Cookin' - Tommy McCook & The Agrovators

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: 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

Advantages: It's a phenomenon, but which do you choose
Disadvantages: None

...It is not easy knowing where to start with this subject – the first Magnum Opus by Pete Townshend. A review of “Tommy” cannot do it justice by reference merely to one aspect of the work. In this respect I am sympathetic to the problems that Scribbelle encountered in her review of the DVD of the Ken Russell film recently and the comments that it had been posted in the wrong category. “Tommy” is a rock opera. More than that it is a phenomenon, a unique piece of rock writing that is unlikely ever to be matched. Written in 1969 it was recorded by The Who and released initially as a double (vinyl) record album. This has subsequently been re-released as a double CD boxed set and I will be concentrating mainly on this format here. However, “Tommy” has acquired a life of its own almost from the outset. It is appropriate to step... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful