Peter Steward

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Review Section

In memory of John Stewart 1939-2008, Harry Chapin 1942-1981, Dan Fogelberg 1951-2007 - Three great American singer-songwriters

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Current number of albums reviewed - 222

NEW - Singles Reviews - Metis

2009 Album Reviews

January/April


Pet Shop Boys - Yes - More good time music from the Pet Shop Boys	Neil Young - Fork in the Road - Not many people could get away with writing an entire album about a hybred car. So can Neil Young?	John Howard -Navigate Home - The little known and vastly under-rated British singer-songwriter returns with another classy offering

U2 - No Line on the Horizon - Rooted in the past or looking to the future?	Morrissey -Years of Refusal - Just how much angst can this man wring from himself?	Starsailor - All the Plans - James and the gang are back after a four year break.	The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love - Intelligent rock/folk from this Portland based band.

White Lies - To Lose My Life - Angst ridden songs of a depressive nature from one of the tips to make it big in 2009.	Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light - Unique voice and under-stated songs, but is it a winner?	Franz Ferdinand - Tonight - A strange but quite interesting mixture of the past, the present and the future for Franz Ferdinand	Bruce Springsteen - Waiting on a Dream - Bruce's comfortable pipe and slippers album

The Rifles - Great Escape - Literate enough rock in the style of Killers and the Jam but with a samey feel about it.	The View - Which Bitch - Adolescent ramblings, some good some bad. Two View albums reviewed.	Lily Allen - It's Not Me It's You. A talented singer-songwriter but the material is becoming rather dull.	Hot Leg - Red Light Fever - Is the world ready for Justin Hawkins' return - on the evidence of this probably not

In all cases click on the album covers to read the reviews.

Retro Reviews (these are just a few of the latest reviews of historic albums)

Elton John - Elton John - We begin our look at the work of Elton John with his second and to my mind best album.	The Byrds - Byrdmaniax - Arguably one of the low spost of the Byrds' career	The Byrds - (Untitled) - a mix of studio and live album in the group's longest player	Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome. One of the best albums for the 1980s

Jimmy Webb - Lands End - To my mind the greatest living songwriter, but what of his solo ouput? It is reviewed here	Judy Collins - Judith - An album that has been part of my life for over 30 years and Judy Collins at her best as an emerging song-writer	David Bowie - Low - Sparse and uncompromising as Bowie changed directions with some excellent art inspired music.	Lindisfarne - Fog on the Tyne - One of my favourite albums - so goodtime, so gloriously raucous, so wonderfully out of tune

Starsailor - Love Is Here. One of the best debut albums for a long time. Three Starsailor albums reviewed	Billy Joel - Cold Spring Harbor - A very understated album to begin Joel's singer songwriter career.	Don McLean - Tapestry - A fine debut album from a singer-songwriter on top of his game from the start	Don McLean - American Pie - This was the real McCoy. A superb album.

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left. The first of Drake's trilogy. Read reviews of all three.	Arcade Fire - Funeral. Canada has brought us a number of excellent bands in the last few years, Arcade Fire are one of the best	Bee Gees - Odessa. A complex album of pop, psychedelia, country and classical that works so well. Re-released in deluxe format	Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick. Dense textures in concept format from Jethro Tull. A number of other Tull albums are also reviewed.

Carpenters - Ticket to Ride - Nine Carpenters albums come under the microscope	Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Where it all started - a strange ethereal album. Other Floyd albums also reviewed.	Jethro Tull - This Was - a bluesy start to one of the darlings of progressive rock. Tull albums come under the microscope	Supertramp - Crime of the Century - One of my favourite all time albums. See the entire Supertramp section

Divine Comedy - Absent Friends - More understated than some of the earlier DC albums finds Neil Hannon in reflective mood.	Divine Comedy - Liberation - Neil Hannon considered this to be the first DC album and it showed the emergence of a highly literate style	Divine Comedy - Fin de Siecle - A complex and charismatic album full of powerful pop.	Scott Walker - Scott - Reviews of Scott Walkers early solo albums

The Moody Blues - Read reviews of the Moody Blues' first seven albums.	Curved Air - Air Conditioning - Curved Air's first album and entry into the prog rock hall of fame.	Curved Air - Second Album - Slightly less proggy and more of a vehicle for Sonja Kristina's vocals	Curved Air - Phantasmagoria - The third album takes us firmly back into prog rock territory

The Monkees - More of the Monkees - The band's second album before they took control of their affairs	The Monkees - Headquarters - They took control, but was it worthwhile? Find out here	The Monkees - Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd - Not sure about the title, but more weirdness from the boys	Leonard Cohen - The Songs of Leonard Cohen - A trend-setting album from 1967. Other Cohen albums also reviewed.

Abba - Ring Ring - The first album even before the name had evolved. A very patchy effort	Abba - Waterloo - Another patchy effort from a band trying to find the identity they would achieve later.	Abba - Abba - One or two high spots but again an album with plenty of filler in it	Abba - Arrival - The band begin to come of age with more grown-up material, better songs and lyrics

Deep Purple in Rock - Deep Purple - The finest example of heavy metal ever recorded and it sounds as fresh today as in 1970	Richard Harris - A Tramp Shining - The first of two successful collaborations with one of my favourite songwriters Jimmy Webb	David Bowie - Pin Ups - An album of covers from 1973 that came between Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs.	Emerson Lake and Palmer - Tarkus - If the first ELP album was a classic this somehow fell well short.

Queen- Queen - A good starting point for a band that was to become one of the all time greats.	Queen II - Queen. The cover alone shows the emergence of a classic rock band and the melodies and prog rock takes the band to another level.	Brian Wilson - Imagination Possibly Wilson's best solo album and the one that conjures up the surf and sand	Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The first and arguably the best from three musicians of individual brilliance

The Strawbs - From the Witchwood - An embryonic folk rock band prepares to rip into the crazy world of rock. We revisit this 1971 offering	The Strawbs - Grave New World One of the most powerful albums ever as the Strawbs find their feet and find their style - a classic	Rod Stewart - An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down - opened his long career with this rocker. There was better to come.	Rod Stewart - Gasoline Alley Gasoline continued the road to rock stardom and was a more confident offering than the previous.

Rod Stewart Every Picture Tells A Story - One of the classic rock albums of all time where all the promise came to fruition	Rod Stewart - Never A Dull Moment - The last of Stewart's rock quartet of albums. Had the downward spiral begun?	Simon and Garfunkel - Wednesday Morning 3 am S and G first album is a beautifully understated collection of traditional songs and Paul Simon originals.	Simon and Garfunkel - Sound of Silence. Paul Simon comes of age, writing 10 of the 11 tracks on this album as he turns into the world's great folk/rock poet

Simon and Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme - Some have likened this to Sergeant Pepper and Pet Sounds. Is it that good?	Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends - S and G tread the well worn path of folk stardom with a further selection of excellent songs	Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water -- A sublime collection of songs that have a lasting and important place in the chronicles of Folk and Rock history.	Neil Young - Neil Young - A quiet and reasonably efficient solo debut album that hinted of the glories to come

Neil Young -Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. This first effort with Crazy Horse was a rather rambling affair	Neil Young - After the Goldrush - Young comes of age with a vengeance and records one of the great folk/rock albums	Neil Young - Harvest - Another groundbreaking album full of atmosphere and sublime tunes	The Feeling - Twelve Stops and Home - Sussex seems to have produced some excellent Brit-pop bands. Here is one of them

In Memoriam

Classic albums by artists sadly no longer with us


Dan Fogelberg - The Innocent Age - A great album of childhood, manhood and life itself with some classic songs	John Stewart - California Bloodlines- Timeless country rock and one of the greatest albums of its genre	Harry Chapin - Short Stories - . The greatest storyteller song writer of all time (imho) and this was one of his finest albums

The reason for my music review section is partly one of self-indulgence but hopefully it will be of interest to a few people who pop by either intentionally or purely by chance.

It has been set-up to reflect my love of music. The object is not to educate the reader about the bands/artists with in depth biographies. They can be found in proliferation elsewhere on the internet and in reference books by the thousands.

The object is to review individual artists from my existing record collection along with important new releases. The reviews will reflect the part the music has played in my life rather than academic assessments.

Music has managed to somehow keep me sane for more years than I care to remember. Simply listing artists takes me on a journey through my past.

This review section is my attempt to analyse my own music journey through albums that have had some affect on me - whether it be good or bad.

It is not my intention to compare albums with those by different artists but to take each artist individually, comparing them against their own output. I am also much more likely to comment on the album from my own views and experiences. Each album will be given a mark out of 10 which will be based on a number of factors. Again the ratings should only be taken within that artist's output and not used to compare with albums by other artists, although I do list them all together in a ratings' section.

Obviously I will be building the reviews over a period of time. So bear with me and please return. If you want to make any comments about my reviews or review the albums yourself please e-mail me by clicking here and I will include them alongside my own. To start the journey go to the individual links by clicking here.