Funky Side Of Life, The - Sound Directions

Advantages: Street Life's spectacular lyricism is stellar like A STAR and IS BORN within each song.
Disadvantages: Filler songs with atrocious beats that make my ears HUNG in THESE hideous STREETS!

.... The mediocre quality of the beat therefore reduces the overall replay value of this song for me. Rating: 6/10 5. F.A.N.Z. (3:16 min) The quality of Street Life's story of 'Street Education' that started reasonably well from the beginning of this album continues to wander aimlessly towards mediocrity. Sadly in chapter 5, this is precisely what I noticed as a rap listener of F.A.N.Z., the fifth track and first disaster of this rap album.... To begin with F.A.N.Z., my eardrums are attacked with a fake azz corny instrumental from Allah Mathematics ( Ronald M. Bean ), an in-house producer of the Wu Tang Clan. The bass lines hop about like Bugs Bunny, sounding goofy and stupidly cartoonish like Daffy Duck as if they were recorded in the studio with The Animaniacs. This one-sided instrumentation is probably... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Superb introduction to an amazing band, well compiled. Stunning rock music.
Disadvantages: Omission of some killer tracks

...The release of A-Sides in 1997 marked the end of the road for Soundgarden. The album is a 'best of' collection extracted from all six of the band's LPs, spanning from 1988-1996. Discography 1988 - Ultramega OK 1989 - Louder Than Love 1990 - Screaming Life/Fopp 1991 - Badmotorfinger 1994 - Superunknown 1996 - Down On The Upside Although there are some notable omissions on the collection- in particular 'Superunknown' from the 'Superunkown' album and 'Slaves & Bulldozers' from the 'Badmotorfinger' album- the seventeen songs on offer here provide the listener with a great insight into the variety of the band's music. The fact that the track-listing on the album is in chronological order highlights the musical progression through time- from struggling to find their own sound in the haze of 'poodle rock' in the late eighties... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: A classic, for all the reasons listed below
Disadvantages: Is more popualarist than earlier material

.... The VCS3 synthesiser was used to create the rich textures that dominate the album, and tape loops to give a slightly wacky and new edge to the music through sound effects, and also layer the ‘man in the street’ sound bytes that gave the album its character. The introduction of gospel-type Backing vocals is another big feature of dark side, to give it its more widescreen sound, and take on a broader range of styles. About the Sound bytes Pink Floyd wanted to give a portrait of modern life, and to give a certain ‘realness’ to their album asked a number of ordinary folk who worked for them during the album’s creation to contribute their thoughts on a number of everyday subjects. Roger waters, the groups bassist and driving force behind the group at that time presented their Roadie, an Abbey Road Doorman, a musician in another group... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful