Category: Album Reviews
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Music Album Review: ‘Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire’ (1996)
🎬 Rediscovering Shadows of the Empire: When Star Wars Became More Than a Movie Back in 1996, as fans braced for the re-release of the original trilogy and whispers of Episode I grew louder, Lucasfilm ventured into bold territory. “Everything but the movie”—that was their creative mantra. The result? A multimedia narrative tapestry called Star…
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Music Album Review: ‘Superman: The Movie – Original Sound Track (1987 CD Edition)
💫 Superman: The Movie (1987 CD Soundtrack Review & Reflection) Before Rhino Records unveiled its deluxe 2-CD edition 25 years ago, the 1987 Warner Bros. release was the lone CD version of John Williams’ score for Superman: The Movie. Conducted by Williams and performed by the mighty London Symphony Orchestra, this abridged album still captures…
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Music Album Review: ‘Billy Joel Greatest Hits, Volume III’ (1997)
Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits, Volume III: A Late Discovery Worth the Wait I’ll admit it — I nearly passed this one by. When Greatest Hits: Volume III dropped in 1997, I hesitated. Joel’s post-An Innocent Man output hadn’t exactly lit up my radar, and with my classical collection growing, I wasn’t keen on spending limited…
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Music Album Review: ‘Amadeus: Original Soundtrack Recording’ (1984)
Amadeus: Original Soundtrack Recording Artist(s): Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Label: Fantasy Records Year Released: 1984 Amadeus and Me: A Soundtrack That Never Stops Echoing I first met Mozart on the silver screen. Milos Forman’s Amadeus didn’t just introduce me to the genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—it gave me an emotional blueprint. The…
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The Sixth of June…Now, Then, and Again…
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, D-Day (June 6, 1944), Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Life in Florida, Life in Madison (NH), Life in Miami (1972-2016), Life in Miami….Again, Life in New Hampshire (December 2023 – October 2024), Life in South Florida, Life in the Tampa Bay area, Life in the United States, Music, Reunion Duology, Reunion: Coda, Summer 2024, Summer 2025, Summer in Florida, The D-Day DarlingsMidday/Early Afternoon, Friday, June 6, 2025, Miami, Florida The weather system that brought that rainy opening to meteorological summer earlier this week has moved on, and the Florida Travel Bureau can rest easy because it’s sunny, clear, and hot enough to go to the beach. (Ah, bikini weather!) I’d argue, though, that – climate change…
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Midweek Musings: Music, Memories, and More ‘Reunion: Coda’ Royalties!
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in Alex Diaz-Granados, Amazon, Creative Writing, Kindle, Kindle Create (Publishing App), Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Kiri Sings Kern, Kiri Te Kanawa (Dame Kiri), Life in Florida, Life in Miami….Again, Life in New Hampshire (December 2023 – October 2024), Music, Reunion Duology, Reunion: A Story, Reunion: CodaAfternoon, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, Miami, Florida Hello, Dear Reader! It’s a splendidly sunny late spring day here in southeast Florida. The temperature has climbed to 88°F (31°C), and with the humidity sitting at 52% and a gentle west-southwest breeze wafting at 5 MPH (8 Km/H), it feels closer to 95°F (36°C). Yes, it’s one…
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Late Night Reflections: Writing After Dark
Night, Sunday, April 27, 2025, Miami, Florida If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. It’s almost 10 PM here as I write this, the second blog post on this last Sunday of April 2025. I rarely do this so late; I may have done it a few times when I lived in Tampa,…
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Music Album Review: ‘Kiri Sings Gershwin’: A Swinging Tribute to Timeless Classics
Kiri Sings Gershwin (1990) Label: EMI Records Genre: Standards/Crossovers Artists: Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano), John McGlinn (conductor), New Princess Orchestra Release Date: October 25, 1990 Regular readers of this blog won’t be surprised. Still, I seem to follow the beat of a different drummer because I prefer older musical styles to contemporary ones, especially when…
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Music Album Review: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Shines in Kiri Sings Kern
Kiri Sings Kern (1993) Label: Angel/EMI Records Genre: Crossover/Standards Artists: Kiri Te Kanawa (Soprano), London Sinfonietta (Orchestra), Jonathan Tunick (Conductor/Arranger) Release Date: March 16, 1993 Jerome Kern (1885-1945) remains one of the most influential composers in American popular music. Alongside legends like Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers, the New York-born Kern…
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More of My Top Fives: A (Hopefully) Self-Explanatory Set of Five ‘Favorites’ Lists
More of My Top Fives: A (Hopefully) Self-Explanatory Set of Five ‘Favorites’ Lists For my friend Patti Aliventi. Music Albums – Movie Soundtracks Music Albums – Classical Music Albums – Pop/Rock Music Albums – Jazz/Standards Music Albums – Miscellaneous
A Certain Point of View, Too 