Signature Ratings
0- What the hell
1- Borrow don't buy
2- Well...a couple of joints
3- Worth a listen
4- Off the hook
5- Buy it or die
Hurricane - Grace Jones
By: John Rosenfelder
earbender.com
Where has Grace Jones been for the past 20 years? Last we saw her she was getting blown up in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill. Leading up to that, however, the Jamaican-born Jones merged disco, reggae, funk, rap and having one of the most striking visages ever to have a great music career in the late 70s and early 80s. With the help of Sly and Robbie, she created an international music for a sexy party that has never ended.
Hurricane, the new album, been released after many years and rumors of her comeback including collaborating with Tricky. ”Corporate Cannibal,” included here, is a result of that work. It sounds like a decent Tricky record (ok, not great), but next to the unmistakable, iron grooves of Sly and Robbie, it doesn’t feel like an effective update of her style. It’s a good experiment/publicity stunt, but I’m most happy to hear the retro Compass Point sound on songs like “This Is” “I’m Crying (Mother’s Tears)” and “Well Well Well.” It’s also nice to see how seriously Grace Jones took both making this album and being stalwart enough to get it released in this environment.
More on this review @ earbender.com
3½ Signatures
TOP
Little Flowers - Antonis Ladopoulos
By: T. Mathenia
"Little Flowers" is a wonderful testament to jazz expressions where the musicians deliver fine performances and are kind enough to sprinkle the album with superb solo interpretations on each of their respective instruments.
There are ten healthy five minute plus songs on this CD. Antonis Ladopoulos is responsible for the arrangments on all tracks. Each piece will appeal to different jazz listeners for different reasons. Ths album is rich in imagery, tone and bursts of passionate energy. 'Promenade' and 'Consciousness' rank high in sax, drums and piano performance.
Title track 'Little Flowers' is elegant and smooth cool. Another wonderful nugget of goodness is when vocalist Alex Affolter is allowed to pour his vocals on certain tracks throughout the album.
Musicians:
Piano: John Kistsopoulos; Drums & Percussion: George Polychronakos; Acoustic & Electric Bass: George Georgiadis; Keyboards: Kostas Kostarakis; Alto Sax: Antonis Ladopoulos
4 Signatures
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The Rest of Your Life - Debbie Cunningham
By: Mut Asheru
What a glorious sound Debbie makes on this album. "The Rest of Your Life" is a collection of timeless jazz classics souped up by Mrs. Cunningham and her talented friends. What I love about this album is her vocal fearlessness. She's not afraid to open her mouth and place the notes exactly where she wants them. There are a hundreds of "My Funny Valentine" renditions floating around and her sassy version is rather refreshing. Kudos to John Swana, on trumpet. The playfullness of the lyrics is echoed in her sensuous, playful delivery. You can tell she had fun with it.
Each of the 11 tracks on this album are an absolute elegant treat. "The Way He Makes Me Feel" made me picture myself in a sepia toned reality where everything is sophisticated. This is a very professional, romantical and sophisticated effort. Debbie's voice has a firm command of human emotion.
Anyone that knows me knows that I take my Stevie Wonder very very seriously. I couldn't wait to get to "Overjoyed" just to see if she might have messed my boy's classic up. NOPE. She nailed it. Her backing instrumentalists ( Piano: Barry Sames; Drums: Wilby Fletcher) should be given props here as well for their remarkable musicianship.
4 Signatures
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Victims - Vanden
By: Ric Hickey
From this writer’s standpoint, there is little to recommend about “Victims”, the new 6-song EP from Australia’s Vanden. Their music is best categorized as Hard Rock, and this is some pretty driving stuff. Great drumming especially. But Vanden’s songwriting skills leave a lot to be desired. Out of the six tunes contained herein, there’s not even one I’d consider worthy of mention as catchy or possessing of any kind of hook. The band has a good sense of dynamics; the performances are tight and strong and there are some decent arrangements, but nothing unexpected here.
Singer James Brown’s full-throated and confident vocal performances and a handful mildly interesting guitar riffs unfortunately only add up to a half a dozen tunes of unexceptional, run-of-the-mill stuff. On the plus side we do hear proof once again that a great drummer can elevate an otherwise mediocre band to another level. Kudos to drummer Dave Hunter. But Vanden is just another C-average Rock band and this EP contains nothing we haven’t heard a thousand times before. Presenting one generic mid-tempo, hookless rocker after another, I really can’t picture this EP generating much excitement for the band. I wish I could say I see great things in Vanden’s future, but their most recent release doesn’t look at all like a step towards the big time. I’m afraid this sort of thing would have sounded dated even ten years ago.
2 Signatures
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Synchronicity - Marqseven
By: Carolina Jones
Marqseven’s “Synchronicity” is a gentle ripple in a jazzy ocean. The opening track ‘U’ is a simplistic guitar acoustic ode to someone named Shay which leads to her equally simplistic yet totally beautiful cover of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘True Colors’. I was afraid that every track would be as equally sparse but low and behold tracks ‘In Love with U’ and ‘Gods and Goddesses’ showcased more of Marqseven’s vocal range and had more instrumental accompaniment that served to bring out a more robust picture of the person behind the cool and reserved vocal persona. I feel oh so elegant after listening to this EP.
3 Signatures
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Evolution - Saiah
By: Skeeta Diggs
Hip Hop artist Saiah's wordplay on "Evolution" is set at a nice pace with some creativity to his turn of phrase. He has the rare ability (at least these days) to convey his thoughts without
gratuitous
use of cursewords. "Evolution" is full of positive imagery that isn't preachy like on track 'Dead or Alive'. It's street friendly without being negative. Refreshing.
However, I must point out that the track quality is not the best and the beats are elementary and dull. The only thing that kept me listening was Saiah and wondering what he was going to say next and how he was going to say it. He also has some nice sing-song hooks on his tracks 'H8' and 'Famous'. I see his vision. I like his vision. I just don't like his beats.
3 Signatures
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