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Dark Compass

I never fail to be amazed by the amount of talent out there, not getting the exposure they deserve. Paul Melan&ccedil;on is a case in point. With two solo albums and one album under the name The Arts and Sciences, he certainly has a healthy catalogue of material to draw from. I first became aware of Paul on the Evil Genius Chronicles podcast. Dave Slusher covered Paul in a lengthy 2 part podcast, which managed to get me quite excited. So ecited in fact that I picked up all 3 of Pauls albums. If you were to draw comparisons between other artists, I suppose the closest I could come up with, would be Crowded House. Paul has such an expressive quality to his lyrics and when that's fused to his music, you have a real winning combination. I think the song that really smacked me in the face and got me to sit up and listen is Guy Fawkes day on the Slumberland (2000) album. This is one of those rare infections pop songs that sucker punches you in the opening bars and doesn't release you until the end. Another standout track on the album is 1985 by the Get-Go's, which is another example of a well crafted pop song. Camera Obscura (2002) continues the tradition of well crafted pop songs, especially with the track Jeff Lynne, but the album itself has much darker overtones. This is reflected not only in the music, but also in the lyrics. Although darker, Paul's voice is still very expressive, even where the lyrics are dark. Things take an even grayer turn with The Arts and Sciences Hopeful Monsters(2005) album. Don't be mistaken though, this is still a very fine album, but it's a much more mature album, written by someone who would at first appear to be troubled, but this only goes to make the album all the more special. Conclusion : I'm so glad I bought all 3 albums at once, as I can imagine being put off by one of the albums if bought individually. With all 3 albums, this is indeed an excellent collection of well crafted pop, by someone who I would at least put up in the same ranks as Neil Finn of Crowded House. There's an excellent cover of The Beatles Girl available on the website and also Guy Fawkes Day (linked above) and a few other songs from the other albums. I strongly suggest you pick up all 3 albums and make your collection all the more complete.

Slumberland

Podcasting is proving to be an excellent means for bands to tap markets they would have very little chance to otherwise break. I've found many excellent bands and artists, the latest being a great band called Hollow Horse, from Glasgow, Scotland. I first heard Hollow Horse while listening to <a href="http://www.podcastpaul.com/" target="_New">PodcastPaul's</a> podcast. I entered a competition a little while ago (no I don't know the result yet), to win the latest album from Hollow Horse. I had to email the band to be entered and not long after I sent in my entry, I got a really nice email from one of the band, Kenny Little. Kenny thanked me for my entry and kindly offered to send me the bands first album, Five Year Diary. A little over a week later, the album arrived all the way from Scotland (to here in Canada). I left for work just after 8:15am that morning, and after listening to two tracks, had the chance to get myself involved in a traffic jam, to kill some time, it normally takes me about 15 minutes to get to work. I managed to get to work a little before 9:00am, just before the last song, so decided to sit in the car and enjoy the end of the album and my Tim Horton's coffee. I've heard the album a number of times so far, and it's cracking stuff. If I were to pigeon hole the bands sound (and I hate to do that, as I hate to offend if they don't agree), but I'd say they were very reminiscent of Squeeze, with a hint of the Kinks. In fact there's a nice testimonial from Chris Difford of Squeeze, you can't get a much better recommendation than that. What you'll hear is very well crafted rock/pop with many songs having very catchy hooks that reel you in almost immediately. Yes there's a couple of songs that are maybe not as strong, but it all depends on your personal tastes, the album as a whole though is excellent. Particular attention should be paid to the tracks Soft Place to Fall and Love can be a Lost Cause. Conclusion : This is certainly a CD to be added to any discerning collection. No matter what the outcome of the competition I mentioned earlier, I will be adding the bands latest album Beggars Town to my collection, maybe you should to?

Five Year Diary

Something for Rockets(SFR) is one of those bands that's hard to categorize. One minute their rock, the next pop and then they some dance into the mix. No matter what you call them, infectious rock needs the volume turned up and this is certainly infections. I first heard SFR on a cable TV show called The Screen Savers. The show featured a new band every Thursday and this night it was SFR. On first listen I wasn't overly impressed, but there was something very catchy about the song they played, All OK. A couple of months passed, when I accidentally caught a repeat of the show and heard again the song. I decided to check out my usual music sources and found that <a href="http://www.mp3tunes.com/" target="_New">mp3tunes.com</a> had the album. Well at $8.88, the purchase was a no brainer and one that I've had going full blast in my car many times since. Although SFR don't yet have the coverage they deserve, their site has lots of information and indeed on their forums, there's the occasional offer of CD's of their live performances, with the full blessing of the band. This is a band that screams for some Podcasting attention, but none so far. One thing I would like to hear from the band, is a couple of cover songs, something that would give them some easier accessibility to the new listener. I tried thinking about it for a while and I'd love to hear something like... well I've thought about it long and hard and I can't think of a thing. Suffice to say if I do think of some songs, I shall comment to this post. Conclusion : Give the sample song a try and if you like it, go to the bands site or to <a href="http://www.mp3tunes.com/" target="_New">mp3tunes.com</a>, where you can hear all of the songs on the album.

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