Good to see Chris Cornell returning with You Know My Name, from the soundtrack of the new James Bond movie, Casino Royale.

Cornell avoids all the usual Bond theme cliches and delivers a hard-edged rock song.

I suppose it’s in keeping with the new hard-ass Bond, Daniel Craig. Apparently Casino Royale is a much grittier movie than some of the slick Brosnan versions of the last decade. I believe Chris Cornell co-wrote the song with the long time Bond composer, David Arnold.

On the subject of Chris Cornell, check out his version of Billie Jean, which I discovered this evening….

I’ve wanted to shout about this Belle & Sebastian album for months – it’s nothing short of fantastic! The Life Pursuit got serious airplay a few months back, especially around the release of Funny Little Frog.

The Life Pursuit seemingly ignores the past twenty-odd years of music, setting it’s course on a 70’s glam vibe. Some reviewers are likening the album’s sonic approach to T-Rex and Glitter Band. When I first heard The Life Pursuit, my first comparisons were to Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie. It’s almost as if the 80’s didn’t happen! Read more & comment »

Nelly Furtado’s been on a roll recently with singles like Maneater and Promiscuous, and now she slows the pace down a little bit with the atmospheric All Good Things (Come To An End).

Unlike the first two singles, All Good Things doesn’t rely on the ‘Loose’ theme of the album’s title! It’s actually got a very haunting Enya-type vibe, and a distinctly weird video featuring Nelly wandering about a beach and er…dealing with upside-down furniture in a forest!

Still, All Good Things is another excellent track from Nelly’s Loose album, and it’s all a world away from her earlier material. She really has come of age this year!

By the way, am I the only one who thinks she looks like a young Courtney Cox?

We all know Gwen Stefani fancies herself as a bit of a Hip-Hop star, but this shitty bit of sampling takes the biscuit!

There is not a singer, living or dead, who could pull off a line from The Sound Of Music in a pop track. You could say singing “High on a hill was a lonely goatherd” was ballsy, but even thinking about it makes me shudder. Stupid move…

And by the way, what’s with the pseudo-rap? I thought Gwen could sing. Apparently, it’s a case of “Screw singing, let’s make Hollaback Girls Part 2!” Sorry folks, but this is the sort of dirge that should have never seen the light of day. I’m even embarrassed to be reviewing it!

Let’s hope Gwen sobers up and pulls this crap from the shelves. Go and make another bloody No Doubt record!

I’m not afraid to admit that I was an early fan of Destiny’s Child. There was always something aluring about their ‘independent woman’ attitude, infectious tunes and skimpy clothes. Beyonce could kick my ass to the curb any day of the week…

That all changed when Beyonce seemed to become a parody of her sexy self and turned into a loathsome clothes horse as displayed on the pages of Heat magazine every week. Then came the gangsta’s moll phase, when she hooked up with Jay-Z. The girlie Beyonce was replaced by a horrible soft porn version. Not nice.

With the release of Irreplacable, Beyonce seems to have gone back to her roots. And a welcome return it is.

The instrumentation is stripped right back: basically just guitar and a simple drumbeat carrying the tune. A very simple verse/chorus arrangement is enhanced by Beyonce’s most honest vocal performance in recent memory. Beautiful melody in the verses and a chorus so catchy it’ll take a lobotomy to stop you singing it.

Subject matter is a return to Independent Women and Bills, Bills, Bills territory – very much woman on top type of thing.

The video for Irreplaceable carries on the ’stripped down’ theme – Beyonce looking her most natural in ages. The storyline reminds me slightly of the Emotion single Destiny’s Child release a couple of years ago. There’s a little bit of posturing by Ms Knowles, enough to keep the lads happy without being as OTT as her other recent singles.

You mus’ not know ’bout a-me, you mus’ not know ’bout a-me….(contributed by Levee)

Another album from the glory days of 1992? Yep, the controversial ‘concept’ album from Extreme drew much criticism for being over-indulgent. The metal press hated it! With a passion!

The concept? Three sides to every story: yours, mine, and the truth. The album is divided into three sections:

Yours

The very angry first part is meant to symbolise the ‘other side’ of the story, which is aggressive, loud and obnoxious. The songs in this section reflect this and are fast, heavy rock. Warheads kicks things off with a skit of a soldier barking orders at a little boy, then explodes straight into fast-paced rock. Politicalamity is another excellent track in this section, with a Hendrix-style intro riff and some excellent guitar work from Nuno Bettencourt. Cupid’s Dead is very offbeat for Extreme, with an unexpected rap in the middle.

Mine

The Mine section is full of placid music, reflecting how we tell our own side of a story. Seven Sundays is a bit wet for my tastes, but Tragic Comic is funny and endearing and possibly one of Extreme’s better attempts at writing lyrics! The other standout track in this section is the single, Stop The World.

