Coldplay's second album is a big step forward from their first album. I bought their first album about a year ago and I liked it alot, but I couldn't really get into it. I usually did not listen to that album all the way through because not every song would capture my attention and not let go. This album does that. It sucks you in from the opening drum beat of "Politik" and doesn't let go until the last words of "Amsterdam" fade away. This album is different from "Parachutes" in that it has less of a rock'n'roll feel with more piano and acoustic guitars rather than electric guitars. The songs are similar but they are played in a different way using different instruments. The songwriting has gotten alot better. The lyrics are very straightforward and not very abstract. Chris Martin's delivery is passionate and evokes feeling and emotion from the listener. I found that alot of the songs lyrics I could relate to very much, especially with relationships with women. And, of course, all of the songs reminded me of my present girlfriend. This is very good because the album will become a part of you if this happens (it probably will). You can listen to the album all way through without skipping a song. Every song is good. The only weak song is "A Whisper", but it is still very good. The standout tracks are "In my place," "God put a smile on your face," "clocks," "daylight," "green eyes," and "warning sign." You see there are so many. So, do yourself a favor and buy an album that is from a band that was not manufactured by a record company like so many others. Buy an album that has artisctic creativity dripping off of it. Just buy this album.

The Talisman, jointly written by Stephen King and Peter Straub, is the story of a twelve year old boy, Jack Sawyer, who after hearing of his mother's impending death from sickness must find a way to save her. Jack lives in a hotel near the beach in New Hampshire. Summer is ending and all the tourists are leaving the town. The boy's only friend in the lonely town is Speedy Parker, a sixtiesh black man who runs the arcade on the beach. After hearing of Jack's trouble Speedy shows Jack the territories - a parallel dimension where werewolfs and other inhuman creatures exist in an archaic world with midieval technology. Speedy tells Jack that in order to save his mother's life he must use the territories as a passageway to find the talisman - a magical thing that will heal his mother and save the world. Morgan Sloat, Jack's Nemesis, will take over the world if Jack is not successfull. So, Jack's mission is two-fold in that he must save the world as well.

Peter Straub provides the detailed settings of the two parallel worlds as well as other things. Because the territories are so interesting this is the only thing that the two writers should have spent more time on is setting the action in the territories. King writes some strong characters in this one, especially Jack Sawyer and wolf. Wolf is a werewolf whom Jack meets in the territories on his way west. "Wolf" as he is so aptly named uses his incredible strength and endurance to help Jack along the way. "Wolf" is a very lovable character as he makes up for his lack of intelligence with an undying servitude to his flock as well as Jack himself. Jack later finds his longtime friend Richard Sloat at a private school somewhere in Ohio. Jack forces Richard to join him on his mission to the west. Richard has to deal with the fact that his father is Jack's enemy. He slowly warms to the idea that the territories exist and that his father has incredible powers and is an evil man.

Some of the ideas within the novel are creative and cool. Jack actually must fight twice as many enemies because his two main adversaries have "twinners." These are replicas of beings in the real world translated into the territories version of them. The territories also are detailed in their realism as a parallel universe. The air is cleaner in the territories due to the lack of combustible engines, industrial factories, and for other reasons. Wolf, with his keen sense of smell, is the first to notice and his repulsion often results in something amusing happening.

This novel is about many things, but mostly it's about a boy who must have courage to face his fears and endure the hardships in order to become a hero in the end. This novel is a very enjoyable read. At well over six hundred pages it is long but definitely worth it. Once you read the first few pages you can't put it down. You will come back to it every day until you have finished.

The second release by the talking heads and man does it grab you by the balls from the beginning drum roll of "Thankyou for sending me an angel" and never let's go until the dying chords of "The Big Country." This album is very intense all the way through. There are no slow songs here, just pounding drums, melodic guitars, and funky bass lines. The only other talking heads album I own is "speaking in tongues" (although I will soon purchase all of them) and they sound so much more energetic on this one. On "speaking..." they sound like they just got through a two hour set and only have an hour's left in them but on this album they sound like they could play all night long. They must have sweated profusely making this album. I personally like the funky bass and sweet guitar riffs of this album better than the repetitive synthesized sounds of "speaking in tongues." Just shows you how much this band accomplished in a short period of time that they could change their sound seamlessly in a matter of years. I've only owned it for five hours so I haven't had time to analyze the lyrics yet but I'm sure it's cool stuff. My personal favorites are: "thankyou..., the good thing, found a job, artists only, and take me to the river." These are my favourites but really the whole album is great from beginning to end. "Artists only" is particularly a gripping and potent song to dance to. God I wish I was growing up in the late seventies and early eighties so I could see this band live and experience each album as something in the present. Too bad there's no bands out there today with this much talent and creativity. This album is awesome! If you are a fan and don't own it yet buy it right now. If you are new to these guys then jump right in...it's easy to like such a danceable and creative band. Also check out the video "Stop Making Sense" directed by Ted Demme.

This concert starts off with a lone David Byrne with acoustic guitar and tape player doing an incredible version of "Psycho killer." Near the end of the song the tape player spins out of control and David trips and loses control of his balance and then regains his footing when the tape comes back to it's regular cadence. This first song is indicative of his performance throughout the entire concert - brilliant and creative. Everyone else involved in the performcance is also very energetic. I have never seen a performance where so many band members are dancing for such a long time as I have here. This is the most energetic performance I've ever seen. At one point David runs around the stage four times and then comes back to the mic and continues running in place. David makes the oddest moves with his body throughout. There is no doubt that David and the talking heads were on the top of their game that night in December of 1983. I love the two female dancers/singers that offset David's quirkiness with their cool dancing. The one thing about this video that I noticed first is that it gets better and better with each new song or with each new band member until the climax with "Burning down the house." This is the best concert I've seen on video or on real life. I never get tired of watching it either. If you haven't decided on buying it yet then consider this: before my brother saw this video he did not care for the talking heads but when we got half way through watching this video he said to me -"I wonder if I can find any of their live stuff on the internet. They're a really great band." This video is just awesome. See for yourself what everyone has been talking about. Favorite performances: "Thankyou for sending me an angel", "Cities," "Life during wartime," "What a day that was," and "Naive Melody."

Busted Stuff is an album composed of songs that were supposed to be released two years ago instead of the disappointing Everyday album. It is too bad that many people became fans through that album because all the fans that had been there from the beginning knew that it paled in comparison to their first three albums. Now with "Busted Stuff" we have the songs that the record company originally rejected in favor of something more upbeat and positive sounding.

Immediatly you will notice that this album is an emotionally contemplative, soul-searching, and sombre album, but it is still more upbeat than the Lillywhite sessions. I do miss the neverending chasm of melancholy that came out of the Lillywhite sessions. I'm still pleased with the way this album sounds.

The changed lyrics to some of the songs are without exception better than the original versions. This is Dave's best lyrical album of all his albums. Take Grace is Gone for example "one drink to remember, another to forget. How could I ever dream to find sweet love like you again." This song is the best song on the album and probably one of Dave's best of all time. You have to hear it if you haven't already.

Although every single song on this album is beautiful (you can listen to the album all the way through without skipping a song) there are a few standouts songs that are among the best written by this band. "Grey Street", "Grace is Gone", "Diggging a Ditch", "Big-eyed Fish," and "Bartender" are some of the finest songs on the album.

The instrumental aspect of this album is the best I've ever heard from DMB (a close second would be on BTCS). They jam out just long enough on each song but a little more jamming wouldn't of hurt. Dave's ability to create catchy riffs is advanced even more on this album. In the past the riffs have sounded somewhat unusual at times but it's all quality stuff here. It's hard to pick a favourite on this album but right now "Grey Street" is stuck in my head. I hope it stays there. The two new songs "Where are you going" and "You never know" are both really good songs that show you that Dave doesn't need any help writing songs from some famed producer like Ballard. The latter is the only track on this album that I hadn't heard before the album came out and I like it alot. It grows on me more and more everyday. To sum everything up: Where are you going? You are going down Grey street past the raven and the big-eyed fish to the bartender who will not tell you that your grace is gone or that you are in a kit kat jam, rather he will tell you that you need to be the captain of your own ship and buy this album that isn't full of busted stuff. It might just be the DMB's best album yet, you never know.

