Search - Various Artists, Trains in the Night :: Trains in the Night: Sounds of the Steam Age

A Must for Train Enthusiasts

06/14/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Trains in the Night is a top notch collection of train recordings from all over Great Britian. A gift sure to excite even the novice train lover."

Peter Handford at his best

Mr. John Evans | Pasadena, USA | 12/24/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Peter Handford was a genius in a music studio. Happily he spent his spare time by the lineside in the 1950s and 1960s with what was then very sophisticated portable equipment. His mission? To record the sounds of the end of steam traction on Great Britain's railways.



Of all Handford's vinyl albums, Trains in the Night was probably the best. The opening recording of a 'Castle' class is amazing - you can almost see the engine as it heads away to London. But the piece de resistance is the closing track of a K3 on a freezing, snowy night. Every time I play it I actually feel cold (even in California!). The way the tracks were sequenced and the quality of the recording made Trains in the Night something very special.



So what of this CD? Well, it simply won't do. ASV have ruined a fine work by omitting some of the best items and throwing in a completely unnecessary overseas recording. This really jars - a bit like buying a Beach Boys album and having Meatloaf doing a song in the middle. So you are basically getting just some of the original, but you'd be better to pick up a used vinyl copy in the UK and have it transferred to DVD. Five stars for the original album, but two for this weak remake."