Sick of hearing the same tired crap being overplayed from the Top 40?
595144
Regina Spektor's album Far is one of the best purchases I made last year. Sick of hearing the same tired crap being overplayed from the Top 40? Want to hear some intelligent lyrics & real melodies? Both qualities mentioned this album delivers.

Spektor's music is a hybrid of pop sensibilities & classical tunes. Her voice flows gently with the riffs & hooks she plays (yes, she can play the piano). To some casual listeners, she may ramble on about nonsense things. However her lyrics has always been one of her strong points.

My instant favorites are the pop-leaning Folding Chair & Two Birds, & the deeper Blue Lips & Human of the Year. Grab the special CD/DVD edition from Amazon.
4710897
You are simply better off listening to their older stuff. This is derrivative, and not even all that.  You can tell they are trying, but somehow it all falls flat. I think its time to move on chaps - what worked back then, needs to move forward. So difficult, when that formula worked so well. Then again, it may not be the stlye of the music thats wrong, so much as the soul of the content.
629619
Again, the "haunting" strains of Breaking Benjamin poured through the speakers of my car, as I furiously fumbled with my Sirius Radio to move from "Octane" (nu-metal and corporate rock) to "Hard Attack" (Real Metal).  "Haunting," of course, meaning that I was sickened and afraid for the state of rock music after hearing the song "So Cold."  A more apt title would be, "So Insipid," or perhaps "So Unoriginal."  After hearing the lyrics, I have to ask, do you guys really try to copy Tool or Smashing Pumpkins, or are you just faking it?  The last time I checked, those bands were still somewhat relevant.  If you were copying them, I guess you'd be relevant too.  But I digress.

I am consistently embarassed that these no-talent hacks are identified as being from my area, that is, Northeastern and central Pennsylvania.  Granted, the music scene here is somewhat stilted (unless you like lame scenester bands or college singer-songwriter wannabes); nevertheless, PLEASE STOP PERPETUATING MEANINGLESS CORPORATE NOISES WITH YOUR INSTRUMENTS AND WHINEY VOCALS.  The "best" years of your music "careers" have ceased.  Nu-metal, corporate rock, or whatever you'd like to term it, is dead.  Buried.  It will never come back.  Even people who followed that scene are now apologizing to their friends for how stupid they were.

For the love of God, and all that is holy in this world, I implore you, learn to play in standard tuning, or at least something approaching standard tuning.  Do yourself and your friends, hangers-on, and the like a favor...get drunk, buy some Maiden records, some tab books, and go to work.  It might pan out, it might not.  After all, didn't that guy from Coal Chamber come correct and get in a real band, i.e., Devildriver?  It shows that there's hope for even you.  Its okay, if you can't do it, there's also the guitar store music lesson-plan, evidently it works for your ex-drummer.  Oh, and by the way...in '97, Epoch sucked.

UPDATE:  In response to the gentleman from Scotland...

"Get over it.  Rock music progresses."  Interesting statement, I must say. The pertinent definition of "progress" is as follows: "to grow or develop, as in scope, severity, or complexity; to advance."

So, if we examine, note for note, the sonic stylings of Breaking Benjamin, then compare and contrast them to say, those of Megadeth, Iron Maiden, or Black Sabbath, one discovers a marked LACK of development of scope, severity, or complexity in their songwriting as opposed to that of the aforementioned bands, who were around many years prior to Breaking Benjamin.

I suppose taste really is non-disputable. In that, I commend you for your loyalty to a band that I find to be a complete "Rock and Roll Swindle" (not my words, but they are, nonetheless, appropriate). Yet, I find it laughable for you to suppose that just because a piece of music appears later in time than another it constitutes a "progression" from the previous piece.

Were your assertion to be true, I guess you'd have to say that Billy Ray Cyrus was a "progression" from Johnny Cash, or that Mantovani was a "progression" from Beethoven. Music that is simplistic and fashionable always appeals to the masses of people who crave instantaneous gratification, and, from your less-than-astute defense of this awful band, I'd say you fall within their number. Nevertheless, this type of cookie-cutter art always falls by the wayside of any trend that comes along to supercede it.

However, music that means something; that transcends its genre and becomes part of the fabric of our culture and art (which, I'd say is true for Megadeth, Sabbath, and Maiden) stands as a benchmark for others, and flows through time, rather than remaining a relic of the past.

I don't know you, and, therefore, I can't say that you're unintelligent or misinformed. But, don't ever think that just because something is new and different, it is something good and worthwhile. These hacks will be long forgotten while classic bands like Maiden and Megadeth will attract new listeners in generations to come. I'm betting on it.
4693463
Nina has quite an effective way of getting under your skin and annoying you till you shut her up. Most songs sound overly uninspired while she sings as if she's making up the words at that very moment, like improv. There are no melodies to most of the songs on here and the music doesn't stick, even if you have listened to the songs 3 times or more. It's almost like modern jazz.

Stand out tracks are A Dog's Life, Stormy Weather (an instant classic), Too Much In Between, The Long Walk, All Your Life and 4 Yrs.

The rest is all filler, not even good enough for background music.
2525838
Look, as music goes, variations on a theme is part of any genre. This album, however, yells out "leave well enough alone." A remix of Sgt. Peppers LHCB might thrill a person born in 1986, but when you hear the real thing, you ask why change it? This album is a total waste of a truly great disc. Like Gipeto said to Pinocchio, "stay wood!"
2879860
See, I might have bought this CD, but don't want my Grand-sons listening to the nasty Track 3. The use of MF over and over is so unnecessary.
3040556
On-line radio listening has been the best way to hear songs that aren't getting exposure in the good old U.S.A.  96fm out of Perth, AU was the 1st place I heard this track... it's older, but worth a listen.  And try the new song, WE SHARE THE SAME SUN... another that goes on my playlist this year!
4569247
Folks, ignore the blathering fellow behind the curtain.  Amazon's reviewer is apparently outraged that Rhino has taken a "novelty-centric" (ooh, there's a neologism sure to last) approach to the Grungey '90s and ignored the turmoil, the tumult, the sheer musical ferment of that decade.

