Reviews

Weekly Reviews For April 24, 2005

Review Index

I am also Assistant Editor & reviewer at MetalUK.

I also contribute reviews to getreadytorock

Recent reviews include
Rush - Chronicles (The Video Collection)
Deep Purple - The Early Years
Damageplan - New Found Power
Whitesnake - The Early Years

You will also find some reviews at spacerock.co.uk

The Rocker
New releases from;
Superczar - Pop Art
Various - Further Adventures of the Telepathic Explorers
When's The Future - Then
And many more....

 

New Reviews

George Evans – Movie Songs

I love this kind of thing. Smooth jazz / swing, taking on classics and lesser known numbers from years gone by, with enough originality to stop you from thinking about bad karaoke. The strangest thing I read about Mr Evans was “like a white Sammy Davis Jr”, which makes no sense, and does Mr Evans a major disservice. Much closer to the mark is Mel Torme, and I love his suggestion that singer of his ilk be rebranded from crooners to ‘divos’!

As you probably guessed from the title, this is a CD reworking songs from the movies, going all the way back to 1937 for album opener “The Way You Look Tonight”, and coming as far forward as 1965 for “The Shadow Of Your Smile”. Mr Evans has a rich tone which works best on the ballads and torch songs, where he can enunciate and breath his own personality into the music.

It says a lot that over performed songs like “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” stand up to repeated plays, when performed here, and the always sympathetic backing provide some subtle arrangements and interpretations. A delight from beginning to end.

Emetrex – Wish Me Dead


In the past I’ve described Emetrex as mellow, beautiful, melodic - Mercury Rev on downers. Which is all still true, but with a sideorder of Queens Of The Stone Age thrown in for good measure.

I say that as they’ve thrown in some stoner type guitar parts and turned the volume up a bit, but without sacrificing the melodies that endeared them to me in the first place. And how could I say a bad thing about a band who’ve called a song “Molly Hatchet”! Danny Joe Brown, RIP?

Regardless of the title, it’s one of my favourites alongside “Hammer In My Skull”. Both are serious rockers, and I do miss some of the more introspective moments, but guitars have always ruled my world, so for the time being it works for me. I’d hate to see them turn into another boring indie band, worshipping at the altar of the over-rated Sonic Youth, but for the moment they’ve carried me with them.

The only track that could sit happily on earlier releases is album closer, “Like A Dog Beneath Your Feet'”, which takes funereal to new places, and is a handy sop to miserable gits like me. Another good one, lads, well done

Freefaller – Good Enough For You

I liked the first Freefaller single, “Do This! Do That!” Pure pop music, despite the ludicrous claim that they’re pop/punk. They’re more the Monkees than they are the Offspring, but they had a sense of life and purpose about them that made rather endearing. I remember what it was like to be bouncy, and Freefaller gave good bounce.

This isn’t as good. It’s a bit bland, and not upbeat enough, but the hook should be enough to get them some rotation on TMF and Smash Hits TV. Hopefully, their upcoming live shows with Supergrass will remind them of their initial potential before they disappear in a puff of McFly type smoke.

Triple 8 (888) – Good2go

Apparently, this boy band already have a Top Ten hit under their belts in the shape of “Knockout”. Naturally, it completely passed me by, as did less successful follow-up “Give Me A Reason”. Since then they’ve shed oldest member Sprax (not a boy anymore:-) and seem to have have been dropped by their record label, and changed their name from Triple 8 to 888. So, hard times?

So why I am I reviewing this? Well, primarily, because it’s quite good, but mainly because in this crazy sample friendly world, they’ve actually sampled “Romeo & Juliet” by Prokofiev! Not something you hear every day and well worth lending an ear to.

- although the design is appalling and impossible to read unless you use the Zoom feature in Opera.

The Knives Of Neptune - Digital Bildungsroman EP

Hmm, their press release reckons this is a “6 track space-rock odyssey”, which you would never guess from opening track” A Cadetship In Escapism”, which is bludgeoning art-rock, akin to At The Drive-In or Cave In.

Fortunately, the rest of the EP heads off into more friendly art-rock territory, much as At The Drive-In heralded the Mars Volta. Now, I don’t actually care for the Mars Volta, as their ambitions far exceed their abilities, but I’m all for people extending themselves in exciting musical directions. So I enjoyed The Knives Of Neptune hybrid of art-rock, psychedelia, death metal and blast beats. But worry ye not, spce rock readers, it’s 80% the former two options and 20% the latter two.

It’s invigorating to listen to a band determined to do something different as they all go rushing off in different directions only to clash back together just in time. AN organised jam, if that makes any sense. Although where the Tex-Mex came from on the title track is anyones guess.

The strangest (and best) example of their sonic lunacy is “Lure of the Chorus Hearse”, which begins off in ambient mode before some metal riffing, emo screaming and sci-fi rock eclecticism start hammering each other over the head in inspired fashion.

It’s never an easy listen, and not for the faint of heart, but there are some inspired moments lurking in these grooves.