Glass Stories

Track Listings

 
1. Glass Stories
2. Ruidoso Sunrise
3. Coffee Drinker's Lullaby
4. Rose's Lament
5. Strawberry Fields Forever
6. Lord of the Dance
7. Not in Kansas Anymore
8. Bonny Portmore
9. Loch Lomond
10. Ashokan Farewell
11. Van is Still the Man
12. Craigielee (Waltzing Matilda)
13. The Shakes
14. The Parting Glass

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist
Donal Hinely learned the obsolete art of glass playing --which dates back to the days of Mozart-- from his older brother Terry Hinely, a self taught glass player. Together in 1988 they formed Glasnots, a group which played traditional Irish and original music and featured Terry on the glasses and Donal on guitar and vocals. In 1994, Donal moved to Nashville to pursue his career as a singer/songwriter but continued to record and perform with Glasnots. In the spring of 1997, Terry Hinely was killed in a car accident. The following year, Donal picked up the instrument that his brother had pioneered and today carries on the family tradition, playing an eclectic repertoire of traditional tunes from the British Isles, classical music, and original compositions for thousands of people each year at festivals, street fairs, and special events. Hinely has also earned recognition for his stirring songs and honest performances as a singer/songwriter Nashville. His 2003 release We Built a Fire was on several top ten Americana lists and was praised by both mainstream and independent press.

Product Description:
Infused by the unique sound of the glass harmonica, Glass Stories (2004) presents a hypnotic mixture of traditional and original music accompanied by cello and guitar. Glass Stories is Texas singer/songwriter Donal Hinely's third CD with Nashville producer and cellist David Henry who has worked with a wide range of artists including Cowboy Junkies, Josh Rouse, Vienna Teng, and Guster. The music Hinely coaxes from his home-made instrument--often called the glass harmonica--is lilting and ethereal. The haunting tones are produced by rubbing wet fingers across the rims of water-tuned wine glasses and brandy snifters and bring to mind the sound of a violin, a flute, an organ, or even at times a steel drum. On this offering, the glasses and cello blend to breathe new life to such classics as "Loch Lomond", "Ashokan Farewell", "Lord of the Dance", "The Parting Glass, " and the Beatles favorite "Strawberry Fields Forever." There are also a good number of original pieces including the standout title track and the Henry penned "Coffee Drinker's Lullaby." The marriage of the glasses with Henry's stellar cello seems a natural one with each instrument occupying its own harmonic range yet complimenting each other perfectly. The overall mood is quiet and reflective, though Hinely's "The Shakes" and "Not in Kansas Anymore" and Henry's aforementioned "Lullaby" are playful without breaking the spell.

Glass Stories,Donal Hinely,Scuffletown Records,A hypnotic mixture of traditional and original instrumentals infused by the unique sound of the glass harmonica accompanied by cello and guitar.,Folk,Miscellaneous,Neo-Traditional Folk
Glass Stories
Average customer rating: 0 out of 5 stars
  • EERILY MAGICAL
Glass Stories
Donal Hinely
Manufacturer: Scuffletown Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

GeneralGeneral | Folk | Styles | Music
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  1. Ghost Fiddle Suite

ASIN: B0007XAR5I
Release Date: 2004-10-01

Tracks:

  1. Glass Stories
  2. Ruidoso Sunrise
  3. Coffee Drinker's Lullaby
  4. Rose's Lament
  5. Strawberry Fields Forever
  6. Lord of the Dance
  7. Not in Kansas Anymore
  8. Bonny Portmore
  9. Loch Lomond
  10. Ashokan Farewell
  11. Van is Still the Man
  12. Craigielee (Waltzing Matilda)
  13. The Shakes
  14. The Parting Glass

Product Description

Infused by the unique sound of the glass harmonica, Glass Stories (2004) presents a hypnotic mixture of traditional and original music accompanied by cello and guitar. Glass Stories is Texas singer/songwriter Donal Hinely's third CD with Nashville producer and cellist David Henry who has worked with a wide range of artists including Cowboy Junkies, Josh Rouse, Vienna Teng, and Guster. The music Hinely coaxes from his home-made instrument--often called the glass harmonica--is lilting and ethereal. The haunting tones are produced by rubbing wet fingers across the rims of water-tuned wine glasses and brandy snifters and bring to mind the sound of a violin, a flute, an organ, or even at times a steel drum. On this offering, the glasses and cello blend to breathe new life to such classics as "Loch Lomond", "Ashokan Farewell", "Lord of the Dance", "The Parting Glass, " and the Beatles favorite "Strawberry Fields Forever." There are also a good number of original pieces including the standout title track and the Henry penned "Coffee Drinker's Lullaby." The marriage of the glasses with Henry's stellar cello seems a natural one with each instrument occupying its own harmonic range yet complimenting each other perfectly. The overall mood is quiet and reflective, though Hinely's "The Shakes" and "Not in Kansas Anymore" and Henry's aforementioned "Lullaby" are playful without breaking the spell.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars EERILY MAGICAL.......2005-12-18

Every year my daughter and I see Donal playing his amazing glass harmonica at the Ohio Renaissance Festival and every year we are just transfixed by his hypnotic talents. Plus, he is about the nicest person you would ever want to meet and happily recognizes us every time we're there.

When he asks for requests, most people plead for Stairway to Heaven or (heaven forbid) Freebird, but I always request an original. To my joy, the original he always plays is "Ruidoso Sunrise" which is included on this CD. The song has a melancholy feel, but its warmth is anything but sad.

His rendition of "Strawberry Fields Forever" would make Mr. Lennon smile. The ending song, "The Parting Glass" is a version of the beautiful song that the RenFest cast sings at the conclusion of the day and is a perfect ending for this incredible collection of magic.
Stained Glass Stories
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • A collector's item, a hidden gem...but a masterpiece?
  • Totally essential American prog rock
Stained Glass Stories
Cathedral
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

GeneralGeneral | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0002547E8
Release Date: 2004-01-20

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars A collector's item, a hidden gem...but a masterpiece?.......2007-05-17

(This is a review of the Syn-Phonic label release, not some 2004 re-issue that is listed on this page.)

This sole release from the U.S. prog band Cathedral got swallowed up in the sea of disinterest that started brewing against prog in general in the late 1970's. Recorded in 1978, and re-released on the Syn-Phonic label around 1990, this hard-to-find cd has frequently been mentioned in the same breath as cd's from other similarly obscure American bands such as Yezda Urfa, Mirthrandir, Hands, and I might add Arabesque. This 45-minute gem is comprised of 5 songs in the 6-12 minute range, mostly driven along by aggressive Chris Squire-like bass lines, and complex polyrhythmic drums and percussion. The music is frequently in the Yes "Relayer" style, with great Howe-like guitar lines, and decent keyboards that focus more on mellotron and string synths than virtuoso soloing. You'll also hear some Gentle Giant and Genesis influences (but you'll also hear here what Anglagard must have been spending a lot of THEIR time listening to before they recorded their early 1990's albums!).

I'm delighted that I was able to hook up with a copy of this cd a few years back, but it does not come without its share of shortcomings. The vocals are the weakest feature of the group, though I find the singer tolerable (and almost pleasant) when he sings within his range; in a few spots he sounds as if he's straining, and the dissonance of the vocal line can make the listening that much more uneasy in those places. Not a big problem, and certainly not atypical of some of the other groups mentioned above. Not surprisingly though, most reviewers (including myself) tend to enjoy the all-instrumental 7-minute "Gong" more than the other songs here. Also, I have to say that the production is not the greatest. This was probably not recorded in a top-notch studio; the overall sound contains some occasional "murkiness", and suffers from a lack of dynamics and crispness. This is ripe for a nice re-master re-issue.

Still, I believe this is an important - if not essential - album for its influence on U.S. (and Swedish!) prog, and I think it's a worthy endeavor for us prog lovers to recall and honor some of these obscure bands that had great musicians with the guts to attempt complex prog in a world that was quickly sinking into disco and punk. Get this if you can find it.

I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 8.4/10; Performance = 8/10; Production = 7/10; CD length = 8/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 8.1 ("3-1/2 stars")

5 out of 5 stars Totally essential American prog rock.......2005-11-29

Here's a completely obscure prog rock band whose one and only album really deserves to be in your collection. This band, apparently from New York, released their one and only album in 1978 on the Delta label. Original LPs don't exactly grow on trees, and if you're to see this on LP, you're much more likely to see the 1989 reissue on Syn-Phonic with totally different artwork. Luckily it also was made available as a CD reissue for those who don't have a turntable or not willing to pay the big money for an original LP copy.

