Search - Atmosphere Collection :: Thunderstorm

Caveat emptor

tinkerbell | new york, NY | 08/06/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"After much consternation over the plethora of recordings available of thunderstorms, I chose this one because of the name. I had read that the Atmosphere Collection was the successor in quality to the marvelous Environments recordings of the 1980's which are unfortunately not available on the CD format. This CD begins auspiciously enough with some rain and nice rumbling in the background. Later, I realized I no longer heard the rain but the thunder only. There is no music and there are no sounds of animals that I was aware of. For some time, I was undecided whether I liked animal sounds on these recordings or not. But this Cd has decided me in favor of animal sounds. They lend a sense of place which aids you in really escaping your current surroundings and finding yourself transported to the environment you are listening to. Most of the tracks on this CD are without even rain. The last few tracks are silence interspersed with thunder claps. This concatenation of thunder claps, because of their regularity and because of the lack of surrounding sounds, makes it seem artificial as if the producers had just re-recorded the claps over and over. It lacks the wonderful randomness of nature. Also, because of the peaks and valleys of sound, if you play it at a high volume, the thunder claps will startle you but if you lower the volume, you won't be able to hear the rain in the first few tracks. I tried to listen to it as I was going to sleep, but my slumber was continually interrupted by these wretched claps - they really are loud. So! If you want a cozy storm to relax, read or doze by, this is not the CD for you. However, if you simply love the sound of thunder claps - by all means, get this. Caveat emptor."