From Severe To Serene - Blue Orchids

Advantages: Some of the tracks are absolutely excellent.
Disadvantages: A number of tracks are actually quite painful to listen to.

...'Get Behind Me Satan' is the fifth studio album from The White Stripes and it must be said that it's just a bit different from the norm. Every track present here sounds completely unique, and whilst some of the tracks work; others just don't. Full marks to the band for experimentation and creativity, not so many marks however for consistency. Whilst some of the tracks are quite impressive here, others have me quickly reaching for the skip button before my ears suffer too much. There are thirteen tracks present here, as I say though; not all of them are particularly worth listening to, and the likelihood is that you won't appreciate everything that you hear here (I certainly didn't). A few of the better tracks from this album are those of 'Blue Orchid', 'Take, Take, Take' and 'I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)'. 'Blue Orchid... Read review

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Advantages: Some decent rhythm and blues
Disadvantages: Film dialogue in the wrong places

...for such a classic track. The big names of 1960s soul music keep coming, with Eddie Floyd and Wilson Pickett performing "634-5789", which was originally a hit for Wilson Pickett, but was written by Eddie Floyd. I think they missed a trick by not including the dialogue over the intro that is in the film, but this minor concern apart, this is a great upbeat and mid-tempo soul number. It doesn't quite have the edge of some of Pickett's other song, seeming a bit smoother than "In the Midnight Hour" for example, but it's got a couple of great soul voices on it and it's a great tune and would probably be my favourite on the album, if it wasn't for the next track. From the first time I heard it, Blues Traveler's "Maybe I'm Wrong" has become one of my favourite songs ever, not just in the film and I've bought several of their albums since. Indeed, had... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Innovative, original, breathtakingly diverse, emotive, and damn funky!
Disadvantages: Title track is poor; a few more songs because it's all over too soon!

...-moving techno masterpiece, wheras the downtempo, dreamy 'World In Your Hands' is viscerally moving. 'Hurt' manages to be both groovy and dreamy, whilst 'Mother Earth' - arguably a standout track, even on an album full of standout tracks - is provocative and haunting, whilst managing to be accesible and succinct - no mean feat when your preaching a message about man's inhumanity to the world around it. It is this slinky, innovative handling of occasionally difficult subjects that makes this album a true gem. With topics as varied as heartbreak, suicide and the environment - all of which are handled deftly, without even a hint of the kind of tackiness you may expect from an LP like this - 'Serenity' is quite simply the defining Euro-dance album. I was only 8-years-old when I bought it, and even then I was bowled over. I may have changed, but my... Read review

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