| Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd | | Posted Monday, August 21, 2006 2:11:49 PM by BlogJeeves Team | | Echoes is a double-CD collection of some of Pink Floyd's best songs. It's also a fascinating document of the band's history. They began life as Syd Barrett's phantasmagoric plaything before clasping the wings of Icarus and ascending toward the sun on an epic space-rock odyssey, eventually turning left once they reached the dark side of the moon and burning up on reentry, crash-landing on every earthlings' home hi-fi. And it's all here--30 years of the Floyd's awesome back catalog trimmed down to two handsome CDs. It's worth remembering that, despite a fondness for pyrotechnics, Pink Floyd were never a prog-rock band. Sure, some of their songs are a bit long, and they never released singles (at least not for 11 years), but the same could be said for Led Zeppelin. Clinically devoid of the faux-classical overtures and vainglorious musicianship of that era, Pink Floyd were a pole apart; Meddle's epic maritime tone poem "Echoes" remains the Floyd's apogee. But here, on this collection, "the albatross" which "hangs motionless upon the air" has had its wings clipped--seven full minutes are missing, but you'd never be able to tell. The sonar bleeps, the screeching seagulls, the howling winds are all retained, and whoever wielded the editorial axe, Eugene, did so carefully. Interestingly, the album's nonchronological track listing works--the summery, childhood enchantment of "See Emily Play" is right next to the school discipline of "Happiest Days of Our Lives"--and at least this way no one will switch off when material from A Momentary Lapse of Reason comes around. Despite the curious omission of "Atom Heart Mother," this really is the very best of the Floyd--from the throbbing "One of These Days" to the pop operatic "Great Gig in the Sky" to the genius silvery fluidity of Dave Gilmour's guitar work. This is timeless, as many members of Sigur Rós, Radiohead, and the Beta Band will attest. --Kevin Maidment... | |
| |
| | | Supernatural | | Posted Friday, August 11, 2006 12:11:51 PM by BlogJeeves Team | | The Arista debut of Carlos Santana and band gives fans of the soulful guitar vet two albums in one, but it's a decidedly good-news, bad-news proposition. First, there's a fine collection of late-'90s-model Santana--tastefully tooled songs driven by Latin jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms ("[Da Le] Taleo," "Africa Bamba," "Migra," "Primavera," and the emotionally charged instrumental "El Farol") that allow Carlos plenty of elbowroom for his passionate soloing. Then there's the collection of tracks featuring a lineup of de rigueur alternative and hip-hop stars, including Dave Matthews, Everlast, Rob Thomas, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Eagle Eye Cherry. To their credit, Matthews ("Love of My Life") and Eagle Eye Cherry ("Wishing It Was") muster enough chemistry to make the fusion work. But the rest of the collaborations feel like an unnecessary stretch to reach out to a younger demographic that El Jefe has little trouble attracting on his own terms. --Jerry McCulley... | |
| |
| | | Anthology: Through the Years | | Posted Tuesday, August 08, 2006 10:11:37 PM by BlogJeeves Team | | The most striking thing about this two-disc overview of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers is the powerful case it makes for its creators as the most consistent band of not only their era, but of all time. Think of another rocker who can claim to have created a quarter-century of recordings that, when ranked on a 10-point scale, never dip below a solid 7? Indeed, while disc 1 reflects a marginally more aggressive mindset than disc 2, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine the discs flip-flopped; maturity has yet to induce lethargy for Petty and the boys. Occupying the solid middle ground between the 18-track Greatest Hits and the six-disc Playback box, Anthology serves up 34 selections, nearly every one an FM staple. From 1976's "Breakdown" through the collection's only new offering, 2000's "Surrender," this retrospective never flags. But how could it? --Steven Stolder... | |
| |
| | | One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This | | Posted Sunday, August 06, 2006 10:11:59 AM by BlogJeeves Team | | Now in 2006, The NEW YORK DOLLS return with the follow-up to 1974's Too Much Too Soon that proves that the band hasn't lost a step and that they are ready to show the world what they've been missing. The new studio album "One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This" captures the spirit of a band that had disappeared long before rock n roll became about big business, and presents the essence of fun, revelatory Rock N Roll in its purest form.... | |
| |
| | | Pulse | | Posted Monday, July 24, 2006 8:11:53 PM by BlogJeeves Team | | A two-CD live collection from a band left splintered by the departure of bassist-songwriter Roger Waters, Pulse is perhaps best noted for the blinking red light that was set in its spine upon initial release. It contains the remaining band (with guest musicians) performing the entire Dark Side of the Moon album, the novelty of which wears off soon after the crowd noise interrupts any potential intimacy. The crowd also sings along for several songs, which makes this either a great audio-video document or a misguided attempt at replicating the live experience. --Rob O'Connor... | |
| |
| |
|
|
