As The Sun Sets - Nighthawks

Advantages: Witty, Comic, Husky, Waits Live - stories 'an all!
Disadvantages: None!

...Well this is a rare live album from Mr Waits - you can get this for just over a fiver these days which is a bargain - look how much you get for your money! Track Listing: (Opening Intro) Emotional Weather Report On a Foggy Night Eggs & Sausage (In a Cadillac With Susan Michelson) Better Off Without a Wife Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street) Warm Beer and Cold Women Putnam County Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission) Nobody Big Joe and Phantom 309 Spare Parts II and Closing "..with tornado watches issued shortly before noon Sunday, for the areas including, the western region of my mental health and the northern portions of my ability to deal rationally with my disconcerted precarious emotional situation" More Waits madness & lyrical genius with this live album. Listening to this album, makes you laugh, smile, snigger secretly... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Compilation of all of Waits greatest early work
Disadvantages: Doesn't include The Piano Has Been Drinking, Not Me

...alongside such maestros as Bob Dylan and Neil Young – and when he is at his best, he can run rings around the pair of them (no disrespect intended!). These fourteen tracks are a powerful testament to this unique man, and deserve to blow the whistle on this lamming agent of love-making, heart-breaking and counter-culture. The collection provides a broad schema of Waits’ range and ideologies. Taking select items from each of the Asylum Records albums (although the live album Nighthawks At The Diner is unplundered). From Closing Time we have: Martha and Grapefruit Moon, two haunting ballads from a time before the whiskey and cancer-sticks turned Waits’ vocals to liquid rust. The Heart of Saturday Night provides three titles: the opener, Diamonds on My Windshield, is a spoken-word piece set to an arpeggiating bass-line. The story of a night... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great songs and interesting sounds
Disadvantages:

..."Black the Sun" is Australian Alex Lloyd's debut album and within it are all the influences you would expect of a modern day songwriter, from the Beck meets Lenny Kravitz of "Momo" the U2 tinges of "Something Special" and the almost trip hop feel of the single "Black the Sun" (set to be released on the 30th of October). But listing these and any of his other influences does not do Alex Lloyd the justice he deserves, the more "Black the Sun" is listened to the deeper the songs work into your brain and the more unique it sounds. There is a timeless feeling to the vocals which are unobtrusive but effective and the mixture of acoustic guitars, modern technology and sampled sounds gives this album a life all of its own. This is an album that may struggle in the quick turn around manufactured pop group/star style that dominates the UK chart... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful