Al Stewart - Al Stewart

Advantages: Great lyrics, really good music, smooth sound
Disadvantages: Youshould really concentrat on the lyrics, familiarity with the inter-war period helps

...Al Stewart is a British singer/songwriter, best known for the 1976 hit single 'The Year of the Cat'. He was born in Glasgow, grew up in Bournemouth and moved to the USA in the late 70s, where he has met with more success than in the UK, so much so that one track 'Time Passages' was used in an episode of the series The Sopranos. His career started in the mid-1960s and he is still going strong, having released over 20 albums in that time. He still tours, and I saw him live at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels a few years back. = BETWEEN THE WARS, THE CONCEPT = I remember that there was a vogue to produce concept albums, which seemed to be a pretentious term to excuse what seemed like the musical equivalent of a stream of conscience. Between the Wars is based around a single concept - what the world was like between the two... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Excellent Dubut Album From the Robinson Brothers
Disadvantages: Absolutely bugger all

...Its 1990 and as one decade departs anothers enters and new kind of band is emerging. Before Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene brought in their foppish wannabe sixties style to popular culture a small band called the Balck Crowes produced 'Shake Your Moneymaker.' Unlike Oasis et al, The Black Crowes music had a genuine feeling to it - a real warmth and love of the music that it attempted to emulate. Obvious references to 'Sticky Fingers and Exile on Mainstreet' are quickly diminished when you realise quite how good they actually are. Two songs in and you know this album is destined to be a classic - killer riffs (jealous again) and genuine sentimentality (she talks to angels) sweep though the album. It sounds like a seventies record, but thats a good thing - not even the Rolling Stones themselves could have produced an album like this post 75... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Variety
Disadvantages: Couple not so great tracks

...there stuff. The cover is simple but effective as the red and black jumps out at you and really sets the mood of these bluesy tunes. The main artists are listed on the front and the full track listing on the back. The front cover also pulls out and its actually an A3 poster. The poster is a similar image to the cover but with a bit of yellow. I don't think you'd use this as then your CD would be bare? CD1: Stealers wheel - stuck in the middle (Reservoir dogs) Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street (Jackie Brown) Al Green - Let's Stay Together (Pulp Fiction) Tony Bennett -Rags to Riches (Goodfellas) James Brown - The Boss (Lock, Stock...) The O'Jays - Backstabbers (Carlito's Way) Maceo and the Macks - Cross the Tracks (Snatch) RL Burnside -Its bad you know (Sopranos) Jeff Beck/Rod Stewart - I Aint Superstitious (Casino) The Chips - Rubber Biscuits... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful