All On The First Day - Tony Caro & John

Advantages: Beautiful music and vocals, classic tracks,
Disadvantages: Specialised taste.

...not exactly place it into an opera. It is a powerful track both musically and vocally. Caro nomme(Dear name) Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto has many pieces of music which will be somewhat familiar. This 1851 opera has a powerful dramatic theme to it. La mamma morta.(Mother dead) Andrea Chenier by Umberto Giordano is set in the French revolution and Maddelena tells of her mother's death and the loss of the family chateau Vissi darte( I lived for art, I lived for love). Tosca , Puccini's opera and heroine Ah fors e lui (Ah perhaps it is him my heart desires) Verdi's La Traviata was first aired in Venice in 1853 and was not very successful. It is such a famous opera these days that it is hard to believe that it initially failed. Violetta meets Alfredo for the first time and wonders if she has found true love. Violetta ultimately dies as do so many... Read review

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Advantages: Tight, taut guitars, compact songs, catchy riffs and melodies
Disadvantages: Oft-cloying vocals, couple of weak links

...and attractive, while 'Island Of The Honest Man' plays the same trick that The Cars used to have down to a pat, of covering biting lyrics ("He was in the habit/Of taking things for granted/Granted/There wasn't much for him to take") in gorgeous, drive-time melodies. Indeed, a lot of the album has traces of The Cars, notably the polished 'Pickin' It Up'. There are moments where quality control let the band down, though, as the lazy 'Ladies and Gentlemen' proves. It is a song which just screams 'filler' at you, as though the band needed an extra track to make up the numbers and recorded this sloppy effort. 'Jingle Jangle' is in a similar vein, a lethargic number that not even the most urgent guitars could save. The album is noteworthy as it is the bands first without guitarist Dante DeCaro, such a major part of 'Make Up The Breakdown', who quit during... Read review

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Advantages: A sublime album of high points and even higher points
Disadvantages: The cassette version needs to be turned over in some players

...John Henry - those two words send a rush of pleasure down my spinal chord (sic) just by existing. This was their first album with a full band supporting them, hence the name John Henry, its an American fable about a railroad worker that fought to stop machines taking over the man-powered work (they used to use a drum machine, you see?) Aaaaanyway, the album is a delight from end to end (and back again). I bought the album, saw the live tour, got the t-shirt and still I crave more. To try and catagorise TMBG would be wrong, but this is primarally a rock/folk/indie/ragga/funk/metal/hip-hop/ska/synth album with a few other influences thrown in. The new bass player is the mighty Tony Menomi (apologies for the spelling Tony) who used to play with Pere Ubu and was very nice to us after the show. His influence also shows, but the John... Read review

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