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The Disney Channel Christmas Hits --- Various Artists --- 2007 (Disney)


God save me! Is there any depths ol' Walt won't stoop to? His reach extends beyond the grave, and while I guess you can't really blame him for things such as this, it was him that started Disney back in the twenties, and eventually moved towards world domination of the animated/cartoon movie market, a position they have stubbornly defended against all comers in recent years. This is, apparently, an album made by some of the brightest stars of the Disney Channel, but I'll be damned if I know more than a few of them! Course, I'm not exactly in the demographic the channel is aimed at, but still, you would think some of these names would be familiar...
(Hey, I warned ya!)
Hannah Montana, of course I know, and her alter-ego Miley Cyrus (or should that be the other way around?) sings my most hated of all Christmas songs, the godawful "Rockin' around the Chrismas tree", but really she's the only name that means anything to me. Oh wait: I've heard of The Jonas Brothers, and they here do an incongruously non-festive song (or so it seems to me) called "Girl of my dreams". But the others? Corbin Bleu? The Cheetah Girls? Kyle Massey? Jordan Pruitt? Never 'eard of yer! Even Miley's owl fella, Billy Ray, pops up (disturbingly adult among all these kids, hmm?) to hit us with "Run Rudolph run", and Ashley Tisdale (who?) does her version of Wham's "Last Christmas", but although there's "Greatest time of the year" and "Best time of year" there's no "The most wonderful time of the year", er, here.

The final nail in the coffin comes in Kyle Massey (who are these people?) who unleashes "Jingle bells (A hip-hop carol") upon us, and I just press STOP. I suppose the kids'll enjoy it, maybe, but all I can say is. 'tweren't like this when I were a lad!

TRACKLISTING

1. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana)
2. Girl Of My Dreams (Jonas Brothers)
3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (The Cheetah Girls)
4. Last Christmas (Ashley Tisdale)
5. This Christmastime (Corbin Bleu)
6. Home For The Holidays (Album Version) (Keke Palmer)
7. Best Time of the Year (Album Version) (Christy Carlson Romano)
8. Run Rudolph Run (Album Version) (Billy Ray Cyrus)
9. Celebrate Love (Album Version) (Jordan Pruitt)
10. Let It Snow (Album Version) (Lucas Grabeel)
11. Jingle Bells (A Hip-Hop Carol) (Album Version) (Kyle Massey)
12. Greatest Time Of Year (Aly & AJ)
13. Christmas Vacation (Album Version) (Monique Coleman)

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Time for some more blues standards. Most, if not all, of today's music has some basis in the blues, and we owe that genre a lot more than we often realise. So, as they say, time to pay our dues to the men and women who have given us some of the very best, iconic and enduring music over the past seventy years or so.

A little more contemporary, this is Roomful of Blues, with the great “There goes the neighborhood”.


The legendary Peter Green pledges to be a “Fool no more”.


Another legend, this is the late Albert Collins, with “Lights are on, but nobody's home”.


Two legends for the price of one; sadly only one of whom is still with us. The late lamented Gary Moore teams up with John Mayall on this classic, “If I don't get home”.


And the legends just a-keep on comin'! It's Johnny Winter, who tells us “Life is hard”. Indeed it can be. Just ask any family in Ireland today.


Something bang up to date now, proving that the blues is still alive and kickin' even in the twenty-first century. This is from Robert Cray's new album, it's called “I'm done cryin'”


And one of the Daddies, this is Howlin' Wolf, with “Smokestack lightnin'”.


And another, this is Fats Domino, and “Blue Monday”. No, not the New Order song, you philistine!


Let's hop on “The Midnight Special” with Leadbelly...


... and continuing, and ending in that vein, we'll end with “Choo choo boogie” from Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown.

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In these dark days of economic recession, wars and looming destruction of the earth if we're to believe those pesky Mayans (about eighteen days and counting now) it's nice to have those songs that can lift you out of yourself, make your smile, and brighten your day. Sometimes it's hard to know why this happens, why certain songs make us feel good, but often it's enough that they do. Here are some that always cheer me up.

There's something about this Hall and Oates song. I remember back when I used to work, getting into a taxi late for work and fretting about giving my excuse --- we all just hate walking in late, don't we? It's the worst way to start your day --- when this came on the radio. Somehow, it just cheered me right up and I said to myself, if I ever make a collection of happy songs this is gonna be on it! And here it is.


“Kiss on my list” --- Daryl Hall and John Oates, from the album “Voices”, 1980


A real summer song, I just love the energy and enthusiasm that's in this, from the first yelp from Katrina to the almost rockabilly fadeout ending, to say nothing of the guitar solo in the middle. And then there's the joyous brass. Yeah! Just makes ya feel good!

“Walking on sunshine” --- Katrina and the Waves, from the album “Katrina and the Waves”, 1985


I'm also fond of this late eighties hit from the Thin White Duke. Just something very up and catchy about it, and I think it rips along at a fine lick, comes across as very uplifting, to me at any rate.

“Modern love” --- David Bowie, from the album “Let's dance”, 1983.


Probably no coincidence that many of the songs that make me feel good come from the eighties, as that's when I was in my twenties and listening to music most. It remains my favourite decade, with the seventies a close second. Rap or hip-hop is something I don't tend to listen to really at all, but back then they had a more innocent vibe, with songs like DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and this one, from Whistle.

“(Nothin' serious) Just buggin'” --- Whistle, from the album “Whistle”, 1986


and finally, though I know little of his music, I always get a surge of happiness and optimism when I hear this one from Eddie Money. Yeah, it's from the eighties again: whaddya gonna do, huh? Hey! Waitaminnit! The album was released in 1989, but the single didn't chart till 1990! How about that? Also, this song was only on his greatest hits album: how strange is that? Great song though.

“Peace in our time” --- Eddie Money, from the album “The sound of Money: Greatest Hits”, 1989

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Dream a dream --- Charlotte Church --- 2000 (Sony Classical)


I suppose the best thing you can say about this album is that at least there's a picture of a pretty girl to look at on the cover! To be fair to Charlotte Church, if anyone was going to release a Christmas album you would probably expect it to have been her. She did after all start her career in classical and operatic singing, and has been closely identified with hymns and carols and so forth. Even at that though, her soprano voice does tend to grate after a while.

It's a relatively decent collection, with the title track familiar to me from some classical album I have, and a rather nice version of "Far over Bethlehem" in, presumably, her native Welsh. It's quite long though, nineteen tracks in all, and though somewhat atypical fare like "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire (The Christmas Song)" and the rather nice "Lo! A rose e'er blooming", not to mention "Coventry carol (Lully lullay)" pull you a little away from the usual expected songs about Jesus, Santa and toys, it's still one of those albums you'd be unlikely to make it all the way through, unless you're one of her fans.

Not the worst ever, but certainly not a present I want to see coming my way anytime soon!

TRACKLISTING

1. Dream a dream
2. O come all ye faithful
3. Little drummer boy
4. Mary's boy child
5. Ding Dong! Merrily on high
6. Winter wonderland
7. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire)
8. Hark! the Herald Angels sing
9. The Coventry Carol (Lully Lullay)
10. Joy to the world
11. When a child is born
12. What child is this
13. God rest ye merry gentlemen
14. Draw tua Bethlehem (Far over Bethlehem)
15. Ave Maria
16. Gabriel's message
17. O holy night
18. Lo! How a rose e'er blooming
19. Silent night

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Ten out of ten! (Come on: you KNEW I was gonna say that, didn't you?)

Heresy and creed --- Ten --- 2012 (Frontiers)


Anyone who read my review of Ten's last album, "Stormwarning", will have been aware that I was very disappointed. Oh, the review was warm enough, but if you read between the lines and compare it to my gushing writeup on 2000's "Babylon" you'll see I was very underwhelmed, even dismayed by how sub-standard I found the album to be. The first album from the Manchester AOR powerhouse in five years, at the time, I had been eagerly awaiting any new material from them, so when "Stormwarning" came on the market I of course jumped at it. But after listening to it I found it fell far short of what I have by now come to expect in over five years of listening to Ten's music, and I felt hugely let-down. It just didn't grab me instantly the way every other album from this band has. I was distinctly unimpressed, and wondered if after half a decade the Ten I knew were no more? Perhaps they had been away too long?

This album puts all that worry to bed and blows the previous album out of the water. THIS is what I expect, even demand, from Ten. I've listened to the album about five or six times now, and each time I hear it I'm happier. I started just including it in a rotating playlist, and even then every track I heard I loved. I soon decided time to listen to the whole thing, start to finish, and with the addition of the tracks that had not so far made it into my shuffled playlist, I was even happier. There's not one single bad or even slightly sub-par track on the album this time around, whereas with "Stormwarning" I really had to work to find one I liked, and that I wasn't just saying I liked because it was Ten and I was reluctant to give them a bad review. Which, in the end, I did, as the album really did not merit anything else. It was a big big disappointment, though in fairness I only listened to it the once, a situation I will probably redress once I've finished this review, to see if I missed anything, if I was overly harsh, and if the album speaks to me now in ways it did not last year.

But this one has gone right in near the top of my favourite Ten albums (and I don't mean my ten favourite albums; I'm talking about the albums from Ten which I like), right up there with "The name of the rose", "Babylon" and "Return to Evermore". There are more lineup changes, with some returning members and some new ones. The core of the band, which has remained as centred around Gary Hughes on vocals and John Halliwell on guitars, remains, with bassist Steve McKenna returning after a seven-year absence, making up the old trio that recorded such gems as "Return to Evermore", "Babylon" and "Spellbound". They're joined by two new guys, with Darrel Treece-Birch replacing Paul Hodson on keyboards and new drummer Max Yates. Last time out they had Neil Palmer supplementing Halliwell's guitar work, this time they've replaced him with Dan Mitchell, though it must be pointed out that Gary also plays guitar on the album, so in effect it's almost a triple attack at times.

The first thing that stands out about this album is that it opens on an instrumental. Truth be told, Ten don't do very many of them, and most of the ones they do are sort of preludes into the next track, which indeed is how this turns out, but to the opener itself first. "The gates of Jerusalem2 is quite short, just over a minute and a half, and the first chance for Darrel Treece-Birch to show off his chops on the big booming sombre organ intro, over which Halliwell and Mitchell lay an arabic-styled guitar line which is quite sitar-like at times, recalling the likes of Rainbow's "Gates of Babylon", or indeed their own "Rome" from "The twilight chronicles". There's heavy, powerful percussion and a thumping bassline too before the whole thing explodes into the first vocal track, "Arabian nights", which as you might expect keeps the eastern theme but lets loose the twin guitars, like charging stallions waiting to be unleashed and pound across the desert sands.

Some great soloing, then the powerful clear voice of Gary Hughes comes through with the vocal, though in truth at first he has to struggle to be heard against the blistering wall of guitars. They quickly correct this though, and the song has as good a hook as any fan of Ten will expect and want, with a very hard punch from the guitars, one of them carrying on the arabian-style melody while the other grinds off in the background. Not too much in the way of keyboards here, as the song is generally guitar-led, but you can hear them swirling and bubbling along during the song. It's a great opener (I know the instrumental is really the opener, but this is the first track I would really count as being judgeworthy) and sets the scene for an album that never lets up in quality and never once looks like disappointing in any way.

It's a powerful rocker and the tempo doesn't slow for "Gunrunning". Now, using war as a metaphor for love and relationships and sex is nothing new, but I love the way Gary uses the military imagery here. It's a real boogie rhythm with a danceable bass line that defies you to stay still. Gary's vocals are much clearer here as the guitars don't quite take a backseat but tone it down a little, though Halliwell does rip off a Lizzy-style solo early in the song. Again there's an amazing hook and you really have to take your hat off to Gary Hughes' songwriting. Treece-Birch gets to shine near the end of the song, where his synthlines accompany Gary's vocal alone, but the guitars quickly pile in and to be fair, he's swamped out of it. He's surely there still playing, but it is quite hard to make out his contribution.

I see this album already as returning to the heavier style of "Spellbound" and "Return to Evermore", whereas the previous one had few if any of the trademarks of earlier records. There's a great piano intro to "The lights go down" joined by heavy guitar riffs, and it's another bopping rocker with some great vocal parts and some fine solos. The rhythm section of Max Yates and Steve McKenna really come together here, and I must say the latter certainly sounds happy to be back. A lot of Ten's music is, as I mentioned in my review of "Stormwarning", quite commercial, stuff you could envisage hearing on the radio --- at least, rock radio --- and some of their previous material in fact would not be out of place in the charts. This is one such, with a great hook but paradoxically, where usually the chorus is where you find that hook, I feel that the verses, written in a slightly separate melody, are the most memorable, and it's definitely an AOR monster that should be a huge hit, but no doubt won't.

Although like most of us here, I don't get paid for writing, I try to apply a professional approach to my own writing and be as unbiased as I can when reviewing albums. If I hate an album, but it has some undeniable good points, I'll put those across and similarly if I love an album but it has some downside I won't shy from mentioning that. It's here that that downside, as such, puts in an appearance. I have always found Gary Hughes' songwriting to be original and fresh; he generally shies from copying other rock/AOR artistes and using formulae, but here I'm afraid I have to say he is guilty of at worst plaigarism and at best lazy composition. A lovely little half-ballad with a somewhat medieval feel, "Raven's eye" nevertheless not only borrows from, but steals wholesale the melody from the traditional folk ballad "Scarborough Fair", popularised and of course made famous by Simon and Garfunkel in the late sixties. The arrangement is so close to that of the ballad that you actually expect to see "Trad: arr Hughes" after the song credits, but it's not there. So I suppose you could give him the benefit of the doubt and say he didn't realise how similar the melody was, but even I, who have never composed a song in my life (well, none that should ever see the light of day!) instantly recognised the tune, and if I, with my untrained, unprofessional ear could see it right away, how can we assume Hughes could not?

So it must be accepted that he either took the melody for use in his own song, or somehow just happened to write something not only similar but almost identical. Much as I love Gary and his music, I can't really put forward a case for the latter. Notwithstanding this, it's still a great song and indeed the first one on which Ten slow the tempo down, while still managing to retain an ominous and powerful air overall. Stylistically, it's a real harkback to "Spellbound", with some pretty mythic/fantasy imagery in the lyric: The dragon's claw glints... reflections of light/ In the lifeless lustre of the raven's eye."* Some great acoustic guitar to open the song, with almost mandolin-style and harpsichordal keyboard adding to the medieval feel. "Right now" is the first song that gives full vent to Treece-Birch's sprightly keyboards and indeed they're very new-wave and electronic here, at least until the hard guitars of John Halliwell and his axe partner cut in. The song is typical Ten: a powerful, heavy but melodic track with great guitar and a deep, controlled vocal. It's not the best on the album, but I wouldn't call it below par at all, just not as immediately impressive as what has preceded it. Perhaps it's its similarity to previous Ten songs that does it something of a small disservice.

No such complaints about "Game of hearts", which uses again great imagery to paint a scene of taking a chance on love, with lines like "It makes me wonder/ If I'm the victim of a loaded dice" and "You stack the deck against me/ One more time". It's a real showcase for Max Yates, whose steamhammer drumming drives the track along at a powerful pace, and during the verses it's good to see Gary only really sings against the backing of the rhythm section, so there's no danger of his voice being drowned out. I mean, he's a powerful singer, but sometimes the two boys on guitar do tend to get a little carried away! Great keyboard lines too from Treece-Birch, his synth warbling away in the background, bubbling under but not being subsumed by the guitars.

Ah, the familiar sound of the piano introduces us to the first ballad, with beautiful swirling keys from Treece-Birch, and soft guitar. Anyone who knows of Ten's work will probably agree that one of their major strengths lies in the wonderful love songs Gary Hughes writes, and "The last time" is another triumph, destined to go down among their followers as yet another great ballad. As in most Ten ballads, Halliwell knows when to tone his histrionics on the guitar down a notch or two, and new boy Mitchell follows his lead, allowing the keys to take centre stage and frame Gary's soulful voice against the drumbeat. There's a hint of accordion in the melody, probably made on Treece-Birch's synth, and though there's nothing much new about the lyrical content, it's a great improvement on the one ballad that made it onto their previous album.

Returning to the hard and heavy style and themes of "Spellbound" and "Return to Evermore", with a shot of "The twilight chronicles" thrown in, "The priestess" is a boogie rocker with almost Led Zep tones, great guitar work from Mitchell and Halliwell, a hook many bands would kill for, and a great vocal from Hughes quite reminiscent of perhaps a lower-register Plant or maybe Coverdale. A funky little bassline helps throw a certain flavour of soul or rhythm and blues into the mix, with something of the general melody from "The alchemist" off the "Spellbound" album, which is another small criticism, or perhaps just an observation, which turns up again later, as we will see. There's nothing deriviative about "Insatiable" though, one of the fastest and hardest tracks on the album, which gives the lie to those who claim Ten are not metal. If this track isn't metal then I don't know what is.

Powering along in freight-train mode, the twin guitar attack hits you right between the eyes, and while it's certainly not one of the most original songs Gary has ever penned, it definitely provides something to bang the head to, while retaining always that melodic element that is the very core of Ten music. I must say, the two guitarists certainly enjoy themselves on this one, let loose as they are to ply their craft, then "Another rainy day" comes a little back to earth with a more restrained melodic tune, a guitar hook right from the off that should have this song rocketing into the charts, but surely won't. The harkbacks continue here, with a melody pretty much borrowed from "Standing on the edge of time", from 1997's "The Robe". Even at that, it's a great song that you're more than likely going to be singing long after you first hear it. Gary really has an eye (or ear) for a catchy chorus and a memorable hook, and this song has both in spades. With "The lights go down", this is surely the most commercial track on the album.

Great little Bruce Hornsby-style piano run which flows into a fine guitar solo, and another great strength of this band, vocal harmonies, which although they're all Gary's just multi-tracked, make this song even more a possible hit. Back to the heavy rock then with "Unbelievable", another to get the feet moving and the hair (should you have it) shaking from side to side. Those excellent vocal harmonies are in evidence again from Gary, and hooks abound in the song with some great guitar solos too. This one too, though, has elements from a previous Ten song, though for the moment I can't identify which, not that it really matters. After this final onslaught, the album winds down with two slow tracks --- well, one really. I'll explain.

The closer is actually "The riddle", and though both that and the previous track have titles that could indicate they're covers of Nik Kershaw and EMF songs respectively, they're all Gary Hughes originals: I don't think Ten have ever included a cover version of anyone else's song on their albums. "The riddle" is another beautiful ballad, driven on bright digital piano, with I have to admit quite a lot of the melody of Bread's "Everything I own" in the verses, but that's okay. It's a lovely song, really soul-searching with some expressive piano which really gives Darrel Treece-Birch his deserved spot in the band, chiming guitars from the guys and some measured drumwork from Yates. It is in fact the closer, and at that it's a fine and fitting final track, and brings the album to a wonderful close.

And that would normally be it. Thing is, the version I bought (Japanese) has an extra track, and as anyone who's read my album reviews will know, I don't feature extra, additional, bonus or other tracks not seen as part of the album proper. Ever. But, this is my journal and I am certainly not above breaking the rules I laid down myself, and this extra song is so good I feel it needs to be written of. And so, we have one more ballad, a shorter song but no less gorgeous, making "I found love" the third full ballad on the album.

It's just a few seconds over three minutes long, making it certainly the shortest track on the album, bar the opener which is an instrumental. It opens on Darrel Treece-Birch's soft and sumptuous mix of piano and keyboards, with Gary singing his heart out against this backdrop, and I really don't hear any other instruments, including percussion, so it's a real showcase for the understanding between the two, the one veteran and founder of the band, the other only just joined but already showing signs of being indispensable.

As indeed is this album, to any Ten fan, or any fan of good melodic rock.

TRACKLISTING

1. The gates of Jerusalem
2. Arabian nights
3. Gunrunning
4. The lights go down
5. Raven's eye
6. Right now
7. Game of hearts
8. The last time
9. The priestess
10. Insatiable
11. Another rainy day
12. Unbelievable
13. The riddle
14. I found love (Bonus track)

As I said at the beginning, the difference between this and Ten's previous album is the difference between night and day. I was very disappointed with "Stormwarning", and I worried that they were losing it. I was also concerned that, having left five years between albums at that point, I would not see any output from Ten for a few more years, so I was delighted to have the chance to see if "Stormwarning" was a blip. I'm glad to report that as far as I can tell, it was, and that Ten are back to making the sort of records that made me fall in love with their music five or more years ago. I'm sure with some more listens I'll get into "Stormwarning" --- I haven't really spun it since I reviewed and was so let down by it --- but this is one album I have already listened to at least ten (hah!) times, and will surely be on my regular listening playlist for a very long time to come.

Welcome home, boys! Glad you made it.

