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| | The Sea to the North | | | Music Artist : | | Garth Hudson | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Woodstock Records | | Release Date : | | 2002-10-22 | | Store Price : | | $15.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $15.98 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Saga of Cyrus and Mulgrew
2. Sea to the North
3. Breakers
4. Third Order
5. Dark Star
6. Little Island
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 The best post-Band album? Probably.
Submitted on: 2008-02-11 |
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Garth Hudson is well-recognized in the music world as one of the greatest organ/sax/piano/accordion/melodica players of the 20th century. His magic lives on in this CD, which is full of complex melodies and brilliant riffs. The band is incredibly tight...the percussion is perfect, keyboards ring nicely and that tenor sax is just out of this world.
This is the type of album you play when you want to just melt into a chair and absorb something astounding. Buy this disc. |
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 Complexity is both the greatest virtue and greatest flaw
Submitted on: 2006-06-09 |
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Garth Hudson's The Sea to the North boils over with themes and strands. The music is dense and thick, so much so that focusing on and sticking with an idea sometimes proves difficult. The songs often roil and toss the listener, perhaps a purposeful nod the power of the ocean, which seems his muse. Forcing this music into a genre is not a worthwhile endeavor----it's rock, ethnic, folk, jazz, country----an amalgam of various elements (save blues).
In other words, those expecting anything like music of The Band should be forewarned that they will not find it here. Rather fans of ensemble fare such as that of the Willard Grant Conspiracy or even some of Van Morrison's more reflective songs are more likely to find these songs appealing (though without the strong vocal presence Robert Fisher imparts to the WGC).
Mr. Hudson plays an array of instruments, including Hudson playing an intimidating range of keyboards (including pipe organ), various saxophones, and accordion, plus two I'm unfamiliar with, the melodica and the tarogato. Accompanying him are members of the Crowmatix, and whoever they are, these folks seem at home with Mr. Hudson's vision.
Sometimes I like these songs, and sometimes I dislike the very same songs. There is something about this music that makes me want to build a fire or go sit in a treehouse and watch fireflies because this music seems to need that visual component. The textual complexity is both the greatest virtue and greatest flaw here. Hence, this recording is a great effort but not an easy album to fully embrace.
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Nicely, nicely....ummm...
Submitted on: 2003-06-29 |
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| This is one of those "I really wanted to like this album" reviews. And I did want to like it, insofar as Garth Hudson is a master musician who was the unassuming "glue" to The Band and their albums. He's also done guest turns for other performers that both compliment them quite well and shine as Hudson's own moments. Unfortunately, his first solo album, is...immaculate and that's about it. Nothing offends, but nothing really engages you either, certainly not on the level of Hudson's previously-mentioned musical contributions. Maybe you have to hear it late at night just before you retire for the album to kick in. But that leaves you in danger of snozzing through most of it. Sorry to say, but "immaculate," "pleasant" and "nice" just don't translate into "interesting" in this case. |
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My Favorite CD
Submitted on: 2002-10-11 |
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| Awesome piano, accordian and sax... Beautiful vocals... Go ahead, treat yourself to this one... |
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Doesn't Show Off Garth's Compositional Ability
Submitted on: 2002-07-17 |
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| I'm a big fan of The Band and Garth Hudson, and after seeing Garth improvise so brilliantly on the "making of the Brown Album" DVD, I expected his CD to be full of the same sort of stuff. Complex chord changes, sophisticated melody lines, tons of snakey keyboard runs...that's what I expected. And to be fair, the last song does fall into that category...it's terrific. But the rest of the album relies too heavily on jamming, studio trickery, and input from other people aside from Hudson. With a mind as brilliant as Garth's at your disposal, why record a lengthy jam session based on a boring 2-chord progression? Why insert trippy overdubs and noises, when hearing Garth simply PLAY is much more exciting. Wanted to love this, but didn't. Maybe you will. |
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