New CDs for Me

I just bought three new CD’s. I expect more to come. With my TV boycott, I know I’ll be transferring some of my enthusiasm to books and music.

Anyway, see full post for comments on:
1) Demon Days by Gorillaz
2) Wolfgang's Big Night Out by The Brian Setzer Orchestra
3) Long Road Out of Eden by The Eagles

1) Demon Days by Gorillaz : Fantastic. I bought it because several songs from this CD had been cropping up on my Last.Fm playlist. The title track of the CD is just excellent. I have liked & downloaded singles by the Gorillaz before but this is the first CD from them I’ve purchased. The songs are catchy, in a variety of styles and very well-arranged. This was definitely worth my money.

2) Wolfgang's Big Night Out by The Brian Setzer Orchestra: Unusually good. Basically, the BSO took several classical pieces and rearranged them in a big band style. The transition is for the most part seamless. For some of the songs, they added vocals but most are instrumentals. I’m a big fan of both classical and big band music so this fusion was very enjoyable for me. Brian Setzer has made a career out of reviving older song styles so it almost makes sense he uses classical pieces as the basis for this album. The best tracks in my opinion were “Honey Man" (originally "Flight of the Bumblebee") and “The 1812 Overdrive” (Based on "The 1812 Overture"). Again, this is a good buy.

3) Long Road Out of Eden by The Eagles : I’d been exicted about this for a while. The Eagles sold a crazy amount of CDs last week and were only denied #1 on the Billboard charts by a stupid technicality. Needless to say, I was ready to be impressed...I don’t know if I was. There’s definitely some catchy songs and every band member gets a chance to shine. There are several gems. “How Long”, their single, is just a wonderful rock-country song. And “Guilty of the Crime”, a surprisingly bluesy song on the first disc, is really good. But this is a more contemplative and mellow collection than I was expecting. It doesn't by any means suck but it takes a couple of listen-throughs to appreciate. Overall, this CD is a good buy I think. You’re getting 20 tracks in an age when most releases have 10-15. And honestly, the worst Eagles song is better than 85% of what plays on pop radio.

All in all, these CDs will definitely making appearances on my portable music player. And I’m preparing to give the Amazon MP3 service a try. I’ve got a list of songs from my Last.Fm listening that I’d like to have in a portable format.