quote:

Originally posted by Fanboy:
I figured this would happen. There are people that have never posted a review in this thread ever, then all of a sudden their favorite artists puts out an album, and they write a review just to give it a high score, and then they never write another review again.

So, so true!

You can listen to the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack here through Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Ne...T#p/u/11/2lml1h7NQEU

Featuring Thom Yorke, The Killers, Death Cab for Cutie, Muse, Bon Iver, Grizzly Beear, Lykke Li, and more...

Timbaland f/ ShoShy- Morning After Dark (single)

I just listened to the new Timbaland single, "Morning After Dark" f/ ShoShy, and I'd give it a 6 out of 10. Typical Timbo track, with serviceable production, but it's pretty bland, radio-friendly hip-hop. Only the great production at the end of the song really kicks it up the tiniest of notches.

Score- 60

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Rihanna- Russian Roulette (single)

Wow, a much darker sound for Rihanna. The lyrics, the dark base groove, the background gun effects, all add up to a very different direction for Rihanna. This is not 'Good Girl Gone Bad'. Her voice is in fine form here, and the writing (by Ne-Yo), is excellent. Overall, I was quite surprised by this, as it does not sound like a typical first single to launch a new album. But hey. neither was Coldplay's 'Violet Hill', but they pulled it off.

Score- 80

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tye-Grr,

Shakira f/ Timbaland and Lil Wayne- Give It Up To Me (single)

For fans who thought Shakira sold out long ago, they haven't heard nothing yet! This sounds very Timbaland circa Nelly Furtado's 'Loose', but I mean that in a good way. She really goes "sexy" full throttle, breathing heavy all over the place, and cooing some of her lines, but her voice can never be anything but Shakira. Lil Wayne honestly adds very little to the track, but none-the-less, this second single will be very radio-friendly. It's a grower, in that, I can't get it outta my head kinda way!

Score- 75

Miranda Lambert, "Revolution"
Man I love this woman. It's so hard to put a finger on why she works so well. Her songs don't have the strongest melodies around...but there's just such a raw authenticity about her. I feel like she just went into the studio and just played these songs in one take. There's such a roughness to these songs and I love it. I'm already lovin this album and I totally expect this to be a slow burn album too. "Maintain The Pain" is freakin AWESOME and the best track on the album, but "Me & Your Cigarettes" is a sure-fire hit single.
87

Michael Buble, "Crazy Love"
Wow, this is good. This guy gets better with every album. He still pleases the old-timers with a couple carbon copy covers of "Georgia On My Mind" (so could have been on his first boring album) and "You're Nobody Till Somebody Love You". There's nothing wrong with them. It's just so safe...but I understand why he can't completely jump off the track. Other than that, this is a FANTASTIC album. This deserves to be an AOTY contender next year.
83

Snow Patrol, "Just Say Yes"
Great track from a great band. It grabs a little electronic influence and it totally works.
85

COLOUR ME FREE (2009) - Joss Stone

First, the bad...I really wish Stone would hook up with some great songwriters and producers. She should be a bigger success in the U.S., but she isn't because she's incapable of writing hits. Also, Stone needs to stay away from forgettable, cliched R&B sludge like filler track "You Got the Love."

Now the good...Stone's voice is in fine form throughout this album. Check out album closer "Girlfriend On Demand" for proof. Lead single "Free Me" is rousing and grooving; the funky, groovy production on tracks like "Parallel Lines" and "Governmentalist" (f/Nas) is pretty hot; the midtempo numbers like "Lady" are solid as well. Nothing groundbreaking or new here, but this is worth picking up.

MY GRADE: 76

Where The Wild Things Are (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Karen O and the Kids
Release date: 29 September 2009

I felt compelled to write a review on this CD. Who would've guessed that Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs would fit this soundtrack so well. Her voice so perfectly embodies innocence and mischief. Instrumental arrangements are raw, organic, rich and so... wild. Listening to this CD gives a sense of freedom and pure bittersweet delight.

"All Is Love" is simply heartwarming and don't say I didn't warn you. If you listen to it just at the right time, you'd be waving hands in the air, jumping tirelessly like some mad person singing, "All is love, is love, is love...".

However, the shiniest gem of all the songs is "Worried Shoes", a remake by Karen O that is soothing, melancholic and dreamy. "Igloo" deserves a mention too, despite being made up of sounds and hardly any lyrics.

Sure, this CD has its downs, but its ups are just so darn good.

Grade: 83

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DruidWL,

I want to post reviews for the latest albums by the following artists, but damn life keeps getting in the way...

(500) Days of Summer sndtk.
The Dead Weather
Regina Spektor
Karen O and the Kids
The Noisettes
Tegan and Sara

All are pretty good, to great. Just got the Tegan and Sara cd, and it's pretty awesome.

Wale - Attention Deficit

Solid album. Hate the LP version of "Chillin."

Tracks to listen to: "90210," "Mama Told Me," "Pretty Girls," "World Tour," "Shades," and "Beautiful Bliss."

GRADE: 73

I should start using this thread more, I'll be reviewing singles since I don't really buy that many albums. All this time I was thinking this thread was just for albums.

Joss Stone - Colour Me Free
Once again, Joss still can't make it work. She's got all the elements to be a great artist, but she just can't pull the material together. Her last album was the closest she got, but this album regresses. It doesn't help that Joss is no longer the only game in town for this style of music. Since her debut, we've had people like Amy Winehouse, Duffy, and Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, come along...and do it better than Joss.
Standout tracks here are the single "Free Me", "Big Ol Game", and "4 and 20".
61


Carrie Underwood - Play On
Another decent, but ho-hum album from Underwood. She ROCKETED out of the gate with "Cowboy Casanova", her best single ever. It's got a great rock edge that brings Carrie out of her comfort zone a little.
I was hopeful the rest of the album would be in the same vein...but no.

Listening to this album, I tried to figure out why Carrie can't reach the artistic levels of say Sugarland or Miranda Lambert...and I think it's because everything is so glossed over with Carrie's music. There's nothing raw. There's no song where Carrie gets in it and comes out the other side of it. I feel like Carrie just kinda stays on the surface with all her tracks and never goes anywhere interesting. She's got a great voice, but she's not a great vocalist.
There's perfectly fine songs here like "Undo It", "Someday When I Stop Loving You", "Songs Like This", "What Can I Say"...but there's nothing that gets me excited about the album outside "Cowboy Casanova".
74

Amerie - In Love & War

One thing that I’ve always admired about Amerie is that she appears to have a pretty decent ear for melodies and making tracks that are incredibly alluring in that regard. They just sound pretty. And as is typical with any Amerie album, the melodies are the strong point here.

First off, Amerie’s voice has often been criticized in the past for its lack of depth/range and pitchiness. However, that would just be a testament to her lack of consistency as a vocalist; not a lack of talent. When Amerie has an off day, her voice can be rambunctious and completely all over the place. But when she is on, she IS on. And on this album, she is on a lot more than she is off.

For those of you who love a great variety in artistic expression, this is an album for you. Not only has Amerie retained her signature sound on tracks like “Heard Em All”, “Why R U”, “More Than Love”, “Tell Me You Love Me” and “Pretty Brown” with the hip hop samples, excessive guitar sounds, and heavy drums, she also manages to delve into a little rock/pop on tracks like “Dangerous” and “Higher”, pushing her boundaries as an artist, while succeeding simultaneously.

The more slowed down, sultry tracks on the album, “Red Eye”, “Dear John”, “Different People” and “The Flowers” all have her subtle, but still maintaining that percussive, gritty, “take-no-prisoners” type attitude that has become synonymous with the name Amerie.

The only truly subpar song on the album is “Swag Back”. Not because it isn’t good, but it’s just not Amerie-standard good. It sounds like something Rihanna would sing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; however, I’d just rather leave the juvenile songs for the juvenile singers.

It's a shame that Amerie's career hasn't taken off. She's arguably the most consistent female R&B artist of the decade, in terms of releasing quality material.

94

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Be,

PLAY ON
Carrie Underwood
Release date: 3 November 2009

Finally listened to this album a few times. This CD is by no means groundbreaking, but having said that I'd also say that PLAY ON is one of the better country albums released during this period (2009/2010). I think country music consumers may have been spoilt by INSTANT "catchiness" and "hooks", which could be this album's downfall. The 13 tracks are not IMMEDIATELY memorable and upon first listen, may seem like another bunch of songs. Not true.

You won't be pushing the skip button throughout the CD. But you also won't quite be swept off your feet. The honky-tonk tunes sound like you've heard them before while the ballads need that little bit more to REALLY SOAR. Perhaps the producers were going for more expression, more message, more emotion. The thing that keeps everything one notch above other country releases is Underwood's vocals - her light and shade, her restraint and control, and the sheer electrifying power of her voice when she lets it rip.

Gems: "Temporary Home", "Cowboy Casanova", "Mama's Song", "What Can I Say" (beautiful duet) and "Look At Me" (Vince Gill's background vocals blend perfectly).

