Omens [Live]

Amazon.com
The most obscure artist to ever receive a 10-CD box set, Jack Hardy's status as a folk mentor and icon derives from his monthly songwriter workshops in New York and his prolific, hyper-literary output. For his first new release since 1997's Celtic-flavored The Passing, Hardy turns his attention to nonchalant, Americana-ready folk rock and a high-brow library full of poetic images. "I ought to know great literature by heart," Hardy sings on the opening track, but his reading comprehension is hardly wanting. Hardy's dense, mysterious conjurings of Irish mythology won't be to every listener's taste, though his love songs, with fragrant lines like "the willow weeps although unheard" and "'round this old house the wind it whines / with a knocking keeping time," are as vivid and intense as any being written today. --Roy Kasten

Omens,Jack Hardy,1-800 Prime CD,Contemporary Folk,Contemporary Singer/Songwriter,Folk,Folk & Traditional,Pop,Singer/Songwriter

Average customer rating: An evolution of metal, a new definition of doom Rwake is being honest with you!

Voices of Omens Rwake Manufacturer: Relapse ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Death Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Ritual Fires of Abandonment Given to the Rising If You Walk Before You Crawl The Blackening The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote ASIN: B000M7G0VY Release Date: 2007-02-20

Tracks:

1. intro
2. THE FINALITY
3. CROOKED RIVERS
4. FIRE AND FLIGHT
5. LEVITICUS
6. OF GRIEVOUS ABOMINATIONS
7. bridge
8. INVERTED OVERTURES
9. THE LURE OF LIGHT

Album Description

Emerging from deep in the backwoods of the American subconscious, Arkansas's RWAKE represent the dirty south with their intensely unique style of acid-drenched metal. Hitting below the bible-belt in a narcotic-dazed fury of epic proportions, RWAKE's thick, tar-black riffing and vicious male/female vocal attack plunge the listener head-first into the abyss as their transcendent melodies and blazing leads raise the spirit to the cosmos. Voices of Omens is a hostile explosion of hideously impure American metal which emanates an eerie and unsettling vibe; haunting in atmosphere and hallucinogenic in it's effect on the listener.

Customer Reviews:

An evolution of metal, a new definition of doom.......2007-04-24

Similar to the last reviewer, I wasn't impressed by Rwake when I first listened. I heard about Rwake because I like a band that spawned from one of Rwake's previous members (Deadbird). When I listened to Rwake initially, I heard lots of screaming and some great guitar work. But isn't that like almost every metal band out there today? Then I listened more, and I listened closely.

I'm glad I gave them another chance. What I've found is a band that stands out in a genre of what can only be described as largely homogenous. Band after band spew out the same formula of stoner/metal/doom.

Rwake are often compared to Eyehategod, which is fair, but only upon first listen. Where Eyehategod is strictly punishing, both lyrically and sonically, Rwake lift you up high before crushing you. Their songs definitely have moments of melody that build nicely to setup the terrible moments, or to enhance their crescendos. Their lyrics cover topics like ghosts and cosmic destruction (this isn't necessarily unique...bands like Mastodon and High on Fire also cover subjects that are more fantasy-based...but it keeps them away from bands that are just screaming about vomit and piss and blood).

They have two singers, a man and a woman. What I thought was a man hitting higher-pitched screams, is actually the female lead singer. Her voice is like an instrument, like another guitar. The male lead singer has a great voice too, hitting the lows and reciting the more audible lyrics.

Every few years, a group comes along that keeps me interested in metal music. Sabbath in the 60s/70s, Metallica and Slayer back in the 80s, Mastodon, and now Rwake. Yes, I'd put them in that category, I think they're that good.

Of course, that's my opinion. But give them a shot. And if you think, "I've heard this before" or "lots of screaming, but where is this going?", then listen again. When I gave Rwake discs to my buddy, he had the same reaction as the last reviewer, and that I had initially. But he called me before the Rwake concert this month and said he's going, and that he can't stop listening to them.

Rwake have definitely elevated the genre.

Rwake is being honest with you!.......2007-04-12

When I first listened to these guys I guess I wasn't really listening. At first I just heard a few riffs that I thought were pretty nasty, but so are so many bands these days. When I went back and listened again, I heard honestly coming through within their bleak southern fried doom laden wall of sound. It's easy to get lost in the shuffle these days with extreme metal. This isn't Buzzov-en, or Eyehategod. These guys don't come across dopesick. Instead, they come across as a WARNING that evil is abound. It's doom, but it isn't that same old formula that doom heads are use to. They have more going on within their formula. Their sound is dirty but it has melody. Epic is over used these days, but they definitely have a BIG sound with many dynamics. They are kinda flying under the radar, but in time this album will stand on its own as some of the best modern doom being put out right now. Calling it doom is being lazy. It's more forward thinking than I am describing. If your into underground music then you will "get" it. I don't know much about the band or pretend to be a good writer, I just know what I hear. Arkansas has something to be proud of!

