Good enough for big ears!!!!!!!!
belletoujours | USA | 02/20/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Judging this album solely by it cover? Please don't! These 14 tracks (one a bonus) are truly awesome music to your ears! Thus far, this mellow, relaxing music tops my list for 2010!
If you're a Michael Jackson fan as I am, how can you resist taking home with you the little brown `dancing' baby on this album's cover-- dark glasses under his black fedora and a red (?) glove on his left hand? Michael Jackson's ID signatures! Well, I adopted this little guy a few weeks ago, adding him to my "Babies Go" collection. (If you think MJ's baby-cover is cute, see Babies Go Kiss!!!!)
These are not baby tunes, per se, in my opinion. They are, however, slower-paced, and smoothly and mellowly orchestrated. Yes, soothing enough to relax a child, but definitely interesting and animated enough for a parent or adult to listen to. Of course, these tunes are not the originals, yet they are re-created with great listening-appeal. Pretty close to the originals? You bet! Immediately recognizable.
I Just Can't Stop Loving You is to die for... Thriller is indescribable with its haunting back-presence and its xylophones, soft bells, chimes, etc.... Bad, Beat It and Billie Jean are rhythmic and melodic swirls ... Black and White is equally captivatingly orchestrated... Human Nature, You Are Not Alone and Man In the Mirror have always been a few of my favorite slower tunes (here they musically shine even more!)... Heal the World and the bonus track We Are the World are performed with powerful harmony and beauty (These are two songs to be revered and respected for their humanitarian purpose.). Black and White delights `instrumentally' from beginning to end.
My personal favorites on this album are Thriller and Bad... so, so ear-popping in harmony and arrangement!
"Babies Go" issues focus on classic or favorite songs belonging to a specific artist or group, such as the Beatles or Green Day, and re-orchestrate their music, be it aggressive or driving, into a slowed-down and laid-back presentation. There is just enough whirly sounds and `exotic' instrumental touches... xylophones, chimes, bells, flutes, oboes, others... employed to beautifully enhance these instrumental versions of the artist's/group's classic songs to make them unique. Melodic instrumentation seems to take center-stage on these albums. The musicians/artists, Sweet Little Band, sound like real fog-a-mirror professionals... this album reflects a lavishness of time, effort and talent.
A few others included in the Babies Go music series are Babies Go U2, Babies Go Madonna, Babies Go Pearl Jam, Babies Go Bon Jovi and Babies Go Shakira. Aside from Michael Jackson's, two of my other favs are Babies Go Bob Marley and Babies Go Elvis. I was shook-up, but inspired by the mellow-melodies in Elvis' Blue Suede Shoes, Jailhouse Rock, Suspicious Minds, and the Ghetto!
RGS Music in Argentina is the Babies Go label, whose "main motto is to edit all music".
The orchestration is fantastic, the instrumentation phenomenal...the xylophone-like sound center-stages on most, if not all, of these tracks with other "instrumental" accompaniments that are not usually apparent on the originals. Here the melody is the front-runner. I find that these songs catch my ear better with a higher (crisp/treble) range, less of a vibrant bass focus.
I love these rhythmic, still not invading songs. At a slower pace, I love how these dreamy yet sophisticated songs captivate my ear. I can hear the true beauty in the melodies of these appealing and seeming timeless, favorites by Michael Jackson.
Would an exceptional musical talent like Michael Jackson enjoy these pop interpretations of his music? Of course, he would, and he would be proud of this fine tribute coverage by Sweet Little Band for the `Babies Go' line. Michael would likely hope for a follow up, Babies Go Michael Jackson 2.
Become mesmerized in a `surround of dreaminess'... sheer beautiful and professional orchestrations of class and finesse. Great relaxing back-presence for sipping a warming glass of wine or reading a good book on a quiet, rainy day.
On an album such as this one I can truly see Michael Jackson's musical `halo'!"
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1
