M. Harris | Alexandria, VA United States | 07/08/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is a fun little album consisting of ten versions of Ravel's greatest "hit" -- the fantastic "Bolero." This album covers the waterfront -- from synthesizer to Benny Goodman. My only complaint is that the quality of some of older recordings in particular is rather poor. In fact you need to crank up the volume on two or three cuts, otherwise you won't even realize the song has begun. It would be interesting to apply this concept to any number of the great classical and popular pieces that one can't seem to get enough of -- how about Cole Porter's "Night and Day" for starters?"
Bolero
John Lord | Las Vegas, Nevada, USA | 01/12/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This CD is exactly what I was looking for. Bolero over and over with different performers."
Entertaining collection
Bernard | Detroit, MI USA | 08/31/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I first heard this CD on Sirius radio, and had to have it. The various interpretations of Bolero are fascinating. My favorite is Benny Goodman: his version is only about 3 minutes long, but it's terrific. Great value, both as simply popular music to enjoy and also as an education in how style and arrangement impact a piece of music."
Great Concept, Mediocre Sonic Production-Please Re-Master!
A reader | New Orleans | 11/27/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"First off, I love the box art by Patrick McDonnell ("Mutts"). This disc just begged to be created. We hear 10 different interpretations of this familiar work. The choices are excellent. What is keeping this at 3 stars is the utter lack of craftsmanship about the older transfers. The liner notes are rather defensive about this. "Radical methods to eliminate all surface noise have not been used...". Translation: we didn't know how, and didn't care enough to find out. The transfers from the 78 masters are mediocre at best. If you compare these with the British transfers of the Armstrong 78s from the 20s (not the junk Columbia peddles) you'll hear what I mean. Memo to Soundbyte Productions: Cutter distortion, disc damage, "needle scratch" all could be reduced with some editing using consumer-level software, like CD Spin Doctor.
That aside, this is a fun disc and the price is right. Be sure to remove the thorns from the roses before you take them between your teeth!"