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review by Dene Bebbington Prolific new age musician Stuart Jones is a well known name on the New World label, besides the albums released under his name his music has also been used in some of the Pure and Therapy Room series of albums that the label has put out. What we have in Eternal Dreams is a re-recorded selection of tracks from his albums Love Eternal and Love's Dream; this latest offering is a laid back musical excursion into dreams and fantasy. Stuart's lead instrument is piano, his tinkling of the ivories is refined so that there's little in the way of hard edges or over excited melodies. The gentle mid-tempo melodies provide a cushion of calm which can help one wind down or relax while pottering about doing a non-onerous activity. Arguably the best track on the album is the longest one "Love's Promise", combining a bright and hopeful melody with some backing strings and flute sounds it does convey a sense of the expectation we can have of love. Thankfully it retains an edge of pleasing romanticism without sounding overly sentimental. Occasionally the pace picks up, as in the piece "The Ultimate Dream" where a melody builds up a sense of drama by quickening the tempo and using lower notes and glissandos. This track is the epitome of how Stuart manages to develop and change his melodies over the course of a piece without merely doing obvious variations around a basic tune. If you let it, Eternal Dreams can take your mind away from everyday concerns to a carefree land of dreams - be they literal or aspirational. For me this album works best as background music though, there's some nice melodies to be heard but by the end of the album I found the piano starting to become a little grating. If piano and backing strings floats your boat then it's a worthwhile album to your new age collection. |
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