Category: Pop Music

Linkin Park – One More Light – Album Review

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Linkin Park goes 180º in direction with ‘One More Light’.  The heaviness from ‘The Hunting Party’ and anything else they have done is thrown out the window.  Instead, Linkin Park goes entirely POP!!  No heavy guitars, very little in the realm of rap and overall full on aggressiveness is gone.

The closest you get to old school Linkin Park is “Good Goodbye (feat. Pusha T & Stormzy)”. This is one of the few songs I do like despite the dumbest lyric in history brought to us by Pusha T…

“Goodbye, good riddance
A period is after every sentence”

Really!!  A period is after every sentence???  That is the best you could come up with to rhyme with good riddance. Suckish!

The first single, “Heavy”, is great, but only because of Kiiara’s voice.  She brings an elegance to the song that is needed. A few other songs I did end up enjoying included “Talking to Myself”, “Invisible” and “Sharp Edges”.  They were catchy even if unoriginal.  The remainder of the album meandered along and was completely forgettable.

‘One More Light’ is not worth your time. I might have liked it if I didn’t know it was Linkin Park.

5 keepers out 10 songs – 50% (2.5 out 5 stars)

#200WordChallenge

Friday New Releases – June 9th

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It is Friday yet again and there are even more albums out and ready for you to go buy, stream or do with it as you will.  Not a lot this week, but one critical one for my kids.  The ones I will check out are highlighted in Blue.  I hope there is something for you.

  • 170x170bb-70  Katy Perry – Witness – (Capitol Records):  After 4 long years since Prism, Katy is back and better than ever…well…maybe not.  She has released 3 singles are ready and I have to say I am not that impressed.  I only like the first one “Chain to the Rhythm”, the rest have been kind of awful (especially “Bon Appetit”).  And I have to mention how awful the album cover looks to me.  Not off to a good start.  I will still give it a try though, but expectations are now pretty low.

  • 51qQOMb6CqL._AC_US160_  Lady Antebellum – Heart Break – (Capitol Nashville):  Lady Antebellum is back after three years and the members doing a little stuff on their own.  They are pure pop country, but I love Charles Kelley’s voice and Hillary Scott’s as well.  Put the two together and wow!!

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Turntables & Vinyl #8 – The CD Edition

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CD Edition??  What the hell???  This is a series about my journey rediscovering Vinyl. Why would I discuss CDs??

Well, let me tell you why.  Before I started re-collecting vinyl, I use to have a pretty extensive CD collection.  After we had kids and the digital age, I burned all my CDs to digital and then started selling them off (made pretty good money on some).  When we moved from Georgia to North Carolina, I gave my neighbor the final box of CDs as I didn’t want to move them and I was going to have no where to store them (I regret that decision to this day).

Lo and behold, one of my neighbors inherited a collection of CDs he had no desire for keeping.  He had a bunch of scratched up, banged up CDs that probably didn’t even work and he was going to try and sell the rest.  I let him try and make a little money on the others (which he was able to sell about 100) and if there was any left, I told him I would be interested in whatever he had left.

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Harry Styles – ‘Harry Styles’ – Album Review

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I wasn’t planning on doing a review of this album until my daughter asked if I was doing a review.  It made me think that maybe she wanted me to do a review, so after numerous listens of the album, here is my review.

Before I listened to the album, I really didn’t know what to expect.  I know what I hoped to hear and that was an album that was nothing like One Direction, his former band.  The Harry Styles solo album needed to show creativity and give us a different look than what we have seen before.  The pressure for him to deliver is huge.  I know I didn’t care for Zayn’s album (although “Pillowtalk” was an amazing song) so I was hoping this didn’t end up giving me a similar feeling.

Gladly, I wasn’t disappointed.  I was actually pleasantly surprised.  Harry delivered an album of very diverse songs yet they seemed to be cohesive at the same time.  Sonically, the album is pure British.  It has a lot of British musical influences and stylings.  I hear the essences of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Arctic Monkeys, Oasis and even Robbie Williams.  And looking at the songwriting credits, I see Harry has his hand in all the songs which is a good thing…just how much of the writing he did is unknown.

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Friday New Releases – June 2nd

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Can you believe we are already in to June???  Crazy!  And it has already gotten crazy hot here in Charlotte…and it isn’t even Summer yet (officially).  At least there are some Hot New Releases to keep you COOL!!!  There are only a handful I am looking to grab and they are highlighted in Blue.  I hope there is something that you are interested in getting.

  • 170x170bb (85)  U2 – The Joshua Tree (Deluxe) – (Island Records):  I can not believe it has been 30 years since this album was originally released. I was a senior in High School and this album was huge.  It is one of the world’s best selling albums.  U2 is commemorating the 30th anniversary with a new Deluxe Edition and a World Tour celebrating this album.  Who can forget all those great songs “Where The Streets Have No Name” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, “Bullet The Blue Sky” and “With Or With Out You”.  There is a 2CD Deluxe Edition which includes a live album of the Joshua Tree Tour and a SUPER DELUXE Edition which is a 4 CD set and includes 2 additional discs or remixes and rare songs from that time.  I definitely will be checking this out.

