21st Century Catalan Piano Works

Advantages: Effortlessly cool, great tunes, danceable
Disadvantages: Too many cooks spoil the broth? A couple of weak links

...'real life', with Stefani being followed around by four 'Harajuku Girls' wherever she goes, four omnipresent hand-maidens, backing singers, dancers, whatever you want to call them. Eve pops up on the Dre-produced 'Rich Girl', a re-write of 'If I Were A Rich Man' from 'Fiddler On The Roof'. The song has great bounce and propulsion, a manifesto to urban bling-bling and material gain. A 'Material Girl' for the 21st century, perhaps. The Neptunes-produced 'Hollaback Girl' has the potential to be irritating and repetitive, but Stefani just about pulls it from the brink. It also contains some of the most absurd lyrics on the album: "Let me hear you say, this shit is bananas/B-A-N-A-N-A-S/This shit is bananas/B-A-N-A-N-A-S". Bob Dylan it ain't, but that's not the point. 'Cool' has exactly the right title, a wonderful little song that draws from... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Great pop songs, summer feel, still Dodgy-esque
Disadvantages: The recycled paper CD case - it won't last much longer

...The demise of Dodgy went with the death of Britpop, when their lead singer and bassist Nigel Clark decided the pop charts and 'hit' singles wasn't 'Good Enough' for three hippies from the midlands. Since 1998 Nige has moved out of London, got married, had children, and finally found the time to build a home studio and do what he does best - write catchy numbers and play good music! And this is just what Dodgy fans have been waiting for - Clark has stuck to the same formula that helped him notch up 8 top 20 singles and a number 1 album in the 90's. Wearing his influences on his sleeve, the Beach Boys twist of single '21st Century Man', the Northern Soul-touched 'Sometimes', the summer folk of Northern Lights'... every song could be a single, every song a sing-along. Possibly released a few months too early, this is a record... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Excellent selection and performance of piano works by Frank Bridge
Disadvantages: A few pieces are not very interesting

...Frank Bridge was an early twentieth century English composer. His works are not widely known, but are played increasingly, and more recordings are becoming available. Some of his later works, such as his piano sonata, were influenced by Scriabin. This CD is the second of three, and covers a wide range of styles, but mostly in his earlier style. Most of the pieces on this CD are fairly easy to listen to, and can be enjoyed by the majority of classical music lovers. The opening piece, Etude Rhapsodique, is an etude appropriately played by Jacobs, in the grand manner (of Liszt and other nineteenth century virtuosi), full of late nineteenth century panache, but with Bridge's own distinctive voice. The second piece, Berceuse, is played beautifully, a gentle piece as the name would suggest (a lullaby) but again with Bridge's own... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful