My Music Online

Review by Mr D. “Artist/Designer/Kibitzer”

Fancy that! I’m writing a review for ‘Samael’, a group who, until a week or so ago, I’d never heard, nor cared to. You see, they fall into a musical classification Black / Death Metal - which I really don’t care for. Or do they? Yes there are bands on the fringes of Black / Death metal that I like such as Tristania and TSOTB but let’s face it, except for the male growling they are sort of Gothic, almost Operatic. They may even evolve that way like Therion and Within Temptation. But Samael is closer to (but not that close) to Black Metal, however one could swear that in this album they are trying to make a transition to another genre. I believe so even more after listening to ‘Passages’, their reputed “best album” which is like I expected ‘Eternal’ to be like. I like ‘Eternal’ much better, it being less extreme, more mainstream. I did like the extra CD though, a classical rendition of ‘Passages’. Read the rest of this entry »

Review by Cassidy Knight

Sara Bareilles’ CD, ‘Little Voice,’ is one of the best CDs my ears have had the pleasure of listening to. Every song is flawless, a task which I thought impossible because I had become so attached to all of her old renditions of these songs. For those hesitant in how the new sound is, don’t be. She takes these songs and changes them, they grow and morph into (while not necessarily better) amazIng works of art. ‘Love Song’ is one of the best ‘jump-around-summer-songs’ I’ve heard of late, and ‘Gravity’ will put tears in your eyes with its beauty and simplicity. ‘Vegas’ is a song I can play over and over, while ‘Between the Lines’ (the only song I had not heard before buying the album) is a somber and tragic song. And while ‘Fairytale’ may never sound as good as it does with only Sara and her piano, this new version fits very nicely with this perfect album. Sara’s words are strong, her voice phenomenal, and her piano skills abundant, and this album is the perfect testament to the sheer beauty of everything that is Sara Bareilles. Is it too soon to be anticipating her next album? Read the rest of this entry »

Review by A. Stutheit “Teyad”

After being fired from Black Sabbath in 1979, Ozzy Osbourne became depressed, developed bipolar disorder, and delved deeper into his drug and alcohol addiction. Then two things happened: Sharon Levy (who would later marry Ozzy, and changer her name to Sharon Osbourne) became Ozzy’s manager, and a young man by the name of Randy Rhodes stepped into his life, so Ozzy decided to launch a solo career. 1981’s “Blizzard of Ozz” was a great success, considering it was his first solo album.

This album has definitely withstood the test of time, and it has also gone down in history as a heavy metal classic. Ozzy Osbourne achieved so much with his career in Black Sabbath, and “Blizzard of Ozz” was the start of an equally successful and influential career. Read the rest of this entry »

Review by Wayne Klein “If at first the idea is not absu…

What is it about Lennon’s Imagine that makes it his most popular work? If Plastic Ono Band showed Lennon finally grabbling with the demons of his youth, Imagine demonstrated that Lennon hadn’t abandoned his songcraft. He also hadn’t allowed that songcraft to overshadow the content of his songs (as on later solo albums Mind Games and Walls & Bridges). There is a maturity in the best songs from Imagine that was only hinted at previously.

If you already own Imagine is it worth buying again? It depends on how much you like the album. The depth, clarity and overall sound quality has been greatly improved. You won’t hear any striking differences in the mix as Yoko Ono and engineer Peter Cobbin have remained faithful to the original mix as much as possible. I’ve read several reviews here about how the sound doesn’t “jump out” at you like the outtakes from the Anthology boxset. There’s a simple reason for this; the outtakes were no frills takes without overdubbing. Additionally, those tracks were unfamiliar to most fans (except those who had the bootleg boxset)and that unfamiliarity (along with the minor differences between the different takes)allowed one to listen to them with a fresh set of ears. Imagine has become overfamiliar to most folks just from all the radio airplay most of the songs have received over the years. Read the rest of this entry »

Review by J. E FELL “boogaloojef”

This remastered set contains an anthology of Ritchie Blackmore’s work with his group Rainbow. He formed the group after tiring of the ego clashes in Deep Purple. The group had no stable line-up yet produced some great music during the seventies and eighties. The groups became progressively more commercial as more albums were released. The band had three different vocalists Ronnie James Dio (later of Black Sabbath and Dio), Graham Bonnett (later of MSG), and Joe Lynn Turner (later in Deep Purple). Other members of note have included the now deceased drummer Cozy Powell, Deep Purple mate Roger Glover on bass, and keyboardist Tony Carey among many others. The group’s most well known songs (all here) are a cover of Russ Ballard’s “Since You Been Gone”, “Stone Cold”, and “Street Of Dreams”. There are no rarities on this set but other cuts such as “Jealous Lover”, “Can’t Happen Here”, “Man On The Silver Mountain”, and “Kill The King” are just as memorable as their hits. I wish the set were two discs and included such tracks as the single “LA Connection”, “Sixteenth Century Greensleeves” and the concert favorites like “Spotlight Kid” and “Difficult To Cure”. Blackmore’s guitar playing shines throughout and I lament the fact that the band broke up. Listening to this set reminds me of my junior high and high school days. If you are a fan of Deep Purple, great guitar playing or more melodic hard rock then this set is a must. If you are still curious you might want to pick up a copy of the remastered 2 cd “Finyl Vinyl” which contains live versions of some of the tracks on this set and others plus some great studio non-lp b-sides like “Bad Girl” and Weiss Heim”. Read the rest of this entry »

Review by P D Harris “Pete the music and horse racing fan”

Here are just some of Madonna’s early classic hits. When this compilation was assembled, Madonna already had too many hits to include them all on a single CD, hence the omission of Angel, Dress you up, Gambler, True blue and all the hits from the soundtrack, Who’s that girl? Because of her continuous success in the years that followed the release of this compilation, a comprehensive Madonna hits collection would now require a triple CD. That is a measure of her brilliance, sustained over a very long period of time.

The set begins with three hits from her debut album, of which Holiday is the best but Lucky star and Borderline are also wonderful. Then come Like a virgin and Material girl, two of the singles released from her outstanding second album. Crazy for you, an excellent ballad, and Into the groove, a superb dance song, come next. Although the title track is omitted, four other major hits from the True blue album (Live to tell, Papa don’t preach, Open your heart, La Isla Bonita) can be found here, each one of them a classic but very different from each other. Three major hits from Like a prayer include Express yourself and Cherish. Vogue (from I’m breathless) and two tracks not available on any previous album (Justify my love, Rescue me) complete the set. Read the rest of this entry »

Review by A. Stutheit “Teyad”

“Paranoid” is not only Black Sabbath’s most popular and breakthrough album, it is also arguably the best heavy metal album of all time. Saying that it’s the best metal of all time should be enough to persuade you to buy it, but if you’re still not convinced, read the rest of this review.

Black Sabbath debuted in 1970, so they’re probably one of the only bands you listen to that you’re parents/teachers have heard of, can tolerate, and maybe even grew up listening to. Black Sabbath also saw the beginning of a guy named Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy would be fired from the band later in the 1970’s, but he formed his own band, which was equally as successful. Plus, the work he did with BS earned him the title of “heavy metal’s godfather.”

Black Sabbath are, to me, the epitome of heavy metal, since (probably) at least 90% of modern metal bands were somehow influenced by them. Granted, Led Zeppelin were probably the band to give birth to heavy metal, but Sabbath are just as responsible for most bands (from Pantera to Slipknot to Eyehategod). And “Paranoid,” an album which featured five very famous songs, was pretty much as heavy as heavy music got in the 1970’s, and was also the beginning of a type of metal known as “doom metal.” Doom metal is slow and melancholy and has dark and sludgy riffs. Bands like My Dying Bride and Crowbar wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Ozzy and the gang. Tony isn’t as good as Randy Rhodes, the guitarist in Ozzy’s solo band, but he still is pretty great. Plus, he is even more of a legend when you consider Randy Rhodes probably wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Tony. Read the rest of this entry »