Gorillas In the Mix

It's shame that Itunes doesn't offer the Liner Notes to this AMAZING disc, 'cause half the fun is looking up which animal sounds were used in each song! I first read about this CD in Newsweek Magazine, and realized it was NOT one of those gimicky animal records like "Meowy Christmas by Jingle Cats" that was a big hit in 1994! Sure, a single listen to cats (and later dogs) caterwauling and barking to the tune of "Silent Night" was a fleeting novelty, but never ART and never somethng you would listen to all the time. Bernie Kraus's "Gorillia's in the Mix" may be saturated with "punny" names, but the sheer wonder occurs when you realize that EVERY SINGLE SOUND you hear is an ANIMAL—there are NO HUMAN SOUNDS or instruments on any of these remarkable cuts! My favorite (listed incompletely here) is "I'm In Trouble, Turkey Corwin" (to the tune of Paula Abdul's smash hit, "Straight Up" which came out a year before). A Parrot from the San Diego Zoo takes the vocals to the swishing tails of shrimp, the smacking lips of horses, the ruffling of turkey feathers and 30 other animal sounds! Bernie Krause runs Wild Sanctuary, Inc., which specializes in bio-acoustic recordings of thousands of earth's animals, both on land and in the sea. One listen to "Gaia Dreams" or "Ape No Mountain High Enough" will lead to hundreds of listens, as the thrilling beauty of the beings we share the world with confirms the true music of the planet.