Advantages: Intriguing with great characters and an air of mystery Disadvantages: Ending was a little disappointing.
Synopsis
Set in Ireland, At A Time Like This follows four friends who meet while studying at Trinity College. On leaving university and making their own way in the world, they made a pact to always keep in touch and meet monthly. We join them on the eve of the 25th anniversary of that pact, now women in their forties with varying success in their lives. But what secrets will be revealed and throw doubt on 25 years of Friendship? And why is one of the four planning not to be there at all?
Characters
Georgie
Strong willed, intelligent, impatient and fiercely loyal, Georgina, or Georgie as she is known to her friends is at the centre of the friendships having brought them together at college. Now a successful Business woman, wife and mother of twins, she is about to throw everything away and embark on a new life ...
Advantages: A typical Chick Lit novel Disadvantages: Characters a little weak, plot appeals to limited audience.
Review of ?By The Time You Read This? a novel by Lola Jaye.
The Book
I am reviewing the paperback version of this novel, the first from the pen of Lola Jaye.
The book is published by Harper Collins under ISBN number 0007266553 . The book contains 321 pages and bears the jacket price of £6.99.
The cover is eye catching and modern, a very feminine floral design which fits well with the contemporary fiction/chick lit genre of the novel.
The Plot
Twelve year old Lois Bates is devastated when her mother decides to re-marry. Lois and her mother have been alone since Lois was five years old, following the untimely death of Lois' father, Kevin.
Kevin Bates passed away from an illness, which the book never actual touches upon at the age of 30.
Lois cannot understand that her mother wishes to marry again and feels that her ...
Advantages: Happy pop music Disadvantages: Formulaic, a little forgettable, not a great voice
Following three solo albums and sales of three million, Mel C is back with 12 new pop tracks, released on her own label, Red Girl Records. This presumably means she got dropped by her record company but at least she?s the only one of the Spice Girls showing any sign of girl power, so all credit to her. It starts off quite well: track one ?Understand? reminded me a bit of something else in its guitar sound, U2 maybe, and was a catchy enough rock track.
A couple of slower ones followed; track three ?Protected? has a nice chorus but it?s co-written with Guy Chambers, the bloke who made Robbie Williams good, and Cathy Dennis, she of Kylie?s ?Can?t get you out of my head?. This is followed by the poppier ?Thistime?.
However: the Mel C effect kicks in about now. It works like this: you get the album and think ?Hmmm, Mel C, she was the one ...
Product Information for "This Time - Dwight Yoakam" »
Product details
Title
This Time
Performer
Dwight Yoakam
Genre
Country
Sub Genre
Contemporary Country
Release Date
04/1993
Original Release Year
1993
Label / Distributor
Reprise / Cinram Logistics
Engineer
Peter Doell; Dusty Wakeman
Producer
Pete Anderson
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Stereo
Stereo
Format
Performer
EAN
93624524120
Catalogue Number
9362452412
Additional notes
Album Notes
Personnel: Dwight Yoakam (vocals, guitar); Dean Parks (acoustic guitar); Pete Anderson (electric guitar); Al Perkins (lap & pedal steel guitars, dobro); Scott Joss, Don Reed (fiddle); Skip Edwards (keyboards); Charles Domanico (acoustic bass); Taras Prodaniuk (bass); Jeff Donavan (drums); Scott Humphrey (programming); Tommy Funderburk, Beth Andersen, Carl Jackson, Jim Haas, Jim Lauderdale (background vocals). Recorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles, California. "Ain't That Lonely Yet" won Best Male Country Vocal Performance in the 36th Annual Grammy Awards. "Pocket Of A Clown" was nominated for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in the 37th Annual Grammy Awards. Dwight Yoakam's sixth release, THIS TIME, is a progressive country gem which embraces the past while forging forward into the future. Stretching vocally and musically (he wrote or co-wrote all but one song), Dwight, a rebel with a Kentucky twang and an L.A. swagger, presents the best album of his career. "A Thousand Miles From Nowhere" is a haunting, folk-rockabilly song with a unique country twist. "Pocket Of A Clown," with its "oooh waah" chorus, is a brilliant send-up of overly serious ballads. "Ain't That Lonely Yet" is a supreme pop song, the story of a heartless lover told to kiss-off, with a vocal that glides sky high. "Fast as You" is a sexy moaner, with evil chuckles, erotic purrs, and Orbison-esque growls and sighs, over a fantastic Hammond organ and "Pretty Woman"/"Peter Gunn" rhythm. "This Time" is a loose-jawed, traditional Buck Owens tribute, and "Wild Ride" could be a Rolling Stones out-take. "Lonesome Roads" catches the very '90s Yoakam blowing with the tumbleweed, straight back to the hillbilly traditions of Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers.
Album Reviews
Rolling Stone (6/10/93, p.67) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...the finest showcase to date of Yoakam's artistry...From him, a slight shudder conveys more than most singers can express through a sob...Yoakam has learned to get where he's going with fewer strokes, less self-consciousness..." Musician (6/93, p.88) - "[Yoakam is] musically willing to combine honky-tonk and hillbilly configurations with rockabilly beats and stone rock guitar...an interesting mix of the shrewd and the guileless, and of each at different times pretending to be the other..." Village Voice (3/1/94, p.5) - Ranked #26 in the Village Voice's 1993 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. Q (4/93, p.91) - 3 Stars - Good - "...shows the wisdom of what might be called predictability....an approach that in clumsier hands might pass for parody and sentimentalism but Yoakam does have integrity..." Entertainment Weekly (4/2/93, p.51) - "...old-fashioned country shuffles with Elvis Presley attitude and long, Eric Clapton-style guitar outros...this is music for the long haul..." - Rating: A-
