CD-Charts Position 91
Average Rating:

The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3

CD-Charts > Music > Compilations
by: Van Morrison

Release Date June 19, 2007
This double album is representative of V.M.'s best recent stuff. The fact that the sublime "Shenandoah" and "Meet Me in the Indian Summer" (Orchestral version) are included is alone worth the price of purchase. I've probably listened to Shenandoah 30 times already; it's a soul-stirring beauty of a song.

CD-Charts Position 92
Average Rating:

No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (The Bootleg Series Vol. 7)

CD-Charts > Music > Compilations
by: Bob Dylan

Release Date August 30, 2005
Before I heard this album, I viewed Dylan as over rated and I did not understand what all the fuss was about. The main song I had heard before this was rainy day women with it's horrable lyrics "everybody must get stoned".

But this album made me realize what a genius, word smith Dylan really was. Many of the songs on it are the best versions including: Don't Think Twice, Blowing in the Wind, Chimes of Freedom, Hard rain and so forth. This is a MUST have Dylan compilation and it stands as my favorite!

CD-Charts Position 93
Average Rating:

Living With Ghosts

CD-Charts > Music > Compilations
by: Patty Griffin

Release Date May 21, 1996
I saw Patty at a Strawberries (Remember Strawberries?) company conference in Providence Rhode Island supporting the release of this album. I was blown away. Her live performance is raw and refined at the same time. She has a gift for lyric. I think her best work is when she is alone with her guitar, therefore, my love for this album and her latest live release.

CD-Charts Position 94
Average Rating:

Diamonds & Rust

CD-Charts > Music > Compilations
by: Joan Baez

Release Date October 25, 1990
As a lifelong Judas Priest fan, l borrowed this album from someone who owned it to hear the original version of the title track. Judas Priest did a memorable version of this on their ''Unleashed ln The East (Live ln Japan)'', as well as an unplugged version on their reunion tour a couple of years ago. WH0A!!! This low key, folksy version kicks Judas Priest's hard and heavy, full octane version's butt. You can picture the gray overcast afternoon in Washington Square in Joan's version.

The rest of the album needs some getting used to, but l can listen to ''Diamonds And Rust'' over and over again on repeat for hours.

CD-Charts Position 95
Average Rating:

Pink Moon

CD-Charts > Music > Compilations
by: Nick Drake

Release Date May 06, 2003
Like Jesus, Nick Drake is a "resurrected musician" with terrific guitar sensibility who unfortunately died while young in the early 70s, perhaps of a drug overdose, perhaps suicide (it's unclear.) He was re-discovered, posthumously, by an advertising person who played his music in an excellent Volkswagen ad. While Drake has a wonderful gift for creating beautiful guitar sounds through open-tunings and off-beat tempos, his writing is lackluster and imagistic and often melancholy, somewhat blurry. His singing voice is high-pitched, unusual, with overtones of American Indian religious chanting. So Drake is on the verge of singer-songwriter excellence, in my view, but not quite there. I think what's happened is that people today feel guilty because of Drake's untimely ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 96
Average Rating:

Before The Flood [Live With The Band, 1974]

CD-Charts > Music > Compilations
by: Bob Dylan, The Band

Release Date October 25, 1990
bob dylan's before the fllod.
had very good sound except for one glitch.
Possibly happened while being edited.
returned for refund. not seller's fault. thank you,jayne

CD-Charts Position 97
Average Rating:

Songs of Leonard Cohen

CD-Charts > Music > Compilations
by: Leonard Cohen

Release Date April 24, 2007
When I was young, this album had an enormous impact on my life. While enduring a love affair gone horribly wrong, somehow these songs gave me comfort, strength, and inspired me to simply endure what felt like the end of the world. Oh, I ate and ate and ate, until I could not eat another plate. Have I had enough my Lord? Far from being the music of suicides, I think this album helped me to avoid the noose. I think it was through Cohen that I discovered the tradition depicted by St John of the Cross in "The Dark Night of the Soul". Loss, pain, and suffering puts one's character into a crucible. Spiritual evolution is a roller coaster. One discovers that the soul has a life of its own, and sometimes must shed it's skin if it is to grow, in it's own serpentine fashion.(When your life is a ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 98
Average Rating:

Slow Train Coming

CD-Charts > Music > Compilations
by: Bob Dylan

Release Date June 01, 2004
Slow Train Coming being Dylan's 1979 release and his 19th studio album and it is very good album. Dylan's lyrics are laden with his at the time new found faith. Gotta serve somebody is a great track and he sings with such conviction that one can not help but to be moved his faith. The book-let is a mixed bag with an ok cover, very sparse information and an ok photo of Dylan. To my big surprise this was a record that included Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits playing guitar. 4/5.

CD-Charts Position 99
Average Rating:

Sailing to Philadelphia

CD-Charts > Music > Compilations
by: Mark Knopfler

Release Date September 26, 2000
This is a wonderful portfolio of what Mark Knofler can do musically. No two songs are alike and the music covers everthing from ballad to blues. Definitely worth the price of purchase.

CD-Charts Position 100
Average Rating:

Dark Shades of Blue

CD-Charts > Music > Compilations
by: Xavier Rudd

Release Date August 19, 2008
Compared to Xavier Rudd's larger body of work, "Dark Shades of Blue" languishes in a slump. I first want to establish that I adore Xavier Rudd; I enjoy his live show and I was enthralled by many of his earlier albums like "White Moth" and "Solace." What is the issue? It's hard to say. This pleasant album features all of the typical elements of a good Xavier Rudd release. It features Rudd's killer slide guitar, a good overall sound, the infusion of aboriginal sounds and his environmental consciousness. In this respect, "Dark Shades of Blue" seems a bit redundant. It is more of the same without taking things to the next level. What's ultimately missing is compelling song writing. 'Blackwater' is an amazing, jamband friendly instrumental piece that rocks hard. The rest of the selections ... Read More: