Bulgarian, Georgian and some of their own settings dubbed "Holy Cross Hermitage chant." The monastery is in West Virginia.
355. ALAN HOVHANESS - And God Created Great Whales 20th Century American composer that wrote tonal works of great majesty. And God Created Great Whales incorporates actual, taped whale calls into the piece. Pretty cool. This disc also includes Prayer of St. Gregory, one of my top 5 pieces of classical music under five minutes long. It's referring to St. Gregory, the Enlightener of Armenia. His Symphony No. 2 "Mysterious Mountain" is also included as are a few other short pieces. Great disc.
356. ALAN HOVHANESS - Symphony No. 22 "City of Light" My hometown orchestra commissioned this symphony. Also included is his Cello Concerto.
357. ALAN HOVHANESS - Celestial Fantasy Picked this disc up off of eBay for next to nothing. It's okay, but nothing spectacular like the other two. Hovhaness was probably one of, if not the most prolific composer of the 20th century (well over a hundred symphonies) and while he wrote a lot of great stuff, some of it is so-so.
358. EDGAR SERGEI HOVHANNESSIAN - Marmar Colorful Armenian music. Reminds me a bit of Khatchaturian, but more aggressive. Marmar is a suite from a ballet. Also included is his Symphony No. 3 for Strings and Percussion. Very obscure composer putting out some great stuff. Oh yeah, like most classical albums, this one is trying to win the "Worst Cover Art" competition.
359. CHARLIE HUNTER TRIO - Bing, Bing, Bing Charlie Hunter plays an 8-string guitar (5 regular, 3 bass) and is able to cover a lot of sonic turf on that thing. Trio of guitar, sax and drums. Some great originals and a great cover of Nirvana's "Come As You Are." I'm sure the purists hate Charlie Hunter, but jazz purists are fun to laugh at, so enjoy!
scanning back a few pages I realized I left a few discs out There will now be two out of order selections.
360. GRATEFUL DEAD - Dick's Picks vol. 33: Oakland, CA: 10/9/76 & 10/10/76 Both of the Dead's shows from the multi-day "Day on the Green" festival in '76. Oakland Stadium, Oakland, CA 10/9/76 Disc One Promised Land Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo Cassidy Tennessee Jed Looks Like Rain They Love Each Other New Minglewood Blues Scarlet Begonias Lazy Lightnin'> Supplication Sugaree Disc Two St. Stephen> Not Fade Away> St. Stephen> Help On The Way> Slipknot!> Drums> Samson and Delilah> Slipknot!> Franklin's Tower> One More Saturday Night U.S. Blues 10/10/76 Disc Three Might As Well Mama Tried Ramble On Rose Cassidy Deal El Paso Loser Promised Land Friend of the Devil Dancing In The Streets> Wharf Rat> Dancing In The Streets Disc Four Samson and Delilah Brown-Eyed Women Playing In The Band> Drums> The Wheel> Space> The Other One> Stella Blue> Playing In The Band> Sugar Magnolia Johnny B. Goode
361. JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE - Are You Experienced? There are so many classics on this CD that it isn't even funny.
362. CHARLIE HUNTER QUARTET - Natty Dread Hunter likes to play with different lineups a lot, so he's got a quartet here (guitar, two saxes, drums.) This is a complete re-arrangement of Bob Marley's album of the same name. Blue Note had a series a few years ago of artists on their roster covering entire albums. Artist got to choose the album. While that combo of instruments sounds dreadful for Marley tunes, Hunter & co. absolutely nail it. It respects the work, but takes it in a different direction. It's very cool. One of the one I like a lot is "No Woman, No Cry." He intros that song with "The Tennessee Waltz" and segues into NWNC. Never would've thought about pairing those two, but they fit together perfectly.
363. CHARLIE HUNTER - Charlie Hunter Self-titled album finds him playing with a bunch of different combos. Everything from solo guitar up to a sextet. Definately my favorite Hunter album that I own, and probably the best of the ones I've heard (I lack many albums to have all of his unfortunately.)
364. CHARLIE HUNTER & LEON PARKER - Duo Album of music solely on guitar and drums. Once again, that'd probably fall flat on its face with most people, but Hunter can work it like few others can. A good album. One of my least favorites of his, but still really solid.
365. HUUN-HUUR TU - The Orphan's Lament Music from Tuva. Some of it is throat singing (that weird guttural stuff done in Central Asia), some of it is traditional music, some of it is more modernized stuff with acoustic guitar added. All of it is good. I guarantee you've never heard anything like this.
366. ROB ICKES - Big Time Dobro player Ickes on a set of originals and covers in a mainly bluegrass(y) style. Includes the great "Wayfaring Stranger," a tune I could hear arranged a million different ways. Ickes' version is quite different from all others I've heard.
367. ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH ORTHODOX CHURCH CHOIR - Akathist of Thanksgiving This akathist service was written by a priest in a Soviet prison camp. It's translated and recorded in English for the first time. It's a well done CD and should be undertaken by professionals sometime. It is quite beautiful. The liturgical reading on her are done in group recitation and not sung, and they don't sound very good and that's not how they're typically done in church. I tend to skip over those bits. The bulk of the CD is the akathist though, so it's no big deal.
368. INDESTRUCTIBLE ASIAN BEATS Compilation CD of electronic, funk, and other modern forms of pop music coming out of India. There's some really good stuff on this disc.
369. INDESTRUCTIBLE ASIAN BEATS 2 Another great compilation. Excellent stuff from Panjabi MC, Asian Dub Foundation, MIDIval PuntiZ, etc.
370. INDIAN QUINTET - Raga-Ragini Sarangi, santoor, guitar, shenhai and tabla. Four pieces for the four melodic instruments and tabla. Two pieces for pairs of melodic instruments and tabla, and two pieces for the full quintet. Great sampler for some of the more "obscure" instruments of Indian classical music.
371. THE INNOCENCE MISSION - Glow I love this woman's voice. Pop tunes with an angel's voice. A bit out of character for my tastes, but if it's good, it's good.
372. IRATOWNS - A Series of Clicks and Whistles Band from Alabama that recently called it quits after 10 years of playing together. I appear on the thank you list of the liner notes. The only album that boasts that distinction. They had a great sound and some monster players in the band, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. It's a real shame.
373. IRON & WINE - The Creek Drank the Cradle First new band that's just completely blown me away in a long long time. I've been hooked since the first time I heard it. Lo-fi disc of slide guitars, banjos and mellow vocals. I've since dubbed them "whisper-core" after reading a review of them where they were called "whisper-folk." I thought "whisper-core" fit a lot better.