Long Road Out Of Eden - Eagles
Virtually everyone likes Eagles. Such is the eclecticism inherent in the band's multi-talented line-up there will invariably be something there for everyone. Unfortunately, on the bands first album of new material in 28 years, their greatest strength proves also to be their greatest weakness.Disk 1 starts off promisingly enough with the a cappella No More Walks In The Woods followed by pleasant country rockers How Long and Busy Being Fabulous. Sadly though a procession of ‘X-Factor finalist’ ballads follows, broken only by the Ozzy-sings-Quo 12-bar work out of Guilty Of The Crime and the 80's funk of Fast Company (amusingly sung in a with Prince-style falsetto).
Disk 2 (the sickening I Love To Watch a Woman Dance aside) exhibits a slightly harder edge than the opening set and benefits greatly from it. Long Road Out of Eden (the album’s stand-out track and the closest it ever comes to Hotel-California-like greatness) kicks off a series of songs examining the ‘State of America’ and generally finding it wanting. The music may be middle-of-the-road, but the opinions on show certainly aren’t – this won’t be on the Christmas Party play list at the White House!
Combining the harder-hitting tracks onto a single disk effort (entitled Shorter Road Out Of Eden?) would have made this a killer album – over two disks though I find myself reaching for the next button just a little too often.
Rating: Good
Mothership - Led Zeppelin
Despite having had every single album on vinyl, this is the first time that Led Zeppelin have appeared on my iPod. Why is that? Upon reflection the answer is clear – whilst I like ‘Zep’, I don’t love them. The air of arrogance and aloofness the band cultivated has tended to generate respect rather than affection. Not to mention Robert Plant’s irritating fake-orgasms…..So, has a gap of almost 20 years changed my view? Not entirely. This ‘greatest hits’ collection is undoubtedly of the highest quality with almost all of the 24 tracks on offer worthy of the much over-used label ‘classic’ (only the faux-reggae, bad-joke of D’Yer Mak’er and Physical Graffitti’s Trampled Under Foot and Houses of The Holy failing to make the grade). However, whilst I am reminded of just how good the band was, there is still an element of frustration that they could have been even better. Monster-constructs such as Kashmir, No Quarter and Achilles Last Stand are deflated slightly by muddy production and a weak guitar and/or keyboard sound. Imagine how magnificent they would be with a fuller, more powerful mix! Ultimately though, this is akin to claiming that the ceiling of the Cisteen Chapel would benefit from a deeper shade of blue. This is a masterpiece; showing its age in places, too gaudy at times and a little dull in others, but still a masterpiece.
Rating: Essential
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