Bloggerhythms

Here are the best CDs of a very weak year. 1. The Corrs - Home When an artist plays music they love instead of going for the gold the musical world is always a better place. By letting their roots show through with Home The Corrs became the Irish folk-rock band they always should have been from the beginning. By doing so I have a sneaky feeling they also became the band they always wanted to be. I never thought I would love a Corrs CD, let alone place one at the top of my list, but as my original review indicates Home deserves this lofty position. 2. Blackthorn - Push & Pull I'm not Irish but something about Irish rock always grabs me and the fifth CD by Blackthorn, a local Philadelphia band, is no exception. Despite a major loss created by the departure of Paul Moore, their former lead singer and their best and most prolific composer, Blackthorn not only survived but proved they are as good as ever. Blackthorn's combination of songs about the Irish-American exper...

What a surprise! Joy: A Holiday Collection is superior to all of Jewel's other releases because the singer-songwriter shows what she can do with really good songs that demonstrate her flair as a talented interpretive singer. Jewel has always demonstrated a wide range in her vocal abilities, singing the low parts as well as she can sing the high ones. Her voice lacks power but her several octave range more than compensates. Nothing proves this more than her treatment of "O Holy Night," a very difficult song to master and the highlight of this CD. Another gem is the rarely recorded "Go Tell It On The Mountain." The album sags toward the end as Jewel tacks a couple of her own non-Christmas songs on to the disc, although lyrically they seem marginally appropriate within the context of the rest of the album. Why she includes her hit song "Hands" in this collection is a mystery. The Christmas version of "Hands" is only made to seem like a ho...

James Taylor At Christmas is almost identical to the Christmas CD Taylor released during the 2004 holiday season for Hallmark titled A Christmas Album . If you were one of the people who purchased it at your local greeting card store two years ago there is no need to buy this new release because only the artwork is significantly different between the two. Hallmark's disc did not include the cover version of Joni Mitchell's "River" that used to be available for download on Taylor's website. "River" is included on the new album but "Deck The Halls" from the original Hallmark CD is not. The new album also includes "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" that is not on the original. According to reviewers on Amazon there is now a third version, also on Columbia, including the missing "Deck The Halls" as a bonus track. If you have either of the first two versions you don't need the third but the last one has all thirteen ...

Fans of 80s arena rock may remember Craig Chaquico who was the lead guitarist for Jefferson Starship and also its later incarnation, Starship, the two bands that evolved from 60s San Francisco psychedelic icons Jefferson Airplane. Chaquico's best known song is probably Starship's "We Built this City." So considering his pedigree it may come as a surprise to discover that for over a decade Chaquico has forged a career as a respected new age and smooth jazz guitarist. Holiday , Chaquico's Christmas album released in 2005, finds itself easily straddling both genres. His rock 'n roll roots are never obvious anywhere on the album. Musically Holiday is never less than pleasant and at the same time it is never anything more. A case can be made that this disc proves there is often no difference between smooth jazz and new age music. It's a good disc to listen to as background music or as part of a mix on your CD shuffle player. Holiday is, except for one tra...

Every year, new holiday fare is released to the public to satiate their never-ending desire to hear Christmas music. It amazes me how the music industry continues to recycle the same Christmas songs year after year in various packages, by every conceivable artist known to man, and we keep buying. From James Galway, to Willie Nelson, to Clay Aiken, and everybody in between, Christmas music sells and sells and sells. One of the nice things about this time of year is we all enjoy music by artists that we would never otherwise think of listening to the rest of the year. A case in point is my daughter. She knows nothing about Nat King Cole except for his Christmas album and his perennial chestnut (pun intended), "The Christmas Song." While she enjoys this standard holiday tune very much, she would never consider listening to anything else he recorded without poking fun at the old folks who realize that Cole was one of the great jazz and pop singers of his era. At what other time o...