Deee-Lite Review / Ryan Adams Preview (Album 18)

(Lite preview here) So...That album was exactly as I thought it would be. It was this strange combination between electronic beats and this strange singing / chanting. All jokes aside though, the album actually would be a pretty sweet album if you could take out the singing from the lady; not that I didn't like it, it just would have been better in my opinion. The electronic beats were actually pretty sweet to listen too. I liked the beats, but like I said...the entirety of it was less than to be desired. Actually, I didn't even notice that the band name is pronounced "delight" until a couple of days ago.

Favorite Songs:
     Deee-Lite Theme
     What Is Love
     Groove Is In The Heart

The double-oh's.

Album: Heartbreaker

Artist: Ryan Adams

Release Year: 2000

"Heartbreak and hard drink have inspired many great albums, but rarely one as tender as this, Ryan Adams' solo debut. Adams recorded Heartbreaker - a brutally honest chronical of the highs and lows of love - in the wake of two scarring breakups ... Heartbreak transforms Adams into the critics' darling - he was called a "visionary rock troubadour" by NME - but failed to win over a mass audience." - Theunis Bates

01 - Argument with David Rawlings Concerning Morrissey

02 - To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)

03 - My Winding Wheel

04 - AMY

05 - Oh My Sweet Carolina

06 - Bartering Lines

07 - Call Me On Your Way Back Home

08 - Damn, Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains)

09 - Come Pick Me Up

10 - To Be The One

11 - Why Do They Leave?

12 - Shakedown On 9th Street

13 - Don't Ask For The Water

14 - In My Time Of Need

15 - Sweet Lil Gal

Streaming: Radio3.net

iTunes: Ryan Adams

Spotify: Heartbreaker

I hope that it's not country music. More heartbreak...

~mfm

AC/DC Review / Deee-Lite Preview (Album 17)

(AC/DC preview here) AC/DC is considered by many a classic rock and roll band. This album came out the same year that the previous lead singer died. They didn't waste very much time getting back into the groove of things, and subsequently created one of the greatest rock and roll albums of all time. The songs are all pretty similar, but that isn't a bad thing. They hit their stride of heavy riffs that many people will air-guitar, catchy lyrics for pretty much every song, and in most a guitar solo that can still compete with the greats, not to mention the not-so-subtle sexual references in almost all the song names. The only complaint that I have for part of the album is the studio fade-out. This isn't just for AC/DC though, it just stuck out to me for this album in particular. It doesn't seem very 'musician' to me to make a song end by simply fading into the background. It's ok guys, just write an ending to the song. Other than that, this album has stood the test of time rather grandly.

Edit: I recently picked up this vinyl for about 8 bucks. It still reeks of that 'classic rock-n-roll' smell

Favorite Songs:
     Shoot To Thrill
     Back In Black
     You Shook Me All Night Long
     Rock & Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

Album: World Clique

Artist: Deee-Lite

Release Year: 1990

"Recent history has not been been kind to this New York City-raised group that took its name from Cole Porter's "It's Delovely." The trio is commonly remembered as a one-hit wonder, but the gold-certified debut World Clique still stands as a convincing argument that Deee-Lite deserves to be more than just a Trivial Pursuit answer." - Jim Harrington

01 - Good Beat

02 - Power Of Love

03 - Try Me On...I'm Very You

04 - Smile On

05 - What Is Love

06 - World Clique

07 - E.S.P.

08 - Groove Is In The Heart

09 - Who Was That

10 - Deep Ending

Streaming: Radio3.net

iTunes: World Clique

Spotify: World Clique

I am not looking forward to this album honestly. It looks ridiculous.

~mfm

Miles Davis Review / AC/DC Preview (Album 16)

(Miles preview here) Miles Davis, a classic and one of the best jazz players ever. It's hard to listen to a whole album of free-form jazz though. As good as jazz is, ever time I listen to it, it's hard not to think of a quote I heard once. "Jazz is about 5 different people getting together and playing 5 different songs all at the same time." And that, is the hard truth. There are some parts of the songs that I really enjoy, and some parts that I don't really enjoy. That's another problem with having 20-minute adventures musically. It's also very...dissident. I don't know. It's just hard to enjoy when you don't know what to listen to.

Favorite Songs:
     ...

Album: Back In Black

Artist: AC/DC

Release Year: 1980

"By the time of original vocalist Bon Scotts; February 1980 death, AC/DC had conquered Europe, but the United States were still to be convinced. The group was fiercely ambitious, and had recruited singer Brian Johnson on the recommendation of producer Robert Lange... AC/DC finally broke the United States with Back In Black, notching up a million sales annually over the next five years. They - and all those buyers who boogied to the album - never looked back." - Seth Jacobson

01 - Hells Bells

02 - Shoot To Thrill

03 - What You Do For Money Honey

04 - Givin The Dog A Bone

05 - Let Me Put My Love Into You

06 - Back In Black

07 - You Shook Me All Night Long

08 - Have A Drink On Me

09 - Shake A Leg

10 - Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

Streaming: Radio3.net

iTunes: You can't get AC/DC on iTunes, which I respect. The artists see very little of the money when someone buys something on iTunes

Spotify: ...hmmm. Doesn't seem to be AC/DC on Spotify either. Good thing it's one of the best selling rock albums of all time. You should be able to find it in your dad's old record collection.

This is supposed to be one of the best albums of rock history. Let it be so.

~mfm

Louvin Brothers Review / Miles Davis Preview (Album 15)

(Louvin preview here) Country Music. I don't know, I suppose that they tell you to listen to this album because it must be the first country album...But I don't think that is true. There has got to be country music from before this. Either way, I just can't find myself ever ever ever listening to this. It's not that its bad necessarily, it just doesn't do anything for me. Ever. I've tried. I listened to the whole thing. Some of the songs were fun for sure. This is country music at it's finest, the two voices are so...country. There is no other way to say it.

Favorite Songs:
     Let Her Go, God Bless Her

Back to my favorite decade.

Album: Bitches Brew

Artist: Miles Davis

Release Year: 1970

"Recording sessions for Bitches Brew began at 8 a.m. on August 18, 1969, a few hours after Jimi Hendrix had demolished "The Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock, and it is Hendrix's incendiary voice that haunts this double album...Bitches Brew sold half a million copies within a year and made Miles "relevant" in a way that he had not been in more than a decade. He had reclaimed his crown as the king of jazz, something he retained until his death 20 years later."

01 - Pharoh's Dance

02 - Bitches Brew

03 - Spanish Key

04 - John McLaughlin

05 - Miles Runs The Voodoo Down

06 - Sanctuary

Streaming: Radio3.net

iTunes: Bitches Brew

Spotify: Bitches Brew

A free form improv jazz session from one of the greatest in the game. Should be exciting. Also a bad-ass name for an album.

~mfm

Miriam Makeba Review / The Louvin Brothers Preview (Album 14)

(Mariam preview here) Wow. That was a very interesting listen. I was absolutely blown away by the click song. When she opens the song, she starts with explaining that the song isn't really called "The Click Song", but that is what the "white people called it" because they couldn't pronounce...the name of the song. That is the kind of language that is going to some day be lost to the world, it wasn't meant for being written down, and it is being eradicated because people are being pushed to change their way of life. It makes me glad that we have this music recorded. But enough politics. One song sounded very very familiar to what I know as the opening scene of The Lion King. Disney seems to know what they are doing (Simba, means lion in Swahili I'm pretty sure), and may have used that same exact sound for their movie. If it was stealing or not, I don't know. But it's recognizable enough. Fun album. I like the renditions of House Of The Rising Sun. The song "Naughty Little Flea" actually creeped me out. During this song, which sounded like it was about a lady losing her husband, there is a dude laughing in the background. Huh? Just weird. Anyways, probably not an album I will listen to often, but great for expanding horizons.

Favorite Songs:
     The Click Song
     Mbube
     The Naughty Little Flea
     House Of The Rising Sun

Whoops. Turns out I skipped the 50s this time around. Let's go back a little and do that one...

