September 2009 Music Reviews
Painting the Sun; We Are One
Painting the Sun
Take off your shoes and enter the gallery… we're showing David Lanz on his Yamaha C7-F11 acoustic grand piano today.
Painting the Sun is a collage with something for every piano lover, whether your taste runs to romance or meditation, nurturing, or pleasant background to help you through the day.
Ten of the eleven tracks on this CD are original compositions; the other is David's own relaxing arrangement of “Turn Turn Turn” (To Everything, There is a Season”). The album explores a panoply of emotional colors, shades and textures.
If sweet melancholy's what you yearn for, you'll particularly enjoy the first three tracks. “Her Solitude” then draws you into the luxurious, measured tempo of regal ceremony, while “First Snow”—my personal favorite on this CD—brings an airy dance complete with roses to reach for as you float by.
You're well into the scene of the next track before it dawns on you that this is Lanz's variation on the ‘60s Byrds' hit, “Turn, Turn, Turn.” From there we move to an almost churchy “Hymn,” followed by a moment of relaxation and the glint of moonlight on the waves of “Evening Song.”
“Midnight Reverie” offers a stroke of brightness before “Daybreak Flower” calls you back to a darker intensity. And finally, the gentle melody and measured beat of “Sleeping Dove” completes a show complex enough to make you yearn to experience it again.
David Lanz has earned his place in the annals of piano genius. Something of a departure from his usual broader musical landscape style, Painting the Sun serves up a palette of shorter works rich enough to suit a variety of musical tastes while offending none.
—Chiwah
We Are One
A World Anthem
We Are One! This amazing world-class album brings that message home in a big way. Kevin Reid, aka Kevin & The Sacred Fire, spent nearly two years and his personal fortune traveling from one coast to the other ninety times to seek out and record twenty-nine singers, thirty-two musicians, a ninety-five person World Community Choir, a forty-one person youth choir, and twenty-two extraordinary ordinary people from around the world to sing those words in their own languages—the most extensive single-song production of our time. I feel challenged to find words to express my awe when it comes to the magnitude of this undertaking.
The result? I've already used the word “amazing.” We Are One has to be one of the most beautiful, heart stirring combinations of world instrumental, vocals and classical piano ever put together. Remember We Are the Children ? from the eighties Olympics? The title song, woven in from beginning to end, is reminiscent of that and of the same superior quality.
What can I say to give you some idea about the man who has given so much to create this music? Filled to the brim with the energy of love and joy, he radiates a glow that reaches out and envelops you. In the words of James Twyman: “The dedication Kevin Reid showed in producing this amazing song astounds and inspires me. I believe it has the power to touch millions of people and shift the heart of our fragile world.”
He's right. We Are One is far more than music. As a world anthem, it has the capacity to touch the hearts of all mankind. In silence, behind the scenes, this anthem cries out for a sponsor. Who will carry the torch to the next level? Who will find it in their heart to take on the challenge of creating the publicity this album deserves?
Kevin Reid lives in Sedona, Arizona. Light, Love & Power Records is a division LLP Global Enterprises, Inc., a nonprofit organization working “for the benefit of all” by producing music, events, campaigns and initiatives that promote unity and inspire positive cultural expression and compassion locally and globally.
Don't let this one pass you by.
—Chiwah
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