Category: Music
Beth Hart – You Still Got Me CD Review
Rating – 3 3/4 stars out of 5
I know most people who have read my music reviews would not necessarily expect a review of Beth Hart’s latest album. Well, I’m full of surprises and actually pretty broad in my music taste despite what seems to be the norm of my reviews. Truth is, Beth Hart was another artist I discovered in my musical renaissance that happened shortly after my second divorce. For years, I had enjoyed Taylor Dayne and her extremely impressive “husky” voice. While Taylor hasn’t done much of note in a while unfortunately, I was looking for someone to fill that ultra strong voice void. Then I found Beth and started to listen. All it really took was listening to her albums: Leave the Light On and My California and I was hooked. Let’s take a look at You Still Got Me.
Kylie Minogue – Tension II CD Review
Rating – 4 stars out of 5
For those who might have missed it, Kylie Minogue’s Tension was probably my favorite album of 2023. It had a generational hit in Padam Padam and had so many wonderful songs such as 10 out of 10, Hands, One More Time, and of course the title track which I’m still jamming out to. It was with a lot of surprise that while looking up new albums for the rest of the calendar year, I was quite taken aback by Tension II coming out a mere calendar year after the previous album. While I was expecting some kind of release since Disco had an extended edition, live edition, etc, I thought it would be along those lines not brand new music. Furthermore, I really did not expect that Tension II would be almost as good as its predecessor. Let’s take a listen.
Nelly Furtado – 7 CD Review
Rating – 3 1/2 stars out of 5
Well, I am back finally with another review. Sorry for the long absence, this last project was extremely difficult and I literally had no time to eat and sleep, never mind anything of an extracurricular nature. I should be off of it in a week or two, but a little sliver of time has opened up for me to crank out a review.
Apparently the second half of 2024 is the time for new music as I’m seeing quite a few things I’m interested in including some new Kylie, Tears for Fears, and even Beth Hart will have CDs out in the next couple of months. However, this particular review marks the return of someone I greatly appreciate in the world of music, Nelly Furtado. She has not been seen since her last record, The Ride which was produced in 2017. So it’s only fitting that seven years later for her seventh album, Nelly has decided to name this album, 7. Let’s take a listen.
Lenny Kravitz – Blue Electric Light CD Review
Rating – 3 3/4 stars out of 5
As I have mentioned before, my music renaissance started about a decade ago where I turned away from being strictly glam rock with some eighties thrown in to artists and bands that funk and soul were more on the plate than a hard hitting headbanging tune were. There are two artists in particular that have become a gateway for that transformation. One was of course, the icon and legend known as Prince. The other is an artist who has often been compared to him, Lenny Kravitz. Ever since I read his biography back in May of last year, I have been craving some new music. Looks like I finally got my wish in Blue Electric Light. Let’s take a listen.
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St. Vincent – All Born Screaming CD Review
Rating – 3 3/4 stars out of 5
I have talked about St Vincent before when I reviewed her film, The Nowhere Inn. At that point, we were still relatively fresh from her sixth album, Daddy’s Home and I honestly did not expect a new album for several more years. As it turns out, it took about three years for a new album even though Annie Clark was writing from the moment her prior album was released. Her new album, All Born Screaming is entirely self-produced which can either be the harbinger of death as we saw with Jennifer Lopez‘s latest album or it can be a masterpiece, see Some Girls by The Rolling Stones or pretty much every Prince album in existence. So as excited as I was for new St Vincent music, I was also a little concerned that it might not have the same polish I have come to expect from some of her most celebrated releases. Let’s take a look.
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Shakira – Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran CD Review
Rating – 3 3/4 stars out of 5
I always want to stretch my limits when I am reviewing. I want to put myself in the chair so to speak and listen, watch or play all sorts of different pieces of media. Heck, if I thought I could appropriately write a vacuum cleaner review, I probably would (If I say it sucked, does that mean it’s a positive review?). Point is that nothing is off the table even if it is in a different language. I review foreign films all the time, I will be reviewing Monster, a Japanese movie in the near future. But what if I was to say that one of my favorite musical artists is the amazing Shakira? Well, I’m probably like a lot of red blooded guys then, but in this case I am doubling down on the situation and reviewing her latest album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran which is entirely in Spanish. No subs, no filters, just my ears and my half Mexican wife staring at me wide-eyed in the car. It’s a good time, let’s go.
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Kylie Minogue – Tension CD Review
Rating – 4 1/2 stars out of 5
The US music landscape can prove to be a somewhat odd one. Nobody can really figure out why certain songs, certain albums, certain artists can’t break into the Billboard charts no matter how amazing their music may be. They could be loved overseas and yet the US radio stations and other outlets won’t even lift their finger to play the best of tunes from a given artist but will play absolute trash from another. Thankfully, in the age of streaming, it’s super easy to find those performers and those songs. But sometimes, one of those artists creates a piece so amazing that even those normal channels have to rise up and take notice. Today, we take a look at Kylie Minogue’s new album, Tension.
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Jungle – Volcano CD Review
Rating – 3 1/2 stars out of 5
It’s Christmas Time 2014. I boot up a copy of Tales from the Borderlands on my Xbox. On this day, I’m thinking I am going to play another Telltale game where I make a few choices, enjoy a good story and get an easy 1000 achievement points. However, what I didn’t expect about this game was an unbelievable soundtrack. One of those songs was the amazing tune Busy Earnin’ by Jungle. So amazing, that I immediately found a copy online of the album and had sent to me post haste. I was instantly hooked to songs like Time, The Heat and Platoon among others. Since then, I’ve enjoyed their other albums, For Ever and Loving in Stereo. Today, we are taking a look at their fourth album, Volcano. Let’s see if their sound still holds up.
Everything But the Girl – Fuse CD+Blu-Ray Audio Review
Rating – 3 1/2 stars out of 5
Everything But the Girl gained an incredible amount of fame with their song “Missing” in 1994 on their Amplified Heart album. Much like their earlier music, it was an acoustic driven set and not until the Todd Terry club mix changed everything did anyone really take notice of the band except for the diehards. Their last album, Temperamental met with some success in the dance market and was released in 1999. Fast forward 24 years and the band has made a comeback with the 2023 record, Fuse. Let’s take a listen and see what we think.
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Depeche Mode – Memento Mori CD Review
Rating – 4 1/2 stars out of 5
Andy Fletcher, co-founder and keyboardist of Depeche Mode died on May 26th, 2022 to shock of almost everyone at only 60 years old. Most fans of the longtime band were in disarray, and truly wondered if the band would continue with new music. After all, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 (finally) and honestly could have toured on their old music until they wanted to retire with no problem whatsoever.
Thankfully, prior to that dreadful occurrence, there was music already in the works from Martin Gore, Dave Gahan and Richard Butler (formerly of the Psychedelic Furs). After Fletcher’s death, work began on polishing the album and creating additional music with his spirit in mind. Without further adieu, let’s dive into this album, it’s utterly fantastic.
