Search - Enoch Light and the Light Brigade, Enoch Light & Light Brigade :: Big Band Fever

Tantalizing, but...

T. Stibal | Houston TX USA | 10/17/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"We encountered this recording at a garage sale, and it was responsible for the reawakening of my interest in the recordings of Ol' Enoch. When it was first fired up in the CD player, it brought back fond memories of the old Enoch Light recordings that so appealed to my father back in the 1950's and '60's.



The arrangements are the old "standards", and the musicianship is first class throughout. (Light made it a point to pick up as many of the original sidemen as possible for his recordings of the big band number, and it truly shows with "just so" solo turns.)



But...



Like the first reviewer, I had a big downturn in my enthusiasm. Where to start? Well, how about Let's Dance, an excerpt that cuts off just as the clarinet is entering the big solo turn in the center of the piece? Then, there's Sing, Sing, Sing Part II, where the clarinet solo doesn't even make the cut. (They opted for the trumpet turn instead.) And on and on and on...what you get is wonderfully done, but what's missing is a big part of the problem with the recording overall.



I still "like" the recording, hence the high mark overall. But, it's a big letdown when Enoch and the boys are rolling along through a standard, only to cut it all off before the shout course. What it has done for me is to start my search for the ever so rare CDs that make up the source material for these excerpts.



Enoch Light may have made his name recording and playing the works of others. But, the level of performance that he established in this recording, as well as in the original, source materials for this CD, ensure that his name will live on."

Don't be fooled by an angry reviewer!

Anne Kathleen | In front of my Mac, United States | 09/26/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This CD plays for almost 40 minutes. But acording to the previous reviewer, the tracks are only "10-second" highlights. If that was the truth, the CD would be over in 8 minutes!



The TRUTH is, the tracks are indeed song highlights, but each track lasts about 45 seconds, and the tracks blend from one into the next (i.e., they fade out instead of ending abruptly).



This style of music isn't my personal taste, so based on the previous review, I played the CD for a friend of mine who likes the musical genre, and I asked him what was so wrong with it.



His comments regarding the CD were that for the first 3-4 tracks, he found it a little unnerving when the songs would fade out in the middle into the next song, but after he got used to that, he actually enjoyed the CD. He said that he still would have preferred to hear the entire songs (but that would have made it a 2-CD set, lasting almost 2 hours), but the highlights are also pleasant to listen to, and he gave it a 4 out of 5 star rating.



He also said this would make a good CD to introduce the younger generation to big band and swing style music since the 48 tracks cover such a broad spectrum of this genre (some of the tracks are fast-paced, some slow; some tracks are danceable, some are not; etc.)"

Don't be fooled. This is a highlights CD only!!

David Abraham | Utica, NY USA | 01/23/2004

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Don't be fooled. This is just a collection of 10-second highlights from 48 selections of Enoch Light and the Light Brigade. Why anyone would produce a CD like this is beyond me. I can't see anyone purchasing such a CD. I am returning it immediately."