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 Mel Bush returns once more to produce perhaps the most dance-oriented offering from the international techno/dance/classical phenomenon known as Bond. Unlike "Born," seemingly all the tracks on this CD clock in at less than five minutes (which I imagine will gain more commercial exposure for the girls' music). The ladies' take on 70s standard "Fly Robin Fly" receives a 21st-century overhaul, while Pachelbel's "Lullaby" nearly brought tears to my eyes in its elegance and execution (as did my favorite Bond piece, "Hymn," from the "Born" CD). The production retains the non-sellout "trendiness" of "Shine," while remaining true to the sheer awesomeness of "Born."Overall, the relaxing melodic music of Bond puts my heart at ease in a world that seems to have forgotten these better, simpler things...
All in all, it comes down to this...If you are a first timer, and have never really heard of Bond and their work, I would highly suggest you purchase the first 2 albums. If you are a Bond fan, like myself, you will purchase this album no matter what, just to add to your collection and to support them. This is my favorite group and I even got tixs to their concert, I was really looking forward to it, but now that I've heard what's going to be played, Im less excited. I hope they play some of their old songs. Instead of being wowed by Bond's skills, I'll just pretend Im at a rave or club.
All in all, it comes down to this...If you are a first timer, and have never really heard of Bond and their work, I would highly suggest you purchase the first 2 albums. If you are a Bond fan, like myself, you will purchase this album no matter what, just to add to your collection and to support them. This is my favorite group and I even got tixs to their concert, I was really looking forward to it, but now that I've heard what's going to be played, Im less excited. I hope they play some of their old songs. Instead of being wowed by Bond's skills, I'll just pretend Im at a rave or club. |
So the day finally came when classified was released. I even special ordered my copy and went to pick it up after work, only to be totally disappointed at the quality of the album. (...) I can see why... I dont know if they lost a certain composer or what...but the album is really lacking quality. The only track that is worth listening to is Explosive and not the remixed version. Normally, it takes me forever to listen to the entire album because each song is so good that I just keep playing it over and over again until I move onto the next, but when I popped this cd in, I listened to Explosive then skipped through the entire album...my immediate thoughts were "this is utter crap". Every track is filled with machine maniuplated sounds...special effects...where are the strings? You barely even distinguish if you are listening to Bond or some Dj machine...I felt like this album was made for Justin Timberlake or Britney Spears to dance to...they lost the special quality they had on the first two albums...the ability to mix real classical music with a twist...this album is seriously just dancing music, club/rave style...on Born they had a couple of special effect songs such as Victory, but you can still hear the strings...and the rest of the album was amazing..especially *Duel and Kismet...Gay Yee's cello playing was magnifique and Korobushko was just brilliant. If you watch the concert at Royal Albert Hall, you get chills down your spine when they play that one. On the second album Shine, (my favorite album by far), the track, Shine itself was awesome, especially the part in the middle where you feel like your spirits are lifted off the ground with their violin playing, and other favorites Strange Paradise and my favorite *Big Love Adagio...you really feel the strings being played....Gypsy Rhapsody and Libertango are also very good and shows off the skills of the artists...and of course you have your filler with special effects Bond on Bond...but on Classified...every track is pretty much a filler...a remade song..such as Lullaby..I love Canon...but what totally ruined it was the special rain dropping effect they added...and I dont even want to talk about Samba or Fly Robin Fly...just horrible, its as if this these tracks were composed for the dance dance revolution video games...you know those japanese dancing games you see at the arcades? yea that one..DDR...comes out with those fast paced crazy ass music for people to do crazy moves to... Scorchio is decent..because you can actually hear the instruments being played. Im really disappointed with this album, I felt as if I purchased a remix album. I see it like this, when you cook a dish, you want a high quality outcome, so all you need is 3-4 really good ingredients to make a really good dish. This cd however, was filled with preservatives, artificials, and unnatural flavorings. Bond, please go back to your roots. Even the cover inside was cheap, the pictures werent as good as the first 2 albums and the Thank-you's were lumped into one. It made it seem as if they really crunched out this cd within a month.
Let me just say that I am not a fan of classical music. I am, on the other hand, a huge dance music fan. So when I discovered Bond, I thought it was a great way for me to listen to classical music. Or not. Anyway, their third album, not counting Remixed, really takes off. The first song, EXPLOSIVE really stands out as their first real rock song, while SAMBA takes a hit at well, samba. They then turn to happy-go-lucky pop with FLY ROBIN FLY and work their way down the album with a great mix of dance, latin, pop and rock. One of the later songs that really stands out is HIGHLY STRUNG, with it's hard, thumping beat mixed with one of those songs from a whle bunch of different commercials and stuff, but your never really sure where you heard it. Anyway, if you're a Bond fan, buy this album. If not, start off with SHINE, their second album, and see if you like them or not.