Album: Tragic Songs Of Life

Artist: The Louvin Brothers

(Footnote: I couldn't find a good image of the album art the book used)

Release Year: 1956

"You don't have to be mad murderous, drunken, driven, lonesome, ornery, or blue to sing country music... but it sure helps. This, their first full album, remains one of country's essential bedrock releases. Charlies baritone and Ira's pure high tenor trade and fuse with lilting style and beauteous grace. It is gospel-fired bluegrass shot straight from the heart." - Ross Fortune

01 - Kentucky

02 - I'll Be All Smiles Tonght

03 - Let Her Go God Bless You

04 - What Is Home Without Love

05 - A Tiny Broken Heart

07 - Alabama

08 - Katie Dear

09 - My Brother's Will

10 - Knoxville Girl

11 - Take The News To Mother

12 - Mary Of The Wild Moor

Streaming: Radio3.net

iTunes: Louvin Brothers

Spotify: Louvin Brothers

Country music...

~mfm

Air Review / Miriam Makeba Preview (Album 13)

(Air preview here) So. This album album is really cool. Sadly, I didn't watch it with the movie, which would greatly improve it I'm sure. I still plan on watching it. Listening to it was interesting, and I definitively could see how it would greatly improve everything with the movie. The songs are all pretty short, considering they are all just for the movie and probably used over and over again. The songs are also really cool, with their strings and their vocals being used as sounds, there are a couple with really really cool crescendos that I can imagine hearing during the apex of the movie. Pretty sweet stuff.

Favorite Songs:
     Playground Love
     Clouds Up
     Ghost Song
     Dead Bodies (Awesome crescendo)

Back around the horn...

Album: Miriam Makeba

Artist: Miriam Makeba

Release Year: 1960

"Traditional Xhosa wedding songs swing into airy African jazz moods, mellifluous Indoneasian lullabies, and infectious Calypso romps - myriad influences and styles working to enormous effect." - Miles Keylock

I don't know what half of those words mean, but I am willing to find out.

01 - The Retreat Song

02 - Sullram

03 - The Click Song

04 - Umhome

05 - Olilili

06 - Lakutshn, Ilanga

07 - Mbube

08 - The Naughty Little Flea

09 - Where Does It Lead

10 - Nomeva

11 - House Of The Rising Sun

12 - Saduva

13 - One More Dance

14 - Iya Guduza

Streaming: Radio3.net

iTunes: iTunes

Spotify: Spotify

Sounds worldly....

~mfm

The Shamen Review / Air Preview (Album 12)

(Shamen preview here) 2011 Grammys were on last night. I totally called who was gonna be Song of the Year.

Anyways.

I have said this before, it's hard to tell sometimes what makes some of these albums make the cut. I think that it has more to do with timing than anything really. The first album to do something - and it doesn't necessarily have to be super-awesome at it - is usually considered the groundbreaking album. So what we have here is an early 90s club banger. The songs are very house style (house techno), and from what I know the first album from the UK to really bring this kind of sound to the mainstream. I like it.

Favorite Songs:

     666 Edit

     Progen 91

     Possible Worlds

     Move Any Mountain (This song wasn't on the Book's list of songs, but when I downloaded it, it was added on as probably an after effect)

Album: The Virgin Suicides

Artist: Air

Release Year: 2000

"Seldom has sound and vision collided so gracefully as it did on Air's soundtrack for Sofia Coppola's directorial debut. The synergy between the images, which tell the tragic tale of five sisters with nothing to live for, and the French electronica duo's mesmerizing, drama-rish score is so great that it is impossible to imagine either existing without the other." - Jim Harrington

01 - Playground Love

02 - Clouds Up

03 - Bathroom Girl

04 - Cemetary Party

05 - Dark Messages

06 - The World "hurricane"

07 - Dirty Trip

08 - Highschool Lover

09 - Afternoon Sister

10 - Ghost Song

11 - Empty House

12 - Dead Bodies

13 - Suicide Underground

Streaming: The Virgin Suicides

iTunes: The Virgin Suicides

Spotify: The Virgin Suicides

The review made this album sound AMAZING. I may have to watch the movie as well.

~mfm