Well, being that I was off sick for most of Monday and Tuesday I still managed to sift through this week's releases and find some gems in the rough here. From Rush to The Pogues, In This Moment to Buddy Guy, there is a genre out there for practically everyone. And good thing too being the holiday season right around the corner ;-)
So folks, be sure to hit up your local record shop or online retailer to grab a few of these great albums!
So folks, be sure to hit up your local record shop or online retailer to grab a few of these great albums!
Only Rush could have pulled this off, and only in the '70s. 2112--the title suite of the band's 1976 breakthrough album--is a comically pretentious, futuristic rock opera written by a nerdy drummer and sung by a whiny-voiced geek. It also happens to be a great piece of rock & roll that lifts the listener through a variety of moods and textures from genteel acoustic ("Oracle") to thrilling metal ("The Temples of Syrinx"). Perhaps realizing that they had taken conceptualism about as far as it could go, even these guys backed off on the epic hero stuff for later releases. 2112 still stands as one of the great signposts of the prog-rock era. --Michael Ruby (Amazon)
Overall, In This Moment's new album should appeal to their fanbase - it's got some stylistic changes, but the core sound is still there, and Maria Brink's vocals are as sharp as ever. The major downfall is the lead single/title track and the lyrical limitations, but most metal fans should be able to look past that and enjoy it for what it is - an actually creative metalcore album. -Sputnik Music
The big "gotcha" for Buddy Guy fans, however, is the inclusion of three previously unreleased studio tracks from the sessions for Guy's Living Proof album: "Polka Dot Love," "Coming For You," and "Country Boy." Don't know what they sound like yet, and their failure to make the album has little to do with the quality - major label releases, in particular, will often drop good songs off the final sequencing for an album to lower the cost of songwriting royalties. So there's your Christmas present from Buddy Guy...seven new, scorching live tracks, three unreleased studio songs, one reasonably-priced new album. The Reverend has already ordered his copy, and you can find Live At Legends in your local record store on December 18, 2012. -About.com
How can rock grow and thrive in this digital age of urban beats and pop plasticity? Canadian quartet Metric fret over this dilemma on a fifth album so thrilling it almost makes the question academic. Artificial Nocturne opens in a slow burn of ambient synth-pop that takes a provocatively long time to get going, delaying the entrance charge of drums until two minutes have passed. But the mood abruptly shifts with autotuned glam rock stomp Youth Without Youth, chunky guitars powering up a deadpan anthem of extended adolescence while robot voices deliver the hook line.
The sound is nerdy, smart and sexy, which would also be a good description of frontwoman Haines, whose delivery can switch from frosty detachment to purring sex kitten.
Synthetica merges electronic music with the organic spirit of college rock. Not that there is anything radical in that. Bands have been experimenting with the electro-rock blend since the mid-Eighties. What feels right (or at least absolutely right now) about Metric is the perfect balance, every element in its place and in service of a set of sinuous, hook-laden, elegantly crafted pop songs. -Telegraph
‘You Call That A Knife, This Is A Knife!’ is one of the best tracks on the record and the track that saw these guys gain a huge following. Symphonics accompany huge riffs, leading into a synth clean chorus. It’s catchy as hell! Oh and it’s probably got one of the most offensive drops you’ll hear in a while.
The rest of the album provides much of the same, title track ‘Til Death’ builds upon the symphonic arrangements and ‘The Departed 2.0′ being a nice little acoustic number.
‘Til Death’ is an album everyone will love to hate. But all in all it’s fun and probably makes for a killer live show! It’s the sound of a group of guys having fun and living out their dreams. -Crash Music (UK)
This edition (and the Super Deluxe Edition) will be an essential addition to the collection of any Clapton fan. Everything is interesting and worth listening to, from the familiar songs to the new releases and live material. The sound quality is excellent and you will not miss the scratches and hisses that your original album developed, if you are a long-time fan like this journalist is. -Seattlepi.com
(DVD)
The Pogues in Paris is a spirited look back over a lengthy, colorful career and a testament to MacGowan’s ability as a songwriter. It would have been interesting to hear a little back story about some of the songs, but MacGowan mostly just announces the next song and occasionally thanks the crowd. Though, based on his intermittent intelligibility, it’s probably for the best. -Speak Creatures
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