Real Cool - Tommy McCook

Advantages: Great album
Disadvantages: Pathetic film

...as the fact that he misses his real dad, makes him go deaf, dumb and blind. Yes I know that this sounds a little odd… but this is what happens! “What about the boy, he saw it all. You didn’t hear it, you didn’t see it, you never heard it- not a word of it…” AMAZING JOURNEY Tommy experiences a journey- re-creating what his real dad experienced before he died. This is quite bizarre! “Sickness will surely take the mind where minds can’t usually go, come on the amazing journey, and learn all that you should know” The images that Tommy experiences (whilst he spins around on a beach with a box on his head!) kind of explain the weirdness of the album sleeve! FAIRGROUND CHRISTMAS (CHRISTMAS) Children love Christmas “…but Tommy doesn’t know what day it is?”, hence “Tommy... Read review

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Advantages: a milestone in musical history
Disadvantages: Kieth Moon sings

...The CD revolutionised the music industry, but there was a downside. Millions of great records were lost because they were only on vinyl. Once my wife threw out my crackly old record deck I lost access to lots of quality music. Thankfully the back catalogues of many great names are being reissued in CD form. And as a bonus they usually cost less then you paid for them first time around! Such is the case with the seminal rock record Tommy. Originally released at the very end of the 60s Tommy encapsulates the mood of the time. To quote the sleeve notes, it is an everyday story of murder, trauma, bullying, child molesting, sex, drugs, illusion, delusion, altered conciousness, spiritual awakening, religion, charlatanism, succes, superstardom, faith, betrayal, rejection and pinball. Not bad in 70 minutes, eh? The storyline for the worlds... Read review

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Advantages: Fantastic bassline. Original sounds. Good chioce of tracks.
Disadvantages: It's music designed for sound systems. Sound quality suffers.

...). There are only really a handful of dub reggae artists from the 70’s, but between them they have produced a lot of material. The 21 tracks here, recorded at Randy’s, Black Ark, Harry J’s, Channel One and King Tubby’s studios are simply a taster of the total. Sadly Augustus Pablo (Horace Swaby) died in 1999 at only 46 from the nerve disorder ‘Myasthenia Gravis’ but left a whole discography behind for us to enjoy. The album features a whole host of bass players and drummers. On lead guitar is Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith and on rhythm guitar are Fazal Predergrass, Tommy McCook, Marquis, Bobby Ellis and Vincent Gordon. The saxophone is played by Richard ‘Dirty Harry’ Hall and Everton DaSilva is on percussions. For a good comparison check out King Tubby, Lee Perry or Scientist. The first two of which have also contributed to this album. I seriously recommend... Read review

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