Anyway

anyway

Editorial Reviews
Harp Magazine
Farris has confidence to spare, which makes Anyway a big ambitious debut, a love letter to American Music.

Product Description
What her peers are saying:

"I have always loved playing and singing with Amy because her talent challenges me to rise to the occasion. She has an adventurous spirit about music and instruments that shines thru on her new record. I am certain that a portion of my audience comes just to listen to her and watch her perform which I came to realize was a very good thing but now a very bad thing for the guy that is replacing her since she left me for bigger and better things." --Kelly Willis

"Amy Farris is one of the most talented people I've ever had the pleasure to work with. A virtuoso musician, an inventive songwriter and a soulful vocalist, she is equal parts rock and roller, jazzer and honky-tonk queen. Imagine if Blossom Dearie, Wanda Jackson, Lotte Lenya, Dolly Parton, The Ronettes and Exene Cervenka ever got together and started a band. She's that good, believe me." --Dave Alvin

"Amy Farris' talents as a singer/songwriter/instrumentalist know no bounds. "Anyway" is a great debut album. Somehow she manages to pay homage to her diverse influences without losing one ounce of her personality. No easy feat to pull off but Amy does it effortlessly." --Ben Vaughn

Amy Farris invokes a congress of spirits, from Kitty to Patsy to old time X. With a fiery fiddle and a voice to raise the roof, Amy Farris has arrived! " --Grant-Lee Phillips

Anyway

Anyway,Amy Farris,Yep Roc Records,Alternative Country-Rock,Americana,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop

Anyway

Average customer rating:

Who Needs Guitars Anyway?
5 stars for the 3 tracks, 0 stars for the rest.
has its moments
Who Needs Guitars Anyway? ~ Alice Deejay
It's Ok

Who Needs Guitars Anyway?
Alice Deejay
Manufacturer: Fontana Universal
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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Intuition
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ASIN: B00004S7ZM
Release Date: 2000-03-28

Tracks:

Back In My Life
Better Off Alone
Celebrate Our Love
The Lonely One
Who Needs Guitars Anyway?
Will I Ever
Elements Of Life
Fairytales
Waiting For Your Love
No More Lies
I Can See (See It In Your Eyes)
Everything Begins With An E
Got To Get Away
Alice Deejay

Amazon.com

Alice Deejay finds its inspiration at the nexus where house music meets Eurovision songwriting. The creative force behind Alice Deejay, and the voice fronting it, is a Dutch club DJ identified only as Judy. She's enlisted two other singers (Gaby and Jane) and a host of European house-music producers from the more pop end of the spectrum--people whose credits include remixing Ricky Martin's World Cup theme song and the Vengaboys. The result is a mixture of melodies that are heavily Europop with maybe a dash of contemporary U.S. Britney-'n'-Backstreet Top 40 over a beat that started with Giorgio Moroder in the late '70s, took a trip through the British Hi-NRG style in the '80s, and hasn't yet quit. The handiest comparison to someone who has combined a similar set of elements in an obviously successful way is to Cher and her hit "Believe," but the proof that crafting melodies that catchy is not easy is also on display. --Bob Bannister

Customer Reviews:

Who Needs Guitars Anyway?.......2007-02-27

Two-fingered basslines, cosmic wooshes and thunderous Yamaha beats certainly don't make for quality music, but in the case of Alice Deejay's arrogantly-titled "Who Needs Guitars Anyway?", it makes for one heck of a party. Fuelled by the ubiquitous single "Better Off Alone"- arguably the most recognizeable mainstream electronica hit alongside Darude's "Sandstorm" and ATB's "9 PM (Til I Come)"- the album dives right into throbbing club stomps and trife lyrics. It's pure Velveeta, but the thing we Americans fail to realize about these bizarre Euro kids is their willingness to accept that cheese factor and just dance. Take it from that perspective, and you'll find a club record with surprisingly entertaining results.

5 stars for the 3 tracks, 0 stars for the rest........2007-02-07

There are only three tracks on this CD worth anything. Everything else is just OK. If you like "Better Off Alone" enough to spend the money, Definately buy this CD, otherwise; Download the tracks off of Itunes.

has its moments.......2006-09-16

here's the deal, I'll be quick. I loved 'better off alone' and the only other track that struck me as being nearly as good was 'lonely one'.. all the rest are not what you are going to be expecting if you are going for what you've heard on the radio. Trust me its a well done album as far as production goes, but the beats and vocals get quite repetitious to put it mildly.

Who Needs Guitars Anyway? ~ Alice Deejay.......2006-04-01

Who Needs Guitars Anyway?~ Alice Deejay is a steupendous trance album with amazing sounds, loops and beats. The lyrics are great and have that eurovision quality to it that is perfect for this kind of music. I especially like the fact that they have seemingly handpicked the keyboard sounds. I love songs like the lonely one, no more lies, back in my life and better of alone. I especially the brilliant keyboard sounds used for the track the lonely one and no more lies. The production value for the album is top notch. This is a must have album for dance parties and clubbing as Alice Deejay has created one of the best trance albums of all time.

