Library

Genere: Rock

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama:

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: The term country-pop doesn't quite do justice to Yearwood's sixth album for MCA: The sound is a kind of modernized countrypolitan, a wide-open, layered pop distinguished by intelligently placed strings, piano, pedal steel, and the harmonies of Kim Richey and Harry Stinson. Fans of Yearwood's more traditional-sounding early recordings will be surprised by the lushness of the ballads and the even-tempoed rockers. If the material isn't as intense as on her fine Hearts in Armor, her soprano remains honest and free from the vocal gimmicks that plague some of her contemporaries. --Roy Francis Kasten

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Real Live Woman finds Trisha Yearwood fully embracing the inner soft-rocker she's flirted with for years, and so it makes sense that it's the most fully realized album of her career. Her Cali-rock jones gets a fix here thanks to a Linda Ronstadt cover ("Try Me Again") and a guest shot by Jackson Browne on "Sad Eyes," a Los Angeles-era Springsteen number, but the voice remains hers--a modern-day country girl who's been uptown and likes it. The result is an album that finds the middle ground between the sonic options won for country radio by the Dixie Chicks, the adult-contemporary blues of Wynnona and Bonnie Raitt, and perhaps even, amazingly, a bit of Garth's Chris Gaines project. The title track's the real keeper, a country-soul anthem that revisits the character Yearwood first introduced in songs like "She's in Love with the Boy" and "XXX's and OOO's" and finds her a good deal wiser now--and feeling blessed to know it. --David Cantwell

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Trisha Yearwood is often compared to Linda Ronstadt, and it's easy to understand why when listening to her wide-open country-rock vocal on "Better Your Heart Than Mine," which was co-authored by Andrew Gold, a former member of Ronstadt's band. Yearwood grabs hold of the rocking beat and belts out the melody as if her voice had the buzzing edge and rhythmic clout of an electric guitar. The 29-year-old singer is capable of a lot more, however, and she proves as much on her breakthrough third album. The key number is "I Don't Fall in Love So Easy." Yearwood's ability to stretch a note with a bluesy fall in pitch as if torn between defensiveness and desire is a rare skill. Willie Nelson not only wrote the Mexican-flavored "One in a Row," but he also plays the acoustic guitar solo on it and sings harmony behind her on Kimmie Rhodes' "Hard Promises To Keep." The album falls short of true greatness due to a few questionable song choices but it gives more than a few hints that Yearwood could well be the female country singer who best combines commercial appeal and artistic merit in the '90s. --Geoffrey Himes

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Trisha Yearwood ended up in the middle of one of 1997's music-industry storms when her version of the big ballad "How Do I Live" aced out teenage sensation LeAnn Rimes' on the soundtrack of Con Air, an action flick everyone immediately forgot about. Also somewhat lost in the commotion was Yearwood's own honorable half-decade-plus of hits, so many that some of her best (like a masterful version of Melissa Etheridge's "You Can Sleep While I Drive") didn't make it to this roundup of singles. That's OK; there'll be another. And for now, Songbook honorably recapitulates the career so far of one of current country's most-reliables. --Byline

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Trisha Yearwood's fourth album leaves its often-spotty predecessors in the dust. After two lighter-weight opening tracks--the title cut and the smash "XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl)," both of which topped the country charts--Yearwood settles into her moodiest set of songs yet. Most perfectly delivered is "You Can Sleep While I Drive"; here, Yearwood tones down the overkill of Melissa Etheridge's original to stress the lyrics' complex mesh of aching resignation. Similarly, "Those Words We Said" and her version of Tammy Wynette's "Till I Get It Right" are near-great vocal performances--not just on the technical side, but in the arena where the subtleties of true emotion meet topflight material. Even the requisite tough-girl offerings, "The Restless Kind" and "I Wanna Go Too Far," fit perfectly into this portrait of a smart, modern countrypolitan woman. --Rickey Wright

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: This is Trisha Yearwood's self titled debut album. The album was produced by Garth Fundis, who she has worked with many times. There's a collaboration with Garth Brooks, top songwriters, what more do you need? Yearwood is one of my favorite female country singers, because she sings better than most of her peers. Her voice is very good at emoting, she can go from a whisper to a scream in a second FLAT. She really makes you feel what she is singing. There was some big hits from this album including the classic "She's In Love With The Boy", the ballad "The Woman Before Me", the uptempo "That's What I Like About You" and the ballad with Garth Brooks singing backup titled "Like We Never Had A Broken Heart". Other highlights include "The Whisper Of Your Heart", "Fools Like Me" and "Victim Of The Game". Overall a strong debut!

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Trisha Yearwood, like her better half in the Mavericks, is becoming more and more country-pop (and less pop-country) with each release. Her latest leads her further down the road into 1970s Linda Rondstadt territory than ever before. It's a land where great pipes and stellar playing are frequently put to the service of treacly ballads and anemic rockers but also a destination guaranteed to provide at least a couple of stunning moments. "There Goes My Baby," about a woman who didn't know how good she had it, is twangy, unpretentious pop, rock-solid and catchy as all get out, and the steel-guitar-driven, Cali country-rock of "Bring Me All Your Lovin'" is as sonically stunning a moment as Nashville's produced in years. --David Cantwell

Genere:

Durata: 1:03:11

Dischi:

Produttore:

Trama:

Genere: World Music

Durata: 1:04:00

Dischi: 1

Produttore: Nick Page

Trama:

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi:

Produttore:

Trama: Yoakam's third album finds him more daring in his incorporation of Creedence-style rock guitar fills--Pete Anderson, take a bow--and Tex-Mex polka into his Bakersfield stomp. Class resentment and murderous jealousy color this disc much more than its predecessors; "I Sang Dixie" is one of the all-time great I'm-just-a-country-boy-in-this-mean-ol'-city songs. And while Yoakam's version of "Home of the Blues" doesn't muster the drama of Johnny Cash's original, he'll forever deserve props for resurrecting the Buck Owens obscurity "Streets of Bakersfield"--not to mention duet partner Owens's then-dormant career. --Rickey Wright

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Dwight Live, with its generous helping of 17 songs, provides a useful summary of Yoakam's career thus far. He's recorded all but one of the songs before, but the six numbers from the '80s are deepened by everything Yoakam and his terrific band have learned from their years on the road, and the six numbers from his '93 album, This Time, are liberated from their radio-ready studio arrangements to kick up a little dust. For example, the come-back-home plea of the '87 hit, "Please, Please Baby," takes on a new urgency as Yoakam and the band make the swing beat really jump. And the title tune of the '93 album has a new swagger to it. Dwight Live opens and closes with Elvis Presley songs, "Little Sister" and "Suspicious Minds," a reminder of how Yoakam has infused hillbilly music with boisterous rhythms, much as the King once did. By contrast, Yoakam delivers "Miner's Prayer" from his first album in an unplugged version and follows it with Bill Monroe's "Rocky Road Blues," the one song he hadn't recorded before. The indisputable highlight, however, is a six-minute version of "Long White Cadillac," Dave Alvin's immortal song about Hank Williams's last ride. Yoakam moans and wails like a man pursued by hellhounds, and Anderson's guitar notes sound like those snarling, yapping dogs themselves. --Geoffrey Himes

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: With utter assurance and several shots of sly humor, Dwight Yoakam moved into his second decade of recording with Gone, his most daring album to date. Displaying a full command of styles as far afield as Al Green-style soul ("Nothing"), straight-up honky-tonk ("Don't Be Sad"), Tex-Mex polka ("Sorry You Asked?"), and classic Nashville Sound balladry ("Heart of Stone"), Yoakam also reaches the heart of his songs: this isn't a showoff genre-hopping move. It's more like the peak point of his catalog. --Rickey Wright

Genere: Country

Durata: 31:08

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Both the introduction to hard country for a generation of college kids and a key entry in what became the neotraditionalist movement, Dwight Yoakam's debut was a near-perfect re-creation of Buck Owens's Bakersfield sound. "Bury Me" and "Miner's Prayer" are heartfelt homages to Yoakam's real Kentucky roots, while honky-tonkers like "South of Cincinnati" remind how many Kentuckians eventually headed to Ohio for good jobs. Most immediately striking, though, are Yoakam's covers--particularly versions of Johnny Horton's "Honky Tonk Man" and Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire"--which subtly tune up the Bakersfield sound with a rock & roll super-charge. --David Cantwell

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Yoakam was coming off a platinum debut album with a wiseass title (Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.) when he released Hillbilly Deluxe. Neither as hard-nosed nor as bereft as he'd soon be sounding, Deluxe was nonetheless both a smart, stylized missive and the kind of nouveau honky-tonk set that country radio was suddenly ready to eat up. With stuff like "Little Ways," "Please, Please Baby," and "Johnson's Love" on the plate, it tasted great. --Rickey Wright

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi:

Produttore:

Trama: Dwight Yoakam's fourth studio album was his most muscular yet. Alongside the overtly rocking cuts, his honky-tonkers also kicked harder than anywhere in his catalog; on top of all this, he gave his loosest, most assured-sounding vocal performances to date. That he cowrote one of the disc's biggest singles, "It Only Hurts When I Cry," with Roger Miller makes perfect sense; Yoakam and Miller shared an ambivalently loving attitude toward the country-music establishment. Yoakam's insistence on going his own way would lead to even more indelible long-players, but If There Was a Way remains among his most impressive. --Rickey Wright

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama:

Genere: Country

Durata: 45:13

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama:

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: In the vein of 1995's Gone, Dwight Yoakam continues to argue for an alternative-country future. Expanding his retro Bakersfield sound with significant flourishes of more contemporary and not-so-contemporary pop, rock, and soul, A Long Way Home is an aurally stunning and eclectic recording. "These Arms" begins as a Ray Price shuffle, then seamlessly morphs into a dramatic pop gem, while the thrilling "Yet to Succeed" and "I'll Just Take These" are modern countrypolitan. And mixed among the country pop are roadhouse rockers and bluegrassy hollers, all with some of the more arresting lyrics of Yoakam's career. His last three releases--collections of live tracks, quirky covers and Christmas songs--have been distressingly subpar, but A Long Way Home finds Yoakam not as far from home as we'd feared. --David Cantwell

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Cover art, front: a behatted (of course) Dwight, face completely hidden. Back: a shapely, half-nude model sporting a Persistence of Memory-style clock eyeing a sink overflowing with water and calendar pages. Title tune: one of Yoakam's most hardcore Bakersfield 'tonkers. It sits alongside a couple of rockers, a handful of inspired weepers, and two inexorably flowing country-pop numbers ("A Thousand Miles from Nowhere" and "Ain't That Lonely Yet") that deserved every second of airplay they got. He'd be even better when he entered the studio again (for Gone), but the only slouching he does here is in the photographs. --Rickey Wright

Genere: Country

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama:

Genere: Jazz

Durata: 40:01

Dischi:

Produttore:

Trama:

Genere: Jazz

Durata:

Dischi: 2

Produttore:

Trama: The 40 tracks on these two discs include everything Lester Young recorded for the Aladdin Company in the 1940s. The opening trio titles with Young backed by Nat King Cole and bass player Red Callender date from 1942, the remainder from late 1945 to early 1948. Despite critical opinion that the US Army had robbed Young of his true musical talent during his military service, his playing is of a very high level here, especially so on the quintet dates with pianists Joe Albany and Dodo Marmarosa. In fact his version of "These Foolish Things" from the Marmarosa session is as great an improvisation as he ever created in his playing career. There are plenty of indications that Young was intrigued by the new wave then sweeping through jazz. Beboppers such as Marmarosa, Albany, Argonne Thornton and Gene DiNovi play piano on various sessions while trumpeter Howard McGhee and drummers Roy Haynes and Tiny Kahn are also present on some dates. For the sake of completeness the session under vocalist Helen Humes' name has been included on the strength of Young's presence in the backing group. The rare "Riffin' Without Helen" instrumental has also been included. --<I>Steve Voce</I>

