The Sound of New York City
CD released in 2000
About a few weeks ago, I was doing some after-Christmas shopping in a store owned by a medium-sized national chain. A few relatives gave me some cash for Christmas so I was wanting to use it right away. I did find some LPs and CDs with this CD being among the finds. I spotted this CD in the clearance section where it was priced for only $2.
It is a recording of environmental sounds throughout New York City as one can tell from the title with most of the album recorded in Manhattan. This appears to be something that is intended for tourists to buy as a souvenir or for former residents of New York City who miss the place. Considering the release date there is an eerie feeling. One of the tracks was recorded at the World Trade Center. A year later, I'm sure you know what happened there.
This was recorded using some sort of technology called Sound All Around where it's supposed to give listeners the perception of 360 degrees of sound. There are not much details given about this technology. The CD was intended to be heard using headphones and indeed it sounds great on headphones. I feel like I'm in the city itself.
There is a
website for the CD, but I'm not sure when it was last updated. The site says it's available in "selected gift shops around New York City". It's also supposed to be available on Amazon. As of this writing, the lowest price for a copy is the cheap price of $62.24. I wonder how much the gift shops are selling this for.
Tracklisting:
1. The Sound of New York City Preview {9:51}
2. Chinatown {7:20}
walking east on Canal St.
3. SoHo {4:41}
Saturday shopping on Broadway below Houston St.
4. Subway {6:59}
a ride on the 5 train from 14th St. to City Hall
5. Downtown {3:01}
afternoon in the financial district
6. World Trade Center {3:02}
5PM crowds back from work
7. South Street Seaport {6:09}
July 4th fireworks
8. Midtown {6:56}
the usual weekday shuffle
9. Grand Central {3:17}
6PM crowds going home
10. Times Square {7:16}
a long walk all around
11. Fifth Avenue {6:12}
from Rockefeller Center to Central Park
12. Central Park {5:36}
a long walk and a baseball game
13. JFK Airport {2:42}
international terminal
(1) or
(1)
