Alanis Morissette [1998] Space Cakes

[01] Head Over Feet
[02] Right Through You
[03] Forgiven
[04] Perfect
[05] Not The Doctor
[06] You Learn



wiki: Space Cakes is an EP by Alanis Morissette, released only in Japan in 1995 (see 1995 in music). It comprises acoustic recordings of some of the songs from her third album Jagged Little Pill. In other countries, the recordings have been released as b-sides.

The recordings were made in the NOB studios in Hilversum, the Netherlands, on 9 June 1995 for Jan Douwe Kroeske's radio program, 2 Meter Sessies. A seventh recording, "Hand in My Pocket," was never released, though it has been aired.
(amg 4/10)

Al Stewart [1998] An Acoustic Evening With Al Stewart

[01] Year Of The Cat
[02] On The Border
[03] Laughing Into 1939
[04] Night Train To Munich
[05] Roads To Moscow
[06] A Small Fruit Song
[07] The Candidate
[08] Intro - The Year Of The Cat



amazon: This album of various acoustic recordings is a mixture of live and studio material spanning Al Stewart's entire career, from 1970 ("A Small Fruit Song") to two songs from his import-only 1995 album "Between The Wars". In between are 2 live songs ("Year Of The Cat" and "On The Border") from "Rhymes In Rooms" and 1 ("Roads To Moscow") from 1981's "Live/Indian Summer". Also included are "The Candidate" from "Russians & Americans", and, finally, the live "Intro/Year Of The Cat", which clocks in at over 9 minutes. The "Intro" is a very nice piano segment that teases with hints of "Year Of The Cat" before finally launching into the song. It sounds like it might have been performed with the same band as on "Indian Summer". The back cover of the CD attributes "Intro/Year Of The Cat" to the album "Russians & Americans". The overall effect of listening to this rather odd compilation is not unlike hearing an unplugged concert.
(amg 4/10)

Alvin Lee [1996A] Live In Vienna

[01] Keep On Rockin'
[02] Long Legs
[03] I Hear You Knockin'
[04] Hear Me Calling
[05] Love Like A Man
[06] Johnny B. Goode
[07] I Don't Give A Damn
[08] Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
[09] Skooboly Oobly Doobob
[10] Help Me Baby
[11] Classical Thing
[12] Going Home
[13] Rip It Up



amazon: This live CD features songs from Alvin Lee's "Nineteen Ninety Four" CD as well songs from his Ten Years After days such as "Love Like A Man", "I'm Going Home", etc. The version of "I'm Going Home" is one of the hottest you can ever hear, with Alvin Lee throwing in new guitar licks from Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock". Songs such as "Keep On Rockin", "I Don't Give A Damn" and the Dave Edmunds 70's hit "I Hear You Knockin", and his version of "Johnny B. Goode" absolutely smoke. The sound quality is superb, brings out that "Live" audience feel. Great CD for those who appreciate a true showman and fantastic guitarist!
(amg 4/10)

Ac/Dc [1985] Fly On The Wall

[01] Fly On The Wall
[02] Shake Your Foundations
[03] First Blood
[04] Danger
[05] Sink The Pink
[06] Playing With Girls
[07] Stand Up
[08] Hell Or High Water
[09] Back In Business
[10] Send For The Man



amg: Instead of issuing your usual run-of-the-mill video clips advertising your new album, AC/DC decided to try something a little different for their 1985 record, Fly on the Wall. A storyline was created that would run through five of the album's songs, and while the story wasn't exactly on par with Citizen Kane (it centered around the band playing away at a city bar, while strange characters were introduced per song), it proved to be a rather original idea amidst the usual corny clips of the '80s. The most popular video was for the mid-paced rocker "Danger" (which showed a sleazy photographer snooping around the band), which was played regularly on MTV's heavy metal programs. Other clips included "Shake Your Foundations" (as the title hints, the band reduces the bar to rubble), and a rather embarrassing one for "Sink the Pink" (in which a disco dancer shimmy's away to AC/DC's thunderous heavy metal...come on!). Like their 1986 home video, Who Made Who, Fly on the Wall suffers from an all too short running time, but still manages to be enjoyable viewing.
(amg 4/10)

