It's 6th January and I'm going to play this one last time before I put the Christmas decorations away. Have played this again and again all through the holidays since it arrived.
It is perfect Christmas music, I think, even/especially if your have mixed feelings about the "festive season". The traditional carols are done in his kind of weird, jangly, sincere-but-cool, home-made kind of way (esp on the earlier cds), just beautiful. But nothing at all like carols sung by soaring-voices-of choristers, far from it!
The light hearted stuff is catchy and fun, but not in a tacky commercial way so you can surrender to the silliness of the season without feeling you're selling out, if you know what I mean.
I have two favourite tracks, ... Read More:
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this one not half as good as their old albums
if you're someone who hasnt heard of their early work such as dookie, nimrod and all that and who's into emo/"rock" then go ahead and buy it
if not go and buy something alse
try "the holy bible"
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This band are awesome.
it's got to be the best debut album i've heard since kings of leon about 5 years ago.
it doesn't sound like them though, much more experimental/innovative.
they manage to mix the experimental and the accesible to perfect affect.
it's a total winner.
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I've know about Ray for some time and couldn't wait to get my hands on the album. His voice is like something from a distant past of actual singer songwriters. He couldn't be more pained in some of his songs if someone had actually stabbed him with the steely shard that is love. This is a MUST have album that transacends any other artist around today. He's little known and let's keep it that way, God forbid that Radio 1 give him a rave review! Simply astounding.
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The 'Dylan Phase' refers to a statement a friend once made in regards to Bob Dylan's 1965-1967 phase, when everything he released, wheather on any of his albums or bootleg recordings, seemed to resonate with such greatness and importance as to reduce everything else to a mere substitute.
This is how I now feel Okkervil River are currently enjoying. With each release they seem to edge closer to a greatness that many aspire to but rarely claim. 'The Stage Names' was one of 2007's best records and this album just proves the vast amount of songwriting and playing talent that the band were creating around the time.
Songs such as 'Lost Coastline' and 'Bruce Wayne Campbell.......' would have perfectly slotted onto the parent album, but at the same ... Read More:
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This is a great album if you like rock mixed with rap. The songs are very political which I believe is a good thing for America, which is who I believe is the target audience.
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Wow! Who are these guys?! They seem to have taken everything great from the last four decades of pop, whizzed it up and turned out something totally, thrillingly original. I hope they'll be huge, because this is the best new thing I've heard in ages.
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Richard Ashcroft has never been one to undersell his own brilliance - his solo career may have been weak, and the first two Verve albums excellent, but on Urban Hymns the hype finally justified the mouth. Just as the Britpop bubble was about to burst, the Verve reformed for one last album, to sign off at their peak (although, obviously, they have since reformed again).
Urban Hymns is the distillation of everything great about the Verve, but with an extra poppy edge. The band generally reign in their psychedelic jams of the previous two albums, with notable exceptions being the fantastic 'Rolling People' and even better 'Catching The Butterfly.' The big singles are all here, from 'Lucky Man' to 'The Drugs Don't Work' right up to the world-conquering 'Bittersweet ... Read More:
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never been a fan of 'covers' records.. but i really rate this one.
firstly the choice of songs.. apart from a few i have never heard of the artists let alone the actual songs... some really great songs from the 60's (Vashti Bunyan,Linda Perhacs),70's (Gentle Soul, Philamore Lincoln?) and more recent (Jesus & Mary Chain,I am Kloot) plus Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Daniel Johnston..
the album as a whole feels like a real album by a real band.. the musicianship is solid and beautifully played.. the singer is Alela Diane.. what a voice -i know her Pirates Gospel album.. but she uses her voice so differently here..especially on the closing 'See my Love' where she hits falsetto after falsetto.. breathtaking!
the production is faultless.
it's a real ... Read More:
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