The group consisted of guitarist Rudy Perrone, vocalist Paul Seal, drummer Mercury Caronia IV, bassist Fred Callan, and keyboardist Tom Duncourt. If you're familiar with Anglagard and their 1992 album Hybris, you might hear some familiarities in the style of Cathedral. Anglagard didn't hide the fact that Stained Glass Stories had a big impact on that band. Of course the big thing missing on Stained Glass Stories is the Nordic influences, of course, since they were American, rather than Swedish. Cathedral went full-on British-style prog. Doncourt really laid it on thick with Mellotron, it's completely all over this album, he also played Hammond organ and electric piano. The most dominant tron sound here is the choir. Guitarist Rudy Perrone alternated between more acoustic styles and electric styles, not unlike Steve Hackett, while Fred Callan really laid it on thick with the Rickenbacker bass. There's also plenty of Moog Taurus bass pedals used throughout the album. The album starts off with "Introspect", which demonstrated that this band, like Anglagard some decade and a half later, would play one thing and go on to the next, going through many different changes, alternating between quiet and loud passages, going for the ensemble playing, rather than each band member trying to out-solo each other (Cathedral preferred each band member play together to avoid the spotlight, something Anglagard later did). While Anglagard tended to only occasionally used vocals (and it was in their native Swedish), Paul Seal tended to sing a lot more, in a rather dramatic style (I noticed a lot of these American proggers tended to have rather dramatic vocalists, check out Fireballet's Jim Cuomo, for example). "Gong" was the album's only instrumental cut, once again showing the high quality of the album. "The Crossing" has an almost Gentle Giant-like feel to it. "Days and Changes" shows that the band hadn't let up for anything. "The Crossing" is the only cut on the album where perhaps it dragged on a bit, but still not bad.

Cathedral's Stained Glass Stories is truly not only one of the greatest prog rock albums ever released in 1978, but one of the greats of prog rock, period. It's hard to believe anyone pulled off such a great album in an era where punk rock, disco and AOR were king, where the major prog rock acts like Yes, ELP and Genesis were starting to release what many regard were their worst albums in their careers (Tormato, Love Beach, ...And Then There Were Three...), not to mention Gentle Giant releasing Giant For a Day, again another album regarded as a career low-point. Also, it's not too surprising that Stained Glass Stories should be Cathedral's only album. There was no way they could top that album, for one thing, and the decline of prog was the reason why this great band had to throw in the towel. But Rudy Perrone did release a far more obscure solo album in 1981 called Oceans of Art, but few had heard that one (me included), but aside from that, little has been heard of the band since.

Any prog rock fan should own a copy of Stained Glass Stories.
Ibert: Complete Piano Music
Average customer rating: 1 out of 5 stars
  • IBERT.... UNINSPIRED
Ibert: Complete Piano Music
Hae-Won Chang
Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ibert, JacquesIbert, Jacques | ( I ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B00004SSJC
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Tracks:

  1. Scherzetto
  2. Piece Romantique
  3. Toccata Sur Le Nom D'Albert Roussel
  4. L'espiegle Au Village De Lilliput
  5. Francaise: 'Guitarre' Pour Le Piano
  6. Le Vent Dans Les Ruines
  7. Prelude
  8. Rondo
  9. Le Gai Vigneron
  10. Berceuse Aux Etoiles
  11. Le Cavalier Sans-Souci
  12. Parade
  13. La Promenade En Traineau
  14. Romance
  15. Quadrille
  16. Serenade Sur L'eau
  17. La Machine A Coudre
  18. L'Adieu
  19. Les Crocus
  20. Premier Bal
  21. Danse Du Cocher
  22. La Meneuse De Tortues D'or
  23. Le Petit Ane Blanc
  24. Le Vieux Mendiant
  25. A Giddy Girl
  26. Dans La Maison Triste
  27. Le Palais Abandonne
  28. Bajo La Mesa
  29. La Cage De Cristal
  30. La Marchande D'eau Fraiche
  31. Le Cortege De Balkis
  32. Les Bouquetieres
  33. Les Creoles
  34. Les Mignardes
  35. Les Bergeres
  36. Les Bavardes

Customer Reviews:

1 out of 5 stars IBERT.... UNINSPIRED.......2001-08-06

The word "uninspired" is used diplomatically here; it's far worse. No matter how hard pianist Hae-Wong Chang tries, there is no way she can breathe life into these dull works. It's not her fault. All the sensuous flavor, the piquant coloring, the rich and distinctive atmosphere of Ibert's orchestral music remains conspicuously absent in his piano music. Now, considering that Ibert (1890-1962) had been a pupil of Faure, the lack of contrast, depth, ingenuity, melody and invention seems profoundly mysterious. Frankly, these "works" border on the inane. It just seems incomprehensible to me.

And, it's a long CD overflowing with pieces that titillate the eye, but not the ear: compositions with endearing names like Little Suite In Fifteen Pictures (with cute titles that lure you in, like, "Lullaby Under the Stars," "Sleigh Ride," "Romance," "Serenade on the Water" and "L'Adieu") or Stories For Piano ("A Giddy Girl," "In the Sad House," "Under the Table," etc.) and Encounters (Ballet Suite for Piano). Yet, all are sadly lacking in any kind of musical charm or content that might even hold your interest for five minutes. These are not the genre pictures of MacDowell's Woodland Sketches, Grieg's Lyric Pieces, Schumann's Kinderscenen or Tchaikovsky's Album For The Young.

It's all so mundane, unfortunately, that you'd have to have the patience of Job to wade through the homogeneity here.... or be unwillingly duct-taped to your couch.

Massively disappointing music featuring an excellent pianist, excellent sound and a phenomenal playing time. But to what end? Well, I suppose, giving the devil his due, it was enterprising of Naxos to allow us the opportunity to "hear" these Ibert works, regardless of their merit or lack thereof. And I suppose, as well, that this matters equally.

[Running time: 68:12]
Down by the Drowning Creek
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Down by the Drowning Creek
    Christian Lopez
    Manufacturer: Fiddlebone Records
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    GeneralGeneral | Folk | Styles | Music
    ASIN: B000CAGXOK
    Release Date: 2005-01-25

    Tracks:

    1. Miller's Daughter
    2. Patrick Delaney
    3. Bounty Jumper
    4. Under the Mountain
    5. Julia Bulette
    6. One Fine Spring Day
    7. Little Red Cap
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    9. Cold Frosty Morning
    10. Vesey's Hotel
    Short Stories/Stained Glass
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Short Stories/Stained Glass
      Steve Gibbons
      Manufacturer: Road Goes on Forever
      ProductGroup: Music
      Binding: Audio CD

      GeneralGeneral | Folk | Styles | Music
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      ASIN: B00005RFH4
      Release Date: 2001-11-19

      Tracks:

      1. Leader Of The Band
      2. Now Youre Leaving
      3. The Last Farewell
      4. One Of These Days
      5. Alright Now
      6. Youve Gotta Pay
      7. Bye By Buffalo
      8. Brown Girl
      9. Until She Comes Home
      10. Dont Wanna Let You Down
      11. Trouble
      12. Lamb To The Slaughter (Bonus Track)
      13. Im Going Home (Bonus Track)
      14. Tired Clock (Bonus Track)
      15. Take It Easy
      16. Youre A Big Girl Now
      17. The Last Farewell
      18. Oh What A Thrill
      19. Grace
      20. Looking Glass In The Rain
      21. One Day
      22. Looking For The Heart Of Saturday Night
      23. New Leather Shoes
      24. Stolen Hearts
      25. Hey Buddy
      26. Man In The Long Black Coat
      27. Immaculate Conception
      28. Where Was I Last Night (Bonus Track)
      29. Smoky Joes (Bonus Track)

      Album Description

      2 original albums by Birmingham rocker, reissued with 5 bonus tracks 'Lamb To The Slaughter', 'I'm Going Home', 'Tired Clock', 'Where Was I Last Night' & 'Smoky Joe's. Musicians include Albert lee & Jerry Donahue. 2001.

      Album Details

      These Albums were Released 25 Years Apart from Each Other and this Release Now Makes them Available for the First Time in Wide Distribution.

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