(psycho Thriller) The Operator [dvdrip] 2001 @request

Love Sensuality Devotion: The Remix Collection is a 2001 remix album of remixed songs made by Enigma. All of the remixes on the album were taken from previously released singles. LSD: Love, Sensuality and Devotion gathers over a decade's worth of Enigma's definitive tracks, including the song that started it all, "Sadeness, Pt. 1." "Return to Innocence," "Beyond the Invisible," and "Cross of Changes" are all featured as well, and though the collection ranges from the rock-tinged "I'll Love You…I'll Kill You" to atmospheric, electronic fare like "Shadows in Silence," since it's all essentially Michael Crétu's vision, it flows surprisingly well. Since Enigma's sound has varied fairly drastically over the years, LSD: Love, Sensuality and Devotion is the perfect starting point for anyone curious about Crétu's music, and the only Enigma album that casual fans might need.

This is one of two albums released by Capitol Records in anticipation of the December 2001 release of the remake of Ocean's Eleven, the 1960 Las Vegas caper film that utilized the talents of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack of entertainers. The original film had no formal soundtrack album, but there was music in the picture and, of course, Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr. (along with comedian Joey Bishop and actor Peter Lawford) performed on-stage during the making of the movie. This compilation of studio recordings made in the 1950s and '60s draws not only from the Capitol archives but also from Reprise, for which all three singers began to record starting in the early '60s.

Listen as Niklas Willén teases the skittish polka (No. 6) from Alfvén's 'The Prodigal Son' ballet suite, or steers his players through the vehement fugue that rounds out his Symphony No. 2, and you'll appreciate why this release commands unreserved praise. Ireland's NSO gives superlative performances, worthy alternatives to Neeme Jarvi's coolly efficient Royal Stockholm Philharmonic accounts on BIS. These works come to life in Willén's hands. For example, he infuses the third section (a festive march) of the ballet music with the requisite proud swagger, while the national dances that follow are engagingly characterised.

The setting by Alphonse D’Eve (1666-1727)‚ born in Brussels and Kapellmeister at the church of Our Lady in Antwerp‚ of the motet for the dead‚ O acerbi‚ is not without its moments. The plangent opening is striking‚ as is the use of high voices at the beginning of the final chorus‚ presumably to represent the heavenly hosts referred to in the text. If the music‚ thoroughly Italianate in style and often reminiscent of Vivaldi‚ is somewhat predictable – the cadences are rather formulaic and the sequential patterns overused – it is certainly worth dusting down: it represents the kind of work that must have been heard in so many of the larger musical institutions all over Europe in the early part of the 18th century.