My Amazon Reviews: Bob Seger "Greatest Hits Vol 2"

Get them as a pair

4 Out of 5 Stars

It took almost ten years to happen, but Bob Seger finally gathered a second set of hits on CD to complete the original, 1994 set. "Greatest Hits Volume 2" puts a pair of his highest charting songs (the number 1 "Shakedown" and the number 2 "Shame On The Moon") in with several non-album songs like "Chances Are" and "Understanding." It also goes back to "Beautiful Loser" for a pair of songs.

Since his big three are "Night Moves," "Stranger in Town" and "Against The Wind," the lion's portion of this disc is drawn from those CD's. Any aficionado of classic rock radio is going to know most of these by heart. Seger knew how to lay down solid rocking/driving sounds, with "Rock and Roll Never Forgets" being a terrific example. he also became a first class balladeer as time went on, evidenced here by "Fire Lake" or "Tryin' To Live My Live Without You."

However, you still need "Like a Rock," "Night Moves," and, of course "Old Time Rock and Roll" among others to get the complete set. So while I can fully recommend this first volume of Bob Seger's best, you really need to get this and first Greatest Hits along with it.

My Amazon Reviews: Keane "Night Train"

This Train is Still Sitting in The Station
3 out of 5 Stars

In the old days, this would have been a budget priced EP. A chance for the band to blow-off a few experiments, B-Sides or fan favorites that didn't quite fit onto their proper albums. As such, "Night Train" is only so-so - three stars for average.

As much as they want to call it 8 songs, it's just 7 with one quickie instrumental overture to start things off. "House Lights" does offer the promise of something interesting, and then comes a really good single, "Back In Time." Lead vocalist Tom Chaplin has that blue-eyed angst thing down like a modern Daryl Hall, and this is the kind of song Keane excels at. Add the 80's syths, and this is a solid bit of retro-Britpop.

That is, unfortunately, the highlight. "Stop for a Minute" is one of two featuring rapper K'Naan, and it's an average song. It sounds like a leftover from "Perfect Symmetry." The other K'Nann contribution is "Looking Back," which rips off the theme from "Rocky." I kid you not. Dreadful. There's a third experiment with Tigarah, "You've Got to Help Yourself," which is the best of the collaborative efforts. She sings in Japanese, and the song itself is an inspired cover choice from the Yellow Magic Orchestra. For that, I give the band serious props.

One more song here merits purchase, the closing "My Shadow." It's the kind of dreamy piano pop that made fans fall in love with Keane in the first place. There's a part of me that wishes that Keane would go back to that "Under The Iron Sea" sound, but this EP and "Perfect Symmetry" have seen the band move more towards mainstream pop. I have posited a few times that, as new bands go, if Muse is the new century equivalent of Queen as Police power trio, Keane is Hall and Oates as filtered through Coldplay. Nice influences, but Muse seems to have transcended their, while Keane is still trying to figure out how. "Night Train" offers a half-hour holding pattern from a band that may still achieve brilliance.

My Amazon Reviews: Sparks "Plagiarism"

Keep On Spewing Your Propaganda

3 Out Of 5 Stars

As the saying goes, if you're going to steal, steal from the best. Sparks made that decision to turn what started out as a tribute project into a remake and remodel a croup of selected songs. And while I am a fan of Sparks, one of the things that is most appealing about them is their eclecticism. That makes them an acquired taste, so if you take the songs and smooth out the quirks, they loose a bit of their manic brilliance.

"Plagiarism" may be a showcase for Ron and Russell's often overlooked music sophistication, but many of the songs here don't measure up to the original counterparts. Sometimes it works, as it does for the opening pomp of "Pulling Rabbits Out Of A Hat." Seeing as this was from one of Sparks weaker albums to start, the orchestral bombast and operatic backing vocals enhance the song. However, the string saturated version of "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" loses its dynamic tension.

The same can not be said for later on the disc, when fans Faith No More add their own brand of crazy to the same song, turning it into a battle between Russell and FNM's Mike Patton. It's sufficiently manic enough to make that version a keeper. Expanding "Propaganda" from twenty seconds into a full blown showstopper works, too. On the minus side, the redoes on "The Number One Song In Heaven" and "Beat The Clock" (with Erasure and Jimmy Sommerville, respectively) sound pretty much the same as their originals, which makes them kid of pointless. Erasure's other contribution is to spice up "Amatuer Hour" in a good way. I also like the marching band arangement on "Change."

Overall, "Plagiarism" is good for the die-hard Sparks buff, but not a real introductory disc. Stick with "Propaganda" or "Indiscreet," or the double disc Rhino anthology