Inxs (switch)

This is NOT American Idol!"
...or so was the constant implied assertion of Rock Star: INXS, the CBS take on the Idol formula that turned TV-viewer votes, an actual band, a pile of contestants who were already seasoned performers, and some really good-looking hosts into poor ratings and an abbreviated season. Of course, one of the likely reasons for those poor ratings was that constant drive to separate this show from Idol. For one, the audience votes were never definitive -- the remaining members of INXS always had the final say as to who stayed and who went home, a shifting of responsibility which in turn leads to less audience devotion to a favorite contestant. There was also the vaguely unsettling spectre of Michael Hutchence, for whom the constant reminders of how great he was never quite overshadowed the fact that he was being replaced by a highly corporate television show. And then, of course, there was the questionable popularity of INXS, a band who would probably have had a hard time selling 100,000 copies in the United States if Hutchence was still around and making music with the band he defined.
Of course, the show went on, and J.D. Fortune, hardly a favorite at the beginning of the show, separated himself from the pack at the end (despite INXS's constant assurance that it was a very difficult decision) to win his place as lead singer of INXS. His debut with the band is the oh-so-cleverly titled Switch.
What Switch makes obvious is the fact that, for all its faux-rebellion and embrace of rock star cliché, Rock Star: INXS is still an American Idol clone; that is, Switch sounds like the kind of first album an Idol winner would make. It sounds rushed, undercooked, and a bit uncomfortable, and it even features a cameo from another contestant. Switch doesn't sound like an INXS album, it sounds like Rock Star INXS: The Album.
Fortune (a fantastic stage name that he actually took from his mother's maiden name), for his part, does an admirable job trying to fill the shoes of Mr. Hutchence -- when he's crooning, he sounds eerily similar to the departed vocalist, though when he explodes for the big climactic moments he sounds a bit more like Bowie by way of Scott Weiland, which isn't really as bad as it sounds. Predictably enough, Fortune sounds most comfortable on the songs that he helped write. Switch opens with two of those songs, "Devil's Party" (the less sinister, more fun-loving flipside of "Devil Inside"), and current single "Pretty Vegas", an incredibly catchy little ditty from which Fortune drew much of his support in the last few episodes of the show. The latter especially puts Fortune's strengths on display, giving him a chance to use his background as an Elvis impersonator to solid, delightfully smarmy effect.
What truly turns this album into an Idol-influenced beast is the presence of myriad guest songwriters, most of whom at least collaborated with primary INXS songwriter Andrew Farriss, but all of whom left an indelible mark on these songs. Desmond Child (famous for turning Bon Jovi into a hit machine) is here, The Matrix (who helped ruin Liz Phair) is here, and even Guy Chambers (Robbie Williams' longtime hitmaker) is along for the ride. The U2-lite that Child put together actually works pretty well for Fortune and the band on "Afterglow", a song that would seem to allude to Fortune's emulation and idolization of Hutchence. The Matrix also turns in a hit on "Perfect Strangers", which features some solid saxophone work, courtesy of Kirk Pengilly. Chambers, however, just doesn't quite know how to fit his songwriting style into the INXS template, as the maudlin "Us" ("You're shining in the darkness / When you open up your heart" is one of many choice lines) drives home. Chambers and The Matrix even team up on one song, the impressively awful "Hot Girls" which I think is supposed to sound like a party (with strippers, most likely) but comes off more like a dirty old man -- that is, uncomfortable and a bit inappropriate.
Switch finishes on the note of "God's Top Ten", a tribute to Hutchence that features Suzie McNeil, the last female Rock Star contestant voted off. Suzie actually makes a decent case that she'd have been a good fit for the band with a strong performance here that outshines Fortune's -- evidently, he hasn't learned to evoke "tender" too successfully as of yet. And, you know, that's the type of criticism that could be levied at the whole album. This does not sound like an established band that's had a chance to gel, it's more like the debut album by an artist that happens to have hired some solid studio musicians. Fortune hasn't had a chance to learn the ropes as much as he could, and Farriss hasn't quite perfected writing for him. Some of the songs are decent, but there's no identity to Switch. The tight corporate timetable called for an album, and quick, and the final product reflects that rush.
Fortunately, if Kelly Clarkson's proven anything in the last year, it's that an Idol's second album is the one to pay attention to. Perhaps despite Rock Star's Idolphobia, the same will hold true for INXS.

http://rapidshare.com/files/27993485/INXS_-_Switch.rar

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Sweet escape (gwen stefani)

Why the fuck are we here? Yes, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. sold multi-millions. But last time I checked, Gwen had absolutely no plans for a follow-up this soon. From all accounts, the only people left in the room are a nervously tittering Interscope in one corner (wait…Trail of Dead, Lloyd Banks, and Fergie aren’t recouping?) and a genuinely frightened Pharrell in the other (Only gold, big fella? Maybe it needed another six months.) Hell, even the Harajuku girls stowed away on a slow boat back to Japan months ago. But here we are—again—hoping beyond hope for a single or two to sink our teeth into, one that we want to put in the 2006 or 2007 folder before we trash the rest and wash our hands of the whole thing. Well, I got news: it doesn’t work like that. L.A.M.B. had six singles. We’re going to be here for a while. Honestly? It’s not a terrible place to be. Getting past the hot-or-not grades we’re inevitably headed for, let me just take a moment and say that Gwen Is Good. Good for the pop landscape. Good for Pharrell. Good for us. When “Wind It Up” is on the radio, it’s preventing something far less interesting from getting played. I don’t care how much payola it costs: this is a positive. I mean, in all seriousness: When was the last time you heard your high school’s marching band, theater department, and hottest girl crowding into the recording studio together? Other possible singles: “Yummy” is the “Hollaback Girl” of The Sweet Escape. Pharrell brings the disco tetris so hard on this track that Gwen even rewards him at the end with a one-and-a-half minute outro. Before all that, though, she gets in this chorus:
I know you’ve been waiting But I’ve been out making babies And had the chef making donuts and pastries It’s time to make you sweat Sex and sugar is the flavor Ovens and beaters and graters Beats made of bongos and shakers It’s time to make you sweat Trust me, it’ll be 85420 on your karaoke remote in June 2007. Tony Kanal is back, by the way. He’s one-and-a-half for three: “Don’t Get It Twisted” is a Rock Steady outtake, “Fluorescent” has the good sense to bring in Angelo Moore on saxophone, and “4 in the Morning” is payback for the break-up. Speaking of guests, Martin Gore and that dude from Keane (not the fatty, not the guy who plays drums) both make appearances too. One is great and one is awful. Try to guess which. L.A.M.B. had some truly execrable moments—and The Sweet Escape doesn’t disappoint there either. “Orange County Girl” sees her flowing over a beat previously earmarked for Jamie Kennedy, “Now That You Got It” is her best Beastie Boy imitation over a “1 Thing” rip, and the title track features Akon occasionally yelping “wooo-ooo, eeee-ooo!” Special kudos, however, go to the utter monstrosity that is “Breakin’ Up,” a Fruity Loops-aided ode to the cell phone. Sample lyric:
TELLMECANYOUHEARMENOWTELLMECANYOUHEARMENOWTELLMECANYOUHEARMENOWTELLMECANYOUHEARMENOWTELLMECANYOUHEARMENOWWE’RE BREAKING UP!

http://rapidshare.com/files/27985076/Gwen.Stefani.Akon.Sweet.Escape.2007.rar

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Amy Winehouse (Back to Black)

