What Are You Listening To?

[Jerome]

ROXY MUSIC "avalon" cd/vinyl, 1982.

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

i guess this album goes here in "pop" as that it what it is, as opposed to their artsy sounds of the 1970s...!
got this one in vinyl when it came it...purely on the strength of their previous single "jealous guy" which i loved....and recEntly upgraded to the cd version...
man, these synth sounds sound so crystal clear on cd and luckily it doesnt lack the warmth of the vinyl version neither.
look,
im not a big fan of these guys, have a best of set, some of which is brilliant,the rest i find unlistenable drivel...maybe its too 'artsy fartsy' for my tastes, i dunno, but millions obviously disagree because Ferry is still touring the world to rave reviews and huge crowds...so who am i to criticise!, but the same goes for this one also, either love or loathe the tracks..
but all up this is a pretty good album, a couple of tracks i dont like but several which are to die for IMO.
some nice seductive sounds on here along with Ferry's smooth 'crooner-like' vocals and easy listening sounds to compliment it all beautifully...
allmusic pro's give this one full marks(5/5).

worst track: tara
best track: to turn you on

tracks:

1. more than this ***
2. the space between *
3. avalon ***
4. india *
5. while my heart is still beating ***
6. the main thing **
7. take a chance with me ***
8. to turn you on ***
9. true to life *
10.tara *

3s=5
2s=1
1s=4

rating: 2.1

A spectacular album!

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JAMES REYNE "the best" cd,1992.

IMO "best of" sets only serve their purpose for two reasons:
1. as an introduction to an artist
2. if the artist makes crap studio albums but is a good singles artist...
and James Reyne fits comfortably into the first catagory, he produced some of the finest singles to come from Australia in the 1980s and early 1990s so this serves well as a starting point.
as the front man for late seventies/early eighties outfit Australian Crawl he was brilliant, as were two of their albums, but the other albums by AC were also mediocre...on this one is a cover of an old Australian Crwal hit "reckless", nah!,...i'll stick with the original version,this one is crap!
this album covers the first decade of his singles as a solo artist, i had forgotten just how many little gems this one contains, from the Billy Idol-esque "fall of rome", through straight pop's "motors too fast" and "hammerhead",the Gospel choir sounding "heaven on a stick", through to his cover of an Aussie country classic "way out west" with aussie country star James Blundell, ans a couple of acoustic tracks i had totally forgotten about over the sands of time!
all up a very good collection of Downunder hits by one of the most consistant "singles" artists we have produced...thus this one just misses the "love" rating

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

worst track: rip it up
best track: way out west

tracks:

1. fall of rome **
James Reyne Fall of Rome (Max Sessions 2010) - YouTube live
2. hammerhead ***
James Reyne Hammerhead (Max Sessions 2010) - YouTube live
3. rip it up *
James Reyne - Rip It Up - Live 1988 - YouTube live
4. motor's too fast ***
James Reyne Motors Too Fast (Max Sessions 2010) - YouTube live
5. outback woman **
6. one more river ***
James Reyne - One More River - YouTube live
7. stand up ***
8. slave ***
James Reyne Slave (Max Sessions 2010) - YouTube live
9. any day above ground **
James Reyne - Any Day Above Ground - Live on Steve Vizard Show 1992. - YouTube live
10.some people **
JAMES REYNE - SOME PEOPLE 1992 (Audio Enhanced) - YouTube video
11.wake up dead man ***
12.way out west ***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySzhj-XoZb4 video
13.reckless *
14.heaven on a stick **
James Reyne Heaven on a Stick - YouTube audio
15.always the way **

3s=7
2s=6
1s=2

rating: 2.3

as an added bonus three Australian Crawl tracks, all of which are worth the effort to watch!!!!

hoochie gucci fiorucci mama
Australian Crawl - Hoochie Gucci Fiorucci Mama (1980) - YouTube video

oh no, not you again
Australian Crawl - Oh No, Not You Again lyrics - YouTube audio with lyrics

two can play
Australian Crawl - Two Can Play video (VG quality) - YouTube video

[Music Head]

from my library (vinyl)



Seventeenth album for Kenny. As much as I nag him for abandoning his country sound, gotta give him credit for
hanging in there with the pop. That's what this is once again. Not much different than the previous few. Only the
one cover of the title/leadoff track that I know of, a duet with Dolly. That for me is the worst thing on here,
with Dolly's squeaky fake laugh in the spoken dialogue part just too much. That was the highest charting of the
three singles released, reaching #21 country, which is the same showing as the album. The other two singles, Lay My
Body Down and What I Did For Love fared much worse. Ironic that this was the first of Kenny's albums since the
first one to not hit the pop charts and yet there's not a country song on it. There are a couple of love tracks in
So Little Love In The World and In Our Old Age that help me to like the album.

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

Worst Track - Love Is Strange

Best Track - In Our Old Age

Comin’ home from work today I saw our future
And old man and his wife were holdin’ hands
They were sittin’ on a front porch swing
Like two young lovers
I waved to them as I went by then I realized
That life does not grow dimmer with the settin’ of the sun
The best years of our lives still are yet to come.

In our old age love will just get better
The longer we’re together, we’ll grow stronger everyday
Our bodies may get weaker and our hair will turn gray
But love will never fade in our age ( love will never fade ).

One day the kids will all be grown and they’ll be leavin’
And it will be like it was years ago
We’ll be sittin’ on the front porch swing like two young lovers
‘cos today I just saw what our future holds

1) Love Is Strange *
video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kIc7ARl4HE
2) Soldier Of Love *
audio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea0afzGYwrk
3) Listen To The Rain **
audio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGxaHnWH-N4
4) If I Were A Painting **
5) Crazy In Love **
audio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G1WkLIx1HI
6) Lay My Body Down **
audio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5vPoMlYqQE
7) So Little Love In The World ***
audio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giKw_O7XBto
8) Walk Away **
9) In Our Old Age ***
audio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or-_5zlm1XI
10) What I Did For Love **
audio - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuKqxi84-oI

3's - 2
2's - 6
1's - 2

Grade - 2.0

so many albums, so little time

[CRAZY-HORSE]

Love Is Strange...im yet to find a version of it that i actually like, guess Phil & Don's version is ok i guess.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

PRINCE "the hits/the b-sides" cd,1993.

this is a triple best of set containing 56 singles both "A" and "B" sides..form the looks of the songs overall i'd say disc two is my favourite, but im doing disc one now...
Prince has to be one of the most eclectic musicians in rock history, either as an artist or writer of hits for other people...
there seems to be nothing he hasnt done..
this disc contains mostly early singles and i prefer his more experimental sonds than these falsetto type disco songs, but they arent too bad overall, this disc does contain the original version of "nothing compares 2 U" which was a huge hit for Sinead O'Connor...her version is far superior to His Majesty's version.
but at least this disc does contain "lets go crazy" and "1999".
unfortunately for Prince he was always up against Michael Jackson in the 1980s and always played second fiddle to him, but IMO Prince is just as good if not better than MJ...until he changed his name to that stupid squiggly symbol thing!!!!!
not posting links for this one, we all know the songs and we either like or dislike prince, those who like him will have or know the songs those that dont will not be swayed by my links anyway!

I LIKE THIS DISC

worst track: pink cashmere
best track: sign o'the times

tracks:

1. when doves cry ***
2. pop life *
3. soft and wet **
4. i feel for you **
5. why you wanna treat me so bad? **
6. when you were mine **
7. uptown **
8. lets go crazy ***
9. 1999 ***
10.i could never take the place of your man ***
11.nothing compares 2 U **
12.adore *
13.pink cashmere *
14.alphabet street ***
15.sign o'the times ***
16.thieves in the temple ***
17.diamonds and pearls ***
18.7 ***

3s=9
2s=6
1s=3

rating: 2.3

[CRAZY-HORSE]

[URL="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/B000026B2J/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=229816&s=music"]
[/URL]

MICHAEL BOLTON "soul provider" cd,1989.

yeah i know....cringeworthy Bolton!
i used to like this when it first came out, dont like it as much now though.
Michael Bolton, the piano rock/pop balladeer, probably more famous for his mop of hair than anything else nowadays, but he did have five US hits on here...surprised that the woeful rendition of Ray's "georgia on my mind" actually made the pop charts in the US though(#36)...terrible IMO, takes a lot to come anywhere near Ray and Willie's versions IMO.
MB recieved a Grammy for best male vocal performance on "how am i supposed to live without you"...my favourite one here, which incidently was originally a Laura Brannigan song, remember her?, i doubt it, she only had one hit outside of the US in "gloria", then she dissapeared to perform in South Africa against an international embargo against the aparthied regime there, and was never heard of again in the western world on radio...
half the album recieves a 'do not like' score for me, but that is purely the songs, not his voice...i like his voice a lot, just his songs that seem to put me off them.

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

worst track: georgia on my mind
best track: how am i supposed to live without you

tracks:

1. soul provider **
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sru2N25rbE live
2. georgia on my mind *
3. its only my heart *
4. how am i supposed to live without you ***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbUB6TzhxfU live
5. how can we be lovers ***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YApJmRjqZRs live
6. you wouldnt know love **
7. when im back on my feet again *
8. from now on **
9. love cuts deep *
10.stand up for love *

3s=2
2s=3
1s=5

rating: 1.7

[Music Head]

I am cringing
dude reminds me of Kenny G

[CRAZY-HORSE]

I am cringing
dude reminds me of Kenny G

just choked on my cigarette reading your reply!

[CRAZY-HORSE]

THE BASICS "stand out/fit in" cd,2007.

theres a bio of these guys in the"new artists" thread in general music if youre interested....?

got this one from Corey some 18 months ago,he said these guys never made the charts with any of their two or three albums but were very good musicians...so i got it, played it quite a bit to get to know it, then by chance the other week he asked if i liked The Basics, i was shocked he remembered he recommended this one to me..he then went on to say who the drummer/vocalist was, i was surprised to find it was Wally De Backer...the guy we all know now as Gotye!!!! so it basically took Gotye around eight years to actually start selling records!
anyway...enough of my waffling, back to the album at hand...
for the most part a very 1960s pop sounding record here, except the opening track which has more in common with the indi pop sounds. two covers on here: an obscure Chuck Berry track called "have love,will travel", and a cover of "three cool cats", cant remember who did that one first, but i have The Beatles doing it on the "live at the BBC" double disc set.
never liked that song by them either!
elsewhere, some fine easy sounds, good lyrics and beats...all up a fine album from the Dutch born Australian, Gotye...
i didnt think i'd find as many links to these tracks as i did either...especially the quality of the live ones!!!!

I LIKE THIS ALBUM

worst track: three cool cats
best track: lookin' over my shoulder

tracks:

1. rattle my chain **
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzTwnS4hpnI live
2. memory lane ***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrzFIiI7Y8A live
3. have love,will travel ***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIF2jVX4DX8 audio
4. hey there! *
5. just hold on ***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4waPaGiWs-g video
6. (love,love) speak to me **
7. lookin' over my shoulder ***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYS1pHPw_Lc video
8. sound off ***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT4lcc6QyHk audio
9. better **
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tToDOhwN-uI live
10.the two words **
11.three cool cats *
12.bitten by the same bug **
13.that girl **

3s=5
2s=6
1s=2

rating: 2.2

[SteveO]

My daughter saw Prince here two months ago and he blew the roof off !!!!..quite the live show I gather !!!!

PRINCE "the hits/the b-sides" cd,1993.

this is a triple best of set containing 56 singles both "A" and "B" sides..form the looks of the songs overall i'd say disc two is my favourite, but im doing disc one now...
Prince has to be one of the most eclectic musicians in rock history, either as an artist or writer of hits for other people...
there seems to be nothing he hasnt done..
this disc contains mostly early singles and i prefer his more experimental sonds than these falsetto type disco songs, but they arent too bad overall, this disc does contain the original version of "nothing compares 2 U" which was a huge hit for Sinead O'Connor...her version is far superior to His Majesty's version.
but at least this disc does contain "lets go crazy" and "1999".
unfortunately for Prince he was always up against Michael Jackson in the 1980s and always played second fiddle to him, but IMO Prince is just as good if not better than MJ...until he changed his name to that stupid squiggly symbol thing!!!!!
not posting links for this one, we all know the songs and we either like or dislike prince, those who like him will have or know the songs those that dont will not be swayed by my links anyway!

I LIKE THIS DISC

worst track: pink cashmere
best track: sign o'the times

tracks:

1. when doves cry ***
2. pop life *
3. soft and wet **
4. i feel for you **
5. why you wanna treat me so bad? **
6. when you were mine **
7. uptown **
8. lets go crazy ***
9. 1999 ***
10.i could never take the place of your man ***
11.nothing compares 2 U **
12.adore *
13.pink cashmere *
14.alphabet street ***
15.sign o'the times ***
16.thieves in the temple ***
17.diamonds and pearls ***
18.7 ***

3s=9
2s=6
1s=3

rating: 2.3