2008 Woodie Awards
Humpbacks Sing the Blues
John McMillin
Issue date: 4/3/07 Section: B Side
What I'm about to say, I say without reservation: I am a whale song expert, and this CD got me.
It really got me.
Upon the first listen of this disc, I was struck by the whales' enchanting siren song. I haven't stopped playing it, to be perfectly honest.
There are naysayers who have hinted that I might have an "unhealthy" obsession with this record. Sure, my girlfriend left me last week, but so what? She didn't understand the angelic call of cetaceans. "Creepy," she called this LP; "self-destructive" she dubbed my affinity for these marine mammals. But it's no skin off my humpback.
I have the whales to keep me company now. In only them do I confide.
There are many noteworthy appearances on this album, including a guest spot from Anchor, whom you'll probably remember from Living Music's groundbreaking "Songs of the Humpback Whale," but by far the most powerful is Hoodwink, the Pavarotti of the deep.
Hoodwink's voice reaches titan heights on "Breaching Whales," the record's closing track. Few Homo sapiens are capable of such phonic control.
Not since Brian Eno's "Ambient 1" has such a cohesive vision been achieved. Interestingly, I doubt the whales found on this record even comprehend their brilliance - a true irony.
It makes me wonder if Beethoven realized the beauty he'd created when composing his
Fifth.
So, listeners of forwardthinking music, buy this album and hear the humpback's halcyon hymn.
It really got me.
Upon the first listen of this disc, I was struck by the whales' enchanting siren song. I haven't stopped playing it, to be perfectly honest.
There are naysayers who have hinted that I might have an "unhealthy" obsession with this record. Sure, my girlfriend left me last week, but so what? She didn't understand the angelic call of cetaceans. "Creepy," she called this LP; "self-destructive" she dubbed my affinity for these marine mammals. But it's no skin off my humpback.
I have the whales to keep me company now. In only them do I confide.
There are many noteworthy appearances on this album, including a guest spot from Anchor, whom you'll probably remember from Living Music's groundbreaking "Songs of the Humpback Whale," but by far the most powerful is Hoodwink, the Pavarotti of the deep.
Hoodwink's voice reaches titan heights on "Breaching Whales," the record's closing track. Few Homo sapiens are capable of such phonic control.
Not since Brian Eno's "Ambient 1" has such a cohesive vision been achieved. Interestingly, I doubt the whales found on this record even comprehend their brilliance - a true irony.
It makes me wonder if Beethoven realized the beauty he'd created when composing his
Fifth.
So, listeners of forwardthinking music, buy this album and hear the humpback's halcyon hymn.
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