The MacDonlad Bros. // Three Cheers for Christmas

Download @ Amazon.co.uk

Love them or loathe them, there’s something almost lovable about the brothers from Ayr. The single, Three Cheers For Christmas, was written by the boys and has been now adopted by Cash For Kids as the official Christmas single.

It’s a fun little number that makes a change from the usual Christmas tracks that you here year after year and definately breaks up the monotony of the same tracks over and over and over again. The single also features Ravenwood Primary School choir who won a competition to sing with the boys on their Christmas single. Plus all monies raised from all the downloads is being donated to Cash For Kids.

The only issue is that there is no longevity. It’s not a song you could listen to for long periods but definitely one to slip in now and again.

Rating: 4/5

Red Hot Chilli Pipers // 100 Chilli Pipers

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

It’s not a misprint or misspelling. They’re the group who have made bagpipes fashionable and accessable. They’ve also managed to create a brand new genre of music: Bagrock

This four track EP brings the pipers into your home as they take you from Christmas to the New Year in 4 tracks but is also a great little introduction to the guys if you haven’t heard of them.

The opening track (100 Chilli Pipers) merges traditional (100 pipers) with rock (Rocking All Over The World) and basically engulfs you into the world of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers and what they do. There’s a special rendition of the Christmas track Little Drummer Boy (which was released last year as they’re attempt to get bagrock into the charts!) before ending the album with two great traditional Scottish tracks, Flower of Scotland and the Hogmany favourite Auld Lang Syne.

These guys prove that the bagpipes don’t have to be boring and don’t have to be resigned to the traditional songs heard on trips to Scotland but that they can be turned to almost any song and still make it sound great. A highly recommended release even if it’s just because you’re curious as to what’s the fuss is about them or because you want to see them take on the charts.

Rating: 4/5

Track listing:
100 Pipers
Little Drummer Boy
Flower of Scotland
Auld Lang Syne

Queen & The Muppets // Bohemian Rhapsody

Download @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ iTunes

Take a musical institution and add a TV puppetry institution and what do you get? A version of a fantastic song like you’ve never heard it before.

Those that like their Queen songs intact, look away now. The Muppets have taken it had made their own version of it, to much hilarity! Featuring most of the characters that many will know and love (although I believe there are some that older fans may not recognise) they singing (in the best sense of the word) way through the classic with their own unique twists. After all, nothing the Muppets ever do is ever straight forward.

It’s a fun little number that no doubt will bring a smile to your face. It’s one that you wouldn’t mind hearing at Christmas to break up the mundane repeats of the Christmas songs you’ve been hearing since the end of November. Probably not a number one but one of those daft songs that come out at this time of year.

Rating: 4/5

Joe McElderrry // The Climb

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

With the exception of  the whole ‘Jedward’ fiasco, this years X-Factor has been hard to call with some song choices not being suited to the contestants voices and in-judge arguments. However, in the end the one contestant who has performed consistently well throughout the competition came out on top.

Joe appears to have taken the praise and the criticism each week and added to that which already to improve his performance, taking the songs and putting his own mark on them, accumulating in becoming the 2009 show winner.

The Climb is a cover of the Miley Cyrus track from the Hannah Montana movie soundtrack but when compared to the original, Joe brings more passion and emotion to the lyrics than Miley has. The lyrics also fit the situation that Joe has come through: the highs, the lows, the praise and the criticisms.

The CD version also features two songs recorded from the show; Queen track Somebody To Love and George Michael/Elton John track Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, showcasing Joe’s ability to sing live as well as in the studio.

As with all X-factor winners, it’s hard to judge how well that he will be accepted by the British public and a future isn’t always certain. It may well be that this release will follow the same pattern as all X-factor releases: single release and then nothing for months until the time of the album release (currently set for October next year), but hopefully Joe will be one of those winners who will be around for a while and will prove that he deserved the title of X-factor winner

Rating: 4.5/5

Saint Vox // Saint Vox

Buy @ CD Japan (Regular) | Buy @ CD Japan (Limited)
Buy @ Yes Asia (Regular) | Buy @ Yes Asia (Limited)

What do you get if you take an upcoming young Japanese violinist and an ex-Sweetbox singer? Well this apparently. For Jade fans this is another name for them to look for her under and it may well be the first time that they have heard the name Emiri Miyamoto too (who, in her own right is a great violinist)

The album opens with the first single Don’t Leave Me This Way –Energy Flow- which is a great opening for the album and showcases what Jade, Emiri and Geo have planned for the album…sort of.  Merry Christmas Mr Lawerance –Rocket Girl- (which if you haven’t guessed from the title, features the well known song by pianist Ryuchi Sakamoto, who also wrote Energy Flow of which the first song is based). The chorus reminds you of Elton John’s Yellow Brick Road whilst the verse leave much to be desired singing wise.

