CD Albums - Reviews by Magic Marmalade

CD Albums - Reviews by Magic Marmalade

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
Magic Marmalade 3rd Jun 2024		CD Album Beth Orton - Central Reservation (1999)	Review Gentle on my mind. Having recently found myself in need of a lighter brand of more sympathetic music, I revisited this, not being in the frame of mind for my usual brand music, and this was just the ticket, and I. at last, was in a place where I could appreciate it for it's own virtues... ...After the initial grungy, grimy tack: Stolen Car, it kind of floats and weaves, and meanders in that loose, almost ramshackle way reminiscent of Astral Weeks (well, it reminded me of that anyway, in this specific sense. if not musically, or stylistically). and it has a certain grace and elegance to it for all that. A wonderful balm for my aching, wretched being that helped me get on through, and nursed me back to me again, like a collection of timely lullabies and sympathy. Strange how you can own some albums for a while, but just not get into them, until you hit a space in your brain that magically unlocks one day, and admits it into your deeper being. Now an audio feature of my speakers. :) ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 28th Feb 2024		CD Album Jellyfish - Bellybutton (1990)	Review Brilliant sunshine indie rock-pop. Essentially, this is the best Squeeze album you've never heard. Wonderful melodic, tuneful story-telling in indie rock-pop format, which absolutely reeks of Squeeze, in the style of Difford & co. I'd listened to a little here and there since ripping it to my mp3 player a while back, and was already familiar with the song: "I Wanna Stay Home" via the version by EG (White), rendered on his album merely as: Stay Home (But much more dynamically, and not as languid and laid back as this original version) but as I had a lot of weeds to dig out from the garden today (it being the first really dry day to do it), I put this on, and listened all the way through, and was pretty much whistling while I worked. I think this is going to grow on me in a big way in the coming months. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 15th Nov 2023		CD Album Laura Marling - Semper Femina (2017)	Review New entry in my top 100 (ish) favourite albums of all time. It's a rare thing for an album that has taken my interest to remain among my favourites, and be one that I return to regularly, but this is one that keeps getting played. While other albums of hers may have greater production value (to use the movie term, for expensive bells and whistles), this is a very stripped down, bare wood affair, which moves, under the slightest variations, seamlessly, and effortlessly between the core styles this uses: bluesy, folksy, slightly california sunshine-ish pop, with a startling intimacy, to a degree that makes it an almost uncomfortably close in listen. Amidst the bare bones, creeking old wooden boat on a lazy river style acoustic weight of the purposely demo like presented instrumentation, and occasionally set against some over-amped grinding blues guitar scrapes; Is Laura Marling's brilliant, and deeply personal, in your ear singing, of simply excellent memorably melodic songs, that need no embellishment... ...All riding over a deep note of melancholy, the sour tone set against the sweet, which is what really keeps me coming back to it. Some might find it drab, or basic, or even depressing, but it's one of those that if you lean in, you can hear much more going on in the almost inaudible emotional frequencies. Would it be too much to say it is the closest I've heard someone come to getting that "Nick Drake quality" in this regard... the something in it... something under it you have to be in tune with, to properly get. As I said, it feels a little too close for comfort in it's intimacy, and gets me feel around my collar at times - "Phew, is it getting hot in here?" Up Close. Personal. And very Feminine, in a way that even a dude, such as I is, can feel is from the deepest recesses of womanly-ness. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 12th Oct 2023		CD Album Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs (1998)	Review Would you believe me if I said I'd never heard this album before?!! Well, while that is true, in the round, it's one of those that it turns out I'd heard some of the songs without even knowing it... by way of it's cultural impact. (One of those that seems to have gotten everywhere) "Ooh, I know that one!" (...Being my frequent response since first listen on my MP3 player in the wee smalls whilst laid up with shoulder injury these past days, and waiting for the pain-killers to kick in) Only got around to listening to it now, having found it in the charity shop the other day, and wondering why I didn't sekk it out upon original release. My conclusion being that it was one of those fantastically overhyped bands / albums who's obsequious gushing praise by critics, and how I simply MUST own this record was enough to produce the opposite effect on me back in the day. But now I've heard it, listening to it at last on my own terms, and in my own time, I immediately hear the obvious similarities between Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips, and acknowledge the well documented association. However, Mercury Rev seem (On this one album's evidence alone) to be more of a tenderly melodic variety of that kind of music, as well as more consistently memorable and haunting. So it was a great, serendipitous choice of mine to give this a go on a very low and soothing volume as I cosied up in bed, waiting for the painkiller cavalry to arrive and offer some relief... This album acting as a kind of lullabies at sunrise to keep me company in the meantime. In fact, to characterise the songs, would be to say they are like audio versions of Rothko paintings, lightly framed in Christmas tinsel... ...But that may be the painkillers talking :) Naturally, I am now, true to my own form, now currently, completely obsessed with this album, with each of the songs now slowly, but ever so surely worming their way through the thick albumen of my ignorance, into the golden yoke of my better, basic-brain. All that of course, remains to be said, is... YOU MUST OWN THIS ALBUM!!!!!!!!! :) ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 23rd Jun 2023		CD Album The Velvet Underground - Loaded	Review What a tedious, weak album! If I were to characterise this, I would imagine the conversation that preceded it's creation: "Hey guys, we've used up our one great idea about what this band is (And our fifteen minutes of fame :), so let's make an album that sounds like we're trying to be Bob Dylan (and the Band), and also, at the same time, trying to be a bit Of David Bowie, and maybe a dash of John Lennon (after the Beatles - and the non singles, album stuff)... ... But also, let's do all this as if we were a first time high school band naively trying to be those things, and really not quite getting there" I had looked forward to finally listening to this when I found this CD a couple of weeks back, but it is painfully dull and amateurish, like The Velvet Underground trying to be like The Velvet Underground, and acting as their own crappy tribute band. This is going back to the charity shop, as I can't afford the space on the shelf for it. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 17th Jun 2023		CD Album Zero 7 - Simple Things (2001)	Review Yay... another of my favourites found in Digipak! This is one that I love, but have absolutely no intention of getting on vinyl, due to the nature of the music - a lot like Air: Moon Safari - in that you just want to put it on, and drift away from one end to the other, without having to mess about with flipping sides half way through your comatose state. The CD sounds great anyway - very balanced, very expansive and spacious, as well as spacey. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 9th Mar 2023		CD Album Steve Winwood - Back In The High Life (1986)	Review I have this on both original vinyl and this CD now, and can report that they both sound pretty much identical. So nothing to be gained or lost by having this great album on one of these formats over the other It is in the best sense, a typical eighties sounding album, big synth-y sounds, with dramatic punctuation in the music, all the along the same lines as the lead track, which you all know: Higher Love... But fortunately, like that one, although the Eighties sound is a feature, it's one of those that mercifully avoids sounding dated (too much, anyway), and the songs are consitently strong throughout. The two other stand-outs here being the Title track: Back In The High Life (Again), and the final track, which ought to come with a warning, for as I remember it, on first hearing, so long ago, it's a perfect break-up song... in that it is pre-eminent in making you perfectly miserable, if you're going through something like that, and along with Hall & Oates: She's Gone, are masterful in being as much a tonic in such a situation as this as a stiff kick in the balls. (To the extent that if you are on of those other kinds of humans, who have no balls, it will make you feel like you did, and you had been kicked in them... by a large man with heavy boots and a very long leg :( ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 17th Sep 2022		CD Album Genesis - Abacab (1994)	Review Nobody's Favourite Genesis Album. This has a curious place in the Genesis discography, being, at best, much maligned, at worst denounced, but mostly ignored, it seems... ...And let's face facts, it isn't the greatest album ever made, and would probably come somewhere pretty low in the ranking of Genesis albums. That said, feeling the beginnings of another Genesis kick coming on, I decided to listen to this whilst doing a little gardening today, and for the most part it's actually got a lot more going for it than is often given credit for... ...The Title track is quite a compelling work out for the band, and with Man On The Corner, No Reply At All and Another Record being fairly strong Genesis tunes, it's mostly a good album anyway; Dodo and Keep It Dark do take a little getting into, and frankly there's just no excuse, even after all these years, for Whodunnit? Which is just S*%t. On the whole this sounds, as an album, like a gathering of all those kinds of songs which would otherwise have had to have been hunted down by fans, from the B-sides of Genesis singles, and which any other band - even Genesis themselves - might ordinarily have placed there. It is a little flat, in comparison to others of their albums, too tentatively experimental (scrapes, squiggles, and noodles that perhaps go on for too long etc.) and as the quintessentially eighties style cover (and it's variants) shows, a pretty dated attempt to be eighties hip (bright colours, Pseudo-Picasso garishness), which is reflected in the music a little. But still has enough moments of typically Genesis style highlights to make it worth another listen. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 22nd Jun 2022		CD Album The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main St. (1994)	Review This CD sounds amazing! ... Better even, than the original vinyl issue. While I dearly love my original vinyl copy of this, my absolute favourite Rolling Stones album, which is not only one of the best double albums ever made (along with led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti), and is their most consistent, and consistently brilliant album, I love where it's coming from, with a very sleazy, slack rocking blues Groover vibe, which grooves from one end to the other like a something-or-other, with additional dashes of sweetness and soul, this, sonically is far superior, both in terms of clarity, sense of space and separation of instruments which perfectly compliments that "live in the studio" feel that this album has, with the band all playing together at once, rather than sounding like a patchwork of separately recorded pieces sewn together in the control room. ...I love the vinyl sound of the LP, which does give it that "vintage" sound that comes with vinyl, but this has power, punch and rocks even harder. I did study the scant notes in the booklet, that comes with this, for a reason why it should sound so good, but only found the answer I wanted on the back cover.... With just one simple statement, that says it all: "Remastered by Bob Ludwig" Bang. This has a whole lot of something extra, which I can only attribute to him. The real beneficiary of his presence here, has to be Charlie Watts Drumming, which but has extra snap, crack, and an almighty bass drum thump. I checked on Discogs, to see if there was a contemporary 1994 Ludwig vinyl to this, and apparently there was, but only in the US on 180g vinyl... And according to reviews on that vinyl issue, sounds awful! Well, never mind, maybe later ones sound better (hopefully with the Ludwig mastering), but this CD is more than adequate.... It sounds great! 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 14th Jun 2022		CD Album Injected - Burn It Black (2002)	Review Hard, Heavy, Crunchy and Grunge-y. This is good.... really good! Another CD I bought a while back, and ripped to hard drive, then forgot... as I probably dismissed it as yet another generic almost band, but then it pinged up on my Mp3 player's shuffle button, and it immediately took my ear, as something much more than that... ...It sounds exactly like early nineties Grunge, so much so it is almost exactly like Soundgarden, and Stone Temple Pilots, or certainly sitting somewhere in between the two, but with more conventional sounding metal riffs, bordering on AC/DC at times (but only occasionally). The vocal however, is what pushes the character of this more toward Pilots than Soundgarden, and the lead here sounds a lot like Scott Weiland, or tending towards the newer, millennial sort of Blink 182 sound, which matches the strong melodic semi-pop / rock of the latter. Thumping, cracking drumming, bass, and those guitars, all of that grunge / metal style, with a lot very strong tunes, of consistently high quality from one end to the other. If you like Superunknown and Purple (Soundgarden and STP respectively), you'll like this. (Think I've found a new walking / drown out the traffic album here :) [YouTube Video] [YouTube Video] ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 31st May 2022		CD Album Zoë [Pollock] - Scarlet Red And Blue (1991)	Review Half a classic widescreen pop rock album, half phoned in makeweight filler. I bought this to make up the numbers in my local charity shop's 3 for 1 pound deal on CDs, mostly because, having heard that all time classic widescreen summer staple: Sunshine On A Rainy Day, I wanted to see if the rest of the album was up to much... ...I wasn't optimistic, given that it's been years and years since it's release, and I figured if the rest was any good, I'd have heard some of it over the years, surely? Fortunately, it kicks off with a stonker, that I have indeed heard before, but just forgot: Lightning, every bit the equal of that previously mentioned hit, and indeed, the whole first half of this album is full of very strong, memorable tunes done in that huge, big energy widescreen pop rock style underpinned with a synthy / hip hop - ish beat... so much so, that the first enormous surprise comes in this fashion, in shape of the title track: Scarlet, Red and Blue, which, if I didn't know otherwise, I could swear was a Massive Attack song! (seriously, you cannot tell the difference) And while Mountains, Loving Kind, and Holy Days are all of this standard of epic pop-ery, worthy of the price of the CD on their own, after the pinnacle of this album, Sunshine etc. the level seems to fall away considerably, either because it was always asking too much to keep that level up (and having front loaded the strongest stuff) or they just ran out of ideas, and had to pad it out a bit, it feels a bit flat thereafter... ...But, that said, the final song: Smile In The Darkness does pick it right back up to the standard of the first half... so a good save on the last tune. Possibly the other tracks will grow on me over the time a little, but even if not, there is more than enough on this album to make it a great buy, so much so, this one is not going back to the charity shop! >It's a keeper!< :) 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 16th May 2022		CD Album Various Artists - POP (Do We Not Like That?) (1994)	Review This compilation is amazing! Got it yesterday... already my favourite CD in the last year or so. Hyper-intense, synth and punky indie stuff... all complicated rhythms, and never boring. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 15th Mar 2022		CD Album Joe Cocker - Night Calls (1991)	Review Going to do something a little odd here, and review just one song on this. (This is because it doesn't seem to have been released as a single, so can't review it, except on an album) It's one of those songs that has been kind of "with me" for a while, but mostly somewhere in the background of my mind, and I've only relatively recently become consciously aware of it, and sought it out. The song in question is: Can't Find My Way Home which although not overtly, made quite an impression on me when first hearing it in one of my favourite films: Benny And Joon. Having recently re-watched it (again! :) I decided I wanted to find the track at long last, did a search on the internet... To my surprise, I saw it was written by Steve Winwood, and moreover, was done so, and performed by him for the "Supergroup" album: Blind Faith - That whole Clapton ensemble thing with the front cover controversy. It surprised me, as I had heard that whole album some years before even seeing the film that brought the song to my attention, and remember having been distinctly underwhelmed by it - very disappointing album given the people gathered on it especially. I remember a largely flat, tuneless affair that made no impression on the memory... ...So I decided to re-listen to the Blind Faith version of the song again on Youtube, and yup, a very lifeless, thin sounding song came forth - really amazed at this, as Winwood sings, and gives a very thin, whiny vocal, not at all like his earlier or later stuff, which we know he is capable of, and even famed for - that natural Bluesy voice that he can belt out at whim... No the original Blind Faith one is crap. I tried for another version, perhaps a re-record from later years by him, ,maybe giving it a little extra oomph, but no, just a couple of live versions just as weakly rendered, but this time, acoustic, and solo. Very disappointed, I then discovered an Eric Clapton live version, also somewhat floppy and vague sounding. Finally, I came back to Joe Cocker, but couldn't seem to find the version from the film - the versions I happened upon were from the Cocker album: Organic, which, if anything, seem to go too far the other way - too throaty, too guttural sounding for me. At last, I found this version on this album, which is the version from the film, but does not seem to appear on the soundtrack album... (Grrrrrr... I hate it when they do that, have a song prominently feature in a movie, then leave it off the soundtrack album! - Grrrrr again!) ...It's not quite lived up to my expectations or hopes, but not far short. But this is truly an excellent song I think, and I feel that maybe the definitive version is yet to be made by.... someone. [YouTube Video] ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 6th Aug 2021		CD Album Garbage - Not Your Kind Of People (2012)	Review I'm building an opinion on this album, as I didn't immediately take to it due to comparisons with a phenomenal first impression made by their debut album... ...But the other day I took my shoes for a walk for the first time in a long time (Over any meaningful distance)... ((Good grief, my ass has turned to memory foam during lockdown! - have to get back to Superbad condition!!!)) ... and this, not taken as a Garbage album (in not making that comparison), but judged on it's own terms, and for what I needed it to do (drown out the monotonous drone of both heavy traffic and the horror of family visits, as well as propel me along the roadside while I was pushing pavement), is a winner! I'm about half way into liking this a lot, and it's winning me over song by song, as I work my way into it, just as it works it's way into me... A much more settled blend of the "punky" attitude and the electronica power pop this time, and I expect, what with the almost Kashmir-esque harmonica toot of Control, and the absolute ear-worm of Blood For Poppies, to start rating these individual tracks higher and higher over time. [YouTube Video] [YouTube Video] ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 9th Mar 2021		CD Album Kate Bush - The Sensual World (1989)	Review Better on CD than vinyl! I have this on both vinyl and this CD, and I have to say, this is a great sounding disc... ... The vinyl has a nice warmth you'd expect, and which is sympathetic to the nature of the music, but the overall sound design seems much more fitting to this. One of those that sounds made for CD... ... There's a very broad stereo field and a real sense of space and depth here which suits the ethereal quality of the songs. And it does this while still retaining weight and punch in the bass, and not sounding slightly shrill and tinny, which is a particular flaw with many CD versions of some albums. Many of the songs here are among my favourite Kate Bush tunes now, even if one or two are a bit filler-ish... ... And with that extra track (not on the vinyl) being one of the better ones, I think you're better opting for this CD first, before going for the inevitably more expensive original vinyl issue. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 6th Mar 2021		CD Album Dodgy - Free Peace Sweet (1996)	Review Happy happy, Joy Joy!!! Pure perfect organic bubblegum pop rock from the zenith of the nineties. ...And it sounds like summer too! Just the thing you want when the weather begins to improve a little, and get a spring back in your step, with bags of tunes you can hum, very melodic, and plenty of sing-a-long opportunities... and great harmonies. I do revisit this every every now and then for this reason, and it does much to quell the horror and misery of everyday life... (And that was even before the pandemic came along!). ... There's big bouncy numbers aplenty, a couple of gently introspective thoughtful songs, a soft, and delicate folky vibe here and there, and even a brain scraping, partly experimental power thump in the shape of Ain't No Longer Asking to round it off. Goes nice with more clement weather, a chilly beverage, and what I'm reliably informed is something called: "optimism"... ...And maybe daffodils :) [YouTube Video] [YouTube Video] 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 28th Feb 2021		CD Album Ocean Colour Scene - Moseley Shoals (1996)	Review One of the best albums of the nineties... and getting better with age! Some albums seem to make a fair old noise at the time of release, being definitive of their time, while others are not so firmly rooted in their era. ...These last, such as this one, don't date, or age as badly, and tend to improve with each listen. Listening closely, the odd thing about how this album achieves this, in that there are relatively few working parts in it's construction... ...And it is most definitely a "constructed" record. What strikes the ear more than anything, is that over and above the basic drums, and bass, and vocals, it's mostly a collection of short (very short) passages, phrases, stabs, and hooks, all tied together in the production, with a bit over here on the left channel, some over there on the right, a little in the middle distance, and a few bits in the middle to hold it all together. Not so much guitar pyrotechnics, as acrobatics.... pieces of guitar in different effects peddles and so on, cast about, strewn, and popping up all over. All of which creates an effect of having more in there than is actually the case, and a very dynamic listen. The same is true of the drumming too, which doesn't settle too much on one constant pattern, but is full of energetic fills and punctuation. And all of this goes on over around some exceptionally well written, classic (almost standard) feeling songs, with bags of hooks, melodies, and tunes. Not a track to skip, and you find yourself, not only humming vocals that have gotten stuck in your head, but guitar parts too. Extraordinary album, and one the ten best of the nineties for me. There is, however, one fatal flaw, in that those of us who would exchange a nut for a vinyl copy of this (OK, a bit of extreme... but then, I didn't say it would be my nut! :D ) would have to accept the whole two disc affair - one single album across two discs - which I really do not like! - One disc please!!!... So, until such a single disc vinyl is issued (never going to happen, I know), then the CD is all you need... it would be your best purchase of the year! 9 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 28th Jan 2021		CD Album Sleeper - The It Girl (1996)	Review The Crest of the Britpop wave... ... And as such, should probably be a staple in any 90s collection. However, for me, I only ever tuned into the singles from this album at the time (Impossible to get away from them back then!), and only recently have found the album in a charity shop and thought I should the whole thing a long overdue listen... ...And it's good. Very good in fact... -In those aforementioned singles which are: Sale Of The Century, What Do I Do Now?, Statuesque, and Nice Guy Eddie (more remembered the names than the tunes of these last two)- ...But not great. On it's own terms the rest of the album has couple of indie (sounding) Britpop guitary highs like Good Luck Mr Gorsky, but largely, although containing a lot of the swagger of the age, it's very affected, stylised, and "posed" - an artifice. Louise wener has since gone on to a literary career... (although a recent reunion happened I believe) ... but early signs of that are here throughout, in very dense, unconventional "story" songs, which do satisfy on that level, but I'm not sure they work great as hummable tunes exactly. So at the time of the "Ladette", I think Louise Wener was more of an "Anti-Ladette", smart, self assured, and taking herself way too seriously... (Really, try and find photos of her smiling from this time!) ...which all comes through in the music, in a way that seems a little too "constructed", deliberately oblique and "better than thou". A more honest expression of feeling is found in the two headline singles here: Sale Of The Century, and What Do I Do Now?, which, if the whole album was this way would have made for a brilliant album, but it isn't, and while the rest is OK, I don't think I've missed too much in the meantime. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 23rd Jan 2021		CD Album Tori Amos - American Doll Posse (2007)	Review Almost half a truly great Tori Amos album... ...Trapped inside too much of a mediocre one. To borrow the old expression: "Too many notes!", which here is better rendered as: "Too many songs!" Of course, it's very inventive device to use the "posse" idea to justify cramming the total fruits of an obviously very prolific period all onto one album... (And justify the sporadic "All over the map" themes and styles) ... But this could seriously have benefitted from the judicious application of the editor's scissors, and the leaving thereby, half (maybe more) of these songs for other projects, B-sides, or further development. As these tend to swamp, and dilute the impact of the truly brilliant top Tori tunes on this album. Cut down to an album of perhaps eight of the best, this would be considered one of Tori Amos' best albums.... ... It's still great, but take away the need for the "skip" button, and it's greater still. Less is more. [YouTube Video] [YouTube Video] 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 8th Jan 2021		CD Album Garbage - Version 2.0 (1998)	Review My worst suspicions confirmed... ... It's taken me twenty some odd years to get around to listening to this, but found it in a charity shop last year, and it has only confirmed the reason I gave it a miss on it's original release: It's too 'manufactured' and 'plastic' sounding Garbage, trying to be hip and with it and all techno pop confection, rather than the original concept of the band, as found in their excellent debut, which was centred around an image, and a sound and attitude of being slightly sleazy and disreputable, slack and grimy.... you know.... Garbage. Of course, it's commendable that the band tried not to simply make the same album twice (they're not Coldplay, after all! :), but this seems the polar aopposite of what they set the band to be... they lost their selling point. I think there may be some good tunes in here somewhere, but I can't hear them for the most part through all the directionless, frenetic, and relentless synth drums and techno-squiqgly bits which drown out the songs, and make the whole thing quite flat and tedious... (contrary, ironaically, to what they put all that nonsense in there to achieve) ...Or it could simply be they layered all that crap on there to hide the fact that the songs underneath were not altogether great, and maybe a little rushed, or just ran out of ideas. There's a couple of tracks worthy of their former selves which do manage to make themselves known, and punch through the fog, those being the opening two tracks: Temptation Waits, and the well known: I think I'm Paranoid, as well as the last track, which is a good one, but overall, it does kind of explain why I, like many after their debut, just said... "Meh" ...Being as this isn't what we signed up for, or bought into in the original Garbage concept. I know the original was essentially, a contrivance anyway, but it was true to the idea, and did it well, but this is pretty dull. 8 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 24th Oct 2020		CD Album Feeder - Pushing The Senses (2005)	Review Masterful, Melancholic pop rock tunes... ...without a duff track on it. Really consistent quality throughout this album, that, while it doesn't re-invent the wheel, is just, well, brilliant. Full of memorable tunes, melodies, and a sense of big rock scale, which juxtaposes euphoric heights against a prevailing undercurrent of sadness. Hit's all the right buttons, and has a longevity of listen-ability... a frequent visitor to my ears, and my tip for one of the albums that will emerge from the pack in years to come as one of the classic noughties albums. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 28th Jul 2020		CD Album Adamski - Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmarcy (1990)	Review Fortunately, the music here has not aged as badly as the fashions or cover art here :) This is a pretty timeless slice of ambient electro dance noodling, and even the Doors / Presley "covers", which might otherwise have been ill advised, are rendered to fit nicely here. Should be regarded as a classic of it's type, great for late night Moomin moments and something to drift away to. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 4th Jun 2020		CD Album R.E.M. - Murmur (1993)	Review All Joy... No division. As I am only a casual R.E.M. fan, I'd never really given this much thought before... R.E.M. are one of those groups / artists who everyone can say they like, and are familiar with at least something they have done, but barring the lead song here: Radio Free Europe, I'm not sure if other casuals will know much about the rest of this album either, but it's an absolute winner from start to finish, and has a more even feel and consistency for me than the later mega hits: Out of Time, and Automatic For The People etc. I think this is perhaps because those ones are too well known now, and there's one or two on those that are a little saccharine and populist as well as overplayed. I only bought this from the charity shop because it was 25p, and thought... "Why not?" ...Further to this, I only played it through from top to bottom because I was testing my newly fixed Sony Discman (The batteries blew last year in the heat)... And what an album I discovered! The thing that struck me, is how like Joy Division / early New Order the tone, or overall sound they created was... but with the as yet unrealised inner R.E.M. of later years trying to get out... and occasionally doing so with the now familiar harmony vocals, strong tunes and melodies... but all to a noise that Ian Curtis could quite happily throw some shapes to... ...as indeed I have done in the privacy of my own cave! :) This is getting repeated plays right now, and needs an upgrade in my collection to a vinyl copy sometime soon! 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 23rd May 2020		CD Album Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree (2008)	Review A nice cool cucumber confection in which to dip the breadstick of your mind. As often happens with the passage of time, those more subtle, and maybe less impactful releases by any given group tend to rise to the head of the list of your favourites by that band by virtue of the proverbial turntable test... ...which in spite of what the critics say, you yourself like to think is technically the better record, which of them actually makes it to your stereo most often? Think Massive Attack: Blue Lines is lauded to the rafters, due to it's significance etc. but we all know you're listening to Mezzanine really!!! Or: "quick get that New Order record off, and pretend I'm actually listening to Joy Division!" So it is with this more pastoral, rustic, soft, summer hazy sounding electro-hippie album by Goldfrapp. For me, this is the one to listen to, and is gradually pushing aside the harder electro dance pop from previous, and there's only really two songs or so from Felt Mountain I really listen to... or like. (a lot like Blue Lines!!!) This has that lethargic lazy summer vibe that swoons over you, and strikingly, from the music, to the lyrics themselves, seems to have a new contextual relevance in it's compatibility with Lockdown Malaise. But it's more consistent than other Goldfrapps, has bags of memorable tunes and melodies, and is a nice soothing balm to listen all the way through, which you can do without skipping a track. A current favourite. [YouTube Video] [YouTube Video] 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 6th Apr 2020		CD Album Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing (1987)	Review A genuine classic. ...But firstly, you must consider the two songs on this that you know... Or, in the case of one them... think you know. ...For the version (of which there are two on here!) of Tom's Diner that you will be familiar with from the radio is not on here. That one is a remix (music added) of the "spoken word" version which opens the show here. (That popular version can be found on the cd single: DNA Featuring Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner ) And then there's the immensely hummable Luka, which you probably also know anyway... ...But it's the rest of the album that you should be buying this for, which is a collection of superbly crafted, melodic and lyrically brilliant folk- rock-ish tunes with a lovely open, warm and expansive sound typical of the best kind of production of that time... and all adding up to a more contemplative listen, with Suzanne Vega's more "introverted" lyrics and style of singing. Vinyl and cds of this are cheap, and very easy to find, not to mention highly recommended. [YouTube Video] 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 4th Apr 2020		CD Album Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power (2003)	Review A very warm and friendly album. I found this in a huge plastic bucket of clearance CDs in a charity shop... (they also had a chair to sit in while you rumaged! - Hallelujah! - Needless to say I spent a good hour or so sat there like some kind of audio-gnome) ... and it turns out to have been one of my best buys in recent years in terms of the music. Never really got into the Super Furry's that much, as they seemed (on the strength of Guerrilla) to be a bit too sporadic in terms of quality. But this is magnificent. They've seemingly jettisoned a lot of the too kooky stuff, in favour of a more fundamental approach of very strong tuneful and melodic songs, rendered in a more "honest" well played, and well crafted way. And it is consistently excellent all the way through... not a duff track. In style, it has a very warm, almost 1960s country-lite, gently psychedelic feel with nice harmonies (very slightly Beach Boys-esque), with the odd electronic tones and flavouring... but the real genius of it is that they have used all these (and other) elements with a very light touch, but in so doing, have allowed the cumulative effect of all of them together to make a very strongly cohesive whole. Bags of great, memorable tunes, melodies, and a very soothing listen... a nice place to spend an hour or so, and which has made me listen to it quite a lot. I think it will grow in people's affections over time too, because of this. [YouTube Video] 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 3rd Apr 2020		CD Album The Big Pink - A Brief History Of Love (2009)	Review Big squiggly eclectic electro indie pop! Instrumentally, it's a real barmy bag of bits, at times, even abrasive sounding... but the songs themselves are very tuneful, melodic, dramatic, and grandiose. There's even a kind of 80's pop song vibe which cuts through the whole album, which is altogether very strong and consistent. I'm even contemplating getting this on vinyl, but that's one of those awful two disc affairs, which I hate, however well pressed, and how good they sound - all one one disc please! - But then, this particular title is very cheap, so maybe It'd be rude not to get one anyway:) [YouTube Video] 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 2nd Apr 2020		CD Album Donna Summer - The Journey (2004)	Review I've got a single disc eco-pak of this I'll have to dig out... (eco-pak: reformed / recycled card sleeve, about the same quality as an egg box) You really see that although only seemingly slightly regarded as an artist compared with other contemporaries, Donna Summer was actually quite innovative, as well as diverse in what she did, and should probably be taken more seriously... Certainly, when you pull all of her most well known tunes together like this, you realise just what her contribution was. Great songs... a pleasure, but I sure ain't guilty about it! Just take a look online for who she managed to get together as the backing choir on this cover of a Jon & Vangelis tune!: [YouTube Video] 8 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 26th Aug 2017		CD Album Tangerine Dream - Rubycon (1987)	Review Hmmm... Tastes like chicken. ...Well, that's what people tend to say when presented with some new mystery meat that has no real distinguishing taste of it's own, and asked what it tastes like... And this is essentially ambient musical chicken. It could be anyone (Brian Eno?), probably everyone (possessed of a synthesiser or two), but it's most definitely someone! Attempting to review this, or anything on it is difficult as there's nothing really to latch on to... it's great swells and washes of synths that sometimes build to a kind of punctuation, sometimes just drift, and sometimes seem to dissipate altogether. But that's not to say I don't like this kind of thing, in fact, it's just the ticket if you want to tune out for half an hour or descend into a dribbling trance like state with some musical wallpaper.. - which I frequently do - ... it's just kind of.......... there. really. But that would lead me to my only criticism.... it's not really long enough. If you want to get that way, you want to stay in that space for a good long while, but the limitations of he vinyl of the day probably kept this at this length. Great stuff... but need more! 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 21st Aug 2017		CD Album Television - Marquee Moon (1989)	Review Another one on my "To be investigated" list... ... In that it's one (band too) that I'd always been aware of, and seen the cover and heard the reputation of the band and this album over the years, but never got around to hearing. I think the impression I had that it was "punk" tended to push it down my list of priorities, but I think that the term doesn't really apply that much, as this is much better than that. More subtle, understated, tuneful, and melodic... more thoughtfully constructed too, this actually sounds less dated, fresher, and free from it's time than anything else of it's era... In fact it sounds like it could have been released almost anytime in the last ten to twenty years, which may be a signal of it's accumulated influence on modern music, and that many more recent bands have been influenced by this than other bands of the time, in reality; Albeit they get more credit. The drums which open the one of these tracks bears more than a passing resemblance to the those which open "Stupid Girl", by Garbage... and the vocal style must surely have influenced the lead singer of Clap You Hands, Say Yeah! If you like indie or rock from these last ten and twenty years, chances are, you'll love this. One you'll want to spend more time with than just a passing listen. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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