Category: Reviews

Artist: Bing Crosby Title: The Definitive Collection Label: Decca Rating: 7/10 FILE UNDER: Another Bing Crosby Greatest Hits. CORPORATE LINE: More useful as a primer than as a comprehensive overview of Bing Crosby’s 50-year career, Geffen’s THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION still packs in 22 superb cuts from the crooner’s massive discography. Beginning with the early 1930s […]

Artist: Louis Armstrong Title: The Definitive Collection Label: Hip-O Rating: 8/10 FILE UNDER: The Legend THE REVIEW: Honestly there are no bad songs out of the twenty-three included. Each is a classic. Louis Armstrong had more classics—so many more that there was no way all of them could have fit on one CD. The record […]

Artist: The Lashes Title: Get It Label: Red Ink Rating: 4.5/10 FILE UNDER: All hook no substance. CORPORATE LINE: Following their obscenely catchy debut EP on Lookout! Records (The Stupid Stupid), the band’s momentum has been unstoppable; sold-out headlining shows and support slots with national acts as varied as The Libertines and tour mates Ted […]

Artist: Ron White Title: You Can’t Fix Stupid Label: Image Rating: 8.5/10 FILE UNDER: Lots of laughs! CORPORATE LINE: Ron White continues to headline theaters with his “Drunk In Public” tour across the United States. The tour was ranked in the top 50 tours in Pollstar Magazine of 2004. Ron taped a new One-Hour Special […]

Artist: Beth Orton Title: Comfort of Strangers Label: Astralwerks Rating: 7.5/10 FILE UNDER: Beth “The Under-rated” Orton – just don’t compare her to Norah Jones! CORPORATE LINE: Beth Orton is a famously good singer, as evidenced by the three albums that have so conspicuously built her worldwide reputation over the past decade. Not even that […]

Artist: Whitesnake Title: The Definitive Collection Label: Geffen Rating: 1.5/10 CORPORATE LINE: The Definitive Collection spans nearly every studio album issued by Whitesnake, including its pre-U.S. fame LPs Snakebite (1978, with the band’s first hit, “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City”), Lovehunter (1979, with “Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues” and […]

Artist: Andrea Bocelli Title: Amore Label: Decca Rating: 8/10 CORPORATE LINE: Amore, Andrea’s newest release, was recorded late in the summer, under the Tuscan sky at Andrea’s home studio, where the breathtaking coastal and pastoral views inspired Andrea and the musicians to create an album dripping with beauty. The album’s concept came from Amore producers […]

Artist: Roseanne Cash Title: Black Cadillac Label: Capitol Rating: 7/10 CORPORATE LINE: “I couldn’t avoid them,” says Rosanne Cash about the twelve songs that constitute Black Cadillac, a breakthrough album that raises both the stakes and the standards for one of this country’s finest singer-songwriters. “I couldn’t let any of them simply return to the […]

Artist: Deadboy and the Elephantmen Title: We Are Night Sky Label: Fat Possum Rating: 5/10 FILE UNDER: Hmmm… A little Bowie and a little White Stripes. CORPORATE LINE: One guy. One girl. No, they aren’t siblings, they never been married, haven’t even messed around. THE GREAT: “Stop, I’m Already Dead” – An interesting song that […]

Artist: Train Title: For Me, It’s You Label: Columbia Rating: 6.5/10 FILE UNDER: Train tries to muster up past glory. CORPORATE LINE: “The ‘you’ changes in every song,” says Train vocalist/songwriter Pat Monahan regarding the sources of inspiration on the band’s new studio album For Me, It’s You, “In the title song, ‘For Me, It’s […]