Various Artists - Eurovision Song Contest Athens 2006 [2006]
This year Greece plays host to the Eurovision Song Contest, the world’s most viewed and perhaps most talked-about musical event. Greek artists have graced the contest with their talents throughout the years. Nana Mouskouri represented Luxembourg in 1963 and Vicky Leandros claimed a victory for the principality in 1972. It was however, the victory of Helena Paparizou in Kyiv in 2005 which has taken the event to the capital city of Athens for the first time. Athens has embraced the contest with the same fervour with which it most recently welcomed the world to the Olympic Games. No less than thirty-seven countries meet here again in friendship to rise to the challenge of becoming Europe’s champion of song. Fourteen of them have places reserved in the Final, and 23 will battle it out in an exciting Semi-Final to claim the remaining 10 places. All of them compete on an equal footing, be they regulars in the show for the past 50 years, or, in the case of Armenia, newcomers being welcomed for the very first time. Fitting for a city that unites startlingly modern aspects with awe-inspiring ancient treasures, the songs being presented here represent the full wealth of Europe’s musical heritage combined with new and innovative sounds. EMI. 2006. Read more
The Cure - Greatest Hits [2001]
As Greatest Hits–and particularly the busking pavement jazz of “Lovecats”–reminds us, the best Cure singles were very often tangential exercises; they offered a goth-free playtime divergence from some of the weightier studiousness of those early albums. Or, as smudged frontman Robert Smith says of this 18-track collection, “Songs that are sung with a smile.” This wasn’t always true–witness the refrigerated fogginess of the classic “A Forest,” the Blair Witch Project of its day. What this compilation does is focus attention on the Cure’s perennial unpredictability–the breathless claustrophobia of “Close to Me,” the New Order-lite of “The Walk,” the brass- section embellished thrust of “Why Can’t I Be You.” Oddly, chart-wise, the Cure’s lost weekend began immediately after “Friday I’m in Love,” their most ebullient melodic moment and the ultimate “clocking-off to kick those heels” anthem. But at least the inclusion of two new songs, “Cut Here” and “Just Say Yes” (with Saffron from Republica), indicate that the Cure remain a healthy, ongoing concern. –Kevin Maidment. Read more
Adema - Unstable [2003]
Review @ www.blender.com
California five-piece cleans up its act in a doomed attempt to stay relevant
Reviewed by Jon Wiederhorn
Now that nü-metal is as fashionable as flannel, even former arena bands like Korn and Papa Roach are feeling the sales sting. So what does second-tier group Adema do to stay valid? They become more radio-friendly by turbo-boosting their melodies, and retain their tough exterior by writing about such angsty things as damaged relationships (“Unstable”) and drugs (“Needles”). The lunging, harmony-laden “Co-Dependent” shows promise, but most of the songs on Unstable, the band’s second album, are so labored over that they lack urgency. “Promises” echoes with out-of-place U2-style guitar chimes, and “So Fortunate” is a mess of ringing arpeggios and weepy violins. Frontman Marky Chavez says Adema worked long and hard on Unstable. If they had spent half as much time, it might have been twice as good. Read more
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