At The Original Memphis Five - Connee Boswell

Advantages: Some decent Post-Hardcore music with elements of rock thrown in for good measure.
Disadvantages: Quite generic in sound, provides nothing particularly new to offer to the genre.

...Memphis May Fire are a young Texan band with a good few tricks up their sleeve. They produce music which falls happily into the genre of Post-Hardcore, containing elements of more straight up rock in their sound also. Released in late January through Trustkill Records, their self titled EP contains five tracks that when I first listened to I couldn't make my mind up as to whether I liked them or not. The band begin the EP with 'Cowbell's Makin' a Comeback', a track that unsurprisingly comes complete with cowbells in the sound. As it begins the guitars come through strongly, when the vocals finally make an appearance however they are somewhat of a disappointment. They just don't contain the same power and energy as the guitars, not a great way to begin life with their EP and certainly not something that impressed me in the slightest. I... Read review

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Advantages: Superb singing and arrangements
Disadvantages: None

...Isaac Hayes, he of the booming yet sultry monotone, made famous again in the late 90's as the voice of Chef in South Park, brought out this album in 1968. It was a good time to be recording in Memphis; Stax records were revitalised with a new pounding soul sound and later that year Elvis would record probably the greatest album of his career "From Elvis In Memphis" across town at American Studios. With this one album Hayes, previously a staff writer and arranger at Stax, set himself up as a genuine mack daddy, going on to record the theme tune for the 1971 blaxplotation "Shaft" and the later modestly titled Black Moses LP of 1974. Hot Buttered Soul also showed that soul and R&B, normally the preserve of the black musician, could also stretch out a jam and explore new territory, much as the progressive rock bands were... Read review

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Advantages: great soundtrack, realistic drifting scenes, beautiful girls, hot cars
Disadvantages: simple story, no deep characters

...This third installment of the Fast and the Furious (the original starred Vin Diesel, who makes a brief appearence in this movie)stars Sean Boswell as Lucas Black, who we find out is a part time mechanic and street racer in the US. In the intro to the movie we see Lucas take on Clay (Zachary Ty Bryan)in a red Chrsyler Viper over a challenge concerning a cheerleader Lucas sees in the parking lot. The race ends badly when Lucas smashes his car to pieces and gets convicted by the cops for reckless driving. The only saviour is his mother, who decides to send him to Tokyo, where her ex-husband and Lucas's father Lieutenant Boswell (Brian Goodman)lives. Lucas attends a japanese school and is told NOT to race a car by his father. But at this very school he meets not only Twinkie (Bow Wow), who introduces him to the Toyko drifting world... Read review

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