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Album Kit
Electronic Press Kit for Bon Jovi
Electronic Press Kit also known as Electronic Media Kit serves as an innovative marketing and promotional strategy for an artist.
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is a popular new-jersey based American hard rock band. Known best for its world famous album “Slippery When Wet (1986)”, the band currently has five members-lead singer Jon Bon Jovi, guitarist Richie Sambora, drummer Tico Torres, keyboardist David Bryan and bassist Hugh McDonald.
How it all started
Jon Bon Jovi met David Bryan when he was only 16. Together they formed a band named “Atlantic City Express way” and began to perform around the area of New Jersey. Jon later formed another band “The Rest” in 1980 which made him popular in the state.
A breakthrough came for John when a New Jersey- based radio station WAPP 103.5 FM included one of his songs “runaway” as part in its compilation album of local homegrown talents. It was here in the radio studio that he met guitarist Tim Pierce, keyboardist Roy Bitta and bassist Hugh Mcdonald who helped him in re-recording the song.
The song was accepted well by the audience and soon other radio stations too began to plat it. The success of the song inspired John to form a new band and after getting nod from his new accompanist he formally launched the band inn1984.
Success
Bon Jovi shot to national fame with its debut album “bon Jovi” in 1984. The album featured the song runaway that made it to US top 40 billboard chart.
Bon Jovi released its second album 7800˚ Fahrenheit in 1985. Some of the songs from the album such as; only lonely, in and out of love and silent night turned out to be chartbuster in the US.
Bon Jovi, however, achieved worldwide recognition with its second album “Slippery When Wet” in 1986.
Bon Jovi has released 11 albums so far out of which three albums have went on to register 300 million sales of their records. The band has so far taken part in more than 2600 live concerts across 50 different countries. Bon Jovi was inducted into British Music Hall of Fame in 2006 and was conferred on with prestigious the Award of Merit at the American Music Awards in 2005.
Electronic Press Kit for Bon Jovi can be ordered online.
About the Author
keshav k solanki is a veteran IT professional with ten years of experience in writing on various technological topics. The author has been associated with various major construction insurance Florida and ocean marine insurance service providers.
Nas – “ILLMATIC” Album Release Press Kit (1994)
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Creative Memories Paper Album Kits $10.00 |
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1987 CADILLAC DEALER ALBUM DATA BOOK SALES KIT 87 $59.99 |
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Family Memories Heirloom Scrapbook Kit With Album $20.00 |
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Atlantic 25204231-72 DISC SET ALBUM – Kit $28.43 |
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HE Harris Explorer Worldwide Postage Stamp Album Collecting Kit $11.99 |
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Making Memories Complete Scrapbook Kit BABY GIRL 6″ x 6″ Album Pink NEW $29.95 |
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Memory Album Kit Have A Party Mini Book Kit $4.99 |
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NEW! Memories SUPER MEMORY ALBUM KIT scrapbooking $19.99 |
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Christian Scrapbooking Faith Album Kit $9.00 |
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Chatter Box Gazebo Mini Album Kit (NIP) $0.99 |
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NEW 8X8 Album Kit by DEJI VIEWS Sharon Ann collection $4.99 |
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Valentine Chipboard Album Kit ~ $8.99 |
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Colorbok Ltd Ed Deck Hall Scrapbook Album Kit Christmas $24.75 |
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ProvoCraft YourStory Laminating Pouches Lot 12×12, 9 X11.5 New, Baby Album Kit $7.00 |
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Creative Memories 12 x 12 Picfolio Quick Kit and Album – SCHOOL $79.00 |
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Scrapbooking Album Kit $6.00 |
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Making Memories Complete Scrapbook Kit FRIENDS 6″ x 6″ Album Lavender 145 pcs $22.95 |
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Making Memories Complete Scrapbook Kit MEMORIES 6″ x 6″ Album Green 139 pcs $24.95 |
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First Birthday Scrapbook Kit Camera Album Embellishmen $16.99 |
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First Birthday Scrapbook Kit Camera Album Embellishmen $16.99 |
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Your Story School Album Kit – ProvoCraft $13.00 |
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New Complete Scrapbook Kit w/Embellishments, Album, Over 880 Pieces $17.97 |
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8X8 Album Kit SEI Spring $5.99 |
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Harris Worldwide Explorer Stamp Album Collecting Kit $9.99 |
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SCRAPBOOK ALBUM 12 x 12 Colorbok PASTEL ALBUM KIT 16 PG $5.99 |
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NEW VERY NICE STEP-BY-STEP ALBUM SCRAPBOOKING KIT!! $5.99 |
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World Voyager Stamp Album and 1,000 international stamps collection kit $24.99 |
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Creative Memories Paper Album Kit- “CANDY CANE” $14.67 |
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Creative Memories Once Upon A Baby Boy Album Kit $20.00 |
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Little Yellow Bicycle- Winter Twig Line- many variations- low cost fast shipping $7.89 |
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Birthday Scrapbook Kit Camera Embellishments Album $16.99 |
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Westrim Crafts 12×12 Scrapbooking Kit:: album paper embellishments ribbon more $14.99 |
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WALT DISNEY WORLD THEME PARKS SCRAPBOOKING KIT PHOTO ALBUM KIT STICKERS BORDERS $21.95 |
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12” Boy/girl Scrapbook Album Kit, Over 360 pieces! $24.70 |
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12” 360 pieces Scrapbook Album Kit +10 pcs Scissors kit $48.42 |
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U.S. STAMP KIT HAS-ALBUM+STAMPS+HINGES+MAG GLASS+GUIDE+ $20.00 |
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Simply Scrapbooks BEAUTIFUL BASICS Mini-Album Kit Inside $4.49 |
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Scrapbook Expo PARTS & PARCELS Six Parcel Album Kit $8.88 |
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Chatter Box Scrapbook Album Project Kit Blue Colored $9.99 |
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Creative Memories 8×8 Album Kit Fabulous BABY GIRL $39.29 |
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CREATIVE MEMORIES ~ PAPER ALBUM KIT ~ PURPLE PAISLEY ~ NEW! $9.99 |
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Impecca USA – DPA350K Digital Photo Album Kit (Black) $59.53 |
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Creative Memories Rugged Everyday Recordable Paper Album Kit NIP $19.99 |
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Creative Memories Merry & Bright Paper Album Kit NIP $14.99 |
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Usher, official 1994 press kit BIO, 2 pages, OG, debut album $0.99 |
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Melody Ross My Story Mini Album KIt 153 pcs Soul Food Collection Fun Girl’s Gift $5.00 |
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Scott US & UN Stamp Collectng Outfit Kit Album HTF L@@K $39.95 |
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Melody Ross My Story Mini Album KIt 153 pcs Soul Food Collection Fun Girl’s Gift $5.00 |
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Candlewicking Hoop Album Floral Kit Bob Shafor Creative Circle Vintage New USA $7.00 |
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Walt Disney World 2011 scrapbook album kit! $20.00 |
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TRAVEL 12×12 Scrapbook Album Kit – American Crafts $24.99 |
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Scott U.S. Minuteman Stamp Album Kit, 1840 – 2010 (New) $112.99 |
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DIY Post Bound Photo Album Kit Orange Oriental Cover Paper 10 1/8″ x 5″ Fin Size $7.99 |
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Dora The Explorer Panini Starter Kit Stickers Album $9.99 |
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8.5×8.5 Rocket Boy Scrap-Tote Album Kit K&Co $23.39 |
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6×6 Under the Tree Complete Album Kit by Momenta $14.39 |
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Brand NEW Disney Tinker Bell 8×8 Postbound Scrapbook Photo Album Kit – FREESHIP! $24.99 |
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NEW! Disney Mickey Mouse 8×8 Postbound Scrapbook Photo Album Kit – FREESHIP! $24.99 |
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Brand NEW! Disney Princess 8×8 Postbound Album Scrapbook Kit – FREE SHIP! $24.99 |
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Brand NEW! Spiderman 8×8 Postbound Album Scrapbook Kit – FREE SHIP! $24.99 |
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LYB Winter Twig Medley Album Kit 8″X4″ by Little Yellow Bicycle $8.48 |
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Creative Memories Inspiration Album Kit $21.50 |
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Creative Memories Christian Inspiration Album kit $8.00 |
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Creative Memories Inspiration Album kit $8.00 |
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S.E.I. 12-Inch by 12-Inch 12″x12″ 1 Hour Album Scrapbook Kit En Route Brand NEW $39.99 |
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Baby Tooth Album Complete Tooth Fairy Kit $24.95 |
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Baby Tooth Album Complete Tooth Fairy Kit $24.95 |
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Deluxe VALENTINES LOVE Paper Bag Album Kit 100+pc $7.50 |
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XStitch Kit – Teddy Bear Family Album III – W DMC floss $24.99 |
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Scrapbook Expo PARTS & PARCELS Six Parcel Album Kit $13.98 |
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SCRAPBOOK ALBUM 12 x 12 Colorbok PASTEL ALBUM KIT 16pgs $5.99 |
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Scrapbook Class Kits Mixed Vendors Albums Wall Hangings $4.99 |
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Scrapbook Class Kits Mixed Vendors Albums Wall Hangings $4.99 |
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Scrapbook Class Kits Mixed Vendors Albums Wall Hangings $4.99 |
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Scrapbook Class Kits Mixed Vendors Albums Wall Hangings $6.99 |
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Scrapbook Class Kits Mixed Vendors Albums Wall Hangings $6.99 |
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Scrapbook Class Kits Mixed Vendors Albums Wall Hangings $5.99 |
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Scrapbook Class Kits Mixed Vendors Albums Wall Hangings $9.99 |
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Scrapbook Class Kits Mixed Vendors Albums Wall Hangings $7.99 |
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CREATIVE MEMORIES – Paper Album Kit – CANDY CANE $0.89 |
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CREATIVE MEMORIES – Paper Album Kit – CANDY CANE $0.89 |
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Acrylic Organizer Stamp Album Kit, Zutter. NEW! $19.99 |
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Creative Memories Paper + Album Kit + Great Lengths $7.99 |
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NEW DELUXE SCRAPBOOK KIT-INCLUDES ALBUM/10 BONUS PAGES $12.99 |
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Creative Memories Album Kit- Geometric Shapes $9.00 |
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Creative Memories Album Kit–Celebration~ NIP/NLA $19.99 |
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Creative Memories Album Kit- Christmas $5.00 |
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w1- Masterpieces Bella Sara 6″ x 6″ Scrapbook Album Kit $9.80 |
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8X8 Album Kit SEI Aunt Gerti’s Garden $5.99 |
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Discgear 100 with Light Kit & Album $35.00 |
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Precious Moments Baby 12 Photo Album Scrapbook Kit FREE $5.00 |
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Creative Memories For Him Paper Album Kit $15.00 |
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Kiss Signed **AUTHENTIC** Dynasty Album/Tour Press Kit Ace and Gene $500.00 |
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Scrapbooking My Guy Paper Bag Album Book Kit $15.99 |
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Pixifun Photo Sticker Album Kit $4.50 |
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4.5×6 Twilight Eclipse Tag scrapbook Album kit M&M $11.99 |
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CUSTOM VOLKSWAGEN VWS BEETLES BUGS KIT CARS BUGGIES COLOR ALBUM SPECIAL 1998 $14.95 |
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Colorbok Scrapbook Accent Card Kit Set Album Floral New $19.99 |
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Wee Gallery Mobile, Kikkerland $12.00 Kikkerland Mobiles are ideal for Wee gallery art cards and photos…. |
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Baby Safe Ink Print Kit – Basic $10.95 Take your babys hand or footprints safely from home with these non-toxic, lead and latex free, infant safe ink print kits. Perfect for scrapbooks, photo albums, framing and home-made birth announcements. Unlike inkless print kits or stamp kits these ink plates pick up every fine detail of baby’s print – just like the ones the hospitals use. Use more ink for very dark prints and less for lighter pr… |
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Bon Appetit Recipe Book $14.95 C.R. Gibson’s lines of recipe holders have always been the best you’d find anywhere, and the Bon Appetit collection is no exception. It’s rich, warm red faux leather covering makes it feel luxurious, yet ready to use. The 12 tabbed dividers help you group your recipes by categories, and the recipe card protectors keep your cards clean, and ready to use. The book comes with 20 sheets and forty card… |
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The Lion’s Roar $7.49 First Aid Kit is Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Soderberg. The first single and title track to their sophomore album, ”The Lion’s Roar”, was recorded with producer Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Monsters of Folk, Jenny Lewis) in Omaha, NE. The record sees the band exploring a bigger sound and more instrumentation than on their debut album ”The Big Black and the Blue”, but maintains the signature … |
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The Lion’s Roar $7.99 … |
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Believe [Special Edition] (CD+Tote Bag) $16.99 Internationally acclaimed vocal phenomenon Celtic Woman announce their sixth new project, BELIEVE, an enchanting studio album and companion live concert DVD available in stores on January 24. Celtic Woman is the all-female singing sensation featuring vocalists Chloë Agnew, Lisa Kelly, Lisa Lambe and Celtic violinist Máiréad Nesbitt performing classic Irish songs (“The Water Is Wide,” “Green G… |
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School Years Mini Florals Deluxe Scrapbook Album Girl Book Pocketful of Memories with Stickers $21.55 This deluxe album is beutifully designed by Dena Designs and published by New Seasons Publishing. Compare to other books of same series, this book is the only one that contains more than 200 stickers and everything else you need to preserve your child’s favorite school years in unique and creative way! It has a hard cover with 9 photo frames: 8 small and 1 large. The photos are insert from the ba… |
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27 Watts 5500K Color corrected Day Light Fluorescent Lamp Photo Bulb – 2 Pack $44.99 This is a fluorescent 27 watts energy saving daylight photo bulb (5500 Kelvin temp.). This Fluorescent lamp bulb emulates a soft daylight measured at full spectrum color of 90 CRI at 1800 lumens. Lifespan: 10,000 hours. Ideal for all Tungsten Continuous Lighting Kit. This photo bulb would cost you $21 each at your local retail store. Best price combo on the internet. **Limited Time Promo**… |
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The Original Photo Clip Mobile The Original Photo Clip MobileThis ingenious mobile allows you to create your own unique work of hanging art! Simply clip your photos onto the ends of each wire using the pre-attached clips. The entire mobile comes assembled and ready to decorate! Let your imagination go- you can clip just about anything that is lightweight onto this mobile (such as decorative papers leaves and small ornaments) … |
