Search - Karl L. King, Matthew H. Phillips :: Circus Spectacular

Good music, mediocre playing

R. E. James | Longwood, FL United States | 11/18/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It was indeed exciting to find so many of Karl King's marches on one disc. The band's playing, however leaves a lot to be desired, as does the sound quality of the disc. The balance is poor, with a very annoying tenor sax playing loud and out-of-tune on every cut. Buy this if you are a march collector (which I am), but I do not recommend it for its entertainment value. Get the "Screamers" disc by Fennell and Eastman for a far superior set of circus marches with great playing and sound."

Review of Circus Spectacular

Daniel E. Turkington | Danville, VA USA | 12/06/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Certainly the best thing about this CD is that there are many of Karl King's marches that have probably never been recorded previously, which is curious, since some of them rank with his best. The curious thing about this CD, on the other hand, is that it is supposedly a circus album, but only a few marches were actually written for the "big top". This band is not the best I have heard - recommend listening with headphones, to get a much clearer, less muddled sound. King was only kind of a contemporary of Sousa, having lived 35-40 years later. He actually published more marches than Sousa, and generally wrote in a style that was "softer" than the March King. Sousa wrote mostly military-style marches (better than anyone else ever has, of course), whereas King wrote many military as well as circus marches, and marches in a simpler style, suitable for school bands."

Circus Spectacular

CWHughes | 08/11/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording of music by Karl King is absolutely splendid -it contains 28 tracks most of which I have certainly not heard before - I particularly liked the tempos of the marches - not too quick but just right - the band is good (although I had never heard of them) - I came across this recording by chance and I'm glad I did - highly recommended"