Alphabetically Arranged - Best Fwends

Advantages: An interesting and varied jam on a great track. Cool B-Side too!
Disadvantages: It's basically just a jam with a couple of songs tacked on the end.

...In 1989 Prince had returned to the number one slot on the album and single charts in America, for the first time since 1985 and 1986 respectively. Not a long time for most artists, but for someone as prolific as Prince, people were beginning to worry. Sign O' The Times had been acclaimed in alot of circles as the album of his career but it only racked up 1.3million sales in the US, and a further 1.8million outside the US. For reference, Purple Rain sold well over ten million the year of it's release in 1984. The followup, LoveSexy, had been panned and flopped, although it did have the top ten single Alphabet St. So when Tim Burton and Jack Nicholson wanted Prince to do a couple of songs for the upcoming Batman film Prince gave them an album instead, and it was used too, getting to number one on the album charts while the lead single... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Poptastic Trevor Horn production.
Disadvantages: Not a good Valentine's Day present.

...I had a bit of time to fill last night, so I had a look through my CD collection for something to play. It's arranged alphabetically of course, me being a bit anal, so I didn't have to look very far before inspiration struck. ABC - The Lexicon of Love - and it's Valentine's Day tomorrow - perfect! Ah, but it was too late to get it added... oh, hang on though - it's there already, and no-one's written about it, so duty calls... The Band - ABC ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ABC hailed from Sheffield and could be summed up as New Romantic pop Roxy Music wannabees. Pure pop - tinny drum machine and synths, yes, but with saxophones and horns rounding out the sound nicely. Original members Mark White (guitar) and Stephen Singleton (saxophone) called themselves Vice Versa, but then Martin Fry (vocals) arrived and took control of the band's image... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: An excellent introduction to Classical Music
Disadvantages: None

...This is a companion set to Naxos' "The A~Z of Opera" (previously reviewed.. It follows the same format and is an ideal compilation for people who are new to classical music as well as classical music buffs. It contains a double CD with two and a half hours of classical music (as you would expect) and a 562 page book (not quite as thick as the Opera one) compiled and written again by Keith Anderson. So what's in the pack? ~~ The Book This contains 562 pages of information pertaining to classical music. It's the same size as a CD and fairly thick. The text is concise and clear and informative, with portraits of composers throughout. After the index you get 450 pages of concise histories of composers, with recommendations of recordings from the Naxos catalogue. It is arranged in alphabetical order, and starts with Adolphe Adam... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful