Month: November 2003

By Alan Cho

With Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West being released on a brand spankin’ new, special edition DVD, there’s no better time to re-visit the work of Ennio Morricone. The man has scored several hundred films in his career, and on this album, Film Music, his best-known works stands alongside his more obscure work… Continue reading Ennio Morricone

By Myke Atkinson

If you haven’t given a Doves disc a listen, I sincerely suggest you do. Lost Souls, their debut album, had all the indie kids proclaiming their newfound love in all its brooding glory, while their 2002 release, The Last Broadcast, took this former backing band to Badly Drawn Boy into the top 10 lists of… Continue reading Doves

By Ken Clarke

While Skull Ring may not be the most innovative rock and roll album ever made, it is Iggy Pop, which makes it worth a listen. This time out, Iggy presents us with a concrete, no-frills, fast tempo CD featuring an assortment of backing bands. Of these groups, the most notable is the resurrection of the… Continue reading Iggy Pop

By David Gemmell

Coral Fang, the latest offering from The Distillers, delves into a more polished and pop-based punk sound that ends up falling shy of memorable. The album is by far the most mainstream The Distillers have produced to date, featuring songs like “Beat Your Heart Out” and “For Tonight You’re Only Here to Know” that are… Continue reading The Distillers

By Garth Paulson

Imagine yourself in this scenario: you are in a van driving to the mountains. Also populating this van are your parents, your two grade-school aged cousins and, just to make things interesting, your grandparents. Naturally, the piercing shrieks of the children are causing you to spiral ever closer to insanity and no comfort can be… Continue reading Ron Sexsmith

By Andrew Ross

There are two warnings which have to be given about A Very Special Acoustic Christmas. First, this album is actually a fundraiser for the Special Olympics, so you have to buy it regardless of what I write about it, or you are a bad person. Second, with the exception of a single track by Norah… Continue reading A Very Special Acoustic Christmas

By Garth Paulson

In my completely objective and unbiased opinion, ZZ Top was funny at best and Kid Rock will always be terrible. So what happens when you mix these two sources? You get White Cowbell Oklahoma, a Toronto-based band that plays southern-fried boogie rock and has built quite a reputation for intense live shows filled with zany… Continue reading White Cowbell Oklahoma

By Peter Hemminger

Alice in Wonderland taught me that meaning what you say is different from saying what you mean. Similarly, the soundtrack to Steven Spielberg’s “critically acclaimed epic event” (apparently “miniseries” isn’t grandiose enough) taught me that a collection of good songs is different from a good collection of songs. Justifiable as it may be, Taken feels… Continue reading Taken Soundtrack