Category: Music Reviews

Posted on: December 20, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Georgie James – Places

Georgie James –  Places / 2007 Saddle Creek / http://www.myspace.com/georgiejames / http://www.saddle-creek.com / If one really thinks about it, the fact that Georgie James is currently on Saddle Creek and not Dischord is a fairly major type of thing. This is due to the fact that Georgie James is comprised of a member from Q And Not U, which were located on Dischord before their break-up. For quite a few…

Posted on: December 19, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

The Last Goodnight – Poison Kiss

The Last Goodnight – Poison Kiss / 2007 Virgin / 12 Tracks / http://www.thelastgoodnight.net / http://www.virginrecords.com / Individuals may know who The Last Goodnight are without knowing exactly why or how they know them. Their music was featured as a free download on iTunes, and was used as a musical interlude during a promotional clip for the show Brothers & Sisters. In regards to knowing the band in a non-electronic…

Posted on: December 19, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Angels and Airwaves – I-Empire

Angels and Airwaves – I-Empire / 2007 Suretone / 12 Tracks / http://www.angelsandairwaves.com / http://www.geffen.com / While my post-Blink bands loyalty was in the +44 court for a while, I found out about Angels and Airwaves after procuring for myself a copy of their last album. “It Hurts” was an amazing track, and it swing my loyalty over. “Call To Arms”, the first track on “I-Empire”, puts me more firmly…

Posted on: December 18, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

OST: Enchanted

OST: Enchanted / 2007 Walt Disney / 15 Tracks / http://www.disneymusic.com / Alan Menken (“The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Pocahontas”, and “Hercules”) hooked up with Stephen Schwartz (“Godspell”, “Rags”) to create this score, which is similar to what the two did during both “Pocahontas” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. “Enchanted” is the latest Walt Disney movie, and it blends together live action film with animation, both in…

Posted on: December 18, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

V/A – Christmas Number Ones

V/A – Christmas Number Ones / 2007 Universal / 17 Tracks / http://www.ilovethatsong.com/numberones / As one can conceivably glean from this CD, these are the songs that have reached number 1 on the chart during the Christmas season. This means that there are tracks from Elton John, Dolly Parton, the Jackson 5, Louis Armstrong, and Bing Crosby on this album. To keep the cost down of the disc, the album…

Posted on: December 17, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Johnny Cash – Christmas 1976 | Johnny Cash – Christmas 1977

Johnny Cash – Christmas 1976 / 2007 Shout Factory / 50 Minutes / http://www.johnnycash.com / http://www.shoutfactory.com / I really have to applaud Shout! Factory for releasing something like this. Every time one of these television specials or long forgotten releases is given new light, that is one less item that will be lost to sands of time. Who knows how many different shows, performances, and similar materials have been lost…

Posted on: December 17, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

James Taylor – One Man Band

James Taylor – One Man Band / 2007 Hear Music / 19 Tracks / http://www.jamestaylorweb.com / James Taylor has been in the music industry for nearly 40 years. It is no surprise, then, that the music that is present on “One Man Band” is some of the most mature and strong of eir career. What “One Man Band” is is not a new album, but is rather an audio and…

Posted on: December 15, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Anchors for Arms – Listen.React

Anchors for Arms – Listen.React / 2007 Oort / 11 Tracks / http://www.anchorsforarms.com / http://www.ortrecords.com / “The Roots” is the first track on “Listen.React”, and it shows the approach that Oort is taking in signing a number of these independent emo bands to their label (for those that do no know, Oort is an imprint of Lobster Records). What I mean with that is that Oort is bringing back the…

Posted on: December 15, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Oslo – The Rise and Fall of Love and Hate

Oslo – The Rise and Fall of Love and Hate / 2007 Six Feet / 11 Tracks / http://www.osloband.com / I had a feeling that this was the case, but Oslo is a band from the United States. On “The Rise and Fall”s first track, “Slowdive”, the band calls forth a very current, British sound to alternative rock. The track is catchy in the same neurotically-sung, neatly arranged style as…

Posted on: December 14, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Celtic Woman – A Christmas Celebration

Celtic Woman – A Christmas Celebration / 2007 Manhattan / 15 Tracks / http://www.celticwoman.com / http://www.manhattanrecords.com / In the last few years, Celtic Woman has taken the world by storm. Starting out with PBS specials and moving into selling out venues, going Gold and Platinum, and they have reached a level of fame high enough to merit recording a disc of Christmas tracks. The disc captures a perfect blend of…

Posted on: December 14, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Tender Forever – Wider

Tender Forever – Wider / 2007 K / 12 Tracks / http://www.takemybreathaay.net / http://www.krecs.com / You know, the cover of “Wider” does not immediately give individuals a good sense of what the album will ultimately sound like. The lead singer is sitting in front of a cardboard (or paper) representation of a fire, in an meditative pose. When one actually puts the CD in, the cover of the album actually…

Posted on: December 13, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Michael Bolton – A Swingin’ Christmas

Michael Bolton – A Swingin’ Christmas / 2007 The Second Time Around / 10 Tracks / http://www.michaelbolton.com / http://www.concordmusicgroup.com / Ah, Michael Bolton. Your “A Swingin’ Christmas” has you covering some of the best known Christmas-themed songs. There are versions of “Walkin’ In A Winter Wonderland”, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”, “White Christmas”, “Let It Snow”, and more. In fact, there is only one song that I did not…

Posted on: December 12, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Alter Bridge – Blackbird

Alter Bridge – Blackbird / 2007 Republic / 13 Tracks / http://www.altarbridge.com / http://www.universalrepublic.com / As most individuals may know, Alter Bridge consists of three-fourths of what was Creed. To those ranks, Myles Kennedy (formerly of The Mayfield Four) provides lead vocals and guitar. “Blackbird” is the band’s second album, and the disc’s first single is “Rise Today”. For those wrestling fans that happen to read NeuFutur, “Rise Today” was…

Posted on: December 12, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

The Staple Singers – The 25th Day of December

The Staple Singers – The 25th Day of December / 2007 Concord / 12 Tracks / http://www.concordmusicgroup.com / I must admit that I was not that familiar with The Staple Singers before receiving this CD. For anyone that is too young to remember The Staple Singers, they were a gospel group that released albums for over twenty-five years. It took them about 12 years to actually break onto the charts;…

Posted on: December 11, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Pink Floyd – Piper At The Gates of Dawn

Pink Floyd – Piper At The Gates of Dawn / 2007 Capitol / 11 Tracks / http://www.capitolrecords.com / Any Pink Floyd fan knows that “Piper At The Gates of Dawn” was the first album created by Pink Floyd. Casual fans that just know Pink Floyd from “The Wall” and “Pulse”-era recordings will struggle to find commonality between those albums and “Piper”. 2007 marks the 40th anniversary of the original release…

Posted on: December 10, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

OST: Feel The Noise

OST: Feel The Noise / 2007 Sony / 10 Tracks / http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/feelthenoise/index.html / Feel The Noise was the movie that featured Omarion and discusses the evolution of a young male that has to flee from gang violence to Puerto Rico, becoming taken up in the musical culture of Reggaeton. The character eventually strives to be a Reggaeton star, leading up to their performance at New York’s Puerto Rican Day Parade.…

Posted on: December 8, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Barenaked Ladies – Talk To The Hand: Live In Michigan

Barenaked Ladies – Talk To The Hand: Live In Michigan / 2007 Shout! Factory / http://www.bnlmusic.com / I have been a fan of the Barenaked Ladies for well over a decade, ever since I first heard “The Old Apartment” on Muchmusic (back before it became a lame MTV knockoff here in the states). Their artist focus show (which had a half hour dedicated to videos by the band) turned me…

Posted on: December 8, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Kelly King – Live The Dream

Kelly King – Live The Dream / 2007 TresKneeHows / 15 Tracks / http://www.kellykingsings.com / Kelly King provides a brand of pop music during “Tame Me” that does not really put anything forth that has not been done before in the genre. What is interesting about the track is the chorus, which will put individuals onto the dance floor in masses. The track rapidly slides back into its original state…

Posted on: December 7, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 1

Amy Grant – Greatest Hits

Amy Grant – Greatest Hits / 2007 Sparrow / 19 Tracks / http://www.amygrant.com / http://www.sparrowrecords.com / I know that for a while back during my senior year of high school and the summer before the first year of my undergraduate college career, I liked a lot of Christian music. I still never went (and really never have been) to church, but I liked the sound of sounds in that style…

Posted on: December 7, 2007 Posted by: James Comments: 0

Matt White – Best Days

Matt White – Best Days / 2007 Geffen / 11 Tracks / http://www.mattwhitemusic.com / http://www.geffen.com / Matt White is one of the few artists that we have reviewed that does not have anything in the way of a Wikipedia. This is odd, considering that the vast majority of individuals that have achieved prominence in music have one. This is not to say that White isn’t famous; a quick perusal of…