My Music Critiques

The Top 10 Songs of 2011

2011-12-30T14:24:00.002-05:00

Being that this is my own personalized list, I will be spanning many genres of music, from pop music to metal. Anyways, here goes nothing:

10. "Party Rock Anthem ft. Lauren Bennet, Goon Rock" by LMFAO.

Nobody is a stranger to this song for the simple reason people either find it uplifting or incredibly amusing. Even people who hate pop music can get a smile out of this silly anthem. Indeed, for a while we all WERE shuffling everyday to this track for it's catchy and enjoyable beat.

9. "Rain Dance Maggie" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Though I called this song repetitive in my review of "I'm With You" by RHCP, the track has grown on me in the following months. Some fans really disliked this song, but I think it has a nice steady groove to it and a very fun chorus. I'm just happy to see RHCP re-united and is still making quality music.

8. "Take Care Ft. Rihanna" by Drake

Though not my favorite song by him, it is nice to hear Drake taking a break from that really weird throaty rapping he has become known for and giving us another song where he sings showing us the true talent of his vocal technique. Even Rihanna sounds different than usual not being all that throaty her self. It is also a nice break to hear a serious song aside form all of the thousands of party songs that have come out in the last three years.

7. "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars

This year's summer was incredibly long for me as I worked two jobs one being in Salem, and another in Marlboro. I stayed most of that time in Watertown which is more or less between the two. It sucks not having a car and traveling five hours on the MBTA everyday. Don't give me that "first world problems" crap because if something bothers someone then it will bother someone, regardless of how the rest of the world has starving people and how their countries don't try to help them. We need to help ourselves before we help others. At any rate, I enjoy this song because it reminds me of how I just like to have some days to do absolutely nothing, and it a much more spirited take on most Jason Mraz style songs. lol

6. "Lighters ft. Bruno Mars" by Bad Meets Evil

I am on and off fan of Eminem, so I can't comment on the depth of all of his emotional struggles. What I do know is that Bruno Mars sounds fantastic singing, Eminem is rapping from the heart telling his haters to f**k off, and Royce DA 5'9" is showing he cares about Eminem as a good friend. The song is much more melodic than a lot of other rap songs out right now and I like it for that reason. And for lack of a better term, I think it has a very beautiful sound to it.

5. "Someone Like You" by Adele

A fresh escape form all of the other break up songs ever made that say "you left me, now I hope you die." This particular song sounds best when done live, and it shows in Adele's heart filled mezzo soprano voice. It also represents moving on to more adult things like wishing you ex well 40 years later. This is a moving and refreshing piece to say the least. Also, here is my wish to hope Adele recovers from her throat surgery and starts touring soon. :)

4. "The Pride" by Five Finger Death Punch

With explosive energy and anger Modern Thrashers Five Finger Death Punch demonstrate to everyone that thrash metal is alive and well, even if it hasn't made it into the top charts for quite a while now. I think the lyrics mean someone who is willing to give their all to fight for what they believe in, particularly when things are so down with political divide in Washington and a massive recession. This song is my second favorite off of the album "American Capitalist" with "Generation Dead" being my first favorite.

3. "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele

With intense emotion and one hell of a drum beat Adele is telling her ex-lover that she doesn't need him, and it is quite empowering for anyone who has just gotten out of a bad relationship or friendship. The end is particularly powerful with a Chorus behind Adele and her backup singers. In terms of composition in pop music, this is the best song of the year. However, it does tend get tiresome after heard so many times. Overall, this track is amazing but should only be heard in small doses.

2. "Mary the Night" by Lady Gaga

The media has loved following the "controversial" figure Lady Gaga ever since she burned onto the music scene. She has had much success. Though not all feel it was deserved as she has been aggressively after Madonna's mantle of success, and the truth she HAS been copying Madonna. The thing is Madonna hasn't said anything about it and is probably just happy that her music is relevant again, even if it is through another singer. This song shows to me that Lady Gaga knows how to breath life back into a standard of early 90s dance music and songs about living the night life. Probably my favorite song by her of all the ones I've heard, mostly because it repeats a lot but not in an annoying way like "Judas" or "Bad Romance" do. the other honorable mention this year for Gaga is "The Edge of Glory" being that is another break away from her typical strange gimmicky music of "trying to make fun of the music industry."

1. "Set Fire to The Rain" by Adele

Though this song makes me sad as it reminds me of my cat Starlight that passed away untimely this year due to someone's ignorance, it remains an amazing composition for a pop song. With the piano intro, Adele's despair filled vocals, and the buildup of the bass to the full string quartet this remains a heart tugging song about anger, love, and just like the rest of the album. The best part no doubt being the climax where Adele climbs pitch up on a crescendo and then suddenly lets down on an echo. However, this song is probably one of the most underrated of the year so that is why I put it first, because I like to stand up for the musical underdog.

Some honorable mentions: "Perform This Way" by Weird Al, and "It Will Rain" by Bruno Mars. See a pattern with me and Bruno Mars here? lol Even if it was the tittle track for a HORRIBLE Twilight film, it is still an enjoyable song. Happy New Years everyone! Look out for my next post on my Tumblr tomorrow around 10am. :)

Doctor Who Review "The Doctor, The Widow, and the Wardrobe"

2011-12-26T18:47:00.006-05:00

Two years after fan favorite David Tennant was changed over for the 11th Doctor Matt Smith, The seventh Doctor Who Christmas special "The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe" features surprises both pleasant and unwelcome.

Though learned on my behalf through research and not having time to read the book, it is clear the writing in the Christmas special is loosely based around C.S. Lewis’s “The Lion, The Which, and The Wardrobe.” As in that there are only three similarities: A snowy world in a big blue present, an early 1940s setting, and an allegory figure saving the life force of a forest in the form of widowed mother Madge Arwell (Claire Skinner). The rest remains show writer Stephen Moffat’s original writing, which may please Doctor Who fans and disappoint C.S. Lewis enthusiasts.

Matt Smith emerges from this episode with many funny and heart-warming lines showing he has matured into the role of the 11^th Doctor. What this means is simple; Matt Smith fans will remain pleased and Smith skeptics/Tennant loyalists could go either way as Smith emotes and recites his lines better than in seasons five and six. However, he is still Matt Smith and sometimes has a very wooden delivery on his acting style.

Speaking of wood things, the main “monsters” in the special are two tree statues shaped like a king and queen. The king and queen are looking to save the forest from acid rain coming from an intergalactic mining company looking to gather the forest as a fuel source. The CGI used to animate the statues looked very convincing and was only lacking in the scene where Skinner was piloting the mining walker looking very fake due to it’s sluggish movement. The costumes look very convincing with only the misplaced Battle Star Galactica (BSG) reference of the Miners space suits looking like Cylons from the original BSG series being a bit silly.

The final surprise came in the form of a happy ending in which Skinner was no longer a widow as she saved her husband’s plane from crashing over World War II Germany via a light provided on the space-ship she was piloting to guide his plane through the “time vortex.” The happy ending being a rare surprise as normally Moffat era Doctor Who has been ridden with tragic endings. The special ends with Smith refusing dinner with the Arwell family as a nice nod to Russell T. Davies era Doctor Who and shows Smith meeting up with his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvil).

Fan reception of the special has been largely positive with four out five comments and the Doctor Who fan page praising Smith and the Christmas special calling it very emotional and well written, which remains true as an episode of Doctor Who. But as a reference to C.S. Lewis leaves more to be desired as the many fiction references seem out of place and are adapted too poorly making the title of the episode misleading.

Lou Reed and Metallica- Lulu

2011-11-11T16:24:00.009-05:00

When one thinks of Lou Reed thoughts of the Velvet Underground and a huge influence on American rock music since the 1970s and when one thinks of Metallica it is either they are sell outs or legends of heavy metal. The album “Lulu” only proves one thing: Reed’s usual nonsensical lyrics do not match up with Metallica’s raw hard-edged heavy metal sound. Written as a conceptualized version of a German play by director Robert Wilson this album was approached with an open mind and high hopes that this would be a bomb to help rock the foundations of the music industry; instead it proved to be a footnote on most hardcore internet joke sites.

“Lulu” is not the worst thing that Metallica has ever helped turn out; the 2003 travesty “St. Anger” still proves to be a harder listen, since Lulu presents solid instrument playing. Where this album does come close to stinking as much is in the nonsensical lyrics written by Reed and the odd way that he sings and talks at the same time. For this reason, the majority of songs are completely boring and are painful to listen to, the worst one being “Frustration” simply for how obtuse Reed’s lyrics are. The other hair-pulling track on this album is “Cheat on Me,” mainly due to the fact that Hetfield and Reed both sound like tired old men in it.

The only partially enjoyable track is “Brandenburg Gate” for the carefree guitar playing and it being one of the few songs on the album in which Reed’s reciting can manage a good laugh. The second contender for being okay (at best) is “Pumping Blood” for the instruments changing the tone of the song at many points by changing their rhythm and melodies.

“Lulu” should only be listened too by Hardcore Lou Reed fans, those who laugh at incredibly cheesy things, or those looking to improve their general tolerance for terrible music. Otherwise this album should be avoided and maybe be buried out with the old ET Atari cartridges in the southwestern desert as it is not worth the price one pays for it at stores or the loss of faith in old teen rock music heroes caused by this utter letdown.

Rating: *

The View Unofficial Music Video-

Red Hot Chili Peppers- I'm With You Review

2011-10-31T16:01:00.006-04:00

(Update)- I have added the official music video for "Monarchy of Roses"

Hello everyone, I have moved my operations back to Blogger because it is messy to have a lot of unused sites across the web that I don't have time for. Anyways, all of my critiques, requests, and blogs are now on this blog. I will also be following my schedule for the Salem State Log on the paper. Anyways, here my review for RHCP's new album:

Five years after the Red Hot Chili Peppers released “Stadium Arcadium” and two years after guitarist John Frusciante left RHCP many fans have wondered: could the band survive without Frusciante? The answer is a resounding yes. To those on Youtube who say he is "no good," Josh Klinghoffer is skilled as a rhythm guitarist who is also proficient with piano and clear high ranged backing vocals. Klinghoffer brings something new to the group that Frusciante did not.

“I’m With You” is a versatile album meant as a tribute to Autobiographer and long time friend Brendan Mullen. The album starts off very funky being reminiscent of the best disco standards of the 70s slowly becoming darker revolving around having happiness, loosing it, and then getting happy again with light hearted dance songs.

The songs that are the most memorable include “Factory of Faith” for the catchy dirty funk bass line from Flea and the repeating but enjoyable beat set by drummer Chad Smith making the song very dance worthy. “Annie Wants a Baby” is a memorable funk rock song as the bass is steady and Smith emerges as the champion on this track with very energetic drumming through out the song. “Look Around” sounds like a more modern take on the tracks from the 1991 album “Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic” with classic RHCP slap bass and rock guitar riffs playing and determined vocals from singer Anthony Kiedis proving that though the band members are all nearing 50 they’ve still got it!

The blander tracks are “Rain Dance Maggie” and “Ethiopia” because they both sound repetitive and are lacking the punch and excitement of the other songs on the album. The remainder of the songs proves that Kiedis still has a healthy high range and sincere voice. Klinghoffer brings in a unique sound. While Smith and Flea prove themselves the driving force behind the group on all of the songs with their complex and noticeable playing.

“I’m With You” proves to be an interesting part of RHCPs long history where some songs act as throwbacks to their past eras while others represent a completely new direction of either lively funk music or distinctive piano ballads such as “Police Station” which proves that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have the ability to create fresh sounds and remain relevant no matter what year they release music in. *****

Raindance Maggie Official Music Video:

Monarchy of Roses Official Music Video:

21 by Adele Review

2011-10-31T15:56:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone, I was going to review "Time Pieces" by Eric Clapton but I have decided to do something more current since I am writing for my school news paper now. Here is my review of "21" by Adele:

The album "21" has many powerful emotions and soulful singing and is a far cry from songs about partying and dancing, this album was written about Adele losing her lover, going through heartbreak, and finally finding a new lover.

“Rolling in the Deep” is strong for the nicely paced buildup and the dominant vocals during the chorus. “Set Fire to the Rain” has sheer intensity of raw disgust and anger from Adele at her ex-lover. “I’ll be Waiting” is very catchy for its Motown/ Soul style playing and singing reminiscent of Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady.”

“He Won’t Go” seems weak because the first half is repetitive and the song drags on because of it. “Take It All” has great emoting of frustration but pace seems slower than it should be and it does not build to a climax. “Love Song” when compared to the original song by The Cure is noticeably lacking in energy and just comes off as boring. However, the remaining tracks are worth a listen through.

“21” is not for partygoers and rap fans, but definitely for people looking for something different with compelling lyrics and real emotions. Despite not having every track be an epic masterpiece, Adele has powerful lyrics and an old-school style of singing, which does justice to the best hits of past decades. It is also refreshing that she does not have to rely on auto-tune but rather on her vocal talent. Lastly, some songs may have sounded dry and the production was a bit hollow sounding, but overall this album is very enjoyable and well written. ****

Rolling in the Deep Music Video:

Someone Like You Live in Adele's Home:

Set Fire to the Rain Unofficial Video:

Ke$ha- "Cannibal"

2011-10-31T15:50:00.001-04:00

Sorry for taking so long with this, Ke$ha's last album traumatized me so bad I got a wicked cold. However, she also helped me realize that I can laugh at my problems to help get over them, so I thank Ke$ha for that at least. Okay, this is going to be my last Ke$ha review since I don't review remix albums. The only thing I expect to find here is that songs will probably be less obnoxious and perhaps a tad boring at times. Since it has been two months and I've reviewed Quadrophenia, I will be more calm this time around.

Title: Cannibal

Year:2010

Genre: Pop, Rap, Techno

Artist(s): Ke$ha

Copyright: © MCA Records 2010, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment

Songs:

The songs I would say are bad are "We R Who We R" and "Sleazy" because the first sounds too much like the leftovers of the singles from Animal and the second reminds too much of the Black Eyed Peas mixed with Nicki Minaj in the repeated phrase of "Sleazy" and the drum beat, though the latter has a pretty funny pun. The decent songs are "Blow", "Cannibal", and "Beautiful Crazy Life." The first two because though it is repetitive it has a pretty enjoyable beat and the singing is better than the previous album, though I could do without the Jeffery Dahmer reference in "Cannibal." The third has okay music to it, but the reason I call it decent is are the lyrics are simple and true, I can't fault her for living her life the way she wants, but I will also say it is easy to see that she hated being a waitress with her f**k you attitude she sings with. The good songs are "The Harold song", "C U Next Tuesday", "Animal (Billboard Remix)" and "Grow a Pair." I say these are good because they are pretty or very funny and have some good lyric writing behind them. "The Harold Song" is like "Hungover" part two in that she is heart broken, but the music is well arranged in that it actually sounds pretty, sadly the backing vocals howl a bit too much though. "C U etc." is a pun within it's self but has a deepened meaning to it and also sounds very pretty aside from the synth vocals towards the end. "Grow a Pair" is pretty funny and well arranged for the topic of a whiny ex-boyfriend of hers, and though some vocals suck, they are fairly on pitch. It is also nice to hear her direct her frustrations to one dude and not all of them. Lastly, the "Animal" remix was better arranged than the original including the vocals aside from the muddy sounding bass.

Audio Mixing:

Varried. Sometimes the bass is too muddy, other times it is pretty clear. Overall for a digital pop EP it is very warm sounding similar to her first album. And yes, it may be auto tuned, but at least she didn't sound like a robot vocalist the ENTIRE time.

Singing:

The singing was better than the previous album with Ke$ha being a little less pitchy, though I'd say she still has a ways to go before she can be spot on all the time. The ending of "Hank's Song" was very well done with Ke$ha harmonizing with her self in six voices. However, I'm still not a fan of her voice when she raps.

Instrumentation:

Very basic, but more technical than before with more fluid synthesizer playing that also didn't steal all the attention. Plus there was bass guitar at parts, so that was nice. Overall, basic but the songs flowed better than before.

Lyrics:

The lyrics vary in subject from partying and drinking with sex, to cannibalism, to living life, breaking up, and sticking it to "douchebag" and whiny guys. The lyrics are only vague, but are otherwise clear. What really stuck out to me though was "C U Next Tuesday" where Ke$ha dumped her then lover for cheating on his actaul girlfriend with her. The lyrics are ok, an improvement from before as it was a nice break form her normal "guys suck" routine.

What I didn't like:

The songs I said were bad.

What I did like:

How the themes were a little more human and funny, and most of the music a bit more consonant sounding than before.

Who would enjoy this EP:

Some Ke$ha skeptics, anyone without perfect pitch which I mean in a serious way, people with bad breakups or bad ex boyfriends/girlfriends. Also, her fans that didn't fit that last target demographic.

Overall: An improvement from before in most ways minus the slight copying of artists and the leftovers from Animal. This is the first time I will give Ke$ha credit for her song writing abilities, and the last time I will be reviewing her stuff, even if she releases more albums.

Rating: ***

If this album would have gotten one star I would have posted the "Cars for Kids Drunk Version" song, but I'm going to post the videos of the singles. Brace your self, "Blow" is a weird video.

"Blow" Official Music Video:

"We R Who We R" Official Music Video:

Special Request- Quadrophenia Disc 2 by The Who

2011-10-31T15:47:00.000-04:00

Hello Again everyone, I am sorry if my last blog came off as preachy, I was simply expressing my views. Anyways, here I am on disc two of this Meta album. Since I got some of the lyrics wrong last time I will be paraphrasing meanings off of Wikipedia. This is also going to be the last review where I do the song by song breakdown, rather I will be making each section one paragraph each. Anyways, let's get down to this almost forgotten classic album.

Title: Quadrophenia
Year: 1972
Genre: Classic Rock, Country, Rock Opera
Artist(s): The Who
Record Label: 1978 Track/M.C.A. Records US Release

Songs:

1. 5:15-

The song opens on guitar and piano and with Paige on vocals. The song soon opens into a full on bluesy brass section with exciting piano and Daltry taking over for the vocals. Jimmy is on a train headed for Brighton, and he is sitting between two "city gents" who are consuming mass amounts amphetamines. Jimmy has been popping the bennys to pass them time and he is going through phases of feeling high and then crashing down from them. To show that Jimmy is taking bennys they constantly switch form a relaxed with the piano and guitar feel to an excited fell with the rest of the band and the brass section. What makes this song special is how nicely they do the switch of feeling high and the drugs crashing down on Jimmy, how real the emoting from both singers is, and the beautiful guitar playing by Paige. Overall, a very interesting piece in how they show Jimmy's struggle and crashing down and getting high again. 5 out of 5 stars.

2. Sea and Sand-

The song opens on the sound of Seagulls and then on a very sad soundign guitar playing with Daltry on vocals, then breaks into the Who's typical bluesy rock during the chorus and Paige singing. Jimmy's mood at first is heightened to be in Brighton, but he later realizes that the Mod scene is falling apart and he feels like he is living in the past. There is another switch in calm and excited, until we get a double triple mini solo from the band with Daltry narrating in the background during the song's climax. What makes this song interesting is how well they balanced all of the moods of Jimmy musically. Overall, a very sad but beautiful and exciting piece. 5 out of 5 stars.

3. Drowned-

This song has a strong gospel feel at the begging thanks to the organ and has Daltry. Jimmy is contemplating killing himself by drowning in the ocean because he has nothing in the present. The song sounds happier when Jimmy wants to become one with the sea, and when he is in the water the music mellows out. Through a lot of jamming and variation, when the song finally ends Jimmy fails to drown himself and the band has a powerful jam session until we hear the sounds of the ocean and Jimmy talking to himself walking off. What makes this song interesting is the fact that The Who wrote a suicide song that sounds happy rather than sad. Overall, a powerful and exciting piece but tends to drag on a bit. 4 out of 5 stars.

4. Bell Boy-

The song opens on very energetic drums by Moon, followed by guitar and synthesizer and Daltry on vocals. Jimmy enters the Brighton hotel that the Mods tore up earlier, and he meets a former Ace Face who is now the Bell Boy at the hotel. The Ace Face looks down on Jimmy with pity and contempt. They have an argument with Jimmy saying the Ace Face has sold out, but Bass-Face hasn't =D, jk. Jimmy now feels no place in the mod life style. The song then goes into a mini guitar solo, followed by Moon speaking as the Mod in what Wikipedia says is a "cartoonish Cockney accent", but later on Moon sings and talks in his normal voice and the "Bell Boy" lyrical theme is often repeated, then more palying with Daltry, and towards the end Moon speaks in the accent again and the band continues to play as the song fades. What makes this song interesting is Moon's recititive as the Bell Boy personality and the Ace Face, the energetic drum and guitar playing, the fact that Entwistle played support again rather than his normal lead style. Overall, a very enjoyable piece that also shows more fustration in Jimmy's life. 5 out of 5 stars.

5. Doctor Jimmy-

On the opening we hear synthesizer, violin, and drums. Daltry sings the vocals emphasizing the darkness of the lyrics. Jimmy is now doing drugs out the ass, and is now arguing with himself saying he should get checked out. This song is a loose reference to Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, which ties in with the multiple personality disorder theme. The song gets progressively quicker and more dire in tonality as it goes on, while sounding happy during the chorus. There is also a long instrumental section that ends with the "is it me" theme from disc one. There is a switch from happy, to dire, to triumphant in the song, and for the rest of the song we see variations such as these, four minutes worth. The song ends on piano and synthesizer playing together in unison and fades into the next song. Overall, this is a long piece but the who definitely made it interesting and complex enough for it not to drag on, it is also an interesting reference to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 5 out of 5 stars.

6. The Rock-

This piece is all instrumental, and is one of the most complex that Townshend ever wrote. Jimmy has stolen a boat because he is high and depressed, and he eventually falls asleep on the ocean only to wake up and see the boat has drifted away. All of the instruments are pretty much going all out with changes in theme and time signature. The song is tying together all four of the lyrical themes, and the guitar is playing a very noticeable solo as this is the first time I've really heard Townshend do a few crazy guitar solos as I have yet to hear their full discography and this album was requested to me from a friend, he he he. Anyways, the end of the track is very mesmerizing and beautiful and closes on thunder and lightning fading into the next song. The entire track is what's interesting about this song. Overall, a masterpiece in how it sounds beautiful and how it ties all the themes together. 6 out of 5 stars.

7. Love, Reign O'er Me-

The song opens up on the best piano playing of the album as their is real soul to it, and going along with the piano are gongs and ceremonial drums. Daltry eventually enters with the synthesizer with a very beautiful melody to them. Jimmy is stranded on the island and a storm is raging over him, but as the storm rages he gets an epiphany. He is not the four personalities that he always feuded with, but rather he is himself. As the song continues we get to hear the bass and piano supporting Daltry and Townshend trading parts on guitar and vocals. We get to hear very dedicated solos from Townshend in the track towards the end. The song slowly breaks down into a single chord form a brass qaurtet and the guitar stopping with the drums as the album closes. What makes this song interesting is how triumphantly beautiful it is. Overall, just a wonderfl track with a great message: just be your self. 5 out of 5 stars.

Instrumentation:

Well, very complex. This album is probably the most complex ever written by The Who, as such they eventually stopped playing it in the mid 70s because it was a pain to perform live.The drums, guitar, bass, and vocals either have a lead part or act for support. The synthesizer and piano trade off playing melodies and chords, and Entwhistle wrote the brass section in the role of the rhythm guitar playing mostly chords at the right times. There are many time signature changes, and maybe a few key changes here in the in the final tracks. The instrumentation is very solid and worth listening as it switches form rock opera, to country, and The Who's signature sound.

Production:

The album was very well mixed, it was a tad dry but you can still hear everything clearly. I blame this more on the analog to digital conversion, also since I lack Quadrophonic speakers I can't really tell how it was 'supposed' to be heard. But the digital sound isn't bad.

Singing:

The singing is what conveys the story, and I like how Daltry and Townshend switch off, and let's not forget Moon's shining moment in "Bell Boy" as the Cockney Ace Face, that was a very well emoted and performed recitative. Sadly we didn't get to hear Entwistle's strong vocals, but I will get around to that when I review the Who's discography and the awesomeness that is "Boris the Spider." The singing is very heartfelt and unique with how Jimmy was happy to die or happy to thing of raping women in his different moods, where as other songs would portray that with sadness and being demented. The singing is very solid, and everyone was always on pitch too. The Who 1, Ke$ha 0.

Lyrics:

The lyrics are a bit vague from just listening to them, but with the Libretto they are much easier to understand and do convey the story very well. I am personally glad we live in the age of the internet where information is just a search engine away. :)

What I didn’t like:

"Drowned" tended to drag a little bit and I wish I coudl hear it through Quadrophonic speakers rather than Earbuds.

What I did like:

How well the album was written pretty much.

Who would enjoy this album:

Fans of The Who, country music, synthesizer music, good brass and piano playing to some extent, and fans of classic rock.

Overall:

A solid complex and well emoted album which is worth listening too, especially since it was almost forgotten many years ago.

Rating: *****

The Who 5:15 Unofficial Video:

The Who Love Reign O'er Me Unofficial Video:

Special Request- Quadrophenia Disc 1 by The Who

2011-10-31T15:40:00.000-04:00

Hello again everyone, I apologize for this taking so long as I have been busy working two jobs and finding replacements for my old headphones pairs. I think from now on I am doing monthly releases. I am likely to be less negative on this review as I really love The Who, so I do have a pre-existing bias. However I will be grading the songs on how enjoyable they are, as always. According to the ever trusty Wikipedia, Quadrophenia was The Who's second concept album and was about a teenager with four split personalities growing up in Brighton and London in 1964-65 as a member of the Mods gang, and each of the personalities are rumored to represent each member of The Who. Quadrophenia is a term that means Schizophrenia.

Title: Quadrophenia
Year: 1972-73
Genre: Classic Rock, Country, British Rock, Rock Opera
Artist(s): The Who
Copyright: © 1973 Track/M.C.A. US

Songs:

1. I am The Sea-

This song opens up with foreign vocals and piano sounds being heard behind sounds of ocean waves along with a trumpet. The lyrics are foreshadowing themes seen later in the album as Jimmy is questioning who he is and asking for love to come to him. Later in the song Rodger Daltry can be heard singing four lines, each consecutively representing the band members with "Is it Me?" representing bass player John Entwistle, "Bell Boy" representing drummer Keith Moon, "Love Reign O'er Me" representing guitar player Pete Townsend, and "Helpless Dancer" representing Daltry him self. Then the song smoothly transitions to the next. What makes this song interesting is how well the band organized the music around the sound of waves and the fact that they used ocean waves to introduce an album about the Mods and Rockers fighting on a beach. Overall this is an interesting simple opening track. 5 out of 5 stars.

2. The Real Me-

The song opens up immediately on loud and expressive bass and drums with repetitive but very fitting guitar playing. Daltry comes in not too long afterwards with his exciting vocals with his signature vocal scream. Jimmy is questioning everyone he knows to see if they know which personality is the real him. His mother understands him, his doctor and girl friend have abandoned him, and the preacher wants nothing to do with him. What makes this song interesting is Daltry's emoting on playing the part of Jimmy, how well the band creates the emotions behind the lyrics, the brass section heard during the chorus, and the constant amounts of solo playing by bass legend Entwistle. Overall, a great piece that is very exciting and expressive. It is easy for me to see why this is the main single on the album. 5 out of 5 stars.

3. Quadrophenia-

Note: this is the instrumental version. The song opens on piano and acoustic guitar, a guitar soloing, and steady playing from the bass and drums; it becomes calmer and then changes to climatic again. The song goes through many sound and time changes to represent Jimmy's emotions and to show that the Who knew how to write instrumentals to keep up with their rivals at the time, like Yes and Pink Floyd. What makes this song is how it never leaves you board or annoyed because it has the right amount of time and key changes. The solos for guitar, piano, and synthesizer are also really good. Overall this is a great piece that demonstrates The Who's technical abilities. 5 out of 5 stars.

4. Cut My Hair-

The song opens up with loud bass and drums and quiet guitar playing calmly, and the vocals sound very soft and emotional. In this song Jimmy is being told by his old man that he doesn't want to cut his hair because it will threaten his lifestyle of being a member of the Mods that fought on a beach 100 miles south of London yearly in the 60s. The chorus is much happier sounding but it makes the band sound out of time with each other with and this is the main place, but corrects to the slower pace in the verse with use of brass. What makes this song special is how beautiful Townsend's guitar playing is, how Entwistle can play so many notes but manage to create a solid foundation, how the drums are really driving the song full throttle, the use of the Radio broadcast, and how amazing Townsend's voice sounds when he sings during some of the verses on his own. Overall, a great piece with solid instrumentation that just has a silly sounding chorus. 4 out of 5 stars.

5. The Punk and The God Father-

The song opens in The Who's classic style. There is an acoustic guitar with loud bass, driving drums, and Daltry and Townsend doing angry sounding vocals.
The punk is the youth of Britain and America, and the God Father is the President of the United States. The Punk says he put the God Father in power and he hasn't done anything to help people, and the God Father said "Too bad, I own you and everything else." What makes this song special is the emoting by the singers, the balance in power of the instruments, and the surprising number of climaxes and slow sections through out the song. Overall this is a fun piece with a nice story behind it. 5 out of 5 stars.

6. I'm One-

The song opens up in a kind of soft 70s Country style of way with acoustic guitar and lap steel guitar. Daltry sounds very sad but determined while singing. In this song Jimmy is saying he doesn't really fit no matter what he does, but he is still always him self and will continue to be him self and is proud of that and the song later turns into a classic Rock and Roll song when the bass and drums come in. What makes this song special is how the instruments fit into two distinct styles, how laid back the song is for something that is kind of sad, and how the band proves they don't need a thousand effects to make them sound good. 5 out of 5 stars.

7. Dirty Jobs-

The song opens up with loud bass, piano, drums, and keyboard. Daltry sings the lead vocals very dedicated, even though he sounds like my cat Starligt during the choruses. In this song I believe Jimmy is talking to numerous people who are being beat up by the enemy gang and he is telling them that they should stand up for themselves and that it is good that they do not weep for it. What makes this song interesting is the emoting in the singing, how Entwistle is taking the backseat and doing a good job-allowing Moon to show off his skills a little more, the people cheering representing common people being empowered, and how the keyboard and piano seem to steal the attention along with Daltry's cat like shrieking. Overall, a good song but has some silly sounds to it. 4 out of 5 stars.

8. Helpless Dancer-

The song opens up on some very nice tremolo piano playing along with horns and an acoustic guitar, and the song then gets slower with only piano and Daltry along with Townsend. They are trading off vocals in the left and right speakers angrily. In this song Jimmy is seeing him self as a dancer and is slowly realizing all the problems and injustices in the world and it makes him stop dancing. What makes this song special in how it is mostly horns, piano, vocals, and guitar because I'm amazed Entwistle and Moon agreed to not play for an entire song. The song also ends with a classic rockabilly piece and the "Is it me?" theme. Overall this is a very abstract but also angry and entertaining sounding piece. 5 out of 5 stars.

9. It is In My Head-

This piece opens up as a rock ballad with all of the instruments. The bass and drums are a bit more laid back, especially in the chorus. The verse has Daltry singing alone, but the chorus has Daltry, Entwistle, and Townsend harmonizing together.
In this song Jimmy is slowly going crazy because he feels like he is being followed, that no one loves him, and his head is empty yet he still functions. What makes this song special is the laid back feel of the verses are, but how serious the chorus sounds. What also makes this song special is the guitar solo, the breakdown, and the ending with the bass fading away. Overall, a very enjoyable piece that shows The Who can write a song in multiple styles, as this was a bit more traditional sounding but they still make it their own. 5 out of 5 stars

10. I've Had Enough-

The song opens up much livelier than before with the drums stealing all of the attention in the intro. As the verse comes in the bass and guitar expand their roles to accompany Daltry. In the second verse we get to hear Townsend sing. During the chorus Daltry asks for love to reign over him. Jimmy is tired of being told how to live his life by society and wants to put his devotion in the gang he is in. He is also tired of most thing including human emotions, though he was asking for love to reign over him. What makes this song interesting is how this songs manages to switch between exciting British Rock music to soft old country music, then to sort of a spacy sound with Jimmy praying to the heavens, then to an exciting old country sound. I also like the random scream and sound of a jet falling at the end. lol Overall, a nice climax with clean transitions of different styles and enjoyable playing and singing. Definitely a good to close disc one. 5 out of 5 stars.

Audio Mixing:

One word, balanced. The mixing was a nice balance of warmth and clarity, the bass and drums were loud but never overpowering, the guitar was clear but also blended in well, and the singing never stole away the attention but was certainly audible. Overall I'd say the mixing was done very solidly for this album so far.

Singing:

Daltry, Entwistle, and Townsend all have really good singing voices. Daltry got the most attention because he is the lead vocalist, Townsend got some attention by singing verses in certain songs, and Entwistle did backing vocals most of the time. Each has a different tone that fits the music well and they sound even better when they harmonize. However, I will say that the fact that Daltry sounded like my cat on "Dirty Jobs" whenever he sang words like "round" on the "I'm getting pushed round" part is hilarious.

Instrumentation:

The instrumentation is varied, the rhythm section is probably one of the most energetic and attention stealing rhythm sections in Rock and Roll at the time, and that is because Entwistle and Moon were fantastic players who could play lead bass and drums or switch back to support roles when they needed to without trouble. The guitar is unique as it never leads the band but certainly guides them at a certain pace. The use of banjo and slide guitar was also very beautiful, which reminds of how older country was more relaxing and pleasant to the ear rather than a distorted Fender guitar playing the same chords and scales all the time like in modern country. I also enjoyed how the band used a Brass section as I feel it added a lot to the emotion of the songs by making it more lively and climatic.

What I didn't like:

I guess maybe that Daltry sounded like my cat, but that is still an accomplishment as she is a butch alto silver tabby cat. Also, some of the songs didn't transition as smoothly as I would have liked.

What I did like:

The playing, singing, story, and overall feel of the first disc.

Who would enjoy this album:

Fans of old British Rock Music and Country, fans of The Who, and people from my generation who aren't afraid to listen to older music just because "It was before my time."

Overall:

It was a solid album, one that I would define as British Country Rock that had good playing from the instruments, good emoting form the singers, and overall a very enjoyable and sometimes funny disc to listen to. Next time I will continue with disc two of Quadrophenia.

Rating: *****

I am The Sea and The Real Me from the film "Quadrophenia" By The Who Films:

Amy Winehouse rests in peace while Breaking Benjamin Breaks Up

2011-10-31T15:31:00.001-04:00

Update: Amy Wine house died of severe alcohol poisoning. This was written back in July originally.

Hello again everybody, Kevin here bringing news you have heard before and some you might not have heard before. Why comment so late? I guess I like to give things some time to simmer. A few weeks ago Amy Winehouse passed away of currently unknown circumstances. I would just like to make a late tribute to her by saying that though I was never really a fan of her music, but she sang form her heart and she had skilled musicians in the band she sang with. So, R.I.P. Amy Winehouse. The way I was raised I always pay respect to the dead, even if they were bad people. To me the best way to respect the dead is to not speak badly of them, so even if Ke$ha or Pete Wentz were to die tomorrow I would still wish them peace. For I have found from experience it is okay to dislike an artist's music, but to truly hate the artist makes me and others kind of an asshole.

Speaking of A-hole related things, Ben Burnley has sued the other members of Breaking Benjamin for remixing their hit song "Blow Me Away" with the band using another singer, which broke the agreement the band had of not touching their songs while Ben is sick and the band is on hiatus. Guitarist Aaron Fincke and Bassist Mark James Keplaski are currently denying the law suit on the fact that Ben has performed twice this year. I know I didn't finish posting the BB discography here but their latest album was very poorly written and very winy, so I am not surprised the band broke up. In fact this is probably for the best so the members can each pursue their own creative careers. So, R.I.P. Breaking Benjamin, the good Breaking Benjamin died in 2009 anyways.

Special Request 1- Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin

2011-10-31T15:26:00.002-04:00

Hello, today I am launching my Special Requests blog, where I take requests from my readers to review their favorite albums. I have heard a lot about how good Led Zeppelin is (and I respect all of their members for being amazing musicians), but I have not heard very much of their stuff (my favorite song so far is Stairway to Heaven). To be honest, this is the only Led Zeppelin album I own so far. Yeah, yeah, I know, I live under a rock. On the plus side, though, this will mean that I have no pre-existing bias towards their songs other than knowing that they are legendary instrumentalists. I am grading this album purely on how enjoyable the music is.

Title: Led Zeppelin IV (Four Symbols Album)
Year: 1971
Genre: Rock, Folk Rock, and 70's Heavy Metal
Artist(s): Led Zeppelin with Sandy Denny
Copyright: © 1971 Atlantic Records

Songs:

1. Black Dog

This song is heavy and exciting, but switches to a somewhat relaxed feeling. The lyrics are about the singer picking up a women and him having a good time with her, only to find out later that she was a gold digger who stole his money and car. The singer then wishes to find a better woman who will really love him. This song really shows off how high Robert Plant's vocals can get, and how the band can accomplish a lot using only a little. The song goes from just the singer, to a heavy blues kind of feel in the instruments, only stopping for longer singing sections and a strong guitar solo climax at the end where we can hear Plant's vocals in the background. While I like how the guitar solo and how they conceptualize having sex with their music, the song tends to drag a little by being too repetitive. 3.5 out 5 stars.

2. Rock and Roll

This song is a very nice combination of a 50's swing kind of feel with a fast early 70's hard rock rhythm. Opening on a drum solo by John Bonham, this song is very exciting and enjoyable. The lyrics tell of a man who is talking to an old ex-girlfriend of his and asking to go back to the way things were. This song could also be a homage to how Rock and Roll changed over the years. It's very exciting and fast paced with a bluesy guitar solo in the middle, and slowly builds to a very enjoyable climax. A truly enjoyable song with lyrics people can relate too. 5 out of 5 stars.

3. The Battle of Evermore

This song is very hypnotic, but also exciting. The song is written from numerous perspectives of people from Middle Earth from J.R.R. Tolkien's legendary book series Lord of the Rings. The lyrics start from the perspective of the The Elven Queen, followed by Aragorn, then Sauron, followed by the people of the Shire, and then the people of Middle Earth, and finally the Ring Wraiths. The song is a commentary of both perspectives on the War of the Ring. The harmonies between Robert Plant and Sandy Denny (may she rest in peace) are truly amazing, and I also love the use of the mandolins in this song, which has an interesting outro with Plant showing how high he can sing and the Mandolins echoing each other. I also think it was a brilliant idea to use Renaissance style music for a concept song for Lord of the Rings, which I am huge fan of =D. Overall, an amazing achievement musically. 5 out of 5 stars

4. Stairway to Heaven

This starts slow and very mellow, but builds up to something very exciting.
The lyrics tell of a women who spends her entire life getting rich, only finding out that she can't buy her way into heaven because she was greedy her whole life (and indulgences don't work). In the opening we hear a very effective use of a wooden recorder and a organ with an acoustic guitar. The climax later comes in with the bass and drums, followed by an amazing guitar solo by Jimmy Paige. Plant is demonstrating just what tenors were put on the Earth for in his climatic higher vocals, followed by a soft ending. Most people have a love/hate relationship with this song, probably due its long length and the fact that it is banned from music stores. Plus there was that nonfactual rumor about the song having a satanic message, but it has been proven false. The song is also considered one of the most overplayed songs of all time. However, in my opinion it is overplayed just because it sounds so awesome and builds up to a great conclusion. 5 out of 5 stars.

5. Misty Mountain Hop

This song starts off a little bluesy, but changes to a rock feel pretty quickly. The verse keeps the same feel and pace, and it only really changes pace at the chorus.This song, seeing as it was the 70's, is about the singer joining a group of people smoking marijuana in public and time having a fun time. That is, until the police show up and make them disband. To get away from the police the singer is going to the Misty Mountains, which is a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. I'm not sure WHY he chose the Misty Mountains, but I guess one can have an active imagination when high. This song is a bit long, but very enjoyable and has a funny message behind it. 4 out of 5 stars.

6.Four Sticks

This song is very quickly paced, consistent through the verse, and sounds beautiful during the chorus. The song tells of a boyfriend who wants to leave his girlfriend because she is dragging him down and ruining his dreams. During one of the choruses we hear a mini guitar solo harmonized with guitar feedback on a single note, which is a very pleasant mind blowing surprise for me. The song ends with the Plant singing "woo yeah" over the main verse lyrics. Another thing I liked was how loud we can hear John Paul Jone's amazing bass playing. Overall, a very surprising and well put together track. 5 out of 5 stars.

7. Going to California

This song seems reminiscent of the country standards of the early seventies, as well as some of John Prine's slower work. The song tells of how the singer is willing to leave England and his current mean girlfriend to find his dream girl in California, and as a side note the flowers in her hair lyrics smack of the summer of love. However, it seems the forces of nature want to stop him. Finally, at the end of the song he realizes that she may not be real, but he refuses to quit. The song is paced very slow and relaxed, and the emotion switches from being happy at first to very serious and dark in some of the middle verses, and it continues to trade between the two. The song ends on a guitar solo playing a counter melody to the main guitar. This song is in the style of artists like John Prine and a bit like James Taylor, however, unlike "Carolina in my Mind", it is more an interpretation than a copy. The fact that there is a real story involving struggle and hope and the way the music was arranged make this song it's own one of a kind American folk style of song. That is not to say that "Carolina in My Mind" isn't a unique song, "Going to California" is just unique in a different way. Overall, a very relaxing song that all people can relate too. 5 out of 5 stars.

8. When the Levee Breaks

We open on some very enjoyable drums followed by the guitars and a bluesy harmonica played by Plant. The intro is very long, but manages to stay interesting until the verse comes in. This song is about a worker who is working on a Levee. The worker is from the mountains and he is feeling homesick and he wants to see his lady again. Later in the song the worker decides to quit his job and go to Chicago. Plant's vocals are very intense and high, and blend well with Paige's solo playing. What I've noticed is that Plant can play his harmonica just as well as Paige can play his guitar, as his harmonica has more solos than the guitar, though they keep trading off. This is one of songs where the main instruments play the same thing over and over, but the higher pitched instruments keep changing what they play to keep things interesting. Overall, this song might be 7 minutes long, but Led Zeppelin manages to make the song very engaging by the use of the solos despite the rhythm instruments playing the same thing over and over again. 5 out of 5 stars.

Audio Mixing:

I can't truly comment on the original mixing as I have yet to hear the original record, but the digital mixing came through crystal clear on my weak 2008 Basic Macbook speakers. The drums and bass were silenced a little, but they were still able to be heard. The rhythm section was louder in some songs like "Four Sticks", "When the Levee breaks", and "Rock and Roll." Overall the mixing was clear and gave a fair balance in sound. I will do an update at an unforeseen time in the future after I hear the original record played and tell you what I think of the mixing then.

Singing:

It should come to no surprise to anyone that Robert Plant has a strong Tenor voice with a high range, and unlike Ben Burnley or Robert Halford it isn't unclear or shrill. Plant's voice is somewhat gritty as he is singing rock and blues, but it also has a nice clarity to it. Plant's vocals were truly amazing on this album, as he emoted perfectly and you could understand every word he said. He also harmonizes very well with Sandy Denny and the other backing vocalists. However, I think his best vocals are on the climax in Stairway to Heaven, those just fit the feel of that song perfectly.

Instrumentation:

I've heard that Led Zeppelin are very skilled players, and they did not disappoint in the least. The playing on this album to me demonstrated great versatility in styles and instruments. Bonham is a very enjoyable drummer, Jones is a very unique balance between support and solo playing on bass, Paige is a legendary guitarist, and Plant sings very well along with playing a mean harmonica. I liked the instrumentation a lot, but really stood out to me was "Stairway to Heaven" for the build up, "Going to California" for the switch from relaxed to serious and dark, "When the Levee Breaks" for the harmonica, and "The Battle of Evermore" for the lutes and the vocal harmonizing.

What I didn't like:

Pretty much that I felt that "Black Dog" dragged by a bit, and the bass was a little too quiet at parts.

What I did like:

The unique sound of Led Zeppelin with every musician making great contribution to the music. Led Zeppelin is truly the best Metal band of the 70s.

Who would enjoy this album:

Fans of Classic Rock, Renaissance music, Lord of the Rings. Also people who like bands like Tool, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and maybe AC DC to name a few groups as these guys were a huge influences on them.

Overall:

I can see why this album has sold so many copies, it has a lot of enjoyable tracks on it. I didn't hate a single track on this album, as Black Dog was still pretty enjoyable. This song has many unique tracks and it proves just how versatile Led Zeppelin can be with different styles of music. A truly strong record with only one weak track. For my next request I will be reviewing "The Wall" by Pink Floyd.

Rating: ****

(Note: there are a lot of videos today. All videos are unofficial videos of the studio versions.)

Stair Way to Heaven:

Misty Mountain Hop:

Black Dog:

Rock and Roll:

Four Sticks:

PInk Floyd- "The Wall" Disc Two

2011-10-31T15:25:00.000-04:00

Hello again folks, this week I will be reviewing the second disc of this classic album. I'm this took over a week to write, I just started a new landscaping job in my hometown and boy will doing that stuff make you sleepy later in the day. The songs and meanings are very different from disc one. Disc two tells the story of Pinkerton slowly regaining his sanity after feeling confusion, loneliness, anger, and numbness inside of the wall.

Title: The Wall
Year: 1979
Genre: Progressive Rock, Rock Opera
Artist(s): Pink Floyd
Copyright: © 1979 Columbia Records, US Release

Songs:

1. Hey You-

This song starts off low key, and slowly has the other instruments come in one at a time. The emotions that come into mind is a sense of longing for help, and considering the lyrics this makes perfect sense. In this song Pinkerton is asking people if they can hear, touch, feel, and help him form outside the wall. Pinkerton also narrates a vision of worms eating into his brain in the third person after him being hopelessly trapped inside the wall, showing how he has lost his grip on reality. As the singing progresses the song gets louder and heavier, and when the singing stops we get to hear the band jam out with Gilmour soloing providing more depth to Pinkerton's insanity. After the jam spot we get a bridge where the worms are mentioned, and the song returns to the way it started before but with more ambient noises. In the third verse Wright sings asking people for help. Throughout this song we get to hear Gilmour playing fretless bass guitar to amazing effect. Overall, this song is both trippy and scary, and very well written. 5 out of 5 stars.

2. Is There Anybody Out There?-

The song starts off with echoes of the previous song's vocals and a TV set being heard, followed by the synth being droned out with Waters singing and having the synth add more chords and notes. In this song Pinkerton asking if there any one outside the wall, because he feels alone. After the singing stops we get to hear David Gilmour play a classical guitar to great effect. The playing turns form dire, to beautiful, then back to dire and ends slowly to the sound of a tv playing. Though I would normally complain about the lack of bass, this song is put together and transitions very nicely so I can ignore that. Overall a nice little piece that manages to be both scary and beautiful. 5 out of 5 stars.

3. Nobody Home-

The song starts to the sound of the TV form the previous song to sounds of someone beating their child. The song starts off with a sort of jazzy Billy Joel like piano intro and the lyrics start up afterwards. The lyrics are hard for me to decipher but from what I can gather he is saying that he has many objects but doesn't really have anyone around to spend time with and he is tired of being alone. This may also be Pinkerton saying how much he misses his wife. As the singing continues we get to hear a string orchestra accompany Waters and Wright. The song comes to a slow halt and then transitions to the next. The song overall is very beautiful and Waters ability to emote properly never ceases to amaze me. 5 out of 5 stars.

4. Vera-

This song starts off with more ambient noises from a television set playing followed by a mortar explosion. The music starts up with Waters, and Wright playing, along with Gilmour and a string orchestra before they are finally joined by Water's bass.
Pinkerton is wondering what happened to famous World War Two era Vera Lynn asking, where has she gone? This means Pinkerton thinks he is in the second world war and thinks Vera is dead, which she isn't because she is still alive today. The song is short and straight to the point, but you can tell the music is set very sad because Pinkerton believes that Lynn is dead. The song ends with a sudden volume swell that is not as smooth as the other ones. Overall, a good song but does not transition as smoothly as the others on the album. 4 out of 5 stars.

5. Bring the Boys Back Home-

The song starts off with marching drums and a full marching band with the singers being operatic along side a professional quire. Continuing on his belief that he is in World War Two, he is calling for all of the troops to come back home in a sort of Le Miz/triumphant musical style of singing. The song ends with voices from disc one with Pinkerton having flash backs to his childhood. Overall, a very short but masterfully composed piece. 5 out of 5 stars.

6. Comfortably Numb-

This song starts off flatly with all the instruments coming in at once with the guitar making the ambulance melody. The songs to me feels numb and careless thanks to the music and the lyrics. Pinkerton has now gone completely insane. Pinkerton thinks his entire body is numb. Pinkerton is pretending to be a doctor asking himself if he can hear what he is saying and saying that this needle will help himself. Pinkerton then answers as himself saying that he can't hear what the doctor is saying and he begins to tell random tales about fevers and dreams in his youth but now he has grown up and is literally comfortably numb showing he is delusional, but is content with it. When Waters sings the song is very laid back, but when Gilmour sings we get a full string orchestra and it sounds amazing. When Gilmour finishes we get the first guitar solo of what is considered to be one of the best guitar solos of all time, and I can see perfectly why. The solo is very happy and slightly triumphant and fits the music perfectly. The little piano note and the screams in Waters second verse never cease to amuse me. In Gilmour's second verse his singing really picks up in emotional intensity in perfect buildup for the solo. The bass plays harder and we hear the best guitar solo on the entire album, one of the best of all time. The solo is two minutes long, sometimes longer live. It is very hard to write a good guitar solo, and even harder to write one over 30 seconds long. I tip my hat off to Gilmour for just how amazing this solo is because of how it builds up in intensity and doesn't let go of you. Overall, an amazing piece with a great balance of simplicity, technicality, humor, and excellent composition. The only way the song can get any better is when Pinky Floyd performs it live and the bass fills up the stadium setting the perfect mood for a song like this. 5 out of 5 stars.

7. The Show Must Go On-

In this song we get a Beach Boys style opening with doo-wop singing. The emotion is very happy for the most part though the lyrics contradict this. In this song Pinkerton thinks he is talking to both his parents asking them questions like where his soul has gone, and Pinkerton now believes his life is a live performance in a concert hall. I guess they are showing that Pinkerton is happy while he is being delusional and it definitely shows in the music. Overall, an enjoyable little song that heralds back to the late 50s and early 60s. 5 out of 5 stars.

8. In The Flesh-

The song starts off with a crowd the music is very similar to the track with the same name on disc one. The song is basically the same as the other "In The Flesh?" at the start until we hear a quire singing and the music becomes much calmer and more Doo-Wop styled. The lyrics start off similar to "In The Flesh?" but Pinkerton thinks he is back at a hotel and has sent a very bigoted band sent in his stead, which is still him. Pinkerton wants his entire audience shot. Outside the meaning of Pinkerton's life, this song is definitely a two finger salute, which is the British version of the middle finger, to all of the rude fans at the show that inspired this album. The music while the singing is going on is calm, with Waters singing and a quire echoing what he is saying while harmonizing quite nicely. After the singing stops we resume to the band jamming along in the way the song started, and the band plays their instruments really quick on the same notes before the song calmly stops. Overall, a enjoyable if not somewhat offensive song, but that can be ignored because it seems to imply that bigotry is a sign of insanity. 5 out of 5 stars.

9. Run Like Hell-

This song starts off with noise from a crowd and then a guitar playing riffs until the song starts a very New Wave style intro for the song until Gilmour and Waters start singing together. The song sounds happy, but this runs contradictory to the lyrics. From what I can gather this is Pinkerton talking to someone else telling them that they should hide behind a disguise because there are people coming to get them, no doubt a sign of his paranoia. In the second verse Pinkerton is telling the person to avoid being dirty, no doubt a reference back to Pinkerton's sheltered upbringing and pent up sexual feelings. The song remains sounding happy for the most part where there is no singing, but sounds more dire while Gilmour and Waters are trading their lines. The song remains pretty repetitive but I like the emotions they convey, and at the end we are treated a very interesting guitar solo followed by the song slowing down and more ambient noises being heard including people running, an axe murder at the door, and a car driving away quickly. The song ends cleanly followed by the sound of a crowd cheering to soldiers marching. Overall repetitive at first, but has nice vocals with the harmonizing and line trading and a very upbeat feel in the music that I believe had a big influence on the New Wave movement of the 80s. 5 out of 5 stars.

10. Waiting For the Worms-

The song starts off to a person counting to three in German. We then open to a sad doo-wop style of opening with people singing people being behind the wall. After this section we hear some very simple but well played drums along with a simplistic loud bass line until Waters comes in as Pinkerton singing. This song is Pinkerton saying he is safe behind his wall and is waiting for "the worms" to come. "The worms" I think is a Metaphor for the Nazis and their bigotry, and also Imperialism of the British empire taking over the majority of the world again. The pace of this song is slow in the start but enjoyable with loud drums and bass, but switches to more of a march theme when the perspectives of the worms comes in and the emotion becomes much harsher. They switch between the dire and calm theme vary often towards the end of the song. At the very end the song stays dire with men speaking in the background to the crowd cheering until Waters as Pinkerton yells "Stop!" Overall, the songs starts off very calm and can make you feel cozy, then can scare you later at the power of the perceived worms and the emoting of everyone in the song is perfect. 5 out of 5 stars.

11. Stop-

The song has Wright accompanying Gilmour singing Pinkerton wanting to be free.
Pinkerton wants to escape from The Wall as his sanity is starting to return. However, he has to face his mental demons first in a trial with himself as the defendant. The song is very short but still well composed for being as minimalistic as it is. In fact it being minimalistic is perfect because it shows the breakaway in Pinkerton's mind from his insanity and brings out the emotions of regret. Overall, a short but effective piece with nice piano playing in it. 5 out 5 stars.

12. The Trial-

The song starts with people coming into a court room and a the orchestra starting on cellos and violins. There are instruments harmonizing with the vocals. The emotion that comes into mind varies between anger, terror, regret, and pity. This song is the most lyrically complex as Pinkerton is on trial against his mental demons from his past. There are a number of figures speaking to Pinkerton. First is the Plaintiff saying that Pinkerton has been feeling human feelings and deserves to be punished, he then calls in the school master. The school master said that he knew Pinkerton was a rotten apple from the start and said he should have just beaten it out of him by hammering him. After the school master we see Pinkerton saying how crazy he is. After that Pinkerton's ex-wife is speaking angrily at him asking if he has broken up any more homes and that she should have gotten more attention, followed by Pinkerton's overprotective mother saying she never wanted him to be in any trouble and wants to take him back home.
Pinkerton then says how crazy he is again and that he wants to go outside the wall. Afterwards the judge goes on a long angry rant saying for the way he has acted and hurt his wife and mother he will have the wall torn down as his punishment. The vocalists are switching between many characters, but there is also a chorus singing after Pinkerton narrates how crazy he is. In this song the orchestra is switching around the sound and emotions constantly by character, with the orchestra and band being the scariest when the judge joins. When the judge comes in they use a vocal effect to make him sound satanic and they use full on distorted guitars to show how threatening he is. At the end of the song we hear the jury cheering for the wall to be torn down and demonic laughing until the song finally ends with the sound of the wall being torn down. Overall, a masterfully composed, sung, and truly frightening piece that shows me that Gilmour and Waters could have been actors if they had wanted to be, and that Waters should also write books in addition to having his solo career right now. It is also interesting to watch the clip from the movie "The Wall" because the wall was a metaphor for Pinkerton's overprotective mother. 5 out of 5 stars.

13. Outside the Wall-

The song starts off with the wall being torn down, and Pinkerton being content with life. While Waters is singing their is a kids quire echoing what he is saying along to the soft melody from "In The Flesh?" bringing the melody full circle. Also, the emotions in this a song are pure happiness and partial amusement at the final lyric. This song is Pinkerton narrating on the people who have helped him escape the wall and how he is thankful for their struggle of having to deal with "some mad buggers wall." Overall, a nice way to close the album. 5 out of 5 stars.

Audio Mixing:

The mixing on the CD is amazingly clear, just like on disc one. After hearing some of the songs on the movie on Youtube I know the only difference between this and the original is that original was even clearer. I will say however I definitely had an easier time hearing the bass and drums on songs like "Waiting for the Worms" and "Bring The Boys Back Home" off this album rather than disc one.

Singing:

The singing is absolutely fantastic, with the operatic singing in "Bring the Boys Back Home", the vocal trading in "Waiting for The Worms", "Comfortably Numb", and "Run Like Hell." The harmonizing in "In The Flesh", "Run Like Hell", and the kids quires harmonizing in "The Trial" and "Outside The Wall." The emotion in everyone's voice is absolutely perfect for what the are portraying, and I can thoroughly feel that they both believed in the part and that they were well prepared for it. I also love how easily Gimlour and Waters can play off each other musically and vocally. The singing on this album is very, very good.

Instrumentation:

One word: varied. That is in the good way. Sometimes it was very simple as with "Stop" and other times it was amazingly complex like with "Comfortably Numb" and "The Trail". This is where the album truly shines through with the amazing guitar solos like in "Hey You, "Comfortably Numb", and "Run Like Hell". The orchestra in "Nobody Home", "Vera", "Bring the Boys Back Home", and "The Trial" added amazing depth to the feel and texture of the music. Overall the instrumentation is to die for, and and in some instances it was the instrumentation that showed what Pinkerton was doing.

What I didn't like:

I didn't like the sudden volume swell at the end of "Vera".

What I did like:

The singing, instrumentation, noises, lyrics, and how the entire story played out.

Who would enjoy this album:

Well since it's been out for a while obviously Pink Floyd fans would like it, but I think people who like classical music, rock music, some new wave music, and concept albums that play out like a story should definitely check this out. And like I said before, anyone with a strong constitution should also listen to this album if they don't mind some of the lyrical content.

Overall:

This album as a whole plays up and down perfectly as a massive story. Seeing as I like every song off this album pretty much I am not going to list all of them, but "Comfortably Numb" is definitely in my mind one of Pink Floyd's best accomplishments alongside this entire album. I love this entire album because of how solidly written and composed it is. I am also glad I took the time to review it and check it out.

Rating: *****

"Run Like Hell" and "Waiting for the Worms" video from the 1982 film "The Wall":

PInk Floyd- "The Wall" Disc One

2011-10-31T15:23:00.000-04:00

Note: As this is a two disc set I am splitting the blog into two parts.

Sorry it took so long for me to write this, I had a lot of papers to do for school. Now that I have a free summer ahead of me I plan to turn out reviews on a weekly basis. I am following up on my second request to review Pink Floyd's classic "The Wall." Just like with Led Zeppelin, I only have a minor knowledge of Pink Floyd's set list. In that regard again I am going to review this album free of any pre-existing biases on the music. According to Wikipedia, this album is about Pink Pinkerton, who is slowly stricken with tragedy through out his life. Becuase of that Pinkerton isolates himself inside a wall to escape the pain. The album was inspired by Rodger Waters being angered by fans at a live concert where they were being extremely rude.

Title:The wall Disc 1
Year: 1979
Genre: Progressive Rock, Rock Opera
Artist(s): Pink Floyd
Copyright: © 1979 Columbia Records, US Release

Songs:

1. In The Flesh?-

This song starts off calm and quiet, but becomes much dire and louder in an instant. It continues to sound dire and then mellows out once the lyrics come in. The lyrics in this song are having Pinkerton narrate out his life after he is sealed inside the wall, telling the fans what they hear is what they get and to see his descent into madness. The emotion that comes to mind is anger, and a strong sense of seriousness. After the lyrics finish we hear the singer queuing different stage things while the band continues to play the song, and the song ends with a plane crashing. Overall, a solid introduction to the album with good emoting behind it. 4 out of 5 stars.

2. The Thin Ice-

This song opens with a baby crying, and then the music coming with the lyrics at the same time. The very dark lyrics in this track tell of Pinkerton's mother telling her newborn child that she loves him, but not to be surprised if his life gets stricken with tragedy and that he may loose his mind because of it. The emotions that come to mind are love, and then a strong sense of darkness at the reality of the world. After the singing stops the song continues with a guitar solo and the band playing until the song stops on a suspended chord leading into the next song. Overall, a very haunting track with excellent changes in emotion. 5 out of 5 stars.

3. Another Brick in the Wall Part 1-

This song starts in a kind of dark bluesy kind of way. The singing starts off soft and gets louder at climactic moments. In this song Pinkerton's father dies oversees in World War II, hence exposing Pinkerton to tragedy, and this is when he begins building the wall to isolate himself. The song continues at a consistent pace where we hear noises of people talking and kids playing in the background with the song transitioning perfectly to the next. Notable work in this section is Waters on bass and David Gilmour on guitar. Overall, an interesting track that elicits powerful emotions. 5 out of 5 stars.

4. The Happiest Days of Our Lives-

If I am hearing the opening the song right then the opening has a helicopter and Adolph Hitler speaking which smoothly and quickly becomes an angry Scottish teacher yelling at some kids. The song takes a strong change with a minor bass solo and the band jamming then the lyrics come in. The lyrics tell of how in Pinkerton's days in grammar school that some teachers beat up students at any excuse they could, and that they were not his 'happiest days.' The singing starts off calm, then becomes more angry. After the singing stops we hear a church quire singing harmonies over into the next song. Overall, an interesting track with a smooth transition. 4 out of 5 stars.

5. Another Brick in The Wall Part 2-

The harmonies stop with a screeching sound, and the song starts with Waters singing in harmony with a guitar. This song is about the kids in Pinkerton's school standing up to the abusive teachers saying that they don't need this crap and won't be controlled anymore. There a short pauses of instrumentation that go between the singing, and eventually the song goes to the chorus but with Waters harmonizing with a child quire. It might just be me, but the kid's thick accents just make this song all the more better to display how pissed off they all are. After the chorus with the kid quire we are treated to a very good guitar solo followed by solid drums and a loud bass track. The track finishes with Scottish school teachers yelling at students and the sound of a phone getting louder. This is the best known song from this disc of the album, and I can see why. The emotion is very rebellious and the guitar playing is phenomenal. Overall a very powerful piece, especially to people who hated school like I used to. 5 out of 5 stars.

6. Mother-

The song opens with someone breathing and Waters singing with an acoustic guitar. The lyrics are about Pinkerton speaking to his mother asking her for guidance in life, and she says she will be extremely protective of her child, not letting him make any decisions for him self including not letting him grow up and choosing his girlfriends. Hence showing she is overprotective. The acoustic guitar continues while Waters is singing. The other instruments come in when as Waters finishes and Gilmour comes in singing. The shift in emotion from bashful and uncertain to comforted and empowering via the keyboard is simply phenomenal by Richard Wright. The vocalists trade off and they both sing and emote very well. The song ends with waters sadly asking a question and the song ends on a single chord. The is a bit of a pause before the next song. Overall, this song is amazing for the way the vocalists play off each-other and the way the keyboards sets the mood so perfectly. 5 out of 5 stars.

7. Goodbye Blue Sky-

The song starts with the sound of birds and an airplane and a child announcing the plane's presence. The instruments start by switching between a calm instrumentation and a very threatening sound and continues sounding dire until the vocalists come in singing the same line together. The lyrics tell of Pinkerton's and everyone's fear of being nuked straight to hell back in the cold war years. This fear is not well known to my generation, but I can only imagine the sense of hyper anxiety people must have felt knowing they could be vaporized at any second of the day back then. We also get what I believe to be an Aldous Huxley reference in the "dawn of a brave new world" lyrics. The emotions keep switching between calm and dire likely representing denial and fear. The song ends with the sounds of an airplane in the background with the calm music in front of it. Overall, this song really gets me thinking and in a retrospective way paints a great picture of how people felt during the Cold War and World War 2 to a lesser extent. 5 out of 5 stars.

8. Empty Spaces-

This short song carries over from Goodbye Blue Sky and becomes much more angry, showing Pinkerton's sanity crumbling even further in how delightfully dark the music is. We hear the the band playing together and then we hear a backwards message.This song has the only true backwards message in music at the time, saying to send "your answer" to old Pink at the "funny farm". In addition to that Pinkerton is asking how should he fill the empty spaces in the wall? This is done by way of very frightening and insane vocals. The question is answered when we transition to the next song. Overall, this song is short but amazingly creepy and truly matches the sound of what insanity should sound like to me. 5 out of 5 stars.

9. Young Lust-

With an instant transition we get a very blues rock driven piece that makes you feel like you are doing something bad, but it feels damn good which makes perfect sense considering the lyrics. The lyrics answer the question from the previous song by Pinkerton saying he wants a dirty woman in his life to help dull the pain and shed away from the protection of his mother. The phone message at the end seems to foreshadow marital troubles for a couple. The instrumentation in the song switches between bluesy, and more of a 70s metal kind of sound as we are treated with good harmonized singing and another very good guitar solo from Gilmour along with good organ playing by Wright. The solo continues until we get the final chorus. At the end the band continues to jam and we hear the phone message, and the song stops with the sound of a phone off the hook. Overall, this piece is very enjoyable in how it can make you feel sinful and enjoy it. 5 out of 5 stars.

10. One of My Turns-

The song starts with the unhooked phone and then goes into increasingly dark synthesizer playing over Pinkerton's wife talking to him while he is ignoring her watching a movie. The lyrics tell of Pinkerton's wife, who is asking him for different things while he is watching a movie ignoring her, and he is saying that his love is starting to wither. In this case Pinkerton's inner insanity is starting to frighten his wife, and the song ends with her running away. I may be mistaken but I think they made a Beatles reference in this song by the lyrics "Day after day, loves turns grey". Anyways, Waters emotions include apathy, loss of hope, and delirious amusement. The song in the first half is Waters singing with Wright accompanying him, and then all of a sudden it breaks into more chaotic music representing Pinkerton's breakdown into insanity by threatening his wife with an axe. All the while the guitar solo and all of the other instruments represent how much fun Pinkerton is having. The song stops with Waters being surprised and enraged by his wife running away. Overall, this song starts dark and mellow but turns a lot crazier later on, which was achieved perfectly in the way the band performed. 5 out of 5 stars.

11. Don't Leave Me Now

The song starts off very dark with sounds of heavy breathing panned into the right speaker. The singing is very desperate and sad. The lyrics tell of Pinkerton coming out of his haze and begging his wife to please come back. The song continues at the same pace with the song being very sad and trippy, but does slowly pick in insanity showing how evil Pinkerton has become as he wants her back to abuse her. In the last minute of the song we get a climax of Pinkerton sounding truly desperate as if he was on his last knees by way of the guitar and vocals playing off each other. The song ends with different television shows being played over each other with a taping noise, and the song finishes by Pinkerton smashing a beer bottle and screaming. Overall, to have fit that much intensity and insanity in a little over four minutes shows true skill. 5 out 5 stars.

12. Another Brick in The Wall Part 3-

The song starts off with the beer bottle being smashed and Pinkerton breaking everything in his site. Water's singing brings Pinkerton's anger and insanity at society full circle. The lyrics bring Pinkerton's isolation full circle saying he wont need anything anymore but his wall, as everything was just bricks in the wall. The song ends with Pinkerton saying everyone was just bricks in his wall. Overall, this song is short but the dark tonality make an excellent conclusion to what I am going to call "The Brick in the Wall Trilogy". 5 out of 5 stars.

13. Good Bye Cruel World-

The songs has the same music as the end of the previous song, but with an extreme jump in volume as soon as the song starts. Before the lyrics come in the music goes into a loop then fades into the bass playing a short fill until the lyrics come in. The lyrics tell of Pinkerton saying goodbye to everyone from inside the wall, and nothing can make him change his mind to make him leave it. The sound of the music towards the end is slow and happy, likely representing Pinkerton has reached his salvation. But this salvation is in the form of denial. For the end we get a sudden stop in music a moment of pause signifying that it is time to listen to the B side of the record. Overall, it is a nice conclusion to the epic journey into Madness that was "The Wall" disc one. 5 out of 5 stars.

Audio Mixing:

The mixing on this album so far has been phenomenal. I can hear every instrument as clear as day. The drums are never drowned out, the bass is delightfully prominent, the guitar is prominent but not overbearing, and the singing blends perfectly. The mixing on this album is the new standard of what I will compare other albums too when I think of the term "balanced."

Singing:

The singing on this album from start to finish was perfect. Every emotion hit home to amazing affect, and the way each member of the band harmonizes like in "Goodbye Blue Sky", "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" with Waters and the kids quire, and Young Lust as well as that one time where they sang "a memory" in "Another Brick in the Wall Part 1". And also how the singers trade off each other sounds absolutely amazing like in the song "Mother."

Instrumentation:

The instrumentation is just as perfect as the singing at representing the change in emotion and reinforcing the sense of a descent into insanity. The instrumentation does what it should by setting the stage to make the album great, having the extra studio noises blending perfectly into the background, and the singing perfects the entire mix creating a perfect harmony of amazing music.

What I didn't like:

There was not a single thing I disliked, and true some songs only got the four star rating however, it would be hard to make every song amazing before it all started to sound the same. I think pink Floyd was saving their best for certain parts. Also another short coming is not on the album, but on the radio. When people play "Another Brick in the Wall part 2" on the radio it sounds good but the message isn't the same without the surrounding songs to reinforce it.

What I did like:

The strong sense of balance this band has and the great command of emotion and experimentation they possess via their singing and instrumentation.

Who would enjoy this album:

Pretty much anyone with at least a partially strong constitution. Otherwise anyone can listen to this album, you don't need to do drugs to enjoy it. :)

Overall:

What can I say that I haven't said already? The singing is amazing, the instrumentation provides a solid backbone and is equally as amazing as the singing, the mixing is clear cut and perfect, and the entire experience is like a slow moving roller coaster of human emotion. Plus we get references to the Beatles and Huxley. True not all of the songs are amazing, but Pink Floyd made up for that in how they managed to change the pace but keep the sense of falling into insanity so nicely with their most epic songs. The command of experimentation is so good that I am willing to say that if The Beatles began experimentation in rock music, then Pink Floyd perfected it. If you haven't heard this album do your self a HUGE favor and check it out. You will not be dissapointed!!

Rating: *****

"The Happiest Days of Our Lives" and "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" video from the 1982 film "The Wall":

Novelty Hit Song Show Down- "Friday" by Rebecca Black

2011-10-31T15:20:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a long time, but who am I to turn down a request to review something? Everyone knows the back story at this point so I am just going to say that Friday was released in March, 2011 by the young previously unknown Rebecca Black, who released two songs on Youtube. The video of "Friday" went viral and since then has now had 15 million views. The young Black cites one of her influences as Justin Bieber. Anyways, let's break down the song and see how these covers look in comparison.

Friday by Rebecca Black:

Say what you will, Friday has been removed from Youtube because of a lawsuit by Rebecca Black. Not that we will miss it though.

I both like and hate this song. I like it because in all reality it is my Generation's Disco Duck, a novelty song that is poorly written and is pretty much a stereotypical representation of a genre of music. The real reason why people hate this song is not just because of the heavy amounts of auto tune, it is the odd way that Black sings. She is singing from her cheeks, her throat, and her nose while being partially out of tune with really weird harmonizing. In terms of proper singing technique that is a huge no no as it creates a very annoying and odd vocal tone. Now that's not to say that Black is a horrible singer, I heard her sing the American National Anthem on her ABC News interview and she actually sounded half decent despite being a bit fluttery and out of tune. If she had waited a few more years and took voice lessons she probably wouldn't have as many people hating on her as she does now. Unfortunately, Black's career is doomed because this song will follow Black to her grave thanks to the internet. Musically this song is awful because it is the same three chords that was used in the Keyboard Cat video with a very muddy bass and drum machine cluttering the mix. If you don't believe me on the Keyboard Cat theory you can find it here.

Also, the rapper seems very out of place and the rhymes are nothing memorable. I will say he is the best singer in the video though.

Overall I give this two stars because it is amusing and can be used to teach (naughty) kids about days of the weekend.

Rating: **

Friday Cover by Glee:

I will say that this the only Glee cover that sounds better than the original to me. I like the fact that they sped up the pace fixing how badly the song dragged and it is also nice that the mix is much less cluttered and clear sounding. That being said, it has still been butchered as the the singers are taking themselves too seriously for such a ridiculous song. Also, the music overall sounds like something I would have heard back in 2007 with how it is played displacing the date of which is certainly a 2011 style song. Plus they changed the part with the rapper, and this rapper is worse than the original.

Overall, better than the original but not by much as it is still cheezy without any of the humor.

Rating: ***

Death Metal Friday Cover:

This version starts off as the original but immediately turns into modern death metal. I love this version because it brings up the comedy up exponentially because of how brutal and serious the band turns the song, but at the same time you can tell the band is laughing their arses off. The music is also drastically improved as it sounds like a real brutal metal song and not a mess of drum beats and synth bass. Normally I hate this kind of singing, but the fact that it makes me think of the guy from Gorgoroth and Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget are doing a metal duet it just make this cover utterly perfect in my eyes.

Overall, my inner metal head is very pleased at the proper slaying of a bad pop music song.

Rating: *****

Stephen Colbert Friday Cover:

I love Stephen Colbert a lot, and I like what I've heard from The Roots so I am not surprised this cover sounds so good and is easy to listen too. Colbert's baritone voice is great here as he is on pitch and can be heard perfectly clear. Colbert also nailed the spirit of parodying perfectly, which is more than I can say for most of the parodies of Friday out there on Youtube. Tariq Trotter really takes the cake for rapping the best of any of the rappers I've heard so far, but this is not surprising considering his reputation. The band also makes the best sounding and most complex version of the song that I have heard to date. Jimmy Fallon is also hilarious for his part of the days of the week. Fallon and Colbert sound great auto tuned as well. The addition of Taylor Hicks and the Big City Dancers help to make this song properly over the top. My only two complaints are how many times they repeat the chorus and how much research I had to do for this cover. lol

Overall, hilarious, enjoyable, and very easy to listen too. Just a bit too repetitive.

Rating: ****

So there you have it, the Death Metal version wins but Stephen Colbert's is the most likable for the average person in second place. The Glee version will fade into obscurity when the show finishes, and the original will be my generation's Disco Duck.

Ke$ha- "Animal"

2011-06-21T00:22:00.007-04:00

Warning: This blog contains heavy amounts of sexually explicit subjects.

We all knew this was going to happen sooner or later. I have been meaning to review Ke$ha for quite some time but I have been busy taking people's requests. Today I am looking at "Animal," Ke$ha's debut album that took the music world by storm in a controversial way. This is where the catchy but childish "Take it Off", the controversial "Blah Blah Blah", and the okay "Your Love is my Drug" came from. Understand I do not really like Ke$ha's music, and I did my best to not to just insult Ke$ha the entire review. However, I did not hold back my opinions either. Also, just a warning I am also going to get a little preachy about what gender equality actually means later on in this review.

Title: Animal
Year: 2009
Genre: Pop, Hip Hop, Dance, Techno, Playground Music
Artist(s): Ke$ha
Copyright: © 2010 RCA Records, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment

Songs:

1. Your Love is My Drug-

This song opens up sounding like a happier version of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face." Ke$ha's unique vocals soon enter afterwards sounding somewhat intoxicated. In this song Ke$ha is madly in love with a dude with a beard, although from the sounds of it, it's more of an extremely unhealthy obsession with the bearded man. Hence, he is her drug. The build up to the chorus picks up nicely, and the chorus is the most enjoyable of part of this song. The song has an intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, and outro. What is interesting about this song is how catchy the chorus is and how the synthesizer actually sounds half decent. Overall, a catchy chorus but nothing otherwise noteworthy with way too much slurring and being off pitch on the vocal phrases. 2 out of 5 stars.