(* = There are no lyrics available for this album yet, and I should know, having searched high and low for them. So the ones quoted are just what I have been able to discern from listening to the song over and over. In the end, there were a few words I just could not make out, hence the three dots in the quote, denoting words I could not fill in. )

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Christmas Party --- Boney M --- 2003 (BMG)


Ah, Boney M! What Christmas would be complete without them crooning about "Mary's boy child"? Certainly bringing a real sense of gospel to their disco funk trademark sound, this is one of several (and I mean several) Christmas albums released by the boney ones down the years, most of which are the same lineup with either very slight track changes or just a change of title. Then again, Christmas albums ain't exactly rocket science, y'know?

So you get what you'd expect: the carols, the party songs, some non-English language ones like "Feliz navidad" (Spanish?) and "Petit Papa Noel" (French, I think), but they all mean the same basic thing. You can't blame the artist here: no-one's exactly going to experiment when putting together a Christmas album: it's not quite reinventing the wheel, is it? Nonetheless, they do at least throw in some interesting ones, like "Zion's daugher", "Darkness is falling" and even "Auld lang syne", presumably to ensure the album gets a spin on New Year's Eve. There's a Christmas medley as an opener, and another near the end, with the expected inclusion of "Mary's boy child/Oh my Lord".


TRACKLISTING
1. Christmas Medley: Silent Night, Holy Night/Snow Falls Over The Ground/Hear Ye The Message/Sweet Bells
2. Oh Christmas Tree
3. Hark The Herald Angels Sing
4. Zion's Daughter
5. The First Noel
6. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
7. Petit Papa Noel
8. Darkness Is Falling
9. Joy To The World
10. White Christmas
11. Jingle Bells
12. Feliz Navidad
13. When A Child Is Born
14. Little Drummer Boy
15. Medley: Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord
16. Auld Lang Syne

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Guitar virtuoso records instrumental album that is one step too far for me
The Calling --- Neal Schon --- 2012 (Frontiers)


Come on, everybody knows Neal Schon. Whether you know him as a Journey fan or by reputation, he's been responsible for some of the true classic guitar solos in rock, including the sublime outro to "Who's crying now" and that soaraway from the almost-unbelievably recently popular "Don't stop believin'", among many many others. He began his musical career in Santana, playing with them for two albums in the early seventies before leaving to form Journey, one of the most successful AOR bands ever, and has also played with the likes of Sammy Hagar, Joe Cocker, Jan Hammer and Michael Bolton, as well as being in the rock supergroup Bad English with bandmate Jonathan Cain. This is in fact his tenth solo album, but the first I've heard, never mind reviewed.

The title track starts us off, with as completely expected an army of guitars, very seventies hard rock, with percussion supplied by Journey's Steve Smith. There's something of classic Hendrix in Neal's guitar licks, and keyboard accompaniment is provided by Igor Len, who's well known as a composer and producer of film soundtracks, classical and jazz musician who has previously partnered up with Schon. Guitar instrumental albums can be a little wearing, particularly when the artist injects some jazz fusion into proceedings, and I have to admit my mind is beginning to drift already. I find a keyboard/synth instrumental album much more involved and easier to keep my attention on, but as we move into the second track, scarily (in my case) named "Carnival jazz", I can feel myself already losing interest.

But let's be fair to the guy and keep an open mind, and an open pair of ears. This track recalls much of his early work as a teenage prodigy with Santana, and you can hear the big guy's influence on his playing, which is still rocky and powerful as hell, but given that he plays all guitars and basses himself it leaves, possibly, less room for innovation and variation than it would had he for instance recruited in an extra guitarist, or even a bass player. Still, it's his album so we'll assume he knows what he's doing. As expected/feared, this track does wander off into jazz experimentation all too easily, which is not good for my struggling attention span. My attempt to stay focussed on the playing is lost completely when Igor Len goes off on one of those annoying jazz piano runs I hate so much, and I find myself kind of tuning out and hoping for better things to come.

"Six string waltz" is a lot better, with a swaying, waving sort of rhythm as the guitars set up a wall of sound in a kind of blues style, much more in the way of melody about this where the last two tracks seemed to me more displays of virtuosity, which it cannot be denied Schon has, but they seemed more like showing off without any real eye or ear for a tune. This one is different, and I could almost hear someone coming in on vocals, which of course doesn't happen. That the guitar playing is first-rate goes without saying, but though I like guitar I'm still finding this a little hard to stay with. Much has been made in other reviews of this album about "Irish fields", but I was expecting something slower, maybe with uileann pipes or flute, and I really don't get the sense of celtic music from it that other reviewers have. It's short, just over a minute, but doesn't raise the bar as I felt sure it might.

It's really hard to review this objectively. Most of the the pieces seem quite similar, and I have no doubt that a guitar player or fan of Neal Schon would enjoy this a whole lot more than I'm doing at the moment, but "Back smash" is another hard rocker with screaming guitar and pounding drums, and I hear little of the keyboards Len is meant to be supplying; in fact, since "Carnival jazz" I haven't really been able to identify any synth passages at all. Okay, I stand corrected: I hear them now, sort of fading up from within the barrage of guitars, and yes some nice Spanish guitar is coming through too, making this song a good bit more palatable. It's also slowed down in the closing two minutes, Schon's guitar smashing out a Brian May riff then there's a sort of arabic flavour to "Fifty-six", Neal renewing his collaboration with Jan Hammer, best known for his Miami Vice theme. I'm reliably informed Schon uses an electric sitar in this, which is fine, but then Hammer or possibly Igor Len rips off another bloody jazz piano solo, and my heart sinks again.

There's some pretty dramatic keyboard work from Hammer and it, er, hammers along at a fine pace, but I'm really starting to think this album is not for me. I bought it because it was Neal Schon, and I do like Journey. I didn't know at the time it was all instrumental; had I, perhaps I would have thought twice about buying it, certainly about reviewing it. I mean, Yngwie is a great guitarist but he employs singers because he knows that no matter how great you are on the axe, it's only the diehards that will listen to you if the album is full of nothing but music. I must say though, "True emotion" does surprise me and perk me up, raising the ante with a totally gorgeous and, yes, emotional guitar piece that would not be out of place in one of Journey's ballads. With soft, flowing synth lines and measured drumming, Schon of course takes centre stage but for the first time on the album (we're halfway through now) makes me sit up and take notice, and gives me hope that this album may be turning a corner. Well, we'll see.

Hammer is back for his final contribution in "Tumbleweeds", and he does a great job on the synth and what I think may be a synth-guitar (do they still call them "key-tars"?) while Schon does what he does best, but lord above! It's almost seven minutes long! That's stretching it, even for the most avid guitar enthusiast, I would think. Certainly is for me anyway. And so it goes. "Primal surge" has some nice odd percussion which sets it briefly apart from the vast body of work here, "Blue rainbow sky" has a nice blues mood to it, large slices of Journey classic material coming through, pretty anthemic really, and then "Transonic funk" is harder blues with quite Rory Gallagher-like guitar and some fine boogie organ from Len. But the highly technical and proficient playing notwithstanding, my boredom and lack of interest is increasing, and the brief flash of hope engendered by "True emotion" has been well and truly snuffed out now. I'm just waiting for the end of the album, and trying to suppress the urge to hit the fast-forward or even stop buttons. Well, that's not fair: it has improved over the last few tracks, but not enough to change my overall opinion of the album.

That opinion is that unless you're a guitarist, or a big big fan of Journey or Neal Schon, or guitarists in general, you're unlikely to be able to make it through this album. Well, I don't know; that's just my own opinion and perhaps you'll feel quite differently. But I definitely found it a struggle. The closer, "Song of the wind II", is a nice little Santanaesque bluesy/jazz laidback number that apparently acts as a sequel to the track off Santana's debut album, which of course Neal played on, and it's nice to see him nod back to his roots and his beginnings. It's a lovely little closer, but I just think that had Neal engaged some vocalist to even take a few of the tracks the album might not have been the hard slog for me that it was.

As it is, I would seriously expect to stay well away from any future or indeed previous Neal Schon solo effort. He's a great guitar player, a great composer there's no doubt, but even he can't make over fifty minutes of guitar music seem like anything other than hard work, and a relief to get to the end of. Look, I'm not going to put Neal Schon down and say this is a bad album; I'm sure it's great, and deserves all the praise it's received in other quarters. It's just not for me.

Sorry, Neal.

TRACKLISTING

1. The Calling
2. Carnival jazz
3. Six string waltz
4. Irish field
5. Back smash
6. Fifty-six
7. True emotion
8. Tumbleweeds
9. Primal surge
10. Blue rainbow sky
11. Transonic funk
12. Song of the wind II

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An Irish Christmas --- Various artists --- Year unknown (Celtic Note)


Be the hokay, 'tis an Irish Christmas an' no mistake, boy!