The Truth

The climax of the whole album is the three-part epic Truth section. The is where the self-indulgence rap was aimed back in 1992: overblown, rock-opera style epics. Gary Cherone uses the power of his voice to the best of it’s ability, and the band experiment with orchestral arrangements.

How brave of Extreme to deviate from the ‘hard rock’ path and put on something which pushed the boundaries of their audience. I love this part of the album for it’s pure pomp and power! While the previous sections provide an adequate build-up, the truth section is an explosion of sound and is by far the highlight of the album. Rise ‘N Shine starts off with a gentle, music-box build up and builds up into an orchestral crescendo, then subsides into Am I Ever Gonna Change – an angry, introspective track. Am I Ever Gonna Change leads into the final track, Who Cares?. Cherone and Bettencourt work musical motifs through each track.

The Verdict

III Sides isn’t Pornografitti. Nor is it comparable with their 1988 debut. You’ve still got the heavy riffs and the fly-away guitar work from Nuno, but stylistically, the music is more interesting. It doesn’t match the classic material from the earlier two albums, but it is filled with some pretty amazing songs.

This review was kindly donated by The Levee Breaks blog.

Even the best bands can hit a rut. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are no exception. They have found the musical equivalent of a comfy armchair and are loathe to leave it.

Californication and By The Way were both fine albums, but they didn’t really break any new ground. I know this won’t be popular, but their sound is becoming latter-day Bon Jovi bland.

I was having a browse through my CD collection a while back and dug out One Hot Minute. When this came out in 1995, I’d just started at University and it became part of the soundtrack to that freshman year.

One Hot Minute – The Best Bits

Even 10 years later, One Hot Minute sounds as fresh as when I first listened to it. Warped kicks things off with a brooding psychedelic intro which explodes into five minutes of frenetic funk. Aeroplane follows with a terrific upbeat groove which always brings a smile.

Kiedis turns Jim Morrison on Deep Kick with a poetic, spoken-word intro about the vitality of youth and the fight against the “ugly, grey monster” which I’ve always taken to be either age, stagnation or the dullness of a mundane, 9-to-5 lifestyle (all of which have applied to me at one time or another!).

My Friends is a beautiful, if sad acoustic track and one of the strongest songs on the album. Coffee Shop is a rousing, raucous romp with some great lyrics, aptly followed by the diminutive Pea.

Without going into the rest of the album track-by-track, I can say that One Hot Minute doesn’t have any weak tracks. Every tune has it’s own personality and feel, and the tracks are arranged so that they contrast perfectly.

Summing Up

One Hot Minute is definitely my favourite Red Hot Chili Peppers album. The sound is heavier (mostly attributed to the influence of Dave Navarro on guitar), but it still retains the funk and chilled-out sensibilities that are Chili Peppers trademarks by now.

You can also hear a touch of their future direction for albums like Californication on tracks like My Friends and Falling Into Grace. For me, the difference is that on later albums, the songs tend to run into each other. A casual listener would find it hard to distinguish the tracks. The difference on One Hot Minute is that each song has a definite personality and an irresistible sing-along appeal.

This review was kindly donated by The Levee Breaks blog.

Did you read my review of Persistence Of Time? Sound Of White Noise sees Anthrax kick out Joey Belladonna (for artistic differences, if I remember correctly) and recruit ex-Armoured Saint frontman, John Bush and Anthrax sound much better for it!

First Impressions

Sound Of White Noise is a vast improvement on Persistence. The overall sound quality is much clearer and more modern than Persistence Of Time. The songs are more individual and catchy too. Where Persistence was very straight ahead, almost bone-headed thrash in places, it lacked grooves, refinement.

The album is based around themes of anger and hatred, in keeping with earlier Anthrax material, but I think Bush’s voice carries the songs much more effectively than Belladonna.

The Best Bits

Potters Field, an excellent intro track with a really funky riff. I can’t remember Anthrax ever attempting anything like this before. Black Lodge is the first time I’ve heard Anthrax tackle a more atmospheric type of song. The tremolo in the intro, and the subdued vocals are excellent and easily my favourite track on the album.

I love the earlier tracks in the album, especially Packaged Rebellion, Room For One More and Only. Once you get into the album, you’ll be singing along to every track. The outro vocals on Only are excellent for singing along to – really throaty and gritty!

The Worst Bits

I can’t think of a single weak track on this album! I’ve been listening to Sound Of White Noise in the car for about three weeks now and unlike Persistence, I haven’t yet begun to tire of it. I’ve been terrorising the roads of Northern Ireland for weeks, singing this at the top of my voice!

The Verdict

Despite being twelve years old (Sound Of White Noise was released in 1993), it still sounds fresh today. This is an important Anthrax album, because it marks a very successful transition between lead vocalists. Joey Belladonna had been synonymous with Anthrax for years, and the departure of such an established lead singer could have signalled the death of better bands!

