Return of the Champions Review

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(More customer reviews)Can the soulful & smooth vocals of Paul Rodgers fill the void left by the operatic & theatrical singing of Freddie Mercury? Can the "band" Queen, play classic Free & Bad Company songs and still be faithful to the originals? Can these "oldtimers" still kick out the jams? Yes, Yes, Yes!!!!!
I was shocked and more than pleasantly suprised by how good this album really is. Paul Rodgers has been around for quite some time and his voice has never sounded better; and with so few really quality live recordings of Mr. Rodgers over the years, it is really a treat to hear him stretch his cords live (I apologize in advance to all the fans of Glenn Hughes, but Paul Rodgers is indeed the "voice of rock"). While no one on this planet can ever replace Mr. Mercury, Rodgers adds his own "touch" to the Queen songs. What you get is songs which really pay tribute to the original versions.Oh, and the band "Queen"?
They play through the entire set flawlessly, handling both the Free and Bad Company songs with ferocity & grace. Brain May is arguably one of rock's all time great guitarist and this recording only enhances his status (I apologize again to the late great Mr. Kosoff, Mr. Ralphs and yes, even Mr. Page, and this statement may border on blasphemy, but Paul Rodgers has never been backed by a finer fretboard wizard than Brian May). Lastly, the energy & emotion put into this performance is extraordinary. You would never guess these were "past middle age" men whipping out rockers like "Tie Your Mother Down" & "All Right Now".
And I would like to add, which for me, was the most "heartfelt" portion of the album. I think longtime Queen fans will agree.
Brian May states between songs, Freddie Mercury's mom in in the audience. For the song "Bohemian Rhapsody"...we here Freddie Mercury's voice singing from the original song. The band is playing live to it in the backround. When Freddie sings the words of the songs "momma, I don't wan't to die", I almost began to weep. Hey, I'm not afraid to admit it. It was one of the most emotional moments I have every heard on a rock recording.
For Queen fans, the album is a must for that single song alone.
My only minor beef, and I mean minor, but enough to give the album a 4 1/2 star rating instead of 5 is the overall sound and mix of the album. The vocals and harmonies are clear up front in the mix and truely amazing, but the instruments seem to be far back and just a little muddy. May's playing is killer and it just does not come through the way I believe it should. But hey, that's just me! Any fan of Free, Bad Company or Queen (heck any fan of rock music!) must add this to cart NOW!! I guarantee you will not be disappointed. For any newcomers who have heard of these great artists? Add this to cart now too....let these "boys" show you how rock is meant to be played.

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Following their hugely successful 32 date European arena tour Queen plus Paul Rodgers release this double CD capturing the magic of their performance. Featured alongside some of the most famous Queen songs are Bad Company and Free classics such as "All Right Now" and "Can't Get Enough". The package features a 16-page booklet with photographs taken by fans throughout the tour. 27 total tracks.

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TheFutureEmbrace Review

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(More customer reviews)To be honest, this album is excellent. Billy Corgan, in all his long career, has never once disappointed me. Every Pumpkins album was fantastic, including the Aeroplane boxset and other b-side collections like Judas O and Pisces Iscariot. We shouldn't be surprised that TheFutureEmbrace sounds akin to the Pumpkins because Billy was the driving creative and musical force in the band. You can think of TheFutureEmbrace as belonging somewhere right between Adore and Machina, musically. The album has very fine polish and poise, and each song evokes a different feeling or emotion from the listener. The songs have a wonderful balance of electronica and rock to make this album fit nicely in a very niche genre of synth rock. The songs range from upbeat, like All Things Change, to very dark and sombre, like Mina Loy and the single track, Walking Shade. If you're a fan of Billy Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins, especially the Adore album, then you will absolutely love this album, as I do. However, if you think that the Pumpkins peak work was Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, you will not likely see eye to eye with Billy on this new work. If you consider yourself a true fan of music and someone who likes to hear new and different ways of expressing time honored sentiments, then you owe it to yourself to pick up this album.

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The first solo album ever released by Billy Corgan-the revered singer/songwriter/guitarist whose groundbreaking work with The Smashing Pumpkins defined modern rock-is shockingly affirmative, even romantic. Corgan's most intimate set of songs yet, the hauntingly beautiful TheFutureEmbrace brings together Corgan's astonishing past and promising present.

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Live Friday the 13th (CD/DVD) Review

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(More customer reviews)Words don't describe how great their cd is. If you love their Songs about Jane or have loved any of their music, you MUST GET THIS.
I became a fan after hearing Harder to breathe and haven't had then out of my cd player since. SAJ is one of the only cd's that I've purchased in the past few years that I can actually listen to all the way through and never get tired of any of the songs. I received an email from their site in August stating if I pre-ordered I'd get an autographed cover...I ordered that very day to get it for my Birthday (Sept 20, the day it came out...it literally came out ON MY BIRTHDAY and I got it a day early! Great present for me! LOL)
This is pretty much the live version of Songs about Jane, just as good with a couple of songs I'd never heard of before but are just as great!
The DVD is pretty good, but some of the things I didn't like were the angles they were taking of the group, (backs of them, long shots of just their hand playing the guitar/keyboard, unclear shots) But their performance is outstanding, the quality is crystal clear and this will be definately going into rotation on my cd player along with their others.
My 8 year old son is behind me right now as I'm watching the dvd. They really are one of the best bands out right now, great for all ages. Plus its nice to see an actual band playing instruments for a change instead of the lip synching pop junk they overplay on the radio, videos and award shows. I don't think he's seen many actually perform live with instruments like this before.
I really do recommend it to everyone! (so does my son! :)

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Featuring live performances of three #1 singles from their multi-platinum, worldwide breakthrough album - "This Love", "She Will Be Loved", and "Harder to Breathe"...also featuring the never before released songs, "Wasted Years" & the Oasis cover, "Hello".DVD Extras: • Exclusive interview documentary with writer/director Mitch Glaser • Behind-the-scenes and live performance photo montage. • 5.1 stereo mix • Directed by acclaimed DVD director Russell Thomas (Coldplay, Dido).

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Jagged Little Pill Acoustic Review

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(More customer reviews)"Re-recording these songs ten years later has been such a great opportunity to honor them in a way I could not do 10 years ago," observes singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette in the liner notes to "Jagged Little Pill Acoustic," an album of sparse, low-key interpretations of the 13 songs that comprised "Jagged Little Pill," her 1995 debut album that thrust the then 21 year-old Canadian siren into the vanguard of the alternative music scene and mid-90's pop culture. The record went on to sell 30,000,000 copies worldwide; the highest-selling album ever by a female artist.
It is an interesting concept; a tribute album to one's one album, but the end result is better than one might think. "Acoustic" serves as a sharp reminder of what everyone loved about Morissette a decade ago when she first surfaced on worldwide radar, and with Glen Ballard again filling the role as the album's producer, the results sound true to the original.
Indeed, her "angry" vocal performances in songs such as "Right Through You" or "You Oughta Know," which gained her instant notoriety as her debut single, are considerably more restrained now. And while some may at first dismiss the idea of hearing these songs sung without their original ferocity, they are still worth the time.
"You Oughta Know" is the clearest indication that Morissette was able to change the direction of some of the material, as if to challenge the interpretation listeners immediately had to the song. To be sure, the original was carried along by raw anger, and appropriately so. Nevertheless, she has always maintained that she herself finds the song as being more sad than angry, and this time her vocals sound distinctly more vulnerable.
On other tracks, such as the classics "Hand In My Pocket," "Head Over Feet," "You Learn" and "Ironic," she sounds far more world-weary than the 21-year old sprite of yore, channeling healthy doses of humor and optimism, coming across far more relaxed and buoyant. The latter track has even been given a bit of update, as she finds irony not in meeting the "beautiful wife" of the man of her dreams, but instead his "beautiful husband." Perhaps more ironic is that only now does that line reflect true irony.
Some things have not changed significantly, however. Her frustration with the hypocrisy of the Catholic church still rings just as loudly as ever in "Forgiven," and "Not the Doctor," where she breaks free of a man who is overwhelmingly high-maintenance, rings more vital than ever from her confident delivery and aggressive production. Also, "Perfect," sung from the perspective of an overly expectant parent, rips the heart out just as the original did.
"I'll live through you/I'll make you what I never was/If you're the best/Then maybe so am I/Compared to him/Compared to her/I'm doin' this for your own damn good/You'll make up for what I blew/What's the problem/Why are you cryin'?"
Furthermore, the cathartic self-help of "Mary Jane" and "All I Really Want" sound refreshed and sincere, even in the hands of someone who has clearly moved on from such feelings of frustration and self-loathing. The head-on criticism of an ex-flame's unabashed apathy in "Wake Up," however, still sounds as urgent and retains the creepy undertone of the original, proving just how universal the message of the song is.
"You sit and you wait to receive/There's an obvious attraction/To the path of least resistance in your life/There's an obvious aversion no amount of my insistence/Could make you try tonight/Cause it's easy not to/So much easier not to/And what goes around never comes around to you."
Ultimately, "Acoustic" will only be appreciated by fans of Morissette and those who still cherish the glory that is the original "Jagged Little Pill." Nevertheless, it is a warm, inviting reworking that contains a great deal of its predecessor's magic, while also being appropriate to play during dinnertime and rush hour traffic.


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The biggest-selling album by a female artist in history, Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill is 16 times platinum and Billboard's Top Pop Album of the 90's. Now, celebrating its 10th anniversary, Morissette and producer/co-writer have recorded the entire album in an acoustic version. Jagged Little Pill Acoustic (enhanced with exclusive content) features the songs in their original order and adds previously unreleased video footage from that era. Jagged Little Pill Acoustic is just what the doctor ordered.

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Blur: Starshaped (1994) Review

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(More customer reviews)The period documented by this newly refurbished DVD re-release of "Starshaped"--roughly 1991-93--was without a doubt one of the highlights in the history of this now-venerable UK act. Fresh from their initial flush of success, but before they became ubiquitous superstars, "Starshaped" features some spirited live performances and backstage footage that offers a more intimate look at the group than their Best Of collection of videos. The camera focuses most naturally on frontman Albarn, although time is also given to Graham Coxton's quirky and likeable personality, as he cheerily complains of headaches, dehydration and the effects of being on sedatives.
Some fine footage of "Colin Zeal, "Popscene", "For Tomorrow" and "Day After Day" garnish the original video, now with added
concert footage from Kilburn and the Princess Charlotte in '91.
The band is in transition from its earlier, trancy, Stone Roses-influenced sound to the Kink-esque form of "Modern Life Is Rubbish", but it all sounds like excellent guitar-pop with
a heavy psychedelic rush, loving social comment and and topped by Albarn's signature vocal style. He certainly doesn't lack energy throughout, and frequently gets himself into trouble with his on-stage shenanigans (ie when the PA falls on his foot), giving the film at times a Spinal Tap quality (they even visit Stonehenge), although it's all with tongue well in cheek. Blur were probably at their most likeable at this stage, an up-and coming group who would conquer the UK in only a year's time from the release of "Starshaped", a document which certainly gives ample enough justification for their rise and whose US release is now very welcome.

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Three years of candid camera on the road with Blur, from Reading 1991 through the dark ages of the EEC in 1992 and then on to Modern Life.This 126 minute tour film features live footage including scenes from Glastonbury ’92, the Heineken Music Festival ’94 in Nottingham, and festivals in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. It is a fascinating rockumentary about the early days of one of the most influential bands of the 1990s.

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