Dana Key

Item: Part of the Mystery
Author: Roger Appelinski

Part of the Mystery

(1995)

Reviewed by Roger Appelinski

Discogs YouTube

Label Ardent RecordsThe LighthouseJanuary 1996

acoustic rock blues rock rock

The audio recording of Part Of The Mystery was previously reviewed

The Part Of The Mystery AVCD has a lot going for it. First, if you haven't heard the term AVCD before, it's Ardent's term for integrated Audio Video CD. This is my preferred format; one disc contains audio and CD-ROM for Mac and PC-one disc does it all. There's no swapping CDs around-you can use your computer to play the CD-ROM portion and then play the audio while you work.

For anyone who saw the Big Tent Revival AVCD, this is very similar. It sports a nice-looking, intuitive, and functional interface. The music plays until you make a selection, and will continue to play while the video clip you have selected plays-with the song reduced in volume that returns to normal volume when the clip is done. I find it nice to be able to listen to the whole project while flipping through the video clips.

And, there are plenty to choose from. In the "Meet Dana Key" section, he answers all kinds of questions you might have: from what it was like to record alone to how he liked the final results. The quality for these segments is very good-almost excellent. The window for the player is pretty small, but adequate.

One screen offers the option to choose any song from the project. Upon selection, that song begins playing as the lyrics appear-nicely integrated into the artwork. Three songs even contain the music video, and each offers a short interview clip with Key explaining the significance of the song.

The project offers a control panel function, allowing you to control the volume, and choose the song that plays as you maneuver through the project. I have to add my only beef with the AVCD format (as they implement it now)-once started, the only way to get out (to use another running program) is to quit. Luckily, when you start there isn't a long introduction, so the quit-restart isn't as painful as it could be, yet it is a nuisance.

The quality and content are top-notch on this CD-ROM release. Fans of Key's album or anyone enjoying good-old heartland rock should enjoy this project, and the CD-ROM is "cool" enough to please most anyone.