Genere: Jazz

Durata: 65:57

Dischi:

Produttore:

Trama: This recording contains six different sessions recorded over a 12 year span, featuring Young on sax. The CD sounds amazingly clear and is much better than the Ken Burns compilation. Lester Young bridged the gap between swing and bop music, and was known for his smooth tone and inventive improvisations. This is a great disc.

Genere: Jazz

Durata: 1:07:01

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama:

Genere: Jazz

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama:

Genere: Rock

Durata: 65:48

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Though Are You Passionate? is Neil Young's studio-recorded follow-up to 2000's Silver & Gold, it might well have emerged on the heels of Harvest Moon. While both Crazy Horse and Booker T. & the MGs swing by to add ballast to several of these 11 brand-new tracks, gentle weepers like "Don't Say You Love Me," "When I Hold You in My Arms," and the softly lilting title track recall Young's aforementioned 1992 work while suggesting that the once outspoken social critic and on-again, off-again CSN&Y member is mellowing. Further proof of that can be found in the tender opening song, "You're My Girl"--a postcard from a father to a daughter on the cusp of adulthood and presumably inspired by Young's daughter Amber--as well as in the lazy, languid "Two Old Friends." Are You Passionate?'s one serious clunker, "Let's Roll," was inspired by the 9/11 cell-phone call Todd Beamer placed moments before he and other passengers on Flight 93 went down in a Pennsylvania field. You can't fault the guy for commemorating a heroic act and making a personal donation to the Beamer family, but all his talk of "going after Satan on the wings of a dove" and "facing down evil" sounds like a guy who's spent more time watching CNN than honing his lyrics. --Kim Hughes

Genere: Rock

Durata: 43:26

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: One question would be: What took him so long? After all, a contemporary like Van Morrison has sold boatloads of his single-disc best-of set to buyers wary of diving into that deep catalog without a primer to get them started. So three and a half decades into his solo career, Neil Young finally delivers his version of that most modest of albums--the pre-holiday "hits" overview. What's surprising, coming from such a proud maverick, is its conventionality. Granted, the original master mixes are a boon for fans, but otherwise, there's not much here for loyalists who quite likely already possess the original "Like a Hurricane" on a couple of albums, as well as a handful of live interpretations scanning the years. Since Young cracked the Top 10 only once (1972's "Heart of Gold"), this set is built around concert staples as "Cinnamon Girl," "Rockin' in the Free World," and "Hey, Hey, My My" rather than chart favorites. Despite Young's honorable standing as a still-vital graybeard, the disc is skewed heavily toward his early work, shortchanging some mighty productive recent years. Peripheral fans may find this set of interest, but faithful followers are better advised to investigate the DVD version, which, at least, includes videos, photos, lyrics, and Web links. --Steven Stolder

Genere: Rock

Durata: 55:13

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Substituting eager Pearl Jam for wizened Crazy Horse, Young returns to the Ragged Glory formula--big guitars, droning rhythm, mystical poetry--for this one-off 1995 CD after a joint concert tour. Pearl Jam, especially new drummer Jack Irons, focuses Young's ideas and challenges him in ways the more forgiving Horse never does. "Downtown" became an immediate rock-radio hit, and the song's three-chord force keeps even the lines about dancing hippies and Jimi Hendrix from getting stale. Singer Eddie Vedder shows up sporadically but makes the most of a shadowy bridge on "Peace and Love." --Steve Knopper

Genere: Rock

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: This is the album that introduced me to Neil Young. I bought it purely because I love Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, who appear on several tracks. Previously, I had a preconceived view that Neil Young was loud and noisy! I still prefer his accoustic stuff, but at least I learned the errors of my ways. This album holds its own in any category, i.e. country or rock, and comes highly recommended.

