The News Review:
- … West Mariah Carey: Fall Releases – News Story | Music…
- POP MUSIC
- Guitar game cuts the guts out of a decade of rock anthems
… West Mariah Carey: Fall Releases – News Story | Music…
MTV.com – Aug 13, 2007
The album features an ODB tribute “Life Changes” along with cameos from System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian and Q-Tip. November 20Heavyweights: They don’t get any bigger than Mariah Carey and while details on her yet-untitled follow-up to the career-reviving The Emancipation of Mimi album are scarce she recently told fans via a voicemail on her Web site that she’s got 10 songs in the bag and is planning to work with old pal Jermaine Dupri. November to-be-announced: Yet-untitled albums by Jennifer Hudson Spice Girls (greatest hits) Daft Punk (live) Mary J. Blige Slim Thug Gnarls Barkley and Sean Paul. While we don’t have any confirmed dates or titles yet — except for the Hives’ Black and White Album — the end of the year could also bring long-awaited albums from the likes of Courtney Love Radiohead Duran Duran and JC Chasez as well as new ones from Angels & Airwaves the Mars Volta Murphy Lee Kem and Beanie Sigel. There might also be a Cash Money compilation a Q-Tip live album the latest LL Cool J joint and a fresh Missy Elliott effort. And don’t hold your breath but the long-gestating efforts from Britney Spears and Michael Jackson might even leave dry dock though we wouldn’t put any cash on it.
POP MUSIC
Washington Post – Aug 13, 2007
The guitar however rarely came to the surface. The result was a show that fully demonstrated part of the Cribs’ appeal. The band’s exuberant neo-punk is constructed from simple but tightly interlocked modules: jumpy rhythms circular riffs and choruses that generally consist of a terse catchphrase — “Hey Scenesters” is a prime example — or a headlong string of “ohs” “whoas” and occasionally “oohs. ” All these parts meshed as the Cribs played an hour-long set that covered most of the highlights of their latest album “Men’s Needs Women’s Needs Whatever. ” Strands of feedback stitched the performance together so there were few lulls and the band concluded with the sort of assault on its instruments that indicated there would be no encore. Dynamic as it was the show shortchanged the Cribs’ melodies and Gary Jarman’s voice. Ryan is a shouter so his vocals didn’t suffer much from the clamor but Gary’s croon was often defeated… "Elsewhere though things sometimes got a bit overcooked. A teary-cheeked account of "Moon River" pretty much flooded its banks and Peggy Lee’s dark edgy "The Shining Sea" just sounded confused — Monheit may be most convincing when she keeps to shallower waters. But her forays into Brazilian music fared better. She obviously loves this material and brought off Ivan Lins’s "Rio de Maio" and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s "So Tinha de Ser Com Voce" with style and a kind of nice-girl sexiness. Is this where she’s found her true voice? Maybe — but Monheit’s wanderings probably aren’t over yet. — Stephen BrookesSarah BorgesSometimes atmosphere is everything. If Sarah Borges played her rollicking alt-country tunes in one of D.
Guitar game cuts the guts out of a decade of rock anthems
St. Petersburg Times – Aug 13, 2007
write(“flashcontent”); Guitar Hero is the greatest thing to happen to video games since the invention of a stereotypical Italian midget plumber. But each new installment of the guitar simulator is only as good as the songs it comes with and the series takes its first unsuccessful stage dive with the new Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. By "80s" the game developers mean "Hair metal with a touch of new wave and dash of punk. But mostly hair metal. " So if you like lots of Quiet Riot Poison Ratt Skid Row etc. this is the game for you. But if like me you see these bands as somewhat amusing fun-in-very-small-doses kitsch then you'll probably be disappointed… Not to mention that they're charging the full 50 bucks for a scant 30 songs (For the same price Guitar Hero II for PlayStation 2 has 40 songs plus about 25 unlockable tunes. The biggest loser in all this are the artists who made the music of the 1980s what it was. (Rocks the 80s uses some original recordings rather than high-quality covers for the first time. ) One of the main pleasures of the first two Guitar Hero games is hearing such a range of songs and how they all connect – how riffs and strum patterns filter from one genre to another even as it all stays on one branch or another of the rock family tree. In that context Shout at the Devil Carry on My Wayward Son and Rock This Town can stand proudly alongside Can't You Hear Me Knockin Free Bird and Jessica. But when the bulk of the set list is second-tier songs presented with half a nudge and a wink all they have to connect with is each other – and instead of transcending their genres they just reinforce how silly derivative and incestuous the music was when taken as a whole.