Caltone Special - Tommy McCook

Advantages: a milestone in musical history
Disadvantages: Kieth Moon sings

...The CD revolutionised the music industry, but there was a downside. Millions of great records were lost because they were only on vinyl. Once my wife threw out my crackly old record deck I lost access to lots of quality music. Thankfully the back catalogues of many great names are being reissued in CD form. And as a bonus they usually cost less then you paid for them first time around! Such is the case with the seminal rock record Tommy. Originally released at the very end of the 60s Tommy encapsulates the mood of the time. To quote the sleeve notes, it is an everyday story of murder, trauma, bullying, child molesting, sex, drugs, illusion, delusion, altered conciousness, spiritual awakening, religion, charlatanism, succes, superstardom, faith, betrayal, rejection and pinball. Not bad in 70 minutes, eh? The storyline... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great album
Disadvantages: Pathetic film

...;, hence “Tommy can you hear me?… how can he be saved?”. EYESIGHT TO THE BLIND (EYESIGHT TO THE BLIND [THE HAWKER]) Many deaf, dumb, and blind adults- including Tommy (now played by Daltrey), are tried to be cured in a church by giving them whiskey and Newcastle Brown Ale, whilst touching Marilyn Monroe’s bum!!! I told you that Ken Russell was mad didn’t I? I think that this is meant to show the desperation from mum? Any way… it all goes horribly wrong and Tommy ends up destroying Marilyn Monroe! You really do have to watch this bit to believe it. THE ACID QUEEN The storyline becomes even more freaky from now in. Bernie takes Tommy to a strip club where the Acid Queen (Tina Turner) drags him up to her special bedroom! Here Tommy is mummified within a spinning chrome robot and blood is taken out of him... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: hear an Acoustic guitar genius!
Disadvantages: some of the tracks become a little 'samey'

...As a guitarist myself i consider Tommy emmanuel to be one of, if not the greatest acoustic guitar player around at the moment. He has the extrodinary ability of playing a guitar and producing the sound of 4 people playing! The cd has a range of styles from jazz to blues to ragtime! For me the downfall is that there is no vocals or even any other instruments on the cd to keep things fresh and interesting, just one man and his guitar. My advice is to 100% buy this album if you are a guitar player yourself because you will be absolutely blown away by this guys ability. However if you do not play guitar the album will probably become extremely old and tired (and dusty!) after a few listens to it.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful