All the Color Green

The following post is simply a review on an album from one of my favorite musicians - Peter Breinholt.

His newest album of original music All the Color Green became my favorite of his. I liked some of the songs the first time I listened to them but the others grew on me slowly. Now I can't seem to get enough of the album. It's his most polished album yet, with the best songs and best arrangements.

Most of the songs on the album can be lumped into two emotions - calm and happy. The title track All the Color Green is really good but not my favorite. It's one of the happy songs. It's also probably one of the most like a pop song. The next song on the album You are Home, is one of the calm songs. It has a catchy beat but is subdued. The guitar is repetitive but it slowly builds in intensity throughout the song, so it never becomes boring. Some of the guitar reminds me of some of U2's stuff on The Joshua Tree.

I used to skip over the next track - Old Paint - but I've come to enjoy it. It starts with an old upright piano beat. It reminds me of some of the Beatle's songs. This song is one of the happy ones - at least it's upbeat. It has some brass - trumpet, trombone, etc - adding some melody near the end of the song. The 4th track on the album is one of the best. Tilting the Windmills is calming, a little sad but mostly just calming. I've really enjoyed listening to it on my iPod as I walk through forested paths (on campus) on beautiful days. That's what this song reminds me of - an ideal spring or summer (when it is not hot) day. Whatever your ideal day is - that's what this song is.

The next track is Peter's cover of the song Don't Be Shy. This is another calming song. It's a lovely song encouraging good social skills. :) This is another of my favorites from the album. The next song on the album First Song reminds me of Peter's songs from his other albums. This is classic Peter Breinholt. It's a nice song - one of the happy ones - but I think it's one of the weakest on the album. That leads to the next song - Little Bird - a very calm song; it's just piano and vocal with no overdubbing or heavy processing. It's a wonderful little song that works well as a lullaby.

Moving on to the next song switches gears a bit. For Becca, In England is one of the happy songs. It starts out calm and has calm elements throughout but it is a little exciting. It has guitar, drums, bass, a synthesizer, piano, and vocals (and probably some other instruments in there). I find the song enjoyable. The next song A Little Spot of Ground is another one that's happy with a hint of calm. It's short but sweet. The song is very nice but not one of my favorites.

The next song Queen Ole is a very happy song. It's hard to listen to it and not dance. I've had to stop myself from dancing when listening to it on my iPod around others. The song has a nice Latin flavor to it, complete with a pseudo-Mariachi band. I really love this song! It always puts a smile on my face.

The final song on the album is another wonderful song. It finishes the album on a nice calm note. It doesn't have much in the way of vocals but has a lovely piano melody throughout. Another nice thing about the song are the layers of music is has - beat, background instruments, background vocals, piano, lead vocal, etc. The song has a long (think Hey Jude, only it's not anywhere near that long) fade out and is a very nice way to end the album. It's repetitive but very calming.

If I could only recommend 2 songs from the album I'd recommend Tilting the Windmills and Queen Ole. The first is calm (although something about it is very emotional, almost nostalgic) and the second radiates exuberance and happiness. However, this album is one definitely worth owning. It took me a while to appreciate it and learn to like it but now I can't stop listening to it. You can purchase his albums digitally directly from him (which I recommend because he ends up with the most money that way) or from the iTunes Store. While you're at it, check out his other albums - including his wonderful Christmas album. You can also order the CDs directly from his site too (they're probably on Amazon too but I haven't checked). He recently released a Best of album that we don't own - yet - but will purchase at some point. It has some new songs and new versions of old classics (plus it has 20 songs for only $10!).