BRMC-Beat The Devils Tattoo (2010)
Tracklist
"Beat The Devil's Tattoo"
"Conscience Killer"
"Bad Blood"
"War Machine"
"Sweet Feeling"
"Evol"
"Mama Taught Me Better"
"River Styx"
"The Toll"
"Aya"
"Shadow's Keeper"
"Long Way Down"
"Half-State"
BRMC's fifth studio album, the band's first studio release since last year's The Effects Of 333, and in many ways, it represents a new start for the decade-old trio.
With its opening title-track, Beat the Devil's Tattoo sets an immediate, engaging marker, yet War Machine soon stands up as the album lynchpin. Steered by white noise and cynicism, it's a proud barrage of rapier percussion and wailing guitar dynamics that lurches in all the right ways.
It's also the excessively cool, monochrome reminder that BRMC – once upon a time – were more concerned with smothering guitar psychedelics than pedestrian, harmonica-led meanders. The turgid piano and ambling pace of The Toll, and Long Way Down, are the sacrificial lambs this time.
But nestled beside these slighter offerings is the slow burn of Evol and the gloriously mordant Shadow's Keeper. When pitted against BRMC's finer moments of eyes-closed indulgence – like the pastoral Sweet Feeling – it’s clear that the album’s conflict makes for an increasingly frustrating listen.
A realm away from the much-maligned direction of Baby 81, Beat the Devil's Tattoo undoubtedly has its highlights. But where BRMC might have given us clarity, we’ve got contrasts instead.
(BBC Music)
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Classic Rock/ Blues
Valleys of Neptune (2010)
Tracklist
1. Stone Free
2. Valleys Of Neptune
3. Bleeding Heart
4. Hear My Train A Comin’
5. Mr. Bad Luck
6. Sunshine Of Your Love
7. Lover Man
8. Ships Passing In The Night
9. Fire
10. Red House
11. Lullaby For The Summer
12. Crying Blue Rain
(click image for download)
Some grousing from fans greets most posthumous Jimi Hendrix studio releases. And fair enough: Hendrix can't offer his opinion anymore, and between past dubious product (i.e., the heavily overdubbed Crash Landing) and ongoing estate squabbles, there's been plenty of sketchy business over the years. But on Valleys of Neptune — a collection of more-or-less previously unreleased tracks recorded with the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1969, assembled by the archivists at Legacy and the Hendrix estate — the music is seething, gorgeous, alive
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Soul/Jazz/Chill Out
Soldier of Love (2010)
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Tracklisting:
01 The Moon And The Sky
02 Soldier of Love
03 Morning Bird
04 Baby Father
05 Long Hard Road
06 Be That Easy
07 Bring Me Home
08 In Another Time
09 Skin
10 The Safest Place
Soldier of Love is the latest chapter in Grammy winning Sade Adu's incredible run as a mystery woman. Her first album in 8 eight years. The songs on Soldier of Love depict a soul whose wounds still sting but are healing with the hope that love will return. “My heart has been a lonely warrior before, whose been to war, so you can be sure,” Sade sings on “The Safest Place”, which brings the album’s ten songs to a pensive conclusion. It’s a closing statement that suits the context of the album, a kind survivor’s guide to love.
The qualities that millions of devoted fans enjoy about Sade are placed in new contexts on Soldier of Love. While listeners may not hear anything precisely reminiscent of their favorite songs on Promise (1985) or Stronger Than Pride (1987), they will hear Sade tread new territory. “I never want to repeat myself,” the singer has said. In this first year of a new decade, Sade bravely soldiers on, ever-committed to her artistic vision.
(PopMatters)
Sade - Soldier of Love (YouTube Video)
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