:
| "Although marketed as the first solo album from Yoko Kanno, Song to Fly is actually comprised of 5 original songs, a cover of a song from the anime series Please Save My Earth, and the 5 tracks Kanno composed for Systemsoft's Windows 95 game Earthwinds, which advertised itself in the venerable and frankly totally played out "Sky Relaxation" genre. So even though I'm a bit shaky on what "Sky Relaxation" means, I'm going to find some way to plough ahead with this review, because in addition to including what I feel pretty confident in declaring as the best Sky Relaxation soundtrack ever composed in history, the CD also happens to be just generally brilliant and houses some of Kanno's most exceptional and uncommon work. I don't care how relaxing the sky in this game is; giving it music like this is sort of like having Thomas Pynchon write an episode of Dawson's Creek. The pieces from Earthwinds aren't specified (though I do know Atomic Bird and Reunion are two of the five), but it doesn't even matter. You can't make any grouping of five tracks here that's less than thrilling, and despite the scattered provenance of the music, the album works beautifully as a whole. "Song to Fly" isn't just a pretty name, but a statement of Kanno's intended concept for the album: music to evoke the sensation of flight. It's also indicative of her exploration of the capacity of the human voice, as ten of the eleven tracks contain vocals in some form, be it pop, choral, or operatic." - Ongakusei/Chudah's Corner |
---
artist: Yoko Kanno
title: Song To Fly
type: album
label: Victor Entertainment
release date: 1998
length: 47:17
genre: world/orchestral/soundtrack/pop
country: Japan
language: English
format: mp3
bitrate: 320kbps
codec: lame 3.93
credits:
Yoko Kanno - keyboards, piano
Reichi Shimizu - drums
Hitoshi Watanabe - bass
Zev Katz - bass
Tsuneo Imahori - guitar
Hajime Mizoguchi - cello
Steve Wilson - soprano sax
Donna Cumberbatch - vocals (track 2)
Franco Sansalone - vocals (track 3)
Gabriela Robin - vocals (track 4)
Krzysztof Ciupinsky - vocals (track 5)
Steve Conte - vocals (track 6)
Jadwiga Rappé - vocals (track 11)
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Jerzy Swoboda
The Dunn Pearson Orchestra conducted by Yoko Kanno
Cosmic Voices from Bulgaria conducted by Vania Moneva
All music written by Yoko Kanno.
Lyrics by Gabriela Robin (tracks 1, 3-5), Tim Jensen (tracks 2, 6).
tracklist:
1. Atomic Bird
2. Reunion
3. Next Time
4. ABC Mouse Parade
5. This EDEN
6. Nowhere And Everywhere
7. The Man In The Desert
8. Artisan
9. The Ship
10. Hallelujah
11. Lydia