Average customer rating:

The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, Vol. 2 Manufacturer: Albany Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Ives, Charles | ( I ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Ives, Charles | Composers | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, Vol. 1 The Complete Songs of Charles Ives, Vol. 3 The Complete Songs, Vol. 4 Charles Ives: Three Quarter-Tone Pieces; Five Take-offs; Hallowe'en; Sunrise 114 Songs by Charles Ives ASIN: B0000049ML Release Date: 1995-04-16

Tracks:

1. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: I Travelled Among Unknow Men
2. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Allegro
3. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Feldeinsamkeit
4. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Harpalus
5. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: The Light That Is Felt
6. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Du Alte Mutter
7. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: God Bless And Keep Thee
8. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Du Alte Mutter
9. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Slugging A Vampire
10. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Tarrant Mass
11. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Karen
12. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Dreams
13. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: The World's Highway
14. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Because Of You
15. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Romanzo Di Central Park
16. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Because Thou Art
17. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: I Knew And Loved A Maid
18. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Her Gown Was Of Vermilion Silk
19. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Flag Song
20. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Spring Song
21. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Ich Grolle Nicht
22. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Widmung
23. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: We Melodien
24. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: There Is A Lane
25. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Elegie
26. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Evidence
27. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Berceuse
28. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Rough Wind
29. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: South Wind
30. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: No More
31. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: On Judge's Walk
32. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: A Night Thought
33. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Song Of The Dead
34. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Where The Eagle
35. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Tolerance
36. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: The Love Song Of Har Dyal
37. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Omens And Oracles
38. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Those Evening Bells
39. The Complete Songs Of Charles Ives: Fruhlingslied

Average customer rating:

Dvorak: Moravian Duets Op32; Suk: Songs Op15 Manufacturer: Chandos ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dvorák, Antonín | ( D ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music ASIN: B000000AU6 Release Date: 1995-07-18

Average customer rating: A wonderful recording...with one big flaw

Handel: Semele [Highlights] George Frideric Handel , John Eliot Gardiner , Norma Burrowes , Della Jones , Monteverdi Choir , Robert Lloyd , Elisabeth Priday , Anthony Rolfe Johnson , and Catherine Denley Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Handel | Handel, George Frideric | ( H ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music ASIN: B000005EE5 Release Date: 1995-07-18

Tracks:

1. Ov - English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner
2. Act I: Scene I: 'Lucky Omen Bless Our Rites' - English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner
3. Act I: Scene I: 'O Jove!' - Norma Burrowes
4. Act I: Scene I: 'Why Dost Thou Thus Untimely Grieve' - Robert Lloyd
5. Act I: Scene I: 'Endless Pleasure' - Norma Burrowes
6. Act I: Scene I: 'Endless Pleasure' - English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner
7. Act II: Scene I: 'Hence, Iris, Hence Away!' - Della Jones
8. Act II: Scene I: 'Come, Zephyrs, Come' - Elisabeth Priday
9. Act II: Scene I: 'Oh Sleep, Why Dost Thou Leave Me?' - Norma Burrowes
10. Act II: Scene I: 'Lay Your Doubts' - Anthony Rolfe-Johnson
11. Act II: Scene I: 'Now Love' - English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner
12. Act II: Scene I: 'Where'er You Walk...' - Anthony Rolfe-Johnson
13. Act II: Scene I: 'But Hark! The Heav'nly Sphere...' - Norma Burrowes
14. Act II: Scene I: 'Prepare Then, Ye Immortal Chr!' - Norma Burrowes
15. Act II: Scene I: 'Bless The Glad Earth' - English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner
16. Act III: Scene 2: 'My Racking Thoughts' - Norma Burrowes
17. Act III: Scene 2: 'If I Persist In Gazing' - Norma Burrowes
18. Act III: Scene 2: 'Thus Let My Thanks Be Pay'd' - Norma Burrowes
19. Act III: Scene 2: 'Come To My Arms' - Anthony Rolfe-Johnson
20. Act III: Scene 2: 'Above Measure Is The Pleasure' - Della Jones
21. Act III: Scene 2: 'Happy, Happy Shall We Be' - English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful recording...with one big flaw.......2003-10-16

