Epinions Recent Reviews for MonikaEC

The best Carpenters songs you've never heard!

Mon, 24 Sep 2001 09:50:47 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - Lovelines, the last Carpenters album released featuring all previously unreleased recordings, is a fine piece of work, and heads and shoulders above Voice of the Heart. This CD came out in 1989, when "The Karen Carpenter Story" TV movie became the...

I Feel Like Shadow Dancing!

Fri, 21 Sep 2001 01:41:08 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - In 1978, Andy Gibb released his sophomore album, the immensely popular Shadow Dancing. Seven of the ten songs are written or co-written by Andy, and they are all noteworthy and special in their own way.

Smack dab in the disco craze, and with...

A Little Brother Makes The Big Time

Fri, 21 Sep 2001 01:04:08 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - In 1977, a fresh-faced, handsome young man from Australia introduced himself to the United States in a big way. Not only were his three older brothers (the Bee Gees) the hottest group in the nation coming off the hottest album of the year (Saturday Night...

I Can't Believe I Watched The WHOLE Thing!

Mon, 10 Sep 2001 23:47:53 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - My dad has always been a Supremes fan and a Diana Ross fan in particular. So I grew up listening to the Supremes' music and grew to love many of their songs as well. I was well acquainted with the gorgeous, sweeping (yet slightly overblown) Ross song...

The Carpenters In Space!

Mon, 10 Sep 2001 23:02:39 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - Okay, only one of the songs has a space theme. But who cares? With the prior albums Now and Then and Horizon, Karen and Richard set out to prove that they were a lot more than the stereotypical gooey, sappy love ballad act. And with 1977's Pasage, they...

The Beginning of the End

Tue, 4 Sep 2001 18:01:03 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - In 1980, Andy Gibb returned to the studio to record his third album, After Dark. Andy's third album was also the last he'd complete in his lifetime (well, except for a few new cuts on his first greatest hits compilation released later in 1980).
...

Keystone Criminals

Fri, 24 Aug 2001 22:15:26 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - Anyone familiar with Jay Leno is familiar with the "Headlines" bit he does every Monday night on the Tonight Show. These are funny newspaper clippings which range from typos to wedding announcements with odd names (Miller/Light, Moore/Beers, Wright/Wong)...

"The Funeral Album"

Wed, 22 Aug 2001 22:36:16 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - Karen Carpenter passed away in February 1983, and Richard, grieving, set their last project together aside for several months.

When he went back to the studio, Rich had a daunting task ahead of him. To release her final recordings, but she was...

The Carpenters' second departure...

Fri, 17 Aug 2001 23:57:48 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - The Carpenters have been unfairly been stereotyped as gooey, sticky sweet singers who only sang gooey, sappy love songs. Karen and Richard began to try to break the mold a bit beginning with the 1973 Now and Then, an irresistible blend of original...

Nothing Less Than Outstanding!

Fri, 17 Aug 2001 02:48:17 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - At the height of their popularity, Karen and Richard Carpenter came out in 1973 with the wonderful album Now and Then. Their fifth album in five years, the "Now" side stood for the "modern" material, original songs they were recording, and the "Then"...

A Bittersweet Final Album For Karen

Fri, 17 Aug 2001 01:54:58 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - A new decade (1980) seemed to mark all sorts of new beginnings in the lives and career of brother-and-sister act Karen and Richard Carpenter. Karen had just shelved her solo album in May, she had two reasons to be excited: Richard had finally kicked his...

Duets disappoints...

Mon, 6 Aug 2001 18:16:37 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - I had high expectations for Duets. I enjoyed Gwyneth Paltrow in films such as Emma, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Sliding Doors, and when I heard she was going to sing in this film, I knew I had to see it.

Even though I knew I would have to wait...

When Love Comes Knocking...

Sun, 5 Aug 2001 22:58:38 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - ...you don't always hear the knock.

This book was given to me years ago by my godmother, but I never read it until a couple of nights ago. I read it for comfort after choking forth several sweaty, tearful prayers. I'd just found out that the...

A Literary Treasure For All Times!

Sun, 29 Jul 2001 20:29:29 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - The wonderful story "Christy" first came to my attention in 1994. The TV series based on this book had just debuted on Easter Sunday to huge ratings. While the show didn't last past 20 episodes, the book endures.

I loved the show so much that...

He obviously wasn't finished...

Sun, 22 Jul 2001 13:33:39 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - Andy Gibb became an "overnight success" in show business in 1977 and burned out almost as fast as his first three singles skyrocketed to the top of the charts. His older brothers, the Bee Gees, on the heels of Saturday Night Fever, were on an incredible...

Top of the charts

Fri, 20 Jul 2001 11:09:47 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - As an avid reader and a music junky, I totally fell in love with The Billboard Book of Number One Hits.

The book is very long and thick, as you might expect. Spanning the years 1955-1997, each of the 860 pages are devoted to a number one...

My spring break to California: Friends, Food and "Whose Line"

Mon, 25 Jun 2001 02:54:41 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - I decided that it was time for a vacation. Not only was I up to my eyeballs in work, college courses, studying, and still trying to regain some strength (see my Fibromyalgia epinion), I yearned for a new adventure.

I'd already been to...

Vintage Carpenters

Fri, 22 Jun 2001 20:51:02 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - The Carpenter's third album in 1971 gave the brother-sister team three more huge hits that would be forever synonymous with them.

The CD kicks off with the melancholy, country-tinged #2 ballad "Rainy Days and Mondays". I love this song but I...

No sophomore jinx here!

Fri, 22 Jun 2001 20:26:48 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - Karen and Richard Carpenter's debut album, Ticket To Ride, didn't sell very well, but they didn't give up. A year later, in 1970, they went back into the studio and tried again.

The production is pretty dated. The lush strings and heavy brass...

They'd only just begun...

Thu, 21 Jun 2001 16:51:01 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - In 1969, Karen and Richard Carpenter signed with A&M Records and recorded their debut album, Offering (title changed to Ticket To Ride later) later that year.

Richard and his lyricist, John Bettis, co-wrote the lion's share of material here...

Diana's RCA Years: Both The Good and Bad

Sun, 17 Jun 2001 18:57:44 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - When Motown superstar Diana Ross defected her record company of 20 years to sign a reported $20 million dollar deal with RCA records, many people doubted she could keep up her hit momentum. This complitation proves that through the 1980s, she still had...

Almost a lullaby

Mon, 4 Jun 2001 14:13:52 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - "Where You Are" was the love theme of the 2000 movie, Here On Earth, which flopped miserably. Sung by real-life lovebirds Jessica Simpson and 98 Degrees' Nick Lachey, the song nonetheless became both a pop and adult contemporary hit.

The song...

One of Billy's best...and underrated

Mon, 4 Jun 2001 13:51:19 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - I have very fond memories when I listen to this CD. In August of 1984, I was in the car with my mom and dad when we brought my brand-new baby brother home from the hospital for the first time...and "The Longest Time" came on the radio! So whenever I hear...

Billy's River of Dreams

Mon, 4 Jun 2001 12:51:03 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - I remember reading a few years ago that Billy Joel was approached by producers to do the soundtrack for the Lion King movie, and that "The River of Dreams" was going to be the big song to come from the soundtrack. I'm not sure if the whole story is true...

The ULTIMATE Charlie's Angels companion

Mon, 4 Jun 2001 12:09:08 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author MonikaEC - I've always been a fan of the 1970s TV series Charlie's Angels. I thought the movie was a dud, though. One day I was in the bookstore and this one book caught my eye. I picked it up and began to thumb through it. After about, oh, maybe five seconds, I...