Anthrax survived this and hit back with possibly the best album of their career. I haven’t heard the earlier albums Among The Living or State of Euphoria in a while, but I’m betting they haven’t aged nearly as well as this. If you’re a fan of Anthrax, you should already have this!

This review was kindly donated by The Levee Breaks blog.

This review of Anthrax’s Persistence Of Time started out differently to what you are about to read. Earlier this week, I was listening to Persistence in the car. The thrash-fest of Got The Time had just ended and H8 RED had begun. H8 RED = HATRED. “All this hatred, I can’t take it,” sings Joey Belladonna on the track. So, how long did it take me to figure out that H8 RED was actually ‘hatred’? Only 15 years! I’ve been listening to this album on and off since it was released in 1990 and only today did I make the connection! There is no excuse.

Initially, I was still impressed with Persistence. It was only when I started to think about the album for this review that I realised something: It’s nothing special.

The first few days of listening to Persistence was reliving it. I loved this album when it came out. I could sing along to the lyrics, wail along to a few of the guitar solos and generally rock along to Charlie Benante’s drumming. Maybe I’m slightly more discerning these days, but now it sounds a bit samey.

The Good Bits

Well, the major standout track on this album is Got The Time. Anthrax play this one punky, fast and don’t outstay their welcome – I think the song is less than three minutes long!

For me, the other standout tracks are Intro Into Reality/Belly Of The Beast, In My World and Keep It In The Family. There’s no real reason, just that I like these a bit more than the other tracks.

Where did it all go wrong?

Persistence Of Time was Joey Belladonna’s last ‘proper’ album with Anthrax (not mentioning Attack Of The Killer B’s). Maybe I’m tuned into this at the moment, but Belladonna’s voice on Persistence Of Time is very irritating! Many of the tracks are mediocre and have no real hooks.

This next point is purely personal, and probably comes from me living in a rural area, but the guitar sound on some of the tracks is like a tractor engine. When I was listening to this in the car, I found myself looking to see where the farmer was!

It didn’t help that I had burned a couple of early Anthrax tracks to the same CD: I Am The Law and Antisocial. The old classics sound much better by comparison, although I’d have to dig out State Of Euphoria and Among The Living to confirm this.

The Bottom Line?

Persistence isn’t the worst album ever realeased, but it doesn’t break new ground, won’t hold your attention and certainly won’t change your life. By a bizarre co-incidence, I happened to hit the Anthrax website while researching this and discovered that Belladonna is back in the band along with Dan Spitz (I didn’t know he’d even left!). There’s much consternation about this one the web – seems people actually liked John Bush! Time will tell how this one goes, but I’d go to the show if they ever land in Northern Ireland!

This review was kindly donated by The Levee Breaks blog.

Point of fact: I love to rock. I can be seen most days shooting in and out of Belfast playing air drums to whatever music is travelling with me. Second point of fact: Growing up, I never once thought Iron Maiden were cool. I always pegged them as a one-trick, denim-rock band along the lines of Status Quo.

I picked up Maiden’s greatest hits package, Edward The Great about 18 months ago from Tower Records in London, listened to it a couple of times and abandoned for a while. The disc found its way out to the car again about a week ago and isn’t showing any signs of leaving!

Spine Tinglers

Edward The Great has the unique privilege of providing two spine tingling moments, which is more than most albums! The first is definately track two, The Number Of The Beast with it’s almost whispered first verse building up into that scream, bringing the rest of Maiden thundering in. It’s hard to believe this song is 23 years old!

The second spine-tingler is the live version of Fear Of The Dark from Rock In Rio. I don’t think it’s the tightest performance ever, but the atmosphere, especially with the crowd almost drowning out vocalist Bruce Dickinson is sooooo electric! It’s an amazing performance and a great end to the album.

But what about the in-between bits?

All excellent. To be honest, I really only took a second look at Iron Maiden when bands like Sum 41 started to cite them as influences. Shallow? Probably. Anyway, most of the songs on there were familiar to me – I might not have liked them back in the day, but I couldn’t completely avoid them. With the benefit of hindsight and a touch of nostalgia, I really enjoyed the whole album. Like a reviewer on the Amazon website, I wondered why there were so many songs on there from the Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son album, but didn’t dwell too much. The album rocks, that’s all you need to know!

The Worst Bits

I almost always skip the two tracks by Dickinson’s replacement, Blaze Bayley (why?). While Man On The Edge and Futureal are both competent tracks, I just don’t want to know! Even The Wicker Man is a bit of a stretch for me. I suppose none of them are ‘classic’ Maiden.

On the whole, though, I’d say this is a 9 out of 10! If I was compiling the album, I’d cut out Man On The Edge, Futureal and Wicker Man and replace them with stuff like Phantom Of The Opera, which is notably missing.

This post was kindly donated by The Levee Breaks blog.