My thanks, as always, to Rdio so that I can listen to these albums in their entirety and unlimited. It's the best $5 I spend per month.
All grades subject to change!
Music:
1) Nothing More "Nothing More": They are the opening act on the Shinedown/ Breaking Benjamin co-headlining tour. I'll be rocking out with all three bands Friday and three beautiful ladies October 30th. Through several listens I quite like it. It's much better than the Bring Me The Horizon CD reviewed further down this blog. I like the song "Mr. MTV" and it's reference to "bow down before our corporate fathers". Boy, how do I relate to that statement! Not exactly ground breaking, but there are certainly several good songs here. Not ground breaking, but also not the same song over and over again with only a few tweaks. Highlights include "Mr. MTV", "This Is The Time (Ballast)", "The Matthew Effect" and "Jenny". This CD is so much better than I thought it would be. Nothing More I definitely want more! Grade: B
2) Foals "What Went Down": I read about this in a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, they gave it an A- grade, which I completely disagree with. Honestly after their ecstatic review I was let down by this CD. I listened to it one more time before I give it a final grade though. Final grade: C-
3) New Order's "Music Complete": This CD is highlighted by songs such as "Restless", "Singularity", "Plastic" and "Tutti Fruitti". A bunch of bright, bouncy Europop. However none of the songs break out of their similar sounding dance pop. Not a bad CD, but with a bit more work it could have been a great CD. Grade: C+
4) The Bohicas "The Making Of": Out of all 13 CDs reviewed on this blog, this is my second favorite CD. A great CD, a great up and coming band and a band I expect big things from in the future. The best songs on this CD include "I Do It For Your Love", "Swarm", the very dance worthy "Where You At" and "Somehow You Know What I Mean". Grade: B+
5) Avicii's "Stories": After the joyous "True", this CD arrives with big expectations. Sadly some of these "Stories" are less than good. "Stories" revealed more layers as I continued listening to it. I like "Broken Arrows", "Waiting For Love" and "Touch Me". I want to listen to it a couple more times before I give it a final grade. Grade: B-
6) Duran Duran's "Paper Gods" (Deluxe Edition) "Pressure Off" is one of the best, danceable and most fun songs of the last several years. Duran Duran still retains their classic sound, which is a compliment, as well as adding new ingredients to their sound. It makes for a great musical stew. It doesn't hold up as well as I expected it would over a few listens. However still a solid CD, Grade: B-.
7) Shinedown's "Threat To Survival": Just an amazing CD from the opening note through the final note. Of the 11 songs on this CD, 9 of them are amazing. I'm so excited to see them in concert in a couple of weeks. Again with so many great songs on this CD, it's hard to pick out the best of it's best songs. But of course I'm going to try. The best of the best songs are "Oblivion", "Black Cadillac", "It All Adds Up", "Cut The Cord" and "Asking For It". Grade: A+
8) Jana Kramer's "thirty one": I just wanna say I love Jana Kramer. Not only is she drop dead gorgeous, but also a great singer and she has a bunch of great songs. Her self-titled debut CD is fantastic, "King of Apology" is still on my iPod. Highlights on this CD include "Pop That Bottle", "Don't Touch My Radio" and "Said No One Ever". Grade: B-
9) Bring Me The Horizon's "That's The Spirit": Very generic rap-rock music. This CD has some interesting moments, but few and far between. I do like the song "What You Need", but don't like the unnecessary swearing in that song. Although that's one of the best songs on the CD, it's stooping to the lowest common denominator. Grade: D
10) Superhumanoid's "Do You Feel Okay?": For such a lighthearted band it seems the song titled "Norwegian Black Metal" would be a whole lot more fun. Grade: D
11) Blondie's "Real Real Blondie" (Live) Although this CD has some highlights, including "Denis", "Maria" and "Hanging On The Telephone", it has too many lowlights to get a higher grade. I get it singing the same song over and over and over again could get boring. The performances of "Atomic" and "The Tide Is High" reflect that and are less than inspiring. I also didn't like how "Heart of Glass" was packaged as an add on song. That's a shame for what quite likely is their best song. Grade: C+
12) In This Moment's "Black Widow": This band is obviously highlighted by the shredding vocals of Maria Brink. It's a very solid CD, which is highlighted by "Sex Metal Barbie", "Dirty Pretty" and the title song "Black Widow" ("the male spider is not considered to be dangerous"). "Black Widow" is highlighted by Brink's shredding vocals. "Sexual Hallucination" is the joining together of two titanic vocalists in Brink and Shinedown's own Brent Smith. Other great songs on "Black Widow" include "Sick Like Me", "Bloody Creature Poster Girl", "Bones" and "Natural Born Sinner". Grade: B+
The other members at this time in In This Moment are: Chris Howorth, Randy Weitzel, Travis Johnson and Tom Hane. Brink and Howorth have been there since the band formed in 2005
13) Iron Maiden's "Book of Souls": Wow, a lot of long songs. Iron Maiden definitely wanted to fill up more than one CD with these songs. Eleven songs, two CDs, ninety-two minutes of music. So how is it? Well if you're going to have that much music, it better all be solid. But so many songs go on and on for no reason that I can discern. Feels like paint by the numbers Iron Maiden. While the singing and musicianship are good, there's no outstanding song on this CD. Iron Maiden you can do so much better. Grade: C
14) Breaking Benjamin's "Dark Before Dawn". It only seems fair to review their latest CD as I reviewed the latest CDs of the two bands they'll be playing with Friday night in West Valley! This is a great CD, featuring such excellent songs as "Angels Fall", "Bury Me Alive", "The Great Divide" and "Close To Heaven". Grade: B-
themusicaddict
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