A child prodigy, Jordan Rudess studied at Julliard from age nine to 17, at which time he left a promising future as a concert pianist for the lure of rock & roll.
Upon this release, his second solo recording (the first was an independent release titled Arrival), Rudess had already toured with Jan Hammer and the Paul Winter Consort .
His career started to pick up even faster when he was named Best New Talent by Keyboard magazine in 1994.
The basis for the award was his live performances and this recording, on which he displays his innovative use of keyboards and dazzling technique.
Soon after, he was asked to join his future band, Dream Theater, but turned them down.
There is much to enjoy on Listen, but Rudess' toneless singing is not one of them.
Female vocalist Barbara Bock saves most of the vocal tracks with her fine voice and should have been the only one singing.
Aside from that, the compositions are fairly interesting with many different moods, styles, and textures being explored.
Fans expecting Dream Theater-style prog metal are advised to approach with caution and an open mind.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Listen to the VoiceJordan Rudess | Jordan Rudess | Play | 03:52 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 2 | InspirationJordan Rudess | Jordan Rudess | Play | 05:14 | 12 MB | 35 MB |
| 3 | Beyond the ShorelineJordan Rudess | Jordan Rudess | Play | 04:33 | 10 MB | 29 MB |
| 4 | Fade AwayJordan Rudess | Jordan Rudess | Play | 04:31 | 10 MB | 26 MB |
| 5 | It's a MysteryJordan Rudess | Jordan Rudess | Play | 06:46 | 15 MB | 42 MB |
| 6 | Feel the MagicJordan Rudess | Jordan Rudess | Play | 06:25 | 14 MB | 44 MB |
| 7 | Invisible ChildJordan Rudess | Jordan Rudess | Play | 05:58 | 13 MB | 32 MB |
| 8 | DanielleJordan Rudess | Jordan Rudess | Play | 05:18 | 12 MB | 32 MB |
| 9 | Boogie Wacky WoogieJordan Rudess | Jordan Rudess | Play | 02:31 | 5 MB | 15 MB |
| 45 mins | 103 MB | |||||
| 45 mins | 286 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Amelar | Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric) |
| 2 | Barbara Bock | Vocals |
| 3 | William Giese | Cover Art, Paintings |
| 4 | Michael Good | Mixing Assistant, Mixing Engineer |
| 5 | Liv Singh Khalsa | Arranger, Back Cover, Booklet Design, Descant, Engineer, Producer, Vocal Arrangement |
| 6 | Paul Loven | Photography |
| 7 | Paul Lovin | Photography |
| 8 | Ken Mary | Drums |
| 9 | Craig Quist | Digital Editing |
| 10 | Clark Rigsby | Digital Editing |
| 11 | Jordan Rudess | Arranger, Composer, Keyboards, Piano, Primary Artist, Producer, Synthesizer, Vocal Arrangement, Vocals |
| 12 | Roger Seibel | Mastering |
| 13 | Jim Simmons | Bass, Guitar (Bass) |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |