Amy MacDonald is that proverbial old head on young shoulders, a Scottish singer-songwriter who, despite her tender 19 years, writes songs with the grace, wisdom and proficiency of one with a score more on the clock. As influenced by The Libertines as any venerable old folk hand, the eleven songs on This Is the Life combine a traditional, acoustic folk-rock sound with a youthful spirit and ...
Manufacturer: Mercury Records Ltd (London)
These days she's fodder for tabloids and late-night comics, but way back in the 1990s Mariah Carey reigned as one of the world's bestselling female performers. This two-CD Greatest Hits collection offers up chart-topping evidence why, for better or worse, Mariah's five-octave, pop/R&B styling set the diva standard. Culled from her five albums on Sony, (before signing to Virgin), and you get ...
Manufacturer: Columbia
While it's tempting to position Elbow next to the sardonic likes of Badly Drawn Boy--mainly because of their proximity to the city of Manchester and their way with an acoustic guitar--Asleep In The Back, their frighteningly competent debut album, bears not the joker's smile. Instead, it comes straight from Manchester's simmering, ugly dark side--eleven tracks of rain-sodden misery, blown up ...
Manufacturer: Commercial Marketing
In 2005, James Blunt was everybody's favorite overnight success story. In 2007, he's the guy who's making rock meaningful again. All the Lost Souls, the sophomore effort from the Brit responsible for restoring the seriousness of "beautiful" as a compliment, brims with big build-ups, epic-sounding ballads, and lyrics to lose yourself in. The vibe, laid out neatly on first single and opening ...
Manufacturer: Atlantic
Queen brought a whole new meaning to the phrase over the top. While rock & roll flamboyance stretched back at least as far as Little Richard, Freddie Mercury continued to camp it up, taking little seriously and smirking at the music's growing pretensions while partaking in them no small bit. Many of the band's singles hold up extremely well, such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen" and "You're ...
Manufacturer: Parlophone
The White Album was meant to be the record that brought the Beatles back to earth after three years of studio experimentation. Instead, it took them all over the place, continuing to burst the envelope of pop music. Lennon and McCartney were still at the height of their songwriting powers, with Lennon in particular growing into one of music's towering figures. But even McCartney could still rock, ...
Manufacturer: Apple
Remarkably Home Before Dark is the first US chart topping album of Neil Diamond's forty year career. It appears to repeat the formula behind 2006's acclaimed 12 Songs--relatively understated arrangements and a subtle Rick Rubin production. But Diamond, though sixty-seven years old and the oldest recipient of a Number One so far, is no Johnny Cash, turning his unique voice to some ...
Manufacturer: 19
Manufacturer: SonyBMG
Here's what they say about Jeff Buckley: "He died too young". Here's why they say it: Grace is simply one of the most amazing things you can do with your ears and a little digitally-encoded disc. He inherited the voice of his father, the legendary Tim Buckley--seven octaves, each of them only just enough to cram his big feverish dreams into--but his music was all his own. Think Van ...
