Jazz & Blues > Atlantic Jazz & Blues

Dream on!

Advantages: suave and very moody
Disadvantages: don't like track 7!

...voice. The title track , Dreamland is on a different plane and much more upbeat and verging on pop-rock. The two different tracks here penned by the artiste do demonstrate a versatility that other more well known artists seem to lack. The album does contain a variety of styles and each track takes you on a voyage of discovery. "Muddy water" is sung in a downbeat fashion and the very next track is more swinging jazz with a strumming banjo and much ...
...the listener - what's coming next -and the trick works as you can't wait for the next track to come on to see what is served up! (At least I can't!) This is perhaps not as good as the latest album but you can't go wrong if you like light jazz with a slightly husky vocal. Track 7 ( A prayer) is a bit too religious sounding for my liking but the rest I can't stop listening to! "I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter" is sung in a fabulous ...

averycrossman 24.09.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Dreamland - Madeleine Peyroux

A Steel Cheeseburger of Half-Truths and Bearskins

Advantages: Some great heavy metal, a wide range of styles, value for money
Disadvantages: Rushed and unnecessary, only draws from 3 albums, some very dodgy tracks

...finest moments. ‘The Hell of Steel’ is a pretty meaningless and silly title anyway, but adding the subtitle ‘The Best of Manowar’ rubs word salt into the proverbial wound. A more appropriate title would be ‘Some of the Steel: Roughly Half of the Tracks Released By Manowar on this Record Label So Far, Chosen Either Randomly or By an Idiot.’ This title would also help to cover up the appalling front cover. THE HELL OF STEEL 1. Fighting the World * ...
...however the art for ‘The Hell of Steel’ is not up to the usual standard. In fact, accustomed as I am to extravagant fantasy landscapes and beasts, once I opened the booklet out to see the full image I couldn’t help but say: “that is so stupid.” As usual the hero is an overbuilt, mostly naked masked warrior man but the situation he appears to be in is both badly designed and poorly coloured in. His arms also look more wrinkled than muscular, while ...

gunmenoftheapocalypse 08.07.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Hell Of Steel, The (The Best Of Manowar) - Manowar

Arrrgh! I'm dead! Cool.

Advantages: impossible, delicious, juicy, choatic, hellish, revolting.
Disadvantages: it doesn't go on forever.

For some reason the picture Ciao have provided for this album is of some sort of radioactive ice cream rather than the Jackson Pollock painting that actually graces the album's cover. This isn't inappropriate though: like the best ice cream, "Free Jazz" is cool, delicious and of dubious origin. The subtitle, if you care about this sort of thing (and you should) is, "A collective improvisation by the Ornette Coleman double quartet". This matters ...
...often enough in musical contexts, even now, 50 years into the stereo age. "Free Jazz" is a double album - but not two discs, to be played consecutively; rather one disc with two pieces of music to be played simultaneously. As with Lou Reed's own jazz album "Metal Machine Music", headphones are fundamental to the music's appreciation, as the soundtrack to your own early evening collapse into temporary psychosis. Ornette Coleman's double quartet is ...

JonnyOpinion 16.09.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Free Jazz - Ornette Coleman

A Great Archive Let Down By Sequencing

Advantages: Fidelity is great, songwriting, guitar playing and vocals superb, thorough research
Disadvantages: Sequencing - the track order is frustrating

...music fans a like. The Complete Robert Johnson comes across like a standards song book, the contents of which has given birth to numerous cover versions from acclaimed and esteemed bluesmen and rockers from across the globe spanning six decades. There is however, one glaring disappointment with this set and that is with the sequencing. This is the most comprehensive collection of Johnson's material and as such there are alternate takes included. ...
...by side with their original counterparts which makes the whole very hard to listen to as each track is repeated, albeit a variant of the original. It still baffles me as to why the alternates were not on a separate disc from the originals. Even for me, a hardened fan of the genre, it makes for difficult listening if you using an old fashioned CD player. This is a wonderful and comprehensive archive but unfortunately does not work as a listening experience ...

Nixu1980 03.11.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Complete Recordings, The (All 41 Recordings) - Robert Johnson

An Older and Wiser Sequel

Advantages: Great voice, band
Disadvantages: None

...stronger with every listen. Feels Like Home with The Handsome Band and special guests. I am a big fan of Norah Jones. Her first album, Come Away with Me was an absolute classic. The album was certified diamond by the RIAA on February 15, 2005 having sold over 10 million copies in its first three years of release. It won five awards at the Grammy Awards of 2003, including "Record of the Year", "Album of the Year", and "Song of the Year" for "Don't ...
...to an article I read, Feels Like Home is the second album by jazz songwriter Norah Jones, released in 2004. It sold a million copies in the first week of its U.S. release, the first album to do so since Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again (2000) and it was the second best-selling album of 2004, with about 4 million copies sold. It sold 1,920,000 copies on its first week worldwide. Probably the most popular song from the album is track number ...

Spottydog11 29.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Feels Like Home - Norah Jones