After hearing these words come from Sting's voice on the first track you know that this is a serious album. This album is very different from it's predecessor, "Zenyatta Mondatta", in that it is much more thoughtful in dealing with human problems. It is also less optimistic. Sting rejects the notion that any political system could save a nation of people. Instead, he favors a more humanistic perspective in saying that every individual person has a spirit that has to be independent from any kind of governing authority. Sting also exposes the bad effects of technology in our society. One of the most poignant lines is where Sting sings "He'd like to have a gun just to keep him warm, because violence here is a social norm, you've got to humanize yourself." There are many more examples of Sting's clever lyrics about these types of things. As for the instrumental aspect of this album the usual instruments are expanded to include saxophones and other horns as well as keyboard. It fits into the sound of the police really well. Most of the songs are up-tempo and energetic. They play alot of riffs that are repeated over and over again with few bridges. I did not like this aspect of the album at first but it actually grows on you. There are some exceptions to the mostly political aspect of the album in "Every little thing she does is magic," and "J'aurais tojours faim de toi (Hungry for you)." These are both basically love songs. The things I like most about this album is that I like every song and the album grows on you and gets better with each listen. Out of all the police albums this is the one I listen to the most and it's also their best. It would be hard to give this album justice in a review because the music is much more evocative than my words. This album has a good mixture of thoughtful songs and love songs as well as introspective songs. It is a model for any further concept album about political systems. Just buy it. A+

"Fred sits alone at his desk..." thus begins the classic song that is "Fred Jones Part 2." This album is full of great character songs such as this one. Most of the songs tell the stories of ordinary people and the proper name titles make the songs more intimate and real as if these are real people that you can see just by listening to Ben's lyrics. All the songs have great catchy melodies that Ben Folds Five fans have been used to ever since they first started. But the difference between this and his previous albums with the five is that all the melodies, lyrics, and song structures are much more accomplished than the previous ones. There is also a tighter structure to all of them. In other words you can tell that this is just Ben Folds the solo artist rather than a full band. The songs are a mixture of emotional sympathy songs for everyday people and catchy upbeat songs with great riffs. Plus there is some of Ben's unique sense of humor in the song "Rockin' the suburbs." I am so glad that someone finally started mocking all those sad white rappers who think they have had a tough life. He is heckling people like Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit and any other person who has a band that is in a rap/rock (the worst new form of music) band. He also makes a direct impression/mockery of the lead singer of Rage Against the machine - his name is Zack De la Rocha or something like that. It's about time that someone did such an excellent song that insults all these [junky] new artists. But even if you take Ben's song really seriously you have to laugh at it because he makes fun of himself also. My personal favourites are track seven "losing lisa" and track 5 "fred jones part two." Actually it's real hard to choose a favourite because just about every song is excellent. The reason why this is a classic album is that, for one thing every song is great (track twelve is the only one I tend to skip over), secondly the lyrical content speaks intimately of ordinary American people with ordinary problems, and thirdly it has a diversity in the kind of songs included - humorous, emotional sad songs, love songs, songs of loss, and growing older - but somehow they all fit together wonderfully. Anyone who dosen't give this album five stars is either stuck in the past with the five or they just don't like Ben's music. The former reason is acceptable but the second is incomprehensible. This is a modern classic. Buy it.

"Midnight Riders: The story of the Allman Brothers Band" is a biography of the exciting life of one of America's greatest Rock & Roll bands. Scott Freeman has written a wonderful account of the band's beginnings all the way through their breakups and reunions. This band had some tremendous trials to go through such as two original members deaths as well as problems with drugs and greedy record companies. But it is pretty impressive they managed to not only survive Duane Allman's and Berry Oakley's death but also that they managed to still be a great band without Duane, the elder Allman and founder/leader of the band.

The story starts out with Duane and Greg's childhood in Florida and how they got hooked on "the fever." It follows the two from their attraction to "black music" or the blues all the way through the last incarnations of the band in the early to mid-nineties. This biography is written so well that I thoroughly enjoyed learning about all the amazing things they accomplished up until the time that Duane Allman dies, then I struggled to get through the rest of it just because I was so depressed that such an amazing musicians life was cut so short. Duane Allman actually died at the peak of his musical powers, but who knows, he could have taken the electric slide guitar to even more celestial heights than he already had on the Fillmore East album.

...

The author also gives album reviews of each album as they make them. This was helpful because they are done very well and it gives you a chance to picture the music more clearly. Another plus is the album reccomendations in the appendix, which is great because not very ABB album is fantastic so he tells you which ones to avoid and which to add to your collection.

For me, I think this is one of the best stories ever told about a rock band. And the ABB story is an incredible story of love, devastating losses, and redemption. All of it is true. It has increased my love for the ABB, who represent everything good about southern rock and American music in general. It would be a great addition to any person's collection of literature whether you're a ABB fan or not. But after reading this book you may find yourself a fan of the band afterall.

This album was recorded in the spring of 1991. I have never heard Grisman and Garcia sound as good as they do on this cd. Garcia's picking and singing is tasteful. Garcia's picking on this album are much more inspired and timely than on So What. As for Grisman his soloing on Friend of the devil is the best mandolin solo I've ever heard. And I'ver heard many. This version of Friend of the devil is the BEST I've ever heard because everything is perfect about the song. Garcia's voice on that track and throughout the whole album is yearning and soulful. The song also has a slower and more longing sound to it. This album is composed of an eclectic mix of songs that include: celtic, blues, the dead, southern bluegrass, I guess what you would call "russian music", spanish music, and original grisman garcia compositions. The mix is perfect there's something of everything and somehow it all fits together seamlessly. It starts off with a BB King tune and then goes into a wonderful celtic sounding Grisman composition. Then a "real" Irish/Celtic song that sounds sad if you listen to the words. Then, of course, the best version of Friend of the devil ever. With Garcia's desperate voice and Grisman's sweet mandolin tremolos reflecting Garcia's feeling. Then a nice russian lullaby that reminds of a cold winter night. Then another Grisman composition that shows how great of guitar player Garcia can be. Then perhaps my favourite track "walkin' boss" comes next. It starts out with a great introduction then goes into the verse and chorus. It ends with both Grisman and Garcia soloing at the same time and somehow sounding like they are reading eacother's minds because they are totally synchronous throughout the entire song. Grisman makes use of the harmonics on his mandolin to great effect on this one. Track 8 is a nice bluesy southern song about being bored. The last track is a composition by Grisman that is underrated in my opinion. Some have said it's different that all the other tracks on this album, but I say it's the culmination of all the previous tracks. Arabia has everything that all the other tracks had except for Garcia's passionate voice. It's a spanish-flavoured song that is definitely worth listening to all the way through. There are bass, guitar, mandolin, and conga solos in it. This album is PERFECT. If you took anything away it would be less than, so do yourself a favour and hear two of our greatest musicians in their finest hour. Total time 58+ minutes.

I bought this album because my greatest hits cd got crushed so I figured that I would start fresh and buy all their albums. I'm really glad that CD got crushed because now I can appreciate this band more fully. This album has great songs on it beyond the singles Message in a bottle and Walking on the moon. But unless you own this album you probably haven't heard songs like "Bring On The Night" or "Contact" or "The Bed's Too Big Without You." Which are just as good if not better than the "hits". The last tune is just one example of the simple but clever lyrics on this album and every time Sting sings "make love to my pillow but it did'nt feel right" I have to chuckle a little bit. Then there is the punk flavored "On any other day" which makes no sense as a title until you listen carefully to the very ending of the song. In general all the lyrics are sombre and negative. It's not a very positive album but the music is just wonderful. The drums are powerful and they drive the music. The guitars are melodic and punk/reggae flavored, Sting's bass as ever is creative and melodic. Compared to Ghost in the machine the lyrics on this album are not as deep and serious but the guitars, bass, and drums and other instrumental aspects of the songs are much better on this album. On Ghost in the Machine there are not very many bridges. This album has all kinds of breaks and creative riffs and pauses which makes it worth purchasing by anyone who wants to know more about the police besides the singles they have heard on the radio.