Great music, bland vocals
591070
Of all the neo new wave bands that have popped up in the last few years, this is probably one of my favorites. The music is lush and refreshing, using more synths than most of the others and succeeding greatly in recreating the '80s sound in a modern way.

Unfortunately, the vocals weigh this album down. They're not bad in and of themselves. In fact, in some parts you can tell the singer has a rather good voice with tons of potential. It's just that he tries to sound like every other bland radio band vocalist out there that appeals to kids 21 and under. I don't quite understand why most new pop vocalists opt to blend in and sound like all the others instead of trying to stand out. Do they think it's the only way people will listen? If so, that's sad. I long for more unique and incredible frontmen like Simon LeBon, Dave Gahan, Morten Harket, etc.

That said, I still really enjoy this album. The songs are catchy and well-written, and most have a very retro flair (much moreso than The Bravery or The Killers or similar bands). The songs that really stand out for me are "97 Lies," "Out Of Control," "Make-Up Sex," "Careless Lies," and "Dancing With Strangers." Good stuff. I hope the singer grows and develops his own sound so the band can reach its full potential.
991048
I have been listening to this band for so many years and have such a fondness for their music.  I really wish I could add my voice to all the raves so far.  Sadly, at least for now, this record strikes me as kind of boilerplate Hem.  Yes, Sally Ellison has one of the most beautiful voices in pop music, but the songs are so simple, like nursery rhymes almost.  And I almost broke the disc trying to get it out of the old-school record sleeve.  Grr.

The one thing that really intrigued me was, in reading through the booklet that accompanies the CD, I found that they were accompanied by a rather large choir and orchestra on some of the numbers.  It's kind of marvelous that they manage to incorporate all those musicians into their minimalist sound.

I find with Hem that I have tended to be initially underwhelmed, at least with the last few records, but that I love the music more as it becomes more familiar.  I'm hoping that happens with this record.  I really do like this band.  There's no one else like them.  Definitely start with this record if you have never heard them before - otherwise, Rabbit Songs and Eveningland are superior.
2516597
This album is good, but lacks the excitement of Johnny Gill from 1990. I liked the stomping feel of The Floor, the funky I Got You with Boyz II Men and the rapidly paced song Provocative.  But my favorite is the ballad Tell Me How U Want It, which I still like to hum along to. It's really my second favorite ballad from Johnny after My, My, My. Very soothing and comforting song in its lush relaxing sound.  The rest of the album is mostly filler and would have been better sung by an underrated R&B male singer struggling to get his single higher than No. 54 on the singles charts.  But that's what it's like, when a stylistic artistically done song gets passed on by a commercially slick keep it to 3 minutes song.  Johnny has made better songs than the filler that takes about 5 songs. It will take you days to figure this album out because of its unevenness.
3817094
The stuff from the "prime' years is a nice overview of the band, I'm really glad they included "It Doesn't Matter" a personal favorite.  The sound's great, it's a nice summary of a band I have well represented in vinyl.  Unfortunately, most of the newer songs are pedestrian at best.  This would've been a better disk if they'd've stuck with the good stuff.  Oh well, music companies have been using hits collections to try and sell duds for ages........
2079230
very disappointed that there are no liner notes. The songs are great. The voices are great. The music is so so.  Sounds like an average studio band that is reading the music as they  play.  I wouldn't recommend it.
1014281
I love this band, but I think this is the weakest of their albums.  The sound engineering is poor, especially on vocal tracks accompanied by music, where the vocals sound distant and weak.  The a capella songs are fine.  The arrangement and execution of the music seem a little bit rushed.  Nevertheless, you should get their other albums: If you think this album is OK, the others are better, and if you think this is great, the others will blow you away.

