Don't Loose Your Cool - Phil Martin

Advantages: Emily Haines' astonishing, mesmorising voice; the backing
Disadvantages: The plainness of a few songs, towards the end especially, be bad

...fantastic. Sure, everyone loves "Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl" - it's a brilliant song (why don't you know what I'm talking about? Go download it!) But aside from that and the odd song from her time as front woman of Metric, she hasn't got that much on her side in terms of quality. It's also quite a departure from her previous music, throwing out the electric guitars and replacing them with piano and hushed orchestration. As a result, "Knives Don't Have Your Back" is a haunting, ethereal album. It's dedicated to her father, the Canadian poet Paul Haines, as evidenced by the plain album cover which references his work as a songwriter with Carla Bley, on the album "Escalator Over The Hill". This isn't a depressed, angry sounding album in any way though, and it surprisingly doesn't focus on the death of her father, or death in general... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Great music, good concept, some live tracks
Disadvantages: The absence of George Martin, Phil Spector at the control board

...Let It Be, released on May 8, 1970, is somewhat of a Beatles anomaly. The project had an original working title of Get Back, and was planned as a sort of film and record documentary of their work in the studio, and musically they hoped to capture the essence of their early musical influences. During the period of time that the group was recording for this album, the legal and personality problems between the members were beginning to surface, so it's not surprising that the original idea got a little sidetracked. Somehow, Phil Spector was brought in to produce the album. I've never made any bones about it--I don't like his style, and his reputation for the "wall of sound" and having a heavy hand on the control knobs is well-known. In spite of Spector's tendency to overproduce, I believe that the musical ideas that the Beatles were... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: An interesting new studio album from a band with a strong pedigree
Disadvantages: A few duds. Takes time to appreciate

.... It’s vaguely like “Don’t Get Me Wrong” although there is a palpable mellowness in the end product. Walk Like A Panther (4:42) *** A quirky, jerky introduction leads into a somewhat idiosyncratic version of a song written by Jarvis Cocker and recorded in 1999 by All Seeing I. Complicada (Spanish Version) (2:57) ** Labelled as Bonus Track 1 this is as declared the Spanish version of Complicated Person. There is no indicated for the inclusion of the foreign language version – and it left me unmoved. Interestingly it was produced and directed by Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music. I Wish You Love (10:35) *** What do you call a female lounge lizard? Well, whatever it is apply this here. The string backing and piano could be have been Nelson Riddle – but this song could well have been Sinatra’s. This is a French oldie... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful