Rachel Platten - Wildfire Review - 3 Stars

The new year starts off great here with Rachel Platten's "Wildfire." This album is pure pop-rock, and will get your year off to a good ol' Rockin' start. All of the songs are strong, and well crafted. Several could be singles.

The only fault with this album is the re-issuing of "Fight Song." This track is already a year old and is now just a distraction that interrupts an otherwise very good album. Obviously it's included here to boost sales, but in the end this inclusion could hurt sales. Anthemic songs such as "Fight Song" are always better left off of an album and instead let to be singles. Those songs, no matter how good become annoying and the fact that this song in particular is already a year old, may put some off. If you can get past the"Fight Song" the rest of the album is really enjoyable and should establish Rachel as an emerging artist that you'll want to watch grow.

Most of this  album is wrapped around ideas that range from hope to uplifting, and the self empowering. The positive centric messages will remind you of Katy Perry.

I'll rate this effort at 3 Stars and would have rated it higher except for the year old "Fight Song" on a new release really put me off here.

The best tracks here are "Stand by You"  "Beating Me Up" and "Lone Ranger." 

With Wildfire you get 12 tracks that clock over 40 minutes and 4 of those could be memorable singles. So my advice to you is get your copy today without delay.

Rock On!

#WILDFIRE

David Bowie – Blackstar – Reviewed 4½ BlackStars

David Bowie – Blackstar – Reviewed 4½ Blackstars

The Starman delivers! I'll Rate this effort 4½ Stars. The production and instrumentation make this album. Lyrically Bowie is cryptic and leaves us wondering. His vocals are aged, but not bad. It is so close to perfection but...

Blackstar is light years away from today's pop landscape. It is atmospheric and very dark. An intriguing work of art, and that lends to the thought that this album is just that, a work of art. It has interesting percussion that fits these songs perfectly, but none that are new. It's the arrangements and fills that are unique. The album features 7 songs, 5 are new and 2 others have been re-recorded. The songs are all great and they are arranged well on this album. Though there are fewer songs than typical albums, these are all excellent, well produced tracks and the album still clocks over forty minutes.

It would be unfair to describe this as an experimental album. It is more to the point of Bowie doing what he wanted to do on his own terms rather than someone else's.

It belongs in a genre of its own, one called Bowie.

Ground control to Maj. Bowie your mission is complete, you are free to go now.

Get this masterpiece through Amazon here Blackstar Album 

Check out the accompanying videos for these songs from the album below.

 Blackstar

 Lazarus