Music Now!

Archive for March, 2011

Orange is the latest Rock CD released by the extremely talented Al Stewart who once again has delivered a brilliant collection of tracks. I’m confident Al Stewart fans, and Rock fans alike will be pleased with this one.

Orange launches with an outstanding track, You Don’t Even Know Me, that I anticipate will be heard on radio stations everywhere, and deservedly so. It really is a very nice track.

Rock music fans will recognize some of the well known guests that have been assembled to play along with Stewart on several of the tracks. Artists like Tim Renwick and Rick Wakeman just to name a couple.

If you’re even mildly into Rock music you’ll enjoy this album. Overall Orange is an outstanding release. I give it my double thumbs up. You will not be disappointed with one single track.

While this entire album is outstanding some of my favorites are track 3 – Songs Out Of Clay, track 7 – I’m Falling, and track 11 – It Doesn’t Matter Anymore

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 – You Don’t Even Know Me. What a nice track!

Orange Release Notes:

Al Stewart originally released Orange on June 22, 2007 on the Collectors’ Choice label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. You Don’t Even Know Me 2. Amsterdam 3. Songs Out Of Clay 4. News From Spain, The 5. I Don’t Believe You 6. Once An Orage, Always An Orange 7. I’m Falling 8. Night Of The 4th Of May 9. Soho (Needless To Say) – (Bonus Track) 10. Elvaston Place – (Bonus Track) 11. It Doesn’t Matter Anymore – (Bonus Track)

Personnel includes: Al Stewart, Rick Wakeman, Brinsley Schwarz.

Personnel: Al Stewart (acoustic guitar); Brinsley Schwarz (acoustic 12-string guitar); Tim Renwick (electric guitar); Cal Bachelor, Tim Walker (Spanish guitar); Rick Wakeman, Bob Andrews (organ); Brian Odgers, Bruce Thomas (bass guitar); Craham Hunt, John Wilson, Roger Pope (drums); John Donnelly, Mick Welton, Kevin Powers (background vocals).

MARK RONSON & THE BUSINESS INTL – Someone To Love Me

The combination of that smug Mark Ronson chap and (ex-convict) Boy George SHOULD annoy any normal sane-thinking individual. However, if you close your eyes and try to blank your head of any thoughts, then it is possible to enjoy this without any overwhelming feelings of deep resentment.

Ronson’s 12″ single Somebody To Love Me is a nice mix of ’80s vibes, white soul and cheesy pop that includes a hefty lunged vocal from Boy George (shouldn’t it be Man George by now) and Miike Snow’s Andrew Wyatt along for the ride. By the time the beat kicks in, you’ll be totally likely to briefly forget your mean anti-Ronson sentiments for a few minutes.

Rated 4 out of 5

MORNING PARADE – Under The Stars

A Paul Lester piece on The Guardian website about the Morning Parade boys featured the quote “Whenever we write something, we ask ourselves, ‘Can you see 100,000 people singing this back to you?’ If not, we get rid of it. We want to be huge.”

The first taste of their HUGE efforts to be a mega big U2-esque band arrives in the form of debut 7″ release Under The Stars. It’s slow-building to epic in the same way annoying way that all anthemic rock songs are, but with a unique dance underbelly. However, judging by the earlier quote, we are shocked that this song wasn’t thrown away. Not dreadful at all, but we doubt this sort of tune will sell-out Wembley yet.

Download Rated 3 out of 5

LITTLE FISH – Sweat N Shiver

Little Fish are an Oxford band (with a fruitloop of a singer called Juju Sophie) that are swimming along nicely after hooking up with (producer) Linda Perry and supporting everyone’s fave hairy band – Supergrass, Them Crooked Vultures, Placebo, and Hole.

The main comparison here is a Janis Joplin tune with a slightly grungey vocal. However, these Little Fish need to start moving forward a bit faster, otherwise they risk being eaten by other bigger fish in the big wide pop music ocean. Although, having said that…this is a nice tune that should pick up a few extra fans.

Rated 3 out of 5

ENTER SHIKARI – Destabilise

Destabilise is the new stand-alone single from St. Albans post-hardcore band Enter Shikari, who are that silly band that I can never spell correctly without checking with Google. The gits.

Sure, ‘hardcore’ means that it has some angry-ish bloke shouting rather than singing, which kind of ruins the entire song. The mellower moments are quite pleasing on the ear and a decent vocal would have created a great little song, but the shouty bits are basically ‘laugh out loud funny’ which we obviously presume isn’t really the idea at all. STOP SHOUTING!

Rated 2 out of 5

PET SHOP BOYS – Together

The Pet Shop Boys have been churning out the same electro stuff for the past 55 years (rough estimate), so we certainly weren’t expecting a flurry of brilliant garage rock riffs and pounding drums! Is this new single a flurry of garage rock riffs and pounding drums then? Err…no. It is middle-of-the-road electro, but we had you all going for a minute didn’t we?

This is basically a rushed release (featuring the traditional synths and the voice of Neil Tennant) to trick us stupid journalists into reminding everyone that their greatest hits compilation has recently been released in our write-ups. Damn it. Download the classic West End Girls instead. That was a freakin’ ace single.

Rated 2 out of 5

CHARLOTTE CHURCH – Logical World

Charlotte Church hasn’t had good press recently with woeful album sales and a public shouting match with her new man friend in a London bar. Bless her. But will our fave ladette be troubling the top of the charts with this release? No. Probs not.

There is nothing particularly wrong with it compared with normal pop stuff – sounding like an average Cheryl Crow style guitar pop ditty, but the X Factor obsessed Great British public don’t seem to be interested anymore. It is perhaps better if Charlotte used her voice more in a Florence Welch-eque way, as we have no idea about the fantastic set of lungs she has when listening to this.

2 out of 5

BLACK EYED PEAS – The Time (Dirty Bit)

The Black Eyed Peas really lost the plot when this ridiculous concept found its way into will.i.am ‘s head. An idea to do a dance version of cheesy classic (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life should NEVER be followed through.

You have to question any song that is based around the big soppy finale from Dirty Dancing. But the only thing worse than a song based around the big soppy finale from Dirty Dancing, is a song that isn’t quite as good as the big soppy finale song from Dirty Dancing. What’s next? A big-beat version of Tina Turner’s Simply The Best? A reggae version of the Ghostbusters theme tune? Whatever the next idea to enter will.i.am’s head is, someone please stop him!

Rated 1 out of 5

ALESHA – Radio

The new Arlene Phillips (and ex-Mis-Teeq singer) releases her latest pop single during her stint as a judge on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing to sell more copies. Sadly, it is as plodding as an Ann Widdecombe waltz.

It is a slow and sappy pop number that is designed to tug at the old heartstrings. It doesn’t. Electric Banana is also sad to report that the Guiness Book of World Records have refused to accept that Alisha has broken the record for ‘the biggest ever earrings in a pop music video’ as well.

Rated 1 out of 5

Christina Aguilera is the latest Pop CD released by the extremely talented Christina Aguilera who once again has delivered a brilliant collection of tracks. I’m confident Christina Aguilera fans, and Pop fans alike will be pleased with this one.

Christina Aguilera literally grabs your attention right from the very beginning with Genie In A Bottle and won’t let go until the very last note of the very last song Obvious, which by the way is another great track.

Pop music fans will recognize some of the well known guests that have been assembled to play along with Aguilera on several of the tracks. Artists like Micheal Thompson and Tim Pierce just to name a couple.

Overall Christina Aguilera is an outstanding release. Quite possibly Christina Aguilera’s best to date. Really spectacular from beginning to end. If you’re even mildly into Pop music you’ll enjoy this album.

While this entire album is really very good some of my favorites are track 2 – What A Girl Wants, track 9 – When You Put Your Hands On Me, and track 12 – Obvious

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 – Genie In A Bottle. Wow!

Christina Aguilera Release Notes:

Christina Aguilera originally released Christina Aguilera on August 24, 1999 on the RCA Records label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Genie In A Bottle 2. What A Girl Wants 3. I Turn To You 4. So Emotional 5. Come On Over (All I Want Is You) 6. Reflection – (from “Mulan”) 7. Love For All Seasons 8. Somebody’s Somebody 9. When You Put Your Hands On Me 10. Blessed 11. Love Will Find A Way 12. Obvious

Personnel includes: Christina Aguilera (vocals); Jerry Goldsmith (conductor); Carl Sturken, Travon Potts (various instruments); John Goux, Bruce Watson, Tim Pierce, Michael Thompson, Anthony Mazza, Ali Boudris (guitar); Heather Holley (piano); Robin Thicke, Pro J. (keyboards, synthesizer, bass, drums); Robert Hoffman (keyboards, bass, drum programming); David Frank, Steve Kipner (keyboards, drums); Ron Harris, Paul Rein, Kris Kellow (keyboards, drum programming); Ron Fair (keyboards); John Glaser (Moog synthsizer); Matt Laug (tambourine); Johan Aberg, Eric Anest (drum programming); Guy Roche (programming); Shelly Peiken, Sue Ann Carwell, Evan Rogers (background vocals). Producers include: David Frank, Steve Kipner, Guy Roche, Ron Harris, Aaron Zigman. Engineers include: David Frank, Steve Kipner, Mario Luccy.

“The Pigeon Detectives” are a five-piece indie rock band from Rothwell, Leeds in England. The Pigeon Detectives are Matt Bowman (Vocals), Oliver Main (Guitars and Backing Vocal), Ryan Wilson (Guitar and Backing Vocal), Dave Best (Bass and Backing Vocal) and Jimmy Naylor (Drums and Backing Vocals). Their music genre are mainly alternative rock, indie rock and garage rock revival and they are signed to Leeds based independent record label Dance To The Radio. Their funny band name? Honestly, i don’t think it’s funny, it’s very unique instead. Speaking of it and according to NME, Drummer Jimmi Naylor stated that he has never like the name, but it grew on him and The Pigeon Detectives started to gain attention due to the silly name. He even mentioned that, “It came from an Australian guy who we met at the Leeds Festival.

Emergency by The Pigeon Detectives is a great successor to its predecessor, Wait For Me. For some, it might even sound better than Wait For Me. It’s kind of funny that you find that The Pigeon Detectives are in some ways, a cross between The Futureheads and The Libertines. The Pigeon Detectives have the raw energy of The Futureheads and the killing guitar hooks of The Libertines. Well The Pigeon Detectives are relatively still new, with only Emergency being their second album, but i’m pretty sure they have a steady growth of fans.

Emergency begins with the guitar-packed “This Is An Emergency”. Matt Bowman can be heard singing, “Don’t make me go, don’t make me go home…” This Is An Emergency is the type of song where it started quiet and slow, eventually when everything is right, it got louder and all the rest of The Pigeon Detectives joined in with, “This Is An Emergency…”. Heavy guitar playing can be heard throughout this track. Definitely a guitar fan will love this track. It may not be the best opening to an album, but hey, This Is An Emergency is good enough to get you asking for more from The Pigeon Detectives.

The second track on Emergency is called “I’m Not Gonna Take This”. It’s a fast tempo track with some fast and start-stop guitar playing. Matt sings, “And im not gonna take it, cause im so sick and tired of you lying, and im not sure if you’re trying for me anymore…” I can see that Matt is frustrated of being lied to over and over again, thus a slight anger can be heard in Matt’s voice. At certain points in I’m Not Gonna Take This, the guitar is being played in a way that it resembles the sound of Indian music where it’s used to control and even hypnotize a snake to perform a snake dance… Perhaps The Pigeon Detectives already got me hypnotized.

“Keep on Your Dress” has a somewhat unique opening to it. Remember a movie which starred Sandra Bullock and called “Ms.Congeniality”? If you can recall, she has a very special talent in that movie, which is making some whistling sound by hovering her hands or palms over half water-filled glasses. Well, Keep On Your Dress has this special sound to it in the beginning. This song is a catchy pop rock ballad which i believe everyone will find it a good listen, especially the guitar which has a hook that is so good.

“Don’t You Wanna Find Out” is another track on Emergency which has some really heavy guitar work and play on it. At times, i find it such a cheerful and happy pop song, especially when Matt goes, “When the sun comes up, there’d be nothing wrong, cause i will be away from you…” Anyone who have not heard of The Pigeon Detectives can start to understand them with Don’t You Wanna Find Out. I thought to myself, don’t you wanna find out more about The Pigeon Detectives?

I like the beginning of “I’ll Be Waiting”, where what sounded like a lazy guitar can be heard until Matt came in with his hyped voice, “I know you think you’re so much better, and we used to get on fine together, now i don’t think that will work, you want to see me in the dirt…” The chorus is even better, together with some light guitar and bass playing, Matt again goes, “I’ll be waiting for you, when you wanna go? When you wanna go?” Honestly, I’ll Be Waiting is such a simple song with some really catchy rhythm and hooks, but things really change, i find myself kind of like this song. Sometimes, it’s simplicity that works like magic.

“She’s Gone” is full of catchy and energetic guitar riff. Whenever i listen to this song, i can imagine that The Pigeon Detectives are having fun with this track. When the chorus comes in, the guitar playing in the background was really good. One of the reasons that The Pigeon Detectives can make it so big is definitely their catchy and ambitious guitar riffs.

