Abnormally Attracted to Sin Review

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(More customer reviews)I personally have not been impressed with Tori's recorded output since Scarlet's Walk, which I felt was the last great album she released with beautiful songs and captivating lyrics. Since The Beekeeper, her last three albums have been filled with the same production problems, poor lyrics, or uninspired and generic music. The Beekeeper had some promising songs that were lost in over or bad production and dry vocals. American Doll Posse's production was no improvement with flat mixing and her husband's less than great electric guitar. With Abnormally Attracted to Sin we find an improvement in overall production but still nothing that sonically creative besides some tracks such as Starling, Lady in Blue, and Abnormally Attracted to Sin. The electric guitar is still there from American Doll Posse, and instead of adding ambiance, adding cheesy 80's riffs that drown everything else in the song. In addition, the length of the album is excessive and once again Tori is need of desperate editing. In terms of vocals, there are some good moments as in Give, but she has increasingly relied on this weird accent that no one can understand what she is saying, and it sounds childish and just bad. Another negative of the album is that the lyrics which are anything but great. I don't know what happened to the days when she would craft thought provoking and mysterious lyrics, but on this album we are faced with some of the most cringe worthy lines of Tori's career.
Tori Amos' increased vanity is really exposed all throughout this project whether it's the fake posing and air-brushed beyond belief glamour shots of the album artwork or of the embarrassing visualettes --embarrassing being the only word to describe the accompanying videos of the deluxe version. Instead of visually intriguing films, we are presented with Tori Amos playing more dress up in horrible thousand dollar designer outfits walking, driving around aimlessly.
I am a huge Tori Amos fan but these reoccurring bloated albums with unimpressive results have caused multiple disappointments. She desperately needs to hire a producer to help record an album that does not contain filler, but a cohesive collection of strong, unique, emotionally-captivating songs that show off her amazing abilities as a musician (that are still there evident from a lot of her live performances last tour) found in her other albums. She should stop letting her husband play electric guitar that does nothing but drown the rest of the music. She should take the time to write the amazing lyrics she was known for. And she should stop the increased phoniness in her image and reconnect with reality and her old artistic integrity.

When compared to all her other albums, it's about a 2.5/5 stars. In other words, if you were looking for the 'return to form' of Tori Amos you'll probably have to wait a little longer.


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This Deluxe version of "Abnormally Attracted To Sin" will include a bonus fan DVD that include 17 visualettes (special music videos) for songs on the album.

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Slice O Life: Bruce Cockburn Live Solo Review

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(More customer reviews)What It Is: 2 discs with 20 of Cockburn's songs performed live and solo, plus some soundcheck noodling and between-song chatter.
Why To Buy It: You're a die-hard fan who wants to hear a new take on some of your favorite songs, as well as new material like "The City Is Hungry". Sure, Bruce's voice is getting a bit rough; but the material hangs together well and if you close your eyes it's like a house concert without the annoying guests.
Why To Avoid It: You're new to Cockburn and don't already own the best of his three dozen other albums. Try Humans, Inner City Front, Stealing Fire, Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws, or his first live album Circles in the Stream and come back to this one later. (Another good place to start is the accessible sampler Anything Anytime Anywhere: Singles 1979-2002.)

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Specially-priced 2-CD set! Bruce Cockburn's first-ever live solo album, Slice O Life, showcases a cross-section of the acclaimed artist's finest songs and some of his most dazzling guitar work. Slice O Life features such hits as "If I Had a Rocket Launcher," the classic "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" and Cockburn's breakthrough hit "Wondering Where the Lions Are." Originally recorded with a full band, all of the album's songs have been rearranged and performed on acoustic guitar with stunning results. The album also includes one new song, "The City is Hungry," plus three tracks recorded at soundchecks on the tour and some between-song banter that shows Cockburn to be both a quick wit and an engaging storyteller.

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Rock & The Tide (Amazon.com Exclusive) Review

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(More customer reviews)Okay, here's the thing ... I love, love, LOVE Joshua Radin. His style is (or was) unique, his voice quiet and thoughtful, his lyrics emotional and deep. We Were Here was such a groundbreaking album for me. It is largely responsible for my being a fan of acoustic music. Winter, Star Mile, Closer ... These were classics that have been stuck in my head since the first time I've heard them. Simple Times, though different, had some very high points, such as Sky, I'd Rather Be With You, Brand New Day, Friend Like You, and so on. The Rock and the Tide, at least upon first listen, seems to be so far out of the range of what Mr. Radin is known for, what he does best, and what got him where he is, that it's like he's going in a direction I'm not really willing to follow. He was once a subtle voice in a noisy world. Now he's just part of the noise. I understand artists have to progress. I'm a recording artist myself so I understand that all too well. But you can't go so far beyond where you came from that you can't see home anymore at all, and it feels like that's where Joshua Radin is heading, as if the acoustic stuff he wrote was only out of necessity because he wasn't big yet and couldn't afford his own band and so he'd settle for acoustic songs for now until he could do what he really wanted to do. I mean, there's only like two songs were the acoustic guitar is the main instrument it seems like. There are no female vocals -- that's part of his sound! Where's Priscilla Ahn? Where's Ingrid Michaelson? Now, I'll listen to this CD again and see if I think differently. It may just be that I'm refusing to accept his new direction because I'm too fettered to the old one. It happens. And sometimes, I'll re-listen in a few weeks and go, "Wow! What was I thinking?! This is GREAT!" And sometimes I'll listen and go, "Yep. Still sucks." So, what will happen here? I don't know. But I will give it a chance. But my initial response, quite frankly, is disappointment.
A note on the live DVD -- Okay, first of all the mix is way off. Thin acoustic guitars and massive pounding bass drums. I don't know who mixed this or who the sound guy was, but someone fell asleep at the switch, as it were. Also, where are those favorites? I mean, there were a few, but NOTHING from We Were Here. It's a good thing the DVD came free with the CD because if I had spent money on it I would be jacked.
To Joshua Radin, I would say this in summation: The acoustic guitar has been around for many a year, and no one's tired of it yet. Yes, from complex finger-picking to simple chord strumming, countless people play the acoustic guitar and still sell CDs, get people to listen, and so on, and they do so because the songs they play are real, they're organic, they're human. Of course, rock n' roll has been around for quite some time, too, and many people enjoy it's loudness. Personally, I don't think you do the loud stuff good enough to make your way in this world with rock n' roll. You did, however, do the acoustic stuff with such passion, elegance, realness and humanity that you could've made ten more albums building on what you started in your first major label release and would have made a name for yourself as the quintessential acoustic singer-songwriter. Now you're just another guy sounding like the rest. So my advice, for what it's worth to ya, is take a step back, regroup, and try again. You don't have to put out We Were Here part 2, but you don't have to try to put out Born in the USA either. Springsteen already did that, and he did it better than you'll ever do it.

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From Cleveland via New York and LA, Joshua Radin is the uniquely word-of-mouth global success story that's just about to get a whole lot bigger with the release of his third album The Rock and The Tide, due October 12th on Mom + Pop. Radin only turned to music after college - a friend gave a demo to a TV producer - who promptly used it in Scrubs in early 2004. Other Hollywood types found his music just as evocative, and soon various Radin songs were being heard 75 times on TV shows (Grey's Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, American Idol), as well as movies (The Nanny Diaries, The Last Kiss) and ads. His debut We Were Here (Columbia) drew critical acclaim, and 2008's follow up Simple Times saw Radin collaborating with producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith), selling over 140,000 copies in the US and 500,000 downloads worldwide.

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Give Up the Ghost Review

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(More customer reviews)I've had the vinyl release for several days now and am quite pleased while looking forward to acquiring the CD for my car. I've been listening to Brandi Carlile and the Hanseroth brothers since I received a 'song-of-the-day' iTunes card from Starbucks in October of '07 highlighting the song 'Turpentine'. A few of these songs written by Brandi alone are so heartfelt, it truly feels as though she's desperately reaching out to disconnected people in her past.
The subtle use of instrumentation and orchestration in this third release is beautifully produced and does not in any way obscure from Brandi's unparalleled voice. She could sing (or yodel) her weekly grocery list, and I would drop what I'm doing to listen... anytime.
My current favorite tracks are 'Looking Out' (w/Amy Ray), 'Dying Day', 'Pride And Joy', 'Before It Breaks', and 'Touching the Ground'. Basically the entire album will grow on you. The upbeat song 'Caroline' is a wonderful treat with Elton John playing the piano the way ONLY Elton John can. Highly recommended!

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2009 album from the Washington-born singer/songwriter. For the Give Up The Ghost, Brandi worked with Elton John (on 'Caroline'), ber producer Rick Rubin, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers multi-instrumentalist Benmont Tench, drummer Chad Smith and Amy Ray of The Indigo Girls. Her last studio album, The Story (2007), has sold 315,000 albums to date and her music has been licensed to numerous television shows and ad campaigns.

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