No Hay Banda - Audrey Horne

Advantages: Catchy Tunes and "Bad Luck Sammie"
Disadvantages: VERY hard to find!!!!

...I took me months to find this album! I’d heard a song called “Bad Luck Sammie” and it was so catchy I’d spent months singing it, so I decided that I HAD to buy the album. Easier said than done. Banda Macho was The Figgs second album (the first being “Low Fi at Society High”) and it was released on Capitol Records. As Capitol is a major a major label, I thought it would be easy to track down! As my local indie record store claimed it didn’t exist I ended up searching second hand US websites and eventually found it for the princely sum of $3! The Figgs are Mike Gent (guitar, vocals), Pete Donnelly (bass), Guy Lyons (lead guitar) and Pete Hayes (drums). They play a kind of summery punk/pop although with the emphasis firmly on pop. Think a cross between Green Day and Soul Asylum with a bit... Read review

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Advantages: Two outstanding peices of chamber music for an unusual combination of instruments
Disadvantages: On the surface quite contrasting works, listener must be openminded

...The work of Ligeti has been at the forefront of Western avant-garde since his escape from the oppressive communist regime of Hungary in 1956, and he is widely appreciated as one of the most outstanding contemporary composers. The Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano because it was born out of a three-year period of illness and writer's block after the completion of Le Grand Macabre in which time he laboured over a piano concerto but completed only two short harpsichord pieces (Continuum and Hungarian Rock), yet the result in 1982 was the Trio, one of the finest and most complex pieces written so far. His career up to this point had included such sucesses as his Requiem, Atmosphères and the soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick's film 2001. Tiring of his own cluster-textural techniques and the avant-garde, Ligeti refreshed his compositional... Read review

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Advantages: classic soul
Disadvantages: not short to listen to

...Before Isaac Hayes was 'Chef' in South Park, he was 'Isaac Hayes - soul prophet'. 'Hot Buttered Soul' is one of the top ten soul albums of all time, and possibly the best ever soul debut album, most acts taking time to deliver their best in this genre. Hayes scores straight out of the blocks with an astonishing 12 minute version of 'Walk on By', the old Bacharach-David staple, except we've never heard it like this - riding in with the strings and choir from an imaginary western, cut with acid guitar and a razor-sharp backbeat. Isaac Hayes is unusual in that the longer one of his tracks is, the better it seems to be. His vocal style starts gentle and works up a head of steam into the middle of the cut, which is followed by an instrumental ending which starts softly and goes into a hammond organ and drum-driven rhythmic freakout featuring... Read review

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