2. Tik Tok-

The song opens up with Ke$ha sounding smashed again and very 8-bit-era-Nintendo style keyboard parts and eventually builds up to the rest of the song. This song is basically saying that Ke$ha loves to party, drink lots of Jack Daniels Whiskey, and hates being hit on by drunk guys, although she enjoys the attention. She also likes dudes who look like Mick Jagger, which probably makes a lot of sense if you're really drunk. There is an intro, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre bridge, bridge, and an outro. What makes this song interesting is the fact that the chorus is very catchy, the bridge is enjoyable, and the way the instruments come in one after another. Overall, this song has potential but Ke$ha's drunk, computerized, pitch shifting vocals break the song and steal that potential away. 2 out of 5 stars.

3. Take it Off-

The song opens up on Ke$ha using a synthesizer voice box to a playground/ stereotypical Egyptian melody from the 70's, you know the "There's a place in France where the Alligators dance" melody. After the intro we are treated to a very annoying late 2000s techno bass line in the left speaker and Ke$ha singing with reverb and pitch shifting in the right speaker. This song is about strip clubs and the lude things go on there especially in the back of the club, drinking, and Ke$ha being proud of her life style choices. The glitter is also a reference to the strippers. There is an intro, verse, chorus, bridge, keyboard "solo", second bridge with "oooh" lyrics, and an outro. What is noteworthy in this song was the idea of using the playground melody, the male backing vocalists, and the drums at the outro. Overall, this song had a somewhat creative premise but Ke$ha's drunk singing and the annoying techno bass line that never stops makes this song very hard to listen too. The lyrical content fails to carry any real creativity. 1 out of 5 stars.

4. Kiss N' Tell-

This song opens up with some simplistic synthesizer playing followed by a drum set and Ke$ha's voice. Her voice sounds comparatively better than before. Ke$ha has found out her boyfriend cheated on her through his friends and she is royally pissed at him. She proceeds to call him a "slut", but then ironically says later she would prefer a man that was more well hung anyways. This song has an intro, verse, a terrible sounding pre-chorus, a lively chorus, a sickly sounding bridge, a post-bridge, and a final chorus with Ke$ha harmonizing with herself multiple times as the outro. What makes this song interesting is... the chorus I guess. The rest of the song doesn't know what style it wants to be and is very lacking at being listenable. Overall, it has a catchy chorus but some parts like the pre-chorus, bridge, and the confusing lyrical content really drag it down. 1 out of 5 stars.

5. Stephen-

The song opens up with Ke$ha attempting to sound like a barbershop quartet, but falls short because she is off pitch at parts. The intro continues until Ke$ha talks and has an echo on the synth voice box that seriously, to quote Todd in the Shadows of ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com, "sounds like a chainsaw going through a Pacman machine" and the verse starts up. Ke$ha is obsessed with a boy named Stephen and wants to steal him away from his current girlfriend. She keeps asking him to call her and later in the song blatantly states that she wants Steven to to be the object of her affections and wishes to "wrap" him in her love. With that in mind he is likely not calling her because she is acting like a stalker. There is an interesting but terrible intro, a verse with really bad valley girl singing, a somewhat pleasant but auto-tune driven chorus, a bridge with bad singing and a very narcissistic emotion to it, and a drunk sounding outro. What makes this song interesting is that this song has a lot of harmonies in it, but none of them are that great. Again, the chorus is catchy but in a bad way because it will creep up on you at random times of the day and beat you over the head. Overall, this song has interesting ideas but the creepy and narcissistic lyrics, off pitch singing, and bad harmonizing ruin it. 1 out of 5 stars.

6. Blah Blah Blah (Ft. 30H!3)-

Ahh, my least favorite song by any artist ever. The song starts off on Ke$ha sighing, then constantly "singing" the phrase "blah blah blah" until the verse starts. In this song Ke$ha is telling a guy she meets at the bar to just shut up and let her screw his brains out. 30H!3 is saying that Ke$ha is full of herself and they are more important. I believe they all agree to a one night three way. -This is where the preaching comes in, playing on where "Stephen" left off: One, I am opposed to sexual objectification such as this in any form, male or female. Two, objectifying men will only give men more right to objectify women. Three, revenge is never the answer. And four, this is not the true road to achieving gender equality.- Now that the preaching is done, this song has an annoying and awful intro, an okay verse, a bad pre-chorus, the worst chorus I've heard in music before, one reason of which is because I know Ke$ha doesn't really have a Boston accent. There is also a mediocre bridge from 30H!3 with a TERRIBLE and grammatically incorrect ending, and a repetitive outro with the keyboard constantly playing the same lick it has been playing through out the song. There is absolutely nothing interesting about this song. Overall, this song is sexist, obnoxious, poorly written with bad singing and instrumentation, and a nightmare inducing experience. I'm giving this negative points. -5 out of 5 stars.

7. Hungover-

This song opens up drums reminiscent of Kanye West's "Jesus Walk With Me." Ke$ha soon comes in sounding actually like a good singer albeit with some weird phrases. Ke$ha has woken up from a party where she met a guy she really liked but he used her for a one night stand. She can't stop thinking about him and she can't tell if she misses him or if she is just hung over. This probably ties back to all of the Jack references and is so far her most human song on the album. There is an intro, a verse, a very beautiful chorus, a verse with weird echoes, an emotional bridge, an small interlude, and fitting outro. What makes this song interesting is the fact that Ke$ha stays on pitch 98% of the time, and only is off pitch in her backing vocals. The harmonizing actually works, and the instruments in the background actually create a convincing emotional setting with a lot of movement. Overall, a very human song that proves that Ke$ha can write good songs and makes me wonder why Ke$ha couldn't write more songs like this. It's also a nice way to forget about "Blah Blah Blah." 4 out of 5 stars.

8. Party at a Rich Dude's House-

We get a very mid 90's rock opening with where the drums come in first, and then a distorted guitar can be heard. Ke$ha keeps singing until there is a break and then the chorus comes in. Ke$ha abandons the humanity from the previous song in exchange for more crazy partying where she urinates in a salad bowl and throws up in a closet, has sex with a guy, and loses her coat all at a rich dude's house. We get a good intro, an okay verse, a very Katy Perry style chorus, a hilarious interlude where Ke$ha sings "da na na na" over the guitar like Beavis and Butt-Head would do, a short pre-chorus, an okay bridge with bad lyrics, an annoying hip-hop interlude, a keyboard "solo" which totally should have been a guitar solo, and a final chorus as the outro. What is interesting in this song is the rock intro and the "da na na na" part which was very over the top. Overall, this piece had a little potential but the lyrics and the rapping, but the lack of a guitar solo destroyed that potential. It was also a tasteless follow up to "Hungover." 2 out of 5 stars.

9. Backstabber-

This song starts off a little bit like a salsa song with a trumpet but soon turns into a generic late 2000s pop techno song with singing where Ke$ha sounds asleep and angry at the same time. In this song one of Ke$ha's friend has spread lies about her personal life. Ke$ha calls her friend a backstabber and tells her that everyone Ke$ha knows thinks she is a lunatic. There is an interesting intro, a boring verse, a boring chorus, a boring bridge, a somewhat interesting chorus, and an outro with Ke$ha's signature drunk vocals. What made this song interesting was the use of the trumpet and the "everybody knows it" backing lyric Ke$ha sang. Unfortunately the trumpet just played the same five notes at different parts in the song which probably means that they recorded it once and played it multiple times. You know, that must have been fun for the trumpet player. In fact they have probably recorded each part once and repeated through out this entire album. Overall, this song has interesting ideas but yet again they are poorly executed as the song is supposed to represent anger, but Ke$ha sounds asleep half the time. This was also lazily put together in the studio. 1 out of 5 stars.

10. Blind-

The opening is vaguely reminiscent of "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. It remains just as silly but turns into a weirder song with the synthesizer and Ke$ha's Katy Perry/Akon style singing. Yet again one of Ke$ha's boyfriends has cheated on her, this time she is calling him blind because he doesn't know that he is hurting her. Ke$ha says she will not miss him. We get an intro, a verse, a pre-chorus, and a very good chorus that hits home the frustration and message of the song perfectly. The bridge is okay, and the final chorus until Ke$ha sings A'capella and I can hear the rough and mucous heavy timbre of her voice. What makes this song interesting is the correct emoting, the strong chorus, and the workable transition from silly to powerful. The song is weak everywhere else starting off with the silly intro, and then Ke$ha's drunken vocals holding back the song's potential. Overall, a decent song set back by Ke$ha's off key singing. 3 out of 5 stars.

11. Dinosaur-

The song opens up with a dinosaur roaring, then it turns into a song very similar to the "bananas" part in "Holla Back Girl" by Gwen Stefani with the same annoying rapping and drums except this one has the obnoxious "bonus" of very annoying filtered auto tune backing vocals. Ke$ha is being hit on by a creepy old dude, and is calling him an old man through out the ENTIRE song. He is creepy, but there comes a point where you're just being rude. There is eventually an interlude with a whistling solo. There is an annoying opening, an annoying verse, a surprising voice whistle with the WORST auto tuned laughing I have ever heard in my life, a bridge with Ke$ha harmonizing over the whistling with terrible backing vocals by Ke$ha, a crappy rap interlude, and a mediocre chorus as the finale. The ONLY thing that makes this song interesting is the whistling section, which is reminiscent of seeing a peanut in a turd. This song sounds like "You Spin me Round (Like a Record Baby)" by Dead or Alive mixed with "Holla Back Girl." It is more annoying than "Friday" and "Whip My Hair" combined, and it has the attitude of a child on a playground going "nyah nyah nyah na na nyah." The vocals are especially horrendous with notes that are auto tuned off pitch ON PURPOSE, the singing even manages to be worse than "Blah Blah Blah." I can sympathize because there are a lot of creeps in the world, but Ke$ha should remember the rule of being respectful to the elderly. Overall, this song is the true musical embodiment of S-H-I-Z-N-A-T!!! -6 out of 5 stars.

12. Dancing with Tears in My Eyes-

This song opens up sounding like someone broke Akon's voice box and rewound it, but soon turns into a 30 Seconds to Mars song with Ke$ha sounding depressed and feeling like she can't go on. In an "ironic" twist it seems that Ke$ha has destroyed the love of her life by either cheating on him or lying too much. Ke$ha now feels her life is over because she has lost him. It has a funny intro, a mellow dramatic verse, a sleepy sounding pre-chorus, a pause, a generic 2009 break up song chorus, an okay bridge with annoying backing vocals, a terrible voice echo interlude, a random pause and then another mellow dramatic chorus with what sounds like a keyboard being forced quit. What makes this song sort of interesting was the bridge. Everything else is generic and badly emoted. Overall, this song is boring , not a good followup to Dinosaur, and sucks even more when compared to "Hung Over." 1 out of 5 stars.

13. Boots & Boys-

I am running out of patience here, the music is just too awful. No one who writes a song like "Dinosaur" deserves to be taken seriously. In this song Ke$ha says she loves both boots and boys, especially the cowboy kind. This song sounds like if Tim Curry sang a techno funk song. The singing is horrible. Plus there is a solo where the keyboard sounds like it is going to self destruct. Overall, this song is crappy. 1 out of 5 stars.

14. Animal-

There is actual piano in this song. It sounds like a late 90s love song. The singing had potential but Ke$ha's tone deafness has ruined it. The chorus is catchy, as always. Ke$ha is asking the man that she is interested in to have sex with her before the night is over because he seems timid. Overall the song is okay, but too mellow dramatic and shows Ke$ha can't decide what sound she wants for her self. 2 out of 5 stars.

Audio Mixing:

The audio mixing is overly compressed making all of the higher pitched instruemnts louder. That is the problem, why would anyone want make Ke$ha's voice audible? Also I despise Auto Tune, it is like sports steroids for singers. Anyone who relies on Auto Tune either is tone deaf or is a quitter. Also auto tuning out of pitch isn't "experimental", it's stupid and obnoxious!

Singing:

Ke$ha can't sing, she shows signs of potential but her style is awful and hard to understand. Her voice is very mucus heavy and throaty, she slurs too much, and plays with auto tune like a five year old. The bad harmonizing is also half the reason this album suffers.

Lyrics:

The lyrics are good and bad because they are easy to understand, but mainly poorly written about crappy subjects.

Instrumentation:

The instrumentation is the other reason the album suffers, because it is just a random mediocre keyboard player stealing all the attention while the other instruments provide static support, especially that trumpet player from "Back Stabber". I would complain that there is no bass guitar and only a synthesizer doing low notes, but that just means every bass player in LA was spared from being credited for this atrocity. Only the choruses and some of the bridges were good, but that is because Ke$ha has been a song writer all of her life and as such I am also granting her the title of "master of psychological warfare."

What I didn't like:

EVERYTHING except "Hungover".

What I did like:

"Hungover" proves that Ke$ha COULD write good songs but chooses to write this tripe instead.

Who would enjoy this album:

Whatever amount of fans Ke$ha has left.

Overall: This album had potential but it was ruined by poor editing, writing, playing, and singing. Plus there were some fishy similarities to other songs on this album that were all over the place. I hate this album so much, I would rather hear Rebecca Black, Nick Jonas, and Pete Wentz do a collaboration album then ever listen to this embodiment of arrogance and trash, and I used to pray for the end of Wentz's career as a musician and "bass player." Next week I am going to through a spiritual cleansing with "Quadrophenia" by The Who on my Requests Blog. Now if you excuse me, I need to listen to jazz and heavy metal to get this crap out of my head.

Rating: *

No music videos today. This album was so bad we need Keyboard Cat to save us.

Play Ke$ha off Keyboard Cat!

Special Request: Julian Casablancas "Phrazes for The Young"

2011-06-12T00:38:00.003-04:00

I am doing another request this week, and it is very different from my previous two. I am vaguely familiar with The Strokes and I like what I have heard of their music, and I also like Julian Casablancas's voice and single "11th Dimension" so this should be an interesting experience. Please understand I am not going to compare this album to The Strokes as I feel the styles are very different.

Title: Phrazes For The Young
Year: 2009
Genre: Pop, Alternative
Artist(s): Julian Casablancas
Copyright: © 2009 RCA/Jive Label Group, a unit of SONY Music Company.

Songs:

1. Out of The Blue-

This song starts off very oddly with techno synth playing, until it fades away and gets replaced with guitars and Casablancas comes in shortly after with the lyrics.I believe that in this song the singer is talking to his current girlfriend about his past actions, saying how revenge twisted him to become careless and that he knows he is going to hell for hurting people that didn't deserve his actions and now lives an empty life with his girlfriend being a stripper. He also muses that the people who deserved the revenge would not have understood it and that when people's roles are reversed so are their opinions. The verses sound very careless and happy to offset the lyrics nicely. The chorus is much brighter sounding representing the character's love for his girlfriend. Throughout the song we get little solos and melodies played alongside Casablancas to help emphasize his point. This song has a nice balance and trade-off in emotions and sounds. Overall, a bit of a long song to analyze but definitely a nice song to listen to. 5 out of 5 stars.

2. Left & Right in The Dark-

This song starts off very mellow and happy with a synthesizer and drums, and even breathing noises for the intro. Eventually the lyrics come in with a matter of fact but calm emotion and tonality. I believe in this song Casablancas is saying it doesn't matter where you are from or what background you have, time catches up to all of us eventually, meaning we are all mortal so you might as well live life to the fullest instead of wasting it. The verses are pretty calm with little embellishments from the guitar. When the choruses come in things get much faster and heavier with a more exciting sound to emphasize living life to the fullest which comes out best when Casablancas sings "wake up". Through out the song the synth and lead guitar trade off playing between Casablancas to help bring greater movement to the song, and Casablancas himself delivers the climax with his voice alongside the guitars. At the end there is a sudden volume swell that is slightly abrupt but is a welcome surprise. Overall, a fun little piece to listen to with a nice message to it. 5 out of 5 stars.

3. 11th Dimension-

This is the only single off this album, and we will try to see why. The song opens up on a catchy bass line with a very 80s style synth playing the rhythm track. The emotion in this song that comes to my mind is mellow but serious. In this song Casablancas is telling us that it isn't right to try and find yourself in other people, and that doing so will only end up hurting you. Instead, believe in yourself and try to have patience and forgiveness for your enemies. The chorus is much more exciting with Casablancas letting people know how they should treat their enemies and be happy with who they are. What makes this song interesting is how the synth takes over in place of the guitar, how the guitar adds extra feel to the music at parts, and the amazing synth solo that is nicely built up to and is followed by an equally good bridge with a very serious emotion to it. Overall, the song has a lot of replay value and is very catchy with a great message to it, even if Casablancas is somewhat nasally. It also acts as a nice 80s throwback. 5 out of 5 stars.

4. 4 Chords of the Apocalypse-

This song starts off very much like an old Gospel song, very mellow and calming which contrasts nicely with the meaning of the lyrics. I believe that in this song Casablancas is telling the story of a couple who argue often and aren't right for each other, so they agree to break up. One partner is happy to be free but the other misses their ex. There are also references to John Lennon and Rocky Horror respectively with the lyrics "war is over" and "time Warp." In the verse things remain calm, but in the chorus things get heavier with distorted guitars and turn funnier and more aggressive. What makes this song special is how quickly things change between calm and angry, Casablancas emoting with his singing, and the first true guitar solo on the album so far. Overall, this piece starts off calm and becomes more intense over time and has good emoting behind it. 5 out of 5 stars.

5. Ludlow Street-

This song starts off with what I believe to be traditional native American instruments playing with what sounds like the experience of being drunk and depressed. The song quickly changes to a more western sounding song followed by the lyrics. This song is a commentary on how European settlers stole away Native American lands, on how much they party and happy they are with the land along with many other cultures they got while most Natives are depressed and drink to forget about how horribly their land was stolen. Casablancas drinks heavily because he knows that the issue over the land will never be solved. The verses are steady and bare drunken anger from Casablancas, the choruses are a little bit happier with louder drums and louder singing. There is also a banjo solo that sounds pretty nice. What makes this song special is the solo, how nicely Casablancas can sound like an angry drunk, albeit with better singing, the banjo solo along with the louder bass and drums, and the overall feel of the song delivering the message. Overall, a very enjoyable song with yet another good message. 5 out of 5 stars.

6. River of Brakelights-

This song starts off like a heavy angry techno song. After a lot of thought it seems this song again plays on the mortality theme, but also seems to imply that life in a city can crush people's dreams from when they were young, turning them old before they can reach their goals. The verses sound like the intro, the pre-choruses are much calmer but repetitive, followed by a climatic chorus. What makes this song special is how easily Casablancas managed to switch all the part together, the interesting dissonant synth solo, the catchy pre-chorus, the emoting Casablancas has here, and how the climax first builds up and then breaks down randomly twice and then stops suddenly. Overall, a very abstract but fun song to listen to with an overall nice sound to it. 5 out of 5 stars.

7. Glass-

This song starts off very oddly with synth sounds and a chorus of whistles, and then Casablancas comes in with very happy sounding music that turns tragic rather quickly. From what I can gather a married couple are talking to each other, and let's say the mafia is coming to kill the husband and he is telling his wife she will be safe behind bulletproof glass. In the later verses it seems the couple are talking. The wife knows secrets that the mafia doesn't want to know, and it is later revealed that the mob boss who sent out his goons wants the wife for himself. The verses get progressively sadder, and the choruses get even more dramatic. What makes this song special is the interesting whistling melodies, Casablancas' very sad vocals where he shows off his higher range, and the most fittingly dramatic guitar solo on the album. Overall, this piece is very powerful but also still happy, and serves as an interesting contrast. 5 out of 5 stars.

8. Tourist-

This song starts off serious, reminiscent of a late Johny Cash song in terms of the guitar playing. In this song Casablancas is talking to a love interest commenting that he feels like a tourist everywhere and that the world will soon be nothing but cities, but when he is with his lover he always feels at home. The verses are serious and very Cash like, but the choruses sound happier with more playing from the synth changing the texture to being happier representing Casablancas love for his partner. What makes this song special is the overall sad feel and switch to happiness, the dual solo from the guitars that changes to a heavier dual solo, and the trumpet used for the climax at the end. Overall, a good song with nice switch of emotion, but tends to drag a lot being the second longest song on the album at 5:03 and not as interesting as "River of Brakelights". 3 out of 5 stars.

9. Old Hollywood-

This song starts off in a very techno style with the emotion of wonderment behind it. After careful deliberation with the I believe the lyrics tell of how often people argue and are influenced by things like television. Casablancas is also commenting that men settle arguments with violence, while women settle them with venom and backstabbing, which is very true. The song is asking for people to stop arguing with each other over what they believe. The verses are slow and laid back but pick up in pace, while the choruses have more layers but keep the same pace as the verses. What makes this song special is the guitar and keyboard duet panned in the left and right speakers, the interesting texture of darkness throughout the song, and how this song uses a little to accomplish a lot. Overall, a nice break from the previous song and very thought provoking and somewhat reminiscent of Depeche Mode's "Stripped". 5 out of 5 stars.

10. 30 Minute Boyfriend-

The song starts off yet again like a Depeche Mode song, very sleazy and like something wrong is going on. The lyrics in this song tell of a girl who had a one night stand with her friend hence cheating on her boyfriend. The girl talks with her boyfriend and he is afraid that she will become what other people think of her, which I assume means that they think she is a whore. The boyfriend wants to spend time with her, but she doesn't want to be with him anymore so she dumps him. The verses are sleazy, but the choruses have a sense of longing like the boyfriend is talking to the girlfriend. What makes this song interesting is the synth solo that puts out the emotion of the song well, Casablancas's emoting, and the overall sound of the song that captures the better elements of dark techno music. Overall, a pretty solid techno song. 5 out of 5 stars.

11. I Wish it Was Christmas Today-

This song is pretty much made of most Christmas music standards, vaguely reminiscent of the Beach Boys "The Baron" except more New Wave and enjoyable. The lyrics in this song are pretty much what the title suggests, and I am not going to bother going into them because this is a joke song from Saturday Night Live. The verses are calmer, while the choruses show how excited Casablancas is in his wish. What makes this song special is how enjoyable the twin guitar solo is again being in both speakers, the jam session after the solo, and the loud bass in the climax to the sound of sleigh bells. Overall, a quick and very enjoyable little Christmas style song. 5 out of 5 stars.

Audio Mixing:

The mixing on this album is pretty good in how well most instruments can be heard. There is nothing immensely over-powering. My only complaints are that the bass is underpowered in most parts, and for a while I wasn't sure if it was there. It is in the mix, it's just very quiet and is replaced by the synth often and Casablancas voice can be hard to hear at times in certain songs because of how low he sings, like "11th Dimension" and "Ludlow Street". Otherwise the mixing is good, just not as good as "The Wall."

Singing:

Casabalncas has a fairly wide range, being able to sing Baritone, Tenor, and Bass parts without the cursed program auto tune. His singing is nasally and his words are hard to hear at parts, but I liken this to the fact that he has a very noticeable Spanish accent. Casablancas is also very good at emoting for what he sings. His best vocals were in "Glass", "Ludlow Street", "Out of the Blue", "Tourist", and "11th Dimension." Casablancas has a good voice and knows how to use it pretty well.

Instrumentation:

Three words, fitting and diverse. The Instrumentation borrows from a lot of standards and different artists but is performed uniquely. He often solos two instruments at once, and has the synth and guitar trade places for different songs. The instrumentation also reflects the emotions of the lyrics well in most cases and has a very enjoyable sound to them.

What I didn't like:

I disliked how much "Tourist" dragged on, which especially didn't help as I had a headache while reviewing that song.

What I did like:

The album has a nice sound to it and is fun to listen to over time. It has a nice pace and has some very enjoyable songs.

Who would enjoy this album:

Fans of Depeche Mode, Gospel, Johnny Cash, New Wave, and possibly the Beach Boys as the surfer rock vibe is still there from The Strokes. I think fans of The Strokes could go either way on this album as it is very different from The Strokes music.

Overall:

This is a solid first album, with good songs, fairly good lyrics, and songs with wide range of influences. Only one song really drags on, otherwise this album is very solid and enjoyable. Next week I am going to finally resume my other blog and review Ke$ha's first album.

Rating: ****

11th Dimension Official Video:

Links to my reviews of Pink Floyd's "The Wall"

2011-05-31T18:10:00.001-04:00

Disc One.

Disc Two.

Enjoy. :)

A Link to my Requested review of Led Zeppelin IV.

2011-04-03T01:13:00.001-04:00

I have launched my special requests blog today, and you can find it here.

Breaking Benjamin- Final Synopsis

2011-03-19T21:04:00.002-04:00

After reviewing all of their albums (not their EPs, sorry but I don't have any of them. If you want me to review their EPs I will do so my requests blog) I can say they are an interesting band with a unique sounds. However,they also have a couple of quirks.

The quirks are in every album they wrote they had hard to understand lyrics, as the songs were written more about blending with the music, and not for creating a story like in Folk music. Another quirk is the way the signer swears sometimes, in his accent it sounds a little funny, and he also tends to rush the swearing sometimes. That and its just that Ben sounds funny when he says words sometimes. Also, the band tends to use the same song structure and subjects a lot of the time of soft verse and hard chorus, with a climax, solo, and conclusion (the subjects being about struggle, suffering, bad relationships, and breaking up.) Lastly, for some reason this band has been through a total of six drummers, which is two more people than how many bass players Metallica has been through. lol

Quirks aside, they have a very unique kind of sound that involves a balance between all of the instruments all it only eventually became focused on guitar and vocals (which are good in their own right, Ben has a very unique voice). At the start with Saturate they were full of energy eager to let every instrument have an intro or a solo. However, when We Are Not Alone came out they cut back on the solos, but they were still pretty prominent. In W.A.N.A. the band took a much heavier approach to the song writing (but also made sure to add in some soft songs). In Phobia there were few solos, but the band members played pivotal parts together in creating the band's best sounding album to date. It was only in Dear Agony where the guitar and vocals took center stage, but it was written and executed poorly. This is most likely because of the emotion of the songs, and because Breaking Benjamin had thrived off a healthy balance for so long. I'd say every musician in their group is very skilled at what they do, even the latest drummer (though each drummer has had their own distinct style.)

For years I was proud to say that there was a modern alternative metal band that wasn't "Emo", but unfortunately Dear Agony fits in that stereotype (minus the post-pop punk feel). Though Dear Agony has disappointed me, it does make me happy to say that they only had one week album. (Ratings of albums at the bottom of the page.)

Another interesting thing that I noticed back in 2007 was how often Breaking Benjamin was used in Animae Motion Videos as a soundtrack, and how perfectly their music fits in with video games. I know for a fact that Ben is an avid video game player, which is probably why they did Blow Me Away for Halo 2. To me it is not unlikely that he choose to write his music in a similar style to most game compositions (see the guitar cover of "The Diary of Jane" below and see what I mean).

For me personally, it may just be the audience that Breaking Benjamin targets, but I can relate a lot to some of their songs and lyrics as they have been here helping me through the years.

Overall, even if Dear Agony was a disappointment, I am proud to say that Breaking Benjamin was my first rock band that I truly got into.

Ratings:

Saturate: *****
We Are Not Alone: ****
Phobia: *****
Dear Agony: ***

Just try and tell me you CAN'T hear this as the boss music in a Megman X Zero game!

Diary of Jane Guitar cover:

Breaking Benjamin- Dear Agony

2011-03-15T00:36:00.002-04:00

2009 was a very hard year for me, the summer in particular held a series of painful events that made me mature and shattered the remaining hopes from my childhood (like thinking the world revolves around me. lol). 2009 is also the year Dear Agony came out. Kind of funny how fate (and target audiences) work some times, eh? This album represented my emotions down to a T. However at the time I was hoping for this album to lift my spirits, not cast me down. Today I am looking at the latest installment in the Breaking Benjamin discography: Dear Agony.

Note: I can't give the names of the people who helped produce and mix the album because Breaking Benjamin never added this album to their discography for some reason on their website, Shallowbay.com

Title: Dear Agony
Year: 2009
Genre: Emotional Metal, Techno Rock
Artist(s): Breaking Benjamin
Copyright: © 2009 Holly Wood Records

Songs:

1. Fade Away

This track pretty much sets the mood of the album. The lyrics subjectively are similar to Next to Nothing, in that it tells of a broken up relationship from the perspective of both partners. It ends with the heart broken person saying they will fade away from this life, rather than the person moving on like in Next to Nothing. It is dramatic and very whiny in tone and emotion, which fits the lyrics. There is a slight guitar solo, but it doesn't really impress me or carry me anywhere. This song sounds pretty standard in terms of modern rock music with nothing truly noteworthy, and it tends to drag on. 1 out of 5 stars.

2. I Will Not Bow

This is the main single of the album, and it is also the song that set my expectations high for the album (what better way to follow Phobia than to write a hard rock album with awesome songs like this?). It is a very intense hard rock song that grabs your attention and puts you in a triumphant mood, like you could beat Ninja Gaiden without cheats. The lyrics tell of a man in a struggle who wishes to become victorious and forsake the world to live life on his own terms, one of my favorite songs off the album. My only complaint is that the contrast between this song and the rest of the album it barely fits in. 5 out of 5 stars.

3. Crawl

A very angst driven song, but not exactly like Topless. The lyrics tell of a couple in an abusive relationship, with lyrics from the perspectives of both people. The lyrics end with the victim becoming as evil as the abuser. The mood of the instruments fits the emotion of the lyrics well, but I get the feeling the instruments are being there purely for support to just let Ben's voice do all of the emotional styling. Better than Fade Away, but still nothing special. 3 out of 5 stars.

4. Give Me a Sign

This is the second single on the album. Somewhat slow, and very minimalistic, this song has a very whiny tonality to it as well. The lyrics tell of someone who is near death and feels no hope anymore, and someone else who is a loved one who wants to save the dying person. I recognize that the rhythm guitar is trying to make the same hypnotic echo effect like it did in Phobia, but it just comes off as mellow dramatic. The only real thing I like about this song are the lyrics in the "God help me I've come undone" and "There's something buried in the words" parts (the latter of which is the climax.) Somewhat enjoyable, but fails to be enjoyable as a whole. 3 out of 5 stars

5. Hopeless

It starts off with a slow and somewhat promising intro, but breaks into generic guitar riffs. The emotion goes from feeling somewhat lively, then to the person realizing his fate. The lyrics tell of someone who drowned themselves out of guilt and their spirit is starting their descent into hell. The instrumentation bothers me at parts, but I really like Ben's singing in this song, I can tell he actually cared about this one, plus there is a good balance between the screaming and clean vocals. Overall a decently enjoyable song 4 out of 5 stars.

6. What Lies Beneath

The tonality of this song is very fight filled, you can tell they wrote this about a struggle. The meaning of this song is yet again about an abusive relationship from both perspectives, except the victim is calling their partner the devil. This song is the closest I can hear to Phobia and We Are Not Alone, albeit a tiny bit whiny. This is the best hard rock song on the album next to I Will Not Bow. Overall a very enjoyable piece. 4 out of 5 stars.

7. Anthem of the Angels

This song starts off low key with a violin and a cello playing together, then breaks into heavy guitars. It returns to the classic style of Breaking Benjamin of soft and hard parts, and building up to a climax. The lyrics tell of someone who is near a dying loved one, and at the start of the song the caring person says they wish to join to the dying person, but later in the song the caring person accepts that their loved one is going to die. I like how clearly the bass comes through and how good the string section sounds, along with how good Ben's singing is. Overall this track is probably the best on the album so far. 5 out of 5 stars.

8. Lights Out

This is the third single on the album. The emotion and sound in this album are very angst driven and very threatening. The lyrics in this song tell of the Devil commenting on how is going to kill someone by corrupting their life then poisoning their body while saying he can't afford to care for the person because it would make him stop trying to kill the person. The opening of the song is a little weak, though they do switch between heavy and soft. I think they do a good job of painting the picture of the lyrics, and the song becomes highly repetitive. The only really enjoyable part of this song is the short guitar solo. Overall an annoyingly repetitive song. 2 out of 5 stars.

9. Dear Agony

This song reminds a little of Here We Are, but a bit heavier. The emotion is very sincere and passionate. The lyrics describe the singers struggle with a lung infection in how he wishes to fight it but he feels highly threatened by death. The song is beautiful sounding, but perhaps too beautiful, as one might expect the song to be more desperate then going into triumph and hope. Instead it goes from passion into triumph, and then desperation in the chorus, which doesn't make much sense to me. The song is repetitive and has no climax, but is overall enjoyable, albeit somewhat confusing. 4 out of 5 stars.

10. Into the Nothing

Yet another very angst driven song, the song goes from heavy to soft. From what I can gather of the lyrics the song is about a couple where one of the partners is evil, and the other partner is trying to redeem the other partner as they are trying to escape something evil coming into their lives. I like how the bass manages to be prominent but not overpowering (the bass is a bit reminiscent of Iron Maiden in sound.) The song remains interesting and actually caries me like their older songs do, so this song is effective at creating a good mood and picture. Overall very enjoyable, albeit a bit whiny. 3.5 out of stars.

11. Without You

This song has a very desperate and hopeful sound to it. The lyrics in this song tell of a partner in an abusive relationship who wants to make their partner see the error of their ways, but as the song ends the person realizes it is best to let the abusive one go. In the end the victim forgives the abuser. There is a slight hypnotic sense to this piece, and you can really tell Ben is emoting well in this song. Also the last chorus is very convincing, the climax is great and it leads into a very well written string section. My favorite song off the album, it is a great choice to close the album with. It's only shortcoming is that it doesn't really feel solid to me, just like all of the songs on this album. 5 out of 5 stars.

Audio Mixing:

The mixing in this album is a bit traditional and generic, but it works. The instruments come through very clearly, and the bass in songs like in Anthem of the Angels and Into the Nothing is very prominent but not overpowering. The guitars go from a kind of muddy distortion to a crystal clear reverberation, which is a strange contrast. The drums remain consistent in volume, but the volume is turned down at parts to bring the guitars and string sections (which works, but it is still unfortunate for the drummer.) From what I can tell the instruments remain in both speakers, and they only bring up volume for dramatic effect. I'm pleasantly surprised at parts by the mixing, though I feel the mixing on Phobia was a bit better.

Singing:

The singing is a bit lacking on this album. Ben's scream sounds more tired now rather than filled with energy like it used too. I guess this is bound to happen after so many years of touring and screaming at the top of his lungs (probably with out protecting his voice), I mean just look at Robert Plant and James Hetfield these days. That and his voice is bound to change as he gets older. My other issue is that Ben doesn't really emote as well as he did in Phobia, though he did a good job with With Out You. Ben's natural tone is good, but you can tell he's been smoking and that he is struggling with a lung infection. He does manage to sound good on songs like Hopeless and Anthem of the Angels. Lastly, Ben has finally enunciated his words well enough to create understandable phrases that don't sound awkward or out of time.

Instrumentation:

This is where the album truly suffers. I feel like in every song the instruments were only there for support of the vocals (which are lacking in there own way.) Plus the only solos are for guitar, no bass or drums. The structure is generally the same with their previous albums with the soft and heavy verse to chorus and building to a climax, but without many memorable climaxes. The tonality is generally miserable and very canned in.

What I didn't like:

The songs feel incomplete and canned with unconvincing singing. Plus there was an overall generic feeling to the album.

What I did like:

The string arrangements were very beautiful, and a couple of the songs are worth hearing.

Who would enjoy this album:

Fans of music about personal suffering, and people who like music with implied themes of Christianity.

Overall:

I know I may be sounding a little harsh here, but the album has managed to surprise me with a few of the songs being enjoyable to listen too (I was intending to give the album only one star). I think the album sounds the way it does is because of the singer being at risk of dying from a lung infection and the band almost breaking up (no pun intended). Breaking Benjamin is now on hiatus due to Ben being sick. I would rather have a mediocre album than the group splitting up, but that is what happened with Metallica's St. Anger (though this album is much similar to Re-Load), which shows that change isn't always a good thing. The events behind the writing doesn't excuse the song writing when comparing this album to Phobia because its like we went straight from Master of Puppets to Re-Load (a big unwanted change that feels incomplete and has a lot of filler). Overall the album is okay on its own that may grow on you eventually, but a let down when compared to Phobia because of the incomplete and generic sound. Next time I will start my requests blog by reviewing Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin.

Rating: ***

I Will Not Bow music video:

Give me a Sign music video:

Lights Out unofficial video:

Breaking Benjamin- Phobia

2011-03-03T01:35:00.001-05:00

I apologize for how long it has taken for me to write a follow up to We Are Not Alone, school has been hectic as of late. This is by far my favorite Breaking Benjamin Album in their discography. It has remained in my heart, soul, and mind since it came out in 2006 (has it really been five years already? Jeez, I'm getting old. lol) This is their third studio album and it has many fan favorite songs. This album is different from the previous two in the way it sounds, and today we will see if that change truly was for the better.

Title: Phobia
Year: 2006
Genre: Alternative Metal, Hard Rock, Alternative Blues, and Techno Rock
Artist(s): Breaking Benjamin
Copyright: © 2006 Holly Wood Records

Songs:

1. Phobia (Intro)

Truly something that sets this album apart from the previous two is the instrumental opening. We get to hear the band jamming out on their instruments to sounds like planes moving buy and flight stewardesses speaking in numerous languages (though that is ironic if we remember the meaning of Break my Fall.) We hear the noise of a door opening to signify the start of the album. A unique way to start an album that shows they can be very experimental. 5 out of 5 stars.

2. The Diary of Jane

This is one of Breaking Benjamin's most popular songs. This song fits well in the alternative metal genre because it is heavy, but isn't angry, rather it sounds very exciting. The lyrics tell of a man who is trying to win the heart of a woman he loves but she isn't paying attention to him, he eventually becomes so devoted he realizes just how much of his life has been ruined by the unrequited love. This song has a slow build up and a heavy introduction, it switches from light to heavy in verse and chorus from with the chorus being the heaviest. In this song he screams when appropriate, and the climax is right at the last chorus with the backing vocals making a quiet but interesting melody with Ben until we get a soft outro. A very enjoyable piece that sounds unique and builds nicely to a climax. 5 out of 5 stars.

3. Breath

The second single off the album, this song is more low key than The Diary of Jane. This song has a very dark and serious feel to it. The lyrics tell of an ex couple who fight with each other very often and the singer is saying it is better if they stay apart. It starts with a slow build up in the intro and then goes to a heavy intro, followed by a soft verse heavy chorus pattern. The climax comes in on the "I'm waiting" lyrics. This piece is more relaxed than the previous song, but it remains just as enjoyable. 5 out of 5 stars.

4. You

This song is very low key with a soft verse and heavy chorus. It has kind of a depressing but mysterious feel to it. The lyrics are hard for me to decipher, but from what I can understand the singer feels like he has hit rock bottom but does not want to drag his lover down with him. This song is different from the previous two in the sense that in the sense that the climax is at the very end and even that is pretty low key. Musically simple, but still very enjoyable and very haunting. 5 out of 5 stars.

5. Evil Angel

This song has a very hopeful sound to it, which makes sense since the song is about the singer wishing for a savior to take him to a happier place. The song goes from soft to hard, and has an interesting guitar solo as the climax. This song is very exciting to listen too, and Ben's singing is very enjoyable in it. 5 out of 5 stars.

6. Until the End

This is the third single off this album. This song's emotion fits the tittle perfectly in that it is very triumphant against harsh odds. The lyrics tell of two people who fight very often, but the singer wants to win no matter what. This song manages to pull off being very hard rock oriented but also sounding happy at the same time, and it also has the first time I have heard this band swear on tempo so perfectly. A truly enjoyable and inspiring song. 5 out of 5 stars.

7. Dance With the Devil

This song is very different from the previous song. It is very low key but heavily dramatic at the same time. The lyrics tell of a man who is with a bad girlfriend and he is dancing with the devil by giving her another chance, at the end of the song he gives up on her and moves on. I used to dislike this song, but it has really grown on me. I like how hypnotic the guitars sound on the chorus, and how perfectly the entire band sets the mood musically. 5 out of 5 stars.

8. Topless

This song is very angst sounding, like if your stomach ulcer had a theme song. It is down tempo but still heavy. This all makes perfect sense considering the song is about a rapist and his victim talking to each other. This is the only song off the album that I don't really like, the instrumentation and the oddly harmonized singing I feel could have been a lot better if it were performed differently. That being said I do have to give them credit for making the music match the concept so nicely, that and I enjoy the instrumentation in the chorus. 3 out of 5 stars.

9. Here we Are

This song is another strong contrast to the previous one. This song is much more ballad like, meaning it is melodic and beautiful. The lyrics tell of an ex boyfriend who is talking to his former girlfriend about how pathetic he feels and how much of a drama queen she is. He wishes they could stop fighting and move on with their life. Well it uses the typical Breaking Benjamin song formula (soft to hard, build up to climax) it manages to really entrance me in the emotion of the song and feel for the character in it, it achieves this by again being very hypnotic. 5 out of 5 stars.

10. Unknown Soldier

This song is very triumphant, but not in a cheesy or typical way. Kudos to them for using a helicopter sound effectively. The lyrics tell of a soldier who is going to sacrifice him self to save someone he cares about, and that he looks forward to it. I like the overall feel of this song, the echo the guitar makes really helps to set the mood here. 5 out of 5 stars.

11. Had Enough

This is the angriest song Breaking Benjamin has ever written. Heavy and intense, the instrumentation lets you know that the singer is pissed. The lyrics tell of the singer being tired of fighting with an abusive con artist and that the singer will forever pity and hate the thief. I love this song because everything about it impresses from start to finish, with Ben screaming very convincingly "Heaven help you!" with the guitar solo in the background for the climax. If someone ever stole money from you, or if you had a greedy ex lover who broke your heart, this is the perfect song to dedicate to them. 6 out 5 stars

12. You Fight Me

This song is more down tempo and relaxed from Had Enough, but still very angst driven. The lyrics tell of two people, with one fighter loosing and the other dominating in a very menacing manner. This is where Breaking Benjamin got really experimental, it seems to me they wanted to do their own spin of combining rapping, techno, and hard rock. Or in other words their own original spin on Nu Metal, which makes me think Linkin Park served as an inspiration on this song. Some might say the lyrics are a little week and rushed during writing, but it flows nicely in the song so it doesn't matter to me. A very thought provoking piece. 5 out of 5 stars.

13. Phobia (Outro)

Similar yet different from the opening, this one plays more like a finishing climax in the sense that it is heavier as opposed to a slow build up with a very long guitar solo. It is similar in that there are noises and voices. The song ends with a an electric violin playing (the only time you would hear a bowed instrument if you have the Itunes version of this CD) and the door from the intro fittingly closing.

14. Diary of Jane Acoustic

If you have the hard copy CD or one of the early releases then you have this wonderful rendition of an otherwise great song. Featuring Sebastian Davin of Dropping Daylight on piano and David Eggar on cello, this piece is their most emotional and beautiful ballad to date as the combination of piano and cello along with Ben's heartfelt singing really help bring out the emotional nature of the unrequited love in this piece. The lyrics are the same as before, and the song is still very familiar sounding but different in a good way. 5 out of 5 stars.

Audio Mixing:

The band uses similar tricks as on their previous album, just with more noises and people talking this time around to help set moods and signify the beginning and end of the album. The sound quality is the best I have ever heard so far from this band. Again the audio quality changes to fit the mood of the song as it did in We Are Not Alone, but it retains a strong sense of consistency as well. I wouldn't say it sounds clear exactly, I would actually use the words shiny and warm to describe the sound because of the echo effects the guitars used along with the somewhat muddy and deep bass really makes me think of a crystal being held in front of a fire. I tip my hat off to audio engineers Ben Grosse and Paul Pavao for the job they did here.

Singing:

The singing on this album has improved greatly over the previous album. Ben emotes every line perfectly, and the swearing no longer comes off as awkward or off tempo. His singing on tracks like Evil Angel shows just how beautiful a voice Ben Burnely has, while every other song shows how proper emoting can make a voice very versatile. My only real complaint is that Ben still isn't pronouncing some of his words clearly which create moments similar to the swearing from We Are Not Alone in that they are somewhat off timing and sound strange. Otherwise the singing is top notch.

Instrumentation:

Four words this time: Versatile, emotional, hypnotic, and complex. Most of the songs follow the pattern of a soft verse and heavy chorus, but the band does change it up in a few songs. What really amazes me about the instrumentation is how in every song the instruments create the mood and picture of the lyrics so perfectly (I have yet to hear a song as angry as Had Enough, though to be fair I am going to review the Tool discography someday. lol) even in the song Topless. Another thing that is nice is that solos start to make a comeback in this album, though you need to know where to look (like the bass in You, or the Drums in the "Hold on" section in Dance with the Devil, and the guitar solo in the Outro.) The instrumentation is top notch and the best I've heard from this band.

What I didn't like:

The song Topless was not really my style.

What I did like:

To quote my self from my Saturate review, everything else especially since the lyrics are a a lot less vague now.

Who would enjoy this album:

Lyrics about rape and sex aside, I truly think this is an album everyone should have a chance to listen too.

Overall:

This album is radically different from their previous two albums (though some similarities remain), as such Breaking Benjamin is saying good bye to their Grunge roots. Also, after going over the album it is safe for me to say that in my eyes this is Breaking Benjamin's musical opus; their masterpiece. With beautiful singing, versatile and mood setting music, and great audio production Phobia is truly a wonderful album that everyone should have the chance to hear. Next time I will close their discography with their latest album, Dear Agony. Expect it to be less positive than the previous reviews and also shorter in style.

Rating: *****

Diary of Jane Music Video:

Breath Music Video:

Unofficial Unknown Soldier Music Video:

Breaking Benjamin- We Are Not Alone

2011-01-31T16:33:00.001-05:00

Breaking Benjamin's second studio album is very different from their first one. The album is much heavier and more serious, but does still retain a few similarities to Saturate. We Are Not Alone is what got me to like this group back in late 2005 when I got it as a birthday present from a friend, and now six years later I am going to revisit it and review it officially. Also, since my last review was so lengthy I have reformed my style to be more straight to the point.

Title: We Are Not Alone
Year: 2004
Genre: Alternative Metal, Post Grunge
Artist(s): Breaking Benjamin
Copyright: © Hollywood Records 2004

Songs:

1. So Cold-

The first song on this album is definitely one of the heaviest and angry of the album. The song is written about an extremely cold individual who the singer wishes who would change their ways. This is the the main single of the album and displays how well the band can play heavy metal. 5 out of 5 stars.

2. Simple Design-

This song is very happy sounding, yet serious. The song is written about the singer being out of a slightly troubled relationship that his girlfriend called off. He is saying that he will be a better boyfriend when the time comes. Truly an interesting combination of Alternative, Grunge, and Metal that creates a very nice sound with interesting embellishments from the instruments. 5 out of 5 stars.

3. Follow-

This song is neither happy nor angry, it's more like desperation crawling at hope. Definitely a more alternative metal piece it is heavy but not as heavy as So Cold. The lyrics are vague (what a surprise), but from what I can tell he is hoping to become close a girl but she doesn't want to acknowledge he exists. Definitely an enjoyable song with a healthy amount of alterations. 5 out of 5 stars.

4. Firefly-

This song somehow manages to sound happy yet angry at the same time. The lyrics are vague, but from what I can gather the song is written about the singer having a friend who is using him, though the singer catches the friend in the act but continues to do favors for the friend, eventually the singer looses interest because the friend is copying him too much and leaves him behind (somewhat reminiscent of Wish I May from Saturate) This one is fun to sing along too, the only part of the song that doesn't really fit in is when Ben uses the F word because it seems really rushed and goes against the tempo. 4 out of 5 stars.

5. Break My Fall-

Heavy and beautiful with a down tempo feel, this song was written about the singer's fear of flying and him asking for help in conquering that fear. The song is very enjoyable and has an interesting section towards the end where you can hear a pilot saying his plane is crashing. 5 out of 5 stars.

6. Forget It-

This song is even more beautiful and down temp than the previous song, in fact it is a ballad like Forever except slightly faster paced. The lyrics are about the singer talking to an ex-girlfriend and asking her to forget about something very embarrassing to him and for them to stop fighting, seeing as the song ends on a happy note with the singer saying "I can live forever here" he probably gets his wish granted. Breaking Benjamin wrote this song with help from Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, and it shows in how relaxing and pleasant to the ear it is. 5 out of 5 stars.

7. Sooner or Later-

This is the second single on the album, this is the song that got me into Breaking Benjamin (a person's first break up is always the hardest). Far from your ordinary breakup song, the music conveys very well the emotions of frustration, betrayal, and tired of breaking up. Towards the end of the song we get to hear Ben's extra high singing, which is just beautiful. 5 out of 5 stars.

8. Breakdown-

This song is serious, angry, yet fun all at the same time. We open with an interesting piano setting the mood nicely for the frustrated lyrics. The song is again somewhat vague as the only thing I can gather is that he intends to hire a prostitute, but he stops from going through with it because he feels cripplingly guilty about hiring her. This would explain the dry and heavy sound of the guitars. An enjoyable song with creepy imagery behind it. 5 out of 5 stars.

9. Away-

The emotions in this song are fact telling mixed with a sense of worried longing in the choruses. The lyrics tell of a lover arguing with the singer where it becomes so bad that she is at risk of being taken away to what I am assuming is a mental hospital. This song is very heavy yet light, an interesting combination but the song eventually drags on. 3 out of 5 stars.

10. Believe-

The angriest and heaviest song on the album, it is about the singer arguing with someone he really doesn't like and that he is forced to choose sides and "wrong rights." This song opens up a very aggressive and deep sounding bass intro that sets the mood perfectly for the song, Ben switches a lot between his screaming vocals and his clean vocals to show just how good he at both singing styles (You can actually understand the screaming vocals.) There is a little breakdown, then it builds back up
to the verse and closes on an amazing climax. A very intense song that is fun to sing along with (provided you don't throw out your voice.) 5 out of 5 stars.

11. Rain-

The most low key and beautiful ballad on the album, it is all acoustic instruments along with a string quartet and rain sound effects. The song is written about the lead singer staying in a relationship just so he won't have to be alone (A sad thing, but it does happen to people who hate being alone). The song is low key and lets off to a soft climax at the end. A very enjoyable piece. 5 out of 5 stars.

Audio Mixing:

The mixing on this album is very well done, while at a first listen you may not think so because of how dry the instruments sound sometimes. They do this on purpose. The point of making the sound different on each song is to give the song new life and better reflect the emotions the band is giving out in their music. On the down side the bass is hard to hear in some songs, and the drums are often put out in the back burner, but in some songs the drums and bass really come full forwards along with the singing. They also do things like putting some instruments in the right or left speaker, and add sound effects like they did in Rain and Break my Fall (which is common in Rock bands ever since the Beatles did back in the 60s.) Overall this album is more compressed than Saturate, but it is done very effectively.

The Singing:

The singing is beautiful, with Ben's voice being a bit easier to hear than the previous album. Ben's voice is not the same but is still good, for instance the scream has more depth to it now. The singing is also well balanced between the clean and screaming vocals (even in Believe), and the backup singers don't overpower the main voice. I especially like that we get to hear Ben's higher register at the end of Sooner or Later.

Instrumentation:

One word: complex. The guitars play separate melodies while the bass plays it's own supporting melodies, and the drums add interesting and well paced rhythm. The sound also varies by song, yet the songs still transfer very well to the next one. Unlike Saturate, the guitar solos were put in together with the singing, meaning technically there are very few solos in the album. Also, the playing of each instrument perfectly captures the emotions of the lyrics.

What I didn't like:

My only real complaints are the that audio mixing is dry on some songs, which works well conceptually but not everyone can pick up on that, especially on their first listen through. Plus the swearing didn't work as well it did in the last album. The lyrics were vague again, though not as bad as in Saturate. Also, Away tended to be a tad repetitive. Lastly, the sense of fun that Saturate had was traded in for a more serious feel.

What I did like:

I liked the overall sound of the album with the instruments, singing, mixing, and effects they used. It is an album with many colors to it (variety and versatility are important aspects of any musician.) I also like that some of the lyrics bring up good points about relationships and friendships and how they can end easily. I think in a way they pay homage to their influences of Tool by making songs that are complex but also considered catchy by many people.

Who would enjoy this album:

Fans of numerous Metal, Rock, and Alternative styles.

Overall:

This album is a far cry from Saturate, with a more somber and serious air to it. In fact this change alienated a fair number of their early fans. However, they pull off the change successfully and not obnoxiously like some other artists do when they radically change their style. Also, looking back at it now I am glad to say it is a solid rock album. This album is not their best work, but it is definitely not their worst. It is worth checking out for some very interesting and enjoyable songs.

Rating: ****

So Cold Music Video:

Sooner or Later Music Video:

Breaking Benjamin- Saturate

2011-01-08T23:51:00.002-05:00

Back in 2005 these guys were my favorite artists, I was obsessed over them. Now I still listen to them but only casually as I have "grown" out of Rock & Roll to appreciate many different styles of music. Anyways, this is my tribute to who I think is the most unique commercial yet underground band in Rock music today. This blog is going to be longer than my previous one because the nature of the songs wont allow me to simply summarize all the songs and styles together. Also just as a warning, the lyrics tend to get dark and somewhat explicit.

Title: Saturate
Year: 2002
Genre: Alternative Rock, Post Grunge
Artist(s): Breaking Benjamin
Copyright: © Hollywood Records 2002

Songs:

1. Wish I May-

The first thing I would like to point out is that Ben Burnley's lyrics are very vague, and exist more to make you feel like you are in a new world where he is telling you life stories, rather than to create an easy to understand song. My interpretation of the lyrics is that Lead singer Ben Burnley is having a feud with someone who has alcohol abuse issues and wants to be friends with Ben. Ben tells the person they will be enemies if he continues to bother and fight him, and in the end with the lyrics "BLIND EYES SHINE THROUGH" the person finally understands and stops bothering Ben. The first thing you hear is the song growing in with the guitars playing and Ben using his screaming vocals (which I might say he has the cleanest sounding scream vocals I've heard so far of any band) right into a short interlude before the vocals come in. When the vocals enter you can hear Ben's unique tenor voice with his distinct Pennsylvanian accent. When the Chorus comes in the beat slows down and the guitars and bass provide beautiful and solid accompaniment. Verse 2 is the same as Verse 1. After the second Chorus we get a Bridge where the drums remain constant, and the guitars and bass keep playing the same lines over and over while Ben says "Oh no" and the lines continue until screams and they break into a guitar solo that has a single guitar, and then the rhythm guitarist Aaron fink joins in on the solo with Ben. Towards the end of the song the last interlude has the same accompaniment that the Chorus but has completely new singing, followed by the Intro guitar parts and then the guitars play repeat the same part when the "Blind eyes" lyrics on screaming vocals come in, where they finally resolve to the end and even at the end a single guitar can be heard playing slowly until it stops and the song stops after a few seconds of sustained notes. This song is heavy and serious, yet fun at the same time. A great song and a great way to start their first album. 5 out of 5 stars.

2. Medicate-

Yet again the lyrics here are hard to get. My interpretation is that the lead singer is caught in a physical relationship with someone, and they have intercourse so much he needs Viagra (hence the song title Medicate) to keep up to pace with her. Also, because she is good at understanding him she has broken his emotions and now all the singer has is empty physical love. Those lyrics are very sad, but the nature of the song points out how serious the issue is with a kind of urgent emotion in the Verse, and being somewhat angry during the Chorus. The song opens with all instruments jamming out together, then slows down to the Verse. During the Verse it is pretty low key with the lead singer harmonizing with him self in echoes building up to the Chorus. The Chorus is faster in pace has the guitars doing more work until until the break down and goes back to the Verse section. It continues in this pattern until Ben sings the Chorus three times, and after the second time we are lead to a kind of climatic scream with Ben and the other band members yelling "Yeah!" He then sings the Chorus again until it leads into the Outro where Ben is singing "doo woo doo" and it does this pattern until the chords stop being played and the song ends with the sound of a guitar being unplugged. While not the happiest song, it's a fun song to sing along with or just enjoy as a likable solid Rock tune. It also serves as a true reminder of what eventually happens to people in sex only relationships. 5 out of 5 stars.

3. Polyamorous-

Many of you would know this as the top single form the album. The song is about the lead singer having a friend who is basically a sex addict. The meaning of the song is unclear to me whether the lead singer intends to have a fight or sleep with the sex addict, but which ever option it is he intends to go through with it no matter what anyone tells him. This songs opens with a techno themed opening with music notes being echoed, then goes straight into rock playing. When the first Verse comes in the instruments sound very clear, and the first time in the album Mark James Keplaski's bass can really be heard well. The Verse switches between low key and fast playing until it enters the Chorus when Ben says "So!". When the Chorus comes in the guitars and Ben's singing speeds up and sounds fairly catchy. When the Chorus ends it goes into the second Verse, followed by the second Chorus. As the second Chorus ends it breaks into an interlude where Ben holds a high note and keeps singing "How do you know?" in long and short notes on the word "know", there is even a small guitar solo until Ben asks "Well how do you know?" when the music stops and then suddenly breaks into the Chorus. After the Chorus we get another guitar interlude that until the song ends with Ben screaming "Lets go!" over the guitars and the instruments end the song on a strong beat. Considering this is their first single and it never really sounded like anything else from that time period (to my knowledge at least) I would say that is leaving a very strong first impression with their future fans. Another solid rock piece. 5 out of 5 stars.

