Blow It Up Burn It Down Kick It 'Til It Bleeds [Digipak] - Imitation Electric Piano

Advantages: Great players, new musical direction
Disadvantages: A couple of the tracks are a tad long

...in their careers. After the weird intro, however, the song resolves into a good arena rocker, featuring some fine guitar work by Page and that trademark "Bonzo" Bonham drumming. At almost seven minutes long, it's a pretty good way to kick off a freewheeling album. 2. South Bound Suarez--This one has a driving beat, with some rare background harmonies by Jimmy Page. John Paul Jones, on the synthesizer, manages to recreate a "barrelhouse piano" style, and Plant shows a lot of vocal restraint and maturity, especially when compared to his early, shrieking style. Page throws in a guitar solo that is packed with crimped energy. 3. Fool In The Rain--This tune is all about beat, rhythm and tempo, which gives it a decidedly Caribbean flavor. The synthesizer again is the musical focus of the song, but the rhythms created by Bonham on his drums really give... Read review

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Advantages: Genuine lost masterpiece
Disadvantages: Taken so long to be re-released on CD

...it is. Kicking off with The Purple Speed Acid Queen, a straight rocker, Kirby pulls off a blinding solo and we hear what Eddie can do on keyboards. Elfin Boy is the old Sonja at her most whimsical and then comes the extraordinary Metamorphosis. Whatever possessed Eddie to compose this I will never know, but it is ten minutes of magic in which the whole band is quite exemplary, backing up Eddie's Rachmaninov-like piano. Mike's Fender bass almost kicks a hole in the speakers and Kirby plays his parts with brio. But it is Eddie who amazes - 17 years old and he can do THIS? What did we get after this? A generation of shoe gazers who could barely play a chord. After a "classical" introduction, Eddie plays relative chords against Kirby's volume gliss guitar, Mike's bass comes punching in and the whole band pick up the lead theme for Sonja... Read review

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Advantages: Some great songs
Disadvantages: Some naff songs

...There was a time when Elton John was a pretty essential artist in the rock and roll scene. Born in 1948, the same year as David Bowie, the two of them were up and coming talents at the end of the 1960's and exploded onto the scene in the early part of the new decade. Bowie's emergence came with Space Oddity, while Elton had to wait a little bit longer for the over sentimental Your Song. However, that's where the similarity ended, with Bowie the epitome of cool and street cred while Elton was just a short sighted, balding, fat piano player with a penchant for odd clothes. Elton may have been a figure of fun for most of his career, but he was undoubtedly a key figure in the period between 1970 and 1976 before lapsing into a morass and losing his way after the highly Americanised Blue Moves in the latter year. Elton John was born... Read review

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