Taste Of Tequila/Hats Off - Mariachi Brass & Chet Baker

Advantages: Great patriotic tracks
Disadvantages: none

...I'm sure many of you out there remember the release of the film Brassed Off in 1996, which reminded many people of the strife of a miner, and sparked in the UK a new interest in brass bands. For those who never saw Brassed Off (with the lovely Ewan McGregor :o) ), it follows the life of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, made up of members of the Grimethorpe Colliery (that's miners to you and me!). Watch the band (featuring McGregor, Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald) as they try and work their way to the National Brass Band Finals- do they make it? The original film soundtrack was released in 1996, and when listening to it, it's easy to understand why it sold 50,000 copies and got the UK into brass band music! I think there's something quintessentially British about brass bands, and spark a patriotic pride in all of us. Plus... Read review

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Advantages: Some catchy numbers, Hysni Zela's vocals
Disadvantages: Not all wedding music, not enough Hysni Zela, over-produced

...Browsing the CDs in the 'World Music' section of my local independent music store I came across the intriguing "Albanian Wedding: Brass Explosion" by a band called Fanfara Tirana. So delighted was I with the cover picture of a pompom-ed slipper and the back cover shot of the band in their finery that I bought the CD immediately. Reading the cover notes I discovered that the band is something of a novelty because, while brass instruments are not unknown in traditional Albanian music, there has never been the tradition of brass bands such as this. Although the band members are all serious and (very talented) musicians, they decided to form a brass band as a joke to create a tradition that never existed - brass bands travelling from town to town playing traditional music at weddings which is very common in the other Balkan countries... Read review

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Advantages: See opinion
Disadvantages: See opinion

...~ ~ So what’s this, you may well ask? A music review from the “mad cabbie”!!!! Am I seeing right? Well, believe it or believe it not, the only reason I have never written in this category before is because no matter how hard I try to attempt to get across what I want to convey, it all seems to come out all cock-eyed. But listening to one of my favourite singers on the CD-Rom last night while I surfed around the Web, I realised that I couldn’t put off the evil day any longer. ~ ~ Some of you will probably remember a song from the late 1970’s called “Baker Street”, by a Scot’s singer called Gerry Rafferty. If you listen to the radio at all you can hardly have missed it, as even now there is hardly a day passes that it is not played at some point. I believe there was even a cover... Read review

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