"The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd

This is what Wikipedia writes about Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon": ... is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released in March 1973, the concept built on the ideas that the band had explored in their live shows and previous recordings. (...)

"The Dark Side of the Moon" was an immediate success, topping the Billboard 200 for one week. It subsequently remained on the charts for 741 weeks (fourteen years), the longest duration of any album in history. With an estimated 45 million units sold, it is Pink Floyd's most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide.
It spawned two singles, "Money" and "Us and Them".

This week, scientists discovered water on the moon. A bit strange though...
But if there's water, there might be fish. And if there are fish, some might be sharks.
Time to re-title the bestselling album by Pink Floyd.

"The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd

"Ask" by Golias

I will probably never know if this Finnish band wanted to referr to Goliath, with their name.

But that's not important. Their second album "Ask" is once again an impressive album. It's one of those typical autumn albums: a bit melancholic, dramatic and with a bit of tristesse.
A lot of violins and soundscapes bring a recognizable mood and make that the entire album feels like one ongoing mood. There are only six songs on the CD but "Ask" sounds like a solid entity. Let it come over you...

"Ask" by Golias

"Cellar door" by Your Superiors

Your Superiors play the kind music Nirvana used to play. In the passed years they were overtaken by bands like The Foo Fighters, The Goo Goo Dolls, and nowadays by Kings of Leon. I'm afraid Your Superiors will always stay in the second league of rock. But that doesn't mean they don't play nice music.
"Cellar door" is their sixth album, and opens very strong with the first single "Lisa likes me for that". When they come over for a promo tour they will without any doubt sell out a lot of big arenas.

"Cellar door" by Your Superiors

"Toiling upward in the night" by Dorothy Marion Campbell

"Toiling upward in the night" by Dorothy Marion Campbell seems to be a nice and sophisticated album. But don't be misled by her gorgious looks and her sweet voice. Campbell has a rude way of saying things and has been banned several times from British radio. Although she talks and behaves well, her lyrics are full of sarcasm and poison.
I wonder what's eating this very talented singer? The fact that there is such a gap between what she does and what she says is a good reason to give this album a closer look.

"Toiling upward in the night" by Dorothy Marion Campbell

"Things that can happen to a man" by Marlon Aguirre

The mix Marlon Aguirre makes is a strange one. On one hand he sounds very eighties and is moving in the direction of The Style Council and Sade. On the other hand he wants to be the new Jazzanova, but sounds like Michael Buble. Although I have to admit that his first album "Things that can happen to a man" sounds very stylish. He uses a lot of electronica and even more guest vocalists, but he treats jazz with respect. He only needs to make up his mind whether he wants to be the next Harry Connick, the next Dimitri from Paris, or the one and only Marlon Aguirre...

"Things that can happen to a man" by Marlon Aguirre

"The termites of relationships" by Roussoellopsis

Chosing a name like "Roussoellopsis" is commercial suicide, I would think. And as I expected, this band never managed to get any commercial success. But that can be because they made the wrong music in the wrong era. In the mid-seventies they made symphonic rock where all bands drove safety pins through their ears and played punk rock. Roussoellopsi was exactly that kind of band that punks hated.
But nowadays there seems to be a symphonic rock revival and the record company re-released"The termites of relationships". I wonder what will happen now to this music, because the band split up more than 15 years ago. None of the members is working in the music business anymore...

"The termites of relationships" by Roussoellopsis

"His life by conscious endeavor" by James Pryde

Where most DJ's make the mistake to release an album of their own, James Pryde waited for years. Most DJ's think they're composers who know how to write a song. Bummer. Most of them only know how to play a record (and sometimes not even that!).
James Pryde however learned from listening. On his debut album "His life by conscious endeavor" he proves he knows how to make a convincing dance tracks. A bit of variation wouldn't hurt though. But these songs are cetainly going to get a crowd dancing. None of the songs are under 8 minutes and make the album quiet a long one (117 minutes) but please listen to it to the end. It's worth it.

"His life by conscious endeavor" by James Pryde

"More men than Neptune" by Hazel Crest

She started as a backing singer in a bluesrock band, but wanted do do her own thing. She attended singing and dancing classes and finally she released her first album "More men than Neptune". It's a collection of Broadway tunes and jazz standards. But where mediocre singers stick to the (too) often covered classics Hazel Crest made a very extraordinary choice. She treats the songs in her typical way and makes the songs her own.
This is a fabulous debut of a very talented singer.

Get that album now!

"More men than Neptune" by Hazel Crest

"Come back from it" by Central Wings

Claire Wings made several pop singles but only two of them got into the charts. After the success of "Army of three" and "That house" miss Wings decided to change her name and her style, and her first album
"Come back from it" is no longer poppy.
Wings changed to a danceable kind of punk rock. The only problem is: so many young and attractive singers have done this before her. This album isn't bad -not at all- but it's a bit as if she recycled the best tunes by Avril Lavigne and Pink. And she doesn't want you to call her music "pop music".
Get real Claire.

"Come back from it" by Central Wings

"The world owes you nothing" by Amber Air

Amber Air is a British folk band from the south of Kent, with a traditional repertoire. You might compare them with Steeleye Span or even Renaissance. Their debut album "The world owes you nothing" is not spectacular or original, but doesn't disappoint either. This album brings nothing new, but is a solid (and a bit predictable) album for fans of seventies folk. Nothing more, nothing less.

