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Artist:
Johnny Cash
 Fitting Epitaph, 2010-03-06
I've always been a big Johnny Cash fan and there are surely no other singers who can have stayed so relevant over the decades, inspiring and working with artists from all generations. Ain't No Grave is a fitting epitaph to the great man. His voice is much frailer but still has that unique gritty quality; the songs have a sad theme and yet they are somehow uplifting through their gentle simplicity.
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £8.45
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Artist:
Joanna Newsom
HAVE ONE ON ME, ON A GOOD DAY - IT'S EASY, 2010-03-11
NEWSOM, AS USUAL, PUTS HER UNIQUE SPIN ON MUSIC INTERPRETATION. THIS ALBUM HAS BEEN ON MY PLAYER FOR 2 DAYS NOW AND IS GETTING BETTER WITH EVERY LISTEN, A PURE JOY.
THERE ARE OBVIOUS SIMILARITIES WITH KATE BUSH BUT THAT IS A REALLY GOOD THING, NEWSOM'S HARP PLAYING AND VOCAL DEPTH HAVE HINTS OF CLASSICAL ARRANGEMNTS AT THE SAME TIME IT'S A VERY COMTEMPORARY ALTERNATIVE FOLK SOUND. THIS ALBUM IS SURE TO GIVE ALL LISTENERS MANY, MANY MOMENTS OF BEAUTY AND CHILL AT THE SAME TIME.
AS THE ALBUM TITLE SUGGESTS - HAVE ONE ON ME - TREAT YOURSELF.
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List Price: £18.99
Our Price: £10.74
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Artist:
Sade
The Moon & The Sky. so beautiful - welcome back Sade, 2010-03-14
This is a beautiful CD with the same high standard Sade always delivers. I cried when I heard the moon and the sky song.... so beautiful - it reminded me on the love of my life I walked away from so many years ago, but still in my heart till the day I die. I still love you Mike. xxx
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List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £6.92
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Artist:
Ellie Goulding
Because everyone is STARRY EYED, 2010-03-11
I think that Ellie Goulding it the BEST if not AMAZING person every. I love her music, she has so much style and glass and her voice is just brilliant. I am IMMENSELY in love with her. I could never get bored of her. Ive been listening to her for like over 6 months and im not lost. :) Get this album. Each song is differnt with the same style however. She is going to be big!
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £6.99
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Artist:
Pixie Lott
I like it, I like it!, 2010-03-12
This is a really great debut album. Pixie has a fantastic voice & range and the arrangements are great too. The lyrics are good though not to the same standard as Lilly Allen's. With any CD you expect to find some tracks which are weaker or don't appeal, but this album is really strong throughout, much better than The Fame from Lady Gaga which really only has just a few good tracks. I don't like the introduction to Gravity, but beyond the first few bars it turns into a fabulous track. I have listened to this album again and again ... and again. Come to think of it "Here we go Again!" I can't believe how much enjoyment I have had from this for just 6 quid.
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £4.25
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Artist:
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Entrancing Music, 2010-03-17
I was lucky enough to see the show in preview. I thought it was wonderful and couldn't wait to get home and order the music from the show.
It is haunting and addictive is all I can say, thoroughly recommended. Go and see the show too!
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List Price: £22.99
Our Price: £13.95
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Artist:
Amy Macdonald
Superb 2nd Album, 2010-03-13
I first heard This is The Life on a flight to Orlando and my feet were tapping instantly. I genuinely thought that a second album of quality could not follow. How wrong I was. To me A Curious Thing is an instant classic. You don't have to play it 5 or 6 times to get into it, you play it 5 or 6 times because its that good. The music, lyrics and choruses are sublime. Buy it you will not regret hearing such good music from a lady of awesome talent. People rave about other singers but Amy really surpasses most that I know of. Dont Tell Me That Its Over.
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £8.95
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Artist:
Massive Attack
It's been seven years since we heard anything from Bristol trip-hop afficionados Massive Attack. Their last outing was (for many) the underwhelming 100th Window, an album created mainly by Robert del Naja (aka 3D), as his partner-in-rhyme Daddy G was on hiatus being, well, a daddy. From the potent, claustrophobic opening track "Pray For Rain"--all tribal drums, bleak atmospheres and the contrastive rich vocals of TV On The Radio's Tumbe Adebimpe--it's clear that Heligoland is a bid for former glories. As the record unfurls through the angular, choppy post-punk of "Babel" (with Martina Topley-Bird), the lurching "Splitting The Atom" (featuring the familiar fa...
beautiful, 2010-03-14
When I first listened to this album I was disappointed, as the low-fi sound of the record -on first listen- is less engaging than the "heavier" (? I'm not sure whether the expression is correct..) sounds of the previous albums (particularly Mezzanine and 100th Window)
But it turns out that this is what eventually makes the songs so..effective and loveable - instead of imposing themselves on you, you discover the excellent melodies behind the low-profile sounds gradually and they become a part of you.
In terms of mood, a reviewer said that it is a "defeatist" record and I kind of agree. From what I understand, I hear hopelessness in the record, but this gloom is actually quite charming.. To me, it is a beautiful record about giving up on the world and accepting how things are.
Some of the songs have not grown on me and I will not claim that all of them are equally interesting. However, even if the record had just one of the good songs -which obviously isn't the case-, it would still be an indispensable good song and would be much more worthy than the majority of the albums being released today. I'm sure I will be listening to some of these songs in the years to come as well.
My favourite tracks are Splitting The Atom, Rush Minute and Atlas Air. Also very good are Paradise Circus and Pray For Rain.
P.S. I would like to say that I believe that the criticized 100th Window is an excellent album and could well be my favourite. 3D is amazing.
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List Price: £14.99
Our Price: £7.64
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Artist:
Jimi Hendrix
Patchy like all Hendrix albums, but brilliant at times, and well worth a listen, 2010-03-11
I received my copy of `Valleys of Neptune' last Friday. From then until Sunday it was on the iPod and in the Lotus. Since then, I have been confined to the house with a throat infection, and I've been listening to the CD without ambient noise.
Every Hendrix album has some `filler' - even the triumverate of fully authorized releases that were put out while Jimi was alive. Despite the reputation of the three `proper' Hendrix albums, not one of them was a consistent, `every track a winner' album in the way that Pink Floyd's `DSoM' or Fleetwood Mac's `Rumours', or even the first two Oasis albums were.
Remember that even `Are You Experienced' in it's original form lacked `Hey Joe', `Stone Free', `Purple Haze' and `Wind Cries Mary', but did have `classics' like `Love or Confusion', and `I don't live today', while `Electric Ladyland' included the forgettable `Little Miss Strange', `Long Hot Summer', and `Come on and let the Good Times Roll', alongside the classics that we deservedly remember.
Of course, even Hendrix filler tracks are not without redeeming features - many of them include some great solos and demonstrate the man's technical virtuosity.
But (I suspect like many others) I listen to my own Hendrix playlists more than to the actual albums, and if stuck with the CD, the fast forward button does see some use.
And so it is with `Valleys of Neptune'. I've played it right through several times while `giving it a chance' and `getting used to it', but I very much doubt that I'll listen to the entire album much in the future, and some of the tracks may never get another airing on my iPod.
But, the bottom line is that the inclusion of some sub-par tunes doesn't automatically relegate `Valleys of Neptune' to stand beside some of the embarrassingly shabby posthumous Hendrix releases - quite the reverse.
This album is no different to Hendrix' masterworks in including filler, with the added complication that it includes rehearsal sessions in which JH is clearly working through ideas for live performances. There are no snappy 3 minute pop songs here!
But these are not self indulgent overlong unlistenable jam sessions, either, of interest only to completists and Hendrix geeks - they include a few instances of Hendrix re-visiting older material and improving it, making new versions that are actually better than the originals - or perhaps that are just more in tune with 21st Century listening - with a more bass heavy mix and fewer overdubs creating a less `jangly' signature than you sometimes get with Hendrix studio tracks, and with less commercial pressure to stick to the 2 ½ to 4 minute format which dominated the three `proper' Hendrix albums.
These are, in some senses, more akin to the instrumentally stripped down but longer and more `improvised' fare you got seeing Jimi live, and with improvements that had sometimes arisen after Jimi had played a particular song dozens or hundreds of times.
(Think of the better timed and funkier `Voodoo Chile (Slight Return' on Hendrix in the West, or the same albums spine-tingling `Red House', for an example of a live rendition sometimes being better than the studio original.
Here you have a few gems with studio sound quality but with the `live advantage' I've inadequately tried to encapsulate above.
I'm glad I bought the CD, but if I was younger, and into the habit of `cherry picking' just the standouts from iTunes, then I'd only download six or seven as `must haves'.
1. Stone Free*
Just marginally slower than the original, some (like me) may prefer this marginally `funkier' take on a well known classic. This was recorded in New York's Record Plant with Noel and Mitch in April 1969.
2. Valleys Of Neptune
A real rarity, this, but also, in my view a track that fundamentally lacks a strong melody, and a song that would never have made it to a `best of' compilation, though the playing is great. Sometimes, when Hendrix went off on one of his `cosmic' sidelines he could create sheer magic (eg `Third Stone from the Sun') and had the ability to make psychadelic music that doesn't sound horrifyingly outdated. `Valleys' seems to me to be the product of an `off day'. Or off days, as the vocal track comes from September 1969, and the rest from May 1970. Mitch has returned to the drum kit, but it's still Billy Cox on bass.
3. Bleeding Heart*
The strongest material on `Valleys' for me, is the least adventurous - the backbone of electric blues numbers. Though it has to be said that this version of `Bleeding Heart' is almost as funky as it is Bluesey. This far outshines the version on `South Saturn Delta' or the live working on `The Last Experience'. In the UK, this is the lead single from the album, rather than `Valleys' which is the US single. It's just as well that Hendrix himself is on form, as Rocky Isaac replaces Mitch, and Billy Cox replaces Noel, providing a graphic illustration on the extent to which Jimi had relied on his Experience sidemen for the subtlety and `swing' of his sound.
4. Hear My Train A Comin*
Another masterful performance, perhaps even better than the electric version on `Blues' (previously featured on `Rainbow Bridge' but actually recorded at Berkeley). Perhaps a little long and self indulgent for a studio cut. This was recorded in New York's Record Plant with Noel and Mitch in April 1969.
5. Mr. Bad Luck
Another rarity, but a slightly familiar one - as it's `Look Over Yonder' in another guise. Flimsy but brilliantly played and with nice `urge' and `drive', until a terrible ending. It's a much earlier recording than anything else on the album, dating from the 1967 Axis sessions.
6. Sunshine Of Your Love*
This is not the version from the `Radio 1' compilation, but is a brilliant rendition, showing Clapton and the boys from Cream how to do it. (I wonder whatever became of Eric....?). Recorded in London in February 1969, with nothing particular in mind.
7. Lover Man*
If, like me, you're used to the Berkeley version on the film and on `Hendrix in the West', this `Lover Man' will surprise, as it's considerably slower. While I love the Berkeley version for its urgency and pace, the song works just as well at this tempo. For all the way out psychedelia, the constant chattering about jazz, and the lighter poppier stuff, this track demonstrates that Hendrix was, at root, a blues-tinged rock god. Fluffed vocals make it clear that this is a rehearsal track, but one that (in my mind) would work as a single, and it showcases the man's sheer virtuosity like nothing else on the album. It fades to a close. Recorded in London in February 1969, with nothing particular in mind.
8. Ships Passing In The Night
Another rare song, `Ships Passing' doesn't really do it for me. It just seems weak. Yes, it's not been released before in any official form, but I'd have left this in the vaults, however brilliant the guitar solos. This was apparently from the last ever session by the original line up in April 69, before Noel gave way to Billy Cox. That doesn't surprise me, as it doesn't sound like the Experience firing on all cylinders.
9. Fire.
Let down by weedy backing vocals (by Andy Fairweather Low according to one review, but Noel, according to the sleeve notes) but brilliantly played and recorded (just listen to the drums). Certainly different to the version on `Are You Experienced', but better? Not to these ears. This was recorded in London in February 1969, as part of the rehearsals for the Royal Albert Hall concerts.
10. Red House*
Not a rare song, but a unique version, this is one of the absolute standouts on `Valleys...' This is simply the best studio version I've heard - close to what Jimi was playing live at the time, more soulful and `heartfelt' than other studio versions, with Jimi's vocal performance representing the man at the top of his game. This was recorded in London in February 1969, as part of the rehearsals for the Royal Albert Hall concerts.
11. Lullaby For The Summer
An oddity, this, an instrumental with a riff that sounds very like Ezy Rider. This track does sound like a work in progress, but is still listenable and enjoyable - at least for the first half. This was recorded in New York's Record Plant with Noel and Mitch in April 1969.
12. Crying Blue Rain*
An unfinished Blues, with a sketchy vocal (mainly `Yeah's and `oohs'), and some beautifully restrained guitar and gentle drumming. Bizarrely it accelerates into something quite different after about three minutes - as Jimi improvises some ideas, before fading out altogether. It would be fascinating to hear a more `finished' version. This was recorded in London in February 1969, with nothing particular in mind.
The essay that accompanies `Valleys' sets out the proposition that the CD demonstrates and illustrates an "extraordinary creative evolution during 1969". I don't believe that there was any such evolution, and that after the release of Electric Ladyland, Hendrix actually suffered something of a creative block - something that was then exacerbated by the pressures of touring, financial problems, and by the need to put out the lacklustre Band of Gypsies album to meet a contractual requirement.
And I believe that `Valleys' demonstrates that Jimi was burned out, and (at least temporarily) had reached a plateau - the very fact that post-`Electric Ladyland' he was still spending so much time in the studio revisiting old songs and Blues standards is pretty strong evidence, to me. It also shows, to my mind, that while relations with Noel had reached a low point, it was clear that replacing him was harder than Hendrix had thought, while attempts to replace Mitch were even more difficult.
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List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £6.77
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Artist:
Gorillaz
Superb! Best Album Yet, 2010-03-15
This album is their best one yet. I loved Demon Days, but this is better!
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List Price: £18.99
Our Price: £10.99
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