Best Of The Sons Of Champlin, The - Sons Of Champlin (The)

Advantages: Some very good tunes
Disadvantages: Too many tracks the same?

...Thirty-nine tracks. Thirty nine.......... Something of a Jekyll and Hyde band this one. Beginning in the 60's as a freeform jazz-rock powerhouse, before ending up in the 80's as an overblown corporate hit machine, Chicago were one of the biggest, and biggest selling, acts in US music history. They had Peter Cetera fronting them for most of that time, before he went solo and starting doing theme tunes for appalling films like Karate Kid (The Glory Of Love, uh, sorry gotta chuck.......right that's better). He was replaced with existing band member Harry Champlin and Jason Scheff, who I think must be Jerry Scheff's son (Jerry was Elvis Presley's bass player and Jason also plays the four string). Let's play spot the difference.....well, there isn't one really! Side one sees the full AOR monster that was Chicago in the 1980s... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great on the ears!
Disadvantages:

...Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is in my opinion the best Iron Maiden album out there. It only has eight trachs but each and every one is unique and excellant. My favourite songs on the album have to be 'Can I Play With Maddness', 'The Evil that Men Do' and 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son'. The guitar playing is amazing throughout the whole album! I recommend this album to any dedicated Iron Maiden fans or to anyone who is only hearing them for the first time. I'm just a recent fan and this was their first album I bought and it's is what got me hooked!... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great Maiden music!
Disadvantages: None to me

...While I do like this album I don't think its quite as good as 7th Son of a 7th Son. The why isn't the music itself but the lyrics. Sure the songs are good stuff but I used to love the very inventive lyrics from 7th son of a 7th son. Now the lyrics aren't quite so inventive but they are still good. this can't be compared to other modern heavy rock. There is no band for me that can compare to them. Sure there are great heavy rock bands out there, but few can match the inventiveness, unique nature and general quality of music. This must surely be the best of British. Can any American band really match this? Megadeth and Metallica are perhaps the closest but they don't match Maiden for me!... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful