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Content by Mr. H
Reviewer Rank: 80
Helpful Votes:
2180
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Reviews Written by
Mr. H "the-rocker.co.uk" (Embra)
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...a gripping yarn, but proceed with caution..., 16 Jul 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
An ambitious young journalist arrives at the battlefields of the Crimea. With the assistance of his boss and a war artist, he sets about exposing the incompetence of the army generals. He later returns to England under mysterious circumstances, and takes a job as as a society writer reporting on the gossip of the day. But then his past catches up with him.
It's a gripping yarn, albeit one written with a 21st century view of war. The battlefield side of the tale is the compelling one, where Plampin graphically details the horrors of war. However, it loses some of its focus when he returns to London, and there were a few coincidences too many for my liking. Regardless, it never gets boring and he is definitely a good writer.
Like others, I'll keep the ending a secret, but it was the one thing that stopped this book getting at least 4 stars. I'd still recommend it, but proceed with caution.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
...noir comes to weegieland..., 16 Jul 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
The first in what will, hopefully, be a new series sees author Craig Russell doing a bang up job of creating a noir thriller in the landscape of early fifties Glasgow.
Now, I'm fae Embra, so am more than happy to read about the dark, dank, mucky goings on, across in Weegie land, but even without my bias, this would be a fantastic read. The lead character is a somewhat unsavoury private investigator, whose got himself mixed up with Glasgows gangland leaders - the Three Kings. He's actually a Canadian war veteran, who never went home, so has an outsiders perspective on the natives, which makes for some black, and enjoyable humour.
What starts off as small case involving the death of a minor gangster ends up as something considerably more complicated and interesting, as Lennox ends up treading in places you really don't want to go. Some of the characters are straight out of the Big Book of Stereotypes, but the dialogue and story are snappy enough to keep you turning the pages.
A thoroughly enjoyable tale, which had me hooked from the off, I'll be happy to look out for more of his adventures in the future.
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Get Ready
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| Price: £9.98 |
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| Availability: In stock |
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...x-factor dude does good..., 16 Jul 2009
Oliver Weers was a contestant on the Danish version of the X-Factor last year, and even though he was knocked out at an early stage, his renditions of rock classics earned him a lot of fans.
Grabbing his chance with both hands, he's recorded an album, not of cover versions, which would have been the easy route, but of ten originals and a sole cover version. And the cover version is `Army Of Me' by Bjork! His guitarist and song writing partner is a guy called Soren Andersen, but for the rhythm section he's pulled in some big guns. None other than Tommy Aldridge and Marco Mendoza, who've actually played with just about everyone between them, including Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Ted Nugent and Ozzy Osbourne.
And it's all rather good. Even if the first words uttered are "I'm crazy to rock, I'm crazy to roll". This is a man who obviously loves the melodic hard rock of the mid to late eighties, and figures if this is his one chance, then he'll make the album he wants to.
Granted, not all of the songs are out of the top drawer, but I can't help but smile and air guitar, to fist in the air tunes like `Hands High' and `Pleasure Train'. The Tony Martin era Black Sabbath stomp of `Crawling Back Again' was a particular treat, and with Aldridge and Mendoza in rock solid form, this was an enjoyable, retro forty minutes.
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Aura
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| Price: £8.98 |
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| Availability: Available for pre-order |
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...a sparkling melodic rock return..., 16 Jul 2009
Can it really be seventeen years since the first Fair Warning album came out? Sadly, it's true, as my grey whiskers will attest. This is the second album since the band regurgitated, following on from "Brother's Keeper", and really does hark back to the splendid melodic rock of their debut.
Tommy Heart has always had a great voice, but this release really sees him singing his, um, heart out on hard rocking gems like 'Fighting For Your Love', as well as an array of mighty power ballads, with the oddly titled 'As Snow White Found Out', my particular favourite.
If there's a slight quibble, it's that most of the material bobs along at the same tempo. However, with songs this good, and a band playing at their peak, it really doesn't matter that much. A sparkling melodic rock return.
S'really a 3.5, but Amazon don't do halves
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...an out and out winner..., 9 Jul 2009
It really is a hit and miss thing, this success malarkey. After all, why should squeaky Duffy and bland Adele get hyped up and invited to all the swish shindigs. Fair enough, Duffy had one good tune, but there's more life, verve and passion in these five tracks than in both other lassies albums put together.
Ms Russell has a voice that is instantly memorable, leaping out of the speakers, equal parts smooth and gritty. Chuck in a handful of really, really good songs, and this should be an out and out winner.
For sure, the arrangements are mining the same sixties soul scene as many others, but there's a loose, jazzy feel that brings to mind the best work of the Average White Band. Check out songs like 'Living The Life Of A Dreamer' and her cover of Gnarls Barkleys 'Crazy'. I defy you not to be converted to her cause.
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...McFly on steroids..., 8 Jul 2009
With a dodgy name, a combined age of 12, and the best barrow-boy accent since Jimmy Pursey adopted the Artful Dodgers, here come Reemer with their McFly on steroids approach to pop-punk.
There are enough "woo-hoos", jump around choruses and angstful lyrics about how, like, it's so hard being 12, and they, like, know nothing, nothing about what I'm going through, leave me alone, I hate you, to keep a nation of pubescent youths stuck to the seat.
Even better, top tunes like 'Maniac' and 'Invisible Man' barely break the 2 minute mark, which is everything over exciteable pop-punk anthems should be. Not sure about the change to Yorkshire half way through, but it's a fun half hour.
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Boys Town
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| Price: £9.98 |
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| Availability: In stock |
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...rock with a smattering of STDs..., 7 Jul 2009
Now, see, this looks like it should be a great, sleaze rock albun. A full-breasted, leather clad vixen teasing us with her zipper, while we really, really hope she's not just come back from a long holiday in Brazil. Even better, the splendidly named Nasty Idols spell the word night as 'NITE', like all proper rawk bands should.
You won't be surprised to learn that Nasty Idols are from Sweden, and that they are single-handedly keeping the Scandinavian hairspray industry in business. Who care about the ozone layer and the fictitious global warming industry when there are shapes to be thrown and poses to be made. Not me, I can bloody well tell you.
It's a real bonus when this turns out be a cracking album as well. I thought it would be when I spied a Lords Of The New Church cover version in amongst the self-penned gems like 'Rock Out', 'Nite Like This', '7 Year Itch' and 'Need The Nite'. Oh yes.
This is how rawk should be. Dirty, sleazy. over the top, teetering on the edge and with a smattering of assorted STDs. So it's a big welcome back to eighties icons Nasty Idols. Long may your peroxide stand tall.
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...some great grooves..., 6 Jul 2009
ZOO (always upper case) have been getting some big props for their blend of jazz fusion, although the bandied about description of 'Everythign But The Girl meets Suzanne Vega' was nearly enough to have me run off screaming into the night. Although, to be fair, musch like the lass out of EBTG, the lass out of ZOO canny sing either.
Musically, however, things are much better, although there are probably a few too many nods to Shakatak for me. But when they get a bit more advernturous and head off into a world populated by the likes of Al De Meola, then I'm much, much happier.
Strangely, or maybe not so strangely, the best tracks always seem to be when there is some guesting brass along for the ride. In particular, there is some fantastic work from John Sanderson on 'Button By Button' and 'Like A Knife'. the future of jazz? No, but there are some great players lurking in these grooves.
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Nobody Move
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by Denis Johnson
Edition: Paperback |
| Price: £8.39 |
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| Availability: In stock |
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...a slight but entertaining criminal yarn..., 5 Jul 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
Blimey! I certainly didn't need my glasses to read this teeny toty book. Not with print that big. Some of the pages have got barely a hundred words on them, so I really hope it's on recycled paper. However, as I took it into the countryside one afternoon, it was a perfect length for a couple of hours sitting on the riverbank.
Denis Johnson is new to me but is, apparently, an award winning author of a sprawling Vietnam epic. Well this is nothing like that. Rather it's a contemporary crime story, chock full of extreme violence, torture and guns. It tells the tale of a barbershop singer who is in debt to loan sharks. He ends up shooting the guy whose going to shoot him, goes on the run, bumps into the wife of an embezzler who framed her for his crime (as you do), and they team up for a slightly confusing revenge tale.
Johnson is a fine writer of dialogue, and this is full of pithy gems. It's quite a slight story, touching on the usual Leonard / Chandler style, with a black sense of humour and a great ending. It won't get me reading his epic just yet, but for an afternoons entertainment, it was well worth it.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
...the beginning of the end..., 3 Jul 2009
A Night On The Town and Atlantic Crossing were the albums that saw Rod Stewart junk his old buddies in The Faces, bring in a host of top notch session musicians and move fully into the world of adult contemporary music. For a lot of people it was where he lost his mojo, but as he teetered on the edge of becoming a fully fledged cartoon character, there were still some songs worth listening to.
Starting with the lesser of the two, A Night On The Town, from 1976, solidified the success of Atlantic Crossing, but with a stodgier set of songs, and the final smoothing of the rough edges. That smoothing helped create a couple of massive hit singles in the shape of "Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright)" and "The Killing Of Georgie (Part I and II)", both from the ever diminishing pen of Rod himself. This remastered set comes as a 2-CD edition, with the first one adding in B-side "Rosie". The second set adds in early versions of the whole album and B-side, along with a studio outtake called "Share" and an alternate version of the Beatles tune "Get Back". The earlier versions actually work very well, as they're less polished than the issued ones. However, the album isn't a classic with only the aforementioned "Tonight's The Night..." and "The First Cut Is The Deepest" making the cut on my personal best of Rod.
Moving back nine months (yes only nine months) we have Atlantic Crossing, the last truly essential Rod Stewart album. Despite the cries of sell out and the move to Los Angeles, this album saw the friction between his past and his future creating something a bit special. Some of the songs were recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and even if the Fast Side / Slow Side split doesn't work as well on CD, this still remains a cracker. Now I loathe "Sailing" as much as the next man, but by the time you get there, you've already heard fabulous renditions of "Three Time Loser", "Drift Away", "Stone Cold Sober" and the big, non-Sailing hits, "I Don't Want To Talk About It" and "This Old Heart Of Mine", the latter recorded with the MGs. Not to forget my favourite of them all, the Barry Goldberg / Gerry Goffin song "It's Not The Spotlight". The main album is augmented with an extra instrumental featuring The Atlantic Crossing Drum & Pipe Band playing the "Skye Boat Song", so you may want to hit pause after "Still Love You".
Over on the second disc you can hear alternate versions of the entire album, along with three outtakes well worth hearing, as Rod takes on covers of the Bee Gee's "To Love Somebody", Lee Dorsey's "Holy Cow" and Elvis Presley's "Return To Sender". If you're someone who wrote Rod Stewart off after his first couple of solo albums, then you really should give this one a chance. It's well worth the price of admission.
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