“Nothing To Do With You” is a short lovely ballad. In this lovely song, you will discover another side of The Pigeon Detectives. By now you’d have already known that The Pigeon Detectives are awesome with guitars. But Nothing To Do With You expose another side of The Pigeon Detectives. Performed acoustically with the help of acoustic guitars, Matt showed us that he’s equally good even if on acoustic session.

“I’m A Liar” gets it on with start-stop bass line and some guitars which echoed like the sound of reggae. The chorus of I’m A Liar is splendid indeed. Matt goes, “papapa padapa, papapa padapa, i only came here, ’cause I hinder you drinking, darling..” This track is really full of some serious guitar sounds, including the high pitched solo guitar riffing session after the second chorus. I’m A Liar is loud and fun. It wouldn’t be long when you find yourself liking this song. Some serious guitar hooks here.

Emergency continues with “You Don’t Need It”, which its guitar really has some resemblance to those of The Strokes. At first listen to You Don’t Need It, The Pigeon Detectives already got me wanting for more. I just like the whole guitar riffs that were going on throughout this track. Before verse, during verse, during chorus and after chorus. And the rest of The Pigeon Detectives came in and joined the fun and went, “You have me come and go and I just don’t know where I stand, how could you think about me when you’re with another man, oh you don’t need it!..” I wish i can join in as well.

“Say It Like You Mean It” is such a cheerful and happy tune. A fast tempo track where The Pigeon Detectives play at their best. Fast and loud guitar riffs everywhere on this track. The verse of this track is really something. It has the quality to make me wanna sing along as well. If i’m not mistaken, i think Matt is trying to tell a girl to say whatever she was trying to express, thus the lyrics, “Why don’t you say it like you mean it?” This is definitely a track not to be missed if The Pigeon Detectives were to perform live, and you would enjoy this track even on a recording CD version as well. Happy listening.:-D

The title of “Love You For A Day (Hate You For A Week)” is very appealing and after listening to the first track on Emergency, i straight away hit the No.11 button to listen to this track. You see, the title that you chose played a big role as well. Imagine that this track were to be called just “Love You For A Day”. Wouldn’t that be too common for a title? Smart title choice by The Pigeon Detectives. This song is about a couple’s break-up and again, the main instrument that can be heard in Love You For A Day (Hate You For A Week) is guitar. But it’s really good, The Pigeon Detectives know how to play the guitar in style. There are some singing parts in this track that make me wanna sing along as well.

“Making Up Numbers” is yet again another track that contains some heavy guitar riffs. Kind of reminds me Guns and Roses. Every Sentence that Matt sings is followed by some heavy guitars. There’s a catch here in the lyrics, “What the f*ck are we doing here? I’ve made my intentions clear, we should get out while we can.” Seriously if you just read the sentence above, you would know what it means. However, if you look at the lyrics as a whole, it’s hard to understand. Even myself doesn’t get it. Making Up Numbers sounds like another couple’s break-up song yet again. Not a bad effort!

For the first part of “Everybody Wants Me – Draw The Curtain (Hidden Track)”, Everybody Wants Me is sort of catchy with its steady guitar, drums and tempo. It tells the story of a man where he was popular back then when he was young, everybody just wants him.. But he has only one person in his heart. Oh ya, the bass on this track was quite an impression as well. When Draw The Curtain comes alive, it just gets better. Draw The Curtain is an ancoustic track which i think was quite remarkable. The reason i said so? You’ll know when you listen to it. The best part is when The Pigeon Detectives sing together in a band. It’s like they’re having fun with Draw The Curtain as you can hear them laughing and whistling at the end of the track. The end with a happy note!:-D

Rating: Emergency by The Pigeon Detectives is full of energetic guitar riffs. From high pitched ones to those steady hooks. I bet they would leave us all worn out if we were to see them live in a gig or concert. The Pigeon Detectives really make guitars their best friends, with every single track, almost every one of it has some catchy and trademark hooks to it. Considering Emergency is produced less than one year after their debut, they have made Emergency as catchy as possible to whet their fans’ appetite. Even for new fans of The Pigeon Detectives, most likely they’ll have a good impression on Emergency. However to be honest, i find most of their songs forgettable. The Pigeon Detectives are still relatively new, time will tell whether they’ll evolve and grow together as an indie rock band! My rating for Emergency by The Pigeon Detectives would be 6.2 out of 10.

Stand-Out Tracks (My Picks): Don’t You Wanna Find Out, She’s Gone, You Don’t Need It, Say It Like You Mean It and Everybody Wants Me – Draw The Curtain (Hidden Track).

Cheers! 

Darren Tan

Indiesurf.com

Talented Jazz artist Jimmy Smith has released him latest CD on the Blue Note Records recording label, entitled Rockin The Boat.

I wish it weren’t the case but, it’s not everyday that I get a CD from an artist that I can just pop in and comfortably listen to from beginning to end. There is usually a song or two that I just can’t force myself to get through. Not at all the case with Rockin The Boat. Every track is enjoyable and was pretty easy for me to listen to from start to finish.

Jazz music fans will recognize some of the well known guests that have been assembled to play along with Smith on several of the tracks. Artists like Donald Bailey and John Patton just to name a couple.

Listen to Rockin The Boat and I believe you’ll find there’s not much to dis-like about it. The songs are inspired, the production is simply outstanding, and Jimmy Smith is clearly in top form. So much so that if you’re even mildly into Jazz music you’ll enjoy this album.

While this entire album is outstanding some of my favorites are track 5 – Please Send Me Someone To Love, track 6 – Just A Closer Walk With Thee, and track 7 – Trust In Me

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 – When My Dream Boat Comes Home. This is a great track!

Rockin The Boat Release Notes:

Jimmy Smith originally released Rockin The Boat on March 23, 2004 on the Blue Note Records label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. When My Dream Boat Comes Home 2. Pork Chop 3. Matilda, Matilda 4. Can Heat 5. Please Send Me Someone To Love 6. Just A Closer Walk With Thee 7. Trust In Me

Personnel: Jimmy Smith (organ); Lou Donaldson (alto saxophone); Quentin Warren (guitar); Donald Bailey (drums); John Patton (tambourine).

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on February 7, 1963. Includes liner notes by Leonard Feather and Bob Blumenthal.

If you’ve been a conscious living, breathing human being the past 2 years, you should have heard of a little phenomenon, called ‘High School Musical’.

After two highly successful movies, the third (and final) Disney musical hit the big screen back in October, and made a huge box-office dent in the history of musicals.

While the Original ‘High School Musical’ was a fantastic, original, and inspired piece of family-friendly, made-for-T.V. material, the second was a total disaster. Lacking in plot, originality and fun, the second made you begin to question if a third was even conceivable after such a catastrophe. However, the directors and writers went ahead with a third, and instead, this time decided to make it a large-screen, full-length feature movie.

I, myself, will admit I’m a little guilty of enjoying this cheesy franchise, but in times, where you get an overload of raunchy comedies, isn’t it nice to sit back with some purely chaste fun? ‘High School Musical 3: Senior Year’ delivers on many levels, and also remains horridly shallow on many faces as well. While having a terrific set of energetic songs and musical numbers, it also faces the issue of having an emptier storyline. Whatever lacking in plot, was made up with big-scale, broadway-esque type musical numbers that will surely have you tapping your toe.

While I don’t want to by any means praise this film, it still was decent enough, and surprisingly was of equal measure to the original Disney film. Just like the original, it has the fun, snappy songs, as well as a red and white, big finale. The best songs are “Can I Have This Dance?”, a sweet duet between the leads Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), “Scream”, a powerhouse force by Zac Efron, and “The Boys Are Back” a song reliving the bromance between best buds Troy and Chad (Corbin Bleu). The songs are catchy, but are simply mediocre, relying on overused phrases, and simple, surface-level lyrics. Acting, is simply average. While a few standouts exist, the majority blend in as merely mundane. Zac Efron features the best budding acting chops- although not great- he gives the best emotion and onscreen performance to a character forced to mutter awkward lines like “I wish my future could be my future.” Also, Ashley Tisdale is exceptionally fun in the role of Sharpay. Although her performance is solely Disney, she has the chops to go on bigger, and am looking forward to another bitchy performance from her. Everyone else is simply alright, but the most horrifying actress in the bunch is the lead sweetheart herself, Vanessa Hudgens (Gabriella). She’s the actress who I think will have the hardest time landing parts, due to her lack of talent and annoyingly coy persona.

Overall, the movie is predictable, cheesy, and simple, but features some fun, catchy tunes with energetic, colorful musical productions.

This one is a little to grown up for the HSM series. A lot of stuff that shouldn’t have been put in the movie. Over all it was okay for teens.

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to watched the Disney mega-hit, High School Musical 3:Senior Year, and it was a suprised. I expect this movie to be panned by the critics but reading the Empire Magazine review(it was rated 3/5 star), I was astounded. So I watched the movie myself with my youngest sister,overall,it was good.
The choreography was amazing,the storyline was OK and it will make the young ones happy for sure.

Overall, I rated it ***/5

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