Genere: Rock

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: This souvenir from Neil Young's Y2K Music in Head tour shines brightest when it reaches what in a vinyl world would have been side two's opening cut: "Words" starts out as a reminder of the depth and genius of Young's Harvest album, and then grows, over the course of its 11 minutes, into a fractured waltz that shows just how nicely a bunch of good old boys and girls can breathe new life into classic rock. Instrumental demons Donald "Duck" Dunn, Spooner Oldham, Jim Keltner, and Ben Keith (along with the Young family backup singers, sister Astrid and wife Pegi) perform similar miracles on "Tonight's the Night," "Cowgirl in the Sand" (18 big minutes!), and a crowd-pleasing "All Along the Watchtower" featuring tour-mate Chrissie Hynde. The shorter cuts are less remarkable, from the previously unreleased "Fool for Your Love" to a draggy "Motorcycle Mama" that barely warrants its four minutes. But when Young and company crank it up on the open highway, rock doesn't get much better than this. -Bill Forman

Genere: Rock

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: One of Neil Young's softest and most striking albums in ages, Silver & Gold recaptures the peacefulness of Comes a Time and Harvest Moon. At one point ("Buffalo Springfield Again"), Young even goes so far as to imagine the reunion of the band he left in order to pursue a solo career. It's a moment that almost overtakes Young's songs of husbandly devotion in sheer sweetness. --Rickey Wright

Genere: Rock

Durata: 56:50

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama:

Genere: Rock

Durata: 1:24:48

Dischi: 3

Produttore: Neil Young

Trama: Manufactured in the E.U. - on record
Manufactured in Germany - on label

Genere: Rock

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: After a long period of unfocused weirdness, Young spotted grunge around the corner and declared unity with the loud, scruffy sounds coming from Seattle. The countryish ballads, such as the opening "Farmer John," get roaring Crazy Horse treatment, and the headbanging "F*!#in' Up" is the most self-effacing rock anthem since the Who recorded "I'm a Boy." Amid the clatter, though, there is beauty: Crazy Horse's sympathetic backup vocals turn "Mansion on the Hill" into a pretty pop song despite the electric guitars, and even the white noise that closes the 1990 album is soothing in a scream-therapy kind of way. --Steve Knopper

Genere: Rock

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: One might assume the first album Neil Young put out upon his return to Reprise Records in 1988 after a misbegotten stint with Geffen would signal a comeback for the temporarily misplaced singer-songwriter. Actually, This Note's for You's successor, 1989's Freedom, is Young's late-'80s hallmark release. This one's the last in a series of titles from Young in the most capricious phase of a fickle career. Here he's on an Albert Collins kick, tackling blues-based tunes backed by his short-lived, horn-powered Blue Notes. While the anti-endorsement title track kicked up some dust at the time, the 10-song collection is weighed down by undistinguished, one-note workouts like "Ten Men Working," "Married Man," and "Sunny Inside" (the titles pretty much sum up the songs). Thankfully, Young returned to his own shade of blue after this curious bar-band one-off. --Steven Stolder

Genere: Rock

Durata: 56:09

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: Well I like Paul Young and I think this was a great album! When I heard Every Time You Go Away on the radio in the 80's I liked it so much I had to buy this album and I think all of the songs are good but my favorite is Every Time You Go Away and I would listen to it the most. It has been a long time since I had this album but I believe that I had the 33" vinyl record but unfortunately I don't have it anymore and I'm thinking of buying the CD and I definitely have to recommend this album to fans of Paul Young and 80's rock!

Genere: Rock

Durata:

Dischi: 1

Produttore:

Trama: