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| Aaron Barnhart has spent his last years in California and it really can be heard on his debut "Missing Pieces" produced by Stuart Brawley (Michael Jackson, Don Henley, Howie Day). With straight melodies and beautiful choruses, he has created a charming vitamin kick that smells classic LA pop. It is incredibly stylish and well made, on its way to be too plain and impersonal. But think he manages to balance the material well and he actually feels like a modern version of the hero of Dan Fogelberg. So if you like this kind of straight pop that also Rob Thomas is into as a solo artist, Aaron Barnhart is sure worth the check. |
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| Aaron from thre late and great Aaron & Jeffrey is here with his first soloalbum and is this album good or what!!! Great midwestern pop with a modern hint. 11 songs and almost everyone is as good as the others. Superb played, nice harmonies and Aaron with a terrific Michael W Smith sort of smooth voice. A sure buy for all melodic lovers of 2000. |
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| This is album number two of a trilogy all released during the same year! ?Side One? was an awful album totally lacking melodies and in my ears it was nothing else than unorganized mishmash. Is ?Side Two? any better? Yes it is, but if truth is to be told it isn?t at all much to write home about! At least there are melodies to be found on here, but not directly any of them is leading anywhere. The album actually goes out quicker than it came in and there is no way I ever will recommend it to anyone! In the booklet the King Crimson man makes a promise to return to the more eclectic approach of previous solo efforts, well here?s one hoping! |
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Alex Band is the voice in The Calling and he is now working on his first soloalbum, and this EP is an appetizers of what we´re gonna get. And that is a cake of well produced radiofriendly rock in the same vein as The Calling. It´s nothing revolutionary if you speaking about taking music to a new ground. But, and its a big but - in Alex case - he is not here on earth to do that. He is here to deliver smashhits for all of us "refrain-jerks" and he sure knows how to do that on three out of five tracks on this EP. First out "Live Again" sets the tone with a smashhit refrain, second out "Rest Of Our Life" smells an american AC-radio-hit a long way, third out "Only One" is quite a boring nonsense-ballad, fourth out "Coming Home" drives slowly through the verses and turnes out to a massive chorus and fifth out is a more rhythmic and less modern rock sort of tune that doesn´t give me that much.
So, to sum it up a bit for you. Three songs are massive, one is a boring ballad and one is a style we don´t wanna hear more of on his full- length-album we hopefully will hear later on this year. |
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| The Calling, consisting of Alex Band and Aaron Komin, broke on to the scene in 2001 with their hit single, "Wherever You Will Go." That song, which had constant radio airplay that year, went on to later be named the #1 Adult Pop Song of the Decade by Billboard magazine. The album from which it was taken, "Camino Palmero," was certified Gold in the US and sold over 5 million copies worldwide. The bands next effort, "Two," was less successful commercially. Band member Aaron Komin decided to break away and do his own thing while Alex toured the record and because of this, the band went on an ´indefinite hiatus´ in 2005. With their friendship, and band, a thing of the past, Alex decided to go solo. He released the five-song "Alex Band EP" in 2008 on his website and finished his full length debut, "We´ve All Been Here" late in that year. After many delays, the record is set to see the light of day. Let me be the first to say that fans of The Calling will feel very at home. With that being said, it´s also a safe bet that fans of soft, alternative, adult rock, will also discover a new gem if they have never heard of the band. The first single from the album, "Tonight," is the summer anthem that begs for radio play. It´s the type of song that you don´t mind being overplayed on the radio because every time you hear it a big grin hits your face, begging you to sing along. Alex sings, "Tonight, I got you where I want you/Close so I can tell you anything/You´re the song that I sing./Tonight, let the music take us over/We´ll fall in to forever on this ride/Cuz I´ve got you where I want you/Tonight." The song is every bit as catchy as "Wherever You Will Go" and more mature in sound and musical style. If it doesn´t receive substantial airplay then there is something wrong with the suits who run the radio stations. What´s interesting about this album is that Alex isn´t afraid to experiement. On the album´s last track, "Without You," we hear a few bars worth of a bagpipe at the beginning. It´s subtle, and not overly in your face, but it fits the mood of the track nicely. The chorus swoons and builds to something that I would compare to The Callings "Our Lives". Back in 2008, Alex released a demo of a song called "Please" on his Myspace page. I was lucky enough to hear the demo of that song and all I can say is the mastered version blows it out of the water. The song begs the listener to pay attention to the words and how it´s the little things that matter in love, life and every thing in between. The highlight of the record in my opinion is the simple, yet breathtaking track, "Euphoria." This song is pure joy. There simply isn´t any other way to describe it. Alex sings, "You gotta give love to get love." I´ve never heard a more truthful sentiment. With all the great things about this album, and let me say it, there are a lot of great things about this album, there are, like with The Calling albums, a few duds. Skippable tracks, used for filler in my opinion, include the title track, "We´ve All Been There", "Never Let You Go" and "What Is Love." With those few throwaway tracks aside, this record will prove to be the soundtrack to your summer. |
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| Ooh, holy macarony. When I first saw the picture of this beautiful Danish girl, AMALIE BRUUN, I thought of how AMY GRANT looked on her album covers in the early 80’s! Girls don’t get much prettier than that. Amalie is actually the daughter of the well-known musician and producer MICHAEL BRUUN. At least if you’re a collector of westcoast and westcoast/pop you’ll have some albums with him involved. Amalie herself is singing and playing piano, while Michael plays guitars and bass. They´ve got the good taste of bringing in additional help by Jens Rugsted on bass and Poul Halberg (slide guitar on track 6). Stylewise Amalie brings you nice pop with some AOR vibes, and I absolutely think of Danish acts like DODO & THE DODOS and RAY DEE OHH here. The sound and production is – deliberately? – more modern, though. And Amalie’s nice voice has got quite a lot of KIM WILDE in it. A single is being played on Danish radio at the moment, and it’s “I would if I could”. This song is a super catchy pop/AOR tune, with a bit of THE CORRS about it. Another song in the same vein is “Listen to your heart”, which is a perfect song in the summertime. Also check out “I’m not gonna try”, which starts out kinda like “BRUCE HORNSBY goes 2000’s pop”. It’s always hard to compare to other artists, but I guess you know the drill. This is the kind of CD that fans of LAURA BRANIGAN will like, if that makes you get the picture. Just imagine it in a more modern production and you’re there. |
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| Annis Brander is a Swedish singer songwriter that has been around for quite a while writing songs for other artists and produced two albums. The second album "Glass People In The Woods" is an album filled with music in a mix of Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, Matraca Berg and Vaya Con Dios. And it's well done with the sidekick Henrik Åström (Miss Li / Oh Laura) as the close compadre... I like the softer and more low-key "You Broke My Heart" and "Burning Sky" where Annis take us on a roadtrip in the landscape of Fleetwood Mac. |
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| Got this his other CD the other week and I really didnt put much effort to get it into the CD player cause I was not that excited over his debut. Totally wacko and quite nonsense to be honest. My friend Mag said to me the other day - hey have you listen to the Barbeau record yet? Cause its actually quite good. And heck wasnt he right. Its Much Much better and actually a pleasent little modern pop album he´ve done. Sure some traces of the weird Gregg Alexander-esque debut here and there but overall a nice CD to play on a sunday lunch. |
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| I really dig those German bands like Megaherz, Oomph and Unheilig that might not be as huge as Rammstein but they´re worth the same attention outside Germany. Here´s another cool band that sounds like Rammstein, inthe style of their Sennsucht album. B.O.S.C.H´s new album "Einsam" contains more aggressive and distorted vocals compared to Rammstein but the music is quite similar, those synthesizers do sound like they can be used as electronic weapons in a future war. There are several good songs on the album like "Soweit", "Mehr" and "Spiegel" but my favorite is the suggestive "God", that chorus is awesome. |
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| The danes are back with another CD. Their third one. From the beginning the band was more a queen type of band but their direction have become more and more to the modern sounding edge. The flirts with prog and Queen are still there, but we can hear bot the modern U2 vibe, and even some Bowie in their music (well its not wrong to mention Manic Street Preachers her eeither). Very nice produced modern pop rock well worth a check out when you have time. I like this band a lot and check the out at www.baal.org . |
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| The Danish pomprockers is here with their third album. They have spoiled us with bombastic pomp ala Queen goes Bowie so the expectations are quite high on the band. And I must say that theyve done their best album to date. In their 70 costume they have their own style in a strange way. Dont ask me what it is. Best on the new album is the softer "Blow" which could have been on a Bowie album from the 70s and with a refrain that is awesome pomp ala the Swedish band The Ark mixed with Queen. And the grandious "Writing On The Wall" with an almost Pink Floyd-ish way of being. Nah - grab yourself a copy and listen yourself. Really nice piece of plastic. |
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Hooray!,excellent poprock from our neighbour country Norway,stand up and applause these gentlemen in Babel
Fish....talk about intelligent pop with high quality!
They are a new aquintance for me but this is their 2nd album that was released late fall 2002.
I come to think about their music as medicine for a depressed soul,instead of taking a pill you can put on this lovely album "Coming up for air" and will not feel as you?re drowning anymore,I can assure you that you will be Waving not drowning(like in the classic album title by Rupert Hine).
As a matter of fact,I can hear some Rupert Hine in their songs,all mixed up with some Julian Lennon harmonies and packaged in an Aussie Rock Suit!
Singer,guitarist Van Ravens has a smooth and beautiful voice and together with keyboardplayer/singer Halvor Holter,they can be compared a little to the superduo Mark Gershmel/Rick Florian from White Heart.
"Planets","Energize me","Blah,blah,blah","Killing time" ...you name it,they are all splendid pop pearls.
"House of cards" make time stand still so do yourself a favour and check them out. |
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Here is a review I did back in 1999 about a Norwegian band that did two really nice album (Kaj wrote about their other album from 2002 when it was released). This album is still a very good album, but perhaps not a 5 star review like it may sounds like when you read my review below. It is very nice though and you gotta check it out if you don´t own it.
Phew Phew Phew - here is another killer album and it´s bloody norwegian. Ehum. This CD would perhaps have been more suitable on the modern rock pages but what the hell. It´s not modern rock - it´s just great wellproduced melodic rock with traces of both midwestbands like Pistoleros and poppers like crowded house. Great is what it is and a CD you have to buy right freekin´ now. Fave tracks are "Mania and "Turning The Blind Eye". Probably the best scandinavian record of 1999 to be honest. Buy at once. |
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You can almost guess how a band sounds like just by looking at their bandname and I was right about these Swedes when I thought they would be somewhere between Backyard Babies and Hellacopters.
Babylon Bombs has some more 70?s vibes a la early Kiss and The Rolling Stones than their fellow Swedish rocknrollers just
mentioned,their debut "Cracked wide open and bruised" sure is a nice story of feel good party rock where the main reason is
to have a good time.
This is music made for the stage,it?s not always easy to bring that live feeling into the studio but hearing this album makes
you feel like you?re in the frontrow in a tight club at a BB show.
They might not have the classic songs like for instance Kiss has but they can stand tall with this fine debut.
HIGHLIGHTS:Delirious,Do you think about me? |
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Babylon´s Burning is the third album from Swedish hard rockers Babylon Bombs. This album will appeal to fans of H.E.A.T., Hellacopters, Backyard Babies and similar bands. From the first track we are treated to party rock with heavy influences of punk and glam rock. Although I am not a big fan of the first song, it gets better, much better! The band attacks each song with an attitude that they just cannot go wrong with. The production is superb and I constantly find myself listening with my whole body, you know what I mean, head nodding, foot tapping and air drumming. That is always a good sign. The absolute highlight in my opinion is the brilliant "Rattle My Bones". That song sticks like glue to my head and I am confident that it will do the same to you. If you have heard the singles from this album you should know that they are not the best songs here. If you liked them you have to check this album out. Some albums are made to start parties and this is definitely one of them. Put in on and everyone will be jumping. Fans of bands mentioned above along with Hardcore Superstar are in for a treat, this one is a killer! I am going to play it one more time…
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Did you know that?
Andy Warhol was the mystery artist who designed the Rolling Stone’s “Sticky Fingers” album art.
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