CD Review: Depeche Mode "Remixes 81-04"

One thing the true Depeche Mode fan can appreciate is that with every hit single there would be several remixes by any number of famous producers attached to it. To be frank, Depeche Mode have become godfathers of the remix by taking an already danceable track and bringing it to a new level.

After two decades of essential songs that have become anthems for the masses, Depeche Mode have released a definitive collection of their finest remixes for either the casual listener in a single-disc version or the true fan in a limited edition 3-CD set.

What makes a Depeche Mode remix worth a listen is the effort of the remixer in the process. For instance, when Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto works his techno magic on “Rush” or The Beatmasters do their “house-work” on “Route 66”, its as if Depeche Mode has allowed the remixer to perform their own version of the song without losing the basis of the original tune.

The collection contains several songs that were once available only as b-sides as well as a handful of new remixes by Air, Timo Maas, Goldfrapp and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park – all with their own special touch to each song making it their own unique contribution.

CD Review: Razorlight "Up All Night"

Amidst the new generation of “next big things” to come across the pond this year, Razorlight come at the tail-end, and fortunately, they haven’t come too late to bring us a good original batch of brash pop songs from the streets of London.

As the first track, “Leave Me Alone” opens with its Mott The Hoople-style piano and raw garage pop guitars, we are introduced to the in-your-face style of singer-songwriter Johnny Borrell as he sings “Oh when did you decide / To start living like it's suicide / And wasting all my time / And messing up my mind.”

Razorlight’s debut release is a great collection of wild London stories. In the street anthem “Rock and Roll Lies”, Borrell takes some ironic poetic justice as he passionately says “He sees your eyes, you're just the rock'n'roll eyes / Oh but it's just lies, babe, it's just the rock'n'roll lies.”

Like their neighborhood chums, The Libertines, Razorlight take a unique look at the life that is London – the music, the people and the scene, mixes it in a blender and churns it out in their own charming chaotic manner like a boozed up bard talking on the street corner to whomever passes by.

Live Review: The Ocean Blue in West Hollywood, CA

http://www.livedaily.com/news/7223.html

The Ocean Blue has gone through lineup and label changes over its 15-year existence, but the band's formula of sophisticated, Smiths-like pop melodies combined with swirling guitars has remained the same.

Rounding out a short U.S. tour in support of their upcoming "Waterworks" EP, the quartet played several old favorites amid some new material to a near-sold-out crowd at The Troubadour on Tuesday (10/19). Singer/Guitarist David Schelzel hasn't aged at all, and neither has the band's music. Songs like "Sublime," "Mercury" and "Ballerina Out of Control" sound just as clean and bright as when the band first came onto the scene in the early '90s.

Other songs performed during the 90-minute set included several fan favorites from their extensive catalogue, among them "Drifting Falling," "Marigold," "Ways and Means" and "Whenever You're Around." The band also dusted off its rarely performed songs "Breezing Up" and "Slide."

A noticeable improvement to The Ocean Blue of today is the addition of singer/guitarist Oed Ronne. A member since the band's 1996 release, "See," Ronne's carefree contributions with Schelzel and the rest of the band (drummer Peter Anderson and longtime bassist Bobby Mittan) were best displayed by his back-up vocals on new songs like "Golden Gate," and when he took the lead on the fun pop musings of "Sunshower" and "Ticket to Wyoming."

As the set came to a close with the band's signature song, "Between Something and Nothing," Schelzel concluded with the tongue-in-cheek "I've Sung One Too Many Songs For A Crowd That Didn't Want To Hear." However, the audience wanted more, and Schelzel obliged by delivering a fine, solo-acoustic encore performance of Billy Idol's "Eyes Without a Face." The rest of the band joined him for a fun audience sing-along to "Love Song."

CD Review: Nancy Sinatra – 'Nancy Sinatra'

Nancy Sinatra will forever be remembered as the pop songstress who made some great pop collaborations in the late 60’s with producer Lee Hazelwood and arranger Billy Strange. Songs like “Some Velvet Morning” and “These Boots Are Made for Walking” are recognizable classics of a time when pop music was unfortunately overcome by the Psychedelic era.

However, over time, cult status has brought some contemporaries who laud her as an iconic influence in the world of pop. “Nancy Sinatra” comes to us in the same way that Jack White brought Loretta Lynn back to the scene with “Van Lear Rose.” It’s a successful comeback that brings us to the days when pop music wasn’t over produced and overwritten, but full of sly, sultry and melancholy arrangements that make you want to pull out the old vinyl collection and dream you’re in the deep, dark studios of old.

While some comeback album failures are a dime a dozen, most of the album’s songs easily illustrate Nancy’s vocals as lively and full as when she wore knee-high skirts. Whether it’s the slow blues with Jon Spencer in “Aint no Easy Way”, the orchestral smoothness with Morrissey in “Let me Kiss You”, or the songs “Baby’s Coming Back to Me” and “Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time” penned by Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Nancy makes an impressive comeback worth noting.

CD Review: William Shatner 'Has Been'

Taken from
http://www.livedaily.com/news/7208.html

You can’t help but be puzzled when you hear that William Shatner has released an album. However, it becomes more of a surprise when you find out this isn’t the first time. The man most known as Captain Kirk released “The Transformed Man” in 1968, a psychedelic concoction of songs, poems and spoken-word musings that has bestowed a cult status on the album for its bewildering delivery of “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds” among others.

Jump to the present. Shatner gains status as the Priceline.com spokesman and does some commercials with Ben Folds that brings back his spoken-word delivery with musical accompaniment. He later heads to Folds’ Nashville studio and with some help from Folds and friends; he releases “Has Been,” and embraces his past musings with a tongue in cheek attitude that actually works.

The album opens with Pulp’s “Common People” as Shatner deeply articulates the famous Britpop anthem’s opening lines (“She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge…”) as if he were James T Kirk again, and you suddenly wonder if Pulp’s singer, Jarvis Cocker, got some of his swagger from Mr. Shatner? With help from other famous musicians including Joe Jackson, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins and Brad Paisley, this collection comes out fair enough.

Continuing with songs like the drunken delivery of “It Hasn’t Happened Yet” and the Nick Hornby-penned “That’s Me Trying”, Shatner gets all the enterprising surreal mockery off his chest and actually releases a decent album that wouldn’t work had it not been for his signature speaking voice. While he still can, Shatner can bare his soul with a little help from his friends and you can’t blame him for trying.

CD Review: Hope of The States 'The Lost Riots'

For a band as young as Hope of The States, the last year has been almost too turbulent. Losing their founding guitarist and friend, James Lawrence, to suicide could easily make a band pull out while they just started. However, tragedy aside, their debut “The Lost Riots” has come as an encouraging introduction.

Opening with the cinematic instrumental, “The Black Amnesias” and the sharp yet sensitive vocals in “Enemies/Friends”, the English quintet build walls of pop guitar with the innocent vocals of singer Sam Herlihy as the binding glue.

Many songs make an impressionable first listening with the epic sounds of “The Red The White The Black The Blue” and “Sadness on My Back” where piano, string, guitars and vocals all come together with the volume turned up to an atmospheric eleven.

They’re not the next Radiohead, nor should they be weighed alongside them. Hope of the States have taken some risks in their musical arrangements and created a fine collection of 12 songs about love, hope and frustration. Their sharp, yet sensitive approach makes this an adequate debut release where the potential is waiting to come out of the woodwork.

CD Review: The Music 'Welcome to the North'

When The Music came to the scene early last year, many knew them as “That band that opened for The Vines,” and sometimes stole the show. Thanks to their unique fusion of raw, classic-rock guitar riffs and danceable background rhythm, they created the perfect musical prescription to bring us to new musical highs with their self-titled album in 2002. However, a year later, it seems some of that mixture may have lost its taste.

“Welcome to the North” is the second release from the Leeds, UK quartet, and the mix doesn’t seem as even. The album has its reasonable share of good tracks, but the collection itself isn’t as welcoming as the title may suggest.

Opening with ‘Welcome to The North”, “Freedom Fighters” and “Breakin’”, we’re brought to a good continuation of what The Music brought us earlier with Verve-like anthems that make you think they went to a rave and re-recorded ‘Led Zeppelin III’.

However, many tracks like “Bleed from Within”, “Cessation” and “I Need Love” seem to focus more on beats than anything else. Perhaps it sounds better on the live stage, which helped create their fan base in the first place, but on recording it doesn’t translate too well. It’s the sound mix that either focuses too much on the danceable background rather than keeping the blend of guitar and rhythm to an even keel.

While singer Robert Harvey and guitarist Adam Nutter can still be generation’s Plant/Page, they need more substantial material to convey their epic anthems. Unfortunately this album slightly misses that path.

Live Review: Supergrass in Los Angeles

Taken from
http://www.livedaily.com/news/7167.html

The Oxford trio Supergrass, despite little U.S. radio success to show for its 10-year history, never fails to pack venues across the country.

Thursday (10/7) night's performance--in celebration of the release of the band's career-spanning hits collection, "Supergrass is 10: The Best of 94-04"--was no exception. Ending their short, six-city U.S. "Anniversary Tour" at Hollywood's Avalon, singer/guitarist Gaz Coombes, bassist Mickey Quinn and drummer Danny Goffey played all the fan favorites with the same enthusiasm and vitality they possessed when the Britpop invasion exploded in the early nineties.

Each song inspired mass sing-alongs and pogo-dancing from the avid fans in attendance. Loose and wild songs like "Lenny" and "Mansize Rooster," melodic tunes like "Rush Hour Soul" and "Seen the Light" and layered rock epics like "Mary" and "Sun Hits the Sky" were some of the best examples of the signature sound that's been keeping Supergrass alive--with no sign of fading away.

Within the evening's jumbled collection of pop-punk hits, the lads managed to insert a nice acoustic set from Coombes and Quinn that included "Late in the Day," "Seen the Light" and a surprise, stripped-down version of their signature hit, "Caught by the Fuzz." Soon after, the band came back in full force with rubber-armed drummer Goffey and his Keith Moon-inspired drum fills.

Though much attention is given to the band as a trio, let's not forget the unofficial fourth member, Rob Coombes--co-songwriter, keyboardist and brother to Gaz--who played inconspicuously in the background throughout the 75-minute set, keeping things together with his organ-and-piano mixtures.

Supergrass may play some of its former power-pop tunes at a slightly slower tempo these days, but the trio never fails to please with its happy blend of songs inspired by the likes of The Buzzcocks, XTC, David Bowie and T. Rex (to name a few). It's good to know some things don't change.

CD Review: Interpol 'Antics'

Taken from http://www.livedaily.com/news/7149.html

"We ain't going to the town, we're goin' to the city" opens Interpol's second release, another paean to the streets of New York.

"Antics" is a new collection of songs with the same unique, slow-fused dynamics that made the New York band's 2002 debut a joy. If it's not the dark, thrilling music, it's the monotone-yet-earnest singing of Paul Banks.
Almost all of the tracks on "Antics" feature a careful musical formula marked by random surges of intensity. Take, for instance, "Evil," on which Banks sings "Rosemary / Heaven restores you in life / Coming with me / Through the aging, the fear and the strife," building to the full chorus: "It took a life spent / with no cellmate / The long way back / Saying meanwhile can't we look the other way." It's high-low lyrical assemblies like this that get your attention.

What gives these dirge-ridden compositions a unique feel are the heartfelt lyrics that accompany them. The centerpiece, "Take You On A Cruise" opens with Banks--backed by a post-punk sea of rhythm and sound--asking, "Would you like to be my missus and a future with child?" then pondering, "Baby won't you try to find me?" and, finally, ending with the mysterious musings of, "I am the scavenger between the sheets of union."

Interpol has truly found its own unique way of interpreting times when hope and despair can sometimes walk hand in hand.