5 comments about Show.

1. one of my favorite albums of the cure... lots of great songs live... better than bootleg quality and was in my town dtown detroit michigan



2. Often compared unfavorably to Paris, Show is a fantastic collection of performances from the Wish tour.
   Robert Smith created a guitar heavy sound by loading this touring band with extra players and the overall effect is a wall of elegant chaos. From the opening, swirling, chords of 'Open' to the closing feedback frenzy of 'End' 'Show' is more of an experience than rock show.
   
   My favorite track is the protracted version 'Pictures of You'; it's sweeping and elegant, evoking dark and ominous emotions I've rarely experienced listening to music.
   
   Highly recommended but, then again, you'll find I say that about the entire Cure package



3. This is a great live album, with an exceptional sound quality.
   
   The Cure have always been known to put on a good live performance and here is the proof. The album starts off with Tape, an instrumental, which blends into Open, the first song off of the classic album Wish. This blending of songs never fails to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and sets the standard for the rest of the gig.
   
   Much of the content of this gig is from the Wish album as this was recorded during the Wish Tour in 1992. It's great to hear live versions of songs such as Cut, From The Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Trust, Doing the Unstuck and End, as well as older classics such as A Night Like This and Never Enough.
   
   The only criticisms I have of this live album are that there are too many 'singles.' I am not a fan of the Cures singles and have grown bored of listening to Friday I'm In Love, Lets Go To Bed, Inbetween Days, Lullaby, High and The Walk. Show has one too many singles and this makes the difference between a 4 and a 5 star rating. This is to be expected though as the Cure are unfortunately more widely known as being a 'singles band.'
   
   Another unfortunate thing about the live album is that it is not the complete gig. The DVD / Video contains the 5 song encore: Primary, Boys Don't Cry, Why Can't I Be You, To Wish Impossible Things and A Forest.
   
   The extended version of A Forest yet again showcases the Cure line-up of Smith, Gallup, Thompson, Williams and Bamonte as a well oiled machine. This is by far the best version of A Forest I have ever heard and ends the gig on a stratospheric high note. Robert improvises lyrics and this is followed by Porl Thompson's agressive guitar work bringing the song to an intense crescendo. A work of true artists. Just a pity its not included on the cd.
   
   A great live cd, documenting the best Cure line-up in their prime.



4. I think including songs like The Love Cats, or any older Cure, would have ruined the melancholy mood of this concert completely. Obviously he's one of those "you're not a real fan unless you like their old stuff" kinda guys. Well I think the Cure did their best work from Head On the Door through Wish. I mean, their old stuff is awesome too, but in a different way. I've been a long time Cure fan, and Wish is my favorite album, and since this concert took place shortly after Wish was released, you could only expect them to focus mainly on those songs. Wish's lyrics are amazing if you've ever bothered to really read through them, so how can you criticize songs like From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, Cut or End? They're great songs. In fact, I think the song that could have been cut from here was Friday I'm In Love; I've just never been a fan. Replace that with Apart and it's a perfect concert. The biggest improvement is in A Night Like This---the guitar solo instead of the sax solo makes it a whole new song. If you're like me and Wish and Disintegration are your favorite Cure albums, you owe it to yourself to check out this live performance, it rocks.



5. Some reviewers might think it's edgy -or that it makes for good writing- to insult a body of work as heavy-handedly as the editorial reviewer for amazon.com did.
   
   But now that the uninformed, self-righteous bunk is all over-- let's go ahead and tell the truth about this amazing live performance. Please keep in mind that I usually *hate* concert recordings....
   
   With regard to the "disposable product" comment, all I have to say is this: a friend gave me this album for my birthday in 1994. I have listened to it more than once a week for a decade.
   
   In other words, it stayed interesting through middle school, high school, college, and my first year of marriage. I listened to it this morning. I'm still finding new things to love about this album. And last time I looked, there wasn't a Fat Bob in sight.
   
   If you love music that melds ethereal, mellow, Gibson archtop sound (a characteristic of classic New Order and Smiths) with driving pop rhythm-- buy Show. If you want a great CD for long car trips, buy it. If you want to stay calm in DC traffic at rush hour.... you get the idea.
   
   A host of beautiful but not so well-known songs is offered with a few safe hits for good measure. If you're bored with overplayed Cure, this is a refreshing experience. If you just want the hits, well... this album is a great tool for broadening your taste. Don't ever settle for just the greatest hits.
   
   And don't worry. Show isn't just for die-hard fans. I learned to love this band working my way back from it. I wasn't the only one.... my parents, who are 60, discovered them as well.
   
   If you buy this performace in any format, you will not be disappointed.

No comments about Locals Only.

No comments about The Vicious White Kids: Live in Concert.

1 comments about Ghost Riders.

1. Once the Suicide sound has entered your mind, you'll never forget it. Hypnotic, uplifting, revolutionary. The American Kraftwerk. The only band that can remind you of Alan Ginsberg, the Velvets, Daft Punk, James Brown, ? and the Mysterians and the Last Poets all at once. Elvis talking in his sleep. The simple mantra of the X-pel-air fan overlaid with the rant of the corner preacher who has seen the truth. Once you've tried it, you'll need it all, but, covering their entire early career, this compilation provides the perfect initiation. Suicide, the last sound you'll ever hear . .

   Don't think twice.

   Doug Campbell

No comments about From Chaos to 1984.

3 comments about Minimum-Maximum.

1. The first time I heard Kraftwerk was back in 1975; my brother bought the Autobahn album after we heard it over the speakers in a record store. We went home and played it front to back. We were floored by the textured landscape Ralf, Florian, and the boys painted with their electronica. My brother went back to his FM album rock, but that experience never left me. I think it was probably the pivitol moment that defined the musical path I would take.
   
   Thirty-plus years later I still marvel at these guys who broke from a natural progression of Central European cultural influence. The aftermath of WW 2 allowed them to develop a new musical heritage since many of their predecessors, one way or another, were victims of the madness that was destroying Europe at the time.
   
   As a result, Krafwerk emerged from the ashes, so to speak, with their progressive forward looking sound that sometimes embraced or forewarned of our closer ties to technology. Moreover, they laid the foundation for the electronic-techno sound along with Neu!, Brian Eno, and to an extent David Bowie. The whole house dance scene can thank Kraftwerk for the infectious beat that drives raves and clubs all night long.
   
   Mininum-Maximum is partly a retrospecitve of Kraftwerk's catalog of music and a progression forward with cuts from the reworked Tour de France Soundtrack. Always the tinkerers, the revamped versions on the disks are as fresh and relevent as any recent comparable effort. I only have the CDs, but after I finish this review I plan on ordering the smartly packaged box set, which includes the DVDs and booklet as well.
   
   Kraftwerk are legendary in the musical field they created. The electronic sounds, many of which have been sampled, are etched in stone. Their music is part of a new European musical heritage. Their contribution to music will be a source of inspiration for many young progressive artists now and in the future; apropos considering Kraftwerks' vision.



2. The live sound is phenomenal...this is official Kling Klang produkt, and if you are a serious Kraftwerk fan, buy this as well as another copy of the 2cd and/or 2 dvd version. The reason being that once you get your hands on this, I can't imagine anyone loaning this out. It's that beautifully packaged! An objet d'art and one for the ages to be certain.
   Highest recommendation!
   Splurge android, splurge while it's still available, as it is limited...you do want to be a happy little robot, don't you?



3. The first thing you'll notice when you get this set is the box-- it's nicely modeled as a laptop computer. Open the lid to reveal a substantial hardcover book, full of various live photos of Kraftwerk, as well as themed sections about the Minimum-Maximum songs. You can actually call it a "picture book" of sorts, however, there is also great detail in explaining Kraftwerk's live concert stage setup, for example.
   
   The CDs and DVDs are great! I do not need to go on about Kraftwerk's outstanding music and live shows since there are plenty of superb reviews about those. The material on the discs is identical to the seperate retail versions. But I encourage you to spend a little more (as I did) and get a really nice-looking collectible package that you'll cherish. You will not regret purchasing this!

No comments about Live '94.

5 comments about Who's Got the 10½?.

1. Then you know what I'm here after. Any band that quotes Black Oak Arkansas on their own live album is the real deal and it doesn't get any realer than Black Flag.
   
   Lots of people hated the band back around this time. I saw this tour in NYC (Irving Plaza) just a few days after I graduated high school and it blew my mind. Saint Vitus opened. People hated them. Most of the crowd hated Black Flag too. I couldn't figure out why since they were one of the best bands I'd ever seen (still true to this day). I didn't realize until later that their old fans hated them for having long hair and for putting a lot of energy into their music. Oh well. At least you can play this record loud alongside Kick Out The Jams, Raunch N Roll, No Sleep Til Hammersmith, Double Live Gonzo and Grand Funk's Live Album where it belongs.
   
   Check out Mighty High...In Drug City.



2. INCREDIBLE album. Pees all over the other live album both cd and dvd !!! Good sounding, raw, lightning-fast sped-up versions of a lot of their slugde-rock songs on their last 2 records mixed with a healthy dose of revisited oldies with a twist ( and a half !! ) 65' in lenght, yet Hank's banter has been edited out. Anthony Martínez is just as good as Bill Stevenson and GGinn's guitarwork is more structured, tighter, r&roll-oriented than before. The result is a levelling steamroller of a live concert. It really captures the raw, live feel of an actual show. Get this puppy and also their allegedly ¨sludgier¨ material.



3. Just your typical "greatest hits played faster" live album.
   Just kidding.
   
   First, the good:
   
   The band is on fire through most of this, especially the rhythm section. The song selection cherry-picks the best of the often boring middle-period Flag, which can be excellent indeed. Examples include the extended "Slip It In/Gimme Gimme Gimme", "I'm The One", "Wasted" (a very early track), "Modern Man" and "Drinking And Driving" (from their last album}. And the sound quality is killer - all the instruments are well separated; the drums and bass have a LOT of punch, and are spot-on all the time, even when the guitar isn't. More on that below.
   
   Second, the "ehh...":
   
   Rollins' voice is totally SHOT on such tracks as "My War", due to excessive touring (I believe I heard a statistic like 250 days a year). "Sinking" is boring, frankly, but thankfully is one of the only plodding, ponderous tracks on the album. Fast and driving usually means high quality in the Black Flag catalog. Also, Ginn's playing can be a pretty sloppy, despite being extremely creative. And finally, although you can't hear it in her playing, you can imagine Kira suffering with carpal tunnel syndrome as she plays - a byproduct of Greg Ginn's maniacal insistence on practicing as much as eight hours a day, every day, when not touring (and probably when touring too). You can read more about this stuff in Michael Azerrad's excellent book "This Band Could Be Your Life" - I admit I'm cribbing some of this review from said source. Please don't hate me for doing so.
   
   I hope the fact that the con section outweighs the pro wordwise doesn't dissuade you from buying the album. It's def. a worthy purchase, and you'll get a lot out of it if you enjoy the best that eighties punk had to offer. And by the way, go ahead and order the vinyl version direct from SST if you like (which is often the best way to go with SST titles, because of the better sound quality of the pure waveforms of vinyl), but this is a rare case in which the CD is better, due to the extended performances allowed by the CD format's longer length. (It says "extended CD version" on the back of the case.)



4. I bought this one on CD in Minnesota when it came out and was completely blown away by the intensity of the set. While most Black Flag records have a slower feel that is sometiems difficult, this CD packs a lot of punch. As already written it is played with lots of energy and speed which makes it the best place to start if you want to explore Blac Flag. Also Greg Ginn's guitar playing is not really standard for any punk rock group since he solos a lot and also tends not to simply play the usual chaords and does go for a more experimental sound. A favourite is Louie, Louie towards the end of the CD. Also, you can hear the rage in henry Rollins and this was way be fore he became well known.



5. This CD is what it is. It's a well recorded live performance of Black Flag playing mainly their Loose Nut era material. The songs are played at a higher pace than on the albums, which adds a slight degree of intensity to an already intense collection of material. If you've never bought a Black Flag CD before, this is a great place to start. If you already own a Black Flag CD or two, this will be a great compliment. If you already own the entire Black Flag discography and are just reading this page for fun, why not consider just buying another copy of Whose got the 10 1/2? You never know... it could could come in handy.

No comments about Live!.

3 comments about Just My Imagination.

1. The first time I heard this song it was on 'Charmed' and I instantly liked it. I've been looking for it ever since then but no one seems to have it for sale.
   
   It truly is one of the absolute best tunes that I've ever heard.



2. This beautiful album starts off with the so charming 'Just My Imagination', which is a delightful return to the way The Cranberries were not to long ago, a'la the hit album 'No Need To Argue'. The lyrics of this song, though repetitive, are not just your ordinary sing-a-long variety, but are the fruit of the real talent that is The Cranberries, while the brilliant melodies complement the carefree mood. As for the three live tracks that follow, The Cranberries' knack for crafting great songs shines on through, with the oft-played 'Dreams', the gorgeous folk-tinged 'Ode to my Family', and a new but nonetheless captivating song based on Dolores O'Riordan's (the lead singer) personal experiences, 'Animal Instinct'. For old fans, this is a wonderful treat that is well worth the three year wait; and if the band is new to you, then you're in for a listen that's chock-full of heartfelt lyrics, music that just carries you away, and work that's full of talent. Trust me, it won't be your imagination!



3. One of best songs on the Cranberries 4th album Bury the Hatchet. This album has been in perminant rotation on my cd player. You may ask why buy the single if you have the album? I have two ways to answer that question. Bonus live tracks, to this point the cranberries have not yet released a live album. If you never heard them live, well your missing the band at it best. Secondly the artwork and packaging for the four singles released from BTH have been awsome. Designed by Storm Thorgerson (designer of pink floyd albums) this may be some of his best work. I know most of music fans are not collectors (ya right) if you are you need to buy this single. You will not be disappointed.