Handel's "Semele" is a fascinating work. Handel wasted none of his enormous talents on this piece, considered by some a secular oratorio or a "bawdy" opera. Filled with inventive arias, expressive recitatives and sprightly choruses, it is a worthwhile addition to any Baroque lover's CD collection. Here's the problem...Norma Burrowes in the title role. She has a nice instrument, but her vowels are so horrible that they cause the majority of her singing (especially in the upper register) to be out of tune. Though she is at ease with the demands of the role- punishing coloratura and range- the intonation is a constant bother. Fortunately, the rest of the cast is stellar. Anthony Rolfe Johnson is a treasure...his readings of "Where e'er you walk" and "Come to my arms" are models of stylish and expressive singing. The mezzo roles of Ino and Juno are split between two singers, an unusual casting choice. Both singers rip up their recitatives and arias. The Monteverdi Choir is, as always, pinpoint accurate and dramatically appropriate. John Eliot Gardiner leads the proceedings at a nice, restrained clip. The bottom line is that I would reccomend the Nelson complete recording with the unbeatable Kathleen Battle and a cast of American all-stars over AND buying this highlights disc for the excellent choral singing and Anthony Rolfe Johnson.

Average customer rating:

Ives: Works for Violin & Piano Manufacturer: Endeavour Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Ives, Charles | ( I ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Ives, Charles | Composers | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Violin | Strings | Instruments | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music ASIN: B00094ASZE Release Date: 2005-05-24

Tracks:

1. I. Allegro
2. II. Largo
3. III. Allegro
4. Decoration Day
5. Largo
6. I. Adagio
7. II. Allegro
8. III. Adagio (Cantabile)
9. From 'Night Of Frost In May' (S.309)
10. Weil' Aur Mir ('Eyes So Dark', S.387)
11. Karen (S.285)
12. Feldeinsamkeit ('In Summer Fields', S.250)
13. Rosamunde (S.337)
14. Omens And Oracles (S.317)
15. Berceuse (S.220)

Average customer rating:

Omens Bob Magnuson Manufacturer: Creative Improvised Music Project ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music ASIN: B00004U162 Release Date: 2000-01-01

Tracks:

1. Chant One
2. We Don't
3. Nonau
4. Highrise
5. Fortu Sicksninenine B
6. Wall
7. Gamoud
8. Sink

Average customer rating:

Fields & Fences Manufacturer: Kent Agee ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music ASIN: B000CAD6LS Release Date: 2003-09-23

Tracks:

1. From Now On
2. Love Is a Boat
3. Gingham Dress
4. Faithless Girl
5. Love Will Come Around
6. Omens of the End
7. Pleasant View Lane
8. Lenny
9. Rose Connally
10. The Wild Midwest
11. Lyda Rose
12. Wouldn't You
13. Ophelia

Average customer rating:

Voices of Omens Rwake Manufacturer: 3d ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rock | Styles | Music Death Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Hard Rock & Metal | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B000LP4NG6 Release Date: 2007-03-05

Average customer rating: A BARD FOR OUR TIMES

Omens Jack Hardy Manufacturer: 1-800 Prime CD ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Contemporary Folk | Folk | Styles | Music General | Folk | Styles | Music Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music Contemporary Folk | Live Albums | Folk | Styles | Music General | Live Albums | Folk | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music General | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music Singer Songwriters | Folk | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Coin of the Realm The Passing Bandolier Songs of Jack Hardy, Vol. 1: Of the White Goddess ASIN: B00004SB05 Release Date: 2000-04-18

Tracks:

1. I Ought To Know
2. I Can't Love You
3. Eclipse
4. Sile Na GCioch (Sheila)
5. Siar On NDaingean (West Of Dingle)
6. Memory
7. The Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
8. Willow
9. Arrow
10. Only One Sky
11. Oh Woman
12. In The Building Of The Boat
13. The Boney Bailiff
14. A Change Of Heart

Amazon.com

The most obscure artist to ever receive a 10-CD box set, Jack Hardy's status as a folk mentor and icon derives from his monthly songwriter workshops in New York and his prolific, hyper-literary output. For his first new release since 1997's Celtic-flavored The Passing, Hardy turns his attention to nonchalant, Americana-ready folk rock and a high-brow library full of poetic images. "I ought to know great literature by heart," Hardy sings on the opening track, but his reading comprehension is hardly wanting. Hardy's dense, mysterious conjurings of Irish mythology won't be to every listener's taste, though his love songs, with fragrant lines like "the willow weeps although unheard" and "'round this old house the wind it whines / with a knocking keeping time," are as vivid and intense as any being written today. --Roy Kasten

