January 08, 2026

Flobots - Fight With Tools (2005)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Style: Alternative Hip-Hop 
Label Number: B011258-02
 
© 2007 Universal Republic Records
When listening to the Flobots debut album, Fight with Tools, there's a feeling that all the destruction and injustice this politically motivated alt rap crew speak of has been seen through CNN YouTube. There's a certain grit missing, a certain soul that comes from living the nightmare and surviving, and whether they've been through it or not, the Flobots just don't display it. Fight with Tools also feels like a college class project partly because it's so clean, but also because it's incredibly busy with ambition and new ideas overflowing as everything and the kitchen sink get thrown into the record. This youthful ambition and willingness to explore is also what makes the record special. The Denver crew enter by spitting out a Gil Scott-Heron by way of Def Poetry Jam bit of prose on the opening "There's a War Going on for Your Mind," offering surreal lines like "It's raining pornography/Lovers take shelter" over melancholy chamber music. That's the Flobots' real hook; they rap with a live band, and not the guitar, bass, drums beat combo you've seen before. It's all of the above and some strings, horns, and other things left over from the orchestra and marching band. This isn't as Kids from Fame as it sounds, since the Flobots do have a believablly stern pose, and if they aren't experienced, they are brilliantly educated and aware. Good points are made with skill and fine wordplay, the guitars and drums crunch along driving home the message with head-bobbing grooves, and then album opens up with the marvelous "Handlebars," a carefully crafted, slowly building tale of the ego run wild via some beautiful muted trumpet. It's a very Fort Minor moment, and sweet relief from all the pain and in-your-face politics, suggesting the Flobots could benefit from a little more restraint. Here, they've got so much to stay it's hardly worth considering. If the talented young bucks want to shout down the world as if they own the place, why curb their inspiring appetite for justice by asking for discipline and composure? 
 
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 tags: flobots, fight with tools, 2005, flac,
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Z‐Trip - Shifting Gears (2005)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop, Electro
Label Number: 2061-62503-2
 
© 2005 Hollywood/Hard Left Records
 Live, DJ Z-Trip infringes copyrights like nobody's business. He's won over turntable heads and jam band fans with his genre-jumping mash-ups, and his most influential moments have come in the form of MP3s that are traded well below the RIAA's radar. So how does a swashbuckling bootlegger of a DJ release an album on a major label? By declaring himself a "producer" and brewing up new tracks. But Z-Trip has a secret up his sleeve -- he's a great producer and able to celebrate the music he usually bites by capturing the spirit rather than just copying it. Shifting Gears is a reminiscing album that is in love with a time when breakdancers and b-boys ruled and living without your Adidas was just impossible. There's plenty of breakbeats, vocoders, and "to the beat y'all"s, but there's also a bunch of up-to-date rapping from the alternative rappers and a wealth of furious scratching that is more concerned with tearing it up than nostalgia. Z-Trip is a monster behind the decks, so much so that it's easy to ignore Shifting Gears' rock-solid base. Firm infectious beats fill the album, supporting both the DJ's own scratch-fests and complementing the style of every rapper who stops by. A phat, quirky beat supports Murs' uplifting and innocent ode to Saturday morning cartoons and sugary cereals, while Lyrics Born gets some tasty bongo loops and Gap Band-style synth to anchor down his party chant. Giving Chuck D a Rick Rubin-y crunch behind him seems like a cop-out, but it's still a serviceable track. On the other hand, Z-Trip's team-up with Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington falls flat with forced angst from the vocalist and surprisingly drab, faux-noir backing from the Z man. Of course, one monkey don't stop no show, and the rest of Shifting Gears is more than you'd expect from a turntablist full-length and a great argument for Z-Trip as producer.
 
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tags: z trip, shifting gears, 2005, flac,
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Fort Minor - The Rising Tied (2005)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: 9362-49388-2
 
© 2005 Machine Shop/Warner Bros. Records
Breaking off into his own hip-hop universe, Linkin Park's rapper and in-house producer Mike Shinoda presents Fort Minor, a loose side project with a steady stream of guests, yet a surprisingly personal project too that sometimes puts the listeners right in Shinoda's shoes. On The Rising Tied, Fort Minor can strike the baller pose a little too hard and sometimes the club-minded tracks shout loud while saying nothing. Softening the blow of these standard rock-dude-doing-rap clichés is the production, with constructions that are like House of Pain meets the Crystal Method and a whole synthetic orchestra in tow. As executive producer, Jay-Z calls it during the album's intro, it's a "big sound," and as he focuses on "richness of the sound" he knows this is "something serious." Serious is something Shinoda excels at and The Rising Tied slays when it goes epic. "Right Now" connects the hood, to the 'burbs, to Iraq effortlessly while rapidly introducing a series of lonely people that are all as stuck as Eleanor Rigby. "Where'd You Go" tugs at the heart even harder while suggesting it doesn't matter if it's war or constant business trips are keeping loved ones away from home, it just plain hurts. There's also the bleak and bitter "Kenji" which focuses on the Japanese-American internees during World War II with believable venom. Empty headed numbers like "In Stereo" ("Oh-oh/Ready for it here we go/We got the block rocking in stereo") are the kind of tracks you wouldn't want to be caught dead representing as street hip-hop when in the hood, but if it's filler when compared to the soul-searching highlights, it's damn catchy filler with lyrics innocuous enough for everyday suburban partying. On the other hand, the following "Back Home" finds Shinoda holding his own next to hip-hop hero Common and a little while later "High Road" nails the "all you haters stop playin'" track perfectly and nearly at Twista speed. Even if the album is more TRL than 106 & Park, it's only an easy target for cynical folks who haven't really listened to it. The Rising Tied is brilliant in parts, "Dre Day" here and there, but mostly unique and just as "big" as Jay-Z says it is. 
 
 * Due to past abuse, comments for the Hip-Hop section have been disabled. 
 
 
tags: fort minor, the rising tied, 2005, flac,
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January 04, 2026

Fields of The Nephilim - Dawnrazor (1987)

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*U.K. first pressing.
Contains 13 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Gothic Rock
Label Number: SITU 18 CD
 
© 1987 Situation Two
Losing the saxophone player from earlier EPs and taking advantage of better budgets and studios, the Nephilim on their first full album established themselves as serious contenders in the goth world. It certainly didn't hurt having signed to Beggars Banquet, home of such acts as Bauhaus and the Cult, though the more obvious source of the Nephilim's sound at this point was the Sisters of Mercy, various attempts to deny it aside. Like Eldritch's crew, the Nephilim fivesome weren't aiming just for the clad-in-black audience, but at being a great group in general; while that goal wasn't quite achieved on Dawnrazor, the band came very close. With sympathetic and evocative production throughout by Bill Buchanan, the album strongly showcases another chief element of the Nephilim's sound: Ennio Morricone. The at-the-time totally outrageous fusion of smoky, cinematic spaghetti western guitars with the doom-wracked ominous flavor of the music in general, not to mention McCoy's growled invocations of pagan ceremonies and mystic energy, provoked a lot of merriment from outside observers. The Nephilim stuck to their guns, though, and by wisely never cracking a smile on this album, they avoided the cheap ironic way out. Songs here which would become classics in the band's repertoire included the fiery "Preacher Man," which sounds like what would happen if Sergio Leone filmed a Stephen King story; the quick, dark gallop of "Power" (originally a separate single, then added to the album on later pressings); and the slow, powerful build of the title track, featuring McCoy practically calling the demons down on his head. For all of the undeniable musicianship and storming fury of the songs, sometimes things just get a little too goofy for words, as revealed in a classic, unintentionally hilarious lyric by McCoy from "Vet for the Insane": "The flowers in the kitchen...WEEP for you!."
 
tags: fields of the nephilim, dawnrazor, 1987, flac,
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Fields of The Nephilim - The Nephilim (1989)

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*U.K. first pressing. 
Contains 9 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Gothic Rock
Label Number: SITU 22 CD
 
© 1988 Situation Two
Having built a considerable and passionate fanbase, the Nephilim approached their second album with confidence and a clutch of stunning new songs. The resulting, semi-self-titled release blows away the first by a mile (the art design alone, depicting an ancient, worn book with strange symbols, is a winner), being an elegantly produced and played monster of dark, powerful rock. Even if McCoy's cries and husked whispers don't appeal to all, once the listener gets past that to the music, the band simply goes off, incorporating their various influences -- especially a good dollop of pre-Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd (think songs like "One of These Days") -- to create a massive blast of a record. Buchanan again produces with a careful ear for maximum impact, whether it be the roaring rage of "Chord of Souls" or the minimal guitar and slight keyboard wash of "Celebrate"; McCoy's vocal on the latter is especially fine as a careful, calm brood that matches the music. Perhaps most surprising about the album is that it yielded an honest-to-goodness U.K. Top 40 hit with "Moonchild," which is very much in the vein of earlier songs like "Preacher Man" but with just enough of a catchier chorus and softer guitar part in the verse to make a wider mark. Though the first part of the album is quite fine, including such longtime fan favorites as "The Watchman" and "Phobia," after "Moonchild" the record simply doesn't let up, building to a fantastic three-song conclusion. "Celebrate" is followed by "Love Under Will," a windswept, gloomily romantic number with a lovely combination of the band's regular push and extra keyboards for effect. "Last Exit for the Lost" wraps everything up on an astonishing high; starting off softly with just bass, synths, one guitar, and McCoy, it then gently speeds up more and more, pumping up the volume and finally turning into a momentous, unstoppable tidal wave of electric energy.
 
 tags: fields of the nephilim, the nephilim, 1989, flac,
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Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)

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Country: Canada
Language: English 
Genre: Indie Rock
Label Number: MRG 255
 
© 2004 Merge Records
Fronted by the husband-and-wife team of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, the Arcade Fire's emotional debut -- rendered even more poignant by the dedications to recently departed family members contained in its liner notes -- is brave, empowering, and dusted with something that many of the indie rock genre's more contrived acts desperately lack: an element of real danger. Funeral's mourners -- specifically Butler and Chassagne -- inhabit the same post-apocalyptic world as London Suede's Dog Man Star; they are broken, beaten, and ferociously romantic, reveling in the brutal beauty of their surroundings like a heathen Adam & Eve. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," the first of four metaphorical forays into the geography of the soul, follows a pair of young lovers who meet in the middle of the town through tunnels that connect to their bedrooms. Over a soaring piano lead that's effectively doubled by distorted guitar, they reach a Lord of the Flies-tinged utopia where they can't even remember their names or the faces of their weeping parents. Butler sings like a lion-tamer whose whip grows shorter with each and every lash. He can barely contain himself, and when he lets loose it's both melodic and primal, like Berlin-era Bowie. "Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)" examines suicidal desperation through an angular Gang of Four prism; the hypnotic wash of strings and subtle meter changes of "Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)" winsomely capture the mundane doings of day-to-day existence; and "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)," Funeral's victorious soul-thumping core, is a goose bump-inducing rallying cry centered around the notion that "the power's out in the heart of man, take it from your heart and put it in your hand." Arcade Fire are not bereft of whimsy. "Crown of Love" is like a wedding cake dropped in slow motion, utilizing a Johnny Mandel-style string section and a sweet, soda-pop-stand chorus to provide solace to a jilted lover yearning for a way back into the fold, and "Haiti" relies on a sunny island melody to explore the complexities of Chassagne's mercurial homeland. However, it's the sheer power and scope of cuts like "Wake Up" -- featuring all 15 musicians singing in unison -- and the mesmerizing, early-Roxy Music pulse of "Rebellion (Lies)" that make Funeral the remarkable achievement that it is. These are songs that pump blood back into the heart as fast and furiously as it's draining from the sleeve on which it beats, and by the time Chassagne dissects her love of riding "In the Backseat" with the radio on, despite her desperate fear of driving, Funeral's singular thread is finally revealed; love does conquer all, especially love for the cathartic power of music.
 
 tags: arcade fire, funeral, 2004, flac,
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Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (2007)

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Country: Canada
Language: English 
Genre: Indie Rock
Label Number: MRG285
 
© 2007 Merge Records
 When Montreal's Arcade Fire released Funeral in 2004, it received the kind of critical and commercial acclaim that most bands spend their entire careers trying to attain. Within a year the group was headlining major festivals and sharing the stage with U2 and New York City's "two Davids" (Bowie and Byrne), all the while amassing a devoted following that descended upon shows like sinners at a tent revival, engaging in the kind of artist appreciation that can easily turn to a false sense of ownership. On their alternately wrecked and defiant follow-up, Neon Bible, one can sense a bit of a Wall being erected (Win Butler's Roger Waters/Bruce Springsteen/Garrison Keillor-style vocal delivery notwithstanding) around the group. If Funeral was the goodbye kiss on the coffin of youth, then Bible is the bitter pint (or pints) after a long day's work. The brooding opener, "Black Mirror," with its sinister "Suffragette City"-inspired groove and murky refrain of "Mirror, Mirror on the wall/Show me where them bombs will fall," sets an immediate world-weary tone that permeates that majority of Neon Bible's Technicolor pages. As expected, those sentiments are amplified with all of the majestic and overwrought power that has divided listeners since the group's ascension to indie rock royalty, but despite a tendency toward midtempo balladry and post-fame cynicism, they're anything but dull. It's the triumphant orchestral remake of live staple "No Cars Go" and the infectious "Keep the Car Running" -- the latter sounds like a 21st century update of John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band's "On the Dark Side" -- that will most appeal to Funeral fans, and when the bottom drops out a minute and a half into the pipe organ-led "Intervention" and Butler wails "Who's gonna reset the bone," it's hard not get caught up in all of the dystopian fervor. "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" and "The Well and the Lighthouse" continue the band's explorations into progressive song structures and lush mini-suites, the thunder-filled "Ocean of Noise" is reminiscent of Bossanova-era Pixies, and the stark (at first) closer "My Body Is a Cage" straddles the sawhorse of earnest desperation and classic rock & roll self-absorption so effortlessly that it demands to be either turned off or all the way up. Neon Bible takes a few spins to digest properly, and like all rich foods (orchestra, harps, and gospel choirs abound), it's as decadent as it is tasty -- theatricality has never been a practice that the collective has shied away from -- but there's no denying the Arcade Fire's singular vision, even when it blurs a little. 
 
 tags: arcade fire, neon bible, 2007, flac,
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Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (2010)

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Country: Canada
Language: English 
Genre: Indie Rock
Label Number: 2742629/A
 
© 2010 City Slang/Sonovox Records
Montreal's Arcade Fire successfully avoided the sophomore slump with 2007's apocalyptic Neon Bible. Heavier and more uncertain than their nearly perfect, darkly optimistic 2004 debut, the album aimed for the nosebleed section and left a red mess. Having already fled the cold comforts of suburbia on Funeral and suffered beneath the weight of the world on Neon Bible, it seems fitting that a band once so consumed with spiritual and social middle-class fury should find peace "under the overpass in the parking lot." If nostalgia is just pain recalled, repaired, and resold, then The Suburbs is its sales manual. Inspired by brothers Win and William Butler's suburban Houston, Texas upbringing, the 16-track record plays out like a long lost summer weekend, with the jaunty but melancholy Kinks/Bowie-esque title cut serving as its bookends. Meticulously paced and conservatively grand, fans looking for the instant gratification of past anthems like "Wake Up" and "Intervention" will find themselves reluctantly defending The Suburbs upon first listen, but anyone who remembers excitedly jumping into a friend's car on a sleepy Friday night armed with heartache, hope, and no agenda knows that patience is key. Multiple spins reveal a work that's as triumphant and soul-slamming as it is sentimental and mature. At its most spirited, like on "Empty Room," "Rococo," "City with No Children," "Half Light II (No Celebration)," "We Used to Wait," and the glorious Régine Chassagne-led "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)," the latter of which threatens to break into Blondie's "Heart of Glass" at any moment, Arcade Fire make the suburbs feel positively electric. Quieter moments reveal a changing of the guard, as Win trades in the Springsteen-isms of Neon Bible for Neil Young on "Wasted Hours," and the ornate rage of Funeral for the simplicity of a line like "Let's go for a drive and see the town tonight/There's nothing to do, but I don't mind when I'm with you," from album highlight "Suburban War." The Suburbs feels like Richard Linklater's Dazed & Confused for the Y generation. It's serious without being preachy, cynical without dissolving into apathy, and whimsical enough to keep both sentiments in line, and of all of their records, it may be the one that ages the best. 
 
tags: arcade fire, the suburbs, 2010, flac,
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December 31, 2025

Artillery - Fear of Tomorrow (1985)

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*Reissued on CD for the first time in 1998 by 
Axe Killer/Roadrunner Records. 
This pressing contains 9 tracks total 
and non-remastered audio.
Country: Denmark
Language: English 
Genre: Thrash Metal
Label Number: 3038632
 
© 1985-1998 Axe Killer/Roadrunner Records
After making quite a name for themselves in tape-trading circles as one of Europe's most promising early thrash metal bands, Denmark's Artillery faced the challenge of matching the raw power and wild intensity of their demos with their first album proper. Fans needn't have worried about 1985's Fear of Tomorrow, however, for, even though the quintet's somewhat inconsistent songwriting couldn't keep listeners riveted at all times, their instrumental abilities at such high speeds still sounded quite phenomenal for the mid-'80s, and the distinctively varied style of singer Flemming Ronsdorf provided a highlight in itself. His wailing falsetto was common enough for the era, but when combined with a lower, gravelly growl, somewhere between AC/DC's Bon Scott and Accept's Udo Dirkschneider, it would become Artillery's most recognizable asset. And when backed up with the aforementioned, adrenalized technique of his bandmates (and particularly the high flying six-string heroics of Michael Stytzer and Jorgen Sandau), songs like "The Almighty," "Show Your Hate," and "Out of the Sky" represented the crème de la crème of European thrash in 1985. Yes, American thrash cues were almost inevitable, as well (see the "Seek & Destroy"-style towards the end of the semi-epic "Deeds of Darkness"), but alongside the simultaneously burgeoning German contingent (Kreator, Helloween, et al), Fear of Tomorrow saw Artillery contributing to a decisively European brand of thrash. 
 
 tags: artillery, fear of tomorrow, 1985, 1998, flac,
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Artillery - Terror Squad (1987)

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*Reissued on CD for the first time in 1998 
by Axe Killer/Roadrunner Records. 
This pressing contains 8 tracks total 
and non-remastered audio.
Country: Denmark
Language: English 
Genre: Thrash Metal
Label Number: 3038642
 
© 1987-1998 Axe Killer/Roadrunner Records
Artillery's first album, 1985's Fear of Tomorrow, had already lost a little something in terms of wild spontaneity when compared to their heavily traded tape demos, but its 1987 successor, Terror Squad, though blessed with improved production, proved to be even more regimented and overwrought. Album opener "The Challenge" arguably qualified as the band's most memorable and (within reason) accessible composition yet, but the same standards were only occasionally replicated thereafter by portions of the title track and "Hunger and Greed." Otherwise, token new material like "In the Thrash," "Let There Be Sin," and "Therapy" found Artillery bogging down into convoluted arrangements, better suited to showcasing their instrumental technique (reminiscent of Exodus) than songwriting abilities. Add to this singer Flemming Ronsdorf's increasing propensity for crotch-squeezing falsettos (an almost inescapable habit of the '80s metal aesthetic) in place of his more distinctive growls, and the histrionics -- instrumental and vocal -- wind up overpowering the content. Thankfully, even when not at the top of their game, Artillery still possessed the instincts to keep their thrash more interesting than most (check out semi-epic "At War with Science" for a smorgasbord of riffs and the brilliantly titled "Decapitations of Deviants," with its amusing lyrics about "No time to relax in the grass"), and for this reason, Terror Squad kept most of their existing fan base satisfied. 
 
 tags: artillery, terror squad, 1987, flac,
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Artillery - By Inheritance (1990)

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*First pressing. 
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: Denmark
Language: English
Genre: Thrash Metal
Label Number: RCD 9397
 
© 1990 R/C Records
Because the band risked experimenting with some bold new directions on 1990's By Inheritance, the album usually gets a bad rap from grumpy thrash purists and even some Artillery fans. But, with the benefit of hindsight, Artillery's third album frequently sounds like their finest hour, as much for boasting some of the most distinctive and imaginative songs of their career as for incorporating textural variety at a time when many of the Danish quintet's contemporaries were wallowing in stagnation. Clearly influenced by heavy metal tastemakers Metallica and Iron Maiden (in particular, their Egypt-themed Powerslave album) when recording By Inheritance, Artillery injected Eastern-flavored melodies into typically technical and muscular thrash offerings like "Khomaniac" and the title track, then looked no further than Roadrunner labelmates Annihilator for the melodic acumen achieved on "Bombfood" and "Back in the Trash." More traditional speed metal elements eventually surfaced on "Life in Bondage" and "Equal at First," but additional album standouts "Beneath the Clay (R.I.P.)" and "Don't Believe" (released as a single before the LP) continually inserted unprecedented doses of melody and contrasting softer passages with fantastic results, thus paving the way for a guilt-free cover of Nazareth's "Razamanaz" that sounded perfectly natural by the time it arrived. Unfortunately, these many qualities didn't succeed in converting staunch defenders of the thrash faith, and By Inheritance's troubled recording sessions even tore Artillery apart, reportedly requiring three separate mixes before vocalist Flemming Ronsdorf took charge of the process. Still, if time heals all wounds (Artillery briefly reunited a decade later), then there's hope that By Inheritance will also be given the re-evaluation it deserves. 
 
 tags: artillery, by inheritance, 1990, flac,
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Artillery - B.A.C.K. (1999)

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*First pressing. 
Contains 10 tracks total.
Country: Denmark
Language: English 
Genre: Thrash Metal
Label Number: PCD-33
 
© 1999 Diehard Music Worldwide
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
 
 tags: artillery, back, b.a.c.k., 1999, flac,
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December 29, 2025

Barry Gibb - Now Voyager (1984)

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Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Pop, Pop Rock
Label Number: MCAD-5506
 
© 1984 MCA Records
The Bee Gees took a recording hiatus between their contributions to the Staying Alive soundtrack in 1983 and their E.S.P. album in 1987, during which Barry and Robin Gibb each released solo albums. Barry, of course, had established himself not only as the Bee Gees' lead singer, but as a singer and songwriter in his own right through his work on Barbra Streisand's 1980 Guilty album, so anticipation was understandably high for Now Voyager. (And was that album title a subtle assertion that Gibb, like the Bette Davis character in the 1942 movie of the same name, was going to bloom after leaving his family?) Not surprisingly, the result sounded like a Bee Gees' album minus the brotherly harmonies (though Gibb convincingly approximated them through overdubs here and there), and throughout most of it, with danceable rhythms and prominent synthesizer work. "Fine Line," which sported a chorus featuring Roger Daltrey and Olivia Newton-John, was the most dancefloor-friendly track and actually got some disco play. "Face to Face" was a steamy ballad duet with Newton-John that wouldn't have been out of place on Guilty and might have made a good single. The actual first single, the midtempo "Shine Shine," had an engaging chorus and Caribbean riff that enabled it to slip into the pop Top 40 and the Top Ten of the AC charts. Though not a hit, Now Voyager actually did a little better commercially than the most recent Bee Gees' album, 1981's Living Eyes, indicating not so much that the public was rejecting Gibb's solo bid as that the brothers had passed out of fashion. Nevertheless, he retreated back into the group and remained there.
 
 tags: barry gibb, now voyager, 1984, flac,
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Living In a Box - Living In a Box (1987)

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*This is the Japanese first pressing on CD. 
Contains 11 tracks total.
Country: United Kigdom
Genre: Pop, Pop Rock
Label Number: CP32-5475
 
© 1987 Chrysalis
 If Duran Duran was a mix of Chic and Roxy, then Living in a Box was a new romantic band (minus the makeup) with a collection of soul and funk records (and sharp suits). Their first album is a fast-paced affair mostly dated now due to Marcus Vere's overly '80s keyboard sounds. Aside from the abysmal "Going for the Big One," which should never have seen the outside of the studio, there are still some good examples of post new romantic mid-'80s funk. The first four -- comprising the title track, "Love Is the Art," "So the Story Goes," and the ballad "From Beginning to End" -- all hold up reasonably well, and strangely enough sounded like they'd been around for years even at the time (particularly "Story," in that the keyboards are kept to a minimal ambient wash with Richard Darbyshire's husky vocals to the front). Also worth noting are "Scales of Justice" and "Can't Stop the Wheel," which proved their capabilities to further heights in the Steely Dan/Michael McDonald vein. A pity that "Ecstasy" (wasted as a B-side) and the 7" versions of "Love Is the Art" and "So the Story Goes" with Bobby Womack are missing in action, though. 
 
 tags: living in a box, living in a box album, 1987, flac,
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Various Artists - Now That's What I Call Music! 1988 (1993)

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Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Pop, Pop Rock, Hip-Hop, R&B, Hard Rock
Label Number: CDNOW1988
              ***** 
 
© 1993 EMI/Polygram
*No professional reviews are available for this release.
 
 tags: various artists, now thats what i call music 1988, 1993, flac,
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December 26, 2025

The Sound - Jeopardy (1980) ☠

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*Reissued on CD for the first time in 2001 by Renascent. 
This pressing Contains 15 tracks total and 
features remastered audio.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Post Punk
Label Number: REN CD4
 
 
☠: Selected by Lass
© 1980-2001 Renascent
Despite the production's rough edges, the limited budget that fostered it, and the feeling that it sounds more like several A-sides and a couple decent B-sides thrown together than a singular body, Jeopardy is a caustic jolt of a debut that startles and fascinates. With the plaintive intro of the rhythm section, a spidery guitar, and incidental synth wobbles (which all sounds surprisingly Neu!-like), "I Can't Escape Myself" begins the album unassumingly enough until reaching the terse, one-line chorus that echoes the title of the song; suddenly, from out of the blue, all the instruments make a quick, violent, collective stab and retreat back into the following verse as singer Adrian Borland catches his breath. The reverb placed on his voice is heightened at just the right moments to exacerbate the song's claustrophobic slant. The ecstatic onward rush of "Heartland" forms the back end of a dynamic one-two opening punch, with a charging rhythm and blaring keyboards leading the way. It seems to be the spawn of XTC and U2, just as giddy as something from the former (think Go 2) and almost as anthemic as something from the latter (think Boy). Much later on, near the end, "Unwritten Law" comes along as one of the Sound's best mid-tempo mood pieces -- one of their greatest strengths. It also shows how much a simple shading of synth can affect a song, as it affects it with a melancholic smear that no other instrument could possibly provide. In all honesty, they weren't breaking any new ground here. Their influences were just as apparent as the ones donned by the other bands who inhabited similar post-punk territory. Smart journalists of the time -- meaning the ones who truly listened and were aware of the band's past -- knew well enough that the Sound belonged in the same league as the bands they were compared to and not somewhere in the bushes. Hardly coattail jockeying, the Sound were developing and growing alongside them. If you're thinking this sounds like someone's telling you that you need Jeopardy just as much as you need Kilimanjaro or Unknown Pleasures or Crocodiles, you're right again. [Renascent's 2002 reissue offers a fine remastering job and the four-song Live Instinct EP as a bonus.]
 
 tags: the sound, the sound band, jeopardy, 1980, 2001, flac,
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The Sound - All Fall Down (1982)

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*Reissued on CD for the first time in 2001 by Renascent. 
This pressing contains 13 tracks total 
and features remastered audio.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Post Punk
Label Number: REN CD 6
 
