Moody as the weather in the Ozarks
356741
It seems to me that the descriptions of the weather set the mood for this story.  I doubt it would have been nearly as engaging if it had been sunny with Ree sweating and wearing halter tops.  I watched the movie first, and enjoyed the book as much as the movie. I enjoyed reading more depth of Ree and Gail's relationship, and more depth about the background of the mother.  The story made me think about how hard some people live just to live, and about culture codes.
2548884
Very warm and fuzzy inside. Out on the ocean the wind and rains were kept at bay and my head was dry and warm.
3747791
Shotguns; drugs; money; and cultic religion  Mix these with the temperaments of those on both sides of the law, and you have this story set in Gasconade County, Missouri.  One of the predominant characters was Deputy Sheriff Dale Banks.  He was a family man struggling with money issues.  He and Deputy Bo Hastings were trying to purge the county of its growing drug problem.  Jerry Dean Skaggs was right in the middle of that problem.  Jerry Dean had partners.  After Banks managed to find and take Jerry Deans drug money, he begins to worry about what those partners will do to him.

The authors note cited that Gasconade County was the methamphetamine capital of the world in the 1990s.  Many good ol boys came and went in this novel; many were bold and colorful but none were lovable.  Most seemed willing to exchange their grandmothers soul for a bit of crank.  Others were dishonest and only after a quick buck.  There is a lot of humor within these pages; however, a great portion of it is dark.  Violent scenes are drawn in considerable detail.  Matthew McBride has a flair for description.  The first line of chapter one read: The sun went down behind the mobile home like a burst of egg yolk that dripped from the sky and consumed the trees.  I rated A Swollen Red Sun at 3.5 out of 5.
67500
A little rawnchy humor, added to some rocking blues will keep a smile on your face throughout this fun cd. It's a good one for a road trip or to get you out of the "blues" while hanging out at home. You can't listen to these tunes without moving somethin. Even the slow burning "Tears on my Guitar" will find you swaying side to side. IF you like some lighthearted lyrics mixed with a guitar and a voice that suit these original tunes you'll be wanting to hear more from this talented Texan.
3887737
Time and temp work fine but the weather "prediction" screen never moves.  It is always showing "sun with partly cloudy" even during a BIG thunder and lightning storm - not the least bit accurate.
223977
GB has written a novel about an old Arkansas legend of the families that lived in the Ozarks and their encounters with Aliens. The problems become insurmountable and war occurs between the two races. This is an excellent read for the genre.....ER
2531352
I like this weather report. It is very informative. My son-in-law is the greens superintendent at a big golf course and he uses AccuWeather exclusively
4303729
It's working well. I like the appearance. It's easy to see the temperatures, air pressure, and the forecast. However, the forecast isn't that accurate; the forecast appears to be directly related to changes in air pressure. So, with just a slight decrease in air pressure, the forecast shows possible rain - which where I live is not correct. Time will tell how durable this instrument will be; it appears to well made..
3640470
Take the Weather With You gets off to a great start: "Bama Breeze" may be Jimmy's best song in a decade, with its typical witty lyrics and laid-back classic rock feel.  "Party At the End of the World" is vintage Buffet, a paen to Tierra del Fuego, which the liner notes report is the southern-most part of the world (next to Anartica, of course).  "Everybody's on the Phone" is another winner, mixing Jimmy's wry observations on modern convenieces (in this case, cell phones) with an irresistable sing-along chorus.  The title track, a cover of Crowded House's "Weather With You," seems an odd choice, and really doesn't improve upon the original.

Things get a little more conventional after that, with a string of well-performed but somewhat lackluster material.  "Elvis Presley Blues" is a stand-out misfire, as Buffet actually seems kinda bored with song.  "Regabilly Hill" and "Hula Girl At Heart" suffer from a similiar malady.  A faithful rendering of Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings" is fine, although it would have been more at home on Buffet's 2004 country album, License To Chill.

Take the Weather With You also brings us the inevitable Hurricane Katrina number, "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On."  Some great imagery about buying a watch from a street peddler is marred some less-than-subtle lines: "If a hurricane doesn't leave you dead/It will make you strong/Don't try to explain just nod your head/Breathe in, breathe out, move on."

As I've said in reviews of previous Jimmy Buffet albums, hardcore fans don't really need reviews. . .they're going to buy the CD anyway.  And the strong songs mentioned at the beginning of the review make this one worthwhile for casual fans.
2192292
Copperheads play a delightful stew of Americana and end up making it sound sort of original. It's not ground breaking or anything but it is catchy and a delightful listen. They play a mixture of honky tonk lite, country rock, gospel, and roadhouse blues.

There is a definite early 70s AM radio vibe going on here. They kind of remind me of a country-ish Three Dog Night on occasion, due in part to using three lead singers.

I like the ballads better than the faster songs. Sweet Azalea is probably the highlight, although She Lives In Dallas is pretty good too. They also do a nice job on the Eurythmics Here Comes The Rain Again.

Overall, not bad. It is one of those discs that is instantly likeable, but may not have enough meat for heavy multiple listenings. Still, it is a release you'll likely want to play every month or so.
1810220
Mr. Gone is an interesting Weather Report experiment of contemporary jazz, built from Jaco's great bass playing, Shorter's Sax (which is, at times rather buried, but anyway), 3 different drummers, an odd vocal track, and many, many Zawinul Synths.
To me, it seems there are two really excellent tracks on this album, those two being "The Pursuit of the Woman With the Feathered Hat" and "River People". The other tracks are either OK, or alright but going nowhere. I really think there is only one really, really, horribly weak, horribly, nastily weak track on Mr. Gone, which is "The Elders".
 The final track on the album "And Then" is quite strange considering it is actually written by Zawinul, and performed by Weather Report (Note: Lyrics by Sam Guest). In this instance, Maurice White's vocals last for 27 seconds, and do seem slightly strange. After the vocal track, the piece becomes a particularly weird synth/organ style piece (one may say a "different" lead-out of an album).
I believe that the reason why Mr. Gone has recieved such bad publicity in the past (and even today, seeing that it's overall Amazon rating is 3.5/5) is because people aren't seeing Mr. Gone for what it really is. Mr. Gone is not the full on jazz that was expected back 77/78, it's jazz/rock straight up. Mr. Gone is made up of interesting music that works very well, and it's a kind of jazz that moves into different areas of jazz  (areas that were previously unexplored before Mr. Gone).
Mr. Gone is an interesting experiment of jazz, and overall, deserves more praise than it is given. It may take a few more listens than perhaps Sweetnighter or Mysterious Traveller to really get into it- and believe me, once you can see Mr. Gone for what it really is, you will find out what you've been missing out on so long.
 This is one that should really be in every Weather Report fans collection, "weather" they like it or not!
1068576
Overall, this is a great series so far. I look forward to the finale. One detail that irked me in The Mechanics is the odd inclusion of the Ozarks as part of the Appalachian Mountains. For all the detail of places this seems like a degree of laziness regarding geographic details.
3730222
I love that it is 3 hours long. Sounds like the down south rain that I grew up with. Love it!
3790741
This arrived in today's mail, so I had some good music when the outside temperatures are below freezing and there is snow upon the ground.  It features songs primarily written by Merle Haggard and Buck Owens, and has a short forward by Merle Haggard in the enclosed discography.  It has Vince Gill (vocals, acoustic guitar, and lead electric guitar); Paul Franklin (Pedal steel guitar); Greg Morrow (drums); Willie Weeks (bass); JT Corenflos (electric rhythm guitar); John Hobbs (keyboard); Kenny Sears (fiddle on tracks 1, 7, and 9); Dawn Sears (harmony vocal on tracks 2, 4, and 10); Brad Alpin (upright bass on track 7): and Larry Franklin and Joe Spivey (fiddle on track 9).  Total playing time is about 40 minutes.  The 10 tracks are

1.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Foolin-Around/dp/B00DYMMA9U/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Foolin' Around</a>&nbsp;(written by Merle Haggard and Buck Owens)

2.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Branded-Man/dp/B00DYMMBXA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Branded Man</a>&nbsp;(written by Merle Haggard)

3.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Together-Again/dp/B00DYMMDIS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Together Again</a>&nbsp;(written by Buck Owens) - performed  by Gill and Franklin in an appearance on the Jay Leno show.

4.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Bottle-Let-Me-Down/dp/B00DYMMF9A/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Bottle Let Me Down</a>&nbsp;(written by Merle Haggard)

5.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/He-Don-t-Deserve-You-Anymore/dp/B00DYMMH3O/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">He Don't Deserve You Anymore</a>&nbsp;(written by Arty Lange and Buck Owen)

6.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/I-Can-t-Be-Myself/dp/B00DYMMIZ6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">I Can't Be Myself</a>&nbsp;(written by Merle Haggard)

7.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Nobody-s-Fool-But-Yours/dp/B00DYMMOKA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Nobody's Fool But Yours</a>&nbsp;(written by Buck Owens) - with good instrumental break

8.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Holding-Things-Together/dp/B00DYMMQS0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Holding Things Together</a>&nbsp;(written by Bob Trotten and Merle Haggard) - with instrumental breaks and fade out.

9.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/But-I-Do/dp/B00DYMMWSY/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">But I Do</a>&nbsp;(Written by Tommy Collins)

10.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Fightin-Side-Of-Me/dp/B00DYMMXL0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Fightin' Side Of Me</a>&nbsp;(written by Merle Haggard)

This is another case where you probably won't find the music on your local radio station.  Stations are mostly parts of chains managed by corporate executives who use music selections programmed by who knows whom.
585057
I was wondering whatever happened to the Moody Blues lately, since Justin Hayward is such a prolific songwriter--numerous group and solo discs released since 1967. Then I happened upon "Spirits of the Western Sky," Hayward's new solo disc. It is good to have him back on my stereo, crooning smooth tunes that range from the Moodies' sound to country pop. Some are covers of already-issued songs, but "In Your Blue Eyes," "One Day, Someday," "On the Road to Love" and "Western Sky" are just a few of the great songs contained on this disc. Dance versions of "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" are superfluous, unless you really like club music. And the country tunes are lightweight.
1247709
I truly enjoyed the novel.  We were experiencing bad weather on the day I started to read it. I read it all on that same day.  That's how good it is.
2433778
A good book to read at night when the wind is howling, the rain lashing down and the lights are turned down low. I thoroughly enjoyed it. good writing reminiscent of M R James.