It's Ok.......2005-11-21

As a fan of euro, goa, and some synthpop. I was impressed by this release. It had 4 good songs.

Back In my life
The Lonely One
Waiting for your love
No More Lies

The rest was kind of dull or too cheesy for my taste, but dont let my tastes stop you if you're into this style for the beats or if you like cheesier stuff.

Average customer rating:

Anyway The Wind Blows: The Anthology by J.J. Cale
Buy "Okie" instead
A MUST-HAVE FOR YOUR MUSICAL LIBRARY
Any Way The Wind Blowes
Distilled Spirit

Anyway The Wind Blows: The Anthology
J.J. Cale
Manufacturer: Fontana Island
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Really

ASIN: B000001EO9
Release Date: 1997-06-17

Tracks:

Call Me The Breeze
Crazy Mama
Magnolia
After Midnight
Lies
Changes
If You're Ever In Oklahoma
Midnight In Memphis
Cahun Moon
Rock And Roll Records
Anyway The Wind Blows
Crying
Everlovin' Woman
I Got The Same Old Blues
Woke Up This Morning
Cocaine
The Woman That Got Away
Ride Me High
Hey Baby
Durango
I'll Make Love To You Anytime
Don't Cry Sister
Thirteen Days
Things Ain't Simple
Sensitive Kind

Tracks:

Carry On
Runaround
Mam Don't
City Girls
Devil In Disguise
You Keep Me Hangin' On
Downtown L.A.
A Thing Going On
Don't Wait
Wish I Had Me A Dollar (Live)
Money Talks
Hard Times
People Lie
Unemployment
Trouble In The City
Santa Cruz
Shanghaid
Change Your Mind
New Orleans
Humdinger
Lonesome Train
Jailer
Artificial Paradise
Long Way Home
Closer To You

Customer Reviews:

Anyway The Wind Blows: The Anthology by J.J. Cale .......2007-01-09

Great compilation of the JJ Cale songs over the years. Most or all of the hits included with a vast array of the deep cuts you will learn to love. If you don't know JJ Cale's music this is a great album to have and if you know his music, but don't own it all, this covers it well.

Buy "Okie" instead.......2006-12-06

First off let's dispense with the packaging. The writing is inane, the photos look like a bad tv ad from the 90s. (an abandoned gas station, all rust and tumbleweed, Cale posed as ever-so-"americana" scruff. Please.) Cale IS a terrific musician, and an essential listen, but you'll be better served by "Okie" or any of his albums. This anthology misses Cale's genius entirely, choosing an endless series of same tempo shuffles. A listen to Okie reveals a very varied set of songs that flow easily and present an entire world of textures and rythmns. Cale is a studio wizard, related more to Brian Eno than to the lesser talents (like Clapton) who imitate his innovations. He arranges his recordings very carefully, as engineers are wont to do, and it is all about the sequencing and layering of sounds and meaning. Taken out of context, Cale's songs can seem slight and repetitious. So skip this ill-advised collection and buy any of the albums instead.

A MUST-HAVE FOR YOUR MUSICAL LIBRARY.......2006-11-10

A great reminder of where it all started.

Any Way The Wind Blowes.......2006-02-24

A most excellent album. Finally J.J. Cale is presented to the main stream! Love It !

RR

Distilled Spirit.......2004-05-15

While I'm a big fan of JJ Cale, I've long bemoaned the poor to mediocre sound on his recordings, and the less than first rate tunes (I hesitate to use the word "filler" with JJ) that populate all but his first couple of albums. What a consumate joy to get to hear all the instruments in the (remastered) mix instead of sonic mush. And the tracks are very well selected to give you most of the best of his work. I do miss "Clyde" and "River Runs Deep" from the first album, but minor carps for a masterpiece. Might be the best record ever made by a white musician. A serious mile melter on the road. Be sure to get the DVD too.

Average customer rating:

You fools!
Missing Theme Song - but otherwise not bad
Fine score, but a consumer warning for the CD
Thomas Newman is a Genius!
Almost perfect for the film, loses points as a cd

Jarhead

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Syriana
Jarhead (Widescreen Edition)
Jarhead
The New World
Munich

ASIN: B000BVRM1S
Release Date: 2005-12-06

Tracks:

Welcome To The Suck
Raining Oil
Battery Run
Mirage Bedouin
Don't Worry Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin
No Standard Solution
8 Men 5 Camels
Full Chemical Gear
Unsick Most Ricky-Tick
Morning Glory
Bang A Gong (Get It On) - T-Rex
Desert Storm
Desert Sunrise
Zoomies
Horse
Pink Mist
Jarhead For Life - Naughty By Nature
O.P.P. - Naughty By Nature
Dickskinner
Permission To Fire
Dead Anyway
Scuds
Listen Up - Public Enemy
Fight The Power - Public Enemy
Soldier's Things - Tom Waits

Amazon.com

For his third collaboration with director Sam Mendes (after American Beauty and The Shawshank Redemption), composer Thomas Newman has come up with one of his finest scores. The music mixes modern atmospheric quasi-rock touches with Middle Eastern influences (with particularly great success on the tracks "Welcome to the Suck" and "Zoomies."). The latter manifest themselves in both the beats and the instrumentation--the credits include soloists on exotic instruments such as the bowed cumbus (a type of banjo-like lute) and the processed xaphoons (a sax made of bamboo). All the more jarring, then, when the CD's handful of songs pop up. (It's quite a jolt to hear Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy" after four eerie instrumental tracks.) The other song picks are obvious but well chosen: T-Rex's "Bang a Gong (Get It On)," "Naughty by Nature's "O.P.P.," Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," and Tom Waits's "Soldier's Things." Still, it's Newman's work that propels this CD, not the pick-up songs. Surprisingly, Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries," which figures in one of the movie's most memorable scenes (when soldiers watch Apocalypse Now), isn't included here. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews:

You fools!.......2006-10-27

I am reading all the negative reviews of this soundtrack, and most of them mention the absence of Kanye West's "Jesus Walks." One reviewer gives the album one star because he was "misled" into buying the album.

Um, hello? This is an instrumental score for the film! NOT a Various Artists soundtrack! This is, you may have noticed, an album that falls under the name of Thomas Newman! If anyone bought this expecting other music, then it's entirely their own fault. It even says on the front: "MUSIC BY THOMAS NEWMAN."

That said, I'd also like to correct Amazon on something - they said this is Newman's third outing with Mendes, the other two being "Shawshank Redemption" and "American Beauty."

Shawshank was directed by Frank Darabont, NOT Sam Mendes.

Mendes' other pairing with Newman was actually on 2002's "Road to Perdition," which is another great soundtrack I'd heartily recommend purchasing.

Missing Theme Song - but otherwise not bad.......2006-03-01

If you've watched the previews for this film, you're likely expecting a song called Jesus Walks by Kanye West to be on the soundtrack but it's not there - very annoying. But otherwise it's a pretty good CD of music to listen to while you work out or drive fast.

Fine score, but a consumer warning for the CD.......2006-01-20

Thomas Newman's original music for JARHEAD is not only typically daring with many unconventional sounds (utilizing samples, electronic treatments and exotic percussion), but one of his most stirring, rock-influenced efforts as well (as with the opening track, "Welcome to the Suck"). At first I thought there were no melodies as memorable as "Dead Already" from AMERICAN BEAUTY or "Road to Chicago" from ROAD TO PERDITION, but the 3/4-time march used in both "Raining Oil" and "Desert Storm" has grown on me. Of course the CD is recommendable for Newman's score alone. But...

...while one doesn't buy a CD of this nature primarily for the extra songs, one does expect the extras to be competently presented when they appear. So I was taken aback to hear Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" at a faster tempo and higher pitch than usual, as though mastered from a sped-up tape. I can't think of any intentional reason for this, so I'm assuming it was a mistake, but either way I found it not only annoying in itself but because of "Fight the Power"'s thematic significance, with its reference to the Bobby McFerrin tune heard earlier in the movie. ("'Don't Worry Be Happy' was a number one jam/Damn if I say it you can slap me right here".)

So then, while I like the Thomas Newman score a lot, I'm docking the CD a star for the sped-up "Fight the Power". Caveat emptor.

Thomas Newman is a Genius!.......2006-01-07

Thomas Newman is brilliant as always and delivers beautifully. Having read the book prior to the motion picture, Thomas Newman truly brings Swofford's tale to life. If you enjoyed The Horse Whisperer or the Shawshank Redemption score, then you'll thoroughly enjoy Jarhead.

Almost perfect for the film, loses points as a cd.......2005-12-23

Make no mistake - Jarhead proves Thomas Newman's abillity to write music for film. He is not making the music in order to show off his amazing talents, he is making the music so it is perfect for the film. Whereas some composers might score depressing scenes with grand sweeping movements trying to make themselves look like complex composers, Newman knows what will enhance the scene and what won't, and what can convey the message required.

Ultimately, this describes Jarhead perfectly. I have seen the movie and music is seamless and perfect for it. For the most part, there is a sonic texture created, with guitars and drums to represent the bravado of the characters. If you are a fan of Newman's stirring orchestral works this is definitely not something you would like. Newer fans of "American Beauty" and the like will find things to enjoy here, but not in as vibrant or pleasing a way as in that album. The score on it's own is just not as exciting or involving as it could be. It is interesting in it's own right, but not very pleasing to hear. However, there are many good tracks interspersed throughout the score to take you to the good spot.

Overall, Jarhead warrants a 4.5/5 for the film, but on a cd, it's score drops to 3/5. It is pleasant at times, and mostly an interesting CD, but there are too many Newman masterpieces to consider this one high on your buying list. Then agan, if you are a Newman fan, this CD should satisfy you're urge to see what the guy is up to. Final score? Three out of five.

Average customer rating:

At last, a good Bill Wyman CD!
highly entertaining
Nothing memorable
A letter to man who has everything, especially feel.
I love this CD.

Anyway the Wind Blows
Bill Wyman & the Rhythm Kings
Manufacturer: Velvel Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Blues Rock | Rock | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00000I0R1
Release Date: 1999-02-23

Tracks:

Anyway The Wind Blows
Spooky
Walking One & Only
Mojo Boogie
Too Late
Every Sixty Seconds
Ring My Bell
Days Like This
He's A Real Gone Guy
A True Romance
Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You
When Hollywood Goes Black & Tan
Crazy He Calls Me
Struttin' Our Stuff
Sugar Babe
Gonna Find Me A New Love

Amazon.com

The Stone Alone didn't cut all ties with his famous friends when he took a hike from the Rolling Stones. Indeed, Anyway the Wind Blows's star-studded cast includes fellow Stones alumni Mick Taylor, Eric Clapton, Albert Lee, and Chris Rea. And those are just the guitarists! The big names are along to bring some flash to Wyman's apparently fluid regular crew, which includes Georgie Fame, Beverley Skeete, and Geoff Grange on vocals. The lot of 'em tackle a handful of Wyman originals and an informed collection of blues-based covers, including tunes from Willie Dixon, Nellie Lutchor, and J.J. Cale. The result is an expertly played collection with the feel of a jam session at an upscale pub. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews:

At last, a good Bill Wyman CD!.......2003-01-30

Leaning on his experience with Willie and the Poor Boys, Bill assembles the best musicians from his rolodex and covers R&B, jazz and pop standards going back to the 30s. Bill is a music FAN in the greatest sense and he knows no genre boundary. This music is well executed and Bill keeps his singing to cuts that his limited vocal range can handle, and his singing has improved from earlier solo efforts. You won't even notice. Highly recommended for anyone who loves music from a time when music was music.

highly entertaining.......2002-07-22

this cd has a sound and feel different than that presented in the mainstream music currently presented. i enjoy each song and how it differs from the the one before and after it, yet it flows together beautifully.i have recommend this cd to all who will listen to me.noone was disappointed.

Nothing memorable.......2000-04-15

Considering some of the talent here, this album is so laid-back it barely registers. It's slick, it's polished, but there's not a lot of soul here. Mick Taylor is barely audible, Clapton's been far bluesier elsewhere, and the vocals don't have a lot of passion. For a Wyman project that rocks, check out Willy and the Poorboys, with Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, Chris Rea, and a lot livelier supporting cast. This was a nice idea, but it's too much of a misfire to justify spending full price on.

A letter to man who has everything, especially feel........2000-04-09

Bill, When I say you have feel, I mean...w'll get'm. Bill,let's talk about your tone. (Sip of water)What you've created, is equal to what... Tony Pena did for baseball! If you didn't shackle through thousands of women in your touring career, then heaven help me (pause)something's wrong! You have got the ,... the sickest feel(swallow)in all my bass playing years- with a very popular 80's band by the way, I have ever heard.I did weddings too! And ladies, if you have never dropped to your knees at the first clink of this man's flatwounds...then baby you've never heard BILL WYMAN! Purchase this album.Period(let's just say Webster, when asked to define feel,looked at me with a shaggy wig and straight face and told me to shut my mouth and put on Anyway the Wind Blows. With that he walked away!)

peace...and I'm out,,,igaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I love this CD........2000-01-11

I first heard a couple of cuts from this CD while shopping in a (brick-and-mortar) bookstore, and it had me practically dancing in the aisles. I went home and sampled some more cuts online through Amazon and ordered it. Bill and his friends have produced an album that not only sounds like they're having a great time, but makes you feel like you're in on it too.

Average customer rating:

Torn Away from the pages of 1988

Hallelujah Anyway
Dancing Hoods
Manufacturer: Relativity
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B0007LI98W

Product Description

12 Tracks

Customer Reviews:

Torn Away from the pages of 1988.......2005-10-14

I bought this when it came out in 1988, after seeing the band perform "Torn Away" on MTV. At that point, MTV was still playing a lot of hair metal (bon jovi, GNR, etc.), which i detested, so this stood out to me as different but still palatable to the general public. Torn Away is a upbeat rock song with a melodic hook, a catchy song that still sounds good today. The sax solo might date it a bit, but its no John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. The album is much less subversive and more polished than Husker Du and the Replacements, but not a total sell out either. A bit of country influence on some of the songs. It's not a great album, but it has its good points.

