Once

Timeless, priceless, one of those mysterious albums that has no peer., Dec 8 2010

In the over fifty years that I have been actively engaged in the hunt for joys in music, of course there are hundreds of albums and singles that are "great", "interesting", "mystifying", et cetera, et cetera, but every once in a while comes an album that has a certain perfection to it that defies definition. Most of Bill Withers' music is neither here nor there with me, but this Carnegie Hall album is one of those exceptional examples of whatever it takes to produce something that goes beyond the sum of the parts of any artist; this album fits that description. I have no idea whether the reason for its effect on me (which is, by the way, always there with every hearing and has been since… Read more

Beth Hart, Feb 9 2010

No one is perfect, but Beth Hart comes as close as anyone in a field that only featured Janis Joplin before now. She is not "better" than Janis, but takes whatever that was in 1969 a step further as a writer of lyrics, incomparable on the piano; sincere; what can I say? This particular album has no peer. Let us hope that she somehow survives her talent and lives long enough to produce more of whatever it is she did to this one.

The Qur'an, Feb 9 2010

There is no greater translation of this Holy Book; it was the first [1734] and nothing has equalled it in English since then unless it might be the translation of Rodwell.