This live album from the new incarnation of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is a solid set. It's also the companion to the video I reviewed in the last issue of Music Street Journal.
I've never heard of this band before, but apparently they are big in Germany. The stage banter on this album is all in German, but the singing is in English.
When I reviewed the previous single from this act (in this same issue), I said that I'd like to hear more from them. Well, shortly after completing that review I got this opportunity.
Just in time for the holiday season, this is a new reissue of Leon Redbone's Christmas album. Perhaps it's best known for the duet between Redbone and Dr. John on "Frosty the Snowman."
If you were to combine Pearl Jam with DOA you might come up with something really close to the sound of this album. There is a great range of sounds here.
REO Speedwagon - Essential REO Review by Gary Hill The story is a familiar one - a band forms and creates their own sound, putting out a wealth of material, with some strong and others not so strong. Eventually they stumble onto a major hit, and suddenly their entire output seems to be based around trying to recreate that sound.
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This is one heck of a cool set. For those who need to catch up on the earlier part of REO's catalogue (you know, before they were superstars), it's really a great value.
I reviewed a previous set from Repko. On that one I talked about the vocals being a bit too much like Green Day (I find Billy Joe Armstrong's voice to be too whiny and don't like his band because of it).
If you like AC/DC you will like this album. These guys play a brand of hard rock and roll that is based on the same kind of no-frills sound as that band.
Bob Rivers & Twisted Radio - I Am Santa Claus Review by Gary Hill The back cover of this CD contains the following admonition. “If you’re looking for the true meaning of Christmas, buy this album. Then, by all means, keep looking.” More
So you say you like Heart? You probably should check this album out, then. This is not a carbon copy of that band, by any means, but it definitely is a close relative.
Julie Roberts - Julie Roberts Review by Gary Hill When I was younger I wouldn't have touched country music with the proverbial ten-foot pole. As I've matured, though, I've found that all musical forms have artists of merit within them, and by closing out an entire genre, you are depriving yourself of some very good music.
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RockBitch - Motor Driven Bimbo Review by Gary Hill Reading a bit of background about this band, it would be easy to see them as a gimmick band of the highest order. Indeed, here you have an almost exclusively female band, who perform mostly in the nude. More
The Rolling Stones - A Bigger Bang Review by Gary Hill While the Stones have always produced entertaining albums, for a long time it has felt like they weren't entertained by them. It almost seemed like they were phoning in their performances much of the time.
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This is one of those albums that might be better taken one song at a time. In order to maintain interest for a whole album, songs need to vary quite a bit.
Tim Russ - Brave New World Review by Gary Hill Often when you hear an album by an actor - some recent examples certainly come to mind - you might think that this person really is neither a singer or a musician and is just being force fed the lines one by one to sell the album based on their name.
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Tim Russ - Bugsters Tunes and Tales by Tim Russ and Friends Review by Gary Hill This is a bit of an usual review for me and for MSJ - being that it is a children's CD. We've never done one before, in fact, I've never done one before, but there's a first time for everything.
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Finding music that can entertain kids without seriously annoying their parents can be tough. This seems to be an album that will work for such a purpose.
