Not another review

I used to hate everything about metal music. Loud, shouty and repetitive. Then I found Pearl Jam. Admittedly they aren't metal, they're more soft-rock if I'm honest. But if you look at some of their early stuff, they successfully combine soft-rock with metal. And I think this comes up on their best album, Ten.

Even Flow and Black are easily the best songs. I'd go as far to say that Black is in my Top 50 awesome songs. It'd probably sit around the low 20's. Even Flow is the defining track on the album though. It puts the sounds of shrill guitars and ballad-like vocals together seamlessly, much better than any DJ could but two songs together.

The album dips towards the end with Last Kiss. Sounds very reminiscent of Bret Michaels. It's a good song, just sits uncomfortably in the album. Imagine a goth at a 50 Cent concert. Now put Last Kiss in place of the goth and the album in place of 50 Cent.

But apart from that slightly 'bleh' moment, I'd easily give this album a: 8/10

For some odd reason, I've become obsessed with Journey. I don't know why but I seem to be listening to their music all the time. I'm now trying to find a way to follow each member of the band on Twitter so I can stalk them like some other people do. Although I'd be stalking a decent band and not a band with two good songs. Yes...anyway.

Journey. They grew up as city boys, and they were born and raised in South Detroit. Then one night they decided to pack up and take a midnight train that happened to be going to a small town called "Anywhere". There, they met a small town girl, who was - at the time - living in a lonely world. Oddly enough, she had arrived at the town of "Anywhere" via this train which departed at midnight.

This group of 5 young city slickers realised then, that they had the Eye of the Tiger and that they would become famous in any way they wanted. Because after all, that's the way they needed it.

Time to stop using lyrics and actually review the album.

It's good. Very good. Not as good as Ten, but still very good and very catchy. I would like to hope that at least half of you (so near enough 400) will now be clicking on to youtube to listen to one of their songs but I know you probably aren't.

So yes, good album in which all of the songs are good. But it's good and it's not great, so it can only get 6/10. Also, the album art is awful.



Blur and Oasis are my two most favouritest bands ever. I can't fault any one of their songs, and that's honest. I'm normally very critical and if an 'indie' band go mainstream I virutally explode and yell about how the mainstream ruins bands. This is why I listen to folk and techno, becuase they're both so awful as genres that they can't be mainstream.

Parklife is the best album done by Blur - or at least the best non-compilation album. It's title track is their best but Girls and Boys doesn't sit too far behind it. Badhead and Clover Over Dover should have been released as singles over This Is a Low and To The End but I think that the fact they weren't singles increases exclusivity and shows that the people with real love for the band will listen and enjoy that track.

The title track, Parklife, is my favourite Blur track, mainly because Phil Daniels executes the vocals in such a fantastic way: "I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the Sparra's too. It gives me a sense of enormous wellbeing." And the lyrics are just genius. "I get up at eight, except on Wednesday's when I get rudely awaken by the dustman." The video is downright genius with a young looking Albarn acting as a work-experience victim.

Alex James is mediocre while Rowntree and Coxon exceed, creating a very strong atmosphere of brit-pop guitars. This album, and this song, really exceed expectations. And although Midlife is what I'd suggest for new-comers to Blur, I would say that this is the quintessential Blur album.

Easily a 9/10.

-Steve