The engineering is particularly evident on "Ninety Miles an Hour", which is a fun song that deserves better treatment.  The vocals don't hold up to the accompaniment.  The arrangement itself fails some, too, in that it ends immediately after the last verse instead of carrying through another round of music, which would have been a better choice by a band whose strong point is instrumental music.
1324514
The music is really good, has a good blues /jazz feel to it, but it doesn't compare to any of their earlier stuff.
3739930
The sound mixing and quality are some what a disappointment. Otherwise, great song choices which showcase their harmony and powerful voices.
4222845
This artist caught my ear while listening to Christmas music on Pandora.  I bought the CD on that single listen alone.  Although I don't regret the purchase, I realize that what caught my ear was the great arrangements by Chris McDonald and overall high level of musicianship.  Unfortunately, Matt Belsante's voice is not strong enough to keep up with them.  He has a very good sense of phrasing and inflection, and his tone is quite pleasing.
However his voice sounds immature to me on this 2008 CD, bit I will just blame on his youth. At this point he needed more vocal coaching in the areas of pitch and breath control.  An example is White Christmas, where enough sharp/flat notes are hit to do this classic an injustice.
Think "early Michael Buble'" and you get the idea.  You will find better performances and good arrangements by Jeff Steinberg on his most recent CD "When You're Smiling" (2015).
128067
Lacking in something.

Being a big Eddie Money fan I waited anxiously for this CD and finally got it. And then I played and listened to it.. twice, just to be sure.

The good points are... Great song choices, couldn't get much better than this selection for a rock revival. Great musicians and music. Decent sound, although I think a little tweaking would have worked here.

The bad point, for me, was Eddie's voice. I know it's not going to be as good as it was... and boy was it good! But for some reason it just doesn't work here.

'Land of A Thousand Dances' seems to be the standout here.. his voice, the music and background all seem to meld perfectly. On all the other tracks his voice seems to be 'seperate' from the music and background. Almost as if they were recorded seperately and then just layered and nothing else done.

I was a bit disappointed but still happy to know that Mr Money is still in the game. I think with better production this could have been a more polished gem and I do hope he gives it another shot in that direction. For having one of the stronger voices in rock, I think the man deserves better than this.
778111
This is one of my favorite albums of 2007 and it is easy to recommend it to anyone who likes it when DJs build their music out of jazz samples.  However, this album frustrates me.  Overall, it has a good sense of balance, (if you ignore the final track) but most of the tracks fail to achieve greatness because they're lopsided by one problem or another, and the annoying thing is that all of these problems have been overcome somewhere else on the album!  I repeat that I highly recommend it, but this review is primarily negative because in Cinco de Mowo I hear one of my all-time favorite albums trying to break free, and it never does.

