Marie Key "Tænker du vi danser" (2015)

Tænker du vi danser
release date: Feb. 2, 2015
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]
producer: Andreas 'Maskinen' Sommer
label: Genlyd / Sony Music - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Fatter det nu" (live) - 2. "Fryser med dig" (4 / 5) (live) - 3. "Tænker du vi danser" (live) - 4. "Hvis du går" - 5. "Dans" - 6. "Hjerte der banker" - 8. "Oceaner" - 10. "Dit sekund"

3rd solo studio album by Marie Key follows the same recipe of the previous and succesful second album De her dage from 2012 in a musical collaboration with producer, Anders Sommer. It's more than fine, personal songs about insecurity and relationships held in a tight spatial production. The album was met by positive reviews, and I believe the album nationally has sold more than well. I just find it too slick, too close to being just the expected follow-up to her great 2012 album. There are no surprises and hardly no really great songs. Yet, it's not anywhere near her weakest albums, it just doesn't offer any progression in respect to her last album - it's like the second secret disc from the same recordings. Sometimes you shouldn't fix what isn't broken but when talking about music that implies more of the same, which isn't the same as just as great.
[ Gaffa.dk 5 / 6 stars ]

The Beautiful South "Solid Bronze - Great Hits" (2001)

Solid Bronze - Great Hits (compilation)
release date: Nov. 12, 2001
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5]
producer: various
label: Mercury, Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK

2nd official compilation album by The Beautiful South released at a time when rumors had it that the band was about to split. After Painting It Red (2000) Jacqui Abbott left the band and a chaotic live tour followed.
The album consists of 19 tracks and features songs from all of their albums, but with shuffled tracks it's a rather difficult listen, and some of the best tracks from Carry on Up the Charts: The Best of The Beautiful South from 1994 - the first compilation album are truly missing. The finest songs of the band's early career have been replaced by newer but lesser songs in order to make room for tracks released from '96 up until the most recent album Painting It Red, which has 3 tracks on the album.
The idea of the release is hard to find, if it was intended as the sequel to Carry on Up the Charts, it's hard to argue why on earth it would be necessary to include 7 [!] tracks from the first compilation album. If, on the other hand, it's an attempt to sum up the bands best songs ever, well, the band simply hasn't made enough great songs after Carry on Up the Charts to excuse the presence of 9 tracks from albums released since the first best of album, thus excluding some of the band's most familiar and popular songs.
The best songs on this album are still found on the '94 compilation, so the album would only be interesting if you just want two by the band. An even better solution might be to check out the 2006 2-disc compilation Gold with a total of 36 tracks. Only bad thing about that is a shuffled playlist, but the tracks are there.
*Two promotion compilations were released by Go! Discs in between the two mentioned official compilations, The Carry on Continues...: The Best and Next of The Beautiful South from '96, and To Hull and Back from 2000, but they were never official releases.
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5 stars ]

The Radio Dept. "Clinging to a Scheme" (2010)

Clinging to a Scheme
release date: Apr. 21, 2010
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,04]
producer: Johan Duncanson, Martin Carlberg
label: Labrador Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Domestic Scene" - 2. "Heaven's on Fire" (4 / 5) (live on WFUV) - 3. "This Time Around" - 4. "Never Follow Suit" (4 / 5) - 6. "The Video Dept." (4 / 5) - 8. "David"

3rd studio album by The Radio Dept. released on Labrador and produced by Johan Duncanson and Martin Carlberg.

Stylistically, this is like its two predecessors indie pop and dream pop. It's also music with bonds to other fine Scandinavian artists like Cardigans and The Knife, and it bridges to British dream pop artists like Saint Etienne and Cocteau Twins. However, the sound also seems inspired by first and foremost My Bloody Valentine, but also New Order, The Smiths, and Felt.

I think, it's a fine and quite unique blend of their own, and the whole album is the band's most coherent and also the band's so far best album, imho.

Highly recommendable.

[ allmusic.com, NME, Drowned in Sound 4 / 5 stars ]

Neil Young & Crazy Horse "Year of the Horse" (1997) (live)

Year of the Horse (live)
release date: Jun. 17, 1997
format: 2 cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: "Horse" [Neil Young & Crazy Horse]
label: Warner Bros. - nationality: Canada

Another live album by Neil Young released as Neil Young & Crazy Horse recorded while on tour in 1996 and originally released by Reprise. Year of the Horse is actually foremost a documentary film directed by Jim Jarmusch following the band on their 1996 tour but also a 2 disc live album. The tracks are not taken from a specific album but are primarily from an early period up until the live album Rust Never Sleeps.
Now, without having seen the film, I think that it could work as documenting this great artist with his legendary backing band on tour, but the album itself seems somewhat redundant. It hasn't much new to offer that one won't find (better) in his back catalogue, and the selection of songs and the sound doesn't really add things up. Having said that, the tracks here are fine and it contains some truly great and essential songs - the only 'problem' about it is that for fans there's not much new. It's a bit like realising: "Yeah, we forgot to invite Jarmusch along while doing Weld 'cause we all know that was a hell of a peak. So let's make part two of that one. This one's for Jim!".
The not so successful tracks are basically the entire disc 2 with the only exception of "Sedan Delivery", which means not essential inclusions of tracks like "Slip Away", "Scattered", "Danger Bird" and "Prisoners of Rock 'n' Roll" all dragging the overall experience in the wrong direction after a strong start on disc 1.
The good stuff is a great version of "Barstool Blues", a fine live version of "Mr. Soul" and Neil & Crazy Horse live... well, it can't be bad even if they try. With tracks like "When You Dance I Can Really Love", "When Your Lonely Heart Breaks", and then "Pocahontas" played live  - hell, even as I think of this as a bit of a disappointment, it's really much better than decent or just good. It may not be essential but it's worth more than a listen or two. However, the three best live albums by Neil Young does not include this one.
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5 stars ]

Thin Lizzy "Live and Dangerous" (1978) (live)

Live and Dangerous (live)
release date: Jun. 2, 1978
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: Thin Lizzy, Tony Visconti
label: Vertigo Records - nationality: Ireland

1st live album by Thin Lizzy originally released as a double vinyl album with live recordings from 1976 and '77. The album was met with positive reactions and has gained status as one of the best live albums of contemporary pop / rock, e.g. British music magazine NME ranked the album as number #1 in its "50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time" in 2011.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 Sputnikmusic, Classic Rock 5 / 5 stars ]

U2 "All That You Can't Leave Behind" (2000)

All That You Can't Leave Behind
release date: Oct. 30, 2000
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]
producer: Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno
label: Island Records - nationality: Ireland

Track highlights: 1. "Beautiful Day" (4 / 5) - 2. "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" (4 / 5) - 3. "Elevation" - 4. "Walk On"

10th studio album by U2 marks a return to the producer-duo Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. The band chose to fight, and spent more than 3½ years before releasing this new album. And thankfully so, 'cause the band obviously still has something to offer... after all. I know many people thought U2 were history and a band connected with the 1980's and '90s only. Instead this is a rebirth of the band, and it also signals that they will also be around in the new millennium. It's not really great but it's more than just Okay, and more importantly: it's far from the artistic low points of Pop (Mar. '97) and Zooropa (Jul. '93), and the band takes up its profile they had established before Achtung Baby.
The album contains two really fine songs: "Beautiful Day", and "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of". Those tracks alone would have made a really great single, instead it's a so-so album 'cause the remaining tracks are sadly not on par with any of the aforementioned.
The album strangely made it to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

Kashmir "No Balance Palace" (2005)

No Balance Palace
release date: Oct. 10, 2005
format: cd
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,32]
producer: Tony Visconti
label: Columbia Records - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Kalifornia" - 4. "Ophelia" - 7. "She's Made of Chalk"

5th studio album by Kashmir who continue its style founded on Radiohead art rock with a new certain twist of dream pop. The prominent stars David Bowie and Lou Reed both feature on one song each on the album (tracks #3, and #10 respectively), and one may add that also producer Tony Visconti is a prominent guest artist. The setup and the dreams are certainly present. The music, however, mostly leaves me indifferent. Some of the songs are rather nicely arranged but the sources are as always too evident, and Kasper Eistrup is simply trying too hard to sound like either Thom Yorke or Chris Martin instead of finding out how to just be an original. The dream pop element doesn't come out very successfully. It only makes me think of it as Mew, Radiohead and Coldplay in one huge melting pot - I mean, that could be meaningful and original, but this is not.

Saybia "No Sound From the Outside" (2015)

No Sound From the Outside
release date: Oct. 2, 2015
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Michael Patterson, Nicolas Jodoin, Saybia
label: Columbia Records - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 2. "No Sound From the Outside" - 3. "Black Hole" - 4. "Hollow Is Your Promise" - 5. "One Minute Man" - 7. "It's About Time" - 8. "Down" - 11. "I'm Still Waiting"

4th studio album by Saybia released more than eight years since the predecessor Eyes on the Highway (Aug. 2007) and following the start of a succesful solo career of lead vocalist and songwriter Søren Huss. After the band's hiatus from late 2007 to Jul. 2010, the band played comeback concerts in the Summer of 2010 in the Netherlands, but it wasn't until 2014 that they announced a new album to be released early 2015. During the recording sessions, founding member, lead guitarist Sebastian Sandstrøm decided to call it a day and he was subsequently replaced by Kasper Rasmussen, which may explain the delay of the release.
I believe that many thought Saybia had come to an end after the 2007 album - and especially after Huss proved to experience major success as solo artist, and perhaps also after what some saw as an artistic slacken in the output from Saybia. Allegedly, Huss has stated that the band members didn't want to see their 2007 album as their final statement, which called for at least another attempt.
Stylistically, No Sound From the Outside still sounds very much like Saybia, but it appears as the band's most electrified studio release to date. Where the two predecessors have much in common, this one sticks out with a bolder alt. rock sound and style, which for a start makes a positive impression.
Musically, it may be in short of hit-material, although it succeeds by being no less than one of the band's most cohesive studio albums. It (obviously) still contains ballads, but they are shaped to a new formative sound and they don't point in various directions, and that's the album's biggest asset. Also, this is the first time you cannot argue that they sound like this or that - contemplating they copy this or that - yes, it's contemporary alt rock with various stylistic traits. Some compositions are shaped with inspiration from post-punk, others have progressive rock elements, and some reflect a more general soft rock approach, but altogether, they all sound like stemming from the same band just using whatever they find natural to colour its own original blend. At bottom line, I find they just sound as Saybia, which is a bit of an accomplishment.
The album didn't enter or peak at the top of charts but it reached the position as number #7 on the national albums chart list. Commercially, it may not be the great come-back album they sat out for, but musically, I find simply find it their second-best of all their albums, and who knows, perhaps in a few years, we'll all look back at this very album with a common confidence and state that it's actually their finest ever. It's a fine grower, and it contains several fine compositions.
Recommended.
[ Gaffa.dk 4 / 6 stars ]

Tindersticks "Across Six Leap Years" (2013)

Across Six Leap Years
release date: Oct. 14, 2013
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5) [4,18]
producer: Stuart A. Staples
label: Lucky Dog - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Friday Night" (4 / 5) - 3. "She's Gone" (5 / 5) - 4. "Dying Slowly" (4 / 5) - 5. "If You're Looking for a Way Out" (5 / 5) - 8. "A Night In" (5 / 5) - 9. "I Know That Loving" (4 / 5) - 10. "What Are You Fighting For?" (4 / 5)

10th studio album by the Tindersticks quintet released on Lucky Dog features the band's new interpretations of their own songs (except track #5 by Sandy Linzer and Ralph Kotkov) produced by lead vocalist Stuart A. Staples.

The starting point here is perhaps a little unconventional, perhaps even with a suspicion of a calculated financial strategy attempting to make profit from well-known material once again, but it all makes good sense already after a few spins. All tracks have completely new and much simpler arrangements, and some songs have simply been given so much more... attention and affection that they shine anew, all fresh. The music is generally stripped down to the very essentials of the individual track, and the whole album appears as a fulfilling refinement.

The front cover is from a painting ("Allsorts") by Robert Dukes.

Highly recommended.

2013 Favourite releases: 1. Arctic Monkeys AM - 2. Tindersticks Across Six Leap Years - 3. De Efterladte Alvorsord og etagevask

Korallreven "Honey Mine Remixes" (2011) (single)

Honey Mine Remixes, single
release date: Feb. 15, 2011
format: digital
[single rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,72]
producer: Korallreven
label: Acéphale Records - nationality: Sweden

Tracklist: 1. "Honey Mine" - 2. "Honey Mine (Lissvik Remix)" - 3. "Honey Mine (Memoryhouse Remix)" - 4. "Honey Mine (Nacho Lovers Remix)" - 5. "Shine On"

Single release by Korallreven taken from the forthcoming debut album An Album by Korallreven (Nov. 2011).

This is lounge-like synthpop and trance without much going on, and the main single sounds like a fusion of music by The Knife and then the chorus line from the single "Shine On" (1990) by British jangle-pop band The House of Love.

Van Morrison "A Night In San Francisco" (1994) (live)

A Night In San Francisco (live)
release date: May 17, 1994
format: 2 cd (2008 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Van Morrison
label: Exile / Polydor - nationality: Northern Ireland, UK

Double disc live album by Van Morrison - which could've been called "Two Nights in California", are the recordings from two live concerts in Dec. 1993 in California - one night at the Mystic Theater, Petaluma, Dec. 12, and another night at the Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco, Dec. 18 - the 2008 Remaster contains the bonus track "Cleaning Windows" recorded at the Masonic Auditorium, Dec. 17, 1993.
A handful of special guests appear on some of the 23 songs, which represent many covers as well as familiar Morrison compositions. The guest artists are John Lee Hooker, Candy Dulfer, Junior Wells, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Morrison's daughter, Shana Morrison. Aside from these, a strong group of handpicked supporting musicians appear throughout all compositions: Ronnie Johnson on guitar, James Hunter on guitar & vocals, Brian Kennedy on vocals, Nicky Scott on bass, Georgie Fame on keyboards & vocals, John Savannah on piano & vocals, Geoff Dunn on drums, Teena Lyle on percussion & vibraphone, Kate St. John on soprano & tenor saxophone, and Haji Ahkba on flugelhorn. And this bunch really back Morrison in the best possible way.
The album is full of individual performances as well as tight, spontaneous and delightful playing, and on top of it all, Van Morrison swims in, with, against the streams of sound in the most natural manner. The album contains more than 2½ hours of music, which may seem like a long time, but frankly, it doesn't feel one minute too long. Also, the recordings and the production sound is just like being there.
Highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Korallreven "The Truest Faith" (2010) (single)

The Truest Faith (single)
release date: Apr. 2010
format: digital
[single rate: 3 / 5] [3,02]
producer: Korallreven
label: Acéphale Records - nationality: Sweden

Tracklist: 1. "The Truest Faith" - 2. "Loved-Up"

2nd single release by Swedish synthpop duo Korallreven (founded 2009) consisting of keyboardist Daniel Tjäder (The Radio Dept.) and Marcus Joons [aka Marcus Lundblad-Joons]. The single follows the debut release of "Loved-Up" from 2009, which saw the B-side here as standalone A-side with a remix on the B-side.

The Beautiful South "Painting It Red" (2000)

Painting It Red
release date: Oct. 9, 2000
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,08]
producer: Jon Kelly, Paul Heaton
label: Go! Discs / Mercury - nationality: England, UK

7th studio album by The Beautiful South is the band's studio release with the most tracks - 19 on the original release (the US release contains 17 tracks), which also comes in a 2-disc version with 20 tracks. This is the last album to feature Jacqui Abbott on vocals.
The style hasn't changed - in fact the band hasn't made much progress since the beginnings in regards to adding new styles and / or genres to the band's initial style. Only change is the addition of country elements with Blue Is the Colour from 1996. Heaton and Rotheray are as always songwriters and composers but there are simply no true remarkable tracks on this to satisfy a need to buy this album, imho. If the '98 album Quench was a bit of a step down from previous releases, this one is yet another step down, and to me, this is only above the mediocre and a first low point in the band's long career.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

The Blues Brothers "Made in America" (1980) (live)

Made in America (live)
release date: Dec. 5, 1980
format: vinyl (reissue - ATL 50 768)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]
producer: Bob Tischler & Paul Schaffer
label: Atlantic - nationality: USA

3rd and final album by The Blues Brothers - including the soundtrack for the film "The Blues Brothers" (Jun. 1980). The album is the band's second live album - this time recorded live at the Universal Amphitheater, Jul. 26 - Aug. 1, 1980 by Record Plant, LA.
The album consists of traditional 'blues' and 'rhythm & blues' material but lacks some of the sheer energy that characterised the live debut, Briefcase of Blues (1978), and it doesn't have the star quality as the soundtrack album, which makes this the band's weakest performance.

Bob Mould "District Line" (2008)

District Line
release date: Feb. 5, 2008
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]
producer: Bob Mould
label: ANTI- (Epitaph Records) - nationality: USA

7th studio album by Bob Mould as solo artist released 2½ years after his most recent album Body of Song from 2005, which appeared as the attempt to find back to his roots after a strange detour into electro synth pop experiments.
District Line shows us a much more focused Mould doing what he's good at, and stylistically, he has successfully returned and revived "the old" power pop alt. rock and indie rock style with the addition of folk rock and chorus-based compositions as his albums of the 90s.
The album is not just a blast of great rock tunes, as the songs are more like reminiscences of another time, with a taste of greatness. It's undoubtedly Mould's best album in years, and it's nice to hear the man back to what he does the best. At least he hasn't abandoned music, and now that he has found back to the style that works, we just have to wait 'cause Mould has that capability of creating great music, although, District Line may not quite be one of his best - it's still far from his worst and a quite recommendable listen.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

C.V. Jørgensen "Lige lovlig live" (1986) (live)

Lige lovlig live (live)

release date: 1986

format: cd (1991 remaster)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,84]

producer: Nils Henriksen

label: Columbia - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Søndagsseancer" - 3. "Lediggang agogo" - 5. "Morgendagens stjerner" - 7. "I en blågrå kupé" - 8. "Sæsonen er slut" - 10. "Et satanisk mesterværk" - 11. "Johnny & Djiim" - 12. "Hotel Halleluja" - 14. "Hamburger Sally" - 16. "Datadisciplin" - 18. "Costa del Sol"

Live album by C.V. Jørgensen originally released as double vinyl lp are the live recordings from various concerts from Feb. '86. Originally, it was released on vinyl only, the '91 single-CD edition is 74 minutes long and excludes the track "Flik-flakker" appearing on T-Shirts, gummisko & terylenebukser (1975) to accommodate the maximum running time of CDs. The album feature Lars Hybel and Nils Henriksen on guitar and bass, Pete Repete on keyboards, Gert Smedegård on drums, and Jacob Andersen on percussion. The selected tracks span the majority of C.V.'s total discography - which, however, avoids the first two releases, apart from the vinyl edition. Of the 18 tracks on the CD-issue, five are from his most recent album Vennerne & vejen (1985), four are from Lediggang agogo (1983), three each stem from both Vild i varmen (1978) and Storbyens små oaser (1977), two comes from Tidens tern (1980), and only one track is taken from Sold to stanglakrids (1979).

As a single CD, it's quite an excellent selection of songs, although, you'll always see personal favorites among the shortcomings, and then you have to remember that this isn't a best of album, and quite naturally, his most recent albums play a major part on Jørgensen's first live release.

The cover is here credited to C.V. himself.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Nocturama" (2003)

Nocturama
release date: Feb. 3, 2003
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Nick Launay
label: ANTI-, USA - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "Wonderful Life" - 3. "Right Out of Your Hand" - 4. "Bring It On" - 10. "Babe, I'm on Fire"

12th studio album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds following the two-year old No More Shall We Part is originally released by Mute Records (ANTI- for the American market).

This is yet another quiet, dark and sinister sounding album like its most recent three predecessors without adding much new.

To me, this is a lesser release by Nick Cave - not mediocre but touching on repetitious. The songs are nicely produced and the playing, well, there ain't much complaining about that, it's just a bit... "And so what?" We've heard it all before, and there's like no nerve left - nothing at stake with Cave going through the motions 'cause-that's-what-he-had-to-do - again. A track that seems a bit "way off" from the rest is the almost astonishing final track, "Babe, I'm on Fire" with a running time above 14:30 minutes. Being a much more up-tempo and blues punk composition it would have fitted nicely on Let Love In (1994).
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, The Guardian, Uncut, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

10,000 Maniacs "Music From the Motion Picture" (2013)

Music From the Motion Picture
release date: Jan. 15, 2013
format: digital (14 x File, MP3)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: 10,000 Maniacs, various
label: ORG Music - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "I Don't Love You Too" - 2. "When We Walked on Clouds" - 4. "Triangles" - 10. "Downhill"

8th studio album by 10,000 Maniacs with co-producer credits to more than 15 [!] people is the band's first studio release in 14 years, and it's the first to feature new guitarist Jeff Erickson, who has substituted Robert Buck after his passing in 2000. The band has experienced a heavy change on the members list during these past years. Although, Natalie Merchant didn't take part in the formation period of the band, it is with her as lead vocalist that the band became widely known and was subject of international fame. After her leave in 1993, John Lombardo returned to the fold, and Mary Ramsey, who had taken part in the band on viola and backing vocals for only a few years, was then established as the band's new lead singer up until around 2002, when the band of Gustafson, Drew, and Augustyniak wanted to continue with a new lead vocalist, Oskar Saville, and also had invited Jeff Erickson to play guitar. This decision led Ramsey and Lombardo to leave the band, and the two performed and released music as John & Mary; however, Ramsey returned around 2006 to play viola and to do backing vocals as she had done previously when Merchant was still in the band. Saville left again in 2007, which (once again) made room for Ramsey performing as lead vocalist. The formation of the band for this album feature Mary Ramsey on lead vocals, Jeff Erickson on lead guitar, Jerry Augustyniak on drums, and with founding members Steve Gustafson on bass, and Dennis Drew on keyboards.
Actually, this album isn't just all bad. I know I had given up on the band in the years following Merchant's leave - and not just because of that, but I didn't like the music led by Lombardo and Ramsey. It's not an album I like a lot, but listening to it, just to be updated on their music, it's really quite all right as a traditional folk pop release. All band members are credited for vocals on this album, and that's also a bit of a weak spot. There's no real outstanding vocal performances here, and the album is just something entirely different to what used to be the DNA of the band, and I do thnk that's its biggest hurdle. Also, you have to be really fond of folk fiddles and harmony-vocals without expectations of new takes on a much tried genre to really enjoy this. It draws heavily on folk but I actually come to think of more recent albums by British band The Beautiful South, who also embark on a stylistic blend of folk and soft rock in a more mainstream pop / rock tradition, only with the British band having more to offer in terms of vocal quality and lyrical content.
Music From the Motion Picture is by no means a poor album, but in the discography of one of the major bands of new rock music it's not the most favourable by 10,000 Manaics.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Paul Young "Love Songs" (1996)

Love Songs
release date: Dec. 2, 2003
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: various
label: Columbia Records - nationality: England, UK

Best of compilation album by Paul Young released by his former label CBS / Columbia Records. The album contains 17 tracks, and it's one of many Paul Young compilation albums - not really comprising his best songs as such but attempting to compile his best love songs. It does contain great songs, but naturally when thinking of the overall theme of 'love' when playing pop soul, it's quite an impossible task. Too many great tracks are missing. It's fine but not really great.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse "Broken Arrow" (1996)

Broken Arrow
release date: Jul. 2, 1996
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Neil Young
label: Reprise Records - nationality: Canada

Track highlights: 1. "Big Time" - 2. "Loose Change" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Slip Away" - 4. "Changing Highways" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "Scattered (Let's Think About Livin')"

23rd studio album by Neil Young released as Neil Young with Crazy Horse comes out in a productive time for Neil. His entry into the 90s has been one of his great periods starting with Ragged Glory (1990) and his, best live release, the 2 disc Weld from '91. This one is released only 5 months after his different, to put it mildly, soundtrack Dead Man, but more so it links with his previous albums with Crazy Horse in the sense that they play on with their feedback hard rock bluesy sound, although, this turns out as a more jam-fed set of songs where they just play on and on and on - much like some of the great tunes on Weld.
The album is not one of his critically acclaimed albums, and my 1990s verdict was much on par with that - I generally found it without much to offer except for electrified jam-sessions. However, I really have change my feelings quite a bit on this one. Thinking of Ragged Glory and Weld this basically seems more like a stream, or essence of those moments. Neil and Crazy Horse play so tight even when they just jam along. There's a kind of mutual understanding of how to mold the spirit they let loose when they first get started, and I find that one can almost touch that on this one. It's gentler than both of the two albums of the 90s, and it may not contain a bunch of classic Neil Young moments like "Pocahontas" or "Cortez the Killer", but songs like "Big Time", "Slip Away" and "Changing Highways" are fueled with the same energy.
I have come to really enjoy this one, and think of it as just another great 90s album by Neil Young, and if you have once rejected this, give it another chance or two. For me, it's a natural grower and one of my favourite Neil Young and Crazy Horse albums.
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5 stars ]