CD-Charts Position 41
Average Rating:

Narrow Stairs

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: Death Cab for Cutie

Release Date May 13, 2008
Death Cab's first album in three years, Narrow Stairs, starts off with a song somewhat different from anything else by the band that I have ever heard. Bixby Canyon Bridge is still a foray into pop melancholy, but it's lyrics approach the tragedy somewhat more roundabout by talking less about feelings and telling a story instead, and the memorable hook takes until over halfway through the song to uncover itself. This sounds like the start of a hit album, and no doubt this album will end up being Death Cab's most popular album, even more popular than Transatlanticism, or at least it will be the one that people will listen to most while the purists swear by Transatlanticism. I don't know which album I prefer more. I guess I haven't gotten to know ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 42
Average Rating:

Where The Light Is:John Mayer Live In Los Angeles

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: John Mayer

Release Date July 01, 2008
Grammy winner John Mayer delivers a good live set that includes "Daughters", "Who Did You Think I Was", "Stop The Train" and "Free Falling". John Mayer has become involved in the 2008 Presidential Race - Interestingly, in the 2008 Presidential Primary race, New York Senator Hillary Clinton earned more Votes than any other Presidential Primary candidate in American history (hillaryclintonforum, the denver group)

CD-Charts Position 43
Average Rating:

Forth

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: The Verve

Release Date August 26, 2008
I am an early Verve fan, admittedly crazy about their debut album (which still makes me drool). I was pleasantly blown away by this latest album, which is a nod to their early work but also keeps one foot in the contemporary music scene. I am NOT a fan of URBAN HYMNS, which seemed to me a commercial pandering (however nice the pop songs were). This album really hits in the middle: it makes us old school fans drool, but also keeps a sense of the pop perfection that really made URBAN HYMNS such a hit with folks. I don't know how they did it, but this album really is a perfect middle way, a shout-out to us old Verve fans but a stable send-out to those who want pop hits. It's just simply a marvelous rock and pop record, with a groove and a hook and ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 44
Average Rating:

A Hundred Million Suns

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: Snow Patrol

Release Date October 28, 2008
I am an early Verve fan, admittedly crazy about their debut album (which still makes me drool). I was pleasantly blown away by this latest album, which is a nod to their early work but also keeps one foot in the contemporary music scene. I am NOT a fan of URBAN HYMNS, which seemed to me a commercial pandering (however nice the pop songs were). This album really hits in the middle: it makes us old school fans drool, but also keeps a sense of the pop perfection that really made URBAN HYMNS such a hit with folks. I don't know how they did it, but this album really is a perfect middle way, a shout-out to us old Verve fans but a stable send-out to those who want pop hits. It's just simply a marvelous rock and pop record, with a groove and a hook and ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 45
Average Rating:

Carried to Dust

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: Calexico

Release Date September 09, 2008
It took me quite a few listens to get into this album. Maybe I'm just sick of leftist politics in music. Victor Jara's Hands is a beautiful song but it alludes to a guy who was in a position to become Communist Salvador Allende's own Che Guevara had Allende not been overthrown. And Guevara, despite his iconic status on the left, was little more than a mass murderer who cloaked his actions in the language of idealism. I notice there are a lot of people on the activist left who champion political murder as long as its the right people being murdered but howl like banshees when one of their own gets it.
Despite the occasional outbreak of leftist sentiment in Calexico lyrics, there is a lot to like in both the music itself and the way it is interpreted. I ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 46
Average Rating:

Appeal to Reason [Ecopack]

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: Rise Against

Release Date October 07, 2008
Rise Against's previous release, "The Sufferer & the Witness" (2006), left the band with a remarkably high bar to reach next time around. Surprisingly, the band has managed to surpass even their best work, giving us "Appeal to Reason" as a product of their continuously-evolving frames of style and subject matter.

The sound is still characteristic Rise Against. Every song delivers Tim McIlrath's signature vocals and the band's raw, roaring instrumentals filled with scaling octaves and pumping drum beats. Having said that, the songs are QUITE different than those of RA's previous albums. For one, the pace is generally set slower, which emphasizes McIlrath's lyrics -- which, by the way, are particularly well written. Also, the band as a whole explores ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 47
Average Rating:

Indestructible

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: Disturbed

Release Date June 03, 2008
My nephew recommended this album to me when I was complaining that new Heavy Metal seemed almost dead (except for Godsmack when they manage to release a new album). I gave it a try and was richly rewarded with a really cool album by a group I hope will continue to produce new stuff!

CD-Charts Position 48
Average Rating:

All Hope Is Gone (Special Edition CD/DVD)

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: Slipknot

Release Date August 26, 2008
If you liked the previous Slipknot and Stone Sour albums, this album won't disappoint. It is still hard and there are enough new elements to this album to keep it interesting.

CD-Charts Position 49
Average Rating:

That Lucky Old Sun

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: Brian Wilson

Release Date September 02, 2008
I admit it, I'm a Brian Wilson junky: if he records it I will buy it. That isn't to say that I'm an uncritical listener. In fact, I think a large part of his recent NEW production has been pretty lame. I have really enjoyed his reworking of earlier efforts, notably Pet Sounds and Smile, but "Gettin' In Over My Head" was very forgettable. On first listen so was his new CD. His band is awesome and the production quality quite good, so it never was a bad listen but it wasn't until I'd listened to it a couple of times that some of the subtleties really started to reach me. Now I can say that I genuinely enjoy most of it, though his repeated references to his "former" mental health issues and his recovery are getting a little, well, repetitious. I recommend this CD for BW and BB fans. I wouldn't ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 50
Average Rating:

In Rainbows

CD-Charts > Music > General
by: Radiohead

Release Date January 01, 2008
This is one of those albums that can only be fully appreciated on vinyl. The sound quality is phenomenal!