Lenny Kravitz - Lenny

Sure, 5 gave Lenny Kravitz a career revival, thanks to a really big hit with the didactic, clumsy "Fly," and he followed it with a hit that was equally inexplicable -- a lumbering, dunderheaded cover of the Guess Who's "American Woman," which surely benefited from its presence on the blockbuster Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Heather Graham's accompanying, chest-grabbing video -- and equally distasteful. Combined with the lackluster Circus, it was easy to assume that Kravitz had plateaued, deciding to recycle lame sub-Hendrix stadium rock instead of crafting the kind of lush, post-psychedelic soul that made his first three records so fine. Then, out of nowhere, he threw out the lovely "Again" as a new track for Greatest Hits, setting the stage for the return to form that's Lenny. This, not the empty hard rock of Circus and 5, finds Lenny Kravitz at the peak of his powers, crafting classic rock homages that get by not only on their melodic force but in sterling studiocraft that may shamelessly worship classic rock, but gets the sound and texture right.

Bruce Sprignsteen - Devils & Dust

Like all of his records before it, Devils & Dust sounds at once like everything and nothing Bruce Springsteen has ever released. While it features his ever-dependable blue collar earnestness and Heartland aesthetic, the album’s musical and thematic mixing and matching --- the way it traipses from featherweight love ditties to dreary murder ballads (even doing so in the course of a single song on “Matamoros Banks”), and, however awkward, the way those songs wrestle their way out of their bleached-over production --- are something all its own. In the end, what this record sounds most like is one of America’s greatest living songwriters offering us a dozen fine new stories, and leaving it up to us to make what we will of them. And in spite of its shortcomings, Devils & Dust is an offering most Springsteen fans would do well to accept.

Paul Mccartney - Red Rose Speedway


Slightly primitive, but very melodic. I bought it because of the rare cuts like the medley "Hold Me Tight/Lazy Dynamite/Hands of Love(My favorite)/Power Cut." To my knowledge there is no other place to find these cuts. The bonus tracks were also not found on any album, as they were only released as singles--making it a good value for the money. Cuts like "C Moon" and "The Mess" were B sides of singles but favorites of mine. "Hi Hi Hi" was, of course, a hit and an A-side but also a favorite of mine. Overall, a pleasant surprise.

Genesis - Platinum Collection

Casual fans of the band will love this all encompassing collection. Hard-core fans will appreciate being kick-started back into the Genesis gear. It's truly an amazing set of songs and a great showcase for a band that maintained a truly high-level of performance for such a long period of time.

David Bowie - Tin Machine


Since Bowie is an artist, in the whole sense of the word, he needed to take a brake of his solo career, and then we got tin machine, a musical ensemble with one-of-a-kind guitar-player Reeves Gabriels and the post punk influenced Sales brothers (iggy pop colaborators. its has the rawness and the beauty of the musicians skills, but maybe something is missing, i suggest that it worths a hearing, could be yes or could be no,or both.

Eels - Beautiful Freak

The Eels come from Echo Park, a Los Angeles suburb infamous for its drug dealing, low life and uneasy streets. But actually "The Eels" are, more or less, made up of just one man - the mercurial 'E' (known to the CIA as Mark Oliver Everett). The Eels are perhaps the contemporary band that are most obviously influenced by the Beatles. I've always regarded "E" as one of the best songwriters around in terms of pure melody, and he also curiously possesses both Lennon's sardonic wit and Paul McCartney's tweeness. Of course, such fandom is given the usual post-modern twist and comparisons come easy to the similarly styled ironic alternative darlings Pavement and Beck. The Eels do manage to capture both Stephen Malkmus' sense of melody and Beck's clever post-modern stylings.

Born April 9, 1963, in Virginia, Everett became interested in rock music at an early age via his sister's record collection, and began playing drums at the age of six (as well as tinkering on his family's piano). After his father's passing just a few years later, Everett began leading a troubled teenage life, being arrested and expelled from school. But the turmoil led to an even stronger interest in music for Everett, as he taught himself how to play his sister's guitar, and shortly thereafter wrote his own original compositions. Eventually "E" moved to Los Angeles where he knew not one person. There, he eventually meet the other members and recorded their impressive debut, "Beautiful Freak"

Cat Stevens - Izitso


Izitso is good proof that behind Cat Stevens' sentimental and somewhat naive persona there exists a musician and composer more far-reaching than the wistful but cloying singer/songwriter who relies largely on soft acoustic instrumentation. Touching several bases, often in apparent opposition to each other, Stevens displays both the diversity and the maturity to match this seeming incongruity.

Bush - Razorblade Suitcase


The band's derivative tendencies are everywhere: "Swallowed" borrows liberally from the Pixies' abrasive melodicism; "Synapse" looks a little too closely to PJ Harvey for inspiration. And let's not forget Nirvana – Rossdale's vocals in "Insect Kin" are a blurred xerox of Kurt Cobain's, just as the chord progression in "Mouth" uncomfortably recalls "Heart-Shaped Box." Moments like these make one wish that Bush would just accept their status as the Bon Jovi of grunge. When Rossdale sings, "We are servants to our formulaic ways," in "Greedy Fly," it hits a little too close to home.