Janine

Dolly Parton-White Limozeen

Record Label: Columbia
Year: 1989
Track Listing:
01. Time For Me To Fly
02. Yellow Roses
03. Why’d You Come In Here Lookin Like That
04. Slow Healing Heart
05. What Is It My Love
06. White Limozeen
07. Wait Til I Get You Home
08. Take Me Back To The Country
09. The Moon, The Stars, And Me
10. He’s Alive

White Limozeen was released in 1989, and saw Dolly Parton return to the country fold after the commercial failure of her previous album, 1987’s Rainbows. Produced by Rickyy Scaggs, it featured a duet with Mac Davis along with a REO Speedwagon’s ‘Time For Me To Fly’.

After the crap that Parton produced as mediocre country, White Limozeen was definitely a fresh start for Parton and with tracks such as ‘Yellow Roses’ and ‘Why’d You Come In Here Lookin Like That’ it’s very, very impressive.

Parton put everything into this album, resulting in the sometimes cheeky tunes (‘Why’d You Come In Here’), to the gospel-tinged (‘He’s Alive’) to the heart-broken (‘Yellow Roses’ and ‘The Moon, The Stars and Me’)
Dolly is as country as anyone, and nobody does betrayal, humour and heartbreak laments better than her.

While Parton only wrote four of the ten songs, each song on this album is spectacular and allowed to her to shine in a way she hadn’t in a while. Her previous solo efforts had been mediocre, and the only time she had really stood out during this time was on 1987’s ‘Trio’, which saw her team up with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.

Her Duet with Mac Davis is worth the album alone, and shows that Parton can perform just as well in a Duet as she does by herself. Definitely a great track, and one of the best on the album.

There’s only one song on this album I find myself cringing over and it’s her cover of REO Speedwagon’s ‘Time For Me To Fly’. I’m still not sure whether it’s Parton herself, or that the song just sucks but it’s not her best effort.
However the same can’t be said for her cover of Don Francisco’s ‘He’s Alive’, which has a strong gospel feel to it, something Parton is very, very comfortable and talented with.

‘Take Me Back To Country’ is quite symbolic, as it is almost an indication that Dolly got the point of her fans to sing just country after the massive success of the traditional country ‘Trio’ and the commercial failure of ‘Rainbows’.

This is probably one of Dolly Parton’s more solid albums, and certainly the comeback album that allowed her a chance to step out of the shadows of emerging country stars, and shine again.

Songs not to miss: ‘Why You’d Come In Here Lookin Like That’, ‘Yellow Roses’, ‘White Limozeen’, ‘The Moon, The Stars and Me’ and ‘He’s Alive’.

Rating: I give it 4 out of 5

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U2: Rattle and Hum

June 16th 2009 07:56

U2-Rattle and Hum

Year: 1988
Record Label: Island Records
Track listing:
01. Helter Skelter
02. Van Diemen’s land
03. Desire
04. Hawkmoon 269
05. All along the watchtower
06. I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
07. Freedom for my people
08. Silver and gold
09. Pride (in the name of love)
10. Angel of Harlem
11. Love rescue me
12. When love comes to town
13. Heartland
14. God part II
15. The Star Spangled Banner
16. Bullet the blue sky
17. All I want is you

This is probably one of my favourite U2 albums. Always has been, always will be. It’s the one I tend to pull out whenever I feel the urge to listen to Bono and the boys.
So what is it about this album that keeps me coming back for more, you may ask.
While it was greeted with much disdain when it first came out, due to the feature film that accompanied it, it does pay tribute to the likes of Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix.
The duet with BB King also suggests that the mockumentary that accompanied it was exactly that, a mockumentary.
A mixture of live tracks and studio tracks, the album does have an American feel to it, and as mentioned earlier does pay tribute to many different artists. But while fans dismissed the album, it is an album worthy of it’s predessors with the blistering track of “Desire”, the heartwrenching, “All I want is you” and the very bluesy “When loves come to town”, which BB King does justice to.

One of the things I love about this CD is that it allows other members to be in the spotlight, instead of just Bono. The Edge gives us a sample of his own eccletic vocals in “Van Diemen’s land”, that shows a promise of the folksinger within.