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Rush – R30 – 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition $24.98 Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 11/29/2005… |
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‘Once Upon A Time’ 182-piece 12×12-inch Scrapbook Album Kit $23.94 This is the perfect scrapbooking kit for that special little princess in your life’Once Upon A Time’ includes one 12-inch postbound album with a photo window on frontPhoto album features high-quality coated paper covering |
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Jocelyn 1-hour Album Scrapbook Kit $31.99 Creating a finished album is easier than ever with this scrapbook album kit. This has everything you need to create a personalized album that’s perfect for gifts or keepsakes. All you need to provide are your photos and your adhesive of choice. |
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Clarabelle 1-hour Album Scrapbook Kit $27.02 Creating a finished album is easier than ever with this scrapbook album kit. This has everything you need to create a personalized album that’s perfect for gifts or keepsakes. All you need to provide are your photos and your adhesive of choice. |
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Kitschy Kitchen Retro Recipe Album Kit $11.39 Create your own recipe book with this Kitschy Kitchen collection by Melissa Frances. This retro recipe album kit features stickers, covers, cards, dividers and binding rings. |
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Ancestry.com Scrap Layout Kits $8.83 Add to your scrapbook with a family tree scrap kit from ancestry.comKit includes 12 flat designer papers 8 grand adhesions and 18 name and label stickersArt and craft supplies theme: family and everyday |
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Happy Birthday 1-hour Album Scrapbook Kit $25.99 Creating a finished album is easier than ever with this scrapbook album kit. This has everything you need to create a personalized album that’s perfect for gifts or keepsakes. All you need to provide are your photos and your adhesive of choice. |
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Postbound Marines Scrapbook Album $26.94 Stunning Scrapbook features a diecast plated Marines medallionAlbum is crafted from bonded leatherKit includes 10 top loading page protectors with paper inserts |
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Design Originals Doodle Book $10.69 You will find doodling a relaxing and fun form of expression that is easy to learn with this doodle bookDesign Originals Oodles of Doodles introduction to doodling bookDare to doodle with this scrapbooking supply |
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‘Rowdy Boy’ 86-piece 12×12-inch Scrapbook Album Kit $25.54 This is the perfect scrapbooking kit for that special little man in your life’Rowdy Boy’ includes one 12-inch postbound scrapbook album with a photo window on frontPhoto album features high-quality coated paper covering |
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Kitschy Kitchen Homemade Recipe Album Kit $9.99 Create your own recipe book with this Kitschy Kitchen collection by Melissa Frances. This homemade recipe album kit features stickers, covers, cards, dividers and binding rings. |
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S.E.I One Hour ‘White Elegance’ Scrapbook Album Kit $34.79 Theme: White eleganceMaterials: PaperAlbum dimensions: 12 inches high x 12 inches wide |
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Durham Urban Brown Postbound Scrapbook Album $22.99 Dress your memories in sophisticated style with this album Scrapbook has a leather-like finish and stitched details Album is postbound and provides 20 clear top-loading folios |
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Your Story Everday 8×8-inch Album Kit $16.49 Scrapbooking has never been easier than with this Your Story album kit. This kit showcases an Everyday design. |
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Postbound Scrapbook Album – Mickey and Friends $29.49 This Mickey and Friends postbound album features a recessed window Art supply is a die-cut of one of America’s favorite characters Craft supply comes with 10 top loading page protectors and inserts |
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Durham Urban Pink Postbound Scrapbook Album $23.49 Dress your memories in sophisticated style with this Urban albumScrapbook features a leather-like finishPostbound album is available in pink color option |
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Cloth ‘Travel’ Postbound Window Album Kit (12×12) $24.89 Document all your favorite adventures with this all-in-one kit. This kit contains one black cloth postbound window album, foam letter stickers, chipboard shapes, phrase stickers and more. |
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Soul Food Mini Album 8×6-inch Kit $16.77 This package contains a Mini Album Kit with two chipboard covers, eight chipboard pages, and twenty-four cardstock pages. This kit also included eight chipboard stickers, journal prompt stickers, adhesive rhinestones, and two album rings. |
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Postbound ‘Brownie Girl Scouts’ Scrapbook Album $21.43 Girl Scouts postbound album is blue and brownPostbound scrapbook and features a 3.75 x 3.9 inch die-cut windowPerfect for scrapbooking girl scouts and friends |
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‘Claire’ Scrapbooking Kit $24.99 Creating a finished album is easier than ever with this ‘Claire’ theme scrapbook album kit. Perfect for gifts or keepsakes, this scrapbooking kit has everything you need to create a personalized album. |
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‘Little Me’ 5.5×9.5 Chipboard Album Kit $5.54 Add a charming touch to your scrapbook with this album kitThis craft kit includes one chipboard piece in three cover sizesAlbum cover comes with rhinestones and soft spoken embellishments |
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Photobook Creator Kit $75.99 Capture all of life’s wonderful moments and make them into a lasting memory with this Photobook creator kit. The PhotoBook thermal resin Binding Machine binds your book in seconds so you can enjoy it forever. |
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Sandylion Tropical Waves 12×12 Postbound Album $23.56 Present your memories in style with a Sandylion Tropical Waves postbound albumEmbroidered scrapbook album boasts a recessed window with a die-cut character imageCraft accessory comes with ten top-loading page protectors |
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Pebbles Share & Tell Baby Pink 12×12-inch Photo / Scrapbooking Album $26.09 The Share & Tell Album offers simple ways to organize and display photos. The album features a durable, easy-to-clean leatherette cover, metal bookplate on the spine for easy labeling, 4×6-inch photo window on the front cover and protective metal corners. |
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Pebbles Share & Tell Baby Blue 12×12-inch Photo / Scrapbooking Album $25.02 The Share & Tell Album offers simple ways to organize and display photos. The album features a durable, easy-to-clean leatherette cover, metal bookplate on the spine for easy labeling, 4×6-inch photo window on the front cover and protective metal corners. |
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Postbound Navy Scrapbook Album $26.93 Make scrapbooking time even easier with this K & Company Navy postbound scrapbook album12 x 12-inch album is the perfect addition to your arts and crafts suppliesA die-cast plated medallion is mounted onto the cover |
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Black Linen 8.5 x 11 Photobook Album $9.98 Use this albums with your PhotoBook Creator (sold separately) to create easy, at-home photo albums. Just insert your photos, place your assembled album onto the PhotoBook Creator heating element and it instantly binds your book. |
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Freez A Frame Variety Size Magnet Frame Kit $12.59 This Freez A Frame magnetic frame kit offers a variety of hangable frames to keep your precious memories out for easy viewing. Use these frames to decorate your fridge with your keepsake images. |
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7 Gypsies 6×7 8-page Wood Veneer Album $14.99 7 Gypsies wood veneer album is a unique addition to your scrapbook collectionAlbum is a perfect backdrop for Chatterbox’s Fabulous Collections Scrapbook album has six thick, linen-textured art board pages |
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Black Leatherette 8.5 x 11 Photobook Album $8.39 Use this albums with your PhotoBook Creator (sold separately) to create easy, at-home photo albums. Just insert your photos, place your assembled album onto the PhotoBook Creator heating element and it instantly binds your book. |
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Personal Shopper November 2006 Heritage and Retro Scrapbooking Set $24.99 Save time and money with this Personal Shopper scrapbook kit. The set contains 12×12-inch papers plus coordinating embellishments for creating album pages, cards, gift tags and other paper crafts. |
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K & Company/ Ancestry.com 12×12 Heritage Scrap Kit $10.99 Heritage kit created by K & Company and Ancestry.comGreat 12×12-inch scrapbooking kit makes it easy to create layouts, cards and moreBuild your album with coordinated papers, stickers, alphabet blocks and more |
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Retro 8×8-inch Scrapbook Album Set $21.49 Celebrate hip retro trends with a Retro scrapbook setThis kit is sure to add a fun flair to your scrapbooking collection Scrapbooking kit includes everything you need to create a fabulous 8×8-inch album |
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K&Company Classic Wedding Boxed 12×12 Postbound Scrapbook Kit $23.04 Keep all your cherished memories secure forever in this beautiful postbound albumScrapbook album features an embossed high-quality coated paper coveringScrapbooking accessory includes a framed photo window on the cover |
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Postbound ‘Little House Baby Girl’ Boxed Scrapbook Kit $25.49 Preserve your memories in a ‘Little House Baby Girl’ scrapbookKit includes scrapbook, designer papers, Grand Adhesions, die-cut stickers and Clearly Yours stickersFrame-A-Name postbound album features top-loading page protectors |
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Snapload Retrofit Kit $22.99 Update your scrapbooks with the Snapload conversion kitCraft kit replaces screw posts for quick adding and removing of pagesFive-pack retrofit kit allows pages to lie flat |
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Personal Shopper October 2009 Heritage Scrapbooking Set $20.99 Save time and money with this Personal Shopper scrapbook kit. The set contains 12×12-inch papers plus coordinating embellishments for creating album pages, cards, gift tags and other paper crafts. |
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Cast Acrylic Top Load ‘Deco’ Album $22.99 Enjoy scapbooking with this ‘Deco’ square album by Clear Scraps. Made in the USA, constructed from cast acrylic, you can garnish your album with expressive quality. This package contains one 8×8 inch album and 10 top page protectors. |
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Pioneer Photo 204 Pocket 4×6 Leather Album $22.99 Show off all your favorite photos with this Pioneer photo albumScrapbooking kit comes with 204 pocket pagesAlbum is designed to display 4×6-inch photos |
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We R Classic 12×12 Leather Postbound Album $25.08 Save your favorite memories in a classic postbound album Photo album features a padded cover made from faux leather Scrapbook kit comes with ten top-loading page protectors |
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Personal Shopper March 2007 Ice Cream & Friends Scrapbooking Set $20.49 Save time and money with this Personal Shopper scrapbook kit. The set contains 12×12-inch papers plus coordinating embellishments for creating album pages, cards, gift tags and other paper crafts. |
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Personal Shopper June 2009 Elegant Ladies Scrapbooking Set $19.99 Save time and money with this Personal Shopper scrapbook kit. The set contains 12×12-inch papers plus coordinating embellishments for creating album pages, cards, gift tags and other paper crafts. |
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American Crafts Peony 3-Ring Album (12 x12) $20.31 Document all your favorite adventures with this all-in-one kit. This kit contains a photo window on the front cover and ten top-loading page protectors inside the album. |
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We R Classic 12×12 Leather Postbound Album $25.09 Save your favorite memories in a classic postbound album Photo album features a padded cover made from faux leather Scrapbook kit comes with ten top-loading page protectors |
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Personal Shopper January 2007 Winter & Bright Scrapbooking Set $21.99 Save time and money with this Personal Shopper scrapbook kit. The set contains 12×12-inch papers plus coordinating embellishments for creating album pages, cards, gift tags and other paper crafts. |
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Personal Shopper April 2009 Dots & Stripes Scrapbooking Set $20.99 Save time and money with this Personal Shopper scrapbook kit. The set contains 12×12-inch papers plus coordinating embellishments for creating album pages, cards, gift tags and other paper crafts. |
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Cast Acrylic Square Top Load Album $25.98 Enjoy scapbooking with this original square album by Clear Scraps. Made in the USA, constructed from cast acrylic, you can garnish your album with expressive quality. This package contains one 8×8 inch album and ten top load page protectors. |
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Clear Scraps Acrylic Carriage Album $13.99 Made from top quality cast acrylic this carriage shaped album by Clear Scraps is perfect for collecting your memories. You can decorate this versatile ablum with ink, stamps, paint, embossing, paper and more. |
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Quick Quotes ‘Live Laugh Love’ Ribbon-bound Canvas Book Kit $16.49 This album kit is designed for display quality and yields a piece of dimensional art that anyone can complete and display. This crafts kit creates a ribbon-bound canvas book with a ‘Live Laugh Love’ theme. |
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Pioneer 4×6 Twin Photo Albums $27.49 Display all your favorite photos in these Pioneer albumsScrapbooking kit comes with two albumsAlbum contains 200 bi-directional 4×6-inch pockets |
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Unibind Silver Metallic My Book Photobook $5.46 Make a photobook at home in seconds with Unibind’s MyBook system. With the MyBook Collection kits you can make photobooks for family and friends fast. |
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13 Japanese Birds, Vol. 8: Kokuchov $18.98 Kokuchov is Merzbow’s eighth volume in the 13 Japanese Birds series, a collection of recordings that underscores his commitment to the natural world and pays tribute to the influence of French composer Olivier Messiaen, whose own tribute to fowl accounts for a valued piece of 20th century classical music known as Catalogue d’Oiseaux. On Kokuchov (nicknamed for a black swan), Masami Akita (Merzbow) returns to his drum kit. He is a formidable drummer, to say the very least; an utterly creative musician, he can play forms as well as visionary improvisations. He employs the drums generously against and in concert with his power electronics. This is especially true on ? Black Swan,? and on the album? s closing track ? Ushiwaka 2.? The latter of these showcases a series of repetitive rhythms slowly evolving as other sounds, from sampled guitar drones and reverb to industrial sounds, are gradually folded in, creating an uncharacteristic set of dynamics that is somewhat less punishing than some of his other pieces. ? Mesmerism,? opens the set with a series of pulsing, gated keyboard sounds that are hopelessly distorted, as drums punctuate the end of every line. As the piece develops, more keyboards are layered on top and folded in, creating a body of sounds that is not unlike what it might be like to hear Martin Rev play with Loop live! Guitar sounds shift in and out of the keyboard racket, drums fill what little space there is and force the rhythmic pulse forward into oblivion. None of the records in this series are dismissable, but Kokuchov ranks among the most diverse and musically compelling in the entire series. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi |
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20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Reverend Horton Heat $9.99 The Reverend Horton Heat (the collective name for Jim Heath on guitar and vocals, bassist Jimbo Wallace, and either Taz Bentley or Scott Churilla behind the drums) cut three fine albums for Sub Pop Records between 1992 and 1994, and a pair of so-so records for Interscope in 1996 and 1998. The bad news is, 20th Century Masters — The Millennium Collection features 14 tunes from Heath and Company’s Interscope period, with one track from their final Sub Pop album (originally distributed by Interscope) included for seasoning. As you might expect, this is a far-from-definitive Reverend Horton Heat compilation, though in all fairness this disc is a better buy than either It’s Martini Time or Space Heater, the below par albums which generated the bulk of the material here, since the best cuts from both albums make it onto this set (which was compiled by Heath himself). The remastering for this set sounds great. Heath lays out all sorts of frantic overdriven guitar leads throughout, and “That’s Showbiz” is a hilarious tongue-in-cheek look at the downside of the musician’s life, but the first three Reverend Horton Heat albums had the best songs, and the band always rocked harder with Taz on the drum kit, which makes this disc a fine look at a band’s lesser days, and that’s about all. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi |
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???L Calle Es Tuya? $9.99 Fewer than four years passed between Estopa’s debut and the release of ???La Calle Es Tuya?, winner of Best Album honors at the 2004 Barcelona Ondas Awards. Brothers David and Jos? Antonio Rodriguez Mu? oz continue to crank out cheeky and wildly charismatic flamenco-infused pop, though by this third go-round, what stands out is the increasing unlikelihood that they will graduate anytime soon from their present level of national acclaim to take a place on the world stage. The 12 new songs here, while not completely inconsistent with their earlier work, manage less often to translate the rhythmic and harmonic structures of flamenco into the international language of pop music than to bring unfortunate rock & roll clich? s home. This negative trade balance appears in the very first song, “Fin de Semana,” in which Anye Bao’s drum kit runs roughshod over traditional contrapuntal palmas (hand clapping) and the whole thing careens over the edge of a riff the Rembrandts built for Friends; while later songs, like “Ya No Me Acuerdo,” maintain more rhythmic and stylistic coherence; these also lack any truly Spanish ? nimo that might distinguish them from the masses. Happily, there are exceptions. Near the album’s close, the brothers return in imagination to the auto factory where they wrote some of their most delightfully escapist early hits. This time, however, it’s the relentless and robotic pace of the assembly line that wins. The melodic hook of “Pastillas de Freno” (“Brake Shoes”) overpowers the listener, compelling a singalong a toda pastilla — at top speed. It’s irresistible — and as a preview of what the talented brothers might someday produce if they get the flamenco-to-rock en espa? ol gear ratios worked out — a real one to watch. ~ Jenny Gage, Rovi |
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A Woman After God’s Own Heart Dvd Curriculum $126.91 New – DVD kit with ten 30-minute lessons, 3-minute promo spot, and 15-minute preview CD kit of ten 30-minute lessons, promo spot and preview 120-page A Woman After God’s Own Heart workbook and bookmark Leader guide for planning and leading the study Promotion kit with 4-color posters, plus camera-ready art and promotional copy ready to download Beautiful full-color album |
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A’s, B’s & EP’s $10.98 The Animals’ output on EMI has been so heavily reissued and recompiled so many times that none of it is especially rare, or notable for that reason — it just stands up as music, especially the singles, which are what we have represented here. The compilation CD A’s B’s & EP’s is a handy way of taking a tour of the group’s early sound, up through the middle of 1965, boiling down their singles, B-sides, and EP’s in excellent sound. It took the group a few tries to really master the art of making a strong album from start to finish, but — as we’re reminded here — their 45s were beyond reproach, exciting, bold, and daring, and all memorable. Hearing Hilton Valentine’s guitar crunching and chiming away on “I’m Crying,” or John Steel’s drums up close and personal on “Boom Boom,” supporting Eric Burdon’s voice and juxtaposed with Alan Price’s organ, is still a bracing experience 40 years later — and on this master, Valentine’s trip down the fret board and Price’s keyboard flourishes exude rippling energy and a bracing presence — even on cheap speakers, Steel’s snare is distinguishable from the rest of the rhythm section; and on “It’s My Life” you can practically hear the action on his kit. And this disc is also a good opportunity for low-level fans to discover obscurities such “I’m Gonna Change the World” which, with its ambitious lyric and form, sort of anticipates the later compositions that Burdon would cut, on his own and away from virtually all help. The annotation is nothing special, the packaging has its weaknesses (in terms of the original releases of the songs), and EMI’s Complete Animals still runs circles around this CD, but it’s an okay piece to have and easier to find than that double-disc set, as of 2004. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi |
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Alas I Cannot Swim $12.98 Due to her youth (16 when she first hit Myspace, 17 when signed to an imprint of EMI, and 18 when her debut album came out), perky-cute looks and extremely British diction, singer/songwriter Laura Marling got a lot of comparisons to Lily Allen in her early buzz, but the quietly compelling Alas I Cannot Swim is not at all a frothy pop confection. A folk-tinged AAA pop record based on Marling’s alluringly husky voice and graceful acoustic guitar, Alas I Cannot Swim would be more aptly compared to the likes of Feist, Keren Ann, or Regina Spektor. (In the album’s press kit, Marling reveals her primary influence to be Bonnie “Prince” Billy, which also seems appropriate.) Although not to draw too forbidding a comparison, opening track and first single “Ghosts” is most strongly reminiscent of Joni Mitchell circa For the Roses, both in Marling’s expressive vocal phrasing and the expert shifts in the arrangement between solo acoustic passages and full-band sections, not to mention an excellently deployed string section. That old-school ’70s singer/songwriter vibe predominates throughout the album, in fact. There’s one straight-up pop song here, the deceptively chipper-sounding “Cross Your Fingers” (“…hold your toes/We’re all gonna die when the building blows” continues the sweetly sung chorus), but aside from that, Alas I Cannot Swim is the kind of album that takes a couple of listens for its charms to completely sink in. Rather than swath every track in prominent, ear-grabbing hooks, Marling and producer Charlie Fink choose to keep the decorations off in the distance on songs like “The Captain and Hourglass,” where swells of pedal steel stay buried deep in the mix under Marling’s hypnotic guitar line and quietly insistent vocals. There’s every chance that Laura Marling will get lost in the shuffle as the unexpected commercial success of Feist’s The Reminder leads major labels to unleash hordes of similarly talented female singer/songwriters, but Alas I Cannot… |
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All in One $11.99 With All in One, Bebel Gilberto made her home at Verve, which is not just an auspicious label for music but also the home of some of the best Brazilian records of all time — by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Astrud Gilberto (who is no relation, although she was married to Bebel’s father before Bebel’s birth), Stan Getz, and, of course, her father, Jo? o Gilberto. It’s obvious Gilberto is well aware of this: the cover is reminiscent of an Astrud Gilberto album and she sings a version of “Bim Bom,” which was written by her father and is known popularly for Astrud’s version (what’s more, it features the piano work of Brazilian royalty Dan Jobim). Still, it’s clear Bebel Gilberto knows where to draw the line, and All in One is defined more by her songs and her collaborators than the weight of Brazilian musical history she must carry. Throughout, her varied cast brings out the strengths of her songs. Multi-percussionist Carlinhos Brown gets the most instrument credits (his kit bag must weigh a ton), and his string of percussion instruments brings a rich texture to every song he graces. (He also co-wrote the best new songs, “Nossa Senhora” and “Ela [On My Way].”) Also appearing is superstar producer Mark Ronson for the single “The Real Thing,” a song whose history hits a sweet spot here — Stevie Wonder originally wrote it in the late ’70s for Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’77. Ronson takes the song back to Wonder’s Motown roots, also quoting from Saint Etienne’s vibrant update of classic soul production. Gilberto sounds most confident elsewhere, however, especially on her own songs and when she’s singing in Portuguese. (Didi Gutman from Brazilian Girls also helps out, as does the Dust Brothers’ John King.) Despite the large cast, All in One is a remarkably unified record; no one makes a larger impact here than Bebel Gilberto herself, while she and executive producer Didi? Cunha create a record that’s modern in execution but classic in its feel. ~ John Bush, Rovi |
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At Action Park $19.98 Shellac’s first three singles (especially Uranus) suggested that Steve Albini was moving into more subtle and dynamic territory after the musical and lyrical brutality of Big Black and Rapeman, but the group’s first full-length album, At Action Park, proved that the misanthropic noisemaker responsible for Atomizer and Songs About Fucking was still very much present. “My Black Ass,” “Dog and Pony Show,” and “Il Porno Star” revealed Albini was still obsessed with sex, violence, and anti-social behavior, and the hard, metallic guitar figures of “Pull the Cup” and “Song of the Minerals” were as uncompromisingly abrasive as ever, with Albini’s trademark engineering (dry, stark, and crystal clear) making the rough edges all the more punishing. But At Action Park does reveal a band more musically intelligent and imaginative than Big Black, and while it hits a good bit harder than the 7″ers that preceded it, Shellac is still significantly more concerned with the space between the notes than any of Albini’s earlier projects. Just as importantly, in drummer Todd Trainer and bassist Bob Weston, Albini had found a human rhythm section that lived up to his exacting specifications, with Weston adding both melody and force with his thick, meaty tone and Trainer displaying both precision and an expressive abstraction behind the kit. And while Shellac’s idea of a good time would still make most folks uncomfortable, there’s a dark but genuine humor to a few of the cuts (especially “Il Porno Star”), and “Song of the Minerals” suggests Albini may actually feel compassion for one of his protagonists. At Action Park made it clear that Steve Albini was slowly but surely maturing, while stubbornly refusing to compromise in the process. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi |
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BIAS SoundSaver – Windows PC and Macintosh $39.99 Have you still got precious recordings on vinyl records or tapes or cassettes? Play them to your PC or Mac and digitize them. Bias’ SoundSaver makes the seemingly impossible possible. It’s easy to digitize old recordings.-SoundSaver makes recording LPs, tapes, and other sources super-easy with a complete step-by-step tab-based approach. Regardless of prior experience, anyone can use SoundSaver ? without ever reading a manual ? though electronic documentation is included along with a handy tutorial Video at no additional charge.-While many USB turntables and tape decks include basic conversion Software and/or general-purpose freeware Audio Editing applications, none offer the combined ease-of-use and high-quality cleaning results offered by SoundSaver. Not only does SoundSaver offer far better audio fidelity than other solutions, but being specifically designed for its intended use makes the audio archiving process far simpler and more enjoyable ? meaning users are far more likely to achieve satisfying results.-SoundSaver for Mac and Windows streamlines the process of converting and restoring LPs and tapes with a step-by-step tab-based approach. -The boxed “kit” edition of SoundSaver includes a free 6-foot RoHS-compliant Stereo mini to dual RCA cable. Additional adapters can be added for other connections. SoundSaver uses BIAS’ patent-pending, corrective, linear-phase noise-reduction (CLNR) algorithm. -While SoundSaver offers manual track marking during and/or after recording, it also offers an intelligent Auto-Define Tracks feature. Once a recording is made, tracks may be automatically defined with a single click in most instances, and track markers can always be adjusted if needed. Track names, album titles, artist info and more can be automatically applied by connecting to the Internet and entering the album name. SoundSaver can then export the individual tracks as MP3, uncompressed WAV files, or directly to iTunes with a single click. -While SoundSaver offers man |
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Baby Days Scrapbook Kit $48.17 Used – This kit is perfect for creating a precious record of a baby’s early days. Just take your favourite photos, mount them in the beautiful scrapbook and decorate the pages with the co-ordinating paper and stickers provided. You could even include a birth certificate, scans or little hand and footprints! A detailed instruction leaflet provides tips and techniques to get you started. Your kit contains a deluxe postbound album, twenty stylish album pages, twenty page protectors, fifteen sheets |
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Baby Days Scrapbook Kit $48.17 New – This kit is perfect for creating a precious record of a baby’s early days. Just take your favourite photos, mount them in the beautiful scrapbook and decorate the pages with the co-ordinating paper and stickers provided. You could even include a birth certificate, scans or little hand and footprints! A detailed instruction leaflet provides tips and techniques to get you started. Your kit contains a deluxe postbound album, twenty stylish album pages, twenty page protectors, fifteen sheets o |
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Bandwidth $36.98 For release number six by his Circulasione Totale Orchestra, Norwegian free jazz sax master Frode Gjerstad opted for a solid three-CD set of live recordings (from 2008, says the press kit — no recording info is included with the album itself). If you have been looking for a decisive statement from this band, here it is: three discs, three sets, three decibel-heavy collective improvisations full of twists and turns, three times the magic. The Circulasione Totale Orchestra has always been about mixing it up between locals and international figures, and about passing the torch to the younger set — the experience and advice of the seasoned musicians, the fresh excitement and ideas of the up-and-comers, all that circulates freely among orchestra members. Or at least, that’s how CTO is designed. And judging from these three hours of recordings, it works. There are 15 musicians on the recordings, 13 at a time, and the cast is a stunning blend of major players from the American free jazz and European free improvisation scene. In the “seasoned improvisers” category we find, beside Gjerstad, drummer Louis-Moholo-Moholo (of Chris McGregor fame), American free jazz greats Bobby Bradford (trumpet) and Sabir Mateen (sax); Kevin Norton (vibes), once in Anthony Braxton’s standards and non-standards bands, and longtime William Parker collaborator Hamid Drake (drums). Among the younger and local players are Anders Hana (guitar, of MoHa! and Noxagt) and the killer rhythm section of Ingebrigt Haker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love (both of the Thing). Lasse Marhaug and John Hegre (Jazkamer) are handling noise, electronics, and live manipulation/mix duties, with more electronic input from Morten Johan Olsen (of MoHa! and Ultralyd). It could have been totally chaotic, and at some points (especially on discs one and three) it borders on a catastrophe, but the musicians are clearly listening intently to one another and are ready to bounce back and put the train back on its rails when ne… |
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Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, Paul Motian $20.96 It’s hard to imagine that Bill Frisell at 55 is the youngster of this group. But he is by a long shot. Not that it matters in terms of musicality; rather, it’s that younger modernism and its involvement with different musical genres that make Frisell such a welcome foil for the likes of two heavyweights like Paul Motian and Ron Carter. To say that this album is all over the place is an understatement. Just look at the tunes: from the slippery little grooving blues of “Eighty-One” by Carter and his former boss Miles Davis to the ditty “You Are My Sunshine” by Jimmie Davis, Thelonious Monk’s “Raise Four” and “Misterioso,” and traditional tunes like “Pretty Polly” and Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” These are just a few, but what they prove is everything. These three musicians sound so comfortable, it’s like they’ve been playing together for years. There is great humor in the approach on some of these tunes, such as Carter taking a boogie break near the end of “Eighty-One,” or the tight little counterpoint between Motian and Frisell on “Raise Four.” The question as to whether the record swings or not is moot — it does but in a very different and gentle manner. Those who have decried Frisell’s move toward country music in the last decade or so needn’t be worried; no matter how songs are played (and they are played as songs), this is fully a jazz date with plenty of improvisation and strange asides. Motian’s musicality is one more element of the great edge this band has. He’s always pushing, however gently, always singing on his kit. The rapport between Motian and Carter is wonderful on Lerner & Loewe’s “On the Street Where You Live,” and he and Frisell are nearly symbiotic — check Frisell’s “Monroe,” or the Williams tune, or better yet the angles and corners on “Misterioso,” where they paint themselves into such a tight corner it seems they’ll never get out. With Carter’s solid time, they weave a tapestry that’s as rich and humor… |
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Breaks from the Border $10.98 Rather than take a well-deserved break after a U.S. festival tour, Leeds U.K. funk quartet the New Mastersounds flew to Tomillo, Texas’ Sonic Ranch, a residential neighborhood studio located near the border between the States and Mexico. Deciding they wanted to append their near-constant instrumental output with vocals — that have primarily occurred on stages rather than in the studio — they flew in Rhianna “Freckles” Kenny to collaborate in the writing, arranging, and recording process. Cut in just over a week, Breaks from the Border reflects the bubbling, energetically infectious sounds of the New Mastersounds at their best, while adding depth and dimension to some beautifully breezy, elastic, harmonically savvy vocals that never manage to get in the way of the quartet’s knotty, rave-up funky grooves. All four members harmonize on opener “Take What You Need,” which merely highlights their backbeat-driven Meters-influenced funk with an into-the-red bassline groove led by Pete Shand. They pick up the tempo with “Run the Gauntlet,” featuring a smoking B-3 solo by Joe Tatton. The knotty breaks by kit man Simon Allen fuel the shimmering group vocals on “On the Border,” while the finger-popping dialogue between the bassline and Eddie Roberts’ jazz guitar wrangling on “Freckles” accounts for one of the finest moments on the disc. The burning Afro-funk at the heart of “Walk in These Shoes” reveals the quartet at full rhythm burn, even with the four-part harmonies adding a breezy, humid element to the mix. Roberts’ guitar break is one of the best on any New Mastersounds studio effort. “Josus” walks on the jazz side of funk and “Can You Get It?” sounds like an update of the Meters’ bubble and broil. Kenny takes her own lead vocal break on the album-closing jazzer “Up in the Air,” with spacy psychedelic soul grooves from the New Mastersounds. On paper, it would have seemed that Breaks from the Border might have fallen short; as it stands, however, this… |
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C’est Com…Com…Compliqu? $19.98 As strange and chaotic as the journey of Germany’s Faust has been since 1970, one thing has been constant: no matter what they have issued, in whatever incarnation, Faust have never sounded like anyone else. They have been a myth since the very beginning, and a mystery to all but one another. C’est Com…Com…Compliqu? , issued in early 2009, was recorded by the studio incarnation of Faust: original members Jean Herv? Peron and Werner “Zappi” Diermaier along with Amaury Cambuzat of French vanguard rock outfit Ulan Bator. (There is also an expanded live version of the band with former Henry Cow reed and woodwind man Geoff Leigh, singer Lucianne Lassalle, British poet Zo? Skoulding, and members of Welsh experimentalist band Ectogram.) The album was recorded at the now legendary Electric Avenue Studio in Hamburg by Tobias Levin. The music on this set is much less anarchic than some previous Faust releases, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable or adventurous. Rhythmically, Dermaier’s drumming is as trancelike as ever, whether he’s using his kit or various other percussion instruments (or those adopted as such); Peron’s basslines are throbbing, pulsing and incantatory; and Cambuzat’s wildly original use of guitars, various primitive keyboards, toy instruments, and household elements fills out a sound that is more speculative than aggressive, though there is no lack of drama in these proceedings. A listen to the nine-plus-minute mantra-like “Kundalini Tremolos,” which is Krautrock to its very core, is example enough. But there are much stranger things on offer here as well, such as “Petits Sons App? tissants,” with its strummed nylon-string guitars; lunatic-fringe French poetry; Wurlitzer piano; bass drums; tom-toms; and crashing, thunder-like sheets of metal percussion. The guitar and bass freakout that introduces “Bonjour Gioacchino” is the most “rockist” thing here; its sense of power and overdrive with shimmering reverb and clattering cymbals an… |
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Cakewalk Music Creator 6 – Windows $39.99 Make your creative dreams a reality and achieve polished, Professional recordings from your home Computer with Music Creator 6 – no previous recording experience required! Get professional sounding results using Music Creator’s powerful tools, instruments, and effects. Creating music on your PC has never been this easy or fun – all from Cakewalk, makers of one of the top selling music Software in the world.-Music Creator turns your computer into your own Personal recording studio and includes everything you need to create, edit, and mix professional recordings. Whether it?s a cover of your favorite tune or an original composition, turn a simple idea into a finished song with Music Creator?s powerful suite of tools, loops, instruments, and effects. And when you?re ready to share your music with the world, you can burn a CD or use SoundCloud to post your music on Facebook and Twitter. Based on Cakewalk?s acclaimed professional studio software, Music Creator?s elegant design and Drag and drop Interface makes creating and sharing music fast, easy, and fun. -Features:-Based on Cakewalk?s acclaimed SONAR X1 professional studio software-Record up to 160 tracks of Audio & MIDI (32 audio and 128 MIDI) -Professional 24-bit audio quality -Drag & drop instrument sounds, loops, more (over 4 GBs of content)-Song Construction Kits for fast and easy creation of backing tracks-Hundreds of instruments and over 1,000 professionally recorded music loops (beats, bass, guitars, keyboards, horns, strings, and more)-3 fantastic virtual instruments: Cakewalk Sound Center for easy access of hundreds of instrument sounds, TTS-1 General MIDI sound module featuring genuine Roland? sounds, and Studio Instruments Drums that looks just like a real drum kit!-Pro effects include EQ, Reverb, Delay and epic guitar amp tones from IK Multimedia? AmpliTube 3 CS guitar amp simulator-Remix tracks and jam with the Matrix View-Create playlists and burn songs or an entire album to audio CD-Upload songs direct |
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Camel: Camel-Album, the Snow Goose, Mel Collins, Nude, the Single Factor, I Can See Your House from Here, Rain Dances, Breathless $15.19 Used – Kilde: Wikipedia. Sider: 38. Kapitler: Camel-album, The Snow Goose, Mel Collins, Nude, The Single Factor, I Can See Your House from Here, Rain Dances, Breathless, Stationary Traveller, Moonmadness, Harbour of Tears, Andrew Latimer, Dust and Dreams, Colin Bass, Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall, Mirage, Dave Sinclair, A Live Record, Never Let Go, Coming of Age, Richard Sinclair, Lady Fantasy, Rajaz, Chris Rainbow, Jan Schelhaas, On the Road 1982, The Brew, Kit Watkins, The Paris |
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Canon 0041B009 3×3 Pocket Size Photo Album $19.95 Canon has re-invented the wallet-sized photo with the new Photo Album 3″x 3″ Pocket Size. The ultimate stocking stuffer or personalized party favor, the small pocket-sized album holds 12 different photos, as well as a custom wraparound photo hardcover. The hardcover wrapping can be customized and printed using your own images for a truly unique photo album experience.-Print-your-own photo album kit includes print Paper for Canon photo printers-Easy-to-use photo selection and text Editing Software -Compatible when used with most Canon Inkjet photo printers-Holds up to 12 photos-Pack of 2 albums |
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Canon 3295B002 PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printer $489.88 The PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II possesses the functionality and technology you need for high-quality Output so you can be the photographer you’ve always wanted to be. Its 8-color ink system widens your color palette along with advanced Easy-PhotoPrint Pro Software to fine tune your prints plus Ambient Light Correction, which optimizes color output to match the specified lighting condition you would display in. This fantastic Printer does all of this and more while supporting Canon Fine Art Photo Papers up to 13″ x 19″ with two separate paper paths, including a front feeder for heavyweight paper types. The ChromaLife100 system combines the benefits of genuine Canon dye-based ink and photo paper with FINE print Head technology to produce long-lasting, beautiful prints with a wide color gamut for vivid coloration and high glossiness. The PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II takes your photo printing to all-new Professional levels.-ChromaLife100: combines FINE Technology with genuine Canon papers and inks which promotes outstanding color vividness and long-lasting prints for up to 100 years when stored in an archival quality photo album -Ambient Light Correction: optimizes color output to match the specified lighting condition of the room you’re admiring your photos in-Auto Photo Fix: automatically categorizes your images into one of five types – Portrait, Scenery, Night Scenery, Snapshot with Scenery, and Snapshot with Night Scenery – then applies optimal image correction-2 Way Paper Feeding-PictBridge: print photos directly from your compatible Digital camera, DV camcorder or camera phone (cable not included)-Print Resolution (Up to): 4800 x 2400 DPI (color), 4800 x 2400 dpi (black)-OS Compatibility: Windows Vista/XP/2000 and Mac OS X v10.3.9 to v10.5.x7 -In the box: -PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Inkjet Photo Printer-Document Kit: Adobe Photoshop Elements Installation Sheet, Cross Sell Sheet, Getting Started, Important Information Sheet, Safety Environment Information, Setup Software & User’s Gu |
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Canon PIXMA iX6520 Inkjet Photo Printer $149.99 For those who seek a single function printing solution up to 13″ x 19,” the PIXMA iX6520 Inkjet Business Printer will seamlessly become a member of your office team. With superior 9600 x 2400 maximum Color dpi, you can confidently and easily print marketing materials that are a combination of text and graphics, large accounting spreadsheets or legal contracts all with crisp text. The iX6520 is also great for graphic designers printing posters, concept art, sketches and storyboards all with superb color and graphic detail. –Your photo printing options now also expand to Full HD video. Full HD Movie Print turns your favorite HD movie clips captured with compatible Canon EOS Digital SLR or PowerShot cameras into beautiful photo prints. If you’re looking to customize your own Web layouts, you’ll enjoy Easy-WebPrint EX so you only print what you want, when you want off the web! -Package Contents: iX6520 inkjet Printer, Document Kit, Ink Tanks (PGI-225, CLI-226), Power Cords, Print Head-Extraordinary Resolution – Realize the power of 9600 x 2400 maximum color dpi firing with 1pl. This produces incredible quality and detail in both your business documents and photos.-High Performance Individual Ink System – This 5-color ink system consists of four dye-based inks for exceptional photos plus a pigment-based black ink for crisp Professional quality text. -ChromaLife100+ – This system combines enhanced FINE print head technology with select genuine Canon photo papers and inks for beautiful borderless photos that will last up to 300 years when stored in an archival-quality photo album.-Amazing Photo Printing Versatility – Print stunning photo quality on various types of photo paper from 4″ x 6″ to 13″ x 19.”-Full HD Movie Print – Full HD Movie Print Software turns your favorite HD movie clips captured with compatible Canon EOS Digital SLR or PowerShot cameras into beautiful photo prints.-Easy-WebPrint EX – Clip, arrange and print web page contents so you can p |
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Christmas Spirit $9.99 It has become patently obvious that San Angelo, Texas’ Los Lonely Boys have arrived at their true mainstream place in the musical order when they can release a Christmas album on Sony. And what’s not to like? Everything the brothers Garza play is infected with pure bluesy groove and roots rock verve. The ten songs here are Garza-ized takes on Christmas standards: “Jingle Bells,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Away in a Manger,” “Feliz Navidad,” “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” “Carol of the Bells,” and “Silent Night.” The latter two are fine instrumentals. “Carol of the Bells,’” especially, is a deeply satisfying guitar and percussion workout that embraces not only hard rhumba drumming, but funk, Mexican folk music, and screaming blues-rock. Hopefully, their version of “Run Rudolph Run” will make Chuck Berry proud, with its rumbling upright piano and bassline, and Henry’s guitar offering his best modern read of Berry’s instrumental innovation on the I-IV-V progression. But the real highlights here are the two originals that open the set. “I’ve Longed for Christmas” is a bona fide new seasonal tune with its warmth, soulful wah-wah guitar, and laid-back drum kit shuffling around a slippery groove. The brothers sing unfettered joyful harmonies about giving, peace, love, and joy — and the celebration of Christ’s birth. “She’ll Be My Everything for Christmas” is inspired by Fats Domino’s New Orleans brand of rhythm & blues with loose strolls up and down the keyboard and his celebration of love between two people. The relaxed, back to basics approach works well. So if you’re looking for something else to put in your holiday selection, Christmas Spirit is an excellent bet , not only to inspire cheer in yourself, but to delight your guests as well. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi |
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Click!: Fun with Photography; Book and Kit $3.99 Used – Includes a bright blue, 35mm reusable camera with automatic focus; a 4 x 6 photo album with 12 sleeves; a magnetic photo frame; and a double frame for 8 x 10 pictures. |
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Decade of Aggression: Live $15.99 Decade of Aggression is Slayer’s live double disc. It was recorded in 1990 and 1991, with mobile units in Lakeland, FL, at Wembley Arena in London, and in San Bernardino. A live set from this band is risky business because it’s Slayer live that gained an international reputation for taking on all comers and ripping them to shreds on a stage. The fear is simply that the audio recording alone — without the subsequent live DVDs they’ve issued — won’t capture the sheer overblown intensity of the unit in a concert setting. The bad news is that it doesn’t; the good news is that it comes a lot closer than one might imagine before hearing it. It’s a double live album that approaches the league of Ted Nugent’s Double Live Gonzo!, the Who’s Live at Leeds, and the Allman Brothers’ At Fillmore East when it comes to representing a band perfectly. This is the original incarnation of Slayer with blastbeat progenitor Dave Lombardo beating hell out of the drum kit, guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, and vocalist/bassist Tom Araya. They run through the material on virtually all of their studio albums to that point, going all the way back to 1983′s Show No Mercy with the tracks “The Anti-Christ” and “Black Magic.” While it’s true that the majority of the tunes here come from South of Heaven, Reign in Blood, and Seasons in the Abyss, that’s as it should be, reflecting live the band’s compositional and overdriven blend of thrash, hardcore, and classic death metal. Producer Rick Rubin stays out of the way; his production seems to be in terms of shaping the live sound to make it sound like this is all one gig. It’s exhilarating (“South of Heaven”) and exhausting (“Dead Skin Mask”), and by the time they get to “Angel of Death” closing the first disc, most listeners will be drained. That said, disc two is just as furious, with classic Slayer performances of “Born of Fire,” “Spirit in Black,” and the closer, “Chemical Warfare.” Decade of Aggression is a record for … |
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Family History Kit $13.17 Used – Step back in time to investigate your family history. Then create a beautiful scrapbook you’ll want to share for generations to come. This kit contains everything you need to become a Family History Investigator, including a family tree poster to decorate your bedroom wall, cool investigator handbook, CD-Rom packed with clip art (so you can create replicas of family documents), family album, stickers, envelopes for storing keepsakes, mini-book and memory notes. Find out where your family |
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Heritage [Special Edition] $21.98 Heritage, Opeth’s tenth studio offering, finds the Swedish band abandoning death metal: no growled vocals, no blistering fast power riffs, no blastbeats. Mixed by Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson) and engineered by Janne Hansson, Heritage is easily Opeth’s most musically adventurous — and indulgent — recording. Written primarily by vocalist/guitarist Mikael ? kerfeldt, these ten songs are drenched in instrumental interludes, knotty key and chord changes, shifting time signatures, clean vocals, and a keyboard-heavy instrumentation that includes Mellotrons, Rhodes pianos, and Hammond organs — ironic since keyboardist Per Wiberg left the band after Heritage was completed. Opening with the title track, a haunting solo piano instrumental, it careens into the explosive “The Devil’s Orchard,” with spectacular, arpeggiatic guitar work by Fredrik ? kesson and matching drums by Martin Axenrot. With a huge, swirling B-3 in the backdrop, it melds progressive metal to prog rock, with ? kerfeldt’s clear, clean singing. “I Feel the Dark” marries ? kerfeldt’s classical guitar to piano, flute, a droning Martin Mendez bassline, and double-timed, quietly tense drum kit work. “Slither” sounds like Mot? rhead meeting early-’70s Deep Purple. “Nepenthe” begins as a ballad but shifts toward jazz-rock in the instrumental break before finding its way back to a middle ground with sparse instrumentation and taut dynamics. “Haxprogress” draws real inspiration from King Crimson; Mellotrons and nylon-string guitars give way to ? kerfeldt’s crooning, thundering basslines, and syncopated drums. At eight-and-a-half minutes, “Famine” is the album’s most abstract cut, with guest Alex Acu? a adding Latin percussion to the mix, creating spaciousness in a long intro before giving way to colliding prog rock at the seam where King Crimson’s “Larks Tongues in Aspic, Pt. 2″ meets Jethro Tull’s “Thick as a Brick.” “The Lines in My Hand” is the set’s most aggressive cut, with… |
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Kit Chan $48.8 New – High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Kit Chan is a Singaporean singer. She was a member of the pioneer generation of Singaporean singers to successfully break into the international market, marked in particular by her breakthrough into the competitive and highly critical Taiwanese market with her hit Mandarin album Heartache in 1994. She had released an EP “Don’t Spoil the Harmony” the previous year. She is also the ambassador to the Christian relief organization, “World Vision.” Fl |
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Kodak Photo Paper Kit ( 50 Pack ) $20.24 The new G series Kodak Photo Paper Kit, designed exclusively for the Kodak EasyShare G600 Printer Dock, enables you to make borderless 4 x 6-inch (10 x 15-centimeter) prints and you will have Kodak quality pictures that last with Xtralife Lamination. Kodak Xtralife Lamination provides a special protective coating to produce worry-free pictures that are waterproof, stain-resistant and last a lifetime under typical album display. The quantity of photo paper exactly matches the Color cartridge so you are sure to get the exact number of prints every time.-Prints are waterproof, stain resistant and last a lifetime-Quantity of photo paper matches the color cartridge for exact number of prints |
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Making the Most of Marriage-Leader Kit (Making the Most of Marriage) $171.96 Used – Seven 25-minute lessons on two VHS tapes DVD of entire series Audio CD Kit of entire series 32-page Making the Most of Marriage Workbook Facilitator guide Promotional kit of color posters, ads and clipart Instruction guide for planning and implementing Beautiful vinyl album 10-minute PREVIEW of all seven lessons |
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My Christmas Album $19.99 New – A great stocking stuffer for junior shutterbugs, this kit features a scrapbook, a reusable flash camera, and glue stick for preserving their favorite Christmas memories. Consumable. |
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Nothing But a Burning Light $16.98 Nothing but a Burning Light, Bruce Cockburn’s first release for Columbia, teams him with producer T-Bone Burnett, whose singer/songwriter background, and spiritual leanings, seemed to be a perfect match. Throughout, Burnett’s production is understated, allowing Cockburn’s voice, guitar, and songs to lead the way over a solid foundation of bass, drums, and tasteful organ by Booker T. Jones. This sort of sympathetic production brings out the best in Cockburn and his material, which is consistently strong. Songs such as “Kit Carson,” “Mighty Trucks of Midnight,” and “Indian Wars” continue the weightier concerns of his work of the past decade, but the majority of the record takes on a more personal, introspective tone. “One of the Best Ones” and “Great Big Love” are winning affirmations of love and life, while the retelling of the nativity, “Cry of a Tiny Babe,” is as beautiful and moving a contemporary Christmas song as you’re likely to hear. Cockburn also decides to include a rare cover, his excellent reading of the Blind Willie Johnson gospel-blues “Soul of a Man,” which fits nicely in the whole of the album. Though it may lack the immediate power, Nothing but a Burning Light is Bruce Cockburn’s best since his 1984 release Stealing Fire. Jackson Browne and Sam Phillips guest on backing vocals. ~ Brett Hartenbach, Rovi |
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Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars $7.99 Is she a folksinger with a rock aesthetic or a rock singer with folk leanings? It’s hard to tell on Jennifer O’Connor’s album Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars. The title is certainly folky, but O’Connor doesn’t always stick to the “girl with a guitar” formula that might push it firmly into that genre. There are usually a bass and drum kit backing her up, as well as an electric guitar (though it’s played more like an acoustic, with picked and lightly strummed chords), and while O’Connor does like pretty melodies, she stays away from the super-earthy major-key ones that dominate much of folk, choosing something closer to what Liz Phair, rather than Patty Griffin, might do. Her songs are all about love in one of its — usually dysfunctional — forms, speaking in the first person to an unnamed second person (the exception being “Sister,” in which the title character is addressed), ranging from the apology in “I Was So Wrong” to the heartache in “Dirty City Blues” to the sweet, sentimental “Tonight We Ride.” The latter, which employs a quiet simplicity to convey its message, has a familiar, comforting sound, like something that might have been sung around campfires of years past, but pieces like “Exeter, Rhode Island” and “Bullshit Maze,” full of power chords and choruses made for bio-diesel car-singing, clearly show O’Connor’s debt to the rock stars who came before her. Though the constant theme of broken and mended hearts can get rather predictable, her lyrics and voice are unaffected and straightforward, making everything on Over the Mountain seem honest and accessible and kind of fun, too. Which means that being able to classify O’Connor isn’t really that important; what’s more important is her music, and that, with its very human subject matter, speaks for itself. ~ Marisa Brown, Rovi |
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Pigments Drift Down to the Brook $13.98 Like many bands who release an impressive debut album from seemingly out of nowhere, Tokyo’s 4 Bonjour’s Parties have been honing their electronically enhanced indie pop symphonies for some time, with self-released EPs and appearances on compilations. Though many of the songs on Pigments Drift Down to the Brook appeared on 4 Bonjour’s Parties’ earlier releases, that doesn’t make them any less striking. Tracks such as “Crimson Sky After the Sunset” have names that feel more like descriptions of places or states of being than traditional song titles, and conjure vivid images: “Magpie Will Peck a Hole in My Plaster Cast”‘s densely packed brass, guitars, xylophones, and laptop beats give the impression of being immersed in a forest of sound, and its winding flute solo flies above, aptly enough, like a bird. “Ksnana” turns that forest into a psychedelic jungle, drifting into trippier, echoing backward rhythms and bird songs. 4 Bonjour’s Parties are seven members strong, and they sound like it, especially on sunny, sprawling songs like “Your Chill Long Hands” and “Amalthea.” However, the band deploys its sonic arsenal carefully and artfully, as on “Satellite,” which moves from a lighthearted melody to a darker, bass-driven sound and switches from fragile, programmed rhythms to the satisfying crash of a live drum kit at just the right moment. Not only do 4 Bonjour’s Parties rock out more than many similar-minded acts, they also know when to pull back: “Il Cortile Grigio”‘s bittersweet piano, flute, and whispery vocals make it a surprisingly sultry ballad, while the vulnerable “Nostalgic Was Broken to Pieces” sounds a little bit like a poppier, less hyperactive Cornelius song. Even Pigments Drift Down to the Brook’s most delicate moments still have vigor, though, and this is reflected in the album as a whole — no matter how whimsical or sprawling the songs get, 4 Bonjour’s Parties always feel in control of the journey on which they take their listeners. … |
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Press Kit $92.59 New – High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional use. They are often distributed to announce a release or for a news conference. Press kits are a common promotional tool used by musicians when launching a new album. An electronic press kit (EPK) is a press kit equivalent in electronic form |
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Press Kit $60.36 Used – High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional use. They are often distributed to announce a release or for a news conference. Press kits are a common promotional tool used by musicians when launching a new album. An electronic press kit (EPK) is a press kit equivalent in electronic for |
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Pursuit of Honor $13.98 Michigan natives Battlecross celebrated their signing to Metal Blade by re-recording the majority of their self-financed debut album, Push Pull Destroy, along with some newly penned material, then renaming the whole shebang Pursuit of Honor for good measure. Thus, it’s pretty much on a clean slate that the original album’s title track establishes the template of what’s in store — this being a steady diet of melodic death/thrash nuggets delivered with a speed and intensity rarely heard since the Crown’s Crowned in Terror heyday. And yet despite the catchy melodies clinging for dear life onto the music’s frantic framework, it’s oftentimes the standout bass playing of one Don Slater that steals the show on the songs named above, as well as subsequent major rager “Man of Stone,” and others. In its absence (and you have to give Battlecross credit for not overdoing a good thing), additional songs like “Deception,” “Breaking You,” and “Leech” start fading into the woodwork somewhat? albeit the woodwork of a house collapsing around your ears, keeping things exciting. Also, one should not overlook the efforts of drummer Mike Kreger, who enthusiastically wrecks his kit while guitarists Tony Asta and Hiran Deraniyagala aggressively duel each other to the death (spectacularly so on “Misery”) and vocalist Kyle Gunther spits out lyrics in multiple varieties of croaks, roars, and screeches. So even though there’s still work to be done in years to come, all of these traits at least ensure that there’ll never be a dull moment so long as Battlecross are rocking this kegger. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi |
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Question and Answer $12.99 Here you have three absolutely breathtaking jazz performers locked into a studio for a day or so. From this combination of guitar, standup bass, and acoustic drum kit, you’ve got nine tracks of sheer jazz joy — three guys just blowing for the hell of it, recorded on the fly. There’s a strong sense here that engineer Rob Eaton probably tried to get everybody properly set up and balanced before the session started and just gave up when everybody started playing. It’s a delight to hear, because everything has gone into the performance, which is spontaneous and graceful — no going back for the next take here. Pat Metheny’s playing is definitely modernistic, highly fluid, almost liquid lightning — no effects boxes here, though (he does play Synclavier on the last track, “Three Flights Up,” but it’s great anyway). Roy Haynes, likewise, should be heard by anybody wanting to get behind the traps: this man has a sense of humor, and he’s a blur of motion. Dave Holland, on bass, is no slouch either, keeping pace with Metheny’s guitar lines, and balancing up against Haynes’ drums. Together, these guys are incredible. They get into both original material and standards (including an ecstatic version of Miles Davis’ “Solar” that opens the album) with the same energy and feel for what they’re doing. This is an album with serious crossover potential, and it should definitely be heard by anyone serious about music in any way. ~ Steven McDonald, Rovi |
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Reverse Thread $17.98 Regina Carter has been a lot of places since we last heard from her on I’ll Be Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey, a standards album. That album was released in June; in September she won a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (aka “the genius grant”). Nearly four years later, she returns with the startling Reverse Thread, a collection based mainly on African songs both modern and traditional, and field recordings with some modern material thrown in. “Hiwumbe Awumba,” the opener, is an Abayudaya piece; it is one of three tracks here based on field recordings from Ugandan Jews. While its melody remains intact, Xavier Davis’ arrangement creates a contemporary reading utilizing guitar (Adam Rogers), violin, acoustic bass (Chris Lightcap), accordion (Will Holshouser), and drums (Alvester Garnett). “Full Time” is based on a celebratory folk song written by electric bassist Mamadou Ba that features Yacouba Sissoko on the kora; the interplay between Carter’s violin and Sissoko’s kora is lively and dance-like, and Ba’s bassline walks the line between funk and reggae. “Un Aguinaldo Pa Regina” was composed by Latin jazz master Papo Vasquez and courses an easy line through lithe, balladic Afro-Cuban son, the tango, and a kiss of flamenco. Carter’s only original composition is the gorgeous “Day Dreaming on the Niger,” where her violin, Gary Versace’s accordion, Ba’s electric bass, and Garnett’s drums move through an incantatory vamp and groove before she and Versace solo, complementing one another from opposite ends of the skeletal melody. Boubacar Traor? ‘s “Kanou” creates a polyrhythmic base on hand and kit drums, and a melodic base for the interplay between Sissoko, Carter, and Holshouser. It is not only engaging, it is almost breathtaking. The set closes with another of Piece’s tunes entitled “Mwana Talitambula,” and arranged by Lightcap. Holshouser’s accordion states a spare, haunting melody, responded to and elaborated upon by Carter, while the rhythms of th… |
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Richard Butler $17.98 Coming nearly two decades after the Psychedelic Furs began their long, slow slide into irrelevance, Richard Butler’s first solo album starts very promisingly with the haunting folk-tronica of “Good Days, Bad Days,” which reveals an unexpected delicacy in Butler’s vocals. Singing in falsetto instead of his usual Bowie-derived croon, Butler sounds newly energized in a way the Furs’ latter-day records never did, although the mixture of a full string section and a closing Hendrixian guitar solo recall the epic sweep of their best work. The rest of the album continues in the same intimate style, with “California” borrowing bits from William Blake’s “Jerusalem” in the course of its emotional crescendo, and “Breathe” going for a ghostly space rock feel under Butler’s unusually out-front vocals. There’s a mournful quality to this set of songs — the press kit mentions both the death of Butler’s father and the breakup of his marriage — but Butler and collaborator Jon Carin, who both produces and plays most of the instruments, keep things on the right side of depressive for the most part, and overall, Richard Butler is a mature, thoughtful comeback. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi |
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Sam Cooke Albums: Ain’t That Good News, Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, Portrait of a Legend: 1951-1964, Night Beat $12.84 Used – Commentary (music and lyrics not included). Chapters: Ain’t That Good News, Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, Portrait of a Legend: 1951-1964, Night Beat, the Best of Sam Cooke, the Man and His Music, Encore, Hit Kit. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 30. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher’s book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Ain’t That Good News is a studio album by American R&B |
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Scrapbook in a Box: Friendship: Quick & Easy Memory Book Kit $28.66 New – Over 150 pieces, including: Padded scrapbook album 48-page fully illustrated instruction book 17 page layouts Archival-quality scrapbook pages High-quality sticker sheet Perforated tags 2 yards of assorted colored ribbons Buttons and brads Keepsake gift box |
