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Artist:
Stereophonics
 the best of the best, 2008-11-26
this is a ex best of cd from start to finish it rocks this band are brillant buy this cd you will not be disappointed xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £7.72
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Artist:
Seal
Soul is a confusing beast. We know Seal has a great voice and can easily imagine him being covering golden oldies with aplomb. Yet this collection of soul favourites is frustratingly patchy. Opener "A Change Is Gonna Come" is impassioned and beautifully-arranged (the album is helmed by David Foster of Celebrity Duets fame, who has made sure it sounds fresh and compelling), and even though it could never compare to Sam Cooke's original, it's ultimately a successful reworking. Seal applies his sandpapery tones to James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World", Al Green's "Here I Am" and "I'm Still in Love With You", and Ben E King's "Stand By Me"--all of them with decent results. Decent, yet hardly overwhelming. And here's where the confusion kicks in: why cover a bunch of songs that have already been done to death? Christmas being right around the corner is perhaps one good reason in commercial terms. But when you listen to the singer transform less well-trodden territory like Deniece Williams' "Free" or Ann Peeble's "I Can't Stand the Rain", its hard not to feel this play-it-safe option--while undoubtedly a wonderful Xmas gift--is also a lost creative opportunity. --Danny McKenna
Fantastic production, great songs and a great singer - what more could you wish for?, 2008-11-16
Seal has a great voice, very soulful and lovely to listen to, so to produce an album of soul classics seems a natural progression. The choice of songs is great - most are very well known with a few not so well known to tempt you to listen to the original artists.
Seal manages to cover all the tracks with great aplomb, my personal favourite being 'People Get Ready'. The production is slick but not over the top and the music is great, a great Sunday afternoon easy listener or a dinner party conversation piece.
Well done Seal, the addition of Barrack Obama's 'A Change Is Gonna Come' is welcome (performed originally by Sam Cooke, not Obama - it was one of the songs he used for his campaign!).
All in all, a great record and one that should be applauded for all the right reasons. This is a cracking Christmas present for anyone with a taste in good music.
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List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £6.99
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Artist:
Enya
Just beautiful!, 2008-11-26
I bought this as a Christmas present for someone else but I just had to put it on my ipod before I wrapped it up! Silent Night (which I had missed the first time round) is just stunning. Beautiful music - you won't be disappointed
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List Price: £15.99
Our Price: £7.50
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Artist:
Dido
Safe Trip Home, the third album from singer-songwriter Dido, sees the chanteuse cook up a slightly different ambience than on previous albums No Angel (1999) and Life for Rent (2003). Though her signature elements remain in place--the limited, slightly cracked falsetto; the dreamy, comforting trip-hop vibe--there seems to be an extra density to Safe Trip Home, doubtless provoked by the loss of her father in 2006. The added weight is predominantly in the lyrics, which tend to focus on loss and heartache, but there's extra detail and depth in the musicianship too, since Dido has been busy honing her skills as a multi-instrumentalist. Despite the denser themes, the music still drifts by in classic Dido style, moving smoothly through the insouciant "Don't Believe in Love", the aptly titled "Quiet Times", and "Never Want to Say It's Love", before arriving at the somber-yet-elegant six-minute standout "Grafton Street", co-written with Brian Eno and featuring Mick Fleetwood on drums. The rest of the album unfurls in similarly sophicticated fashion, featuring the folkish "Look No Further", the upbeat "Us 2 Little Gods" and a nine-minute poetic closer called "Northern Skies". Put simply, Safe Trip Home is Dido on superlative form. --Danny McKenna
still creative, 2008-12-01
well i've never wanted dido to re-made her previouse albums, what's the point of hearing them again...and thank you dido for not making this like the other...
well, it's great album, dido still creative artist. so dido plz keep changing...
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £6.97
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Artist:
Cast Of Mamma Mia The Movie
Mamma Mia - exciting, feel good, glad to be alive sound track, 2008-08-21
Being a stout ABBA fan from their glory days after winning the Eurovision with Waterloo I tread carefully when being injected with any take-off of their music. However no reserve needs putting in place in my opinion as this just comes across as feel good Abba one hundred per cent. Obviously we're never going to get the vocal range that Abba had but for feel good, solid enjoyment, love of music, crowd appreciation, this delivers one hundred and ten per cent. Abba appeal to all generations and will never lose their appeal. Be surprised if you don't find yourself joining in as it's hard to resist! Was surprised at some of the tracks missing from the film following the stage show but ultimately Abba haven't made a bad record so wasn't too bothered.
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £7.74
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Artist:
Keane
Would it be outlandish to suggest that wholesome rugby-shouldered ruddy-faced English piano-pop boys Keane have spent the best part of their two-album career fanning the impression that they exist somewhere between an easy Mothers' Day gift and the album it's ok to give your girlfriend back when you split up, just in order to blow everyone out of the water like 80s neon-pop commandos with the boldness of their third? You know, utilising the element of surprise? Probably, but even though their debut (Hopes & Fears) and its follow up (Under the Iron Sea) may have been broader creative successes than many care to admit, it is true that Perfect Symmetry is a synth-brandishing Tyrannosaurus Rex next to those trundlingly melodic Trojan horses. From the moment "Spiralling", the single that made a nation choke on its Yakult, erupts like a Top of the Pops volcano with flashes of David Bowie, Talking Heads, Erasure, Prefab Sprout and James, amongst others--with the "WHOOOO!" interjections impacting like lava hitting an LA swimming pool and sending cocktails flying--the album is generally as taut, bulky and bronzed as a teen Arnold Schwarzenegger. Old habits die hard and there is still much in the way mid-paced melancholy, but they are sung with clarity and the songwriting stays tight with some deep lyrics and turns of phrase to balance out the vague and which presumably reflect Tom Chaplin's documented decent into addiction. "Playing Along", a beautifully arranged set of textures and gathering emotional bursts, is a particular high. --James Berry
Fantastically Different, 2008-11-19
It's great to hear a band bold enough to try something different with a third album rather than let it be a marker of their steady decline (e.g. Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight). With 'Perfect Symmetry' Keane pulls off a welcome and surprisingly different return.
The 80's feel is apparent but the album avoids becoming a pastiche. The album makes you think of Queen, Bowie and other greats, but the strong vocals and melodies make it unmistakably Keane. Tempo is generally upbeat throughout, tinged with retro drum machines and synths and unashamedly pop, which is no bad thing.
Production is slick and tight as with the previous two albums. This wont be a Keane album for everyone, but for some it's an outstanding return. Recommended!
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £6.98
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Artist:
Various Artists
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £8.98
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![Spirit - The Deluxe Edition [CD+DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414HF3SDsKL._SL160_.jpg "Spirit - The Deluxe Edition [CD+DVD]")
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Artist:
Leona Lewis
Wow, 2008-12-01
wow......i didn't already own this album because my daughter has the original album. when the deluxe album came out i made the decision to purchase one for myself......oh my goodness i am so glad that i did. wow, in my opinion this is an exceptional cd and you get a dvd too. track 12 'the first time i ever saw your face' and track 17 'run' send shivers over me. a beautiful and exceptional album that i am so glad that i now own. five stars for the beautiful and talented leona.
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £8.93
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Artist:
The Priests
Voices Of Angels, 2008-11-28
Listening to this album has been a spritual experience for me. Ave Maria and Pie Jesu are my favourites, but you don't want to skip any of the songs on the album. All songs are beautifully recorded and absolutely captivating. I will listen to this album for a very long time.
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List Price: £16.99
Our Price: £8.63
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Artist:
Guns N Roses
17 years in the making and beholden of a level of hyperbole verging on mythology--one that couldn't even be derailed by Axl Rose staffing his ever-changing troupe with people named Buckethead, Bumblefoot and Brain--Chinese Democracy would disappoint even if it arrived in a puff of smoke and nullified the impact of The Dark Side of the Moon, Revolver and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (not to mention Appetite for Destruction). And it doesn't do that, obviously. In fact, straight off the block it's in danger of rear-ending the Guns N' Roses legend, with the title track offering little beyond big production and "Shackler's Revenge" and "Better" emulating Linkin Park's industrial block building with a guttural vocal that threatens to turn the whole thing into a parody. But a desire to progress the G N' R template finds its feet as "If The World" unfolds into an improbable eastern drum 'n' bass orchestral trip-hop odyssey with some coarse riffing and the attitude of old is run through Pro-Tools and made 21st Century-proof on "Scraped" and "Raid N' the Bedouins". But if this album is to be remembered for anything in particular it will be the sky-reaching ambition of the balladry; "Sorry" with its "Nothing Else Matters" vibe and interlaced vocal choreography is cathartic and proud, "This I Love" sees Axl's larynx stretched and twisted, literally wringing the emotion from within, and "Catcher in the Rye" is one real moment of universal appeal. Chinese Democracy tries to be a lot of things but really works where Axl is left to be Axl and "November Rain" is left sounding like "Kumbaya". --James Berry
Truly awesome, 2008-12-03
As a fan of GNR from back in the day, I was pretty skeptical about this epic. When the six or so tracks were leaked a couple of months back, I was still a little skeptical. They sounded okay, but were clearly unfinished. I got the album yesterday, and have just finished listening to it. Wow. It's quite literally the best album I've bought in years (and I buy a lot of music). Superb stuff, truly superb. How many albums do you know that feature 5 (that's 5) stand out tracks: Better, Street of Dreams, Madagascar, This I Love and Prostitute. The last three songs on the album are Madagascar, This I Love and Prostitute, building to an amazing emotional crescendo. Clearly, a lot of the material is about Stephanie Seymour. In This I Love (probably the gentlest song Axl has ever done), he sings "If she's somewhere near me, I hope to God she hears me, No one else could ever make me feel so alive". There's just so much on the album worth praising that it's difficult to sit down and write a review having only just listened to it (hence the disjointed nature of this piece). The basic facts are these however:
1. There's no other album like this around at the moment, it offers a unique sound.
2. Axl sounds amazing.
3. The production values are extraordinary. On a really good speaker system, where you can differentiate different sounds, you can really see why it took so long to put together as the music moves around from speaker to speaker. Amazing aural experience
4. Is it a GNR album? That's open to debate, some say yes, some say no. Me, I'm not really pushed, I was always a bigger fan of Axl than the band so it doesn't bother me one way or the other. But one thing is for certain, this album contains some amazing music. And that's all that really counts in the end.
Epic stuff. Believe the hype.
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List Price: £14.99
Our Price: £7.82
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