A horse from Hell graces the cover of this cd. At least, I assume it's from Hell. Despite it's decidedly red-tinted white body, it's eyes bore straight a head with a supernatural shine, looking like a flashlight, only really really small. It's mane droops across it's neck, and in front it hangs limply on the nose. Kind of like any number of emo kids you see running around, acting like they're an important piece of an important scene.

City Reading is one of those cds that will not let you grasp it the first time you listen to it. Then, if you ever end up grasping it, you will wish you had not. It chews you up and spits you out with contempt. In fact, this could be the cd from Hell.

City is a novel by Alessandro Baricco. This cd contains the text of thee of the stories within that novel. They are narrarated in a dry, weathered voice. It grates along each passage, communicating the feeling that any sentance could be the last. The pace is slow and calculated.

The narraration is usually accompanied by the music of Air, an electronica/trance/techno group who is responcible for several beautiful compositions featured in various commercials on tv. On this cd they match the vocal's slow pace. The backing music is quiet and complementary to the narraration. It never undermine's the spoken word's spotlight, instead prefering to remain in the shadows. It's easy going and retains a cultural feel.

This is a Parental Advisory album. There is *definately* a reason for that. However, just about all of the narraration is in Italian, Baricco's native tongue. So if you don't know the language (like I don't) the PA may not be a big issue. Just don't read the booklet, then, because the English interpertation is in there. The three stories (told with 19 tracks) are westerns so there are saloons, gun fights, and more. However, there is also one of the most sexually explicit tales to hit a cd. The way the narrarator dead-pans it in Italian is disturbingly funny. If you understand Italian, be wise in considering whether to get this or not.

The cd tends to get a bit long. Without a major pace change or tone change the songs tend to drag out. Each song is solid, however the lack of variation means that I usually stop listening to the cd seven or eight tracks into it. But it makes good background music for times when I just want something I can block out while working.

peace.