int'l adds coming 11/11....
Date: 11 Nov 2005Artist: Bob Marley & The Wailers
Title: “Slogans” [1-song single from the Africa Unite compilation]
Label: Tuff Gong
Genre: reggae / lost nugget
Grade: A-
"Slogans" (01) is a “new” song derived from a demo tape Marley made in a Miami hotel room in 1979. The demo tape was rediscovered in 2003 by Marley's sons Ziggy and Stephen, who then worked to finish the song, calling in Eric Clapton and Marcia Ball, among others, to help with the process. The end result is a solid, if a bit underwhelming, addition to the Marley catalog, but there is no denying "Slogans" is tuneful, wise, and increasingly timely, as politicians continue to mouth slogans as promises, and then routinely manage to not keep them.
Reviewer: Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
Date: 11 Nov 2005
Artist: Afro-Celt Sound System
Title: Anatomic sampler [3-song EP from new disc]
Label: Real World
Genre: int’l / global fusion
Grade: A
On Anatomic, the Afro Celt Sound System return as a streamlined quartet, a group whose members no longer care about programming as their primary function, but instead work together -- writing, performing, and jamming -- as a band. The sheer heaviness and thudding beats are evident from the album's first cut, "When I Still Needed You" (01), with the mighty Dorothee Munyaneza (Rwanda) on vocals. Sevara Nazarkhan (Uzbekistan) duets with the Afro Celts' tenor, Iarla O'Lionaird, on "My Secret Bliss" (02) a seductive, deliriously romantic track created for nocturnal listening. (The title track [03] is a bouncy, textured instrumental.)
Choice Cuts: 01, 02, 03
Reviewer: Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Date: 11 Nov 2005
Artist: Yerba Buena
Title: “Sugar Daddy” Remixes
Label: Razor & Tie
Genre: int’l / Latin RPM
Grade: A- / B+
Nearly a dozen different mixes of YB’s bona fide single to choose from. The “Radio Edit” (01) is a condensed version of the album version, mostly without the intro banter. Three reggaeton mixes follow—I really liked “Don Candiani’s Mix” (05). From there we have three disco-fied versions, followed by a more house-d up “Hott 22 Mix” (09). “ROCAsound” (10) is robo-techno, and the “Chris Joss Vocal Mix” (11) that closes is a nice mix that doesn’t neatly fit any particular genre. Put the needle on the record, if you know what I mean (and I know you do).
Choice Cuts: 05, 11, 10, 09, 01
Reviewer: bjorn Ingvoldstad
Date: 11 Nov 2005
Artist: v / a
Title: Asian Lounge
Label: Putumayo
Genre: int’l / global chill
Grade: B / B-
Putumayo Presents: Asian Lounge isn't as adventurous as previous offerings from the label. Whether it's Prem Joshua on his own (08) or with fellow multi-instrumentalist Manish Vyas(10), Deepak Chopra (04) or Biddu Orchestra (09), the results are pretty similar, and pretty standard for the hundreds of chillout comps blending Western electronic elements with Eastern instrumentation and traditions. On the plus side a lilting female vocal helps Nitin Sawhney build some character into the otherwise conventional trip-hop of "Koyal" (02), and the shamisen on "Fukaki Umi No Kanata" (01) is nice even if the track's lounge-tronica backgrounds aren't. Overall Asian Lounge sustains a recognizably fusionist groove, and provides background information for anyone wishing to explore further. But that doesn't let the set off the hook for not exploring further itself. (2 ½ stars)
Choice Cuts: 02, 01, 10, 09
Reviewer: Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
Date: 11 Nov 2005
Artist: v / a
Title: Bollywood: An Anthology of Songs from
Popular Indian Cinema
Label: Silva Screen
Genre: int’l / Indian film sndtrk treasure trove
Grade: A
I won’t pretend to be a Bollywood expert, but I’m willing to stick my neck out and say this is a welcome thumbnail-sketch of a sampler to the music of the most prolific national cinema on the planet. Generally speaking, Disc One covers the period of post-WWII thru the 70s, while Disc Two covers the last quarter-century. It follows that big names such as Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar, and Mohammed Rafi (all of whom have their own single-disc Rough Guide retrospectives filed in our library) dominate the former, while the latter becomes increasingly shiny and sequenced.
Disc One: 06, 12, 01, 10, 05
Disc Two: 11, 09, 10, 08, 07
Reviewer: bjorn ingvoldstad
posted by Anonymous @ 2:04:00 PM
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