Review #3

The Moldy Peaches - The Moldy Peaches (2001)

Al jaren ben ik groot liefhebber van Adam Green, en met hem heb ik kennis gemaakt via zijn solo-album 'Friends of Mine'. Muzikaal is het allemaal misschien niet even hoogstaand, maar textueel is het bijzonder goed.

Ten tijde van dit album ben ik me gaan verdiepen in de wijze waarop het voor Adam allemaal begonnen is. Samen met Kimya Dawson speelde hij voordat hij solo is gaan opnemen in een bandje waarmee hij een genre wat 'Anti-Folk' genoemd wordt leven inblies. Kenmerkend voor deze opnames, in vergelijking met zijn solowerk, is dat eigenlijk alle nummer bijzonder rammelend klinken. Door deze minimale productie is het even doorbijten voordat je echt goed naar de teksten en liedjes gaat luisteren. In eerste instantie begon mijn eerste luisterbeurt dus met ergernis, maar deze veranderde langzaam in waardering. Deze cd van the Moldy Peaches is namelijk echt de moeite waard. De combinatie Green/Dawson is wat mij betreft goud en heeft een aantal pareltjes opgeleverd. Nummers als 'Anyone Else But You' en 'Nothing Came Out' zijn op hun vreemde manier gewoon puur romantisch te noemen. Tussen alle tracks kom ik vrijwel geen minpunten tegen, al is na een aantal keer luisteren het nummer 'On Top' waarin de Peaches een poging tot rappen doen gewoon irritant. Wat verder afbraak doet op mijn luisterplezier is de slechte productie (al is het steeds meer mogelijk om dit naast me neer te leggen). Dit is echter wel de reden dat deze cd geen vijf sterren van mij verdiend, maar het moet doen met toch een mooie vier sterren beoordeling.

Conclusie: Gouden combinatie tekstschrijvers, maar door slechte productie komt dit toch niet in zijn geheel over. Wanneer je dit kan loslaten is dit een heerlijk album!

Stand-out Tracks: 'Anyone Else But You' & 'Steak For Chicken'.

Total Rating: 4.0/5.0

Review Number #2

Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline (1969)

Yesterday I've been counting my Bob Dylan albums, and the one I bought a few days earlier was the 15th one. This man is higly productive and of course active for a real long time. It's very hard to pick a favourite. The Bootleg Series (Part 4 to 6) can be the ones. Or Blonde on blonde. Or maybe Bringing it all back home. There's so much there, and all have some beautiful songs.

But what about this one? Nashville Skyline, released in 1969, was a reaction of Bob to actions of his fans. They had crowned him to leader of rebellion, something that he just wasn't all about. That's why he made an album like this. This album is really light-hearted, easy listening and most of all...happy.

The first time I've heard this one I had to listen closely to understand that this is really the same old Bobby D. His voice seemed pure, nothing like his first list of albums. I needed some time to really get this. Where did this came from? Why this voice and style change? Then I've read something about this album as discribed earlier. He made this to shut the protesters up. And he did.

Although it's not a protestrecord, Nashville Skyline is a very strong record. With it's 27 minutes it's a bit short, but it has some beautiful tracks like 'Lay Lady Lay' and 'Girl From The North Country' (in a version with the great Johnny Cash!). Also the instrumentals like 'Nashville Skyline Rag (which I normally don't like) are great. Ánd of course with this short running time the album doesn't get the chance of gettin' dull at all.

Conclusion: I think this is one hell of an album! The only problem at first was the comparison with older material by Dylan. Once you are able to let this go, you'll enjoy this very much.

Stand-out Tracks: 'Lay Lady Lay' and 'Tell Me That It Isn't True'.

Total rating: 4.0/5.0

Review Number #1

Cocorosie - The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn (2007)

What can I say? I never was a big fan of these two (very, very, very!) weird ladies. I really never got their 'freak-folk'. There are some nice tracks on their first two albums, but never could the whole album please me. How will it be with this one? Well, the start of this one is really good. It kicks in with the track 'Rainbowwariors' which I really like. It is a kind of hip-hop-dance-track and the sisters sound very funky. This is also the case with the next track. But there is the old problem again...when we reach the second half of the album the boredom gets in. Tracks like 'Houses' or 'Miracle' should be avoided. Even the great Antony (& The Johnsons) can't save this songs. The best track I think is 'Japan'. This is a childish-popsong, which is very catchy. The absolute CocoRosie-fan must hate this, I, as a average one love it! (Even the opera-part in the middle!)
Conclusion: Same old story with the two sisters, some fine recordings on this album, but again the whole thing isn't very consistent.

Stand-out Tracks: 'Rainbowwarriors' and 'Japan'.

Total rating: 2.5/5.0

Launch Website

Hey everybody,

just trying to discover the possibilities of this website. Still figuring out if I'm going to make this site an English one or if I'll going to write in Dutch (could very well be the case, I'm a bit lazy!).

For now, cheers, see you guys later!

Kev