CD of the month - As Tall As Lions

I'm been so immersed in this band that I forgot to mention them on
this blog. I discovered this great band from a single off of Promo
Only and haven't look back since. Check them out and catch them on tour!

Robin Thicke - new CD like "old Prince with muscles"

Thicke says apart from his Hip Hop collabos on the new album with Game, Jay-Z, Snoop, KiD CuDi, Estelle & Nicki Minaj, the rest of the jams are similar to Prince’s ol’ school vibe. ‘Prince with Muscles’ to be exact. That’s at the 2:00 minute mark.

John Mayer "Battle Studies" CD Review

Dull, dull and duller! How this douche bag ever made it this far is
anyones guess. The best track is the lead off single "Who Says" which besides its obvious mass appeal in these times about getting high it sounds like a demo added last minute and its truly the most interesting track and that's not saying much...

3 outta 10

Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart

First listenThe new single from Alicia Keys...

It's just ok...not her best but not bad either. Take a listen >>>
UPDATE: ITS A GROWER - loving it!

Norah Jones "The Fall" CD Review

Norah Jones is back with her new CD entitled "The Fall" and upon first listen her alluring and voice is intact as she explores with slightly new sounds. Most of the CD is built on the guitar instead of her signature piano and it works quite well. She also has hooked up with a new producer, Jacquire King who has also worked with Kings of Leon, Modest Mouse and Tom Waits who brings a slightly more adventurous pop rock sound while still keeping the essence of her style intact. The overall theme of the CD addresses her recent breakup. 10 of the 13 songs solidly addressing the final stages of her relationship with her longtime bassist and romantic partner Lee Alexander. Jones' songwriting is full of questions and remorse, her head spinning from ruminations about the next chapter of her love life. She's ruined, lonely, needy and, on "Man of the Hour," finding solace in her pet dog, the theme of the album's artwork. The final song is hilarious and could easily be a song from Fionna Apple. All the elements are included on "The Fall" that an artist needs to make for a great CD – heartbreak and sorrow.

The CD starts off with the upbeat and fun song "Chasing Pirate" which was a great choice for the lead single. Its got all the smooth pop hooks we've come to know from Norah while exploring a new fresh beats over her typical piano cabaret sounds. A handful of songs, particularly the rocker "It's Gonna Be" and the soul ballad "You've Ruined Me," suggest she's on to something new even though her heart is broken and she is in a state of disarray. Jones takes us on her heartbreak journey singing, "I should go back to Manhattan," she sings, "It's just a train ride away/I know nothing 'bout leaving/But I know I should do it today."

The smoothness and tempos of her more popular earlier work remain and the electric instruments simply create a new sonic layer to her music. The appeal of "The Fall" is wholly in line with that of Jones' mega-selling debut.. At 30, she is addressing her own personal tragedy, adjusting her signature sound slightly and trying a direct approach. It works nicely. Our girl is still friendly and folksy and Norah Jones once again makes another great album that breaths life with complete honesty.

The Who - Superbowl XLIV

The Who will perform at Superbowl XLIV, marking the British band's first performance in North America since 2008.

U2 took "unforgettable" trip to castle for '84 album

As reported in Reuters...


By Alex Dobuzinskis Alex Dobuzinskis – Mon Oct 26, 5:47 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – When U2 producer Danny Lanois and the band made "The Unforgettable Fire" in 1984, they recorded it at an Irish castle because they wanted a place with history, which Lanois said suited him just fine.

The album, which will be re-released on Tuesday in a remastered 25th anniversary edition, marked the first time U2 worked with Brian Eno and Lanois, two producers who would collaborate with the band several times more, and not always in a conventional studio setting.

Before arriving at Ireland's Slane Castle, an 18th Century structure overlooking the River Boyne, the Canadian-born Lanois had recorded in unusual places and he was ready to lend that expertise to U2 and its singer Bono.

"Bono was looking for a different kind of location, a building that had ghosts in the walls and some kind of a sense of history," Lanois told Reuters. "So that we weren't just in an empty modern warehouse, that we were actually feeling the presence of goings-on from the past," he said.

Over the years, the multi-instrumentalist Lanois has worked everywhere from an excavated Mexican mountaintop to a Victorian mansion in New Orleans, and he said he likes to record in unusual settings because it fosters creativity.

For U2's latest album, the current "No Line on the Horizon," the pair helped produce sessions in a Moroccan "riad," an interior garden open to the sky.

"We enter a location with a sound in mind," Lanois said.

In the case of "Unforgettable Fire," Lanois initially thought Slane Castle's ballroom would be an ideal place to record but found it was too large. So, the band moved to a library where they were surrounded by books, which was more compact and offered better sound quality.

In the end, Lanois found that having the entire band living in the castle together during the recording helped foster a certain camaraderie. "The best part of it is that everyone was living there," (in the castle), Lanois said.

"In the end, the dedication and the commitment that took us to the locale is probably the thing that's going to get under people's skins," he said.

"The Unforgettable Fire" featured the hit single "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and other songs like "Bad" and "A Sort of Homecoming." The re-released version out Tuesday will include two previously unheard tracks from the Slane Castle sessions, "Yoshino Blossom" and "Disappearing Act."