Mark Linkous of this band went on to form the better known Sparklehorse. The sound is not the same, but you might still like it.

Average customer rating:

Family's best album
Gruff, Gritty, Great
Uniquely Family
another excellent family album

Anyway
Family
Manufacturer: Castle - Old Numbers
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Blues Rock | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

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Psychedelic Rock | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00004SR1Z
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Tracks:

Good News - Bad News
Willow Tree
Holding The Compass
Strange Band
Part Of The Load
Anyway
Normans
Lives And Ladies
Today
Song For Lots (B-Side Today)
Today (Edited Version)

Customer Reviews:

Family's best album.......2001-12-22

Family's music always wandering amid careless and no alternative but to bear some burdens,So it would generated a not too good ensemble of Prog,Blues,Especilly barroom blues or old term style;But overall a important essence were producing form this album or "A song for me",Identified Family was a not too commom group.
Before several years I received this album from one record store then I duplicated played it a long while,For I'd preferred them a stiff attitude and melodies and a Dionysus esque vocal would had attracted those die hard prog fans.

Gruff, Gritty, Great.......2001-08-27

If "Good News, Bad News" does not convince you that Chappo had the best chops of any singer from the '70s, clean out your ears. He makes Robert Plant and Joe Cocker sound like choir boys. This remastered CD, half live and half studio, provides a rare glimpse into the power and majesty that characterized Family. Held in high esteem in Europe, particularly rural areas, Family brokered no compromises. It was about the music. Sure "Strange Band" will strike most folks as, well, strange or arcane, but what would you expect from a band that delivered molten waves of sound? And Charlie Whitney delivers some of the finest most understated lead guitar work ever. "Holding the Compass" showcases Charlie's amazing versatility. Avoid this CD at all costs if your tastes run to '80s fluff, techno trash, or top 40. This is the essence of rock: gruff and gritty waterpipe theatrics, a lasting testament to the greatest band of its time.

Uniquely Family.......2001-05-07

From one album to the next, you could never be sure what you'd get from these guys -- but they never sounded like aynyone else. Anyway was released as 1/2 live & 1/2 studio, but all new material. The live tracks are mostly excellent songs (I could do without "Willow Tree"), well performed, but the recording quality is mediocre. Given the paucity of live Familiy recordings, it's best not to quibble.

The studio tracks from the original release almost flow together as a suite of the unusual, challenging but very rewarding songs that typified Family. If there is a quintessential Family song in the unreal variety of their work, that song may be the title track of Anyway. The vocal and instrumental backing seem to be going in 2 different directions, both complex, with an unusual rhythm to boot. Yet it does hold together beautifully. Lots of violin (apparently John Weider) touches, a bit of vibes & Roger Chapman alternatively bellowing & crooning.

The "extra tracks" do not really add anything of significance, so I recommend not paying eztra for a version that has them. If you really need Family's singles & B-sides (actually, you really don't), pick up the 2 disc Anthology to get 'em all, along with a very well-selected overview of all of Family's releases after Family Entertainment.

All in all, certainly one of my Family favorites. No one who enjoys Family should be without this one.

another excellent family album.......2000-10-27

this one takes a few listens to get into but then you realize just how great this group and album are. good news bad news is a bona fide tornado of a tune that howls and roars . part of the load is a funky track with great stops and starts. normans is a catchy and impressive instrumental and the bonus track, the flop 45 today from 1970 is a truly beautiful track with amazing guitar from charlie whitney lives and ladies is an epic number with chapman's extraordinarily unique vocals and the always excellent playing from whitney, weider, townsend, and palmer behind him. the lyrics are also superb, family is quite underrated in this regard, it seems like few mention the excellence of their lyrics. this isn't their best record, but if you like family it is certainly a worthy addition to one's collection

Nothing Ever Was, Anyway: The Music of Annette Peacock

Average customer rating:

For dedicated fans of Crispell and/or Annette Peacock

Nothing Ever Was, Anyway: The Music of Annette Peacock
Marilyn Crispell
Manufacturer: Ecm Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

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ECM Classical | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

ECM Jazz & World | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000320E
Release Date: 1997-11-11

Tracks:

Nothing Ever Was, Anyway (Version 1)
Butterflies That I Feel Inside Me
Open, To Love
Cartoon
Albert's Love Theme
Dreams (If Time Weren't)

Tracks:

Touching
Both
You've Left Me
Miracles
Ending
Blood
Nothing Ever Was, Anyway (Version 2)

Customer Reviews:

For dedicated fans of Crispell and/or Annette Peacock.......1998-12-06

Crispell's interpretations of the music of Annette Peacock are not for everyone. Most people have never heard of Peacock and have nothing to compare it to. Peacock's songs - all written, apparently, during the 60's are bitter-sweet, poingant in the extreme. Crispell brings her enormous power as a classically trained pianist to the interpretation of such little masterpieces as "Both" , "touching" and "open, to love". Inevitably the music must be compared to the definitive interpretations of the same music by Paul Bley's trio albums from the 60's and 70's. Crispell's approach is somewhat more lyrical if less dramatic. It is obvious that her drummer, Paul Motion, has listened to the nervous probing drumming of Barry Altschul who worked on Bley's albums. If you like this album, do explore Bley's work, especially early albums like "Ramblin'" and "open, to love". His later album, "Annette", likewise dedicated to Peacock's music, is to my mind, a little weak.

Average customer rating:

Great album
put this in your car radio...........
Wow, more bands need to start like this
Best new band out there

Yeah. Well, Anyway...
Smartbomb
Manufacturer: Razor & Tie
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Jettingham
Love and Kisses from the Underground

ASIN: B00005LN74
Release Date: 2001-07-10

Tracks:

Acetylene
Complicate It
50 In My Wallet
Breathe
Hysterical Inside Joke
Exactly Where You Are
Down
Out Of Hand
Movie Of The Week
Don't Be Gone
Homecoming
Ordinary Star

Product Description

Excellent condition, includes the original CD, case, and paperwork, First Class shipped, ask me for my CD List!;

Customer Reviews:

Great album.......2001-12-04

I own this album and must say was pleasantly surprised. A buddy of my turned me on to them and lets just say we don't always have the same taste in music. This is an excellent rock album and like the others said, you don't tire of easily. They lean towards the pop side of rock but contain enough of an edge to not fall into the pop groove. The lyrics are meant to be fun but at the same time describe how crazy life is at times.

put this in your car radio..................2001-07-31

That is how I know how well an album is. If i like the album when I'm driving, then I know it's a keeper. I typically listen to stone temple pilots/third eye blind/korn/fuel/etc. Smartbomb's music rocks and is full of colors and harmony. It may seem different at first, but the songs are so well made that you will be singing along in no time. Their guitar sound is great and the vocals are nothing like I've ever heard before. Buy the music and you will be pleasantly surprised...........

Wow, more bands need to start like this.......2001-07-27

I heard of Smartbomb on a radio commercial after just recently playing a show nearby. I heard their cool cover of Faith Hill's Breathe, then seeing their CD for a great price, I figured why not?

An awesome debut for these guys to say the least. Smartbomb has a very nice combination sound of mainstream rock with a soft-punk edge to it that can only be driven well behind good vocals. And the vocals do fit this genre well, not to mention that the blend of vocalists Chuck and Scott is wonderful. Add that to several very catchy songs, fitting instrumentals and great rhythms and you've got a great CD. The lyrics aren't going to inspire life change, but they're also completely inoffensive and lighthearted, much like their music.

This is the kind of CD you can hear several times over without it getting old, and get hooked on a different song every day.... and that's what we ultimately want from our music right? If you like music (and I imagine that's why you're here) and are looking for something new to break the monotony, "Yeah Well, Anyway..." should more than satisfy.

Best new band out there.......2001-07-25

I purchased the Smartbomb cd at a recent free show in NY and I was more than satisfied with it. This band is an amazing part in the pop rock scene and I hope everybody out there gets this cd because it's awesome. I listen to it everyday and I am not at all disappointed or sick of it!!

Average customer rating:

A historical dance album
one more time!
Alice Deejay
good cd
A trance classic. Buy this.

Who Needs Guitars Anyway?
Alice Deejay
Manufacturer: Umvd Labels
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Trance | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

House | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
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Intuition
Ace
Before the Storm

ASIN: B00004SBWG
Release Date: 2000-04-11

Tracks:

Back In My Life
Better Off Alone
Celebrate Our Love
The Lonely One
Who Needs Guitars Anyway?
Will I Ever
Elements Of Life
Fairytales
Waiting For Your Love
No More Lies
I Can See (See It In Your Eyes)
Everything Begins With An E
Got To Get Away
Alice Deejay

Customer Reviews:

A historical dance album.......2005-02-26

If you like this kind of music you can't go wrong with this album. There are at least 5 or 6 solid songs on here. The music is infused with femininity. Much of what came in the genre before this album was male dominated. Who needs guitars anyway is largely responsible for breaking the feminine barrier in the genre. A great dance album.

one more time!.......2004-08-22

This Cd is why i began to like the whole dance/trance genre after i heard the song better off alone on a radio station. After buying this cd, i was so pleased; this cd is repetitive but if you liked better off alone, then you'll love the whole cd no doubt. Even as it ages, this cd still is a favorite; not a one hit wonder. there are vocals and sometimes they're too much but only in certain songs. This CD even has plain instrumental/trance music songs which i love. My favorite songs are "back in my life" & "everything begins with an E" I only wish she'd make a new cd.

