The Joshua Tree,One Tree Hill,Running to Stand Still

Biography


One of the biggest bands of the last 25 years, U2 began life in Dublin, Ireland in 1976, holding their first rehearsal in the kitchen of drummer Larry Mullen Jr. From that inauspicious beginning U2 flourished, eventually becoming permanently woven into the pop-culture fabric of modern Western society. Playing under several different names, and at one time with a line-up of seven musicians

One Tree Hill
 

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This review is from: The Joshua Tree (Audio CD)


U2 is a band for the ages and "The Joshua Tree" stands as their most brilliant accomplishment. I don't think I've ever heard an album that combines uniqueness of sound, lyrical mastery, overall quality, and pure soul as "The Joshua Tree" does. The first four songs make the album commercially viable, but what I was surprised to find was just how good the songs were that followed. Every song that on the album is distinct and memorable. The subject of the songs range from the struggles of a heroin addict, the loss of a close friend, and even the promise of America to those who yearn for freedom.

The highlights of the album are obviously "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and the absolutely beautiful "With or Without You," two songs that I still hear very frequently on the radio today. But with songs like "Red Hill Mining Town," "In God's Country," and "One Tree Hill," among others you'll find that it's very hard to keep this album out of your CD player.
U2 is undeniably an incredible band. They are lead musically by one of the most innovative and unique guitarists of all time, The Edge. His sound is backed by an equally unique rhythm section of Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. And, in front of all that is Bono, a frontman who combines passion, lyrics, intelligence, and beauty of his voice more so than anyone I've ever heard. What more can I say, U2 is my favorite band and "The Joshua Tree" is their finest album. And, unless you're one of the people who dismiss the album because it was successful commercially, you'll probably find yourself admiring this album and this band as I do.

Achtung Baby: So Cruel

So Cruel : Achtung Baby
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Biography


One of the biggest bands of the last 25 years, U2 began life in Dublin, Ireland in 1976, holding their first rehearsal in the kitchen of drummer Larry Mullen Jr. From that inauspicious beginning U2 flourished, eventually becoming permanently woven into the pop-culture fabric of modern Western society. Playing under several different names, and at one time with a line-up of seven musicians

"I'm ready / Ready for what's next," Bono announces at the outset of Achtung Baby, the album that proved the so-called "band of the '80s" was capable of blazing into the '90s by replacing its flag-waving arena-rock stance with screaming synths, clubby rhythms, and industrial skronk. The group advances its sound without losing accessibility on "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses," "Even Better Than the Real Thing," and "Mysterious Ways," while pushing the envelope a bit more on "The Fly," "Zoo Station," and "Acrobat." The moody ballad "One" is arguably the finest song the band has produced, full of sorrow, compassion, and hope all at the same time. --Daniel Durchholz
 
This review is from: Achtung Baby (Audio CD)


Achtung Baby is really one of those albums that you can just switch off all your other senses for - it has so much going for it musically, with consistently intriguing and moving guitar sounds, powerful bass and drums, and extraordinary vocals, not to mention some pretty good lyrics.

Whatever political aspirations U2 may have with their appeals to fans to support Greenpeace etc., this album is almost entirely devoted to love, and with several listenings, becomes a kind of litany of ballads recited by Bono to his Baby...I am not saying this album has any concept - it is a collection of fantastic independent tracks which really works - but this is an excellent album to listen to when you're feeling down, or soppy, or romantic. Aside from his voice, Bono's most endearing quality is the impression he conveys of true desperation - the climaxes his voice reaches in One or Love is Blindness are particularly moving.
This combination of great musical value with a deep-rooted romantic element really works for me, and clearly works for a lot of other people too - the album has a constantly fresh appeal, and when I look at the great works of the 90's, this sticks out as one of those that will still have appeal in ten, twenty and fifty years time.
One final thought - don't think this is solely a candlelight collection...Zoo Station opens the album brilliantly and unromantically, and The Fly is a chunky song that keeps the momentum of the album going through all the turgid descriptions of unrequited love...even with lyrics like, "a man will fall from the sheer face of love like a fly from a wall"...

Lungs

Let's talk about magic. Because music, at its best, is a kind of magic that lifts you up and takes you somewhere else. "I want my music to sound like throwing yourself out of a tree, or off a tall building, or as if you're being sucked down into the ocean and you can't breathe," says Florence Welch. "It's something overwhelming and all-encompassing that fills you up, and you're either going to explode with it, or you're just going to disappear."

Florence writes her best songs when she's drunk or has a hangover, because that's when the freedom, the feral music comes, creating itself wildly from the fragments gathered in her notebooks and in her head. "You're lucid," she explains, "but you're not really there. You're floating through your own thoughts, and you can pick out what you need. I like those weird connections in the universe. I feel that life's like a consistent acid trip, those times when things keep coming back."

Florence herself is a mass of contradictions: she's tough yet she's terrified, a bundle of nerves and passion, of darkness and pure joy. "I feel things quite intensely, which is why the music has to be so intense. I'm either really sad or really happy, I'm tired or completely manic. That's when I'm at my most creative, but it's also dangerous for me. I feel I could write some good songs, or break some hearts. Or tables. Or glasses."

As a performer she can seem fearless, but she's also far too quick to pass judgement on herself. This is the woman, after all who got into Camberwell art college by making a huge floral sign telling herself `You are a twat.' She says she's a geek, who loses all control when in love. She's also something increasingly rare and precious in a time of karaoke pop: an artist who has found her own, authentic voice.

Her soaring, epic vocals, quirky melodies and self-contained musical world have already won her the 2009 Critics Choice Award at the Brits. Some compare her to Kate Bush. You'll also find touches of Tom Waits and Nick Cave in her dark visions, and if you heard a little of Bjork too, she'd find it a compliment. But mainly, Florence is out on her own: an exhilarating place to be, she points out, but also a little scary.

Product Description


International pressing. 2009 debut album from the hotly tipped UK outfit fonted by Florence Welch. Lungs, produced by Paul Epworth, James Ford and Steve Mackay, is an intoxicating mix of delicate fragility, dark humor and twisted Tim Burton style fairy-tales. From the live favourite 'You've Got The Love' to the raw Blues-tinged 'Girl With One Eye' to the beautifully painful 'Between Two Lungs', the album is crammed with crowd pleasers. Also boasting fresh tracks like new single 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)', 'Drumming' - with its epic denseness, the terrifyingly brilliant 'Howl' and 'Hurricane Drunk' with it's paradoxical charms of heartbreak, love and loss, Lungs promises to leave us wanting more of the insanely captivating Florence Welch. Universal. 2009.

Dexter: The Fourth Season (2009)

Dexter: The Fourth Season (2009)

 
Product Description


The Showtime Original Series DEXTER™ is back with an all-new season, and this time America's favorite serial killer has gone from freewheeling bachelor to responsible husband and doting dad. Maintaining an average-guy facade while satisfying his need to kill has never been easy. But now, with wife and kids in tow, Dexter's got more to lose then ever, as he gets drawn into a deadly game with a killer every bit as dangerous — and conflicted — as he is.
 
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80's Pop Hits [Box set],Easy Lover

3 Pak: 80's Pop Hits [Box set]


 

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This review is from: 3 Pak: 80's Pop Hits (Audio CD)


Music fan -- this isn't the 80's you remember because it's obviously a collection of more obscure, light pop hits, which I can tell by looking at the first 3 songs of disc 1... I give this compliation 4 stars, if light 80's pop is what you're looking for. There are a lot of great songs on these 3 CDs, not that I personally care for all of them, but a few of my all-time favorites are included on here (Rosanna, Let's Hear It For The Boy, the 80's you remember I recommend this to anyone who really misses the 80's and already has all of the superhits collections... sometimes it's good to remember the little details of a decade as well as the huge stuff that made it famous! :)
 

Iron Man 2,Blu-ray/DVD Combo

Iron Man 2 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (2010)

Amazon.com

After the high-flying adventures of the first Iron Man picture, the billionaire arms manufacturer and irrepressible bon vivant Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) finds himself nursing a hangover. But not like any hangover he's had before: this one is toxic, a potentially deadly condition resulting from heavy metals (or something) bleeding out of the hardware he's installed in the middle of his chest. This is the problem Stark needs to solve in Iron Man 2, not to mention the threat from resentful Russian science whiz Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), whose father helped create the Iron Man technology. There's an even bigger problem for the film: the need to set up a future Marvel Comics movie universe in which a variety of veteran characters will join forces, a requirement that slows down whatever through-line the movie can generate (although fanboys will have a good time digging the clues laid out here). Actually, the main plot is no great shakes: another Iron Man suit is deployed (Don Cheadle, replacing Terrence Howard from the first film, gets to climb inside), Stark continues to bicker with assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and a weaselly business rival (Sam Rockwell) tries to out-do the Iron Man suit with an army of Vanko-designed drones. Mickey Rourke is a letdown, burdened by a wobbly Russian accent and looking skeptical about the genre foolishness around him, and Scarlett Johansson has to wait until the final couple of reels to unleash some butt-kickin' skills as the future Black Widow. That climax is sufficiently lively, and the initial half-hour, including Stark's smirky appearance before a Senate committee and a wacky showdown at the Monaco Grand Prix, provides a strong, swift opening. But the lull between these high points is crying for more action and more Downey improv. --Robert Horton

Product Description

Get the ultimate Iron Man 2 experience with this special edition loaded with bonus features that take you inside the suit, plus a digital copy of the film that you can watch anywhere, anytime! Now that Tony Stark’s superhero secret is revealed to the world, he must once again suit up in order to face his most dangerous enemy yet – but not without a few new allies of his own!