jimac51 | Allentown, Pa United States | 11/01/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Who am I to detract from other five star reviews?I stumbled upon this album over 20 years ago on vinyl via a public library. What a hidden treasure. It must had found its audience since Warner Bros. released this on CD fairly early and kept it in print way beyond what one would have guessed. I'm not a download fan,but at least "Gate of Dreams" is still available. It's not jazz,not classical,not new age-third stream for the masses?Maybe.It's smooth without the $mooth. The strings and rhythm section dance together brilliantly. Beyond the guest stars,drummer John Guerin and percussionist Larry Bunker deserve a bow for adding the right touch to every track they are involved in. Yeah,a bit dated with Sample's electric piano and Benson ,Brecker and Sanborn doing their stuff 30 years ago,but the strings are ageless. I find this to be a great album for exercise walking with headphones and yet playing this full blast in the dark is also an emotional half hour of pure musical enjoyment."
Gate of dreams
David L. Turnbull | DUBLIN IRELAND | 03/19/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I had heard this album many years ago i liked it then and i still like the compostion."
Love this CD!
Michael Killen | Colorado | 04/14/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Fantastic, seductive, moving, brilliant music. Ogerman could have made more albums like this for my taste. Thank God this one is on CD!"
Overlooked Masterpiece!
SkiBum | 08/19/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was one weird high school dude in the 70's. While all of my friends were wearing out their Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" album (which I enjoyed too, just not as much as they did), I was expanding my musical horizons with artists like Grover Washington, George Benson, and Noel Pointer, among others. It was the lush orchestral landscapes of George Benson's "Breezin' " that opened my eyes to Claus Ogerman. I fell in love with this album and wore out two vinyl copies over the years. I bought the CD when it was released in 1990. It never strays far from my CD player, and was the first CD I digitized to lossless .flac for my digital music server. Although I heard side two of the album on a local jazz station back in 1977 and I bought it for that alone, "side one" has always been my favorite ("Time Passed Autumn Suite" through "Air Antique"). The entire album is a masterful fusion of verdant orchestra and jazz, featuring the finest and most celebrated fusion jazz players of the day. And it still stands well today. In fact in today's blighted, myopic music business, a masterpiece of this sort would never be green-lighted. "Gate of Dreams" stands the test of time as Claus Ogerman's greatest work.
I would love to see "Gate Of Dreams" re-released, but re-mastered prior to doing so. Although the CD is sonically excellent, there is noticeable tape hiss in the 1990 CD release."