Byzantium BLEW me away. After Prayers of St. Brendan, I had decided to not expect much from Johnson anymore. However, Byzantium changed all that. The drum loops which ruined Prayers of St. Brendan are back for Byzantium, but they're actually used effectively! The one song on this CD which has me glued to listening over and over is Byzantium (Golden City). Its like a kaleidescope of sounds from the east and west weaving in and out of each other taking your mind on an awesome journey through the city of legends. Overall, that's what this CD does, it brings to life a time full of legends and mysticism that just makes you want to go there, and while listening, you are there.

I would normally give an Adiemus CD 5 stars, however, something went wrong with this one, which makes me feel a little cheated. But just a little. I noticed immediately after having my first listen that there was something wrong with some of the songs, I had heard them before. Jenkins had cheated me slightly by recycling some of the songs from his album "imagined oceans". That's why the Eternal Knot only gets 4 stars. There are only a few songs on the knot which are recycled, so that's a real relief, but an irritation nonetheless. I've complained enough about it now. It still deserves the 4 stars though. The album is a happy return to the stuff from songs of sanctuary, with a lot less booming from the brass that the second and third album seemed to be shaking us with; more quiet serenity, something I needed when i bought the album. Maybe its something you need, but beware, if you're a longtime Jenkins listener, you'll see where he goes wrong with his recycling.

The Mountain and the Valley started out as a PERFECT look at growing up in a rural landscape. Buckler, through his careful choosing of his language, created an atmosphere of perfect beauty. The story is about one who is born with the soul of an artist, and Buckler transforms the novel into art to fit with that theme. I did say that it started out this way. Partway through the book, art begins to become at odds with the ruggedness of the rural landscape. This conflict begins to transform the beautiful book into something truely haunting and sometimes almost scary. Was the book ruined by this sudden shift? There will be mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the beauty of the perfection was ruined by it. But this is a real life book, not fantasy. On the other hand, there had to be pain. For artistic vision cannot go left unattained, even when living in an environment where it is not supposed to exist. Either way you take the shift of the books tone, it will leave you with a feeling that you have read a story that needed to be told so that you do not make the same mistake.