Them Or Us Review

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(More customer reviews)I know it's a silly thing to say, but I always feel a little bit smarter after listening to a Frank Zappa album- he seems to give off something of a professorial atmosphere sometimes... This album follows in his tradition of challanging his listeners to explore the endless possibilities of music.
I was originally attracted to Zappa's work by his clever, acerbic lyrics and catchy melodies. As I've begun to explore his work, I've realized that the full spectrum of his gifts are most appreciated by those who love the instrumental work of, say, King Crimson or even Yes at times.
This album, like most of Zappa's work, is chock-full of guitar brilliance (not to mention the other instruments!). Some of the songs with lyrics, however, aren't particularly to my taste, even if creativly composed. I don't mind Zappa's blue humor at all though, it's hilarious (think Robert Crumb set to music)- and you may react more enthusiastically.
This album is par for the course Zappa brilliance. It may not have as wide of a commericial appeal as some of his other albums- but we all know that commercial appeal was never the point for Zappa- unless he had a point to make about commercial appeal...

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Japanese reissue of 1984 album, packaged in a miniaturegatefold LP sleeve. Videoarts. 2002.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Heartbeat City Review

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(More customer reviews)Beaches, convertibles, MTV showing real videos. Think Andy Warhol flash-cutting grainy images to "Hello Again." Watch Ric Ocasek walk on water during "Magic." Think of cruising to "You Might Think." And remain in awe of the late Ben Orr's best vocal since the debut, on the groundbreaking smash ballad, "Drive."
That's what makes The Cars' final great album, "Heartbeat City," their most consistent album since that perfect first disc. It marked a creative highwater level in the band's evolution, mixing in the best of their Buddy Holly pop with their "Panorama" darkness. It also moved away from their Roy Thomas Baker sterile sheen to "Mutt" Lange's polished pop glow (he who made Def Leppard both shattering and melodic) and fed it to the masses as fantastic cotton candy summer tunes. Place this record next to Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A.," Huey Lewis' "Sports," ZZ Top's "Eliminator," Van Halen's "1984" and Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell," and you had the party records that stuck in your memory for that year.
"Heartbeat City" still holds fast to its best moments. It gave The Cars' their biggest seller to that date, and their highest charting single. But it also gave them one of the most haunting songs in their canon, with the mysterious title track. Vaguely hinting at what almost sounds like a drug addiction, the enigmatic Jacki has "happy days we count on thumbs." The domicile of "Heartbeat City" is both an alluring and distant place, and Ocasek mutters "it's my life" as the song fades away. Oddly enough, that song bids goodbye to The Car's last decent album; I am sure there aren't too many folks with ecstatic summer memories of "Door To Door."
Which also begs the question; this was a major seller from a band that had consistent platinum plus successes. Why are their no remastered Cars albums other than the debut? An album this great really deserves better than the old, flat original CD transfer. An upgrade is due, and soon, please!

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No Description AvailableNo Track Information AvailableMedia Type: CDArtist: CARSTitle: HEARTBEAT CITYStreet Release Date: 07/07/1987

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Diamond Life Review

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(More customer reviews)There has never been a singer quite like Sade Adu. Although she is of Nigerian origin, and her voice is clearly that of a woman of color, she is equally influenced by her English upbringing; the resulting combination of African heat and British coolness, particularly when combined with her band's elegant mixture of both American and European jazz idioms, is as original today as when it first appeared. Superficially cool and seemingly detached, everything about the band simmers with an underlying passion.
While Adu and her band (collectively known as Sade) have done many memorable recordings since they debuted, DIAMOND LIFE remains their single finest recording: it is pure liquid elegance every step of the way. Opening with "Smooth Operator," which makes particularly good use of Stuart Matthewman on sax, the entire collection flows effortlessly from cut to cut--some dark, some slightly dissonate, some slightly upbeat, and every one of them memorable in the most haunting way imaginable.
Like "Smooth Operator," both "Your Love Is King" and "Hang on to Your Love" actually broke into the charts as singles--a truly amazing feat for a jazz-oriented club band in the ultra-synthetic 1980s. But in truth, be it "Cherry Pie," "When Am I Gonna Make A Living," or "Sally," there isn't a bad cut on the entire CD. Everything shimmers with a sultry yet subtle beauty, pulling you into an atmosphere in which you seem to feel the pulse of a midnight lounge, the atmosphere of the club scene fromw which Sade emerged.
As a band, Sade is sexy, cool, smart, delicately shaded, and brilliantly shaped, and the aptly titled DIAMOND LIFE is perhaps one of the best debut recordings made over the past fifty years. Mix yourself a drink, turn the lights down low, drop it on the stereo, and dream of smoke, the clink of cocktail glasses, and the murmur of voices gone suddenly silent when the band begins to play. Strongly recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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Make It Big Review

