Delphine Bardin - XVIth Clara Haskil Competition 1997

Advantages: Some of the band HIM's best ever work and a good bonus DVD included
Disadvantages: There are some boring moments to behold

...HIM are in many ways a band of contradictions; since their first days on the music scene back in 1991 to the release of their first album in 1997, 'Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666', the group from Finland have been slated as a number of things. Primarily, people don't know how to define them. Their style - and heaven forbid they read this - is very Gothic in its presentation; His Infernal Majesty, in full, focus their craft around the two themes of love and death, sometimes the two clash within their music, in others, they are separate entities altogether. But then again, there is a much more alternative metal type feel to their branding, away from the dark lyrics. Lead singer Ville Valo, who comes across as almost coy on many occasions, commonly dons himself from head to toe in black, reverting back to the idea that they are slightly... Read review

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Advantages: this will really get you going!
Disadvantages: there was more to this live preformance which is not on this CD

...Daft Punk were fairly well known in 1994 with their debut single The New Wave, but by the time they released Da Funk in 1997 this was when things started to pick up for them, Da Funk was instantly a commercial success not only for its amazing sound but as it also had a unique video which is one of the great things about Daft Punk, its not only their music they work hard on but also the visual side of things. Da Funk was then released again in 1997 on their debut album Homework which turned out to be a huge success and ground breaking for the genre of dance music. Homework was regarded as one of the most influential dance albums of the nineties even with stiff competition from similar acts such as The Prodigy, Fatboyslim and the chemical brothers. In 1997 Daft Punk also toured with the Daftendirekt tour, from this they recorded... Read review

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Advantages: Original and Long Living
Disadvantages: It's a best of

...it has still retained it's soul. The first track most people will recognise on this "Best of" is their first hit "The Only One I Know", regarded by many as an absolute classic and was released at the height of the Madchester scene, immediately putting them up alongside the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays. But with these two major bands undergoing break ups and the like the Charlatans are one of the few bands from this scene to survive even though Tim Burgess now lives in LA. Over the course of 17 songs Melting Pot encapsulates the best bits of 5 fantastic albums: 1990's Some Friendly 1992's Between 10th and 11th 1994's Up to Our Hips 1995's The Charlatans 1997's Tellin' Stories and also proves they were a damn fine band, who are big on both sides of the atlantic. During this time the band underwent major loss... Read review

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