© 1982-2001 Renascent
Label: "The five-star reviews were nice and all, so how about some actual hits this time -- eh, fellas?" Band: "Right." The fellas responded with no hits, which had a lot more to do with defiance than closed-minded radio programming -- there was no attempt at making a hit. There's nothing like Jeopardy's blasting "Heartland," and there certainly isn't anything as instantly pleasurable as From the Lion's Mouth's "Sense of Purpose." In fact, the Sound responded to label demands and simmering internal pressures with a record that challenged devout fans as well. All Fall Down is one of those maligned records where some fans bailed but a select few would be inclined to attempt -- through demonstrative hand gestures and longwinded, shouty, pouty explanations of the circumstances surrounding it -- why it's the band's greatest achievement. All this despite the fact that the majority of the other people who have heard it will tell you it should be avoided at all costs. "It's hopelessly 'down,' it's got no 'tunes,' it doesn't go anywhere," etc. Truthfully, it falls somewhere between those two views. This is one of those records where patience pays off, because it will gradually become more apparent that the songs all fit together and pretzel themselves in a sense that each one's effect is optimized with the context of those surrounding it. It's not a sprawl of songs but an album. Nothing comes by and smacks you in the face; its progression unfolds slowly. They play around with song structures, avoid choruses, drop down unexpected portals, use rhythmic drives for extended stretches, and employ chanted refrains, tape effects, and mechanized handclaps. Some songs build and build and build on a slight gradient and fade out or disappear with no resolution, no catharsis. None of these developments emaciate the band's power. However difficult the record is to crawl into, it shows a band that had reached another level of mastery. [Renascent reissued All Fall Down in 2002 with superb sound and added three previously unreleased songs. The vocal tracks seem to be slowed down significantly, making Adrian Borland sound very intimidating.] 
 
tags: the sound, the sound band, all fall down, 1982, 2001, flac,
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The Sound - Thunder Up (1987)

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*First pressing. 
Contains 11 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Post Punk
Label Number: CDBiaS 53
 
© 1987 Play It Again Sam Records
*No professional reviews are available for this release. 
 
tags: the sound, the sound band, thunder up, 1987, flac,
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December 14, 2025

Teena Marie - Naked To The World (1988)

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Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Pop
Label Number: EK 40872
 
© 1988 Epic
Teena Marie's popularity had decreased by 1988, when she found herself competing with considerably less talented Prince clones, Madonna wannabes, and Paula Abdul sound-alikes. But she managed to have both a hit album and an artistic triumph in Naked to the World, which found her taking a more high-tech, contemporary-sounding (by 1988 standards) approach to production without abandoning the classic soul and funk elements that made her so appealing to begin with. Among the treasures: the unapologetically sentimental, early-'70s ballad "Ooo La La La" (which proudly proclaims its allegiance to soul music's golden era, with references to Bloodstone's "Natural High" and Al Green's "Let's Stay Together"), the addictively funky "Work It," and the sassy, clever "Trick Bag." The sparks usually flew when Lady T formed a duet with Rick James, and the sweaty "Call Me (I Got Yo Number)" and the ballad "The Once and Future Dream" are no exceptions.
 
 tags: teena marie, naked to the world, 1988, flac,
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Hue & Cry - Remote (1988)

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*European first pressing. 
Contains 12 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Pop
Label Number: CIRCD 6
 
© 1988 Circa
 *No professional reviews are available for this release.
 
 tags: hue and cry, remote, 1988, flac,
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Hue & Cry - Seduced & Abandoned (1987)

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*U.K. first pressing.
Contains 11 tracks total.
Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Pop
Label Number: CIRCD 2
 
© 1987 Circa
*No professional reviews are available for this release. 
 
 tags: hue and cry, seduced and abandoned, 1987, flac,
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December 11, 2025

Wax - Magnetic Heaven (1986)

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*This is a repress of the original 1986 CD pressing. 
 Contains 10 tracks total and non-remastered audio.
 
Country: United Kingdom/U.S.A.
Genre: Pop, Pop Rock
Label Number: 74321 14075 2
 
© 1986 RCA
The debut album by one of the most promising double acts of the mid-'80s, complicated somewhat by an overwhelming need to sound like contemporary artists. Neither Graham Gouldman nor Andrew Gold could be said to have built their careers on danceable pop music; nor could their respective audiences have really been dying to hear them try. But they went for it anyway and, aided by a studio stuffed with the latest in techno gadgetry, turned in an album that could certainly hold its own against the majority of what was on the streets at that time. Indeed, "Right Between the Eyes" deserved to be as big a hit as any contemporary smash you can name, and digging deeper into the album, it was clear that even if the duo weren't exactly busting a gut in the songwriting stakes, they did have their finger on the modern pulse. 
 
 tags: wax, magnetic heaven, 1986, flac,
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