Vanessa Hudgens - Identified
Artist: Vanessa Hudgens Review: History teaches us not to dismiss kiddie pop. Stevie Wonder was once Little Stevie Wonder, just as Lil Wayne was once little Lil Wayne, child gangsta rapper. And let's not forget ex-Mouseketeers Britney and Justin. Purists disdain teenybopper music as cynical pap, foisted on the young by Svengalis who lurk in the shadows, counting money. But bubblegum can be a great farm system, honing skills that pay dividends in later life. Lately, Disney's kiddie pop has been plenty profitable, with High... Rating: 3 Stars
The Kooks, Konk
It's too early to count them out, but they'll need to try harder with album number three.
The Herbaliser
Twórczość Herbalisera pokazuje, jak elastyczna może być hiphopowa formuła. Dokonania londyńskiego duetu niewiele mają wspólnego z kojarzonymi z tym gatunkiem stereotypami....
Jimmy Hughes - The Best of Jimmy Hughes
Artist: Jimmy Hughes Review: An overlooked gospel-turned-R&B singer with a keening, feminine voice, Jimmy Hughes put Muscle Shoals, Alabama, home of the Fame label and studios, on the map with his Top 20 hit "Steal Away" in 1964 — several years before Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding recorded there. His verge-of-tears intensity enlivens this collection, out of print for years, which spans from soft, elegant ballads like "Why Not Tonight" to greasy funk workouts such as "I'm a Man of Action." Some of the material, like... Rating: 3.5 Stars
Roy Orbison - The Soul of Rock & Roll
Artist: Roy Orbison Review: Roy Orbison was a superhero of song. Unassuming in appearance, he became someone extraordinary when his weeping tenor took flight, rising from deep, dark places on anguished ballads like "Only the Lonely" and "Crying." Orbison rebuilt the stark balladry of Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" as a jukebox opera house, expanded rock's arrangement limitations, and opened a door to Phil Spector and Freddie Mercury alike. This 107-track box captures Orbison's Fifties rockabilly beginnings on its first... Rating: 5 Stars
Beck, Odelay - Deluxe Edition
If you think you knew him before, just wait 'til you meet him all over again...
Marc Broussard - Keep Coming Back
Artist: Marc Broussard Review: Marc Broussard's early albums established him as the heir to Texas white-soul icon Delbert McClinton. But Keep Coming Back shows the 26-year-old Louisiana singer coming into his own. His coarse baritone fires up the Seventies-style funk of "Power's in the People," the disco-fied anthem "Man for Life" and the warm, strings-drenched piano ballad "Evil Things." He lapses into pedestrian pop-soul-disco on the ponderous "Another Night Alone," but he makes up for it on "When It's Good," a brawny... Rating: 3 Stars
Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher
Artist: Old Crow Medicine Show Review: Old Crow Medicine Show aren't revivalists. They're anachronists. On their fourth full-length, produced by Don Was, the Nashville quartet mash up a well-nigh 19th-century sound — hopped-up folk, bluegrass, country and gospel — with lyrics that are firmly planted in the 21st century. "Huff paint, cocaine, playing chicken with a train/Smack dab, meth lab, mellow out, rehab," hoots Ketch Secor in "Alabama High-Test." Several songs cast a journalistic eye on hard partying, from the countr... Rating: 3.5 Stars
Supergrass, Diamond Hoo Ha
Another jewel in the guitar pop dung heap ? good work fellas.
Vanessa Hudgens - Identified
Artist: Vanessa Hudgens Review: History teaches us not to dismiss kiddie pop. Stevie Wonder was once Little Stevie Wonder, just as Lil Wayne was once little Lil Wayne, child gangsta rapper. And let's not forget ex-Mouseketeers Britney and Justin. Purists disdain teenybopper music as cynical pap, foisted on the young by Svengalis who lurk in the shadows, counting money. But bubblegum can be a great farm system, honing skills that pay dividends in later life. Lately, Disney's kiddie pop has been plenty profitable, with High... Rating: 3 Stars
Nelly - Brass Knuckles
Artist: Nelly Review: Combining Will Smith's friendliness with St. Louis slang and a down-home drawl, Nelly has mastered his own brand of crossover appeal. On his fifth album, he mostly sticks to that pop-rap formula, cranking his distinctly melodic flow to hyper-speeds and playing the good-natured hedonist on cuts like "Party People." But when he tries to come off hard on a handful of Dirty South brawlers, he ends up sounding generic: "U Ain't Him" finds him rhyming about gunplay and warning no one in particular abo... Rating: 3 Stars
Black Kids, Partie Traumatic
Great; but only if you're too young to have heard it all before.
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
Artist: Gnarls Barkley Review: When Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo strike a pose together as Gnarls Barkley, they'll dress up as anything from Star Wars characters to the Dude and Walter from The Big Lebowski. But their greatest costume concept has to be Hunter S. Thompson and his attorney, because that captures the fear and loathing in their music. "Crazy" seemed jovial on the surface, which is why it became the world's favorite song in 2006. But the longer you listened, the creepier it felt — especially Cee-Lo's cackle... Rating: 3.5 Stars
Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
Artist: Randy Newman Review: Randy Newman has earned a nice living in recent years as a film composer, but connoisseurs covet his Seventies work, when he emerged as one of the most cutting and empathic of American singer-songwriters. So his return to political-minded material on Harps and Angels is reason to wrap yourself in the flag and cheer. Newman works with piano, an orchestra and a Dixieland-style combo, using American musical tradition to amplify irony and yank heartstrings. The best moments echo classics like... Rating: 4 Stars
Cure, The
Trzydzieści lat minęło jak jeden dzień. Dawniej jedni z prekursorów zimnej fali, dziś żywa legenda stanowiąca inspirację dla niezliczonej ilości artystów....
Billy Joel - The Stranger (30th anniversary deluxe edition)
Artist: Billy Joel Review: In 1977, Joel's fourth and best album replaced Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water as Columbia Records' all-time top-seller, establishing Joel as a titan of adult contemporary America's answer to Elton John. The Stranger also launched Joel's longterm collaboration with producer Phil Ramone, who distilled the Piano Man's music to its essence, a hook-packed blend of AM-radio pop-rock and Broadway schmaltz. The hit single was the gooey "Just the Way You Are," but there's impressive... Rating: 4 Stars
BB King, Live At The BBC
Neither ropey nor exceptional, this collection inhabits the sturdy middle ground between these extremes.
Kimya Dawson - Alphabutt
Artist: Kimya Dawson Review: Solo and as half of Moldy Peaches, Dawson has applied child-like wisdom and humor to adult issues like crack, romantic love, and the Iraq war. So it makes peculiar sense that she'd follow the freak success of the Juno soundtrack, which featured her on seven tracks, with a set of genuine kids songs. (She also recently became a mom.) But by the time she's halfway through the scatological title track — "C is for cat butt, D is for doo-doo" — it's clear this ain't Nickelodeon. Some songs... Rating: 3 Stars
Spiritualized, Songs In A & E
Now, more than ever, Spiritualized are less about the trip into the outer limits and more about the frailty of love and mystery of individual existence.
Tunng
Zaczęło się w 2003 r. od dwóch pasjonatów muzycznego eksperymentowania Mike?a Lindsaya i Sama Gendera. Zamknięci w piwnicy tworzyli swoje pierwsze folkowe kawałki. Tak powstał londyński zespół Tunng, który po cudownym rozmnożeniu stał się...
Madonna
Przeciętna wokalistka, niezbyt utalentowana aktorka, niczym niezachwycająca tancerka. A mimo to na jej koncertach długo nie milkną owacje ryczącej z zachwytu publiki....