Reviews by Time Bomb

Principal architect of the final transition of the now vast and popular heritage and grime uk garage of the new millennium to a mainstream pop quality. With the unmistakable traits that sublimate matrix british and others who transcend to new heights. For those not familiar: Ben Drew, aka Plan B, born as a singer r & b songs to "sweet-boy Justin Timberlake shit", according to his own definition, but finds his true only in the mid-Zero in ' orbit of the historic crew Roll Deep (Wiley, Dizzee Rascal) with various compilations and a hard hip-hop quite sui generis (Who Needs Actions When You Got Words in 2006), before turning another 180 degrees in the direction of very vintage sound drenched Northern Soul although revisited in a contemporary style both in music and in the themes (an indie-soul might say): the concept album The Defamation Of Strickland Banks (2010), a six-figure success in the UK and beyond. Fixed formula (and reached the general public), another would have played it safe, reinstatement, but not him. He looked over already. For a project of broader compendium of parallel musical journey so far described and its staff cinematic universe, since Drew is also an actor (he has participated in TV series such as "Adulthood" and films like "Harry Brown" with Michael Caine ) and director.

In Ill Manors is all this and more: it is also the album more deep, complex and autobiographical of his young career. Kind of transposition sonic and narrative of the film of the same name, produced by BBC Films and directed by Drew / Plan B, that this writer has not yet been able to see but which critics have described as a cross choral halfway between the crime movie and the social drama, a cross between Shane Meadows ("This Is England") and Tarantino.



Set in the neighborhood of Forest Gate, London, where Drew was born and raised, the album as well as the film tells the story of eight characters struggling in concentric circles, intersecting the same hell. A London more similar to the brink of civil war in summer 2011 that the pax Olympic summer 2012. Nell'infuriare daily drugs, crack and methamphetamine, beatings, prostitution, and amletiche sinister shadows of marginalization by their fathers (ex punk settantasettini hours toxic hopeless, the National Front became gangsta thugs and drug dealers) stretch on children (who give up the school and become part of the baby-gang), personal vendettas and prospects almost non-existent social redemption, apart from one day end up maybe on the front page in the newspaper with his feet forward or bracelets on their wrists, "another posterboy for David Cameron's broken England ". A fresco degraded reflected darkly in the lyrics of Plan B, reporter socio-Darwinian ("I am the Narrator"), gaze at once ruthless and heartfelt, never complacent, corrosive social criticism, but as a company you would like made by men and not only by individuals, in severe moral condemnation (moralist, someone might suggest) of figures and characters that often hip-hop has bathed in a romantic aura and justificatory ("From mice to men, and then to rats / But only a snake behaves like that / But the gang do not care for shooting gaps fool / They're just happy That you fall for the trap "). For comparison with its illustrious (and recent) predecessor: the storytelling of Plan B is the "angry young men" of the late 70/inizio 80, Elvis Costello and Billy Bragg, like the Kinks and The Streets was their nostalgic twilight felix britain. A 'punk attitude that is both a personal matter (the father of Drew played in a punk band called The Warm Jets, around 77, and dropped his family when he was just five months) that a musical question for Plan B, in the he calls a "hip-hop musical for the twenty-first century." A warp with powerful and elegant, and the instrumental parts cut alt rock mix with heterogeneous samples and expertly embedded (you can hear, in the production, the hand of Al Shux, already with Jay Z and Snoop Dog), and Brit-hop singer-songwriter at The Streets, is accompanied by sound soul, reggae, r & b and rap street calls from the other side of the Atlantic (see the ironic paraphrase of "CREAM" by Wu-Tang Clan that opens "I Am The Narrator": " Drugs rule everything around me / Thugs makin 'money / My manor manor's ill yo, yo ill ").




The thickness and cinematic narrative is evident right from the first scene, a "one-two" deadly: the title track and "I'm The Narrator" clever with clips from the movie, choruses anthemici borrowed from hip-hop classic sample captured alive and to great effect in a "hardcore" arcs cutting and pressing of Shostakovich in the first and the spiral plan by Camille Saint-Saens in the second. More or less the same thing that happens in "Drug Dealer", with brass bands around the knotted loop, the rhythm and flow oldschool, the words dub / reggae, another example of richness and originality of writing is "Playing Whith Fire "chanted the angry black 70's Labyrinth (another child prodigy of the grime scene post) that explodes in the chorus, interspersed with a verse characterized by a minimal acoustic picking, a female counterpoint just mentioned and the rappin 'melancholy of Plan B that looks the world through the eyes of a young boy ("He's just a kid / but he feels like the man today / He joined a gang today") which receives its initiation to violence. A pop sensibility also confirmed by "Deepest Shame": the doléance r & b of the singing, the acoustic tour on beat syncopation, while the rhymes tell the story of Michelle, the female lead, the figure almost dostoevskjiana of a young woman who makes life for repay a large debt with a ringleader of the neighborhood ("But there's a millions other girls just like Michelle / Out in the streets with nothing else to sell / To These desperate males other than Themselves, I know / There's no way back from here on out" ). The anger and bitterness that pervades the whole concept is then condensed in the songs more aggressive: "Pity The Plight", with the "punk poet 'John Cooper Clarke (large cult figure in the United Kingdom, the balance between music and literature , who previously collaborated with the likes of Fall, Joe Strummer and more recently the Arctic Monkeys), which opens and closes the piece in reciting spoken word and in the middle of a tour plan, cold, dark, sharp, but especially "Lost My Way, "combat-soul screamed and labored with the text that is a fierce discussion on youth crime and a flow to Public Enemy and" A Great Day For Murder ", punk-rap that seems to come from the soundtrack of" Judgement Night " with London instead of LA Forest Gate and instead of South Central. Complete a work definitely above average: the soul "existential" sung by the Drew in "Live Once," the post grime of "The Runaway" and the open-ended and pessimistic "Falling Down", the suspense of the plan that chimes threatening .

Watching it today, the passage of the Stone Roses on the British rock scene seems to be a chimera. Or we could write that their advent was equivalent to that of an influential prophet, as in the years following the exit of the first single and in particular the eponymous debut album, many young people in England have set up a band dreaming of becoming the new Stone Roses.
But their success is not if they are not so enjoyed: keeping faith epithet Madchester saddled the rock frame of their city, Ian Brown and his companions had to helplessly watch the sprouting and the explosion of new groups and small groups as if they saw it in court for an unfortunate thing that can not be exempt from reporting when you tell stories of Brit-pop like this.
Consequently, the success of the release of their first album, the first record of the group - who had published a few singles before - sent to the printer without the knowledge of the authors of a new version of the song "Sally Cinnamon", complete with a video clip of the song. This move, with particular reference to the video that was considered of poor quality, infuriated members of the group who went to the offices of the old label to discuss with the director, the Paul Birch. The discussion degenerated into a furious argument and the Stone Roses smeared with the spray the walls of the office, two cars parked outside the home, and the Birch and his girlfriend. They were all arrested and prosecuted, and convicted offenders of course. It was 30 January 1990. It was just the beginning of an ordeal that also involved the then current label, the independent Silvertone, which managed to free himself only four years later, when the younger brothers of the Stone Roses had now conquered the media and public. Select the music magazine wrote in 1994, referring to the quality of the album "Definitely Maybe" by Oasis, "Whatever they are doing the Stone Roses, now it does not matter to anyone." And it was true. When more than five years after they released their second album, figuratively called "Second Coming", the quartet of Manchester was now hopelessly out of contention. The disc then it was not even comparable to that debut fulminant instead had time to wipe the tears for the dissolution of the Smiths. There was no lack either the internal struggles with the band, and was the inevitable dissolution and the beginning of erratic solo projects.

However, it remains an album and a handful of large individual (because the brit pop is above all a matter of individual) to be handed down to posterity, and - especially in Italy - to be clear to the public that rock for too long has ignored the existence when on British soil their songs have become part of the popular consciousness.

The Stone Roses is quickly revealed a single machine, there is no piece on the album, even those not out separately, which has a high potential radio. Parade so, one after the other, with songs like "I Wanna Be Adored", "She Bangs the Drums", "Waterfall" and more: buy a collection of Stone Roses, is to have at least half of their debut album . Just because basically collection of 45 rpm, it is not easy to find the right edition, which is equivalent to one with more songs as possible. You risk losing the street songs like "Elephant Stone", published just a few months before and then inserted only in special editions of the album, which features the band as the true heir to the lesson of Johnny Marr and members, plus the frenetic drumming drummer Alan Reni Wren said, he, the one with the hat, what imbastiva by canon 4/4 rhythms with jazz and funk accents. Definitely one of the strengths of the group, and still be considered as the best drummer of all the English scene at the time, including the nineties.
Criminal would also miss "Fool's Gold", a song just after the exit of the disk, initially conceived as a b-side, which later became the most famous piece (and if we are atypical) of the band, thanks to the next repechage by the director Guy Ritchie that makes the song bearing the soundtrack of his "Lock, Stock". It 'a piece peppered with funk to capacity, with John Squire's guitar to play in balancing the wah-wah over a rock beat but almost danceable. Perhaps only "Soon" by My Bloody Valentine will be able to equal two years later.
"Made of Stone" is another song also published on 45 rpm and features a melody worthy of the best Morrissey in which he plays a key role, as well as a large part of the album, the work of Squire alternating electric guitars with arpeggios sound.
The pace and melody innodica of "Waterfall", the fragment folk "Elizabeth My Dear", the uptempo rock but still the flavor of the 80s "She Bangs the Drums", or the melody whispered, then shouted to four winds of "This Is the One" make this self-titled album The Stone Roses' much more than a cornerstone of British rock, but a record made of sun immortal songs of worship, because in the end this is what need. Exactly ... Is it possible that Ian Brown has sold his soul to the devil to be able to write such songs, then the devil would take away all the success and made known only disappointment in music? From the text of "I Wanna Be Adored" seems so: "I do not have to sell my soul, he's Already in me."
Possible that the best album of British rock of the nineties it actually came out in the nineties? Possible.





01 I Wanna Be Adored
02 She Bangs the Drums
03 Elephant Stone
04 Waterfall
05 Do not Stop
06 Bye Bye Bad Man
07 Elizabeth My Dear
08 (Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister
09 Made of Stone
10 Shoot You Down
11 This Is the One
12 I Am the Resurrection
13 Fools Gold

"This must be the largest gathering of old English musicians ever seen at Madison Square Garden", "says Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones are about to attack" Jumpin 'Jack Flash "was wrong, but not by much. The "Sandy Relief Concert" was a gathering of "geriatric rock", but not limited to the British.
I say this with the utmost respect, of course. The aim was clear: a stellar cast directed to an adult audience and wealthy, who could more easily make donations to raise funds for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Shortly after the concert - two billion people - have followed live through streaming and TV - comes the album, only in digital, for Columbia. 13 euro, 24 songs, 2 hours of music. No song purchased individually, to maximize profits. But great music for a good cause, what more do you want?
Almost always, great music, really. "Hallelujah" (yet? A when the moratorium?) Sung by Adam Sandler with Paul Shaffer (band leader of the Show with David Letterman) is awkward in an effort to smile hurricane ("Hallelujah / Sandy screw ya / we 'll get through ya '/ cause we New Yorkers "). And then some lack: the set of Bruce Springsteen is published a beautiful version of "Land of Hope and Dreams", but no "My City of ruins" (and neither duets). Nothing Kanye West. Nothing, "New York State Of Mind" by Billy Joel. And no "Cut me some slack", the song by Paul McCartney with what remains of Nirvana - perhaps the biggest omission, of what is musically was the most talked-about (and passed off as a reunion of Nirvana, which is not was. were Dave Grohl and a bit 'of friends). Omission, however, due to the simultaneous publication in the studio version, in anticipation of the documentary filmed by Dave Grohl of which is the soundtrack.
To make the lion's share are The Who - considered by many as the best set of the night - and a couple of duets really creepy. Especially that of Eddie Vedder comes to "Comfortably numb" and eat in one bite Roger Waters - a bit 'out of tune on the track, but the author of an excellent September And then the surprise return of Michael Stipe, who sings "Losing my religion" accompanied (malino) on acoustic guitar by Chris Martin. And then .... Operations charities like this - you do not put into question, especially when they are full of good music. And here, if you like the genre, there is very good.

TRACKLIST
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
"Land of Hope and Dreams"
"Wrecking Ball"
Roger Waters:
"Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"
"Us and Them"
"Comfortably Numb" (with Eddie Vedder)

Adam Sandler with Paul Shaffer
"Hallelujah (Sandy Relief Version)"
Bon Jovi:
"It's My Life"
"Wanted Dead or Alive"
Eric Clapton:
"Got to Get Better in a Little While"
"Crossroads"
Rolling Stones:

"You Got Me Rocking"
"Jumpin 'Jack Flash"

Alicia Keys:
"No One"
Who:

"Who Are You"
"Baba O'Riley"
"Love, Reign o'er Me"
Billy Joel:

"Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)"
"Movin 'Out (Anthony's Song)"

Chris Martin:

"Viva la Vida"
"Losing My Religion" (with Michael Stipe of REM)
"Us Against the World"

Paul McCartney:

"Helter Skelter"
Alicia Keys, Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz:

"Empire State of Mind";

I woke up almost with a start tonight. I heard a strange noise, a mixture of scratches and loose soil. But the cat was asleep on my legs and under the framework alarm in the house did not move anything, and there had been no tampering. It took me a while 'to understand what it was, I must confess. But it was actually really simple. It was the soundtrack of my subconscious a little 'joker who, after learning that we reviewed "Rage against the machine XX", played the evocative symbolism and produced a sound that evoked the classic fantasy nails scraping the bottom of the barrel. Moreover, the ghost of the nineties began to be a disturbing presence, the subject of a revival more or less explicit and perhaps about to explode in a not too distant future - and seeing repeat Rage Against The Machine with their debut weblog 1992, the twentieth anniversary of the output, in cataphract a skeptic like me could not even Sorting prejudices too free.
Well, I was wrong. Of course, propose a disk 20 years ago - for a band that has more or less clearly hinted want to continue to march on the glory rightly earned, without publishing new material - not a momentum that puts in a good mood, but excluding these considerations, what remains is an album that has aged very well. The funk-rap-alternative-metal De La Rocha, Morello and his cronies has stood up well to the passage of two decades and several new generations. Who had 20 years or less in '92 most likely has experienced this debut as a kind of revolution, the soundtrack of rebellion against the system (perhaps a rebellion traveling a bit 'too much on the binary system, but they are old and sterile speeches, within certain limits), and who is 20 years old now easily if you will enjoy it for what it is ... a good hard rock record contaminated, a milestone of a kind mestizo and bizarre, a collection of 10 tracks that are still in their classic yet several cartridges to shoot, before resorting to chemical weapons of nostalgia.
This reprint of the twentieth anniversary "Rage against the machine" has been entirely remastered, to make it sound crystal clear like a shining blade: a choice that, for once, does not interfere too much work that has been consolidated over time (do you remember the disaster of the various remixes and remastering, for example, of "Raw Power" Stooges? Here, fortunately none of that). In fact, the pieces in this capacity are even more sharp and violent, armed with a ferocity almost icy.
The album was released in three different editions, if you procured the basic (with a single cd) you will find just the songs revisited with the addition of three bonus tracks live, taken from three individual age. Not bad, but you know ... if you already have the original disk, apart from the appearance of new remastering there is very little and will change your perspective on this album whatever it was. In the other two editions, instead, in addition to a certain number of video material on which fly over because it is not exactly the most interesting point but is a sauce contour, is included the real gem of the whole operation. Yeah, what - in my humble opinion - would have merited a publication in itself, perhaps avoiding the rest of the brass band I'm talking about 13 demo tracks (most of which then reincise for the album). In this second CD you can listen to the tracks of "Rage against the machine" before they became parts of "Rage against the machine" and we are surprised to see how they were already substantially structured and defined - if we exclude the solos Morello, very different (the one in "Killing in the name", for example, is really bizarre, in its tamarraggine metalhead from guitar hero swab). A truly remarkable document.
To conclude: the disc is still valid and the demo are the strong point of this output celebration. It is no small thing, after 20 years.

TRACKLIST
"Bombtrack"
"Killing in the Name"
"Take the Power Back"
"Settle for Nothing"
"Bullet in the Head"
"Know Your Enemy"
"Wake Up"
"Fistful of Steel"
"Township Rebellion"
"Freedom"
"Bombtrack" (live)
"Bullet in the Head" (live)
"Take the Power Back" (live)

How do I close a trilogy? With a final, if not growing, at least worthy of the premises (and promises). From the manual: in the first act imposed the characters and the story from the start, the plot developments in the second and finally the third will devote the conclusion. Green Day have built their trilogy "¡A", "¡Dos" and "¡Tré" strictly in the canonical scheme just explained, the word of Billie Joe. "¡A!" Power pop at a gallop, the charge goes up, the return to the origins of roccheggiante Green Day, those of "Dookie" to understand, "the euphoria of going to the party." "¡Dos": punk, Bad Religion, the compositions more dry and fast, "the commotion of the party in full swing." And today "¡Tré!" The finalone.

The climate is more relaxed and timing dilate slightly compared to the first two chapters. "Brutal love", and opening quotes openly "Bring it on home to me" by Sam Cooke, is the universally recognized signal end party: now you already gave the best and we can only begin to vacate the cabin. Billie Joe, Mike and Tré (Cool) wield the broom and then, one room after another, pick up the pieces left over for the whole house. Chiudiamola but in beauty this holiday, because it is an event to remember. Hopefully. Because you know what is the problem? That when one decides to have fun planning it in advance, usually no fun. You should come naturally, as you must be spontaneous You get out with a ballatona tritabudella to try to sum up at the right time with melancholy sincerity (or sincere melancholy). If you think about it before, it's not the same thing.

"Tré ¡" is a final spirited but all too programmed, twelve pieces called to pull the strings of all Ambaradan, what was meant to be more mature and impressive work of the triad: stadium rock in all its epic glory . Here they are promises. Then attacks with quote Sam Cooke, there is always good, accelerate a bit 'with "Missing You" and "8th Avenue Serenade", which are so slender and compact pieces, but the epic finale have very little. The good news is again reminiscent of Green Day than once, that is, those not taken from the spawning of the rock opera dedicated to punk and more traditional ones to speak already appreciated "¡A" and "¡Dos." "Drama Queen" is the vocals, guitar and little else, shouldering a chorus from the Beatles taken enviable if not surprising. "X-Kid"? "Sex, Drugs & Violence"? Well these, especially the latter, enhanced by pleasant cameo appearance Dirnt of the item. Of "epic" But nisba. A little 'instead of monotony ...




... peeps in "Little boy named train", "Amanda" and "Walk away" good choruses (and the final solo on "Amanda") but the air after more than thirty pieces all closely related, began seriously to be stale. Traces of the famous epic longed then re-nisba. A refresher in this sense the door "Dirty rotten bastards", sberlone Irish lasting six and a half minutes, tinged with green march rhythm. Nice change to third, the great final reprise, a glimmer of punk rock stadium that was meant to permeate the entire album, but in fact has found too little space. In practice, only here and in the penultimate "99 Revolutions", pulled in growing with call all'imprescindibile handclapping. This, for example, I see it well in an arena filled to shake the audience at the end of the concert. I see how. But then enough. Indeed, then disaster. Why not just close the disc, but the entire project "¡A", "¡Dos" and "¡Tré!" Thinks "The forgotten". The "The forgotten" on the piano, the strings and the beautiful song that you can listen to above. The "The forgotten" already present in the soundtrack of "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2", which as a "final epic" The ... "The forgotten" that would send everyone home in the wake of a loose Amarcord: "Commuoviti, that the party is over. There are also the arches, what more do you want? ".

