Customer Rating: 
Summary: This CD was perfect
Comment: I bought this for a children's function we had at our church to be used as carnival background music. It was PERFECT and we will definitely use it again for other functions.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Old Timey Circus Band For Rael
Comment: Sounds like a second rate circus band. Not very impressive but useful if the repertoire appeals to the buyer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Rough and Raw with Lots of Energy
Comment: This sounds authentic. These guys never let ragged timing or wrong notes get in the way of the excitement and energy they are trying to convey. Don't let their lack of polish or correctness deter you. This is the real circus experience.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Lots in common with vacuum cleaners . . .
Comment: Oh, it's authentic all right - an authentic pick-up band (hopefully) sight-reading isolated parts from marching band arrangements. Poor voicings, arrangements and technically sloppy - at best! I believe this is the worst recording I have ever heard of a more-or-less professional recording group. Buy it if you must, in quantity even, and make a beeline for the nearest skeet range so this recording will not have been made in vain. I do believe I smell horses . . .
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent recording for the money!
Comment: I agree with the previous reviewer that this recording is the real thing, as opposed to many other "circus music" compilations. As the liner notes state, "You don't have strings or saxophones in a circus band". An interesting comparison would be Circus Spectacular, by Matthew Phillips and his Circus Band, which leans very heavily toward woodwinds, especially saxophones, as opposed to brass. However, this seems to work much better for the 3/4 or so of the marches on that CD which were not written for the circus. This album, however, gives you that authentic circus feel - sawdust, clowns, high wire, etc., and every piece is something that would be very much at home in the Big Top. Some things that could have been better include more liner notes with information about circus history, the compsers and their music. One of the composers that was mentioned should have been Charlie Duble (not Dougal). Also, the composers of each included number were not mentioned. For those interested, they are: The Caravan Club, Georgia Girl, Broadway One Step, Abdullah, The Cantonians March - Karl L. King; Entry of the Gladiators - Julius Fucik; Slim Trombone - Henry Fillmore; Amparito Roca - Jaime Texidor; Trombone Blues, They're Off - Fred Jewell; Crimson Flush - Russell Alexander; Espana - Waldteufel; The Teddy Bears Picnic - John Bratton; Jungle Queen - Barnard; Bombasto - O.R. Farrar; Billboard March - John N. Klohr. All in all, though, this is a superior circus album, highly recommended for anyone who collects circus or march music, or even who doesn't , for that matter!
|