Alice Deejay.......2003-05-31

The is a very very good album...I found out of this artist while looking at a Sarina Paris cd (which is another good one) and I listend to the demos and they are some of my favorites I never seen before...I listen to this dance station and they play all her songs and I love it...I never saw this in stores but now I have it and I don't regreat it so Buy It a.s.a.p. if your really want somethiong to dance to!

good cd.......2003-04-30

If you are into club music, this a good one for the library!!

A trance classic. Buy this........2002-08-24

Alice Deejay combines love and desperation better than any other electronic artist on the scene. "Her" work is dark, lonely, pure, even when it's exuberant -- "Better Off Alone" has been as successful as it has because it mixes a relentless forward motion with a carefully preserved "electronicness" -- so listening to this album is like being in the dark and *searching*, but loving the search.

Sure, the sound becomes repetitive in a few of the less emergent tracks; but it's the unity of the sound that holds the album together, and on the whole it's an advantage. "Fairytales" (the panned track 8) is hypnotic in an Annie Lennox kind of way; it takes its time. It's atmospheric like the ocean, dreamy like a lullaby, but still crisp, still rigidly structured and punctuated with vinyl rips, and it's a gorgeous contrast to the rest of the album.

Another winner (for you kindred spirits out there), furiously up-tempo like the bulk of the CD, is "No More Lies". I haven't heard such jubilant desperation since Skribble's remix of Olive's rendition of "I'm Not in Love", and this track tops Olive's detached notes with its own driven, hopeful/plaintive arcs. The zenith of the album tilts the CD's characteristic yearning angerward; play "I've Got to Get Away" while driving from a job you hate *once*, and you'll find yourself playing it every day.

All that said, some of the tracks are playful, teasing, and just plain fun, and there are enough anthems on this CD, and simple, soaring melodies, to please any electronic fan. The album works as a bridge, too, between top-40 remixes and the first stirrings of trance appreciation, so it's a friendly introduction for those who aren't (yet) in the know. In short: this album was made by clubbers *for* clubbers; it understands the many moods of clubbings, and it's with its listener every step of the way.

Nothing Ever Was, Anyway: The Music of Annette Peacock
Average customer rating:

priceless.

Ecstatic Lyricism from a Free Jazz Wonder

The art of the free jazz ballad

Exciting revisiting of some well known material

Nothing Ever Was, Anyway: The Music of Annette Peacock
Marilyn Crispell
Manufacturer: Ecm Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
General | Jazz | Styles | Music
General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
ECM Classical | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ECM Jazz & World | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B000007Y6B
Release Date: 2000-06-06

Tracks:

Nothing Ever Was, Anyway (Version 1)
Butterflies That I Feel Inside Me
Open, To Love
Cartoon
Albert's Love Theme
Dreams (If Time Weren't)

Tracks:

Touching
Both
You've Left Me
Miracles
Ending
Blood
Nothing Ever Was, Anyway (Version 2)

Customer Reviews:

priceless........2005-03-23

There can be no doubt as to the beauty of this album, no matter what anyone thinks. Marilyn Crispell's first release on ECM, from 1997, reveals the stunning lyrical depth of which this free-improvisation-goddess is capable. But of course, she is but a part of the whole -- Paul Motian and Gary Peacock are the likewise essential to this immaculate album. The music performed is that of Annette Peacock, an influential and passionate artist of the avant-garde. One thing that makes this album remarkable is when you put in perspective the perceived natures of both Crispell and A. Peacock. Before this, Crispell specialized mainly in searing, atonal improvisation. But Annette Peacock's music is mysterious and stark, more "minimal" than "maximal". As unlikely as it might be, this album is one of the most heartstoppingly beautiful things ever created by mankind. Masterly in all respects, this is a gripping, quiet, beautiful work of art. A. Peacock herself appears on the album as guest for vocals on "Dreams (if time weren't)" -- her first recorded performance in 12-years. Otherwise, Crispell plays the adapted vocal lines with rapturous rhythmic accompaniment from Motian and Peacock.

Perhaps at this point, the overuse of the word "beautiful" in ANOTHER review for an ECM album might demand justification. But really, what else does one say? ECM simply has _that many_, uh, beautiful albums. And that "ECM sound" is not beautiful in any manner as pedestrian or superficial as that which aspires directly and intently for beauty (music which often feels emotionally empty and nonintuitive). Instead, one can only explain it verbally with a hollow truism: it is beautiful because it is beautiful. but if you know what I mean, then you _know_ what i mean. Not to mention that virtually all ECM releases have superlative sound production. More labels should be as good as ECM.

anyway, you must hear this album for your own sake. You are simply missing some of the most gorgeous music ever if you never hear it. And hearing it sooner is always better than hearing it later.

Ecstatic Lyricism from a Free Jazz Wonder.......2002-11-02

This is one of those quintessentially sombre ECM albums, and depending on the responses that description evokes in you, you should either rush out and get this one or avoid it like the plague. Crispell is one of the finest free players to come out of the 1980's. She first made her name playing in Anthony Braxton's marvelous 80's band, where her classical phrasing, elegant tone and uncompromisingly dissonant approach to Braxton's modernist compositions was constistently surprising. She helped to make that Braxton quartet one of the most constistently inventive ensembles Braxton put together.

On her own, Crispell has retained a certain "European" coolness...almost an intellectuality along with a frenetic style derived primarily from Cecil Taylor by way of Stockhausen. But that is not really in evidence on this CD. Rather, here we find the lyrical Crispell, diving into the hauntingly beautiful ballads of Annette Peacock with love and passion. As might be suspected, she often reminds one of Paul Bley here...as Bley put his unmistakeable stamp on this music with his recordings of it in the 60's and 70's. But this is not just Bley revamped. Crispell is her own soloist. One moment she is stark and almost Feldmanesque (Morton Feldman that is) and the next moment she is rhapsodic, with a touch and harmonic sense that reveal the warmth and glow of Bill Evans.

The trio on this date is excellent. Paul Motian got his start playing with Evans, and understands the piano trio perhaps better than any other free drummer with the possible exception of Barry Altshul (and Jack DeJohnette if you consider him a free drummer). He is able to suspend the time without loosing momentum, and his brush work is exquisite. Gary Peacock is one of the finest of bass players, and of course his pedigree in the music of his ex-wife is stellar. (How he ever managed to remain both the friend and collaborator of both Bley and Annette Peacock during his divorce and her subsequent marriage to Bley is beyond me...but hey! it was the 60's.)Sound, as is usual for ECM is open, spacious and atmospheric.

This is great music for late nights. It has that classic three-in-the-morning feel to it. But it is not all just atmosphere. Crispell, Peacock and Motian make sure that this music retains depth of thought and feeling. Stands up there with the classic Bley trio recordings, and that's high praise indeed!

The art of the free jazz ballad.......2001-05-26

When this recording came out in 1997 it was greeted with a lot of praise in the music press. I only belatedly got it last month; I was initially pretty disappointed with it, though I've come to appreciate it rather better since then. It is almost self-parodic in its fulfillment of the ECM aesthetic: two CDs of often ponderous & portentous but always immaculately-played & beautifully-recorded free-tempo ballads, by the cult composer/singer Annette Peacock. Crispell is best known for her combustible piano playing, which is one of the most individual developments of the Cecil Taylor line of free jazz. But there's always been something of a new-agey side to her music, too (not for nothing is one of her discs called _Gaia_); one might also more generously point to her increasingly obvious devotion to the music of Bill Evans (her earlier disc _Contrasts: Live at Yoshi's_ contains a couple Evans tunes...though she manages to mistake the structure of "Turn Out the Stars", alas). Her ballad-playing throughout her career has been typically heavily rubato, & often extravagantly rhapsodic & emotional; her rhapsodic side, though, is reigned in on _Nothing ever was, anyway_, & the tenor of the album is instead cool & understated for the most part. This is mostly sober & sombre stuff, though there's a fine humour on show in "cartoon".

As the foregoing suggests, this isn't an album that greatly moves me. But it would be churlish of me to give it a low rating, given the evident devotion of all the players involved to the music, & their often excellent performances. Paul Motian in particular is a key voice on the album--he's played with Crispell before, & they seem entirely in sync here; indeed, on several tracks Peacock either lays out entirely or plays very little, foregrounding the Crispell-Motian duet.

Two small notes. Annette Peacock herself guests on one track, "Dreams (If time weren't)". I think she's destined to remain a cult singer: some will find her wayward pitching as grating as fingernails on a chalkboard. That doesn't bother me unduly, but the sheer pretentiousness & awkward literariness of her lyrics do. -- Secondly: this album is issued as a double-CD but buyers should be aware that it contains only just a little more than could fit on a single disc. If the extra take of the title track that forms a coda to the 2nd disc had been omitted then it could have been a one-disc set.

A worthwhile recording, though I prefer some of Crispell's warmer & more varied discs like _Santuerio_. Those who enjoy it will want to catch _Amaryllis_, a recent disc that reunites this trio to perform their own material.

Exciting revisiting of some well known material.......2000-03-15

Annette Peacock - where is she, why hasn't she recorded for such a long time? A phenomenally talented artist, Peacock wrote - and sang - some of the best known and loved material in the free repertoire. Anyone well acquainted with the recordings of Paul Bley, Gary Peacock inter alia will recognise many themes featured on this album. The playing is exemplary - Crispell's faithful interpretations are well supported by Gary Peacock and Paul Motian. Many coming to this recording afresh will find it somewhat astringent - not immediately lovable - but do please make an effort. The moving ballad "Both" is a good place to start. Certainly to my delight, Annette herself sings on "Dreams" - a beautiful voice. I felt twenty five years fall away in a moment. I just wish ECM could persuade Ms Peacock to record an entirely sung album of her material.

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