Mccartney Review

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(More customer reviews)When Paul McCartney released his first solo album and the first true solo studio album by a Beatle in 1970, it was almost universally panned. While it certainly doesn't matchup with any of the Beatles albums, it has aged better than alot of the music of the time. Mr. McCartney recorded the album at his farm and its greatest asset is the simple, down-home feel that permeates it. You can almost picture the newly married and new father just tooling around the house and living the country life and whenever the mood struck him, laying down a new track. He plays all the instruments and other than some backing vocals by Linda, sings all the songs. There are several instrumentals on the album and a couple of songs like "Man We Was Lonely" that are basically just a couple of lines sung over and over, but "Maybe I'm Amazed" is a true gem. The song ranks up there with anything he's done in his solo career and a wouldn't be slighted by songs in the Beatles catalog. Other standout tracks include the sweet "Every Night", "Singalong Junk" & "That Would Be Something".

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Paul McCartney Photos More from Paul McCartney

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Alive Review

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(More customer reviews)Alright, so this album is pretty good. Eddie K went off on his own and well, not much changed. That could be good or bad - depends on how you enjoyed the last two Live albums. The good: Ed's on the vocals, and it's like Live never broke up! The bad: There is not much progression or experimentation here from those previous albums.
Here's where I stand - I really enjoyed Birds of Prey (apparently in the minority here), but I couldn't bring myself to buy Black Mountain because I'm not into their softer "pop", and I kinda disliked the single (seriously guys, we've already gone to the riverside, ran to the water, not again...)
In style I think this album is comparable to Birds of Prey, with a couple softer songs mixed in. I like that. There is passion in the vocals, the guitars wail at appropriate moments, and there are some catchy rythms. Lyrically/thematically it is also similar. Birds had a great Christianish single in Heaven - Alive has Grace. Remember the anti-war What Are We Fighting For - Alive has Stand (Chorus: "If you could stand tall with me, what are we fighting for..."). I definitely had that nostalgia when Ed is singing about love again - ahh, how familiar. But while I consistantly liked almost all of the songs on Brids and previous Live albums, I don't know if I can say the same for Alive. And that's the real catch.
So if you've been a Live fan since the 90's, sorry guys, this is no Throwing Copper. But if you like Live's newest stuff, you'll definitely enjoy some of the songs on this album, and you'd do well to check it out.

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Ed Kowalczyk, widely known as the Lead singer/frontman/guitarist of the band Live, has built an impressive résumé that includes eight full-length albums, total CD sales exceeding 20 million, a huge international fan base and extensive touring all over the world. Live has been one of the most successful and enduring alternative rock bands of the 1990s and 2000s. 'Alive,' is Ed's first solo album that immediately ignites with his instantly recognizable vocals and trademark lyrics taking the listener to the place where they discovered the power of Live's music and urgency in Ed's voice.

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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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Flamingo Review

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(More customer reviews)What is it with the negative mentality from fans when a lead singer goes solo? I am glad I grew up during a different era when it was just fine for a lead singer to go solo with fans. For example, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, David Lee Roth, Peter Cetera, Jon Anderson, etc., etc. Nowadays it seems there's this negative element involved for no really good reason.
Brandon Flowers of The Killers releases his first solo album and it's, "This isn't what I expected" or "This is another Killers album" or "The fans who give this positive reviews are deluded", etc., etc. The fact of the matter is The Killers are popular right now, "Flamingo" entered the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart in the top ten, the first single "Crossfire" has done well on the charts.
Also, Flowers brings in the heavy artillery with three great producers: Stuart Price (New Order, Madonna, Scissor Sisters, Pet Shop Boys, Gwen Stefani, Seal and Keane), Daniel Lanois (U2, Peter Gabriel and Robbie Robertson) and Brendan O'Brien (Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, Korn, The Offspring, Train, Bruce Springsteen, Incubus, The Music, The Wallflowers, Audioslave, The Bravery, Velvet Revolver and AC/DC). This has ensured a quality product. Plus a duet with Riley Kilo's lead singer Jenny Lewis on "Hard Enough".
I listened to all three Killers albums in sequential order prior to listening to "Flamingo", and I have to say I liked "Flamingo" slightly more than The Killers albums. This is the first album where I felt there was a musical unity throughout. I did not feel, upon repeated listening, that there were any weak tracks here. Some are better than others, but overall the album sounded good, not great. Flowers (and The Killers) still have the potential to develop into a classic rock band, but they have yet to hit their stride.
Growing up in the 1980's, this album reminded me of many other artists/bands from that era with a modern polish, and The Killers are, after all, a retro band, a post-new wave revival band. Flowers' influences are also from that era, and they are evident here.
"Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas" is a great, grand, sweeping opener. "Only The Young", the album's second single, is a beautifully sung, electronic ballad. "Hard Enough" has a country tinge with a carefully placed hook in the chorus. "Jilted Lovers & Broken Hearts" is the most Killers sounding track and one of the fastest paced tracks here. "Playing With Fire" might be the weakest track here, but it redeems itself in its melody line during the second half of the song. "Was It Something I Said?" has a good melody. "Magdalena" is pure vocal hook magic. "Crossfire" is likewise catchy and melodic. "On The Floor" and "Swallow It" finish off the original 10 track album with more hooks. The four bonus tracks are equally as good with "The Clock Was Tickin'" and "Jacksonville" being very catchy.
Overall, "Flamingo" deserves four stars for its great production and hooks galore. Anyone can quibble over the lyrical content here, and many have complained about the religious content, but I inspected the lyrics online and did not feel Flowers was being overly preachy. I mean give me a break here. There are so many other artists that are absolutely preachy in their convictions, and who cares? That's what's great about popular music--passion, conviction, opinions, points of view, attitudes. People are so easily perturbed by the smallest things.
Here's how "Flamingo" compares to The Killers:
2004 Hot Fuss: Four Stars
2006 Sam's Town: Three and a Half Stars
2008 Day & Age: Three and a Half Stars
2010 Flamingo: Four Stars (from a biased, non-zealous fan)

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Inextricably tied to Vegas in both showmanship and ideology, Flamingo is a bombastic 10-track collection of stadium-ready songs that runs the gamut from expert pop executions and forlorn electro dirges to gospel tunes and even blues-tinged rock (read: pedal steel, and plenty of it).

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