$11.35 NIGHT CASTLE appears just in time for the big 2009 holiday season but don't be fooled: this isn't a Christmas album, even if it's sonically indistinguishable from Trans-Siberian Orchestra's other seasonal releases, and the fact that it's been dubbed "Capra-esque" certainly brings it within the realm of the season. NIGHT CASTLE brims with all the drama, pomp, and circumstance of Trans-Siberian Orchestra's other records but channeling these traits through a newly created narrative does have the effect of hearing it in a somewhat new light, shifting the ...
$13.39 Pink Martini follow the around-the-world-in-a-dozen-songs thrills of HEY EUGENE! with SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS, a mellower, simpler set of small pleasures. These are relative terms, however; the group's music is still well-traveled, with China Forbes singing in five languages (English, Spanish, Neapolitan, French, and Italian) instead of the six or so on EUGENE!. However, Pink Martini opt for a more unified sound here, one that draws on the more straightforward lounge-pop of their debut, SYMPATHIQUE, and the mellowness of '60s and '70s pop. SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS' first half is especially smooth, opening with the beautifully soft Neapolitan ballad "Ninna Nanna" and the title track, on which Forbes sings "I think we should take it slow" over swooping strings, brass, and piano that resurrect the glory days ...