Customer Rating: 
Summary: Liquid Days
Comment: "Songs from liquid days" is now a new old favorite for me from Philip Glass. All the different artists participating is a fascinating part of the CD, and even though some of the lyrics are odd, the music and vocals keep me coming back to listen over and over again. The way Douglas Perry sings "Open the Kingdom" is so powerful, that I have decided I want it played full blast at my funeral.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the Finest Glass has Produced
Comment: Some of Glass's albums are dullsville, but this album is extraordinary
as a mixture of glass style with the remarkable voice of Linda Ronstadt.
The quirky lyrics and operatic style make it highly listenable.
The writing and influence of David Byrne, Suzanne Vega, and others give
it a unique viewpoint whereby a faint hum in the room can turn into an operatic search behind the couch and the refrigerator, which is not your
usual type of song.
If you love Glass you'll love this album.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Dinner table debate
Comment: Speaker 1: "I quite like the way Philip Glass has taken the very context of pop music and married it with the grandiose elements of classical music and made something entirely new with the two. I think it's a very clear and clever arrangement which forces us to think of the boundaries in music and how it transcends the triviality of such genres."
Speaker 2: "I'm sorry but I just find that preposterous. Obviously that's his main aim is to find the perfect counterpoint between classical and pop music and it's an intelligent idea but ultimately pointless....."
S1: "Come now, it's a work of genius."
S2: "I think not.....and genius is not something I'd use lightly as you have on many occasions. I get the impression you are easily amused. Take Philip Glass' compositions on merit and they are very good....granted his use of minimalism can grate on the listener but essentially there is something in them that makes them unique. With this he has merely washed out his sound and dumbed down the arrangements so that they carefully accompany the singers with which he has in mind. And for me that's just not acceptable. Similarly David Byrne is a great singer who uses his songs powerfully and with a great deal of thought seems blocked out somewhat. It seems as if both are compromised and as musicians that seems a total failure."
S1: "But you always look on the whole idea of musicians compromised and the arrangements as something of vital importance. Can't you take it for what it is and that is that it gives a good ambience of some sort. And there are plenty more singers in this then just David Byrne."
S2: "I know that but even they feel stymied by this idea. They want to do something more but they are afraid and subsequently bottle it when they could really have gone out and done something. That goes for everyone there....they all feel compromised as if they don't know what they should really do. And that's terrible. As for the music itself it merely sounds as background for a meal in a restaurant for well off suburbanites such as ourselves and it's an all too knowing ploy that's used to fritter away in the background."
Speaker 3: "Listen can we stop this debate about the merits of Philip Glass, the roast lamb with croutons, marinaded asparagus with Caesar salad is ready to be served. Tuck in!
Customer Rating:
Summary: it's addictive...
Comment: Somehow, I've hung onto this CD for over fifteen years. I'll forget I even own it, find it, then repeatedly play it for a couple hours at a time.
If you don't like Glass's musical compositions, you'll definitely hate "Songs from the Liquid Days." If you appreciate Glass, then this creation is definitely worth your time and money.
You have lyrics by Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Paul Simon, and Suzanne Vega. The words and music are a perfect match. You have the vocal stylings of Bernard Fowler, the Roches, Linda Ronstadt, and Douglas Perry. A couple of those names I'm not familiar with except for this CD. Regardless, the talent and power is inescapable.
I'm by no means a religious person, but listening to this creation is as close to a religious experience I imagine I'll ever have.
It's haunting. It's moving.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Cheesy Brilliance...or Brilliant Cheesiness?
Comment: At first listen, this album is laughingly absurd. At second listenting, it is still absurd, but not so laughingly. After repetition, you will be disturbed to find that this poppish minimalist music grows and grows on you, despite its absurdity. Where is the buzz coming from? Why won't the kingdom open? What is love doing on the couch? This work is melodically similar to Mishima and The Thin Blue Line. And yes, triplets do abound. But this does not diminish the album. The vocals sound like they are straight off of the TV show "Whose Line is it Anyway?," but as corny as this might sound, it only adds to the mystery.
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