No More Songs is a nice upbeat song that, once we get rid of digitalisation in the voice of the first verse is alright, only for it to turn up in the bridge again. It Won’t Matter -Kaze No Toorimichi- is a downbeat song sampling a song from the Studio Ghibili film My Neighbour Totoro (となりのトトロ, Tonari no Totoro). Electric -Jonetsu Tairiku- is just…well it’s hard to describe it. One thing is that it is the completely wrong style for Jade’s voice. We Fall is the next track and is along the same lines as Merry Christmas Mr Lawerance –Rocket Girl-.

Remember September is one of those lovely little ballads that Jade and Geo are great at composing. Sadly the chorus sounds as if there’s a record jumping with the repetition of “raining was falling”. Apart from that it has a nice little old country feeling to it.  Crashing Down -Mononoke Hime- is a fast paced song but again, in a style that doesn’t suit Jade’s voice. It also sample the theme from Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫, Mononoke-hime).

System Down is another little ballad which is the start of the end of the album. And finally is another little ballad called I’m There which could also have been titled I’ll Be There* Part 2.

Overall, this album doesn’t truly deliver. For it being a collaboration album with someone who is equally a great artist, it doesn’t feel like it. Emiri’s violin only really shines in endings, some bridges and ends, but is usually drowned out by the vocals. The singing styles don’t always suit and make it sound as if they are trying to diversify too much. Sadly more was expected of this album but it hasn’t lived up to expectations

*I’ll Be There featured on the Sweetbox album Adagio

Rating: 3/5

1. Don’t Leave Me This Way -Energy Flow-
2. Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence –Rocket Girl-
3. No More Songs
4. It Won’t Matter -Kaze No Toorimichi-
5. Electric -Jonetsu Tairiku-
6. We Fall
7. Remember September
8. Killa -Sonata In Winter Saisho Kara Imamade-
9. Crashing Down -Mononoke Hime-
10.Take The Night Off
11. System Down
12. I’m There

P!nk // I Don’t Believe You

Download @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ iTunes

The newest single to be lifted from the Funhouse album, I Don’t Believe You is a beautiful, emotional guitar driven ballad, so much so, you may be forgiven to think that it is P!ink. The reason; it’s completely different from what’s previously been released from this album.

Yes she’s released ballads before, but nothing quite like this. The lyrics are heart felt and may just drive you to tears! The second track on the single is a live acoustic version of the track, which just adds to the beauty of the vocals

Overall it’s a cracking wee track to be released from the album and one that everyone, fan or not, should check out

Rating: 5/5

Westlife // What About Now

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

It’s been 2 years since the Irish boy band released an album and this is the first single to lifted from it.  And if you think it sounds familiar, well here’s at least two reasons why:

• It’s a cover song. It was originally recorded by US band Daughtry.
• It’s was used in parts of the auditions and boot camp results on the current series of X Facto

Coincidence? Probably not. But what better promotion. Sadly though, while the song suits their voices, it’s just a straight cover, nothing done to really make it their own. And it would appear that the boys have fallen into a trend of releasing a cover song as a leading single with the last couple of albums.

But looking at as a single, it’s a great track to come back with. Long term fans will be pleased to see the boys backs and they may even entice a few new ones. Lets see what else the album brings…

Rating: 4/5

JLS // Everybody In Love

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

After appearing on the last series of X Factor they wowed thousands…at least, enough so that when their debut single ‘Beat Again’ was released that it came out of no where to take the number one spot on the iTunes chart. Did we mention that they also won a MOBO this year?

Anyway, we digress from the point. Everybody In Love is the second single to be lifted from the forthcoming self titled album.  Sadly though, the song doesn’t pull you in like Beat Again. It’s repeated bassline and basic melody  of the down tempo ballad will soon become boring and have you reaching for something else. There’s no passion as felt from the debut making you think that this was probably an album track that should have been left for te album and not used as an album promotion.

