Tracks 1. Bluebird Wine 2. Too Far Gone 3. If I Could Only Win Your Love 4. Boulder To Birmingham 5. Before Believing 6. Bottle Let Me Down 7. Sleepless Nights 8. Coat Of Many Colors 9. For No One 10. Queen Of The Silver Dollar Well I am sick with some cold that seems designed to make me as unattractive as possible (we are talking Gollum voice and runny and raw nose). Subsequently, I missed a fun family dinner and spent my Saturday night listening to this album and I have to say, there are worse ways to spend your time. I loved Emmylou's voice; it was very unique and interesting. My main problem with this album is the backing vocals, which seemed to be mostly comprised of men. I would have preferred to just hear her voice; the backing vocals seemed to transform the ballads into songs that almost sounded like hymns. I was pleased to see that the album contained a few love songs, my favorite being "Too Far Gone". It was kind of refreshing to get such personal songs; I am used to songs about how much society sucks: we are in the seventies after all. This is not necessarily my genre of choice but it was a good album that I would definitely recommend. RATING: 4/5 Too Far Gone:
Tracks 1. Thunder Road 2. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out 3. Night 4. Backstreets 5. Born to Run 6. She's the One 7. Meeting Across the River 8. Jungleland It seems like it has become somewhat of a tradition to start each post on this blog by apologizing for not updating more. I have been trying a lot of new things lately (including skydiving and shooting guns) and I am afraid my album blog is paying the price for my new carpe diem lifestyle. I learned two things today about Bruce Springsteen. One, he is super attractive. I had only ever seen pictures of him in his sixties. I mean, look at this guy:
Ahem. Anyway, I also learned that I love his music (although as I understand it, it got progressively worse so this may be a one time thing). "She's The One" was by far my favorite song and one that will definitely make it to my iPod playlist. Springsteen writes catchy songs but unlike bands like say, Aerosmith, his lyrics actually have some depth. Lyrics today seem to either be about partying or how annoying it is to have paparazzi in your life. Now, I am not saying I don't enjoy those songs, but Springsteen truly had a talent and it was a pleasure listening to him. RATING: 5/5
Tracks 1. Marcus Garvey 2. Slavery Days 3. Invasion 4. Live Good 5. Give Me 6. Old Marcus Garvey 7. Tradition 8. Jordan River 9. Red Gold And Green 10. Resting Place Well, that wasn't very impressive. Don't get me wrong, it was a decent reggae album. But after listening to Bob Marley, this kind of feels like a poor imitation. Even his name sounds like a rip off of Marvin Gaye. I was distinctly reminded of the band The Monkees that just were never quite as good as the Beatles. Of course, I am not that much of reggae fan so delving deeper into the genre isn't really my idea of a good time. Still, it wasn't all bad. The lyrics of "Slavery Days" are deeply moving while "Old Marcus Garvey" had a nice melody. Still, lyric wise and talent wise, Garvey is no Marley. It is probably a bit unfair to compare him to the best, but it was hard not to when the style was so similar. Overall, it didn't blow me away but it wasn't a complete waste of time. RATING: 2/5