Asia [1985] Astra

[01] Go
[02] Voice Of America
[03] Hard On Me
[04] Wishing
[05] Countdown To Zero
[06] Love Now Til Eternity
[07] Too Late
[08] Suspicion
[09] Rock And Roll Dream
[10] After The War



amg: Asia was always a bland, derivative excuse for a dinosaur rock band, but when their debut album came out in 1982 and sold three million copies, they seemed like a repudiation of the new wave movement, the pop music equivalent of the Reagan revolution in politics. Like Ronnie, however, Asia ran out of gas around mid-decade. True, they were still constructing keyboard-dominated, heroic-voiced arena pop, but suddenly nobody cared anymore, or at least not enough customers to vault them into the Top Ten, and for this kind of band, it's platinum or don't bother. So, first, guitarist Steve Howe took his marbles and went home to Yes, and then the rest of the band packed it in, too. They'd be back, of course, when the money was right.
(amg 4/10)

Ac/Dc [1983] Flick Of The Switch

[01] Rising Power
[02] This House Is On Fire
[03] Flick Of The Switch
[04] Nervous Shakedown
[05] Landslide
[06] Guns For Hire
[07] Deep In The Hole
[08] Bedlam In Belgium
[09] Badlands
[10] Brain Shake



amg: For Flick of the Switch, AC/DC jettisoned producer Mutt Lange in an attempt to recapture the rawness and simplicity of their early records. While they more or less succeed in terms of the record's sound, and show more energy than on the preceding For Those About to Rock We Salute You, the songs themselves suffer — AC/DC's music has always been simple, but here it sounds underdeveloped and unmemorable. As perhaps indicated by the record's idiotic original title, the utterly generic I Like to Rock, AC/DC seemed to be running out of ideas at an alarming rate, and their record sales began to reflect that fact.
(amg 4/10)

America [1982] A View From The Ground

[01] You Can Do Magic
[02] Never Be Lonely
[03] You Girl
[04] Inspector Mills
[05] Love On The Vine
[06] Desperate Love
[07] Right Before Your Eyes
[08] Jody
[09] Sometimes Lovers
[10] Even The Score



amg: The claim to fame for America's 1982 album, View From the Ground, is that it yielded the soft rock duo's last Top Ten hit, "You Can Do Magic." Vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Gerry Beckley and vocalist/guitarist Dewey Bunnell scored big with this infectious, hook-riddled single. It was written and produced by Argent guitarist and solo artist Russ Ballard, who is most famous for penning songs that others have hit with. View From the Ground is an exceptionally slick-sounding yet pedestrian album overall, despite — or because of — the famous hired guns and anonymous session pros involved. In addition to Beckley, Bunnell, and Ballard, Blood, Sweat & Tears veteran Bobby Colomby produced a couple of tracks. Toto is represented by guitarist Steve Lukather, bass guitarist Mike Porcaro, and drummer Jeff Porcaro. Backing vocalists include the Beach Boys' Carl Wilson, Christopher Cross, and the Eagles' Timothy B. Schmit. Actor/musician Bill Mumy contributes guitar work and co-wrote a few tunes, including the brightly upbeat "Never Be Lonely." "Desperate Love" is frantically melodic, even edgy — for America, that is; the flashes of biting guitar that pepper this song and other portions of View From the Ground probably all emanate from Lukather. "Right Before Your Eyes" is a pop ballad that just missed the Top 40. The best way to experience America is through its singles, which means greatest-hits albums are the answer. Although View From the Ground was reissued on CD by One Way, go for one of the two readily available collections with "You Can Do Magic": 1991's Encore: More Greatest Hits or 2001's The Complete Greatest Hits.
(amg 4/10)