Customer Reviews:

A BARD FOR OUR TIMES.......2001-05-07

Jack Hardy is a bit of an anachronism, but a most welcome one -- a bard working in the modern world. His art goes back to the day when the traveling minstrel, the raconteur, the troubador, was welcomed with the stories and news he brought of other people and places. Jack's songs are incredibly well-crafted, and, I think, definitely in that tradition. The characters and events they contain are brought alive for the listener through his songwriting skills -- his words, his melodies...and that unmistakable voice. An acquired taste for some, Jack's voice is a little raspy at times -- but it conveys such depths of emotion and insight...and a special reality, one that cuts right to the heart of whatever subject he's on. It's the perfect instrument with which to present these songs.

There are songs on this album dealing with many subjects, from several time periods. The opener, 'I ought to know' is a great example of self-examination. 'I ought to know more than I know,' Hardy sings, about the things that matter, that move and shape our world. Unfortunately, if one looks only at the view presented by the mass media, many things that really matter are shoved aside and forgotten. In 'I can't love you', he speaks of the love that can be lost if we ask too much of it, if we turn away from the beauty of the moment as we search for something that we hope can be eternal -- much is missed in the blink of an eye. Images of magic and mystery -- often found in Hardy's songs -- are present in a love story of a different kind, 'Eclipse'. In this song, as in most of Jack's work, the power of the poetry is compelling and beautiful -- almost frightening the way the words themselves take on a life force of their own.

Next is 'Sile na gCioch (Sheila)', again with images of the travelling people of Ireland, the tinkers, as one of them courts a local girl, attempting to lure her away to a life on the road: 'Sile, a traveller you would be, if this dark and flowered dress you would wear...'. There are images here also of the prejudice, misunderstanding and fear held by the church toward the travellers: '...though the priests turn you away, I could love you well if you would only dare.' 'Siar on nDaingean (West of Dingle)' follows, a beautiful song of a woman leaving Ireland for America, and of all that she leaves behind. The image in this song of her playing her fiddle to bid farewell to her home, to all that she has known, is a poignant one. The next song, fittingly enough, is 'Memory' -- Jack speaks of remembering someone who has gone (a lover perhaps), and at the same time addresses the question of what makes up memory, which parts of it are important and real. There are many alusions to the natural world in this lyric, as in many of his works.

It's difficult for me to pick out favorite songs that Jack has written -- I have so many -- but one of my all-time favorites is 'Only one sky', some of the most purely beautiful, evocative poetry I've ever heard in a song: '...and only one time will I embrace you in this way, and only one time will time unlace this passing day, when all the time we hold within our hands slips on through the cracks of feelings we try and understand...' If we allow love to carry us, instead of trying to mold it to our own preconceptions, then it can become eternal.

His imagery is amazing, his gift of the language, for want of a better word, is breathtaking. These songs are infused with humor as well as pathos -- the entire range of outlook and emotion is alive within them. Jack's songs are crafted as a jeweller would cut a diamond -- all aspects are there, shining before us, and nothing is left to chance.

This album, like the two before it, was recorded 'live' with his band in the loft where he lives in New York City (not live before an audience, as the header suggests). This recording technique has served Jack and his music well -- the recording is well-engineered, with everything full and clear, but the spontaneous feel of a live recording is present, adding a further edge to the performances.

If you've never heard Jack Hardy, you owe it to yourself to let his music into your life. It'll make you smile, it'll entertain you, it'll break your heart and mend it again...and it'll most assuredly make you think.

Average customer rating:

Omens The Nom Manufacturer: Golden Jackass Sounds ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music ASIN: B000CA92ES Release Date: 2005-11-08

Tracks:

1. Gimmee Some Please
2. That Was Our Scene
3. Elegy for Captain Crack
4. Law of the Land
5. Good God Almighty Blues
6. Mama's Doin' Oprah
7. Empty Throne
8. Last of the Dragon Men
9. Zinc Bar Rendezvous
10. Commutation Blues
11. Bible Belt Boogie
12. Later Later

Music Album:

1. Open
2. Paper Flowers [Import]
3. Parlour Games [Import]
4. Passover Songs for Kids (Karaoke)
5. Pentangling: The Collection
6. Pip
7. Plaid
8. Pleasures of the Street [Import]
9. Proto Bohob
10. Ramadan

Music Album