Was ist Musik?

I was disappointed, too. I read good things about this album, but it doesn't live up to the buzz. Why?

She has an attractive voice, but this album is over-produced. Younger listeners may not understand this, though. If you listen to the older albums by Astrud Gilberto, Bebel Gilberto, Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz or most any Bossa album from the 60's, or more recently Rosa Passos, you will notice something right off: the sound is lively on those recordings.

Many modern recordings are have a large amount of dynamic compression, i.e. the difference between the loudest and quietest parts of the recording is diminished. This makes the quieter parts louder and the louder parts quieter. Good for listening in a car or with mp3 players, but for enjoyment at home, no. You lose one of the important dimensions of a musical performance, interplay among the performers. Here, the singer, the featured instruments and the band blend together sonicly so that the interplay between them is lost. This recording seems as if it was mixed down and down and down... like a rolling pin has flattened the sound. Also, I hear no pluck on the guitar strings. Anyone ever heard a guitar live and not hear the pluck? Or the hammer strike on a piano? This recording makes my system sound bad!

It's a very "relaxed" sound but it's a predigested sound. It is good bed-time music, though.

Dynamic compression is a technique used by Muzak. Now, it's widely used and it sucks the life out of a recording. Rolling Stone had an article about the detrimental effects of this process. I would like to hear Elaine on a Chesky recording or MA or Telarc. Listeners should go to their sites and hear the samples. They are available on Amazon, too. The performers and the customers deserve better recording than what was done for this cd.