Mannheim Steamroller's Chip Davis dives head long into DVD production with this latest Fresh Aire project, entitled "8 Topics Of Infinity", which explores the human mind and various "heavy" thoughts of humankind. For those of you unfamiliar with Fresh Aire, it is a group that specializes in "New Age" music; a form that has taken on a genre all its own, popular with many segments of the population for its blending of rock, pop, jazz, and classical themes.

For this Fresh Aire project on DVD, Davis and company has incorporated a visual smorgasbord of sights for the different musical segments, some exciting and some a bit boring. In particular, the philosophers segment goes on entirely too long, with footage of Greek philosophers in togas discussing their philosophies of life. Contrast this to other segments that include a fifties sock hop segment and an original cartoon that looks like a cartoon from the thirties with imaginative animation and images. Computer graphic images also play a part in the discs presentation, with space images, fractal designs and three dimensional planets. Leonardo Da Vinci's genius is also explored, along with nature scenes and Egyptian afterlife images. All this is set to the music themes, which include the following: Infinity in Philosophy Infinity in Cosmology (The Big Bang) The Infinite Thinker (Leonardo Da Vinci) Infinity in Mathematics Infinity in Art Infinity in the Wedding Band Infinity in Music Infinity in Egyptian Afterlife All these are brought together by the music which is presented in 5.1 surround sound, either in Dolby or DTS. The DTS is especially powerful and worthy of such a project of sight and sound.

Besides the musical and video presentation, the DVD is chock full of extras including a "making of documentary", interactive web links, and the most interesting, professors who discuss each topic of infinity. The disc itself will take hours to play through. Side two contains a DVD Audio disc for people with that feature on their players.

For those interested in more than a casual listening experience, this disc is for you. Davis has compiled a thought provoking and unusual disc for people to contemplate, set to tasteful musical themes. While some of the disc drags on (The Greek Philosophers) most of the segments are well balanced and entertaining. Fresh Aire fans will find this a real treasure and keeping with the tradition of Fresh Aire's other musical titles.