Cascada // Blink

Download @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ iTunes

It’s been just over 4 months since the last release (Acoustic Sessions) but now Cascada return with their newest single, Blink.

After what seems a few dodgy singles, it seems that Cascada may have found the magic again. It has all the markings of a song by them but seems that instead of being wide of the mark, it seems that they seem on cue with other similar sounds from other artists at the moment. 

We just hope that they keep this up and we might see more of what we saw on Original Me. Just don’t want to Blink and for them to go back to their old ways.

Rating: 4/5

Sam Bailey // The Power Of Love

Buy @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ Amazon.co.uk
Download @ iTunes

From the outset, Sam Bailey had been marked as a winner on the 2013 X Factor, and now she’s released her debut album, The Power of Love.

Opening with the title track, we’re reminded on how powerful Sam vocals are as she wastes no times in putting that voice to good use. Next it’s to Shania Twain’s From This Moment, which is a little odd hearing it as a solo effort instead of a duet, but Sam handles it without any trouble.Faith Hill’s There You’ll Be again allows that powerful voice to put to good use.

And I Am Telling You comes in as a duet with mentor Nicole Scherzinger which works to a point but with similiar vocals it’s hard to determine who is who at times. A beautiful string intro into Compass slows the tempo before heading into another slow number in Lord Is It Mine. This leads beautiful into a beautiful rendition of Oleta Adams hit, Get Here complete with strings and choir.

Treasure is another slow but powerful track before heading into a duet of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough with Michael Bolton, in which their vocals complement each other beautifully.Coming into the final tracks we have Superwoman before ending with what was her winner’s single Skyscraper, although we getting the feeling that it has had a little make over (it reminds us on the original Demi Lovato track vs. the Wizz Dumb Remix)

Overall, yes it’s an album of covers, and yes that does seem to be the standard for X factor Winners (Little Mix are the exception to this rule). Whilst beautiful sung, we can’t help thinking that there is too many songs making use of the fact that she has this big powerful voice. We’d have liked to have seen maybe one or two new tracks or maybe something a little softer to show another side of her. These things aside, it’s not a bad little number, but maybe a little more variety if next time comes around.

Rating: 4/5

Kian Egan // Home

Buy @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ Amazon.co.uk
Download @ iTunes

2013’s King of the Jungle and former Westlifer Kian Egan release’s his debut solo album, Home.

Before we go any futher, let’s make it clear; this is an album of covers. Opening with the title track, Daughtry’s Home we get a sense of where this album is going before we head into Rascal Flatt’s What Hurts The Most. Hoobastank’s The Reason slows the tempo before heading into the piano driven Not A Day Goes By.

The tempo picks up with Lady Antebelum track I Run To You, a duet with Jodie Albert, that works pretty well with their voices harmonising well. Guitar driven I’ll Be follows before I’m Ready, which has a bit of a celtic feel to it.

Waiting For Superman has the feeling of a general pop ballad before the 3 Doors Down track Here Without You. Finally, the album closes with a slow number in the form of Wanted.

As we said at the start, this is an album of covers and therefore makes it feel very safe. It feels very much in his comfort zone, nothing to challenge him. And there just seems to be a little issue of balance between instruments and vocals. It feels at times as if he is being drowned by the music, which sadly distracts from what could have been an alright album

Rating: 3/5

Nicholas McDonald // In The Arms Of An Angel

Buy @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ Amazon.co.uk
Download @ iTunes

Doesn’t seem that long ago that this Scottish singer was in the final of the 2013 X factor and came off as runner up. Now, just a few short months after it, Nicholas McDonald releases his debut album, In The Arms Of The Angel.

Opening with Superman (what would have been his winner’s single) next it’s what did become his debut single, Answerphone (see it’s review here). When The Stars Go Blue reminds us of The Corrs version although vocally it does sound as a few notes are just a edge of a comfortable range for him.
The title track of the album, In The Arms Of An Angel is up next, but there is really no other way to sing this.

Christina Perri’s track A Thousand Years pops next before the second original track, Smile, which has a bit of an Olly Murs feeling to it. Adele’s Someone Like You comes in as a nice little acoustic number with just voice & guitar while Westlife’s Flying Without Wings feels like a note per note version.

Bruno Mars’ hit Just The Way You Are but just seems a little slow and a little karaoke-ish. The Daniel Beddingfield classic If You’re Not The One which does seems to suit his voice. And finally, we have the last of the original tracks, Solid Gold,is another Olly Mur sound a like track to close the album.

In a way, we’re a little disappointed at how rushed this has been. It almost feels like with this release they wanted to ride the X Factor wave and covers were the quickest way to get it out there. And those fall into pretty much the same genre, ballad. The other issue with these tracks is that it feels that he is trying to emulate the same sound & performance as the original instead to putting his own mark on it. Whereas the 3 original, though they have touches of sounds we’ve heard from other artists (One Direction & Olly Murs spring to mind), they tend to showcase his voice off a little better. Had there been more originals & less of the covers, and just a teenie bit of variety this might have been a decent release.

Rating: 2/5

Pixie Lott // Nasty

Download @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ iTunes
Buy bundle @ Official store

It’s been 3 years since we last heard anything from Miss Lott, and now she’s back with the first song from her third self titled album, with Nasty.

The first time we heard this we thought that it sounded like a Christina Aguilera track….that would be because it IS a Christina Aguilera track! Apparently this was originally a duet with CeeLo Green for the film Burlesque but never made the final cut. Sadly this just doesn’t seem to fit Pixie’s voice. She doesn’t have that slight rough, aggressive tone to carry the track off. No she’s more; light & bubbly, not what the song really calls for.

Not quite the comeback that we were expecting. Could we hope that things are only get better?

Rating: 2/5

Flo Rida // How I Feel

Download @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ iTunes

Sampling tracks from the years gone by is nothing new (recently, David Guetta’s been at it!)and here in Flo Rida’s latest offering, we finding sampling of Nina Simone’s Feelin’ Good.

It might be a take on an old classic but we can’t help that there is nothing here that we haven’t heard in previous releases. In fact, if we’d to compare this to the last single that he sampled an old track, Good Feeling, it’s better than this current calamity.

Same old, same old. Shame to ruin such a classic track too

Rating: 1/5

Foxes // Let Go For Tonight

Download @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ iTunes

The last time we came across Foxes was last year when her song Youth was used on a winter campaign for a department store in the UK. Now her next song from her album is Let Go For Tonight

The song is exactly what the title says, about letting go, doing what you want or simply, going against you normal routine. It’s a more up beat, pop song than the last offering and whilst the idea behind the song is nothing new but there is something about this song that we can being a favourite to get the weekend started.

A good start to 2014 for this artist. Will be interesting to see where she goes next.

Rating: 4/5

Ellie Goulding // Goodness Gracious

Download @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ iTunes

Goulding for us can be a little bit hit of a miss, but her latest offering in Goodness Gracious is getting the hit button from us.

There is something about this track that makes you smile and have a wee dance along. Although we say smile, some of the lyrics hint more at sadness. Bit of a summery tune too, just what we need during these last weeks of winter.

Rating: 5/5

Mike & The Mechanics @ Music Hall, Aberdeen 25th February 2014

25 years ago, the album The Living Years was released by Mike & The Mechanics and now it’s recently been treated to a deluxe re-release to celebrate. And what other way do you celebrate? Why, you go on tour of course! It seems that this time around that the team are visiting locations not previously visited on their last two recent tours.

Although celebrating 25 years of The Living Years, this tour would sample tracks from across the 29 year catalogue so there was something for everyone. Opening with the 1995 track Beggar On A Beach of Gold, those who have attended in previous years will be familiar with the line up: Andrew Roachford on vocals & keys, Tim Howar on vocals, Luke Juby on everything except the kitchen sink (or maybe he plays that too), Anthony Drennon on guitar & bass, Mechanics veteran Garry Wallis on drums and of course, Mike Rutherford on guitar. From the same album, it’s straight into Cup of Coffee before finishing the opening trio with Get Up.

Rutherford begins by welcoming everyone to show but saying it’s Perth, which for the most part, the audience believe is a deliberate joke, until it pointed out that by fellow band mates, it’s Aberdeen. Realising his mistake, he quickly moves onto introducing the band and then the next song, which has Howar in stitches because of the title, 2011 Try To Save Me. Seeing Is Believing and Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground) up next before delving into the The Living Years album for Don’t.

Andrew Roachford is an artist himself and tells Aberdeen (this becomes a running joke throughout the night) it’s time to delve into the Roachford files for the next track This Generation. Though he does manage to mess up the opening, which he blames on karma. Of course, Mike & The Mechanics was a project set up to do between Mike’s other band’s album. That other band being Genesis and it’s from this catalogue that the next track comes from in the form of Turn It On Again. It’s time for a bit of self promoting from Mike with regards the deluxe version of The Living Years, his book and of course The Singles album, that contains a new song written by him and Roachford called When My Feet Don’t Touch The Ground.

More older songs in the form of Everybody Gets A Second Chance and Nobody’s Perfect. Time for another one from Roachford and it can only be Cuddly Toy. During the last few tours, it’s become almost a tradition for Roachford to try and catch drummer Garry Wallis off guard with beats with the line If I told you once / I told you three times but he changes the number. Tonight, they’re going for 22…and Wallis snares it perfectly. Tonight’s lesson; you need to get up early in the morning to beat Wallis! Another song from the Genesis catalogue in I Can’t Dance.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mike & The Mechanics tours without THAT song, and of course we’re talking about The Living Years. Who needs a backing choir when you’ve got the audience to sing that part for you? The final song from the set is All I Need Is A Miracle which gets the audience up on it feet…and of course Tim decides to challenge the audience with a chanting session to see if they can keep up with him….it’s Scotland, we’re known for our ability to sing back!

It’s not the end though, as after just a few short minutes they’re all back on stage and it’s into Over My Shoulder. And the finale comes in the form of Word Of Mouth which shows up who’d been to the previous concerts when there’s arm waving and people don’t need prompting.

This is the third time that we’ve seen the group and it’s always been a great night out. There was more variation in the set list than the previous shows (201? show mainly featured songs from the then studio album, The Road with a few classics thrown in, 201? introduced some Genesis, and now in 2014 it’s a mixture of songs from across the entire catalogue) meaning that there was something for everyone no matter what age or where you came in of the fan range. The question is whether or not more of The Living Years album might have been more appropriate (there was 4 out of a 18 song set list) but when you have that re-release and the singles collection to contend with coupled with a 29 year back catalogue, it must be difficult know how to ensure that there is a mixture for everyone. That small point aside, there’s never a dull moment here.

Official Website | Amazon.co.uk | iTunes

Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII

PS3
Buy @ Amazon.co.uk | Buy @ Game
Buy @ Game (Ltd. Ed)

Xbox360
Buy @ Amazon.co.uk | Buy @ Game
Buy @ Game (Ltd. Ed)

*This review pertains to the PS3 version of the game so not all features etc. may be available on Xbox360*

And now the end is near and so I draw the final curtain….so sang Ol Blue Eye’s himself Frank Sinatra and it really is the end of this trilogy of games from the Final Fantasy franchise.

You might remember our review of the demo a few weeks back so now we’ve got our hands on the full thing now, let’s have a look at what we didn’t get to experience in the demo as well as how it all plays together. Before we start though, here’s something you should know. While you can play the game just by using the disc, there is also the option to install game components. There is a partial install which will install the most frequently used data or a full one. Both claim that it should speed up loading times and having played it without any install & then a full, we do see a faster loading time. Note that you do still need the disc to play even if you do a full install.

Difficulty
From the outset, you can choose either Easy or Normal. On easy, you regain health outside of battle, you’re not penalised for escaping battles, EP (abilities) costs are lower and easier to accumlate. As you might guess, normal is opposite. Should you run out of time or fail to save the world, you are also presented with the option of New Game+ allowing you to use all your items/outfits etc from the previous playthough. You can also unlock Hard by completing the game. Our recommendation would be to play on Easy first time through till you get used to the game mechanics.

Gameplay
Time is your enemy and you’ll learn that more so after the initial introductory scenes. When you officially get into the first scenario of the game, you get your first real sense of time management. When you start, you only have 4 days to save the world.  And when you consider that each ‘day’ is only 24 minutes long and what you have to try and achieve within that, you see how you need to work out your priorities. The EP ability Chronostasis can come in handy by ‘freezing’ time but allowing everything else to continue for a short period of time if just need a few extra minutes to complete a task.
You can extended the number of days by completing quests. These are found as part of the main story, but to really extend it, you need to be taking side quests & canvas prayers. Some of these need to be completed within a specific time period. How difficult each quest is is indicated by stars (1 star may be fairly easy while a 3 star may require you to do multiple things and not always in the same location as the quest originates)One of the great things about this is that you can have multiple quests ongoing in each of the 4 areas at any one time as you can travel between the 4 locations (though mind, it takes time to travel!)

Your main story lines involve characters from the previous two games and what 500 years have done to them and a new character, Lumina (who we really can’t decide whether she’s a help or a hindrance really) who can be found in the various areas. And as we previously mentioned, there are 4 to choose from: the party city of Yussann, Luxerion (the city of light), The Wildlands (self sufficient folks who help each other & live off the land) and final The Dead Dunes (home to bandits and sand surfing (we could do that all day!)

Of course, being just a solo player means that you’ve got everything to do and that is where the garbs come in. Each garb has it own pluses and minuses with it either being beneficial or detrimental to stats and may or may not come with locked abilities. Other than that you are free to customise the garb as you see fit with weapons, shields, accessories and move sets. Of course, only being able to use 3 garbs at any one time means another management course in the ATB bars to ensure you’re getting the best use of them e.g. an active garb’s ATB bar will refresh slowly whilst an inactive will refresh slightly quicker. You can purchase new weapons/shields from forges and moves can be upgraded (“synthesised”) at sorcery shops.

Outerworld
Newest addition to the trilogy is Outerworld. This allows you to link up your twitter and/or facebook account and post screenshots from within the game out to friends as well as send items for people to buy in game. These posts randomly appear in other people’s games as NPCs. We recommend looking out for a NPC called LR13 (or something similar)…this is an official NPC and may come baring free gifts….One criticism of this is the time it takes to access posts and upload them but suppose we can’t win them all.

Overall, we don’t think it’s a bad game once you get over you’re initial time constraints and having Hope constantly ‘in your ear’ for your first scenario (really, that boy needs a mute button and if you play it long enough, you might still hear him after you’ve stopped playing) Yet there is something…missing that would make this a great game worth of an ending to such a trilogy