Mm-hm.

I'm thinking that the reviewer either hasn't listened to "Have A Nice Decade" or "Like, Omigod!" (Rhino's '70s and '80s box sets, respectively), or he somehow feels that the music of the '90s (for which I'm guessing he has much greater nostalgia) should somehow be treated with a reverence that is, you know, COMPLETELY ATYPICAL OF RHINO'S APPROACH IN THIS SERIES.  Unless he doesn't consider the inclusion in the earlier volumes of such enduring masterpieces as "General Hospi-tale" by the Afternoon Delights, "Take Off" by Doug & Bob McKenzie, "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees, and "Convoy" by C.W. McCall to be, you know, "novelty-centric".

Listen, I'm not a huge fan of the inclusion of novelty and fluff in this series at the cost of excluding prime cuts, but this set has a much, MUCH higher wheat:chaff ratio than either the '70s or the '80s set.  The fact that it doesn't exhaustively trace the development of the decade's many disparate under/aboveground movements is utterly irrelevant because that was never the compilation's objective.  The set has a ton of songs you'd like to hear but don't feel like buying an entire album to own.  In short, tune out the static and enjoy the set.  It's the best in the series to date.
4887749
Now lets be honest people, do you like Jack Johnson because he actually produces new and innovative music, or is it because you have to like him to be in the know? Well this is a classic example of why the music industry [isn't good] these days, all this album is, is a mess of repetetive songs that don't stand out in any way among all the talentless artists that tear up the charts these days. The thing about Jack Johnson is he floats under the radar so much that he hasn't really been blamed for the aweful music he creates. So why is it that it's not that hard to go platinum these days and it used to be a career defining moment to go gold? because of every single person who watches MTV religiously and listens to music only because their friends do. They call it catchy, I call it [garbage], they call themselves music lovers, I call them sheep. By the way if you want to here good current rock music, listen to the White Stripes.
1890096
Much of this collection sounds phoned in. It's slick and perfunctory, not the gritty, impassioned stuff we want from these two masters. Beyond that,  this album bears all the annoying production hallmarks that are driving  listeners to Napster, MP3 and the like: track 1 is a throw-away designed  for radio release. I usually start this CD at track 4, skipping 2 and 3  entirely (they're boring). None of the tunes exceeds 6 minutes, and most  are faded out around the pop-format 4 minutes in length, right about the  time that B.B. or Clapton (or both) start getting into the kind of groove  you want to hear MORE of! Coming on the heels of a recently released Albert  KIng and Stevie Ray Vaughn collaboration, which had long, inspired,  wonderfully satisfying 12-minute jams, this album just teases. I skip the  last track too. It's a great classic song but an unwelcome oddity here.
4108906
Why listen to this when I can listen to the original? Pointless. If Train wants to musically go back in time, why not start writing and recording music like they did back in their own early days, ala the self-titled album? New music by Train with that original sound, before they  became pop hit-chasers who ended up only appealing to the middle aged soccer mom crowd, would be worth it's weight in gold. Are they truly so tapped out creatively that they've now resorted to mimicry? Pat is harking back to his daze in a Led Zep tribute band, not moving forward. Blah.
700061
I can't stand artist interviews...even when they feature artists I love.  There's nothing more boring than a musician rambling on the radio when all I want to hear is the music.
3817634
If you are tired of the trash called music that we hear all the time on the radio, you will love this.
3698637
Super Boring Crap At It's Best- This Guy Thinks His Music Is All That. I Won't Listen To This Guys Music Ever Again. Even If Someone Gave It To Me For Free. Please People Get Real!
4027004
More like Tom Petty meets your typical flavor of the day post 90s poppy commercial rock. Looking at the guys on the cover you would swear they just got done playing a biker bar, but the tunes are radio aimed all the way. There are a few decent riffs here and there for certain, but the problem is that they all fall flat on their face as they just plain try too hard to be catchy. You gotta groove hard and strong IMO and these tunes just DON'T. The sad thing here is that the vocals and guitar are of an obvious very high caliber. One of two things happened with American Bang. Either (a), they were led around by a nose ring via a lame producer that was over concerned with "hooks", or (b)as a group they put all their eggs in the commercial radio basket. Either way, it's weak and typical commercial rock. BTW, what the heck are people comparing this to classic Stones or Skynyrd for??? There is NOTHING here even remotely close. That much is hype to be sure.
4446050
This is nothing innovative or all that interesting, in fact vocally it's very annoying and has nothing to to with rock'n'roll.  This is NOT the missing like between Roy Brown and Elvis Pressley, this is the rightly forgotten jazzed up Ink Spots imitation group.  The Ink Spts sounded dated and tacky from the beginning, using tenor on top of bass, as often bone here but more upbeat.  B-O-R-I-N-G.  I give it two stars only because the title songs is cool and so is r&b msuic, just EXCLUDING thsi very un-original group, that doesn't belong in the r'n'r hall of fame but in the CORNY music hall of fame alongside the Ink Spots and other goofy doowop groups.
1354506
Seriously? This is what pop music has come to? Little girls with no obvious talent who sing in the shower can now be packaged up and marketed as artists?! Gimme a break. This ain't a song, it's trash.