Despite it’s slamming by it’s fans and the critics, this album still out to me, and was influential in my falling in love with U2 all over again. It shows that Bono and the boys know how to rock with the best of them, and aren’t afraid of mixing it up and experimenting with different sounds, as they did with hawkmoon 269.

I also love their version of All Along the watchtower. Granted Jimi will never be beaten, but this example exudes the sweat and passion that omits from Bono, as he throatily sings this song. As mentioned, Jimi can’t be beaten, but Bono is definitely a worthy adversary.

Lyrically, this album really shows U2 as master songwriters. All I want is you is an example of that. Still considered one of their most famous songs, it is brilliantly writing, and Edge is at his best with an intriculate guitar solo, with amps turned up loud. They can be heard over Bono’s final cry of “all I want is your love…your love”.

One thing that many forget about this album is that it did spawn many different hits, including All I want is you, Angel of Harlem, and when love comes to town.

The brilliance of the Harlem Choir accompanies “I still haven’t found what I am looking for”, and gives the song a new makeover, that I think definitely highlights the song’s strength. While the original is worthy, this new version is much better, and the choir really does do the song justice.

I think one of the ideas of the U2 mockumentary and this album, was for U2 to make a connection with America. Bono once said that “American both fascinates and frightens me”, and I think that is evident on this album.
Heartland is a perfect allegory of a woman, and the United States. There is no doubt that U2 are passionate about some of their idols, and do them justice on this album.

The band do experiment with a lot of American style music- blues, choirs, and of course touch on the American Star Spangled Banner, with Edge using his magic touch on it.

One last thing that should be pointed out about this album, is that it is a live album and shows what U2 do very best-performing live. Every member knows how to put on a performance, whether it be Larry with his drum solos, Edge and his blistering guitars or Bono camping it up. This album captures all of this, and captures the passion that is U2.
There is no denying that they love their jobs, and love preaching to the people, as they do with “silver and gold”. That should never be taken from them.

Standout songs on the album? Helter Skelter, desire, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for, silver and gold, angel of harlem, when loves comes to town, all I want is you.

I give this 5/5

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Flogging Molly-the complete control sessions

May 29th 2009 07:35

Flogging Molly-The Complete Control Sessions

Record Label: SideOneDummy Records
Year: 2007
Track Listing:
01. Requiem For A Dying Song
02. Whistles The Wind
03. Tobacco Island
04. Factory Girls
05. Float
06. Devil’s Dance Floor

The Complete Control Sessions is a six track live EP originally released solely on itunes, before it became available on Amazon. Strictly considered an online album, it includes ‘Float’ and ‘Requiem For a Dying Song’, which were considered two of their unreleased tracks. They’ve seen appeared on 2008’s Float.

An American-Irish punk band, Flogging Molly’s themes references range from the Roman Catholic Church, to themes of defiance.
Complete Control highlights Flogging Molly at their finest live: as a seven piece punk band infused with Celtic instruments, Fiddles and lead vocalist David King’s gravelly voice. Flogging Molly’s ability to infuse fiddles with punk rock would astound many, but it’s why they stand apart from the many other punk rock bands in the mix.

Many fans of Flogging Molly will recognize Devil’s Dance Floor (from Swagger) and ‘Whistles The Wind’, ‘Factory Girls’ and ‘Tobacco Island’ from Within A Mile From Home.
To hear them performed live and in acoustic style is a delight not to be missed, in particularly the rambunctious gig ‘Devil’s Dance Floor’ and ‘Factory Girl’s’.

A fine introduction to Celtic-punk for those who have never sampled it.

I give it 4/5

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Heidi Newfield-What Am I Waiting For?

May 10th 2009 02:24

Heidi Newfield- What Am I Waiting For?

Record Label: Curb Records

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Paramore- Riot

April 27th 2009 08:54

Paramore-Riot

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Carrie Underwood wins Entertainer of the Year

April 7th 2009 08:02

Carrie Underwood is the first female, since Shania Twain, to win Entertainer of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

You can watch her acceptance speech here

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