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Artist:
Ne-Yo
If the mark of the skilful Lothario is the one who knows to always tell his lover what she wants to hear, surely Def Jam's R&B sensation Ne-Yo--aka Los Angeles singer-songwriter Shaffer Chimere Smith--is one of the greatest of them all. On third album Year of the Gentleman, Chimere channels his hitmaking talents into a suite of R&B songs that more respectful than rampant in their approach to the romancing. "Single" is a song that reaches out to all the lonely girls, Ne-Yo promising "I'll be your boyfriend til the song goes off", while the Stargate-produced "Miss Independent", lit up by neon synthesisers, suggests Smith isn't too concerned with his own machismo to ...
 "FANTASTIC", 2008-11-07
This has to be one of the best albums I have bought in a long time. Every track is good usually there is always a couple of songs that don't do it for you but every track is great.
This is my first Neyo CD but not the last.
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £6.97
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Artist:
Vampire Weekend
Who would have thought it? Nobody, that's who. The last time African music enjoyed any meaningful dalliance with the Western mainstream it was under Paul Simon's patronage with his peerless 1986 album Graceland. That's if you don't count Damon Albarn's extra curricular indulgences (which you don't). The last place we expected it to turn up again was from four New York kids who otherwise might have been found fiddling with their fringes in dorm rooms waiting for the Albert Hammond Jr. tour to hit town. Even by the obscure standards US indie has set itself over the last few years (see TV on the Radio and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) Vampire Weekend offer up a witch's br...
Short, snappy, witty, happy, 2009-01-03
I caught onto Vampire Weekend a little late, thanks to an Amazon reccomendation. Very glad I got there in the end! This is a very, very good CD that makes it into the 5 star rating thanks to the strength of the best of the songs, rather than the entire body of work which would Vampire Weekendstill have got it a 4. First couple of plays I wasted time playing 'spot the influence'. That was untimately futile as, other than the obvious Paul Simon Graceland influence on a couple of tracks, these songs are very good in their own right. What does the inspiration matter as long as the songs are INSPIRED? I read a press review comparing them to Madness which I consider to be VERY misleading. The Mads are a kind of musical comedy act, while these guys have a sense of humour but are seriously good. Favourite tracks are 'Oxford Comma', 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa', 'One' (Blake's got a new face)and 'Walcott'.
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List Price: £13.99
Our Price: £5.98
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Artist:
Take That
It's been a long ten years since Take That disbanded. Their recent reformation and world tour offered overwhelming evidence that, far from being forgotten, the post-Robbie quartet can still command hysterical amounts of goodwill and adoration. Beautiful World illustrates why this is so. Written in conjunction with songwriter/producer John Shanks (Ashlee Simpson, Anastacia, Alanis Morissette), the album is crammed full with the songwriting magic that made their rise to fame so meteoric in the first place. Far from being an exercise in nostalgia, the project moves the band in a slightly new direction. The four come across as more mature, more democratic (all members ...
Simply the best, 2008-05-24
Just how did they decide which song should be a single. With perhaps the exception of Wooden Boat, all of these songs could have been a single. All the lads take a turn at singing lead and all take credit for the combined work. A truly incredible feat, for the best selling band in the country to take 10 years off, not only come back but come back better. If this is a refection of what we are to expect in the future I can't wait for the next album
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List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £3.48
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Artist:
Various Artists
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £10.75
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Artist:
Kanye West
808s & Heartbreak sees Kanye West move somewhat controversially away from hip hop towards what he calls "pop art"--not the art movement championed by Andy Warhol, but his own artful pop music. This translates as Kanye dropping his rap shtick and picking up the Auto-Tune to help even out his singing voice, and trading his usual summery bounce for the brittle, wintry sound of the electronic Roland TR-808--the drum machine used in early hip hop and techno. Where previous Kanye albums have been about bling, 808s & Heartbreak is a paean to pain and misery. Prompted by the recent death of his mother, opening track "Welcome to Heartbreak" sets the album's key theme...
A "Closer" for the hip hop generation, 2009-01-03
First and foremost, I'd like to express my exasperation at hearing or reading people moaning at some - currently successful - black artists (Kanye West being one of them), accusing them of having betrayed the so-called "original true spirit of hip hop". These, behaving like self-proclaimed guardians of some private temple, seem to forget that hip hop, like every other form of art, is a mean not an end.
I also recall the great Mos Def was once asked, a few years ago, what he thought of his peers parading in videos with lavish ladies and expensive cars instead of providing supposed conscious statements in their music. His answer has baffled me for years (and still does): he said that it was precisely this (i.e. the fact of seeing black people behaving that way in front of huge audiences of, say, MTV proportions) that was revolutionary, more than any kind of political contest. And so, whether you fancy it or not. I can't agree more, as it seems, more generally, that a black artist is, still nowadays, supposed to deliver what's expected of him: making "black music".
Sorry for that somewhat long introduction, but I thought those two distinct points could be helpful to fully understand what Kanye West's fourth album proper is all about, and what it aims to be. On the previous one, 2007's "Graduation", he already considerably extended his sonic palette (sampling Daft Punk or legendary german krautrockers, Can), yet after that, last summer he produced, in the form of his duet with the promising Estelle, the wonderful "American Boy", which can only be described as the single best musical mainstream moment of the year, all straightforward dancefloor power and heavy beat science upfront.
"8O8s & Heartbreak" is an altogether very different beast to both those releases; having recently both lost his mother and ended up a longtime relationship with his fiancee, Kanye West isn't exactly in a partying mood here, to say the least. Yet, and it's what makes this record so satisfying, he still manages to entertain while expressing his utter sadness and pouring his deepest doubts over every song featured. From the first few bars of "Say You Will", it's understood Kanye's probably unleashed his landmark piece of music this time: over a bleak, possibly new wavish rhythm synth, he croons in a desperate yet suggestive and seductive manner about the loss of his love. The much-publicized use of the auto-tune process, supposedly a limitation, in fact allows him more freedom than ever: some reviewer pointed out he's not Nas nor Guru (he actually barely raps on the whole LP, mind you), and heaven knows he ain't Marvin Gaye either, but if the spine-tingling lament that is "Heartless" or the broody hypnotic complaint the first single "Love Lockdown" manages to be fail to move you, then nothing ever will. On the only upbeat track, "Paranoid", Kanye West even delivers the most perfect slice of pop angst ever heard since, say, Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence" (yeah, that good). Perhaps only the quite blank "Robocop" is a relative failure, as every other song is a fascinating trip through this visionary artist's mind, even the somewhat rawer-sounding live freestyle "Pinocchio Story", that closes proceedings with an overwhelming tearjerking class.
Being very intimate, sounding entertaining at it and clearly conscious of what he does, somewhere between Kool & The Gang produced by New Order and the late and great Al Green stuck with The Neptunes in an elevator, Kanye West has achieved, minor weaknesses aside, a truly perfect pop album.
In a world that enjoys nothing as much as pigeonholing people of every kind (let alone artists), that alone is a triumph in itself.
TO ENJOY, CHERISH AND TREASURE...
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £6.40
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Artist:
Ting Tings
The debut album by Salford's The Ting Tings comes hot on the heels of their No.1 single "That's Not My Name", a nugget of pop gold that comes on like a genetic splicing of Toni Basil's "Micky" and The Knack's "My Sharona". The bulk of We Started Nothing follows a similar formula, navigating a path between the smart, angular indie of CSS, Bonde Do Role, et al and the pop mainstream. Here and there, they pull it off perfectly: the stutter-rap of "Fruit Machine" sees vocalist Katie White leading on some poor sap with sultry charisma and lip-gloss sass, while the excellent "Shut Up and Let Me Go" is snappy dance-punk in the spirit of Blondie's "Rapture" or Tom Tom Club...
 Every 8 year old should have it!, 2008-10-20
First heard these early this year, about the same time as I saw the Kills. For me, they are a bit 'candy pop' but it's a great compromise when arguing with my 8 year old daughter about what music is going on the CD player. It's worth it just to catch her doing air guitar and miming the words....very badly! A fun Album.
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List Price: £13.99
Our Price: £4.31
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Artist:
Katherine Jenkins
Sacred Arias is Katherine Jenkins' last album in her deal for Universal before she moves to Warner for another six-album deal, and she has decided to go out with a bang--albeit a quiet one. While her previous outing, Rejoice, saw the Welsh mezzo-soprano striking out more than ever towards the world of pop, Sacred Arias, as the title suggests, sees her return to her religious-classical roots with comfortably familiar tunes like "Abide with Me", "Ave Maria", "Pie Jesu" and even "Silent Night". The mood on Sacred Arias is as refined and peaceful as you'd expect given the title, and though there's an abundance of well known material here, Jenkins a...
Katherine Jenkins - Sacred Arias, 2008-12-12
I really looked forward to this album's release. It was worth the wait, I was not disappointed.
This album in my opinion, contains Katherine's best vocal to date. The vocal production is free and unhurried, giving the whole album a very relaxed feel. I really like all the repetoire chosen, my own personal favourites include: Goodall's "The Lord Is My Shepherd"; "Down to the River To Pray" "Ave Maria" and "May The Good Lord Bless You and Keep You".
I do agree that the choice of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", seems a little odd. However, while Katherine's version is not as definitive as k.d. lang or Jeff Buckley's version - it is still well sung.
I would definately recommend this album, to anyone considering purchasing it.
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List Price: £16.99
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Artist:
Nickelback
continuing to rub their critics/haters noses in it, 2009-01-04
Dark Horse is balanced out well with lighter moments such as "Gotta Be Somebody", "If Today is your last day" whilst being hit for six by the adult theme's of "S.E.X" "Somthing in your Mouth" "Just To Get High" etc.
Its heavier in some parts to "All the right reasons" combined with some intense emotional balladry off "Silver Side Up" and "The Long Road" but when it comes to rocking out they are the true kings on the live circuit.
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List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £5.99
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Artist:
Various Artists
Fond memories...., 2008-12-28
Listening to this CD set brought back so many memories of my childhood. Not my music, but my parents!
As a small child I remember The Everley Brothers, Billy Fury, Elvis, Connie Francis, Brenda Lee and all of the others being played on our stereogram. It's music I grew up with, my father twirling me round while dancing with me. Even though I was only a small child I recognize most of the songs on this compilation, they've stood the test of time and sound just as great today as they did back then - pure nostalgia!
A double CD set with over 50 tracks, a great collection and a must buy for any fan of music from the 50's and 60's.
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List Price: £17.99
Our Price: £10.00
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Artist:
AC/DC
Such are the near-generational gaps between latter-day AC/DC albums that it's always tempting to hail the arrival of a new one as a return to form. Black Ice arrives a whopping eight years after the band's last offering, Stiff Upper Lip, but one chorus into "Rock N Roll Train", the wise man would conclude that any evolution here is as slow and incremental as, well, evolution. A punchy, straightforward opener that finds Angus Young in good riff and Brian Johnson preaching a familiar gospel of schoolgirls and schoolboys, fantasy and ecstasy, it's familiar in the best possible way. A little deeper into Black Ice, however, and there's evidence of a slight...
AC/DC ARE BACK IN ICE, 2009-01-03
I LIKE THIS ALBUM ITS GOT SOME GOOD RIFFS AND AS A WHOLE ALBUM RATES BETTER THAN MANY POST 1984 OFFERINGS ITS ONE OF THE BETTER ALBUMS WITH BRIAN ON VOCALS I AINT SAYING ITS GOT THE BEST TRACKS BUT ITS GOOD..... NOT JUST A COUPLE OF BRILLIANT SONGS I WOULD SAY THIS ALBUM IS A BIT MORE ROUNDED THAN MANY AND ITS WELL PRODUCED SO IF YOU HAVE THE FRONT END QUALITY AND SPEAKERS TO ROCK THIS IS WORTH BUYING ANYONE RECKONS ITS A BIT FLAT IS PROBABLY THEIR C--P SYSTEM NOT LETTING THE RHYTHMS FLOW
A FAR BETTER ALBUM THAN FLY ON THE WALL/BALL BREAKER ACTUALLY ITS ABOUT 5TH IN THE JOHNSON ERA BACK IN BLACK IS THE BIGGEST SELLING ALBUM IN THE WORLD BY A ROCK BAND BY THE WAY, AND ITS GOING TO BE NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO BEAT THAT THIS ONE IS WORTH THE MONEY THAT'S FOR SURE
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £6.42
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