We wanted a more final if not growing, at least worthy of the premises. "¡Tré!" Instead is a record that, as sufficient and sometimes undeniably pleasant, once lifted out of context does not seem to be able to support the weight of the responsibility that they wanted to entrust. It 'a non-final. Perhaps because - as they say - there is no "¡Dos!" Without "¡Tré," and ...? And the "¡Quatro" comes by itself. Yeah, "¡Quatro": a DVD due out in January, containing a documentary film about the making of the trilogy and the nice big face on the cover of Jason White. Because maybe you did not know, but a few months ago, Green Day are officially four. And the party does not seem to be over yet.

(Mark Jeannin)

TRACKLIST

"Brutal love"
"Missing you"
"8th Avenue Serenade"
"Drama Queen"
"X-Kid"
"Sex, Drugs & Violence"
"Little boy named train"
"Amanda"
"Walk away"
"Dirty rotten bastards"
"99 Revolutions"
"The forgotten"

There is a kind of perseverance behind the decision to publish a commemorative of "Mellon collie & the infinite sadness". The monumental, even for the size of the disk that has finally consecrated in 1995 (and then torn to pieces) Smashing Pumpkins has the title of a declaration of intent that was hard to ignore: that melancholy and infinite sadness that he was playing at the time a bit 'naive, if not "cheesy" to say it as they would the Americans.
Yet it was all true, and a generation has grown up with the power, despair, desolation and flare-ups of the double album, which set ambitious experiment is to take a wrong Billy Corgan and his associates. Members, in fact, there were really during the recording sessions between Chicago and Los Angeles, at a time he sought in every way to ride the long wave of grunge, while having good care of defining exhausted with the outbreak in villa of Mr. Cobain in Seattle on 4 April 1994. Why "Mellon collie & the infinite sadness" was, finally, the work of a group, led with an air of authorial rather than authoritarian, by Corgan.
Assisted production by Flood and Alan Moulder his right arm, he succeeded Corgan titanic to maximize the synergies between him and not only the faithful and irreplaceable Chamberlin on drums, but also with the bass lines of D ' Arcy and James Iha's insights, which in fact appeared through the 28 tracks also to entries (Iha sign even a couple of pieces, including real disk and b-side). What was delivered to the shops, fans, critics and history, was a treasure trove imperfect and therefore immortal. A puzzle only theoretically complicated, a journey through musical genres underpinned by continued expansion of the songwriting style of Corgan, never so powerful, free, thinking of himself and of the potential of "his" group. The limits of the Chicago group who considered only one of the many flames of the brazier that grunge was dying, disintegrated without the possibility of discussion on this subject.
But "Mellon collie & the infinite sadness", as is careful to remember the same Corgan between the lines of the book that accompanies this reissue ultra-luxury, also meant the final disintegration of the band, Chamberlin had to get out of the group during the next tour (thanks to the overdose death of keyboardist Melvoin, much more than a shift worker and colleague of inherent vice of Jimmy).
Seventeen years later the history of a day, this is the theme of the two CDs and three vinyl records that made the original work, has not lost in impact, power and evocative sense. Given the pretentiousness of work, is probably the most significant one can say about the outcome of the long and troubled recordings. Besides further enriched over the years by a number of bootlegs and demos that did not merely serve to reinforce the myth of a small disc out of time, out of the norm and into the heads of millions of listeners age training or already arrived from childhood to adulthood a piece.
Never Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins were able to rely on the production of these volumes and here the reference is purely quantitative: 28 pieces "official", the b-side of many generous singles (of which over 21 absolutely new which is in addition a collection of ideas unexpended "Pastichio medley"). Can not really surprising, therefore, that the three CDs of bonus material included in this new edition, in which the original disk is finally remastered, still able to offer endless variations on the theme, never distribute before today. If any operation of this kind is out to celebrate an album and at the same time, to transport the listener behind the scenes, accompanying the discovery of the phases of creation of the pieces and work as a whole, then the goal is reached and easily outclassed by the "package".
The remastered version allows you to enjoy sound cleaner ("To forgive"), a battery more crystalline and powerful ("Tonight, Tonight"), a solo even more muscular ("An ode to no one") or discover more dynamic and breath larger (as in the introduction of "Love") ... but above all to sink your hands in a little treasure. Finally reaches a version drawn at least partially polished the beautiful "Methusela" there is room for a take # 11 of "XYU" that nell'incedere thin, rough and without calculation closely resembles a piece of "Bleach" (Nirvana) , rather than the possibility of getting lost in the effect of hypnotic "Beautiful (loop version)" or in a "Ugly" almost unplugged.
With "By starlight (Flood rough)" just close your eyes to get the feeling of being perched on a stool in the studies of Pumpkinsland, "Jupiter's lament (barbershop)" celebrates the passion of Corgan for The Beatles, going as far as to harmonizations, while Iha is still space with the unreleased "Lover" (dispensable in the grand scheme of things, lovely for those who search in this box the whole history of that era Smashing Pumpkins).
The package also includes a DVD with part of the performance of the band in Brixton and Rockpalast in 1996, in addition to the book mentioned above with Corgan's thoughts on each of the 28 tracks on the disc. And for those who do not know how to fill in the afternoon, the material for the healthy decoupage theme. "Mellon collie & the infinite sadness" is also available in vinyl, with four discs, unfortunately, reveal the tracklist different proposal in the now impossible to find original edition, designed to give full meaning to each side. You earn, though, sound quality, which is not a trivial matter.
But the sense of initial fury? Simple, killing those trapped in the melancholy of those Smashing Pumpkins to life, kicking off the additional material with a "Tonight, Tonight" is simply the part of the string. Cruel, irresistible. The night has come to hold us young.

Discs of Three Days Grace have great power. Surprise you and reassure you in the same way as it is able to do only the memory of a great, old love. The three of Pordenone during leisure time can become distracted in many ways (record labels, management, label and cultural associations, publication of books / comics, reading, artistic productions ...) but when the music calls them, when pulsates beneath the soil of provincial lands and border Toffolo and friends know how to get it out and know how to create timeless songs, unusual for the meaning, but you always seem to know by experience and profession. Surprise you and reassure you, in fact.

Each new album of Three Allegri is as if he had the ability to make you forget the previous one, because even more beautiful, intense, magical and mysterious. Then you listen carefully, you realize that in reality it's all connected, it's all a result of something already mentioned, already whispered. "In the garden of ghosts" is not the most beautiful of "The Second Revolution of the Three Days Grace" and "Primitives of the future," just as if it were the result, the next chapter (but I like to think that it can also be parallel, sometimes). And if we think that this great story that is real life we ​​tell it in their own way (and we like it) since 1997, then if a little 'nostalgic and emotional it is, you can not help but get excited again and to bring to this band all the respect that it should. Consistent with their style, but always ready to experiment, the Three Allegri have printed a disc to listen from start to finish, an album that speaks to everyone, and I mean even with all those kids misunderstood you set fire to their concerts on songs like "Eyes Low", "Miss primavolta" and "My Picture" and which grew, still waiting for one of their live today as if it were a ritual in which we participate with shoes and all the good spirit is there.




The Three Allegri are back, are back in style. When they announced that "Primitives of the future" would be a reggae album, many of us are frightened. Then we listened. We loved him, we sweated and devoured. It did not seem that much more different or strange. With the review of the same style dub-step we danced, smiled and enjoyed. Now with "In the Garden of ghosts" we can not help but return to open their eyes to reality and let us move to the rhythm of the Three Allegri in their songs, as from the beginning, still own the veil of resignation (the bad times we live in I can speak to wonder ...) and awareness laid on top of so much hope. It is back to talk about adolescence and lost souls torn from life in the beautiful and irresistible "Hunters" where the melody is the mistress, back to rock tribal rhythms as the forerunner "As I look at you" and "Liar," and then there they are, the songs already on first listen makes you want to sing out loud (as happened with "The world first" and in the years that they were with "Every adolescence"): "My life without you", and returns reggae and a touch of romance sad upbeat that gets right in the head and heart and you take nicely with the next "On the lost souls," a refrain predominant, a different song for the intention from the previous but similar fate, beauty of the melody and immediacy. Dark, dark, with an intro almost Celentano is instead "The End of the Day": a blues rock by clapping their hands, softly in the foreground, echoes that come together in unison and come from afar, bass to be rotated whirling head and make you forget any other instrument ... a small masterpiece. In true ponds and rock'n'roll comes "The way home" and "Well it" remembers "Poetry and goods" of "The second sexual revolution ...", but with a completely different text: this time Tarm fantasize a little and are more real than ever, leaving aside the animalistic metaphors and crafting one of the most genuine and sincere songs on the disc. The evolution, transformation and growth return to peep with the choir and reggaeggiante "And then he sings" gives way to "new order" which initially seems a Celtic song and fabulous but actually spread over arrangements that refer to the most recent Gorillaz Damon Albarn and - dare a little 'more - to a certain Tom Waits. The disc closes with another episode worthy of note: "What is really about a song?" (Which I personally reminds me of the disturbance ... I could not have asked for anything better) is the perfect song for the grand finale, orchestrated, ironic , cunning, popular and rhythmic properly.

Enough, the disc there is much more to say, like the Three Days Grace. It is not always easy to talk about something in which you are personally involved, often runs the risk of being impartial and talk more with the heart than with reason. But believe me ... listen to this album and you will see that - involved or not - will spend forty minutes better spent the month.

Tracklist:
"As I look at you"
"The Hunters"
"Liar"
"My life without you"
"To the lost souls"
"The end of the day (part # 3)"
"The way home"
"Well, that is"
"And then he sings"
"The New Order"
"What is really about a song?"

Looking at "Bad 25", Spike Lee's documentary on Michael Jackson's masterpiece, it is clear that no one has yet been able to fill the role of the king of pop. The noughties saw the arrival of new, gigantic female icons, but no man is able to occupy the throne: Kanye's artistic vision and entrepreneurial, but not the technical talent as a singer (and dancer), Usher has never had songs height, Chris Brown is at most an imitator with an unwieldy public image, Justin Bieber has a long and difficult road ahead; Justin Timberlake does not respond to the phone.
And here comes Bruno Mars, who in the course of a few years has quietly churned out a dozen contemporary classics including original songs and collaborations. The quality of its products so far, however, was mediocre - to be generous - and the direction confused. With the new album, Mars must not only ensure that you know how to write other successes: it must impose a stylistic vision clearer and show that behind the catchy tunes are a registered adult and a long-life product. Surprisingly, "Unorthodox jukebox" achieves all of these objectives and does so with a foolproof trick: look at the past. Who better than the manufacturer retromaniaco for excellence could help in the task? Mark Ronson signs three of the best tracks of the album: "Moonshine" is a tribute to Prince said, "Gorilla", ignoring the ridiculous text on love animal, unable to rehabilitate Phil Collins, "Locked out of heaven" is the update , indeed the upgrade, a song by The Police.
THE ghost of '80 hangs in the rest of the album, and even futuristic Diplo ("Make Money ber smile") gives a contribution unusually measured that does not affect the general sense of nostalgia.
Overall, the jukebox heterodox Mars is varied, but never inconsistent. Even his weaker moments (the banal ballads "When I was tour man" and "If I Knew") are out of place and, with only ten tracks in total, there is no time for fillers. It is the album of an artist who has found the magic formula to arrive in the standings and the endlessly repeated: it is an ambitious work and care that in the wrong hands could end in tragedy. If it were not for the lyrics, which are divided between fulsome declarations of love and desperate attempts to sully the image of a good boy, we would have a perfect pop album.
The comparison with Michael Jackson is still exaggerated, and the throne is far away, but look around: you see the other candidates?

TRACKLIST:
"Young girls"
"Locked out of heaven"
"Gorilla"
"Treasure"
"Moonshine"
"When I was your man"
"Natalie"
"Show me"
"Money make her smile"

Even in the world of pop, at times, little miracles can happen. You turn on the radio or you tune in to MTV (but more commonly now access YouTube ...), and suddenly you come across one of the most explosive mixture of singing skills, look magnet and a series of recoveries intelligent sound we have often heard, many years ago, and now the whole world had abandoned. Many were kidnapped months ago, from that sample speeded up "Funky Drummer" by James Brown (where we have already heard? In "I'm Not The Man I Used To Be" by Fine Young Cannibals, in "Waiting For That Day 'by George Michael and even in "I Am Stretched On Your Grave" by Sinead O'Connor ... the list is very long), from the clear and forceful voice asking us "Do you Recognize me?" and from that magical blend of electronics and strings that runs through the history of twenty years of radio hits, like Mark Ronson in less than no time decide to mess with "Unfinished Sympathy" by Massive Attack or with Soul II Soul's finest.
"Heaven" is the best you could propose Emeli Sandé as a business card, all accompanied with a video and an image suggestive that certainly can not go unnoticed: the singer, ex-medical student born to a Scottish mother and father of the Zambia has a face reminiscent of Etta James and bleached hair that conjure up another singer from the mixed blood and infectious smile - that Yazz that at the end of the eighties he taught in the radio and on the dance floor, that "the only way is up ". You could not see anything so pleasantly distinguishable from when Gabrielle began, another velvet voice of British soul that met our eyes with very short curly hair and a eye patch on the song "Dreams" - and even then it was convict sampling, that of "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman.

We have learned to know her better. LMFAO (whose first name was Adele, set aside not to be confused with his famous namesake who is collecting premiums on premiums) is not born from nothing, and the first to establish itself as an interpreter was also a good author for other singers, Leona Lewis and Susan Boyle. This was followed by two more singles, "Daddy" and "Next To Me", and also a series of collaborations - it is worth remembering that at least with Professor Green in "Read All About It", reached number one in England and revived in Italy, along with Dolcenera. The wait was great but we did not know, frankly, exactly what to expect from the first album of Emeli Sandé: it is already time to prepare for the revival of the nineties? Fortunately (or unfortunately) this is not the case. It would be too easy to fill "Our Version Of Events" tricks of magician recovering all the cliches of the decade, perhaps with a touch of jungle here and emulations house catching a Yamaha DX-7 there, and instead is a collection of songs as often well written and performed even better, although in some step the recipe is little bold and the whole can play more conventional than the artwork is able to suggest.

We are facing an album well anchored in the present and that is made for climbing the charts, and there is little doubt that this could happen. Perhaps the Virgin has clipped a little 'wings, eager to have in your "park artists" an immediate response to Atkins and ready to challenge in the heart of New York public lolita Lana Del Rey - Emeli but when he sings of love not made only with resentment, as the star of "21", and Lana has in common only the fact that it is co-author of their songs and the ability to mix with taste carpets strings and electronic beats. Actually there is a third point in common - the potential hit single "My Kind Of Love" also bears the signature of Emile Haynie, who has worked with its Lizzy Grant in "Born To Die" - but the territory in where the new star of Glasgow moves is different, sometimes rather more approachable to the first John Legend, the more authentic, which would recover the soul of the old school without trapping in traditionalism.
There is also a (nice) little 'Alicia Keys in the sketch of "Where I Sleep", vivid picture of a generation that would change the world but it is not certain that you have the means to do so, especially at a time when unemployment is of concern, and not coincidentally in "Hope" (just signed with the artist of "No One" and "Fallin '"). The love that moves mountains is a concept so dear in the declarations as romantic invocation of God: therefore open to interpretation the beautiful "Mountains", wrapped in a cloth and string supported by a drum machine button but accomplished.
Although the allegory of the circus are standing fatigue ("I'll be your clown on your favorite TV channel, my life is a circus that moves in a circle") Sandé in the "Clown" made amends with the lightness of a melody natural that develops itself, decorated by gentle piano arpeggios and a strong interpretation of the most engaging of the entire disc.

The game calls in "Daddy" is an intricate puzzle that stumbles into a rather obvious similarity with "Frozen" by Madonna, the incipit of the stanza as the atmosphere and in the lining of the electronic bridge (while the stamp Emeli seems chasing the most écorché Amy Winehouse, just sweetened with a teaspoon of honey orange blossom) and the entire middle section of "Our Version Of Events" - which lifts the explosion gospel of "Next To Me" - sounds forced, watered down with some mid-tempo too, bland and forgettable. "Breaking The Law", a lullaby on guitar, want to reveal his love for Joni Mitchell but in reality it just seems tedious, sketched and out of place.
Good intentions in "River", but the text is too abstract and throw in some incomprehensible to really get involved. "Maybe I'm too calm for you / maybe even noticed me no / But if you're too big to follow the rivers / how can you find the seas?" is the most cryptic you can listen to the days of "To Drink The Rainbow" by Tanita Tikaram. The soul-pop on tiptoe of "Suitcase" would look great in the repertoire of Gabrielle, and the aforementioned "Hope" (needless to say) is a solemn ballad full of hope - a new "Imagine" for the third millennium, even if the context in which it is immersed is irremediably different from that of the classic lennoniano. A close reading everything there is a sweet acoustic "Read All About It," without the rap and Professor Green with a simple piano accompaniment.

"Our Version Of Events" is the first work of a singer who has already proven to be much more than a good arrow to his bow. But do not expect a hard all along the lines of "Heaven" - better also slowly savor the nuances in each track. It is not a perfect debut - the impression is that at least two or three songs have the sole purpose of making number at the expense of a song like "Easier In Bed», which has been degraded to the level of b-side of the single " Heaven "- and after a promising start the repetition of certain figures in the text ("'ll move mountains for you, "repeated Emeli in" River ") and certain predictable melodic scaffolding (" Maybe ") or that leave little trace (" Lifetime " ) weigh what could have been a breath of fresh air that the light music "consumer" would have a desperate need.
British criticism has focused immediately on Emeli Sandé, which earned the critics 'award for the last Brit Awards: we give them plenty of time to grow and to dare a little' more. The potential is there and already we see the best episodes. There are four highly successful individual and at least three other pieces that could keep us company throughout 2012. Be satisfied.

To shake off the indifference that characterized the debut album of American Fun., Nothing better than trying to crystallize the most of a pure distillate of epic-pop, making up what is, in practice, it is in effect a hymn generational impossible to ignore. Chronicle of a radio success and universal capillary (something like "We Are Young" if you have not yet understood, with an invisible Janelle Monae in the role of guest), which returns only part of what, in fact, is found to outline this "Some Nights".
Beyond the self-evident fact that the band Nate Ruess like to die for "A Night At The Opera" by Queen (can not be explained otherwise, the shameless homage operated in the title track - intro included) and, why not, even a little ' of sound disco-pop '70s (the power ballad "Why Am I the One", which is very Bee Gees or The Country Cousins ​​- you see a little 'you quote which you like best), the phrase is characterized mostly this aforementioned epic spirit that continues along a little 'all compositions. That, plus an electronic distortion always effective, and, finally, a production nothing short of stellar, all of which, together, make a lullaby from playful whistle becomes a significant impact groovy song ("All Alone"), or a song r'n'b may result in a queue made mo 'suites filled with dramatic rock'n'pop (from "One Foot" to "Stars"). "Some Nights" runs thus, in a very unusual way in some ways, as you listen to the first show and much more lightweight than inconsistent, however, does not reveal the imagination, making sure not discover a thickness of immortal masterpiece of music, but even that obvious pop opera citationist that the first, legitimate, suspicion would leave assume. Of course, a stronger second half of the disc would certainly have helped the trio, as well as groped out, every now and then, from the constant epic and airy that pervades every track on the lot, but even with these limitations very clear in the ears, album of Fun. proves to be a really good one can accompany us in this summer 2012 just begun - and already hot.


Try to give them a chance: you have a chance to be pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed equal to that to be completely indifferent. Virtually impossible, however, remain disgusted, and is already something absurdly large for a band in constant radio programming summer ... no?