The question is; has the bar been raised too high too quickly? The song is the opposite end of the first, from brilliant to nearly mediocre. Fans will flock to it, but the occassional listener will turn it off

Rating: 2/5

Nerina Pallot // Real Late Starter

Download @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ iTunes

Real Late Starter is the first song to be lifted from Nerina Pallot’s newest album, The Graduate. The song is a brilliant little number that could basically sum up how those of who haven’t found their place in life see things if things did go right. Or another option is how people see life but carry on regardless. This mix (We Are The Chatterleys) only adds to the song

Also on this release is a previously digitally released track Peg, which in turn is a cover of the Steely Dan track. Of course, Nerina bring her unique vocal talents to this song to give it justice.

The final track on this release is My Last Tango, another previously released track, this time from her debut album, Dear Frustrated Superstar. However this is an acoustic version of the song, previously available on the Acoustic Sessions cd (that has been available to buy at her recent concerts)

Overall a nice little EP, assuming that you haven’t previously downloaded Track 2 or previously  bought the CD for track 3.

Rating: 4/5

Jordin Sparks // S.O.S (Let The Music Play)

Download @ Amazon.co.uk

S.O.S (Let The Music Play) is the second single to be lifted from Spark’s new album Battlefield. The song is a bit of a different direction for the singer into dancier music and away from the ballads that she’s become known for. From the electro sounding opening through to the thumping bass and dazzling synths, the song becomes one that’s instantly catchy so much so that you’ll find yourself singing and dancing a long in no time.

It’s a side of Jordin that’s not been seen and some may have difficulty in believing that the ballad-er could produce something like this, although the previous single (Battlefield) should have shown that she got a lot more to show than what we’ve seen so far.

The only problem is what will she use to follow up to the stomper of a track. Or has the bar been set too high?

Rating:4.5/5

Alexandra Burke // Bad Boys (feat. Flo Rida)

Download @ Amazon.co.uk | Download @ iTunes

X Factor’s 2008 winner finally releases a second single ! Although, sadly if given a choice between her version first single Hallelujah and this, Hallelujah wins hands down.

The song starts off promising. It sounds like something you’d expect the likes of Rhianna to be singing and good beat to the back of it. It’s when it reaches the chorus and you wonder if you’re still listening to the same song. The chorus feels as if it’s been some Eurovision cast off…actually, Eurovision has produced BETTER chorus, even the worse ones are better than this excuse of the song.

As the title says, it features Flo Rida although I’m still trying to work out the reasons behind this unless it’s just to make the song look good as him in the bridge is completely pointless.

As a whole, there are stronger songs on her forthcoming album, Overcome, that are ten times better than this and would do as brilliant singles. It can only be hoped that this one single doesn’t dash her career hopes

Rating:2/5

Nerina Pallot // The Graduate

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

It’s been a long three years since we last heard anything from this lovely woman, but finally, the new album has been released and it has been worth the wait. Teasing fans with possible tracks on her myspace and in the weeks running up to the release, showcasing acoustic versions of the final tracks.

Everything’s Illuminated! is a great opening track lulling you into a false sense of security that it’s a run of the mill pop song, but ultimately builds up to a powerful chorus. With gentle vocals on the verses and more powerful ones on the chorus, the track sets the stage for the rest of the album. Real Late Starter is a brilliant little number that could basically sum up how those of who haven’t found their place in life see things if things did go right.

The Right Side is another brilliant track with misdirecting lyrics (“How can we lose when we’re on the right side”) and would probably do well as a single. Human is a beautiful guitar driven ballad and a calm moment in the track listing.

After our moment of calm, the pace is brought back up with an easy going, rebelliously written song about going against what others are doing…partying! Coming home is an emotional song about the supportive family. The lyrics read what every parent thinks: “I’m all grown up now but I’m still your kid…and I know you’ll love me anyway.”

It Starts is this album’s Sophia. A beautiful piano driven ballad with the lyrics to match about love. Then comes the album shocker, When Did I Become Such A Bitch. Somehow you will find yourself singing along with it. It’s catchy, it sticks in your head and it realisation that you may be bitching when you don’t realise it and how it takes over. Cigarette is one of those little strange songs where each you listen to it, she seems to be singing something different. Works on so many levels. It Was Me is a beautiful little ballad which round the album off beautifully,

Overall a brilliant album that’s been well worth the teasing over and full of promising tracks that could do well as singles. The wait has been worth it and hopefully this will be the album that gets Nerina the attention she deserves

Rating: 5/5