PLAY ON, as a country album, has it all - country instruments, hit singles, towering voice - and yet, I appreciate why some people deem that it lacks tasteful and original experimentation. I'd still say, "Good effort, Carrie Underwood. But for album #4, do something different. Try an accoustic one (ala Dixie Chicks on HOME) or change your style radically and stun us with a RAISING SAND."

PLAY ON doesn't disappoint. It's at the forefront of country music, but not revolutionary. I'll still be spinning it many times.

Grade: 93

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BATTLE STUDIES, John Mayer

I'll keep this brief...this album is LOUSY! The majority of the tracks are boring and forgettable. The production is uninteresting, the vocals are dull and it feels as if Mayer hasn't evolved as an artist at all. I only (sort of) like THREE tracks: "Heartbreak Warefare," "Assassin" and "Do You Know Me." I don't care for the first single, "Who Says" and the heavily hyped Taylor Swift duet ("Half of My Heart") falls flat. What a major disappointment.

MY SCORE: 47

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DoubleD,

Leona Lewis - Echo

Her vocals are excellent throughout as one would expect. She definitely changed it up with this new album and added more uptempo tracks which a lot of people criticized her in the past of lacking such tracks. "Outta My Head", a crazy uptempo track produced by Max Martin is just in the backrooms waiting to explode and become a huge hit. "Broken" is another standout track, with probably the best vocal deliverance of any Leona Lewis studio recorded track. I think it could be as big as "Bleeding Love". "Can't Breathe" is another big standout both vocally and the R&B style production given by Harvery Mason Jr. It reminds me of a Mariah track and something Mariah would have killed for to have on her latest album. "I Got You" is another Max Martin produced track and the chorus is insanely catchy. "Brave" & "My Hands" also has epic vocals. Overall, "Echo" is a vast improvement over her debut "Spirit" and Leona's vocals are one of the best in the game at the moment. This album has a couple hiccups in light of these amazing standout tracks. "Don't Let Me Down" actually let me down, it's underwhelming and I'm still dumbfounded why they decided to release "Happy" as the lead single when it's one of the weaker tracks on the album. It's a nice song but would only work as an album only track. Pretty dumb move by Leona and her label, her first week sales are going to suffer because of that. Anyways, I'm very pleased with this album and find it quite enjoyable and absolutely love her vocals throughout.

Grade: 85

This message has been edited. Last edited by: torontophenom,

Leona Lewis - Echo
Sorry, torontophenom, EW is pretty bang-on in their review. The constant big ballads are absolutely exhausting. This is a step-up from "Spirit", but that's not saying much. Each song is half-decent on its own, but put them all together and it becomes extremely repetitive and boring.
Lewis has a great voice, but her music is just so boring...and other pop artists are bringing it BIG-TIME right now, and Leona is simply gonna be lost in the shuffle.
The standout tracks are "I Got You", "Brave", "Don't Let Me Down" and "Lost & Found" (which sounds remarkably like the same drum beat as "Halo" and "Already Gone", Ryan Tedder).
62

There's no need to say sorry to me..lol

ECHO (2009) - Leona Lewis

This album is HORRIBLE! We've heard this crap a million times before. I'll admit the production and vocals on a few of the tracks---namely "I Got You" and the overlong album closer "Lost Then Found"---are semi-interesting, but everything else here is bland and forgettable. Soggy, cliched ballads like "Broken" should've been scrapped from this album and the endless string of heartbreak songs ("Outta My Head," "Happy," "Can't Breathe," etc.) are just overwhelming. This is truly one of the worst albums of the year and it will deservingly flop. It's a shame, too, because this girl really has a great voice, but her material is just terrible. I wasn't a fan of her first effort, but this one is even worse.

MY SCORE: 29

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DoubleD,

Rated R (2009) - Rihanna

Well that was...disappointing. I love the dark direction of her new material, but there are too many lousy, forgettable songs on this album. What's with all the slow songs? "Russian Roulette?" "The Last Song?" "G4L?" "Te Amo?" "Stupid In Love?" Rihanna's vocals are pretty unremarkable as it is and when you pair them with mediocre ballads....well the results are horribly underwhelming. There's some good stuff on here, though. I've already expressed my like of "Wait Your Turn" ("I'm such a f*ckin lady!" ) and Rihanna possesses a certain swag on tracks like "Rockstar 101" and even "Hard" (which underwhelmed me at first). And "Photographs" is the one ballad on the album that's pretty good. But overall, there's just too much filler on this album and I have a feeling this album may not go over well with her fans.

MY SCORE: 60