"Being a fan of Jons music for years, I felt the need to step in here and correct what a couple other reviews have said, that this set is a collection of poor quality mp3s...because it's not.
It clearly states on the cd cover that it is a collection of the original Turquoise & Crimson mp3s that have been fully mastered. Which means they took the tracks and MASTERED them to cd quality. The mastering was NOT done from an mp3 source either, and anyone who bought the original mp3 downloads also knows this - as the original mp3s were of pretty bad quality. The tracks on this cd are not of bad quality & if you played the original mp3s side by side with this disc and couldn't hear the difference - you are freakin' DEAF!
Great album, great songs. And like others have said - the tracks that later appeared on Nude are here in different versions. Definatley a must have for any VAST fan."
TheOnlyKingOfKings reviews "Turquoise & Crimson"
Me | OH, USA | 07/07/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Incredible album. VAST is one of the best groups out there, and it's a shame that they're not well known. Their music is beautiful, and this is their best work so far. I own all of their CDs, I have since their first one.
The music is so versatile. There are heavier rock songs on all of their albums, and there are slow melodic songs that reach to the soul of the listener. There are pianos, cellos, violins, guitars, choirs, and many other musical tools in their music. No matter what feeling VAST is going for, Jon Crosby sings the songs to perfection. He has a great voice, and it becomes very personal as you listen to the well-thought lyrics. VAST is one of my favorite bands alongside U2, Coldplay, Disturbed, and Finger Eleven. With this latest release, VAST may have captured the #1 spot on my list. As a long time fan of theirs, even I was impressed by this release. The music is very moving and gorgeous. I don't think I can experss that enough.
During these times of music, there's too much crap out there. I'm tired of the terrible-voiced, 3-chord riffs from everyone. VAST has always beaten the competition, EASILY. I think that a fan of just about any music genre can fall in love with VAST like I did 8 years ago. Once you get started with them, you'll always be craving more from them.
Half of these songs were released on their great album title "Nude." However, EVERY one of those songs has had small changes made to them to make them even better than before (I didn't think that was possible). In essence, you're getting "Nude" reworked, and a new album for the price of one. It's a great deal, and you should go buy it once you finished reading this review. Go buy it, now."
Incredible release from VAST.
Puzzle box | Kuwait | 03/30/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This double-album is deffinetely for VAST fans, you could tell that some of the songs were already released on the Nude album thats becuase these songs on Turquoise and Crimson were originaly demos made by Jon Crosby which was only available as a download on the artist's web site. Jon Crosby has always made some great and unique music that sounds beautiful, the type of music that you could just chill out to its more like industrial goth rock or something like that, this is some very atmospheric music. There are songs like Desert garden and the epic ballad Winter in my heart that just sound incredible then theres the more rockier songs like Thrown away, I woke up in L.A. and Thats my boy these songs have alot more energy than the slower songs. At first I didn't know what to expect from this double-album but then I was not dissapointed although I thought that the first disc was alot better, I have all of the VAST albums and this is yet another great release from this one man band I highly recommend this."
Colorful represtentation of VAST tracks
Zen Station | The Graceful Swans of Never | 12/30/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Okay, I'm glad people got the mp3 thing taken care of: These are CD quality songs that were mastered from mp3's. Also, you can still get both "Turquoise" and "Crimson" albums online to compare if you also buy the record. Beyond that, 2 CD's for under $15 is a bargain, no matter what the case is. These tracks are worth listening to.
"Nude" is one of my top-five favorite albums of all-time and I knew I'd get this if it had a commercial release. They are different versions of the songs than on that album, "Desert Garden" being one of particular note. This one has a better recording quality and is overall better than the "Nude" version. I also like the fully mastered version of "(I Can't Say No) To You," the acoustic guitars really stand out on there. I think "Japanese Fantasy" was much better on "Nude," it's got a stronger chorus than on this album's "All I Found Is You."
But the real treasure of this albums is what's NOT on "Nude": There's two "Turquoise" songs, "Falling from the Sky" and "I Woke Up L.A.," which were pretty good even without the album's inclusion. "Dead Angels" is new even for the ones who heard the mp3's. A great, mature acoustic track with some nice Crosby vocals. Quite a beautiful track. If you like the standard VAST fare, you'll love "That's My Boy," the briefly political track and then the brilliance doesn't even stop on there. "Señorita" has this cool horror-movie like string part that makes it addictive, and it's totally unlike everything I've heard. I just can't get enough of VAST; if it were an inferior artist then I'd give it 5 stars, but I don't want to look too much like an Ivy League professor, so I'm giving four this time. I recommend it to anyone who loves "Nude," and for those who haven't heard it, anyone interested in Jon Crosby's unique style."
Why the MP3's??? I'll tell you
C. Grandell | Tampa, FL | 11/08/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In 2004, when Jon released Nude, he created two discs worth of material. He wanted the fans to download and choose the songs that they wanted to hear on the new cd. He then took the results from the polling and the critiques that fans wrote about the different tracks and turned them into the 2004 release. Some included tracks were changed during the production and some were left alone and rerecorded as they sounded on the demo MP3. The point is, these are all demo's from a very forward thinking artist who wanted to give his fans what they wanted. I'm excited to go out and buy this album because I missed the selection process due to my career and there are apparently songs released on nude that were more true to Jon's particular style in their demo form than in their album form. So if your concerned about buying MP3's on disc, don't worry, it's worth the trip into the mind of Mr. Crosby."