Album Reviews

    Tracklist God! Show Me Magic 1:50 Fuzzy Birds 2:27 Something For The Weekend 2:33 Frisbee 2:21 Hometown Unicorn 3:33 Gathering Moss 3:22 If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You 3:17 Bad Behaviour 4:26 Mario Man 4:07 Hangin' With Howard Marks 4:20 Long Gone 5:20 For Now And Ever 3:32

 Having never heard of Paolo Nutini before apart from seeing him on T.V. and occassionally hearing a single of his I approached this album with no expectations. The album in one word is mellow and easy-listening. It's mostly a simple acoustic affair but it is the lightness about it which really impresses, as it doesn't try to be too deep. On rare occasion the lyrics aren't that great but overall the music holds together and keeps you listening. Therefore, I pronounce it to be a solid debut and I look forward to hearing the other two albums from Nutini. Tracklisting: Jenny Don't Be Hasty 3:29 Last Request 3:41 Rewind 4:20 Million Faces 3:41 These Streets 3:53 New Shoes 3:21 White Lies 4:00 Loving You 3:55 Autumn 2:50 Alloway Grove 3:09

  So I have recently started rebuilding my CD collection by wandering around charity shops in West London and hoping to find the best bargains. This is an artist I discovered by doing just that, managing to buy his s/t, Want One, Want Two and Poses very cheaply. Having listened to Want Two a few times and finding I like Rufus' experimentation with classical pop, I looked at the reviews of his other albums. Release The Stars, it became clear, was possibly his weakest album. Hmm. When I saw it in a charity shop I avoided buying it but something about this artist, made me eventually go back determined to give it a spin.  I'm glad I did. One reviewer had said that this came out at a time when there was too much money in the music industry and that being overproduced and stilted using badly written lyrics, one should avoid this album. Well, I quite like it. It's poppy with lots of different styles and uses pretty extensive classical composition too, like the Want albums. I can...

I am a 36 year old music lover. That's the short and simple answer. Music is a wondrous thing. It crosses boundaries, and it doesn't matter who you are...or does it? Music can unite but it can also be the easiest way we identify and define ourselves.  Also does music need to be universal? Often it is a way we cage ourselves into some group or movement in a particular time and space. The music is only intelligible to those within the circle, due to the many ideas and references within the songs. Words and sounds work together to create a new language. Our very own language which we think of as ours. This is why music is so powerful a medium.  Closing my eyes or cleaning my room to music is one of the many functions of music. I love the ability to be able to put it on in the background or to stop and intensely listen. Sometimes it moves me - sometimes so much I start to dance or hum. I grew up in the 80's, listening to my parent's cassette's and vinyl records. Music f...