Drummin' Up A Storm/Compelling Percussion - Sandy Nelson

Advantages: Glorious music, sounds like nothing else in the world.
Disadvantages: Too much narrating; not long enough.

..., and sounds like nothing else, and it would be nice if some of the up and coming guitar bands plagiarised this sort of guitar music, rather than going for Radiohead and Jeff Buckley every time. This track is very hard to describe, but it’s easy to find on Napster, and I highly recommend that you download it and hear it for yourself. It’ll probably convert you and make you go out and buy this album. Rock played as if it were jazz. The final track, “Cargo Culte”, has the same theme as opener “Melody”, but is shorter, and features a beautiful choir part at the end. The album has very little in the way of singing, and almost all the vocal parts are narrating the story, which is, as the title says, the story of a girl called Melody Nelson. I have neglected to mention this before, as it may put a lot of people... Read review

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Advantages: Willie's sweet voice and stinging guitar
Disadvantages: It's not twice as long

...The music: clean, uncluttered introspective. The songs: conveying the stark, sere, loneness of the singer. It's been called "blue collar blues" and I'd call it that, too, more than I'd call it country music. Only three of the songs are new, written in the 1990s, the rest are refashioned from the 1960s, and the 30 years in between scarcely matter. The songs were chosen and pieced together to tell the story of obssessive love or convey the concept of domestic abuse, whichever way you want to see it. And they do succeed in working together. They succeed in taking hold of your heart and grabbing onto it hard. Somehow, in Willie Nelson's mature voice, the older songs take on a new edge and freshness. Emmy Lou Harris's background voice deepens the poignancy and works sweetly with Willie's. Hers is the ghostly voice of the victim and... Read review

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Advantages: Lovely voice, something for every mood
Disadvantages: Stories can be slightly depressing for some people

...Sandi Thom is a 26 year old singer from Scotland. Her debut Album Smile... It Confuses People sold over 700,000 copies when it was released. It has 10 songs on it. 1. When Horsepower Meant What it Said - An upbeat, classic country song about horses (as if you couldn't get). It is about going back to the old days and getting the horses out of our cars and back on the roads. 2. I wish I was a Punkrocker - The perfect song to dance and sing to. It consists mainly of Sandi's voice and various types of percussion including tambourine, drums and hand claps. It was Sandi's first single to be released and wet down a storm. 3. Lonely Girl - A more soulful, slow song to include piano but Sandi starts to show the power in her voice. The title is rather self explanatory. 4. Sunset Borderline - This song is definatley one you chill out... Read review

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