CD-Charts Position 291
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Hocus Pocus: The Best Of Focus

CD-Charts > Music > World and Folk
by: Focus

Release Date June 18, 2001
What an absolute load of garbage. The first track is not bad but the rest is rubbish. I'll listen to most music, but i'm afraid this has been sent to the, Never to be played again shelf. £10 totally wasted.

CD-Charts Position 292
Average Rating:

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Global a Go-Go

CD-Charts > Music > World and Folk
by: Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros

Release Date July 16, 2001
After the return to form of `Rock Art and the X-Ray Style' great things were expected of the second Mescaleros album and they didn't disappoint.

Only Joe Strummer could take all American iconic folk tale `Johnny Appleseed' and turn it into a world music classic. Unlike its predecessor `Global a Go-Go' is pretty consistent in arrangement with rockabilly guitars with African/bangra percussion, percussive piano arrangements and reggae organ fills with a few techno styling's thrown in for good measure across the first ten tracks. `Johnny Appleseed' gives way to `Cool'N'Out' (a Mescaleros in joke), through the title track and onwards with no drops in quality just great, if bizarrely named, songs. There are some brilliant tracks here, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 293
Average Rating:

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Pink Moon

CD-Charts > Music > World and Folk
by: Nick Drake

Release Date June 26, 2000
I'll keep this review relatively short, and hopefully it'll be of use to anyone considering buying Pink Moon, Nick Drake's 3rd album.

What this album has to offer is something between Nick Drake's other 2 albums. Pink Moon isn't as upbeat and jazzy as his 2nd album Bryter Layter, but then again it isn't as depressing and gloomy as Five Leaves Left. Even if it does comprise just Nick and his guitar on all but the opening (title) track, Pink Moon doesn't necessarily leave you feeling depressed. And that's because a lot of the tracks on the album basically aren't gloomy.
For example, "Pink Moon" (Track 1) might take a while to get into, but it's not a sad song at all. Neither are songs like Road, Which Will or Free Ride. The only ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 294
Average Rating:

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Love Is Overtaking Me

CD-Charts > Music > World and Folk
by: Arthur Russell

Release Date October 27, 2008
Arthur Russell's `Love Is Overtaking Me' compiles previously unreleased material from the critically regarded but somehow commercially overlooked artist's archive. Ranging from Dylanesque folk, country and angular art pop from the 1970s through to the final home recordings before his death in 1991, the album provides a fascinating portrait of a restless innovator and songwriter whose journey reflects two generations of musical transformation. I don't want to make it sound as if Russell was just a musical magpie since every style he appropriated he made his own, and the tracks on `Love Is Overtaking Me' are linked by a sonic playfulness, a lightness of touch and an melodic insouciance. They are are also linked in that they depict a particular side of Russell's ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 295
Average Rating:

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The Hawk Is Howling (Limited Edition)

CD-Charts > Music > World and Folk
by: Mogwai

Release Date September 22, 2008
When Mogwai released 'Young Team' back in 1997, they were a breath of fresh air. They combined the rawness of Pavement circa 'Slanted & Enchanted' with the atmosphere so fondly remembered on Slint's milestone album 'Spiderland'.

11 years on from that landmark release and Mogwai have gone through many up's and downs. 'Come On Die Young' blew us all away with its blinding dynamics and sinister air, but conversley, 'Rock Action' left me with an empty feeling and made me wonder wheather this once great band had gone as far as it could. Since 'Rock Action', Mogwai have released a steady stream of good if not remarkable albums (although I beleive 'Happy Songs For Happy People' to be somewhat of a lost classic).

'The Hawk Is Howling' keeps ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 296
Average Rating:

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The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 : Rare And Unreleased, 1961-1991

CD-Charts > Music > World and Folk
by: Bob Dylan

Release Date November 10, 1998
This is an absolutely essential purchase for anyone that calls themselves a fan of Bob Dylan. Be really smart though, and wait till you can get it for under a tenner, like I did. Not that it's not worth full price - it is; but you can feel even more smug when you've got it for a bargain price.

Enough of my smugness! What about the product?

This collection of rare Dylan recordings (outtakes, live recordings and such) have been packaged on 3 CDs, and ordered more or less chronologically. CD 1 covers a period of just over 2 years from late 1961 (beginning with a brave performance from before the release of Dylan's first album in which he pretty much verbally destroys New York in front of a New York audience - "Hard Times in New York Town") through ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 297
Average Rating:

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The North Star Grassman And The Ravens (Remastered)

CD-Charts > Music > World and Folk
by: Sandy Denny

Release Date May 02, 2005
Even the much-maligned (by me) 'bonus tracks' on 'TNSGATR' are good. Unforced. Segueing with the album proper so you don't see the join. With no hint of that desperate lets-cram-any-old-garbage on, and watch the fans cream themselves at the very notion of 'previously unreleased'- there's usually a good reason why things are `unreleased....'
The album itself perfection. Soulful, powerful, lyrical, in fact everything you could want from a music, regardless of your preferences or bias. This level of haunting beauty has `broad' appeal.
Denny sings like a Guinnessed-up chorister. Her voice, (inspiration to every-one from Stevie Nicks to the criminally under-rated Gay Woods {!}) is sharp and worldly. You can sense her vibrancy as a person from the wacky but intense 'Brit Folk World', ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 298
Average Rating:

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Solo Acoustic Vol.2: Live

CD-Charts > Music > World and Folk
by: Jackson Browne

Release Date March 03, 2008
I am a long time Jackson Browne fan and have seen him live several times both with the band and solo. The previous solo album was an excellent effort and well worth five stars. Regrettably, this is not up to the standard of Vol.1 by any means.

I don't know why, perhaps some of the tracks were just not suited to a solo performance, perhaps these weren't the best performances but this album just doesn't gel. In particular, Somebody's Baby just didn't hit the spot at all and nor even did the usually excellent All Good Things. I was particularly disappointed by the rendition of "In the shape of a heart" which was just not as good as I remember it from the acoustic tour a couple of years ago.

On balance, I would have to say that this album is strictly for fans - which is a shame.

CD-Charts Position 299
Average Rating:

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Live At The BBC

CD-Charts > Music > World and Folk
by: Sandy Denny

Release Date September 10, 2007
Although I've only given this 3 Stars it is an excellent product but the fact remains that the recording quality of some of it is such that it sounds as if it was recorded off the radio (and the medium wave at that) rather than for it. One for all Sandy Denny afficionados but not those unfamiliar with her work.

CD-Charts Position 300
Average Rating:

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Chrome Dreams II

CD-Charts > Music > World and Folk
by: Neil Young

Release Date October 22, 2007
A magnificant album which sees Young at possibly his peak, will be
difficult to follow, a landmark.