Pushin' Too Hard (The Best Of...) - Seeds (The)

Advantages: A compilation of great songs from a great musician
Disadvantages: Disadvantages?!

...evolved after a breakdown of a jam from "Voodoo Child" - or so the booklet says! - this three minutes and fourty six seconds may seem raw and disjointed to many of us, but it symbolises the Hendrix legend - an incredible talent, with an eye and an ear for the alternative. Don't worry, the few tracks I've not mentioned are good enough for me. But it's unnecessary to fill page after page of reviewing song-after-song. So I opted for my best of the best of. A cracking line-up of songs there you must admit!! The second disc includes eight extra tracks such as b-sides and live material... "Highway Chile" - 3:39 "Gloria" - 8.52 "It's Too Bad" - 8:52 "Spanish Castle Music" - 5:48 "Hear My Train A Comin' - 6:56 "Lover Man" - 2:56 "I Don't Live Today" Live - 6:32 "Purple Haze" Live - 4:03 The opening track "Highway Chile" is... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Value of money, something different!
Disadvantages: Not for everyone!

...) and heavy on vocals in the mix. What sets it apart is Monroe’s voice – not quite punk and not quite mainstream. It’s hard to put him in context with other artists on the basis of this track, but it’s a distinctive voice without being showy. The other sign of the 80’s is the female (I assume!) backing singing towards the end and the too-much guitars on the end. Now I like fret wanking as much as the next rock fan (hello Mr Sleeve!) but this is a true sign of 1980’s over-self-indulgence. 2. Tragedy With this, I can begin to recognise where modern rock bands may have picked up some tricks from,. The guitar riff is very good, but also familiar, even to my Hanoi-virgin ears when I first bought this. Never mind, sit back and enjoy Monroe’s lyrics about “the music slowly dying” and him “jumping out of his jeans”. It’s odd, the verse seems to detail... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: The "best" of nick cave and the bad seeds, Cave's vocals, great songs, wonderful lyrics
Disadvantages: Some "bad" songs

...Nick Cave and the Bad seeds put their best songs together on an album and this is what we end up with. A sixteen track CD, wich has songs dating right through their career together (almost). Cave got with the Bad seeds in 1984 and this album goes as far back as that an all the way upto 1997 (The boatmans call). The album takes songs from each of the albums in this time peroid (though as the inlay booklet confess, not in chronological order). Cave and the bad seeds, have been described as being "Post-punk", "alt-rock" and "rock" all of these and more could be used to explain the bands sounds. Caves deep vocals as well as the musical arrangements which spand from simple to incredibly difficult, mixed with the dark and deep lyrics, allow this album to be a show case of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. So the songs list from their rather... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful