Epinions Recent Reviews for ajmurray

Useless hunk of junk

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 09:24:03 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - This printer will make you crazy. It works for the first month then from then on won't print properly. Ink cartridge levels are incorrect (it says brand new cartridges are empty), it clogs in a matter of days and nozzle cleaning doesn't help. Simple text...

Still will surprise you

Mon, 22 Sep 2003 22:55:21 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - Looking past his recent 'live' con-job (theatres all over the world played a taped concert, rather than the implied live simulcast most people bought tickets for), we have yet another Bowie disc to absorb. Peculiar cover, dull title, no 'image' to hang th...

So hungry, so angry

Thu, 21 Aug 2003 12:43:22 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - Everything old is new again, and over the last while the long buried genre of post-punk has re-emerg...

Where the Black Crowes got most of their ideas...

Tue, 19 Aug 2003 09:57:42 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - In order to even contemplate enjoying the Faces, you must first ask yourself: Can I stand listening...

Neglected genius at work

Mon, 18 Aug 2003 11:11:46 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - No-one could claim that Peter Hammill hasn't left his mark, but so few people remember the onetime wild-man of English art-rock that his current career as a near-forgotten elder statesman is a warning against trying to buck musical trends. That said, Hamm...

Diamond Head cuts through Prog-rock sludge

Mon, 18 Aug 2003 09:23:35 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - Recorded over a period during 1974-1975, 'Diamond Head' is a rare triumph, as during the Seventies j...

Essential live recording of the avant-pop pioneers in the early 70's.

Tue, 5 Aug 2003 00:00:28 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - It was standard operating practice for every rock band in the 70's to release a live record, often a...

Roxy's most difficult record, but it pays off.

Thu, 31 Jul 2003 00:25:54 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - Following the quick disappearance from the charts of his excellent solo record 'The Bride Stripped B...

This was rock you could dance to, before the beat box ruined everything.

Sat, 11 Jan 2003 15:08:16 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - Rock and roll had mutated by the mid-seventies' into something called 'ROCK', with big bold letters and no roll. It was an industry, big as US Steel and with better profit margins. It was a style, heavy and loud and unsubtle. It was a career choice, the...

Lazy Person's Guide to Roxy Music

Sat, 20 Oct 2001 01:16:42 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - Any Roxy Music compilation starts off with a severe disadvantage, in that there are so many different phases of the band that trying to assemble a coherent overview is almost impossible. Throw in the fact that you want to blend Bryan Ferry's solo albums...

Disastrous, mistake ridden game

Tue, 17 Apr 2001 00:26:28 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - If you begin by reading all of the positive reviews, you will likely know by now that some things about this game are OK - the graphics, the basic game play features, etc. For this review, let us list all of the serious FLAWS in this game:

1 -...

Stones last fun record

Thu, 1 Mar 2001 02:29:07 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - In the mid-70's, the Stones were rich men, tax exiles at that. The most popular rock band in the world were bohemian aristocrats, living a life of debauchery and privilege while somehow trying to maintain their status as streetwise rebels and tough guys...

Poetic, passionate elegy for rock

Tue, 20 Feb 2001 00:30:14 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - From the first note of her debut album 'Horses', it was clear that Patti Smith was up to much, much more than just being a rock performer. There was always a questioning, a pushing of the boundaries implicit in the simplicity of the genre. The music she...

Ferry stripped bare of irony

Sun, 18 Feb 2001 18:22:11 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - One of the great paradoxes of Bryan Ferry's career has been his taste in music; a fan of classic soul, R&B and Tin Pan Alley pop, he nevertheless creates music that is strangely abstract and self-conscious, often shrouded in mystery and layered with...

EMonster is a waste of money

Wed, 7 Feb 2001 09:13:54 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - Where to begin? First of all, anyone who is thinking of buying ANYTHING from E-Machines from either inside or outside the US is in for a shock: you will have to ship your machine to San Jose for any hardware repairs within the first year of purchase.Your...

Junk, and not very good junk at that

Mon, 28 Aug 2000 23:06:24 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - There is an oft-quoted epigram about the 60's -"If you can remember the sixties, you weren't there". Unless you had relatives who occasionally let you stay up late to take a peek at the party. Mike Myers was, like myself, born into a home of UK emigres...

Strangest debut ever released?

Mon, 28 Aug 2000 20:28:42 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - As the Big Bang of rock continues, with innumerable genres, sub-genres and microgenres spiraling off into the musical void, it seems almost incomprehensible that at one time the notion of flat-out strange rock music was almost unknown. The garage and...

Post punk's most literate and explosive band

Mon, 21 Aug 2000 20:52:30 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - Trying to reduce a musical career into a single disc compilation is a lousy gig. You will have to ma...

Ferry's last great record before 'As Time Goes By'

Sun, 6 Aug 2000 19:31:10 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - During his years with Roxy Music, and following his first post-'Avalon' solo disc, Bryan Ferry had developed a slow and painstaking method of creating his music. Dedicated to the craft of recording, his output began to drop markedly. By the time 'Bete...

Listen, put it away, repeat

Sun, 6 Aug 2000 15:26:39 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - True story: when this came out in the late 70's, I was trying to stay alive in my rather aggressively blue-collar high school by dressing like a typical suburban stoner kid. This camouflage fooled most people, but one day I nearly blew it all by playing...

Masterpiece of 70's animation

Sun, 6 Aug 2000 14:56:12 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - There is a plot here, but don't let that distract you: the real fun in 'Fantastic Planet' is in the details. The eerie, otherworldly animation is so far removed from the imagination-free zone of modern computer -generated animation that it's astonishing...

What is the fuss all about?

Sun, 6 Aug 2000 14:20:30 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - For decades, Toronto hockey fans put up with the Carlton Street Cashbox (aka Maple Leaf Gardens). In a town where hockey is the number one game, you could pack people into a unheated barn and sell season tickets. So, when time came to expand the Leafs'...

Confused lads, confused record

Sun, 6 Aug 2000 12:46:09 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - Long before anyone thought to call one of the lesser sub-genres of post-punk 'goth', there were these four young English lads hammering away at developing an image of mystery, gloom and otherworldliness for themselves. Bauhaus were a small provincial...

Wash your mouth out today

Sun, 6 Aug 2000 12:18:34 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - After a brief stint as the first vocalist for Brit-punk pioneers the Buzzcocks, Howard Devoto tried to think through the whole punk concept. While the energy was great, the blind obedience of the audience, and the rush to accept a punk orthodoxy in terms...

Where Trip-hop really began

Sun, 6 Aug 2000 10:20:12 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author ajmurray - Known now as audio-terrorists, MBM released 'Satyricon' in the early 90's in a totally different frame of mind. Eschewing the art-noise of their earliest work, they set out to create a more lucid, flowing and danceable musical experience. Influenced by...