She's a brave lass, Amy Winehouse. It's rare to find any artist changing their approach between albums, and virtually unknown if their debut was a huge success; but for her follow-up to Frank, Winehouse has shifted her emphasis from jazz to soulful R&B. It's a measure of her talents that the shift should be so effective: it has focused her talent on a smaller target, with the result that the impact has been multiplied several times over. With Back to Black, she has nothing to prove; each time she starts a song, there's no need to impress with technique; just a direct, immediate expression of the core emotion.
That directness applies equally to her lyrics, whose sexual frankness and pottymouthed articulation leaves no room for misunderstanding. Lines such as "He left no time to regret/ Kept his dick wet/ With his same old safe bet" act like turbochargers on the emotion, bringing an unmistakable modern slant to the loping Fifties R&B of songs such as "Back to Black" and "Me & Mr Jones", an ironic Noughties equivalent of Billy Paul's affair anthem. When the same candid attitude is applied to female sexual obsession in "Wake Up Alone", the result is like Millie Jackson crossed with Peggy Lee, a blend of unashamed assertiveness and languid vocal power.
The lack of shame is probably the album's defining characteristic. From the opening "Rehab" to the closing "Addicted", there's none of the blame-shifting or hand-wringing apologia that American singers routinely employ. In the former - all fat horns, R&B feel and tubular bells punching up the lines - she refuses flip, therapeutic explanations for her melancholy and drinking ("There's nothing you can teach me/ That I can't learn from Mr Hathaway" - Donny, presumably); and in the latter, she gives equally short shrift to a flatmate's lover who smokes up all her stash without offering to replace it. If a man has treated her badly, as in "Tears Dry On Their Own", she doesn't whinge, just chides herself for placing too much faith in him: "I should just be my own best friend/ Not fuck myself in the head with stupid men"; and it's clearly hard for her to feel too guilty, in "You Know I'm No Good", about keeping two lovers on the go.
Productions, split almost equally between Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson, are perfectly sculpted to reflect the updated soul mode, with Motown-like grooves, Otis-style horn arrangements, and a rich, smoky Southern soul feel. But, for all its musical purchase on the past, what sets Winehouse's album apart from those of her peers is its rejection of genre clichés.


DOWNLOAD THIS: 'Rehab', 'Wake Up Alone', 'Back To Black', 'You Know I'm No Good', 'Me & Mr Jones'

http://rapidshare.com/files/27983260/10_-_Amy_Winehouse_-_Back_To_Black__2006__-_Soul_By_FEFE2003.rar

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Nelly Furtado (Loose)

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Led Zeppelin IV

Encompassing heavy metal, folk, pure rock & roll, and blues, Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album is a monolithic record, defining not only Led Zeppelin but the sound and style of '70s hard rock. Expanding on the breakthroughs of III, Zeppelin fuse their majestic hard rock with a mystical, rural English folk that gives the record an epic scope. Even at its most basic — the muscular, traditionalist "Rock & Roll" — the album has a grand sense of drama, which is only deepened by Plant's burgeoning obsession with mythology, religion, and the occult. Plant's mysticism comes to a head on the eerie folk ballad "The Ballad of Evermore," a mandolin-driven song with haunting vocals from Sandy Denny, and on the epic "Stairway to Heaven." Of all of Zeppelin's songs, "Stairway to Heaven" is the most famous, and not unjustly. Building from a simple fingerpicked acoustic guitar to a storming torrent of guitar riffs and solos, it encapsulates the entire album in one song. Which, of course, isn't discounting the rest of the album. "Going to California" is the group's best folk song, and the rockers are endlessly inventive, whether it's the complex, multi-layered "Black Dog," the pounding hippie satire "Misty Mountain Hop," or the funky riffs of "Four Sticks." But the closer, "When the Levee Breaks," is the one song truly equal to "Stairway," helping give IV the feeling of an epic. An apocalyptic slice of urban blues, "When the Levee Breaks" is as forceful and frightening as Zeppelin ever got, and its seismic rhythms and layered dynamics illustrate why none of their imitators could ever equal them.

Here is the album

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Macy Gray ( Best of Macy Gray)

In more ways than one, Macy Gray is a bit like the Dan Marino of neo-soul: full of promise and potential but never truly reaching her full blossom. Having only reached the Top Ten promised land once (and Top 40 only three times) in her five-year career on the good ship Epic, it's hard to call this a "very best of" and get excited about the songs held within the packaging. Starting off with the one-two chronological punch of "I Try" and "Do Something," the air starts to leak out of the ball ever so slowly as the compilation progresses, leaving a deflating feeling by the time the new additions are reached. And while "Love Is Gonna Get You" is as delightful as anything she's done in the past few years (the Philly soul strings and Memphis-styled production values make it infectiously delicious), the unforgivable atrocity that is her interpretation of Aerosmith's classic "Walk This Way" cancels that feeling out rather quickly. Nevertheless, if you wanted all of her hits together in one package, this is most definitely the place to start

http://www.sendspace.com/file/sgtyl5

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The Who

The Who are an English rock band who first emerged in 1964. The primary lineup consisted of Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon. The Who came to prominence in the 1960s and grew to be considered one of the greatest[1] and most influential[2] rock bands of all time, in addition to being "possibly the greatest live band ever."[3]
The Who rose to fame in the United Kingdom with a series of top ten hit singles (including the celebrated "My Generation") and top five albums, beginning in 1965 with "I Can't Explain". They first hit the top ten in the USA in 1967 with "I Can See For Miles". The 1969 release of Tommy was the first in a series of top five albums for the group in the USA.
Keith Moon died in 1978, after which the band released two more studio albums, Face Dances and It's Hard, with drummer Kenney Jones, before officially disbanding in 1983. They reformed on several occasions during the 1980s and 1990s to perform at special events such as Live Aid and for tours such as the tour celebrating their 25th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of Tommy. The band focused on live performance during this period. In 2000, the three surviving members began to discuss the possibility of recording an album of new material, but Entwistle died in 2002, which delayed recording. The two remaining members, Townshend and Daltrey, continue to perform as The Who. Their most recent studio album, Endless Wire, was released in 2006.
From mod rockers to rock operas to hard rock, The Who reigned triumphant as prime contenders, in the minds of many, for the title of World's Greatest Rock Band. - The Who's display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


Download the best of who

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Macy gray (big )- album reviews

Macy Gray is best known for her distinctive, raspy singing and flamboyant sense of style—and though there's no way to hide the peculiarities of her voice, she goes a long way toward minimizing her eccentricity on her fourth album, Big. This is not to say that her previous records were outrageously out-there, but they did crackle with a certain manic energy. They also benefitted from her willingness to experiment with the conventions of neo-soul as she played up a larger-than-life persona that owed an aesthetic debt to the freaky funk stars of the '70s.

Yet Big is mainly comprised of amiable yet unmemorable R&B ballads that lack the unrestrained emotion and obvious hooks of her break-through hit "I Try," much less the unashamed yet mature sexuality that informed her highly underrated sophomore effort, The Id. Too much of the record settles into a mid-tempo haze that would be unremarkable if not for her vocal performance—but Gray's presence alone is not enough to elevate the mediocre songwriting.

The record features several guest appearances from high-profile stars—Nas, Fergie, Natalie Cole—but, curiously, most of them recede into the background. However, Justin Timberlake stands out on the upbeat funk-rocker "Get Out." Though he only cheers Gray on at the start and sings the relatively understated chorus, his pop mojo is in full effect—the track is sexy, groovy, and modern.

Will.I.Am of Black Eyed Peas produced the similarly excellent "Treat Me Like Your Money," but he nearly derails his own ingratiating, Prince-esque track when he provides a hacky, obnoxiously rapped cameo near the end. Both songs hint at a better, more exciting direction for Gray's music, but they come too late in the running order, and seem out of place on an album that is otherwise uninspired.

Download : http://rapidshare.com/files/26585287/magabig.zip

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Deep Purple - Machine Head (1972)

Led Zeppelin's fourth album, Black Sabbath's Paranoid, and Deep Purple's Machine Head stand as the Holy Trinity of English hard rock. These recordings provide the blueprint followed by virtually every heavy rock & roll band since the mid-'70s. Though probably the least celebrated of the three, Machine Head contains the mother of all guitar riffs in "Smoke on the Water," a song that needs no further explanation. The album also features the classic "Highway Star," which epitomizes all of Deep Purple's intensity and versatility, while featuring perhaps the greatest soloing duel ever between guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and organist Jon Lord. Also in top form is singer Ian Gillan (simply one of the finest singers of his generation, bar none), who explodes with amazing power and range throughout. Gillan lets the band take over on the largely instrumental "Lazy," which would evolve into an incredible live jam. The plodding shuffle of "Maybe I'm a Leo" shows some signs of age, but "Pictures of Home" and "Never Before" remain vital, displaying Purple at their melodic best. Another tremendous Blackmore riff drives the marvelous "Space Truckin'," a fitting end to one of the essential hard-rock albums of all time.Review by Ed Rivadavia(allmusic.com)
1.Highway Star (6:08)
2.Maybe I'm A Leo (4:52)
3.Pictures Of Home (5:07)
4.Never Before (4:00)
5.Smoke On The Water (5:42)
6.Lazy (7:22)7.Space Truckin' (4:33)


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