Best Of The Early Years, The - Miriam Makeba

Advantages: the best compilation of his early stuff
Disadvantages: if you own many of his albums you will find these tracks on them

...this is a brilliant introduction to many of bob\'s early less known tracks that have very thought provoking lyrics. throught his music he manages to say many simple things that make you think yet you would never think of them unless you\'d herd it. he manages to grasp the obvious and turn it in to something deep and meaningful. It has many lively ska tracks to get you grooving such as mr. chaterbox. basically there is not one bad track and it contains all brilliant tracks. to me it is like the legend album but you get 3 cd\'s and not many people have herd of the tracks therefore it\'s a new experience which is great to show your friends and get them into bob. it\'s a must. a brilliant comilation.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Great compilation, super lyrics and a nice raw sound
Disadvantages: Vocals could become irritating after 12 songs

...A band which even makes Gary Glitter feel a bit dodgy typing it into google, the oddly named Sex Gang Children led by Andi Sexgang was once the name considered for his pal Boy George's culture club. Modern day gothic rock is not really for me at all with the exception of those stalwarts The Sisters of Mercy but there is something uite intriguing about the raw sound of this early 80's batcave scene band. The band were active throughout most of the 80s but only really produced one real album to date, however various other singles are added on this compilation "The Hungry Years" which is about as good as they get. Heavy bass lines and nasally vocals are matched with simple drumming and a raw often feedback filled garage guitar sound, I might not have made it sound that attractive but together it works well. The best track for me is... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Insight into how much she has developed
Disadvantages: Unexciting, 80's pop

...This is one of a quite a few early Madonna recordings from before she was famous. Unlike a similar Madonna CD entitled ‘The Early Years’, on which there are 10 tracks, but 5 are different versions of the 5 others, there are ten totally different tracks here. If you want early Madonna material, this is definitely more preferable than 'The Early Years', and all the songs from the other CD are on here too, so there isn't much point in the other one. The actual songs themselves here are standard throwaway 80’s pop - perhaps not even as good as that. It’s nothing like the Madonna we know today, and even her less-than-fantastic-to–listen-to-nowadays debut album is much better than this.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful