Rock Music Review

Lungs - Florence + The Machine

2010-01-10T14:28:00.002Z

Florence & The Machine - Lungs

The first time I saw Florence and The Machine was on Jools Holland in September and whilst being impressed with the songs that were performed on the show I never took that first experience any further. Luckily for me, as it turns out, Jools Holland invited her back to play in the New Year Hootenanny show and this brought her back to my attention. So a good 7 months after the album was released I have now taken my head out of the sand and discovered Florence & The Machine.

The first thing to say is that the album is a wonderful mixture of styles during which you may catch a bit of KT Tunstall, Duffy,Kate Bush, Jeff Buckley, Texas, Cranberries, White Stripes, Lilly Allen and Kate Nash amongst others. Sometimes like in Kiss With A Fist you will find contrasting styles sitting side to side with some unexpectedly good results.

What you don't get with Florence are nice happy lovey type songs but you will find songs that are full of death and violence. When you read the lyrics you realise this isn't going to be a cheery but the presentation of the songs will have you singing along to topics such as setting a bed alight, drinking yourself to death and gouging out girls eyes. When questioned about this by the NME, Welch responded: “Well, what other subject is there? I remember realising that my parents were going to die and weeping. Weeping as if my father had actually died.”. My Boy Builds Coffins is a wonderfully simple song that will have in in one hand having you embrace its daftness whilst in the other also have you being reminded that the one thing in common for everyone is death! Maybe we should play that to all world leaders.

Whilst Florence and the Machine is undoubtedly a Florence Welch vehicle it wouldn't be the album it is without the wonderful arrangements on the songs. The harp being particularly noticeable on some of the tracks along with the orchestraal arrangements, drums and backing vocals.

All in all I'd say that Florence has delivered an excellent debut album which whilst being on the pop side of rock delivers plenty to keep the rock fans happy. It will be interesting to see how Florence follows up this album and if she tries to lighten up her lyrics or keep them nicely dark which complements the generally uplifting music to great effect.

Track listing - Click here to listen to preview of all tracks

1. Dog Days Are Over 4:12
2. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) 3:52
3. I'm Not Calling You A Liar 3:05
4. Howl 3:34
5. Kiss With A Fist 2:04
6. Girl With One Eye 3:38
7. Drumming Song 3:43
8. Between Two Lungs 4:09
9. Cosmic Love 4:15
10. My Boy Builds Coffins 2:56
11. Hurricane Drunk 3:13
12. Blinding 4:40
13. You've Got The Love 2:48

Length: 46:13

Rating: 4/5

F - Bomb Rating: 0

Style: indie rock, pop rock

The Money Clock - Lime Shark

2009-12-21T00:07:00.006Z

The Money Clock by Lime Shark

Lime Shark are a 4 piece guitar driven rock band from South Lincolnshire who are fronted by Tony Bodimead who plays the lead guitar and writes the songs. The band have now made available their debut album from 2007 for download at many of the main MP3 distributors.

The Money Clock is a storming debut with a good dollop of classic rock mixed with some progressive rock which seems to remind you of Rush, Queen, AC/DC,Transatlantic, Audioslave, Marillion, Loud, Muse & Neal Morse (amongst others) all at the same time.

The album opens with three great tracks Burn, Not Quite Nashville and Blindside. Not Quite Nashville starts off with a nod to the early work of Queen and then moves through the styles as mentioned above. Next is Susceptible which is probably the weakest track on the album which is not to say it is a bad track but just that it is the one that is not the same quality as the rest.

The Lock & The Key is back on track and for me is one of the highlights on the album. Playing for Time starts a bit faster with a heavier riff with a good dose of prog rock thrown in the mix with some classic rock. Three Ways From Sunday changes pace within the song in the prog rock tradition but then jolts back into life with some heavier guitar riffs and just a hint of Hawkwind in the background. Excellent. The remaining tracks Smart Gun, Crime Scene , Future Games and The Power of Heights keep up the standard to the end of the album.

All in all The Money Clock by Lime Shark offers a great mix of styles that many will find attractive. The songs are well constructed and more polished than you would expect from a typical debut album. No doubt this is due to the vast experience that
the band members have on their CVs. To be honest it is hard to find a fault with the album with Susceptible being the only track for me that is at a slightly lower standard than the rest. Having said that the download price of under £4.00 (at the time of writing) make this album an easy recommendation. Buy it, play it, love it!

Click here for a short preview of all of the tracks on the album

Length: 46:15

Rating: 4.5/5
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Style: Classic Rock, Progressive Rock, Guitar Driven Rock

Blindside from The Money Clock by Lime Shark

Also available at hmv.com and play.com & iTunes.

Popkiller - GUN

2009-12-08T22:10:00.001Z

Pop Killer - Gun

Gun were a Scotiish Rock band from Glasgow who were the face on Scottish rock from 1989 to 1997. Once they disbanded in 1997 there were a few one off shows over the next couple of years and fans were left with the abiding memory of Pamela Anderson stripping off to their version of Word Up at the start of the film Barb Wire.

Mark Rankin, the lead vocalist, has decided not to forego his role at Mercury Records and so GUN have had to recruit a new singer and in Toby Jepson of Little Angels they have a worthwhile replacement. They have been gigging together on and off for about 18 months and they have recorded some new songs so basically with the release of this mini LP - are they any good?

The first thing to say is that this isn't a full blown album as it is just 5 tracks so if you like it is a good value CD Single. I had just received a £3 voucher from Amazon for MP3s' so it made sense to me to use that voucher against these tracks which were selling for just £3.45. All in all therefore I got a bargain for £0.45 and with this being the first time I used the Amazon download service I was mightily impressed with the download manager that did everything for you.

Anyway back to business the five tracks are:

1. Let Your Hair Down 3:37
2. Seraphina 4:37
3. Pop Killer 3:38
4. Ripping Up the Letters 3:55
5. The Only 3:17

Click here to here previews of all of the tracks

Let Your Hair Down opens up the album and is catchy tune that quickly gets your attention. The first thing that springs to mind is that despite Toby being on vocals it doesn't sound like Little Angels but more like a Gun track so that is excellent.

The next track Seraphina starts with a nice guitar into but perhaps my mind was already made up on this one with the name of the track. Seraphina well sounds too much like Severina from The Mission and to be honest there are not many ways to sing the title without making them sound similar. That said it is a different song and it progresses at a nice click until the nice guitar instrumental in the middle of the track which then sets the song up for the ending.

I hope the start of Pop Killer is meant to be ironic with the first 30 seconds bringing back bad memories of Pulp's Love of the Common People. Thankfully the song develops into a decent rock track and the horror of a Pulp like start is averted.

Ripping Up The Letters is a track more or less in the mould of many of the Little Angels ballads which I do like. The Only is then a strong track that finishes up the EP.

This release is a great start for the band to find its footing and move back into the British Rock consciousness. It brings back a lot of memories of the British 90's rock era but it shows enough promise to move on into the current day.

Length: 19.04

Rating: 4 / 5
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Gun - 'Let Your Hair Down' Live in Wrexham

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Lifeline - Neal Morse

2009-12-03T23:35:00.008Z

Lifeline - Neal Morse

The fact that Neal Morse has now found his way into my music consciousness is an accident of browsing Last.fm. Neal was never really on my radar but I took the opportunity to listen to Lifeline recently and all I can say is WOW!

A quick look into Neal’s history shows that he started playing music at a young age and was one of four children. After growing tired of the LA music scene he travelled Europe for a number of years and upon his return he founded Spock's Beard who became one of the more successful progressive rock bands in the 90s.

In 2002 Neal Morse embraced Christianity and he left Spock's Beard and also left his other band Transatlantic. He then started to record Christian Progressive Rock and Christian Rock albums. 6 years later we arrive at Lifelines.

Well I guess I must confess that growing up with Cliff Richard on Sunday afternoons had put me off the idea that I could get my rock music from the Christian music scene. I have to say here and now that this was wrong as this album rocks hard when it needs to (Leviathan) and embraces the traditional rock landscapes without dipping into its toes into the soppy pop arena so beloved by Cliff.

What you are going to get with this album is a whole bunch of varied styles that are crafted into the 7 masterpieces that you will find on the album. If this album was a fine wine you would find connoisseurs waxing lyrical about all of the differing flavours they could detect from the marriage of grapes and barrel. In this case your taste buds are likely to detect hints and sometimes strong flavours of the Beatles, Billy Joel, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Queen Pink Floyd, Van Halen, Yes, The Who, Ayreon, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree and with music this rich you could find many more snippets that resonate with other bands styles.

The album starts with Lifeline which is a 13 minute 28 second epic which has less than half of the running time of the longest track on the album. It starts off with a Billy Joel style piano style that then introduces the drums, guitars and keyboards that make up the 4 minute introduction. Once the vocals kick in they take you along for an uplifting ride with some intermittent solos being employed at just the right times.

The Way Home is a nice rock ballad which doesn't really prepare you for the kicking you are going to get in the near metal track Leviathan. We then have two more ballads featuring the acoustic guitar - God's Love and Children of the Chosen are a perfect way to wind down after Leviathan and get you ready for the near 30 minute marathon which is So Many Roads. In truth this track can be split into its six component parts

* I. So Many Roads
* II. "Star for a Day"
* III. "The Humdrum Life"
* IV. "All the Way to the Grave"
* V. "The Eyes of the Saviour"
* VI. "So Many Roads Reprise"

Thankfully the 6 parts intertwine magnificently and during the song Neal uses many of the musical styles of artists mentioned above. The song is an autobiography and traces Neal’s faith. This could have been a bit too deep and heading for disaster but it is pulled off brilliantly. You can say only that this song is truly EPIC.

The final song is Fly High and is another rock ballad which is a nice ending to the album which brings you down after the previous track. It sort of reminds me of the track Once by Van Halen.

Ultimately for me Neal Morse is a great new discovery and I will try and listen to more of his back catalogue, Some of the lyrics are a bit in your face from the Religious angle but if you can overlook that or in fact if you embrace that then you will find this album totally satisfying as it ticks all of the boxes from a rock perspective. Mike Portney of Dream Theater takes the seat on the drums on this album and does a fantastic job and you also have to highlight some of the guitar on the album which is up there with the virtuoso's.

Length: 69.35

Rating: 4.5 / 5
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Style: Progressive Rock, Christian Rock, Christian Progressive Rock

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Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures

2009-11-28T11:10:00.005Z

The latest Supergroup to attempt to climb to the top of the tree consists of Dave Grohl from Nirvana/Foo Fighters, John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin and Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age. I was expecting a slick album from such a line up but to be honest it just doesn't seem to happen. That's not to say that there aren't any great tracks here because there are and they are almost all loaded up at the start of the album.

The opener No One Loves Me is a decent introduction to the album and then we get into some top rock with Mind Eraser, No Chaser , New Fang, Dead End Friends, Elephants, Scumbag Blues and finally Bandoliers. Reptiles seems to lose itself a bit and is followed by the truly dreadful Interlude With Ludes which includes the apt lyric "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I am
but I am, but I am". Warsaw .. etc is getting back to form but goes on for way too long - its nearly 8 mins when it should really finish at around 5. When I awoke from the trance that Warsaw had put me into I was in the track Caligulove which considering the last 11 minutes was a welcome relief except for the dodgy ending. We then get to the standout track in the second half of the album - Gunman, this is infectious and you just cannot help but rock your head to this one. The final track Spinning in Daffodils starts off with a nice piano piece which then moves into the heavy sound we have become familiar with. The daffodils, unfortunately start to wilt half way through and the song muddles along for a total of 7 mins 29 seconds.

Overall then there are a good number of tracks on this album worth listening too but there is also a lot of filler in the last 6 tracks. The removal of two of these Interlude and Daffodils would have left us with a more fulfilling album. There are three tracks that come in at just under 7 mins to just under 8 mins and generally speaking more is definitely less in these cases. Elephants being the only one that is really worth listening too in its entirety.

If you are a fan of any of the protagonists then you will not be listening to any of their best work on this album but you will be listening to an interesting album with 8 or 9 tracks that will stand up to constant playing.

Length: 66.11

Rock Music Review Rating: 3.5 / 5
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Absolute Greatest - Queen

2009-11-26T22:38:00.016Z

This is the latest compilation album by rock band Queen and features 20 of their biggest hits. Their first compilation album Greatest Hits in 1981 was all killer and no filler so how does this new compilation measure up against the best selling album by a british group in the last 50 years.

Well you get the 20 tracks spanning 21 years which have all undergone a new 2009 digital remaster. 4 of the tracks are remasters of the original singles and the rest are remastered album versions. There are some notable tracks missing from this compilation such as "Innuendo", "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race" amongst others. Those earlier hits are replaced by latter songs such as "These Are the Days of Our Lives" and "The Show Must Go On".

The album gets a release in multiple formats - the standard CD version, a double CD special edition, a limited edition book versions and an LP box set. There are also digital download versions of the standard and special edition CD's.

The track listing:

01. We Will Rock You (Brian May)
02. We Are The Champions (Freddie Mercury)
03. Radio Ga Ga (Roger Taylor)
04. Another One Bites The Dust (John Deacon)
05. I Want It All (Queen)
06. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Freddie Mercury)
07. A Kind Of Magic (Roger Taylor)
08. Under Pressure (Queen-David Bowie)
09. One Vision (Queen)
10. You're My Best Friend (John Deacon)
11. Don't Stop Me Now (Freddie Mercury)
12. Killer Queen (Freddie Mercury)
13. These Are The Days Of Our Lives (Queen)
14. Who Wants To Live Forever (Brian May)
15. Seven Seas Of Rhye (Freddie Mercury)
16. Heaven For Everyone (Roger Taylor)
17. Somebody To Love (Freddie Mercury)
18. I Want To Break Free (John Deacon)
19. The Show Must Go On (Queen)
20. Bohemian Rhapsody (Freddie Mercury)

CD Length: 79:29

This compilation is a fabulous retrospective of Queen and is perfect for those who are just discovering the band or indeed for completists who would like the 2009 digital remasters. Also perfect driving music so why not just get a copy and leave it in your car!

Rock Music Review Rating: 4.5 / 5
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Welcome to Rock Music Review

2009-11-24T22:46:00.000Z

Hello World!!

Welcome to my new blog. I am an avid listener of rock music and this blog will be my way of sharing my reviews of the latest and the ancient rock albums with you.

I will open up all of the reviews for comments so if you disagree with my assessment of any album or DVD then please feel free to post your opinion on the same album or DVD.

I intend to rate each album out of 5 and would also be interested in reader ratings of those albums that I have chosen.

I look forward to sharing my reviews with you and receiving your feedback.

Stuart