Reviews of new Albums

Matt Cardle - Letters

This is the long awaited album from last years X Factor winner Matt Cardle and it was worth the wait!! This album is jam packed of well written songs from his new single 'run for your life' and 'all for nothing ' to the No.1 single 'when we collide' and Matt Cardles voice suits all of them from soulful to pleading his vocal range is amazing. You can tell he has put his heart and soul into this album by listening to his voice and reading the lyrics. This Album is an excellent 1st try. An album worth having in your collection.
*****

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here - 1975

Track List
01 - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5)
02 - Welcome To The Machine
03 - Have A Cigar
04 - Wish You Were Here
05 - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 6-9)

This is not a new album, but it has be re-released as part of a remastered 16 disk boxed-set...I hope that's OK

My first introduction to this was seeing the album cover of the vinyl release in a record store. I thought the image of the two men shaking hands, with one of them on fire looked pretty cool. Some weeks later my neighbour loaned me his copy and I was blown away...and my enjoyment of this album has not diminished over the years.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (a tribute to former band member Syd Barrett), is over 13 minutus long with an 8 minute instrumental that seems to unfurl before yor ears. Track 2 explores the band's negativity towards the music industry; which for me seems to have a harshness that contrasts well with the almost melancholy 'Wish You Were Here'.

The album closes with the second half of Shine On You Crazy Diamond. The following youtube video contains the full audio of Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts 1 to 9). Enjoy (*****)

Jessie J - Who are you?

Brit winning Jessie J's 1st album Who are you? is a mix of electro pop,with some swagger and a small number of ballards. The Album includes the No.1 track 'price tag', who's laughing now,Do it like a dude, who are you, Domino and new song Nobody's perfect.
As Jessie carries on collecting the awards and releasing No.1 tracks this album carries on climbing up the charts!
As a 1st Album it's like Jessie fun and colourful and it's a great introduction to what we can expect from Miss J in the future.
I have to say I actually like Jessie J as her music is light hearted and fun with a peppering of emotional ballards. A good mix of music to lighten your day.

****

Madonna - MDNA

After announcing she was going on tour and releasing the dates and venues, one place being Birmingham (which I got tickets for!) the long awaited album was released. MDNA (which no one knows what it stands for) is a good mix of dance,techno,pop and a couple of ballads thrown in for good mesure. From the 1st track 'Girl gone wild' you can tell it's Madonna with an extra bit of naughty & saucy.The album bounces along including the 1st single from the Album 'give me all your luvin'A good pop anthem which wasn't the best of Madge! The Album comes with an Advisory sticker on it, I'd definatly take notice of it before putting the CD on! The whole album is a woman scorned after a split! And because of that it brings out the better of Madonna a different side to her in her music. A top Album and the songs will come across brill live! Can't wait till the tour!!

*****

MDNA stands for

mad doll nonsense away ? (-;

My latest aquisition is the remastered "Straight Up" Album CD by Badfinger. Joey Molland lives about 100 miles from where I do and I have yet to see him in concert but hope to soon!

I wasn't aware of the tragic story of the band back when I heard their music on the radio in high school, but I loved their music. You can get CDs anyplace, but Joey's website (sorry, don't have the link but you can Google, Joey Molland Badfinger and it will come up) sells them autographed! Also other merch. Really fun stuff, including a link to unreleased recent songs.

This is the Straight Up track list:
1. Take it All...........7. Suitcase
2. Baby Blue.............8. Sweet Tuesday Morning
3. Money.................9. Day After Day
4. Flying................10. Sometimes
5. I'd Die Babe..........11. Perfection
6. Name of the Game......12. It's Over

Bonus Tracks:
13. I'll be the One
14. Name of the Game (earlier version)
15. Baby Blue (US single)
16. Baby Please
17. No Good At All
18. Sing for the Song

I'd rate the CD 4.5 stars only because it does not come in a hard CD case.

Matt Cardle - The Fire


As many of you know I'm a big fan of Matt Cardle and have followed him since his audition on the X-Factor but I will write the review fairly.

2010 X Factor winner Matt Cardle is back with his 2nd Album The Fire. Since leaving his record label and setting his own up to give him freedom to do what he wants he went to America and wrote this album. And what a good job he has done! He wrote all the songs, played all the instuments on most of the songs, sang all the harmonies as well as lead vocals on most of the songs as well as produced all the songs! He has become a british version of Prince!

As for the songs, well this is a totally different Matt Cardle to the man who wrote 'Letters', you can hear the rub off of what Amnerica did to him on some of the songs, but this is a grown man. Not so many ballards on this album only 3. The rest have a beat to them that gets your feet tapping. Over all Matt Cardle fans will love it! As for the rest of the public, we will have to see?

Rating:- ****

Rihanna - Unappologetic

Rihanna can be called many things but she is the most hardest working female artist out at the moment! While touring for her Loud album she wrote and recorded not 1 but 2 Albums! Talk that talk and the new Album Unappologetic! You would have thought this album would be weak being the 2nd of 2 albums in the top 50 but it is a mixture of Urban with a sprinkle of ballads and of course a reggae track as it wouldn't be a Rihanna album without one! With one number 1 record already from this album 'Diamonds' I feel this is going to be another album filled with number 1's!!

Rating:-****

I went back to see what Matt was when he auditioned and he was a painter! None of the painters I know can carry a tune in a bucket. I'm intrigued and will probably pick up his cd.

He is an amazing young man, I loved him since his 1st audition, I've seen him live last year on his 1st tour and he was amazing, so sweet talking to us between songs. And when he came to his last song he thanked us all for getting him the chance to live his dream, he ment it from the heart you could tell because he welled up and was on the verge of crying which had me in tears!! Going to see him live again in April and have got really good seats! Can't wait! If you really want to see how good he is look at him on Utube singing 'The first time ever I saw your face' that has me everytime!

PINK The Truth About Love

I have been a fan of Pink for a while, I like the fact she mixes rock & pop so people who enjoy both types of music can listen to her.
This album has come after Pink took a year out to have a baby. The first few tracks are good with 'Blow me (one last kiss) & 'Try' and then the middle seems to have a few weak songs. But Pink being a strong personality the last few songs are her wild fun type. Overall it's a good album but I feel I will be skipping a couple of songs while listening to it which is a pity really.

Rating:- ***

Depeche Mode - Delta Machine

Depeche Mode are one of the few bands from the 80's who have managed to keep going and produce good work. They are also a hard working band who do a lot of world tours and are doing a stadium tour this year. And this album shows why they are still going. This album as with all their music has haunting melody songs and electronic pop songs and twists them around some more rock type songs. With Dave Gahan's smooth voice, Martin Gore's amazing talent on the guitar this album has hit written all over it. Their new single 'Heaven'from the album is an example of this. Overall if your a Depeche Mode fan you will be pleased with this album and if your not if your looking for a change from today's computer generated music give this album ago!

Rating:- ****