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Sphere $16.98 Merzbow in the 21st century has been an interesting ride for listeners. He conquered noise mountain, retired the analog gear (mostly) in favor of a laptop computer, and continued to expand the once reductive palette of sound at his disposal. In the analog era it was just electronics (sometimes identified as synthesizer or theremin and sometimes not) along with tapes or metal objects, but more and more Masami Akita has gone out of his way to identify his sources in this phase of his Merzbow work. Sphere credits computer and percussion, and there is some electric bass here as well. There are four tracks, with the title track separated into three parts. The album opener, “Sphere, Pt.1,” starts with drums that sound closer to traditional Japanese drums than the drum kit employed on 2001′s Doors Open at 8 AM. A wash of steady midrange static soon enters the picture and the drums become the foil of Merzbow’s filtering. Pitch and tempo fluctuate wildly for a while, with a single low drum slowly pulsing in the background. Eventually, the chaotic modulations achieve a rhythmic flow and lock in with the slow beat of the lone drum, creating the hypnotic center that closes the piece. The transformation sneaks up and the track is long gone before listeners can realize just how subtle and clever the whole thing was. The other two parts of “Sphere” follow their own shadowy logic, using the same sources as “Pt. 1″ and introducing some new ones, like the gritty low-end bass that starts “Pt. 2,” to different ends. At just under half an hour, the last piece on the disc, “Untitled for Vasteras,” would have stood as a release on its own in the old days of ten to 30 Merzbow releases a month. “Vasteras” displays the same mastery of sonics as the three parts of “Sphere” but without the identifiable acoustic instrument markers; it is therefore more than just length that makes this track feel so different from the rest of the album. While it doesn’t necessarily jibe with the… |
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The Clarke/Duke Project, Vols. 1-3 $22.99 In 2010, Great Britain’s BGO imprint began re-releasing Stanley Clarke’s CBS recordings, which include the three records he made with George Duke as the Clarke/Duke Project between 1981 and 1990. To listen to this double disc is to hear an aural portrait of the fusion scene as it really met and and melded with adult contemporary and ’80s R&B. The first album issued in 1981 included drummer John Robinson (Rufus) and some guests, and both men on vocals. The first set netted them a crossover hit single in “Sweet Baby,” an unlikely midtempo groove ballad. (It hit number 19 on the pop chart and number six at R&B.) The sheer imagination on the first Clarke/Duke Project record is startling in its reach, from the accessible melodic fusion of its opener “Wild Dog” and its funk cover of “Louie Louie” (that, criminally, never made it onto any of the various-artists collections that showcased the legendary Richard Berry tune), to the P-Funk-drenched “Let’s Get Started” to the ’80s soul ballad “Touch and Go.” The second C/DP set was issued in 1983, and from its opener, “Put It on the Line,” it showcased the degree that drum machines began to dominate rock, soul, and pop. The trio was also joined by renowned session players and guest vocalists Jeffrey Osborne and Howard Hewett (Shalamar), and Lynn Davis. It reflected more than anything the kinds of productions Duke was doing for other artists at the time. It also reveals the attempts at pop songwriting both men were doing at the time — clearly they enjoyed being on the charts. That said, it’s musically consistent despite its production excesses. The third C/DP album released in 1990 was as slick as its predecessor. Dennis Chambers replaced Robinson on the drum kit, and Osborne and Hewett returned from the previous outing. Rappers Above the Law appear on “No Place to Hide,” which also features a stellar sung lead vocal from a teenage Rahsaan Patterson. Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson make guest appearances on “… |
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The Essential Pansy Division $17.98 To commemorate their 15th year together as a band, queercore rockers Pansy Division issued their eighth full-length album, The Essential Pansy Division. As with any greatest-hits type of compilation, there will no doubt be some fan debate as to which songs should or should not have been included. Though with 30 audio tracks (and 15 additional video and live clips included on an accompanying DVD), the band has put together a rather representative look of its career onto one disc. Drawing pretty equally from all of their albums, though not as much from the B-sides- and singles-oriented Pile Up and More Lovin’ from Our Oven, Pansy Division showcase exactly what they’re good at — playing tight, catchy pop-punk songs with clever lyrics that ooze with upfront and hilarious sexual references. Straightforward songs like “I’m Gonna Be a Slut,” “Fem in a Black Leather Jacket,” “Groovy Underwear,” “Anthem,” and “Negative Queen” showcase the band’s humor, while “I Really Wanted You,” “Deep Water,” and “Sweet Insecurity” delve deeper into the more serious side of the band’s persona. Covers are noticeably missing (along with some great songs like the entertaining “Fluffy City”), but all in all, The Essential Pansy Division is a nice recap for longtime fans who still want to add to their collection, but more so as the starter kit for those just discovering these witty and energetic punks. ~ Corey Apar, Rovi |
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The Old Kit Bag [Bonus CD] $16.98 Richard Thompson is the sort of artist destined to be a cherished cult item rather than a bona fide star, which at the dawn of the 21st century puts him in an uncomfortable place in the music industry — being able to reliably sell 100,000 copies of an album makes you too small for a major label, no matter how long they’ve kept you on the roster. In 2000, after a dozen years with Capitol Records, Thompson’s contract was not renewed, and 2003′s The Old Kit Bag found him recording for an independent for the first time since 1985. Creatively, this actually turns out to be a good thing; after the periodically excessive and self-conscious production Mitchell Froom imposed on nearly all of Thompson’s releases for Capitol, 1999′s Mock Tudor, (produced by Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf) found Thompson going for a leaner and liver sound, and with John Chelew at the controls, Thompson follows suit on The Old Kit Bag. Cut in a straightforward and stripped-down manner, with just bassist Danny Thompson, drummer Michael Jerome, and harmony vocalist Judith Owen along for company, The Old Kit Bag captures Thompson in spare but sympathetic circumstances; the performances are strong and confident, without a note or gesture wasted, and Thompson’s interplay with his rhythm section is nothing short of superb. While Thompson eases back on the “wow, listen to that!” solos on The Old Kit Bag, his playing is fluid and superbly tasteful throughout, and his subtle overdubs show he’s as good an accompanist as a bandleader. And Thompson’s songwriting chops are still in superb shape; “A Love You Can’t Survive” and “I’ll Tag Along” are further meditations on Thompson’s favorite theme — love and life gone wrong — and “Outside of the Inside” (which Thompson introduced on tour as “a song about how the Taliban see the West”) is a chilling look inside a man blinded by his culture and his faith (and a bit of a surprise coming from a devout Muslim). The Old Kit Bag is Richard Thompson’s lea… |
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The Trouble With Humans $16.98 Making music is an unpredictable business. Songwriter Chip Taylor and singer Carrie Rodriguez liked the way their voices sounded together, so they decided to record Let’s Leave This Town together in 2002. While the album wasn’t bad, it failed to convey that magic ingredient that takes the music to the next level. The Trouble With Humans is a much more natural effort, with a lovely bare-bones production and relaxed performances by the duo. As a matter of fact, The Trouble With Humans sounds a lot like a demo that couldn’t be improved on. On the title track and “I Need a Wall,” both singers take things real slow, softly holding forth to the sounds of an acoustic guitar, quiet drum kit, and lonesome steel. Rodriguez’s vocals are much more impressive here than on the duo’s debut. Her off the cuff downhearted woman gasp hits the listener deep in the gut on “Dirty Little Texas Story,” and reminds one of Lucinda Williams. Taylor’s lyrics are sex-obsessed here as always, but they nonetheless sound right when he and Rodriguez harmonize together, as though the words somehow derive from their life experiences. “We Come Up Shining” is the bonus track and serves as a pleasing closer to a finely crafted album. The Trouble With Humans will convince anyone who wasn’t quite sure about Let’s Leave This Town to give Rodriguez and Taylor another listen. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford Jr., Rovi |
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Third Day – Offerings $2.57 Used – Offerings was named the 2001 Praise and Worship Album of the Year. 11 songs, including: Agnus Dei/Worthy * All the Heavens * Consuming Fire * King of Glory * Love Song * My Hope Is You * Saved * These Thousand Hills * Thief * You’re Everywhere * Your Love Oh Lord. More than a folio, this is a worship resource kit! Includes: guitar/vocal sheet music, guitar sheets, plus transparency and Power Point masters on CD-ROM. |
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U.s. Stamp Collecting Kit for Beginners $14.98 New – Everything a beginner needs: an illustrated album with room for over 1,000 stamps; a guide booklet; a catalog listing hundreds of historic stamps; magnifying glass; adhesive hinges; 25 real U.S. postage stamps |
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U.s. Stamp Collecting Kit for Beginners $13.98 Used – Everything a beginner needs: an illustrated album with room for over 1,000 stamps; a guide booklet; a catalog listing hundreds of historic stamps; magnifying glass; adhesive hinges; 25 real U.S. postage stamps |
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USED: At Action Park $7.99 Shellac’s first three singles (especially Uranus) suggested that Steve Albini was moving into more subtle and dynamic territory after the musical and lyrical brutality of Big Black and Rapeman, but the group’s first full-length album, At Action Park, proved that the misanthropic noisemaker responsible for Atomizer and Songs About Fucking was still very much present. “My Black Ass,” “Dog and Pony Show,” and “Il Porno Star” revealed Albini was still obsessed with sex, violence, and anti-social behavior, and the hard, metallic guitar figures of “Pull the Cup” and “Song of the Minerals” were as uncompromisingly abrasive as ever, with Albini’s trademark engineering (dry, stark, and crystal clear) making the rough edges all the more punishing. But At Action Park does reveal a band more musically intelligent and imaginative than Big Black, and while it hits a good bit harder than the 7″ers that preceded it, Shellac is still significantly more concerned with the space between the notes than any of Albini’s earlier projects. Just as importantly, in drummer Todd Trainer and bassist Bob Weston, Albini had found a human rhythm section that lived up to his exacting specifications, with Weston adding both melody and force with his thick, meaty tone and Trainer displaying both precision and an expressive abstraction behind the kit. And while Shellac’s idea of a good time would still make most folks uncomfortable, there’s a dark but genuine humor to a few of the cuts (especially “Il Porno Star”), and “Song of the Minerals” suggests Albini may actually feel compassion for one of his protagonists. At Action Park made it clear that Steve Albini was slowly but surely maturing, while stubbornly refusing to compromise in the process. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi |
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USED: Blueprint $7.98 While Natalie MacMaster has carved out her reputation mining Cape Breton fiddle traditions, Blueprint finds her combining her forceful style with contemporary acoustic music. This merging of genres takes place on a couple of levels. “A Blast,” “Appropriate Dipstick,” and “Jig Party” stick close to traditional themes, even though the presence of a full band drives these pieces forward at a propulsive rate. “Eternal Friendship” is quieter, augmenting MacMaster’s melodic fiddle with piano and dobro. Tradition, however, gets pretty much tossed out the window on “A Touch of the Master’s Hand,” with John Cowan wailing over a full drum kit, thumping bass, and fiery fiddle. While no other cut pushes the sonic boundaries this far, MacMaster and her bandmates do delve into new acoustic music on “Gravel Shore,” classical on “Devil and the Dirk,” and progressive Celtic on “Minnie & Alex’s Reel.” It’s easy to credit the high-profile guest list — B? la Fleck, Jerry Douglas, and Victor Wooten — for the project’s success, but that’s only partly true. Too many instrumental albums begin sounding the same by the third cut, and quickly fade into the background. MacMaster finds her way around this conundrum by mixing eclectic material, inspired musicianship, and her commanding style to make Blueprint an exciting and fun album. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford Jr., Rovi |
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USED: Christmas Spirit $7.99 It has become patently obvious that San Angelo, Texas’ Los Lonely Boys have arrived at their true mainstream place in the musical order when they can release a Christmas album on Sony. And what’s not to like? Everything the brothers Garza play is infected with pure bluesy groove and roots rock verve. The ten songs here are Garza-ized takes on Christmas standards: “Jingle Bells,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Away in a Manger,” “Feliz Navidad,” “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” “Carol of the Bells,” and “Silent Night.” The latter two are fine instrumentals. “Carol of the Bells,’” especially, is a deeply satisfying guitar and percussion workout that embraces not only hard rhumba drumming, but funk, Mexican folk music, and screaming blues-rock. Hopefully, their version of “Run Rudolph Run” will make Chuck Berry proud, with its rumbling upright piano and bassline, and Henry’s guitar offering his best modern read of Berry’s instrumental innovation on the I-IV-V progression. But the real highlights here are the two originals that open the set. “I’ve Longed for Christmas” is a bona fide new seasonal tune with its warmth, soulful wah-wah guitar, and laid-back drum kit shuffling around a slippery groove. The brothers sing unfettered joyful harmonies about giving, peace, love, and joy — and the celebration of Christ’s birth. “She’ll Be My Everything for Christmas” is inspired by Fats Domino’s New Orleans brand of rhythm & blues with loose strolls up and down the keyboard and his celebration of love between two people. The relaxed, back to basics approach works well. So if you’re looking for something else to put in your holiday selection, Christmas Spirit is an excellent bet , not only to inspire cheer in yourself, but to delight your guests as well. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi |
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USED: Dog Disco $7.98 Cruelly overlooked but consistently great over a 15-year tenure, Sunderland, England’s Leatherface has never veered from its punk ethic. Notorious for spewing out stellar albums like 1989′s Cherry Knowle, 1990′s Fill Your Boots, 1991′s Mush, and 1993′s Do the Right Thing, plus solid efforts recorded after a five-year hiatus (like 2000′s Horsebox), the group delivers what may be the finest, most convincing album of its career. Helmed by Frankie N.W. Stubbs, Dog Disco is a ferocious disc, with David Lee’s throbbing basslines and drummer Andrew Laing’s firecracker kit work giving balance to working-class anthems like “Hoodlum” and “Heart,” where Stubbs’ gruff pipes and fiery riffs are in top form. Further brilliance like “Bakelite” and “Plastic Surgery,” where the aging frontman ponders the meaningless aspects of life, make this an instant classic. No offense meant, but if you haven’t heard Leatherface, you really only know a portion of the punk rock story. Start here and work backward. The rewards are infinite. ~ John D. Luerssen, Rovi |
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USED: Emphasis! On Parenthesis $9.98 Drummer, composer and bandleader Stanton Moore has a well-deserved reputation for diversity. Besides being a founding member of New Orleans powerhouse jazz-funkmaster Galactic, he’s played with Corrosion of Conformity, jammed with other traditional New Orleans R&B and jazz groups, and issued three fine albums as leader. On Emphasis! On Parenthesis, Moore is playing with guitarist Will Bernard and keyboardist Robert Walter, a pair of top-flight collaborators he’s worked with in various settings in the past — in particular on his third album simply called III. Of course the trio isn’t new to Moore by any stretch. He also records with Skerik and guitarist Charlie Hunter under the Garage a Trois moniker. The album’s 11 tracks all contain titles with parenthetical statements — it is an acknowledgement of the gentle ribbing from his Galactic bandmates that he slips parentheses into the name of almost every tune he writes. In some ways the music reflects this; each of these tunes has extensions in it, where the riff or groove starts and gets grafted onto continually with other musical statements, transforming the original vamp, groove, or riff into a more complex and varied composition. This is possible because of the incredible balance in this group. The trio setting doesn’t provide the same problems as a quartet or quintet, but it also doesn’t provide the safety net. Certainly Moore’s breakbeat crazy, full-force kit work is up in the mix as it should be for such a rhythmically complex groove record. He’s certainly the bandleader and he composed the tunes, but this isn’t a showcase for his drumming. Bernard and Walter are stellar partners. Bernard is one of the most well-respected guitarists among musicians, but he’s a low profile cat who is almost unknown to all guitar freaks. Walter’s profile is lower still. It makes them perfect for a date like this where everybody shines all the time.Take the funky New Orleans strut-funk that is “(Late Night at The) Maple Leaf.”… |
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USED: FCS NORTH 1100 $7.99 FCS North’s debut LP on Pacifico Recordings shows an underground instrumental rock/punk-based band moving into jazz while experimenting with electronic elements. The final result sounds something like a peculiar mix of the Sea and Cake, Medeski, Martin & Wood, and Brian Eno. The opening track consists of two and a half minutes of ocean sounds, from there the hour-long album meanders through six additional instrumental tunes. The low-key, mellow instrumentation is comprised of keys, synth, bass, samples/loops, and a drum kit, which more often than not serves as the lead instrument. Drummer Andy Sells churns out jazz, dance, and hyper-jungle beats as it suits his fancy. This is an ambitious album by fairly young musicians and results are mixed. While the musicianship is strong by rock standards, it’s a bit loose when measured on the jazz-meter — a problem which post-punk groups can stumble into in their enthusiastic quest to push the boundaries. Tunes sometimes seem a bit under-developed and over-extended (ranging six to 13 minutes in length). While the group’s album work isn’t quite there yet, they definitely show promise with their gutsy experimentation. ~ Solar Marquardt, All Music Guide |
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USED: Fleshwounds $12.99 Skunk Anansie was never genre-bound. Freely incorporating towering metal mayhem, electronic darkness, elegiac, fluttery soul, and the barely contained force of vocalist Skin’s presence and politics, the band was forever flailing against the cage of convention. Skunk Anansie dissolved in 2001, and Skin took a hiatus from music. She has reemerged with Fleshwounds, an album of broken- (and open-) hearted love songs that, even if it doesn’t coil and snap like the most caustic of Skunk’s material, still crackles smartly with Skin’s copyrighted singularity. Drawing vocally on the vulnerability in Skunk Anansie’s earthier moments (“Infidelity [Only You]” or “Brazen [Weep],” both from 1996′s Stoosh), Skin here turns in a startlingly honest performance that suggests Roberta Flack fronting an urbanized version of Radiohead. “Listen to Yourself” and “Faithfulness” both run on a claustrophobic groove built from junkyard guitar and skittering anti-beats, while Skin sings beautifully over the top about issues not political, but intensely personal. It’s obvious that a relationship came and went during her post-Skunk break; Fleshwounds is written largely in the first person, and lines like “Love abuse is just a test/Then sad old love songs/Stick the knife in/Deeper everyday” don’t necessarily suggest a happy ending. But they’re cathartic, and delivered the way one would confide in a close friend, making the album not so dark as it might have been. (Ben Christophers’ warm piano flirting with the beats of tracks like “You’ve Made Your Bed” helps humanize, too.) If there’s a knock on Fleshwounds, it’s this constant convergence of the organic and electronic — some listeners might be put off by producer David Korsten’s preference for squelch and laptop squiggles, sounds that maybe aren’t as original as they once were. At the same time, “Don’t Let Me Down” features gentle acoustic guitar figures, an understated trap kit, and one of Skin’s most delicately raw vocal perfo… |
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USED: GATHERING,THE 699 $7.99 Now here is an aptly named title for the veteran thrash band, as this is truly the definitive “gathering” of musicians for Testament’s lineup. Joining the ranks of vocalist Chuck Billy and guitarist Eric Peterson is guitarist aficionado James Murphy (Death, Cancer, Obituary), bassist Steve DiGiorgio (Death and Sadus), and the human drumming machine himself, Dave Lombardo (Slayer and Fantomas). Testament, for the first time in many a full moon, is a complete, well-oiled musical machine. Sounding tighter then the previous four releases combined, Testament has used Demonic as the foundation from which they will once again build their metal legacy. The riffs are faster, heavier, and tighter, while the drumming is simple, but at the same time extraordinary (would you expect anything less from Lombardo?). Billy is one of thrash metal’s most gifted vocalists. Continuing to expand upon his over the top performance from the last album, Billy demonstrates an aggressive versatility that is unheard of in this genre, as his voice fluctuates from angry to more angry to downright snarling. Demonic suffered because it lacked vision, however, The Gathering is pure focused aggression, which is why it is such a monumental release for Testament. Songs like “Eyes of Wrath,” “True Believer,” and “Careful What You Wish For” demonstrate a catchy, uncanny songwriting ability previously unseen in this band. While “Legions of the Dead” is bar none the heaviest song Testament has ever written. Nevertheless, it is “Riding the Snake” that takes the cake on this album. Here the entire band pulls out their finest arsenal. Lombardo pounds away at his kit with equal precision and intensity, while Murphy and Peterson’s guitar interplay is playful and masterful. The real gem is DiGiorgio’s four-stringed feats, which consist of a Tony Choy-esque solo that is nothing short of extraordinary. Testament will be unconquerable if they can maintain this lineup, but for the time being, The Gathe… |
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USED: Gathering [Bonus Track] $6.99 Now here is an aptly named title for the veteran thrash band, as this is truly the definitive “gathering” of musicians for Testament’s lineup. Joining the ranks of vocalist Chuck Billy and guitarist Eric Peterson is guitarist aficionado James Murphy (Death, Cancer, Obituary), bassist Steve DiGiorgio (Death and Sadus), and the human drumming machine himself, Dave Lombardo (Slayer and Fantomas). Testament, for the first time in many a full moon, is a complete, well-oiled musical machine. Sounding tighter then the previous four releases combined, Testament has used Demonic as the foundation from which they will once again build their metal legacy. The riffs are faster, heavier, and tighter, while the drumming is simple, but at the same time extraordinary (would you expect anything less from Lombardo?). Billy is one of thrash metal’s most gifted vocalists. Continuing to expand upon his over the top performance from the last album, Billy demonstrates an aggressive versatility that is unheard of in this genre, as his voice fluctuates from angry to more angry to downright snarling. Demonic suffered because it lacked vision, however, The Gathering is pure focused aggression, which is why it is such a monumental release for Testament. Songs like “Eyes of Wrath,” “True Believer,” and “Careful What You Wish For” demonstrate a catchy, uncanny songwriting ability previously unseen in this band. While “Legions of the Dead” is bar none the heaviest song Testament has ever written. Nevertheless, it is “Riding the Snake” that takes the cake on this album. Here the entire band pulls out their finest arsenal. Lombardo pounds away at his kit with equal precision and intensity, while Murphy and Peterson’s guitar interplay is playful and masterful. The real gem is DiGiorgio’s four-stringed feats, which consist of a Tony Choy-esque solo that is nothing short of extraordinary. Testament will be unconquerable if they can maintain this lineup, but for the time being, The Gathe… |
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USED: Golden Pollen $9.98 On 2004′s Apropa’t, Scott Herren (aka Prefuse 73) utilized the talents of Spanish singer Eva Puyuelo to guide the album’s soft, gentle, acoustic guitar-laden, electronica-tinted indie folk. On Golden Pollen, however, he chooses to rely on his own voice, and because of this, ends up with a much more intimate record. Not that Apropa’t was particularly distant, but because it’s now Herren singing his own compositions (for the most part — Swede Jos? Gonz? lez takes lead on the lovely “Estrellas de Dos Caras,” and other vocalists add bit parts throughout), there’s a personal attachment to the songs that comes through very clearly. In “Mi Hijo,” for example, Herren’s layered vocals play carefully but assuredly over the picked guitar and strings, flutes, vibes, winding themselves in unobtrusively and calmly before exiting, while “Paisaje” has an almost rustic old-world feel as it opens, horse hooves clanking on dirt roads, before the other instruments enter and fill out the track. Nothing is overstated, nothing is forceful; it’s in the subtlety that Herren’s true abilities lie. He doesn’t so much write melodies — preferring, in fact, drone-like phrases that move around only a few notes — as create atmospheres, rich and lush but with undercurrents of sadness and searching. “El Solitario,” aware of its own loneliness, incorporates woodwinds and percussive guitar, “Apnea Obstructiva” uses piano and strummed chords and short electric bursts to circle around the singer’s bittersweet voice like a warm, dusty night, while “Faltamas Palabras,” one of the few songs on the album to use an actual drum kit, has a kind of quiet confidence to it, even as it searches vainly for the right note, the right word, never quite ending where it wants to, but trying valiantly nonetheless. There’s a delicateness to Golden Pollen, in the double- and triple-tracked vocals, the soft instrumentation, but that doesn’t meant it’s an unsure or weak record; Herren is steady in hand and … |
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USED: Hidden City of Taurmond $7.98 Lightning Bolt continue on happily, but bassist Brian Gibson’s side project, Wizardzz, gives him a chance to show a different — slightly — take on things, with him switching to drums. Admittedly it would be wondrous to hear a total solo album of him presumably destroying a drum kit with precision, but this is a duo, and Wizardzz’s combination of Gibson and Rich Porter’s keyboards is as strikingly fun and overwhelming at its best as is Gibson’s more well-known group. “Sailship” feels like it should be either a video game fanfare or the music over the opening credits to some lost ’80s cop drama — very much compliments either way — with the fat tone of Porter’s work suggesting the bloated bizarreness of the late ’70s beaten into sleek shape, with the later “Chasing Our Shadows” being an equally strong complement. Porter elsewhere embraces playing that’s simultaneously classic rock and devolved techno — check out the central riff to “Glimpse of the Hidden City” for a perfect example — and at other points goes for full-on spaced-out Laserium rock that’s downright genius in its over the top but never not enjoyable combinations. “Jelipper-Lilly Field” goes for everything from Giorgio Moroder motorik-disco sparkles to random who-knows-what, while the twinkly “Diamond Mirror” should have soundtracked any random ’70s episode of Nova that talked about computers. Meanwhile, Gibson’s playing throughout is very much him — there’s a just-on-the-verge maniac edge that surfaces clearly at moments, such as in the conclusion to “Whispers from Wallface” or throughout “Ladydragons.” There are examples of perfect restraint throughout Hidden City of Taurmond, thus the organ-box pulse of “‘Do Come In!’,” though of course that’s immediately followed up by the glaze and annihilation of “Sea Battle at Orkusk,” which does its best to live up to the title throughout. A live cut, “Mimi Vivian Sunrise,” ends the album on a strong note, with echoed keyboard or tape mo… |
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USED: LULU 0991 $9.99 Trip Shakespeare unfortunately went unnoticed in their time and more unfortunately have remained in obscurity, but they were lucky enough to record in a time when major labels took greater chances with music and would more often indulge ambitious projects. Lulu is the group’s defining set, a result of inspired and talented musicians with an expense account to afford their aspirations and enough sense to exploit it appropriately. Why then did this record go through the ringer almost completely unnoticed and why did the reviews the album received tend to be overly critical? Part of the answer has to do with the timing of its release. 1991 was the great embrasure of the grunge movement when Nirvana’s Nevermind set the decade-long trend for the popular music charts. The release of a melodically complex and romantic pop masterpiece with lush vocals was entertained by neither the critics nor the masses, and no doubt A&M had lost much of the majesty they found in Trip Shakespeare when they were signed two years previous, which is a shame since Shakespeare’s leader, Matt Wilson, was at the height of his poetic optimism and the melodic hooks he wrote with his brother Dan Wilson are complex, plentiful, and on par with the classics of pop music’s innovation. John Munson’s bass playing is superb throughout, most notably in “Today You Move,” where his delicious and seductive work is given the spotlight of a tender solo complete with a second harmony bass track. Whether percussive, sweet, subtle, or upfront, Munson’s interplay with drummer Elaine Harris is a potent example of a confident and capable rhythm section propelled by Harris’ unique and bouncy drumming, the result of her abnormal technique of standing behind the drum kit and playing the bass drum with sticks instead of a foot pedal. She keeps rooted the endearing, snakey tendrils of music Matt and Dan Wilson generously dish out, but in fact, every player is an astute melodic force here and all have a keen sense of d… |
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USED: Legs to Make Us Longer $4.99 Legs to Make Us Longer is extraordinary guitarist Kaki King’s second album, and her first for Epic’s Red Ink imprint. As such, it reflects its major-label status in higher production values from cover art to exquisite sound. Produced by guitarist David Torn, the album also marks a step from King’s solo guitar debut. The stunning yet soulful technique King delivered on Everybody Loves You is everywhere present, from her thumb-over-the-top basslines and tapping harmonics to extended, two-handed melodies. But some other things are here as well — an upright bass here, a drum kit here, strings in various places — adding more dimension and texture to King’s trademark songwriting for solo guitar. The employment of drums and upright bass on “Ingots” is startling at first, but hardly distracting, as Torn’s nuance and tasteful production are never intrusive. The tune is one of the most lyrical in her repertoire and literally sings with its midrange harmonics and colorful chording. On “Doing the Wrong Thing,” skittering snares shimmer across the backdrop before engaging in a full-on counterpoint with King in a speedy yet wispy dance through motion and space, before cellist Erik Friedlander and violinist/violist Joyce Hammann slip into the mix at four minutes to take the tune out into the ether. King plays an electric guitar on “Can the Gwot Save Us?,” in a loping, pastoral country manner that for all its slowness and elegance is more mysterious than anything else here. The album’s final track, “My Insect Life,” also showcases her in the company of bass, cello, and drums, and has her singing in a small, twee voice that is all but covered by her overdubbed acoustic and electric guitar playing. But it is very effective as an instrument, faltering its way through the skeletal tune and sending the disc off in a near whisper to excellent effect after a coda following an extended space. Ultimately, this is a step forward. While Legs to Make Us Longer doesn’t contain the … |
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USED: Loose in the Air $7.98 With digital recording becoming ever cheaper and cleaner-sounding, it’s easy for a band to record itself in ProTools-perfect fidelity. However, it’s also all too easy to forget the importance of ambience and even outright noise when it comes to adding character and feeling to a recording; how hiss and distortion can imbue a sound with more mystery and depth than it might have had in “better” conditions. In the past, the Double has made remarkably forward-thinking use of lo-fi production, choosing to make it a part of their arrangements for its evocative qualities rather than having to use a cheap four-track or a boombox out of sheer necessity. The band’s second album, Palm Fronds, was a near-perfect balance of ominous, atmospheric noise and surprisingly intimate, even cuddly, melodies. On their third album (and Matador debut), Loose in the Air, the Double moves from their noisy past to classier, more polished digs, in much the same way that one of the band’s biggest fans, the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle, opted for a cleaner sound when he moved to 4AD. Unlike Darnielle’s music, more of the Double’s character gets lost in translation on Loose in the Air. The album’s production is far from glossy, but its cleanliness strips away more than a little of the mystery that used to surround the band’s songs. The return of percussionist/programmer Jeff McLeod to a standard drum kit — which he had to abandon during the making of Palm Fronds due to a hand injury — also gives the Double, and Loose in the Air, a more grounded, conventional indie rock sound than what their previous album suggested they might do next. Yet there are more than a few moments that show that the Double hasn’t totally sacrificed their unique approach. Loose in the Air begins with two of its strongest, and most different tracks: “Up All Night” builds a jazzy melody and ominous electric static into strangely slinky, noir noise-pop, while “Idiocy” tosses together playfully woozy organs, a Steph… |
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USED: Love Remembers $9.98 By the time George Benson released Love Remembers for Warner in 1993, he had basically accomplished everything a musician could ever dream of: he has played with a who’s who of jazz greats, scored big as both a jazz and an R&B artist, won numerous Grammys, and had his name become synonymous with two different radio formats: adult contemporary and smooth jazz. Long the bane of “serious” jazz critics, Benson didn’t even need to think about it: he made music that communicated to millions from one record to the next — the man had a single or album somewhere on the charts ubiquitously from 1975 until the turn of the 20th century! This 12-track set listed a number of fine producers on its roster including Bob James, Stewart Levine, Gary Henry, Jimmy George, and David Gamson, in addition to the man himself . The set begins with the laid-back funky soul of Brian McKnight’s “I’ll Be Good to You.” Benson’s voice and Wah Wah Watson’s guitar twin intro lines in trademark fashion before gliding right into the sensual lyric. The interesting thing here — besides the overwhelming infectiousness of the groove — is what a fine singer Benson had become by this time. With Ndugu Chandler on the kit, William Bryant on the Fender Rhodes, Bill Summers on percussion, and McKnight on backing vocals, the tune is unbeatable as an album opener — radio listeners thought so, too. “Got to Be There” is a romantic ballad with Benson in the guitar as well as vocal chairs, Melvin Davis holding down the big bank of keys, and Gary Henry handling the programmed loops and percussion samples. It’s elegant, graceful and drenched in atmosphere. The old CTI gang gets together again on the Bob James produced instrumental “My Heart Is Dancing” by Omar Hakim. James Benson, Hubert Laws, Richard Tee, Randy Brecker, and Hakim team with relative newcomer Kirk Whalum on saxophone. It’s an easy, mysterious groover with hip guitar work and horn charts. Another fine instrumental on the set is Whalum’s “W… |
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USED: Nothing But a Burning Light $9.99 Nothing but a Burning Light, Bruce Cockburn’s first release for Columbia, teams him with producer T-Bone Burnett, whose singer/songwriter background, and spiritual leanings, seemed to be a perfect match. Throughout, Burnett’s production is understated, allowing Cockburn’s voice, guitar, and songs to lead the way over a solid foundation of bass, drums, and tasteful organ by Booker T. Jones. This sort of sympathetic production brings out the best in Cockburn and his material, which is consistently strong. Songs such as “Kit Carson,” “Mighty Trucks of Midnight,” and “Indian Wars” continue the weightier concerns of his work of the past decade, but the majority of the record takes on a more personal, introspective tone. “One of the Best Ones” and “Great Big Love” are winning affirmations of love and life, while the retelling of the nativity, “Cry of a Tiny Babe,” is as beautiful and moving a contemporary Christmas song as you’re likely to hear. Cockburn also decides to include a rare cover, his excellent reading of the Blind Willie Johnson gospel-blues “Soul of a Man,” which fits nicely in the whole of the album. Though it may lack the immediate power, Nothing but a Burning Light is Bruce Cockburn’s best since his 1984 release Stealing Fire. Jackson Browne and Sam Phillips guest on backing vocals. ~ Brett Hartenbach, Rovi |
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USED: Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars $7.98 Is she a folksinger with a rock aesthetic or a rock singer with folk leanings? It’s hard to tell on Jennifer O’Connor’s album Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars. The title is certainly folky, but O’Connor doesn’t always stick to the “girl with a guitar” formula that might push it firmly into that genre. There are usually a bass and drum kit backing her up, as well as an electric guitar (though it’s played more like an acoustic, with picked and lightly strummed chords), and while O’Connor does like pretty melodies, she stays away from the super-earthy major-key ones that dominate much of folk, choosing something closer to what Liz Phair, rather than Patty Griffin, might do. Her songs are all about love in one of its — usually dysfunctional — forms, speaking in the first person to an unnamed second person (the exception being “Sister,” in which the title character is addressed), ranging from the apology in “I Was So Wrong” to the heartache in “Dirty City Blues” to the sweet, sentimental “Tonight We Ride.” The latter, which employs a quiet simplicity to convey its message, has a familiar, comforting sound, like something that might have been sung around campfires of years past, but pieces like “Exeter, Rhode Island” and “Bullshit Maze,” full of power chords and choruses made for bio-diesel car-singing, clearly show O’Connor’s debt to the rock stars who came before her. Though the constant theme of broken and mended hearts can get rather predictable, her lyrics and voice are unaffected and straightforward, making everything on Over the Mountain seem honest and accessible and kind of fun, too. Which means that being able to classify O’Connor isn’t really that important; what’s more important is her music, and that, with its very human subject matter, speaks for itself. ~ Marisa Brown, Rovi |
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USED: Rama 1 $7.98 Although billed as Andy West and Rama, this is actually a solo album from the former bass player for the Dixie Dregs. As one might expect from an album by an alumnus of that group, this one definitely falls into the progressive rock genre. As a subgenre, the disc is instrumental, and feels a lot like much of the other instrumental prog being released these days. Therein lies the album’s appeal — but also a complaint. The appeal is that since it does not wander far from the sound of the hard-edged instrumental prog that seems to dominate much of the style these days, it should appeal to the people who are aficionados of that sound. The problem is, it really has little identity of its own, instead feeling almost like a generic offering. West has done a nice job in assembling his fellow musicians for the project, though. The cast includes such notables as Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment — the latter being another group from the same instrumental prog zone), Rod Morgenstein (one of West’s former partners in the Dregs), Mike Keneally, T. Lavitz, and Kit Watkins. The problem is, the disc, as good as the playing is, just doesn’t really grab you. ~ Gary Hill, Rovi |
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USED: Richard Butler $9.99 Coming nearly two decades after the Psychedelic Furs began their long, slow slide into irrelevance, Richard Butler’s first solo album starts very promisingly with the haunting folk-tronica of “Good Days, Bad Days,” which reveals an unexpected delicacy in Butler’s vocals. Singing in falsetto instead of his usual Bowie-derived croon, Butler sounds newly energized in a way the Furs’ latter-day records never did, although the mixture of a full string section and a closing Hendrixian guitar solo recall the epic sweep of their best work. The rest of the album continues in the same intimate style, with “California” borrowing bits from William Blake’s “Jerusalem” in the course of its emotional crescendo, and “Breathe” going for a ghostly space rock feel under Butler’s unusually out-front vocals. There’s a mournful quality to this set of songs — the press kit mentions both the death of Butler’s father and the breakup of his marriage — but Butler and collaborator Jon Carin, who both produces and plays most of the instruments, keep things on the right side of depressive for the most part, and overall, Richard Butler is a mature, thoughtful comeback. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi |
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USED: StereoNucleosis $4.99 For starters, drumming maestro Paul Wertico’s StereoNucleosis, his fifth solo outing, is not a jazz record. OK, now that the jazz fascists…er, purists, have left the room, we can get on with talking about this patchwork quilt of sonic delights. Wertico has followed some interesting paths in his 30-plus-year career, from working with Pat Metheny and Larry Coryell to Kurt Elling, Terry Callier, and Jken Nordine. But nothing in his recorded past could have prepared listeners for this album. All the stops and boundaries blur before disappearing into the clear light of musical emptiness. And in that space where a whole slew of artificial categories existed is the abundance of music as a universe unto itself. Wertico’s collaborators on this excursion into the heart of sonic inquiry are his partner, the composer and keyboardist Barbara, double bassist and trumpeter Eric Hochberg, guitarist John Moulder, and electric bassist, guitarist, and violinist Brian Peters. The album’s opener, a solo percussion piece called “Corner Conversation,” whispers into existence. Wertico dances on an array of small percussion instruments and drums for a little over a minute before huge-sounding choirs of hand drums and tom toms rain down like blessed-out thunder, offering that exuberance and abundance do indeed have a sound. And as it ends, a few small rhythms usher in the sheer magnificence of “We Needed the Rain,” where fat basslines, electric guitars, trumpet, keyboard loops, and Wertico’s kit entwine in a swirling, shimmering procession of near transcendent beauty. Some lazy fool will be tempted to call this groove jazz, and if it is, so be it — bring on the grooves. This is the music Carlos Santana strives for at his best, and it is reminiscent in feeling of “Song of the Wind” from Caravanserai. John Moulder’s guitar solo literally sky dances in the mix. “Desert Sky” gets to the same place, but it’s more aggressive. Drums and keys shimmer before splitting open the mix, and … |
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USED: Strays Don’t Sleep $7.99 A truly awful, non-descriptive band name hides a small gem of an album that springs from an unexpected collaboration. Neilson Hubbard has released several solo albums’ worth of twangy power pop in the tradition of Nick Lowe, while Matthew Ryan is more often compared to grizzled vets like Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams. The press kit for their first duo album as Strays Don’t Sleep claims that the pair first bonded over a mutual love of artsy Scottish indie outfit the Blue Nile, and indeed, opening track “Love Don’t Owe You Anything” takes a page from the spacious arrangements of the Blue Nile’s A Walk Across the Rooftops. (Latter-day Scots Belle & Sebastian are another good touchstone for the album as a whole.) Ryan’s rough croak of a voice meshes uneasily with Hubbard’s choirboy tenor, giving the album a refreshing sense of friction that’s subtly amplified by the pair’s decision to sing each other’s lyrics rather than their own. As a result, Ryan doesn’t fall into familiar blues-rock vocal melodies and Hubbard sounds almost entirely different than he does on his solo records. The arrangements are equally unusual for both: in keeping with the U.K. indie brief, the previously all-American songwriters build the tunes with delicate layers of keyboards, drum machines, and effects-laden guitars that rarely play recognizable riffs. There are certainly fans of both artists who won’t care for the singer/songwriters’ new direction here, but fans of Ivy, Camera Obscura, or the ’80s U.K. indie bands who inspired them will find much to appreciate. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi |
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USED: The Fabled City $4.99 Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello returns to the singer/songwriter alter ego he calls the Nightwatchman for 2008′s The Fabled City. It needs to be said from the jump that this album stands in radical contrast to the skeletal One Man Revolution issued in 2007. Morello and producer Brendan O’Brien (who has been working with Bruce Springsteen since The Rising) decided on something more ornate than just guitar and voice, because these songs warrant it. Morello is much more a storyteller here: he offers tales of ordinary people trying to make it through another day in America. No heady platitudes, no sloganeering in the refrains, just small narratives that break outside the bounds of song and enter the world. As such Morello has succeeded in growing as a multi-dimensional songwriter and as a singer. These songs, though directly narrated, are as political as on his preceding album, but in a different way: these stories are the narratives of people we know, and often, have been. His America is the one that exists on city streets and in quiet suburbs, in malls and on country roads. The relationship between Morello and O’Brien is mutually empathic, nearly symbiotic. O’Brien resists his grander schemes in favor of organic approaches: some songs have small drum kits, others have a cello or B-3, and some have pedal steel guitars. The tempos and characters shift and change, as do O’Brien’s textures. The title track with its big acoustic guitars, drum kit, and bassline ushers the album in with urgency: “Me and Javi /Shouted slogans in Spanish/Like it was our world to win/Then they moved the plant down to Ojeda/Time to bite your tongue again.” Later, “an angel sad and old” who lives in an alley behind a market sings for a dollar. Morello’s acoustic and the bass get fuzzed up for “Whatever It Takes,” along with an urgent rhythmic pulse offering a first person narrative about a soldier who struggles as a proxy and an ally against despair, defeat, and disappeara… |
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USED: True Devotion $9.98 On 2007? s Brag & Cuss, singer/songwriter Rocky Votolato wrote Americana songs about the loneliness of clubs, the road, empty conversations, and the inherent paradoxes in his life. The album proved a signpost to a period of depression where he quit writing altogether and went into seclusion. A year later, he tried to find his way out; he began looking at his demons, and reading and investigating philosophy, spiritual, and esoteric thought. Eventually, his depression relented enough that he could begin writing the songs that became True Devotion; his finest collection. Produced with Casey Foubert, this is a set of profoundly honest, lyrical, predominantly acoustic tunes that reflect on his condition, the origins of its cause, and find a path to acceptance. On ? Red River,? accompanied by a percussive acoustic and a small trap kit, he sings: ? This is what life feels like underground . . . I? ve been searching for the waves to carry us home. . . .? ? Sparklers,? with its gorgeous fingerpicking, is a small song with the large implications of impermanence. His nearly whispered refrain is: ? Everything? s right, everything? s wrong/Sparklers only burn for so long . . . ? and in the bridge: ? I? m a pendulum that swings/trapped into the disappearing of the setting sun, the moonlight at dawn/That book of matches burning its own flesh.? A solitary guitar and harmonica introduce ? Instrument,? where he expresses desire by negation: ? I don? t want this tensile glory/or empty praise that I can? t carry/I want no more of this delusion/I only want to come back home to you.? This is a love song, but it? s as much a spiritual one as an earthly one. Other songs, such as ? What Waited for Me,? ? Sun Devil,? and ? Please Don? t Be Angry? accept personal responsibility in familial and ultimately spiritual ways and try to make amends. This is a singular album in Votolato’s career. It? s deep, but readily accessible; full of a sadness that pro… |
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USED: Year of the Spy $4.99 The debut album by New York retro-punks Shock Nagasaki (following a split EP with Portland’s thematically similar Straitjacket) is a thoroughly enjoyable trip back to the streets of London circa 1978. Second wave punk bands like the Cockney Rejects, 999, Chelsea, and Sham 69 (all of whom, plus several others, are cleverly namechecked in the album’s press kit) took the disparate sounds of the Clash, the Sex Pistols and the Damned and turned it into a more rigidly defined sound, look, and attitude. This tightening of the stylistic parameters — not the more experimental and freewheeling early days of the scene — is what has gone on to define punk musically, even if more modern-day bands pledge allegiance to Sid Vicious than Slaughter and the Dogs. This is not to downgrade the achievement of Shock Nagasaki, because Year of the Spy is every bit as enjoyable as the best second wave punk albums of the ’70s. Singer Jamie Coville bears a distinct vocal resemblance to the mighty Joe Strummer, yet he manfully resists the temptation to slip into a lazy imitation of same, and the album’s 12 brief songs flow together perfectly into a seamless mix of pop hooks and punk thrash, complete with the requisite anthemic shout-along choruses and glam-inspired guitar riffs. There’s little new or different about Year of the Spy, but when a band can channel the sound and spirit of a bygone time and place without sounding like mere copycats, it’s an impressive achievement. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi |
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