Ah, sure: I'm not averse to slagging off my home country when it suits, and if there's one thing Irish people love it's Christmas. And drink. And presents. And drink. And Santy. And drink. You get the idea. Here we have some of the (ahem) cream of Irish music belting out or playing their renditions of Christmas songs and Irish traditional ones too. So we have the great Phil Coulter giving us a lovely version of "O holy night", Maura O'Connel singing "My Irish Molly-o" (yeah...) and Moya Brennan with a lovely little Irish song called "Codail a linbh" (sleep o child), while some shower called The Voice Squad tackle "The parting glass" and "The holly she bears a berry" (indeed), with the youngsters from, er, Slane National School taking us through "Away in a manger" and "Silent night" (sung in Irish).

Yeah, it's enough to make you hide your head and feel embarrassed to be Irish! We even get a snippet from "Angela's ashes", with something called "The pig's head", and the Celtic Tenors (yeah, we have them too, though due to the financial meltdown they're only worth about eight-fifty!) hit us with "O come all ye faithful" and of course, "Danny boy". Sigh.

TRACKLISTING

1 The Holly She Bears A Berry - The Voice Squad
2 An Irish Blessing - Roma Downey
3 The Parting Glass - The Voice Squad
4 Away In A Manger - Slane National School
5 The Dromcolliher Set - Ger Kiely And Band
6 Flower Of Maherally - Brian Kennedy
7 Oh Holy Night - Phil Coulter
8 Adeste Fideles (Come All Ye Faithful) - Celtic Tenors
9 Oiche Ciuin (Silent Night) - Slan National School
10 My Irish Molly-O - Maura O'Connel
11 Codail A Linbh (Sleep O Child) - Moya Brennan
12 Be Thou My Vision - Roma Downey
13 Remember Me - Brian Kennedy
14 The Pig's Head (excerpt from Angela's Ashes) - Frank McCourt
15 Danny Boy - Celtic Tenors
16 Steal Away - Phil Coulter

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8 days of Christmas --- Destiny's Child --- 2001 (Sony)


Just on the cusp of their breakup to allow Beyonce Knowles to take the world by storm, Destiny's Child came together in 2001 to record this pile of muck. You want Christmas songs with an "orr an bee" flavour? You got it! You want original songs, written by the girls? You got it. You want Christmas medleys? Hell, you got that too! You want a loaded gun?

I can't for the life of me work out what the significance of "8 days of Christmas" is. The song is "12 days of Christmas". There aren't only eight tracks (unfortunately) so where does the title come from? More to the point, who really cares?

Featuring some of the most popular Christmas songs --- "Silent night", "Little drummer boy", "Winter wonderland" and so on --- the album also has three original songs, all written by Beyonce, and that Christmas medley just rounds things off making you wonder why anyone in their right mind would buy this album. The girls try to claim writing credits, it would seem, to such standards as "O holy night" and the 1962 hit "Do you hear what I hear", but though they may have arranged them they certainly didn't compose them. I think the turkey's about ready now, girls.

TRACKLISTING

1. 8 Days of Christmas
2. Winter Paradise
3. A 'DC' Christmas Medley ("Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"/"Jingle Bells"/"Frosty the Snowman"/"Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"/"Deck the Halls"/"Here Comes Santa Claus")
4.Silent Night
5. Little Drummer Boy
6. Do You Hear What I Hear
7. White Christmas
8. Platinum Bells
9. O Holy Night
10. Spread a Little Love on Christmas Day
11. This Christmas
12. Opera of the Bells

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This week's planned reviews
Four more albums to get through this week, with something of an eclectic (for me, anyway!) mix.


Unbreakable by Primal Fear
One of my favourite modern heavy metal bands storm back with a new offering for 2012.


Silverthorn by Kamelot
And one of my favourite progressive metal bands, Kamelot, have a new album just released this month, so we'll be taking a look at that.

Pandora's pinata by Diablo Swing Orchestra
You never know quite what you're getting with DSO, so this new one will be very interesting to say the least.

The march of ghosts by Gazpacho
I've been listening to this for a while; one of the newest progressive rock bands I've gotten into, this is only their second album on a proper label, though it's their seventh overall, and it's a monster!

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