  • 81XAcRTPPLL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_  Adrenaline Mob – We the People – (Century Media):  Russell Allen (Symphony X) and Mike Orlando are back with their 3rd full length release.  The first two were great metal albums and I am not expecting anything less than spectacular with this one.  Climb aboard and check out the rush that comes with listening to these guys.

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“My First Time” with Journey’s ‘Frontiers’

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Love It or Hate It, Journey went down a whole new path with the release of ‘Frontiers’. After the incredible success of the album, ‘Escape’, the ballad became King for Journey. Some feel it was the start of the downfall, others think it is the pinnacle of their success. I think it is a little of both.

With the success of ‘Escape’, Journey was catapulted into the stratosphere of popularity. They were one of the biggest bands in the world.  Steve Perry had the most recognizable voices on the radio and probably one of the absolute best voices on the radio at the time…if not ever.  The man could sing.  But for some reason I still hadn’t bought a Journey album.  When I heard their second single of their latest album, ‘Frontiers’, I finally bought my first Journey album.  The single was for “Faithfully”.

There is so much to love about this album and there is so much to pick on the band for about this album.  Let’s start with the picking on piece first as it is the most fun.  Oh, where to begin…

Let’s start with the album cover…I picture of a futuristic, robotic looking head or maybe a futuristic, human head.  Not sure I get it, but I know it has to do with the name of the album, ‘Frontiers’ as I think the band was saying they were reaching into a new frontier. The amazing artwork from the previous albums was no more.  The whole continuity between all the other album covers was gone…and is sadly missed.

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David Bowie – Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles ’74) – #RSD

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One of my main goals on Record Store Day on April 22nd was to obtain a copy of the David Bowie album ‘Cracked Actor’.  Thankfully, I succeeded.  It fast became one of my favorite LPs I have in my ever growing collection.

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The year was 1974, David Bowie was king and touring supporting the Diamond Dog album. The album was recorded live at Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles on September 5th, 1974.  The Theatre only sat around 5,000 so it was a nice intimate setting and quite small to what David was able to fill later in his career.

Let’s first talk about the packaging of the record.  It is a very nice, high quality, high glossed album cover.  So high glossed, I couldn’t avoid being seen in the cover as I was taking pictures.  I tried so many angles.

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Friday New Releases – May 19th

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Another Friday has arrived and as school starts to wind down for some and Summer is coming, there are a bunch of new albums for you to choose from.  Anything strike your fancy???  There are a few for me and they are highlighted in Blue.  There are more I want to hear, but these three are the ones I will attack first. Enjoy!

  • 170x170bb-34  Linkin Park – One More Light – (Warner Bros):  Their new song “Heavy” is doing well on the charts and features Kilara.  My kids love this song and it doesn’t sound like the Linkin Park of old.  I am interested in seeing what the rest has to offer.  I haven’t been thrilled with their current releases and hoping for some return to greatness with this one.

  • 170x170bb-2  Papa Roach – Crooked Teeth – (Eleven Seven Music):  Big fan of Papa Roach and so glad they are back with some more hard rock.  The Deluxe Edition of this gives you a live concert from The Fillmore in Detroit.  That means the Deluxe is a must grab for me.

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Everywhere – “Man Up” feat. Rebecca Nohr

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Everywhere is back with a brand new single called “Man Up”.  If you remember from last year, I featured their fabulous E.P., Fiction Act, which you can check out by clicking on the album name.

The song is a high energy pop song with a heavy European, electronic sound that makes you want to get out of your chair and hit the dance floor.  The song features the lovely voice of Swedish singer and songwriter, Rebecca Nohr.  She adds a new flavor to their sound and she nicely compliments Max Berga’s vocals.  As discussed below, the song “Man Up” is about just that…being a Man and how hard it is to live up to that standard with what life throws at you.

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Friday New Releases – May 12th

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Happy Friday!!  Quite a few I am interested to listen to this week.  Not sure how much merit they have, but I still want to give a listen.  There is a little something for everyone as there is rock, country, pop, hip hop and even a TV show soundtrack.  I hope there is something for you.  I have quite a few I want to at least give one listen to just to try it out and those will be highlighted in Blue, as usual.

  • 51atuZsoUGL._AC_US218_  Harem Scarem – United – (Frontiers Records Srl):  This Toronto, Canada band is out with yet another release just three years after their last one.  I believe this is number 14 or 15, I have lost count they have so many.  Down here in the U.S., they are not a household name mainly because they came out as this type of music was killed off by Grunge.  If you haven’t heard of them, check them out as I am sure they have something you will like.  I only discovered them about 10+ years ago and I am so glad I did.  I now have every album and even some rarer ones.  I can’t wait for this one and haven’t heard any song yet as I want to hear it all at once.  They video below is posted without me even viewing it first.

  • 170x170bb-99  Zac Brown Band – Welcome Home – (Elektra Records):  I am not a huge country fan and find myself criticizing a lot of the current country cowboys that are there as they are are too polished and songs are pure and utter crap.  Zac Brown is so not that for me.  He is what I do like about country.  I am eager to hear this one.

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