You must be wondering how I came across this album, and why I chose to review it. First, I am a big Jeff Bridges fans. No, I’m not the guy to say he was awesome in the original Tron movie. I am the guy who will say I was sold on The Big Lebowski, then again in K-Pax, and then thought he was phenomenal in True Grit, Iron Man, and Crazy Heart. Did I jump on the Bridges Bandwagon?
I sure did with no regrets.
To answer the second question, a bit more detailed is required. See, I don’t sleep very well. I used to. Then I got married, wound up with a two-for-one special on kids, adding a crapton of real-world responsibilities, and sleep just seems to go out the window. I have tried various options to help get me a good night’s rest, but nothing seemed to work. I saw an ad online about something called Sleeping Tapes by Jeff Bridges. Since I am a fan, I chose to see what this was all about. Now, I had NO idea this, sleeping tapes was even a thing people do. I have heard of folks listening to nature and ocean sounds to relax and help get to sleep, so I thought perhaps this might have been similar. A little research educated me into more of what Mr. Bridges does on his free time, involving in spoken-word artistic recordings and poetry.
I went to the site, popped in my headphones, I took a listen. I listened to what sounded like Lebowski on a philosophical tirade. It was funny, it was entertaining, and it…
…Got me to doze off. Yes. It worked. On more than one occasion, I caught myself nodding off to the voice of Jeff Bridges, speaking softly like a professional storyteller amidst the sounds of nature at night, sounds of winds passing by, wind-chimes clinking in rhythm, sounds of children playing in the background, it was beautiful. Now, not all of these tracks are guaranteed to knock you out, there are some which are straight talking pieces with enough background noise to make you wonder what is its purpose, but you soon learn all the tracks serve a purpose. Some set up the scene in your head, preparing both mind and body to welcome the calming sounds of voice and nature, putting you at ease, readying for sleep.
The first few tracks set the mood for the rest of the album. For example, ‘Sleep. Dream. Wake Up’ is a very weird trip, but is essentially what you have in the album. Some background noise, some surrealism, and of course, the voice. ‘Chimes for Dreams’ is soft, wordless melody of rhythm. Later on you have some consecutive tracks of Bridge’s spoke word poetry in ‘The Raven, The Hen,’ and ‘The Sea.’ If you need to hear some enjoyable and entertaining words of encouragement as you nod off, the ‘Feeling Good’ is the track for you.
However, there is one track which stands out, as this is the one which successfully sent me off to slumberville. This is an 11-minute track where you accompany our beloved narrator on a nighttime hike through ‘Temescal Canyon.’ The sounds of night, the imagery implanted in your mind, and of course, the voice of Bridges himself put both mind and body at rest as the sounds of nature at night and his narration carry you off to a restful sleep. This is my favorite track.
Although this was part of a promotion for SquareSpace, this album is worth the download. Hell, you can listen to it for free on the site if you wanted to, but 100% of the proceeds go to No Kid Hungry, an organization raising money and connecting children all over with nutritional options to end child hunger.
http://youtu.be/fHEv-Go1Bcc
==================================================================================================================================================
Michael Dworkis is a man of vast talent and industry. A former writer and corporate assistant of World Wrestling Entertainment, “MSD” is the Wrestling Columnist for Pop-Break, as well as contributing columns related to comics, movies, pop-culture, and of course, anything Transformers. He recently completed and obtained his Masters degree in Mental Health in Counseling, and recently became licensed to practice as an LAC by the National Board of Certified Counselors. If you need either a therapist or your wrestling fix, come to this man. Michael also is a graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in Journalism and Mass Media, and previously managed an internet retail company. He blames Bill for having so much wrestling on the site and pleads with his superiors to create a feature on his very own Transformer Collection and to subdue Michael Bay for a serious talk. Michael is still searching for a Japanese Grand Maximus or any Japanese Generation 1 exclusives. See more of Michael at MichaelDworkis.com and follow on Twitter @Omegax80.
==================================================================================================================================================