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(More customer reviews)High school, junior year, 1985. "Freedom" was the first single I heard from Wham! and although I didn't get the whole album until years later, I recognized George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as an integral part fusing pop and white soul, and pop with funk and brass rhythms.
The fun, swinging, upbeat funky bass, the brass section in the bridge, and George Michael's soulful vocals that reminded me of a more refined El DeBarge makes "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" a piece of classic 1980's pop. Some may cringe at the lyrics used to rhyme with "go-go" like "yo-yo" or "going solo." I'd give anything to have a girl with these qualities: "You get the gray skies outta my way/You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day/Turn a bright spark into a flame/My beats per minute never been the same."
Yet another single, "Everything She Wants", complete with funky Stevie Wonder-style keyboards is another example of white soul, and has Michael bewailing a marriage where his hard work of giving is not rewarded with equal giving from the woman. He asks in despair, "Somebody tell me/Won't you tell me.../Why I work so hard for you?/All to give you money." Eventually, he believes "All the things we sign/And the things we buy/Ain't gonna keep us together.../Girl, it's just a matter of time." What was it the Beatles said more cogently... "money can't buy you love."
"Heartbeat", with its prominent keyboards sounds like something Bill Steinman might do on a Bonnie Tyler album, say, "Take Me Back" from Faster Than The Speed Of Night crossed with Sheena Easton's "Long Distance Love Affair." A wistful poignant high school love song with a sweet swinging beat.
Things get nighttime mellow with the jazzy keyboards in "Like A Baby." It's this song which is a template to what George Michael would develop in "Kissing A Fool" from Faith. His falsetto really blooms with emotion in certain lines.
Trumpeting brass and keyboards with those three repeated notes herald "Freedom", the song that introduced me to George and Andrew with repeated viewing on MTV. I had my classmate Howard copy this for me. That catchy bridge and chorus will always stay with me: "But you know that I'll forgive you/Just this once...twice...forever/'cause baby, you could drag me to hell and back/Just as long as we're together/And you do...." Chorus says "I don't want your freedom.../I don't want to play around.../I don't want nobody baby/Part time love just brings me down/I don't want your freedom/Girl, all I want right now is you." For sentimental reasons, a classic.
A brass opening and a cantering beat characterizes "Credit Card Baby", who is a materialistic girl using a guy, who's probably got money to spend, as he says, "You can have my credit card baby/But keep your red hot fingers off of my heart lady." It amounts to, "Hey, if you want my money, just say so straight out, but don't try to wheedle it out by saying you love me." And giving another nod to the "money can't buy you love" theme, there's "Between the ocean and the sky/There are things that you can't buy/And if you look you'll see/One of them is me"
A more mid-tempo, relaxing jazz-pop/soul number, "If You Were There" follows. Closest thing to filler on this album.
After "Freedom", my second favourite is the haunting ballad "Careless Whisper", on infidelity and the regret that follows. It's that acoustic guitar during verses, chorus, and sax solo following it that touches me down there: "I'm never gonna dance again/Guilty feet have got no rhythm/Though it's easy to pretend/I know you're not a fool/I should have known better than to cheat a friend/And waste a chance that I'd been given." For other similar melancholy melodies, compare Wham's cover of Was Not Was's "Where Did Your Heart Go" on Music From The Edge Of Heaven and Debbie Gibson's "Foolish Beat."
"Freedom" and the singles from this album, as well as their swansong Music From The Edge Of Heaven became part of my essential 80's music education.

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Huge 2nd album originally released in 1984, from the dance-pop duo George Michael & Andrew Ridgeley. Featuring the track 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go'. Digitally Remastered and completely different artwork to the US pressing. Sony.--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

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Victory Review

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(More customer reviews)This was a good album except that it sounded too disjointed. There only seemed a few songs in which all 6 brothers (yes, all 6 are together) participate. As a result, one gets the feeling that some of them (probably Michael and Jermaine) were reluctant participants and the album comes off as a Various Artists album. However, with that being said there are still some awesome tracks here. Torture with lead vocals being shared by Michael and Jermaine is an awesome R&B song and one of my all-time favorites. State of Shock is the song that did the best on the pop charts as Mick Jagger gives a good and funny performance on this one. However, my favorite song besides Torture has become the 2nd track, Wait. Produced by and featuring lead vocals by Jackie, I just love the overall feel to this song. Several members of the band, Toto, play on this song and they do a good job.
All in all, pick this album up if you love R&B or if you like anything done by Michael Jackson. It's not a bad buy.

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Japanese only paper sleeve pressing features all new 2009 remastering. Sony.--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

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Grace Under Pressure Review

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(More customer reviews)Grace Under Pressure is sometimes my favorite Rush album, and sometimes it's second to Signals, but either way, it's a masterpiece.
Coming smack dab in the middle of Rush's synth period as it does, one might expect guitarist Alex Lifeson to have only a background role in Grace Under Pressure. That's not the case at all, and in fact, I think this is his best Rush album. His solos in "Kid Gloves" and "The Body Electric" are just incredible, while his rhythm guitar roles in "Red Sector A" and "The Enemy Within" rock hard.
That's not to say that synthesizers play a minor role in Grace Under Pressure. They're at the forefront of every song (except "Kid Gloves"), and unlike many later Rush efforts, they never get in the way of the song. Everything on the album blends together perfectly. "Distant Early Warning," for example, has everything that `70's Rush classics have- a great guitar riff, Geddy Lee's heavy bass and high-pitched vocals, and Neil Peart's maniacal drumming and cryptic yet concrete lyrics. However, it also looks to the future, with a more pessimistic mood and blasts of keyboards scattered about.
The rest of the album doesn't disappoint either, with "red lenses" (the title is supposed to be written in all lower-case letters, for whatever reason) being the best of the bunch. The song is unique in the Rush canon, to say the least, having a stream-of-consciousness and dissonant feel to it. This is also one of Neil Peart's best Rush songs- there's a percussion section in the middle of the song that will blow you away. I have no idea at all what the lyrics mean ("We've got Mars on the horizon, says the National Midnight Star"), but that doesn't matter, because it's just so fun. You can tell they had a whole lot of fun while recording "red lenses," that's for sure. I wish Rush would play it live, because it's very high-energy and would make a killer show-opener.
Elsewhere, cynicism and bleakness abound, with a Holocaust theme in "Red Sector A," an ode to a deceased friend in "Afterimage," and wartime lament in "Between The Wheels."
"Red Sector A" is a noteworthy song because, shockingly, there is no bassline. Geddy Lee is only the singer and keyboardist on this song, and it features a great hook where the guitar and synthesizer trade riffs. Add Neil Peart's pounding electronic drumbeat, and you've got a Rush concert favorite. You won't even notice the missing bass guitar.
Like I said, this can be my favorite Rush album, and the only bad thing I can say about it is that the front cover isn't all that good (well, that and the band's photo on the inside- I bet they hate to look at that now, twenty years later). Every single second of Grace Under Pressure is excellent, and there are just too many highlights to go over in this review. You'll just have to listen for yourself.

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Japanese only paper sleeve SHM pressing. The SHM-CD [Super High Material CD] format features enhanced audio quality through the use of a special polycarbonate plastic. Using a process developed by JVC and Universal Music Japan discovered through the joint companies' research into LCD display manufacturing SHM-CDs feature improved transparency on the data side of the disc allowing for more accurate reading of CD data by the CD player laser head. SHM-CD format CDs are fully compatible with standard CD players. Warner. 2009.--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

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