The first track, "Shake ya Boogie," mixes campy swing samples with a rock beat, creating very nice results.  The next few tracks continue at that energy level and show off Mocean Worker's sharp production sensibilities, but as they go on, I find myself hungry for more melodic diversity.  The music features samples from countless jazz legends, but their talent doesn't get a chance to shine when reduced to 4-note snippets.  By the time you reach track five, "Reykjavik," which sounds cool but goes absolutely nowhere, you get the feeling that the songs could have been condensed to a length of about 16 seconds and you wouldn't have missed anything.  However, right as you're thinking this the album changes the formula with the aptly titled track, "Changes," and gives the musicians more space for melodies.  Unfortunately, the mixing feels much more conservative on these tracks than on the earlier ones.  The awesome chopped-up flute solo in "Siss Boom Bah" is left to carry itself over minimal backing beats. The next track, "Brown Liquor," is the only one on the album that finds a balance between interesting loops and solid melodic sections.  It seems like Mocean Worker took his favorite loops and instrumentals and built separate tracks out of each one.  He does a good job of organizing the album to keep it interesting, but in the end there aren't many stand-out tracks because they are all a little repetitive or a little bland.  The last tracks all provide enough variety to keep things interesting but they won't surprise you.  That is, until you reach the final one, "Songnumber3," a slow and moody piece featuring strings,  subtly-glitched piano, and a completely out-of-place drum loop.  The rest of the album was surprisingly cohesive considering that each track was stylistically unique, but "Songnumber3" completely fails.  I'm sure the intent was to include a downtempo chill-out tune to cap things off, but it doesn't fit with the album at all.  The instruments, the minor key, the dragging pace, and the idiotic superimposed drum loop all contribute to a disappointing and inappropriate finish for a very good album.
3303695
I hate reviews that rave and then never describe the music. So I set out to correct this. This was a pretty good album overall, with weak and strong spots.
Second Chapter - a brief intro that is an Enigma trademark, flows nicely into Eyes of Truth, which is an excellent track. However, the unwavering repetition of the vocals in the 2nd track could have been changed to deliver more impact. Oh well, maybe next time.
Return to Innocence is a classic, what can I say. Beat, voice, chanting, you name it, you got it.
I Love You, I'll Kill You starts off slowly and dangerously, morphs into guitars that don't belong there, and then slide back into drums and vocals that save it and wrap it up. This better come back as a cool remix someday!
Silent Warrior - this one was weak, with a 'rainforest' sound that don't match the mood of the whole CD. This one could get tossed
Dream of the Dolphin is very piano-ish, I don't know where it came from. It doesn't fit either
Age of Lonliness and Out From the Deep are both solid songs that echo the theme of renewal, innocence and change
The Cross of Changes - good solid vocals and music. Does this sould slightly bitter to anyone? It fits the theme, but I would not have chosen to end the CD this way.
Overall, the shining tracks are 2, 3, 4. The rest blend and fade into the background if you are not paying attention. Worth a listen.
1053624
I love the songs, the instrumentation, the melodies, etc.  I can't stand Mangum's vocals.  "Caterwauling" is the word that comes to mind.  It makes some of the tracks unlistenable.  I only give it 4 stars instead of 3 because some of the songs are really well structured and instrumented.
1395113
I suppose I should begin by clarifying that there is nothing wrong with the performance of the pieces on this album: the London Philharmonic nails it. The reason I give it four stars is that despite the stellar performance, the selection of songs leaves something to be desired.

You can read the album title two ways: the greatest music to come out of video games, or the music from the greatest video games. The album tries to incorporate both, and is weaker for it.

For example, there is a track from Splinter Cell: Conviction. Great, popular game, but forgettable music. Then you have a track from Advent Rising: pretty good music, but I don't think I'm remiss in calling it a buggy game with niche appeal that did not do well commercially.

Some popular games that had good music have it enhanced by an orchestral performance - the selections fo Metal Gear Solid 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV, for example - and even the Angry Birds theme gets a nice turn here. But just as often you get a forgettable piece, like the renditions of Modern Warfare's title screen.

All in all, for eight bucks (or less if you take advantage of some of Amazon's MP3 credit offers) this is a very good album, but its odd selection keeps it from greatness.
227311
I am a big fan of Tinsley, I own all his CDs and have seen him perform live at least a half dozen times.  I was excited to see that Tinsley had an instrumental cd of original songs.  It's good to see him taking chances.  With that said, I really like Tinsley's vocals.  So for me it was greatly missed.  As for the songs, I was disappointed, as they don't have any fire to them.  No scorching blues, no heavy rock tunes.  It's all rather bland and not very exciting.  It's tough to catch a groove with these tunes.
2717081
Chan Marshall is able to create great texture with her voice and make these covers her own.  The CD is a great concept piece, but the songs lack the unique touches that make them distinguishible from each other.
3347722
I got the album as a free promo quite a long time ago, and I'll still go back to it every once in a while. The music sounds like pop-punk to me, and every once in a while I'll get into a mood for it, and this album scratches that itch excellently. The singer is clean and powerful, the instrumental is skilled and interesting while maintaining a style reminiscent of 80-90s punk, and the only thing preventing me from giving a 5 star review would be the lyrics. They work well with the singer's voice, but they lack a certain...something. They seem straightforward, and occasionally come off as somewhat bland, and somewhat repetitive. While I still respect the hell out of their talent, the lyrics would need some sort of deeper meaning to really grasp me. That all said, the music is definitely worth listening to, and I would definitely buy an album from them if they were to come out with another. I just hope that they are keeping with this, as they could easily become a very iconic and trendsetting band.