"The world owes you nothing" by Amber Air

"Ultimate Expression" by Galusha Anderson

Galusha Anderson used to have a band called "Expression", but they never got to get an record deal. So he changed his style, his attitude and his band. Now he sings friendly popsongs, but with a certain bite.
This is not the regular music for young girls. It's more of an adult approach of being young. Think Robbie Williams, think George Michael, or even Rod Stewart, when they were young.

They too knew how to write a good pop song.

"Ultimate Expression" by Galusha Anderson

"Origin of symmetry" by Muse

This is what Wikipedia writes about "Origin of symmetry": ... is the second studio album by English alternative rock band Muse, released on 17 June 2001. ( ... ) Origin of Symmetry was produced by David Bottrill, John Leckie (who previously worked on the band's first album, Showbiz) and the band themselves. In the UK it reached #3 and was certified platinum. The title for the album comes from a concept put forward by Michio Kaku in his book Hyperspace.
The album is seen as a departure from the alternative rock sound of Showbiz, as the band experimented instrumentally throughout the album. Matthew Bellamy used a pipe organ on "Megalomania". Due to the requirement of a pipe organ, this song is rarely played live by Muse...
Nestlé tried to use the song "Feeling Good" in a coffee commercial, though the band refused to give the company permission to do so. After using the song anyway, the band successfully sued Nestlé for £500,000, which the band donated to the charity Oxfam. Fragments of the song "New Born" have been used in an advertisement for Oxfam designed by Tim Burton. The advertisement uses part of the piano intro and the first driving guitar riff...

So Muse seems to have something with food, and maybe even with cutlery, or even gastronomy. So you might see the objects on the original record sleeve as forks...




"Origin of symmetry" by Muse

"The inadequate life" by Balezza

Balezza is an Italian gothic band but with less grunting and more classical instruments. Their singer Sophia Permessa studied on the Academy of Classical Music in Rome, and then moved to New York. But she and her band only got succesfull after recording this album "The inadequate life". It's an impressive showcase of the talent of this band. The first single "All ways" is about to break through worldwide, and holds a wonderful promise for the future.

"The inadequate life" by Balezza

"Good in the first place" by Wootton Basset

There's a lot of angry young girls in the world, and there's a lot of them that are trying to get rid of their anger to sing about it. Wootton Basset is surely one of them. But there's more.
Basset knows how to write a typical song. She has something to tell, in an intelligent way, with an original use of words and within three miutes. Real craftmanship.
"Good in the first place" is a brilliant statement by a young woman with a clear voice and a clear mind. I can't wait for the second album, due to be released in december already.
Get your hands on it.

"Good in the first place" by Wootton Basset

"Those I do understand" by Recca

The career of Recca was a short one. In 1984 they released their album "Those I do understand", but after one world tour and three hitsingles (with "Past age" as a million seller) the band called it a day. With strong drug abuse and constant disagreements a split was inevitable.

But after all this years the record company decided to re-release the album. And it has lost nothing of his original power.

Fans should be glad there's finally a cd release.

"Those I do understand" by Recca

"The Historic Collection" by Neil Young

Neil Young is one of these artists I strongly dislike (and I'm being polite). But somehow he must be interesting enough to take care of. I did a funny makeover by choosing pictures in different styles from Google (if you disapprove, tell me), and by creating a completely different style...
Like, for example, how would a Neil Young cover look like if he played different styles of music - different from the boring, wining what-do-you-call-it he played in the past years?

If he were young in the eighties, and he would've played britpop, his record sleeves could've looked like the first one. But if he were a jazz gitarist his record sleeve might look like the second one. And if he were a kind of a Mark Knopfler in the eigties his CD booklet would contain pink. But if he would know what went on in New York nowadays he might look like the guys from Fleet Foxes (including beard and shabby clothes).

Which one do you prefer?

"Body and soul together" by Carina Tracheae

To emphasize the fact that she makes underground music, Carina Tracheae used a picture of a subway on her album sleeve. I'm sorry to say so, but it's not convincing.

She's too much Lily Allen, too much girlie, too much poppy, too much preppy...

So I'ld say, go home, come back with much more mature album and surprise your audience.

Because all this albums lacks is exactly what is mentioned on the sleeve: body and soul!

"Body and soul together" by Carina Tracheae

"Still Kicking" by Hard Arguments

Ashley Cumbert made a succesfull single when she was only sixteen and scored a national hit in the UK with her "Lady in gold". And then she vanished, it seemed.
But in the last six years she's been writing songs. She made a selection of here huge collection and "Still Kicking" is the delightfull result.
Cumbert formed a band to play her official debut live, and named it Hard Arguments. They sure know how to give a funky feel to these honest and tender songs. Listen to this gems. Highly recommended.

"Still Kicking" by Hard Arguments

"Never give advice unless asked" by Convex Body

Convex Body used to be huge in the eighties. They were masters of sympho rock, but their popularity went downhill in the nineties.
But now - much to my surprise- they're back with this album "Never give advice unless asked". Convex Body hasn't changed. The band members are older of course but the power and the vocal reach are even more inspired then they used to be. For fans, this is good news. Critics though might ask themselves if it weren't better if this British darlings would've have taken their music a step further forwards. And why they didn't...

"Never give advice unless asked" by Convex Body

"Absence of body is better" by Xanten

Xanten is not exactly original. They sound a bit like Blond or Yanni, sometimes they make you think of Vanessa Mae or the Dutch band Flairck. But that doesn't mean they don't make nice music. The violins and other string instruments (some out of a box) sound soothing and romantic.  They might have skipped obvious covers like "Who pays the ferryman" or "Fly me to the moon", but all in all "Absence of body is better" is warm and tender album for a sunny evening a glass of white wine (or more).

"Absence of body is better" by Xanten