Rise [Digipak] - Herb Alpert

Advantages: A couple of excellent songs
Disadvantages: The rest of the album is dispensable and on the slushy side

.... Of course, she started out as a drummer, and by all accounts would rather have continued drumming than become a lead vocalist, great though she was. Onto the less good tracks: “Let me the one” and “Sometimes” are both OK ballads. Only OK. You also have “One love”, and “For all we know”, both verging on the sickly sweet but pleasant enough. And then we have the awful tracks (in my opinion, that is): “Saturday” has Richard on lead vocals, (well, let’s face it, Karen was the only choice for vocalist in the Carpenters) and sounds like it would fit in well on a cheesy 70s TV show, although it would sound dated even then, and it would be filler. The brass sound always reminded me of Herb Alpert – which I later realised makes perfect sense – Alpert was the man who signed them up (their label, A&M, is his label, named after Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: A surprisingly good album
Disadvantages: Not perfect

...Fort Minor is the group formed by Linkin Park member Mike Shinoda (he was the MC/rapper). Despite this, The Rising Tied is not specifically for fans of Linkin Park (although fans of Linkin Park enjoy is especially). Mike Shinoda creates a fresh new sound using a combination of instruments and technology (no samples) making a fantastic album. There are few limits to he subjects mentioned on the album, the topics range from Mike Shinoda's experiences at the start-up of Linkin Park (Get Me Gone), the game that is rap (Cigarettes), to the everyday experiences of people (Right Now). Fort Minor also describes the experiences that the Japanese people in America were subjected to during World War II (Kenji). In addition to fantastic lyrics, The Rising Tied features a range of other artists that add to the greatness of the songs thay appear... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Great mood music, good tunes, varied
Disadvantages: Brief moments of Euro discopop

...that Nicolas Godlin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel are French - there's their names for a start, a song called "Ce Matin La", and half the lyrics, of "Sexy Boy" (destined to be played in gay clubs for evermore) especially, are in French. The song that I adore, and the one that I bought the album for, is Kelly Watch the Stars, has a wonderous, mesmerising, quality about it. Another favourite of mine is "Remember", which has a fantastic Beach Boys style beat, and some nice electric guitars - because of which I suppose, it ends up reminding me of the late Pixies stuff, surprisingly enough. The album is varied. "Ce Matin La" is very easy listening in style, with a herb Alpert style trumpet, but even this manages to sound good, probably due to the guitars again. Then the track "All I Need" is acoustic-based, and features vocals from American singer Beth... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful