Already time for a 90s revival?

Posted : 3 months, 2 weeks ago on 14 May 2008 02:12 (A review of Carnavas)

I can't believe this album was released mid 2006. It took over a year for this to gather some momentum. The feature of their music that grabs you from the first song is the buzzing guitars circa 1994. Just that would be enough to make them my new favourite band of the week/month/year. They also throw in Billy Corgan style vocal delivery - disinterested one moment, high pitched screaming the next along with a healthy dose of angst and irony. That's enough to make them my favourite new band of 2007 (even though they released this album in 2006).

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Initiation into Jazz

Posted : 3 months, 3 weeks ago on 3 May 2008 11:25 (A review of Call Me Irresponsible)

I discovered Michael Bublé when I heard one of his songs playing in my co-worker's office a few days ago. That's all it took to get me hooked.

This is Michael Bublé's third album and his best so far. The bulk of his material is covers of classic Jazz and Pop songs. He picks his material extremely well and the album gels very well. His singing is outstanding throughout. Somehow, he manages to impart a healthy dose of emotion into every song, regardless of the mood.

It's hard to pick any highlights from this set of songs but I'll take a stab at it anyway. My picks are 'Lost' and 'Always On My Mind'. Both about lost love but with very different emotional tones, both pulled off beautifully by Bublé.

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Good music too, not just the show

Posted : 3 months, 4 weeks ago on 30 April 2008 11:17 (A review of How To Be A Megastar Live! (CD with DVD))

I caught the Blue Man group on stage earlier this year and loved them. I snapped up this CD/DVD set as soon as it came out because I really liked the music they played. I'm pleased to say that much of the music (the full length songs) holds up even without the visuals to accompany it. This is good alternative pop music for the most part.

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Oh, what a voice!

Posted : 4 months, 1 week ago on 17 April 2008 01:36 (A review of Rockferry)

She sounds like the saner younger sister of Amy Winehouse, except Duffy is Welsh, not English. She has a beautiful voice, deep and rich. The debut album is awesome pop music, tinged with a little 60s style soul. The songwriting is varied and the production is immaculate. The album just *sounds* so great. The best new album of the year so far.

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Bonus disc is a hidden gem

Posted : 4 months, 3 weeks ago on 6 April 2008 02:29 (A review of The Essential Bruce Springsteen)

The third bonus disc should be called the third disc of the set and packaged with every box of this release. It's filled with some absolute gems that I've not heard anywhere else, particularly 'Trapped', 'Missing', 'Lift me up' and 'Code of Silence'.

Oh, and for the casual fan, this is a generally a better intro to Springsteen than the misleadingly named 'Greatest Hits'. Unfortunately, this misses some of the gems from that album, especially 'Secret Garden' (which was a new song on that one) and to a lesser extent, 'Better Days'.

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Face melting acoustic music!

Posted : 4 months, 3 weeks ago on 5 April 2008 03:25 (A review of These Cold Winds)

This local Seattle band describes their music as 'face melting acoustic music'. Their debut EP contains six excellent tracks, the standout song being 'Guilty Hands'.

They are a string-only band, no drummer accompanies them. However, one of them is pretty good at churning out vocalized beats in their concerts (none of that on the EP, unfortunately). They're only three years old and still developing but already are electric performers on stage along with being very skilled. To really break through, they need more quantity and quality in their songs to go with their virtuosity on the instruments.

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We take what we can get

Posted : 4 months, 3 weeks ago on 5 April 2008 11:04 (A review of Contraband)

So, Guns n Roses is dead because Axl Rose can't get off his ego high horse. To fill the gap, we have Velvet Revolver consisting of most of GnR with Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots on vocals.

These guys sound awesome, just awesome. The only problem is that they did not bother to write very many songs. Most of the songs on here are junk, miles away from the best songwriting Axl Rose could produce. He produced some junk as well, but we loved GnR for the great stuff.

Still, this gets four stars, just for sounding so great. The band still rocks and Slash's guitar still wails. We'll take what we can get.

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Still rocking after 34 years

Posted : 5 months ago on 30 March 2008 08:17 (A review of Magic)

It's hard not to compare any of Bruce Springsteen's new albums with his vast body of previous work. Does it measure up or not? Is he in decline or does he still have it? Which is why it takes a couple of listens to get to the songs on this album.

Compared to the rest of his work, this isn't the best. The production is too heavy handed on a few tracks and his voice only really shines when the production is scaled back, but it does shine like it always did. He's still a great storyteller, like he always was. He's still mixing the political and the personal, making a sweeping universal comment by exploring a personal story. I'll cut this short and say, he still 'has it'.

Another 34 years is unlikely, but at 58, he still rocks.

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Classic yet fresh, always.

Posted : 5 months, 1 week ago on 23 March 2008 03:05 (A review of Mothership 2CD/1DVD)

Led Zeppelin release another compilation album and it comes in at a hefty 24 tracks. It reflects their quality that all the included tracks are brilliant yet they still don't cover the whole breadth of their catalogue. Most bands don't have 24 good songs in their entire careers.

The clear selling point for this compilation is the new remastering. The improvement in quality is subtle and incremental. The last remastering of all their albums (I own that box set too) was a major jump forward in quality. The DVD contains some awesome live material as well.

A definite great buy for old fans and for new fans looking for one set that covers plenty of territory.

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Defies categorization into a neat genre

Posted : 5 months, 1 week ago on 23 March 2008 10:44 (A review of Postcards)

Generally patterned along the excellent 'Molinos', the band's signature (if you can call it that) is intact here. They play a mix of celtic tinged folk rock along with bluegrass and even a couple of Spanish songs! The lead vocalist Tom Landa grew up in Mexico, which explains that little mystery. The band's playing is top notch again.

The most amazing thing about their music is that all the experimentation and fusion of musical styles never comes across as forced. Everything feels organic and natural and the album flows really well from one song to the next. Tom Landa's voice has something to do with it, no doubt.

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