4. Skin-

This song is pretty simple lyrically, but still hard to make out. Either the song is about an aging serial killer, or the person is trying to act like the singer but is too old to do so and the singer is burning all of the impostor's things to teach him a lesson. On a side note, I am starting to think that either Ben hadn't really grasped how to write lyrics yet, or they cared more about the music on the album rather than the lyrical content. The song opens with the drums of former drummer Jeremy Hummel followed by the guitars playing the same riff, and the lead guitar does a small Intro solo and the voice comes in shortly after the solo. The Verse is very happy sounding and set at a steady pace. The Pre-Chorus has very loud bass, and The Chorus is where the guitar work really becomes noticeable, and where Ben's voice and the instruments gets louder. The Chorus ends with a single guitar playing a riff, and then the instruments play a small Bridge leading into the Verse, followed by another Chorus, and at the end of the Chorus Ben screams "Yeah!" and we get to hear a very organized sounding guitar solo, followed by another Pre-Chorus where the bass is the loudest instrument for the first part of the Chorus, and then they end the song singing the Chorus except with a very soft sounding ending, and the song fades perfectly into the next song. A fun and well written song, I am definitely starting to see they cared more about the instrumentation than the lyrics in this song. 5 out of 5 stars.

5. Natural Life-

The point of this song is clearer to me because I know the lead singer is afraid of death and wishes he could live forever. The "disease" the lyrics refer to is death, and he gains peace from fantasizing about immortality "and coming back around" means to stop fantasizing about immortality and to accept death, to which he concedes to when he says "I can't lie." This also explains the angry nature of the song too. The song opens on guitar feedback and then a quick bass Intro followed by the drums and then the guitars start to play and the voice finally comes in saying "Hold still" and then guitars lead into the Verse. The Verse is very slow and has Ben harmonizing with him self and then other band members until it smoothly transitions to the Chorus. In the Chorus Ben sings higher than before and harmonizes in similar fashion to the Verse, then we get an instrumental interlude, then another Verse and Chorus, followed by a Bridge where the guitars build up to a solo with riffs reminiscent of Tool where Ben screams "Your right!" and the guitars continue playing, until the Ben starts singing the Outro Saying "Your right, I can never lie" and the song finishes with the Chorus followed by one of the riffs in the Intro riff and the song with Ben breathing deep through his teeth then screaming, followed by the sound of a drum cymbal. Though it shows Ben wants to live in a fantasy world, it is a really well written piece that shows how versatile his band is, and also manages to pay homage to the band Tool (one of their biggest influences). 5 out of 5 stars.

6. Next to Nothing-

The lyrics in this song are about a couple who broke up. The first Verse is told by the victim who apparently never impressed his/or her ex enough to keep the ex interested. The Chorus is told from the perspective of the victim, while the second Verse is told from the heart breaker's perspective telling the victim "I know you will keep waiting, but you need to live your life and find someone new" while the Chorus uses the same lyrics but in the perspective of the heart breaker enforcing the point of the second Verse. The song opens on very low key kind of guitar followed by the vocals, and then the bass making the song very smooth sounding. The Verse continues to sound smooth, and the Pre-Chorus builds up the song and speed of the instruments with Ben's voice setting the mood. The Chorus is very fast paced and exciting, the Chorus then slows down and goes back to the smooth Verse, and again to the Chorus. After the Chorus there is a build up where Ben says "Next to nothing!" repeatedly even over a short but fitting guitar solo, until Ben stops after singing "Wooooh" and Both guitars begin to play a harmonized duet together, and then they go back to the Chorus but with more exciting sounding guitars. After the last Chorus there is an Outro guitar solo that ends on a beautiful guitar chord. I think this song began Breaking Benjamin's style of starting up slowly and then building to a powerful climax. Probably my favorite I've heard of the songs so far. The only confusing thing is that mood of the song runs contrary to the content of the lyrics, even though it could signify the happiness at finding freedom and a new lease on the person's personal life. 5 out of 5 stars.

7. Water-

This song is about a man who has a kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde state of mind and as proof he says "my heads so f****d up inside" in the Chorus. The character had a girlfriend who cheated on him and he is punishing her by drowning her but states "I won't ever let you drown" while doing it. This song opens on sound effects reminiscent of the first War of the Worlds movie (the spaceships) then into some very creepy yet awesome sounding guitar riffs, which then pick up speed until the vocals enter in the Verse. In the Verse the mood is more low key, but there is a steady build with the guitars playing higher and Ben's voice going higher and lower by each phrase, until the Chorus comes. The Chorus is faster and happy sounding. They even manage to throw in the F word, but not obnoxiously. The second Verse plays like the first one, and then we get a little guitar breakdown with Ben screaming "Yeah!" over the instruments repeating the same riffs, followed by the final Chorus. The song ends on Ben repeating the same lines three times until on the last time he harmonizes with him self until the song ends on the word "so" with the drums stopping and the guitars sustaining until they fade and the song ends.

8. Home-

This song is a giant reference to the the Wizard of Oz movie in different perspectives of the characters (it's the movie because the song uses the word "technicolor.") The song opens up with a single guitar playing then immediately breaks into the band jamming along with the lead guitar until the Verse comes in, in the Verse it starts off low key with Ben singing from the perspective of the Wicked Witch, with a slight build up to the Chorus. In the Chorus Ben half sings and half screams while the guitars pick up speed while playing, and then it repeats the pattern of Verse and Chorus but this time in the perspective of Dorothy and her friends. After the second Chorus there is a very pleasant Bridge with nice guitar work and Ben singing about Dorothy's perspective of Oz. There is then a guitar interlude followed by Ben screaming "Like Home!" loudly and in a high voice. After that comes a small guitar section, followed by the Outro which sounds similar to the first interlude, which then leads to the song ending with Ben singing "I wanna go home!" with a nice echo effect, and the song ends with the band playing the same line six times before closing. This is just a nice sounding rock song referencing a great movie. 5 out of 5 stars.

9. Phase-

I believe this song is about a man trying to convince his girlfriend to have sex no matter how much she says no. On a side note, I don't approve of that kind of thing. I enjoy this song for the music. The song opens on some very awesome sounding bongo drums and other Spanish and Arabic percussion instruments, followed by a very heavy and deep sounding bass guitar along with the guitars sliding and playing into the song. The lead guitar begins to solo over the other instruments, and the drums help build up to the songs main riff. After the riff is over the vocals enter in the first Verse. In the first Verse Ben is singing with him self taking turns on the vocals until the Chorus builds up. In the Chorus the instruments do what they did on the other songs and has exciting guitars with louder vocals. The main riff returns but Ben sings "Phase" over it a few times, then the second Verse starts up, followed by the second Chorus. After the second Chorus there is a build up to a guitar solo, and the solo is probably the heaviest they've had in the album so far, after the solo we have Ben screaming "I can't wait" and he screams "Phase!" again. We get the Outro with Ben singing and then screaming (unintelligibly) with the song ending with his voice. This song is paced differently from the other songs on the album and is enjoyable to listen to aside from the lyrics. 5 out of 5 stars.

10. No Games-

This song is about the singer being the lesser partner of a bossy girlfriend, and he is saying that though he struggles heavily, he will win in the end (with some disturbing images along the way a.k.a. "I've fellated my self.") The song is the most low key song in the album so far with a very soft and relaxing Verse that transforms into a more dramatic and heavy Pre-Chorus. The Chorus is somewhat like more popular rock, and it backs off to the low key Verse. It repeats the Verse Chorus pattern another time and then instead of a guitar solo we refreshingly get the band playing with a string quartet and then switching between the clean guitars and the the distortion where the orchestra takes back seat. Ben screams "Woah yeah!" and we get a guitar interlude followed by the Chorus. The Outro has Ben singing "I win" over an over again with the band and the string section until the song ends on a chord that fades away. Definitely another solid song with excellent use of the string section. 5 out of 5 stars.

11. Sugar Coat-

This song is about the singer being deceived heavily by someone who appears sweet on the outside, but is rotten on the inside, and is an obsessive liar. This song has a very abrupt start and is probably the angriest song on the album. The change is abrupt but they still manage to pull it off cleanly which is rare in rock music. The song opening is is at a slow but aggressive pace, and then transfers into a low key Verse that builds up to a more angry Chorus. The Chorus is very aggressive with screaming vocals and loud drums, then transfers to a Verse and Chorus again. Followed immediately by a guitar solo that goes up, then down, then up and builds to the Chorus again. During the final Chorus he harmonizes with him self in his screaming vocals and his clean vocals, and the song ends with the Ben singing "Your eyes are red!" with the guitars playing then having feedback. A very solid rock tune, even if it isn't my favorite on the album. 5 out of 5 stars.

12. Shallow Bay-

I think this song is about drug use as the person has a strong desire to acquire at first what sounds like a woman, but is later referred to as "my pretty pill." I also recognize "Float away on a shallow bay" as an experience of being high, though I am not sure what drug exactly they referencing (LSD or Marijuana?) The song opens up on guitars and Ben screaming "come on!" on an Atreyu style guitar riffs until the Verse comes in. The Verse is heavy but the singing is low key, until Ben raises his voice to transfer the Chorus. The Chorus is very happy sounding with faster guitars and harmonizing form the whole band with riffs at the end and transfers back to the Verse. It continues in the Verse Chorus pattern until after the Chorus Ben continues singing "I don't think you wanna f**k with me" and it transfers to this very soft low key Bridge with Ben singing "A shallow bay" that builds up to another Chorus after an echo effect on the guitar. The Chorus is repeated a few times towards the end of the song. After the Chorus stops with Ben's climatic high notes, the guitars begin to play the Outro where Ben sings "You live you learn" and the song ends surprisingly with the string orchestra. This song is very fun to listen to, and sing along with in the Chorus. 5 out of 5 stars.

13. Forever-

Just like Natural life, this song is written entirely for the singers desire to stay alive forever except that desire is much more obvious in the lyrics. In fact it has the simplest lyrics on the entire album. The song opens on very soft guitar playing, followed by the drums and bass sounding very much like a traditional rock ballad. The joins after the guitars play for a little bit. The Verses are very low key, while the the Choruses shows just how Ben's voice can be, after the first Chorus Ben says "Forever" where you can really hear his desire to stay alive forever. After the second Verse and Choruses we get a build up to the climax Where Ben says "Forever" over and over again and it finally builds to the climax by getting heavier and louder with everything becoming more exciting, with a very fitting guitar solo. The solo is followed by a soft ending. This is my favorite song off the album because it is very beautiful and shows how versatile the band is. 5 out of 5 stars.

What I didn't like:

The only thing I pretty much didn't like were the lyrics got a tad explicit, and they are hard to understand at first. This can also be said for the very dark way Ben sings where he doesn't enunciate clearly.

What I did like:

Everything else.

Who would enjoy this album:

Fans of good new-fashioned Rock music.

Overall:

I like pretty much everything in this album except for the poor pronunciation and the lyrics are hard to get. The instrumentation is where this albums truly shines through though, especially with how the band plays with the string orchestra in the later songs. The transitions are also perfect in how the songs match up in sound. For a first album it is one of their best for sure and a great way to kick off their chart climbing career.

Rating: *****

Polyamarous Official Music Video:

Skin Unofficial Video:

Medicate Unofificial Video:

Fred Benedtti & Peter Pupping- Here Comes the Sun

2010-12-31T16:46:00.001-05:00

On a starting note, I am reviewing an older version of the CD, it only has 12 songs as opposed to the one you can buy online that has more.

Title: Here Comes the Sun
Year: 1997
Genre: Easy Listening- Acoustic Music
Artist(s): Fred Benedetti and Peter Pupping
Record label: Guitar Sounds
Copyright: © Copyright-Petrus Productins Inc., dba GuitarSounds

Songs:

1. Here Comes the Sun- The Beatles

The first thing I notice is that the audio mixing on the CD is very loud. Also compared to the original the speed of the song is faster, and 58 seconds shorter. This cover is more of a summary of the original, with the guitars taking over the guitar tracks and the vocals. I also can't help but notice the song is more inclined to being excited and joyful as opposed to feeling relief from depression. It seems like they wanted to try and make the song a little catchier than it already is. Despite it's short comings the song is still very enjoyable. 3 out of 5 Stars.

2. Dust in the Wind- Kansas cover

The tempo of the song is slowed down, seeming to convey how haunting this song sounds. The emotion of the song is captured perfectly, it's almost as thought provoking as the original, except it is just purely an emotional song. Instrumentally they nailed this cover with 100% accuracy, but the slowing the tempo down helped ensure it wouldn't just be a carbon copy. 5 out of 5 stars.

3. Scarborough Fair- Simon and Garfunkel cover

This is a very short cover of the Simon and Garfunkel version of thing song (nearly four minutes shorter), but it retains the mystical atmosphere of the original. It is at the same speed as the original. Where this one differs is that instead of having two guitars play together on the vocal line like Simon and Garfunkel did,they harmonize the guitar tracks to create this odd yet cool echo effect. During the chorus they have one guitar play while the second guitar plays independently, then the second guitar plays independently, then the main guitar returns to play the main melody with an echo effect behind it. Unfortunately they don't put in the flute interlude, but the song is still pretty enjoyable despite that and being short. 4 out of 5 stars.

4. In My Life- The Beatles cover

This is one of my favorite Beetles songs, and I enjoyed their version of it. The tempo is faster than the original. This version opens with a slightly modified version of the Harpsichord solo rather than the slight build up the original had. After the intro the voice part comes in and it sounds very pleasant with the guitar part. The playing for both guitarists is very emotional and captured the spirit of the original perfectly. They also did a very good job with the Harpsichord solo. The song closes softly with the main guitar part. This is another great example of a cover that stays true to the original but also safely manages to put it's own spin on the song. 5 out 5 stars.

5. Father and Son- Cat Stevens cover

This version is a very touching cover of the original. The music is almost identical aside form the vocal part being higher than Cat's baritone voice. They do play the voice part lower, but not until later in the song. The natural sound of the of the guitars themselves is so close to Cat's guitar its almost scary. They play an accurate and good version of the solo, even if it is sped up a little too much. They made the song shorter than the original, but they managed to capture the feel of Cat's version very well. The only real difference is that the original was sincere but also somewhat sad, this is just purely sincere. However, I am going to attribute that to them not being able to use words to affect the emotion of the song. 5 out of 5 stars.

6. El Condor Pasa- Traditional Peruvian Melody cover (and Possibly Simon and Garfunkel)

This song is set faster than normal, and it is also very haunting. It is a very good rendition of the song, and the guitars do some cool stuff like trading the melody at parts playing two melodies at once. Other times the guitars play of each other with little riffs that add on and echoing of the other parts on different notes. It ends with the guitars echoing off each other in different octaves (same notes but higher and/or lower.) This song to me shows just how good Benedetti and Pupping are as guitar players because it shows both skill and soul on their parts. 5 out of 5 stars.

7. Tears in Heaven- Eric Clapton cover

This song is at the same tempo of the original, and the emotion is also accurate to the original. The guitars are very accurate, the second guitar even imitates the bass part pretty well. While listening to this cover I can tell two things 1) They really are Clapton fans and 2) they do the song so much justice as if they are paying respect to one of their favorite players for the loss of his son. I find this to be a very good cover that is a little different, but similar in a healthy way to the original. 5 out of 5 stars.

8. You've Got a Friend- James Taylor cover

I quite enjoyed this cover. It opens at a slightly slower tempo than the original, but it still has the spirit of the original. The guitar playing is very simple, the second guitar doing the rhythm guitar line and the bass line and the vocal part. The vocal part is changed a little bit, but that is because a guitar can't sustain a note like the human voice can. While listening to this it is very easy to imagine hearing James Taylor singing and playing this song. It is about 23 seconds shorter and ends on a fade away, but it works well. A very touching cover of the James Taylor version. 5 out of 5 stars.

9. And I Love Her- The Beatles Cover

This version is set slower and bit more haunting than the original. It has the guitars playing the rhythm guitar line, lead guitar line, and vocal line. Their playing is accurate, except they put their own interesting spin on the solo and they had a little outro solo that was different from the original version. Overall I would say it a good cover, even if it manages to somehow be more haunting than the original which I am guessing they just wanted to make it sound more haunting. 5 out of 5 stars.

10. Bridge Over Troubled Water- Simon and Garfunkel cover

This version has a very long instrumental opening, which is the guitarists adding in their own lines. When the vocals come in you do immediately recognize it as Bridge Over Troubled Water. The guitar parts double each other with a slight bass line to fill in the piano part. There are no extra instruments for the string orchestra. I've noticed the song doesn't build to climax like the original does, almost like they were intending for the song to be good background music. It's also possible they wanted to emphasize the calming nature of the song (as was the song's original purpose.) It's a nice cover, but it disappointments me they left it at the same pace rather than build up to a climax. 3.5 out of 5 stars

11. Black Bird- Beatles Cover

This version is a perfect cover of the original, the only difference is that the guitars are doubled all of the time, and the vocal part only has a single guitar and doesn't double it's self like Paul did in the studio. I love this rendition, it's so full of energy, you can really tell Benedetti and Pupping had fun while playing this song. This to me again shows just how good they are at guitar playing and how they can be almost 100% accurate and still make it their own song. 5 out of 5 stars

12. Fire and Rain- James Taylor Cover

This version is an interesting cover. The guitar parts are very intricate with parts echoing each other, a bass line, and two melodies with the voice line and a guitar part adding embellishments going on. The lead guitar switches between play the vocal part and doing solos quite often. The emotion that comes to mind when hearing this is sincerity. I'm not sure why they changed the emotion since the original was about James Taylor's friend Susan killing her self after having a horrible time in an asylum, but it strangely works. 5 out of 5 stars.

What I didn't like:

The only real things I didn't like was that sometimes their experimentation destroyed the original feel of the song as was the case with Bridge Over Troubled Water, and damaging the sound of the song as was the case with Here Comes the Sun.

What I did Like:

The playing was solid, they had very good expression of the songs messages and feel, and they managed to change things around expertly enough to keep it fresh without destroying most of the songs. Even with Bridge over Troubled Water and Here Comes the Sun they were still nice to listen to.

Who would enjoy this album:

Guitarists, fans of the artists who were covered, fans of easy listening, any one needing good study/working/tax paying music. Pretty much anyone except for fans of percussion music.

Overall:

I feel Benedetti and Pupping did an amazing job on the album, with great skill, experimentation, and emotion. Not to mention just how much fun they had sometimes as well. I also liked how interestingly they used the guitars on the other instrumental parts of the song with things like the echoing and the embellishments. The only downfall is that they sometimes experiment to much and spoil the broth so to speak. This is a solid album and I definitely recommend buying it, especially the newer version since it has many more songs.

Rating: ****

Next week I am going to start my review of the Breaking Benjamin Discography. Also, Happy New Year!!! :)

A video of Benedetti and Pupping's cover of Dust in the Wind by Kansas:

A video of Black Bird and Here Comes the Sun in Memory of Princess Diana: