1. The Only Night 2. Save Yourself 3. You Make It Real 4. Please Don t Stop The Rain 5. Broken Strings - James Morrison, Nelly Furtado 6. Nothing Ever Hurt Like You 7. Once When I Was Little 8. Precious Love 9. If You Don t Wanna Love Me 10. Fix The World Up For You 11. Dream On Hayley 12. Love Is Hard

So he s the acoustic-troubadour-James that isn t James Blunt. He s the other one--the one that looks a little like Chris Martin from a distance and who with those two vague affiliations was surely always pre-destined to sell an awful lot of records, even if he was equally condemned to relative anonymity by turning up too late to claim credit for his own image. And if he failed on debut album Undiscovered to distinguish himself all that much from The Other James, particularly with fluid lighter-waving singles You Give Me Something and Wonderful World, then follow-up album Songs for You, Truths for Me is out to redress that. The underlying soul heritage that served as a reference point on Undiscovered but never really pushed to the fore is much more prominent, seen especially as the album blasts opens with groaning, piano-spanking, brass-heavy, Hammond-tinged The Only Night, something like The Counting Crows do The Commitments, with unmistakable similarities to Aretha Franklin and George...

#Brilliant (2008-10-22) Morrison s opening single The Only Night is an unusually upbeat pop record for the album, setting the mood for a mixed bag of gems that throw you a variety of moods from happiness to sorrow. The next two singles, Save Yourself and You Make It Real have James Morrison written all over them. . in a good way. There s a part of me that feels You Make It Real s chorus resembles a more down beat version Simply Red s stars, if only for a second or two. You Make It Real still manages to be an utterly original and sensual melody, paving the way for a variety of even m...

#Mmmm Mmmm Mmm!!!! (2008-10-18) Fab! You may have seen my review of James first album. . . . . well, this second offering is every bit as good!!Go out and buy it!Definitely deserves 5 stars and surely should win a few awards - or is it, indeed, too good for such awards? You decide - I know what I think!!!

#Brilliant (2008-10-10) I love,love,love this album!Undiscovered was great-this is better!!I am seeing him in concert next month and now cannot waitBrilliant songwriter,brilliant voice

#My word!!! (2008-10-09) So few albums have caught me straight away like this did. I bought it and popped it in the car while I was driving to and from the hospital during the protracted arrival of my first child and it blew me away. The magnitude of the occasion may have had something to do with it but I was unable to listen to the first track without fighting away tears. Several of the tracks were powerful enough to hook straight away and all the others have now grown so that I find myself singing along, very badly indeed, to nearly all of them. His vocal is beyond incredible,...

#Even Better Than His Debut Album! (2008-09-30) If you thought this fella s debut album was good, wait until you hear this! For me this album is a big improvement on his first album. Every song on this album is excellent, apart from Dream On Hayley which doesn t do anything for me. Heck 11 out of 12 good songs ain t bad! All the other songs are worthy of being released as singles.

1. You Are The Best Thing 2. Let It Be Me 3. Sarah 4. I Still Care For You 5. Winter Birds 6. Meg White 7. Hey Me, Hey Mama 8. Henry Nearly Killed Me (It s A Shame) 9. A Falling Through 10. Gossip In The Grain

#You Are The Best Thing Baby (2008-11-16) Ray Lamontagne, is an enigma. His voice is breathy and rich and his trademark. His songwriting is brilliant at times. He is a genius at his craft. But, he is not reaching the masses. I found him, oh, several years ago with his first CD, Trouble and his voice and lyrics stirred my soul. The Jesus-bearded troubadour is sort of a recluse. He doesn t enjoy doing interviews, refuses to make music videos, and hates reviews of his work--be they positive or negative. But for all the coffeehouse hacks trying to emulate Bob Dylan s verbosity and...

#A Classy and Thoughtful Album (2008-11-11) Firstly I rate Trouble and TTSTB are two of my favourite albums. I approached this album cautiously, hoping to love it as much as Ray s previous work. On first listen, I hated it, excepting track 1 which is instantly likeable. 2nd and 3rd listens I still disliked about half of the album, and the other half seemed non-descript. After the 4th, 5th, and 6th listen, I had come to appreciate it as the subtle piece of genius songwriting it really is, albeit laced with a little quirkiness. . . It s hard to describe why Ray s work tends to take t...

#A classic in the making (2008-11-02) After watching Ray LaMontagne singing live on t. v I was hooked. After reading the previous reviews it is apparent that some people do not like this genre of music, and that is fine. However if you do like this genre this album is a must have! I thought Trouble was a great album and was really suprised at how much Ray LaMontagne had grown musically for the classic TTSTB. Well he has just done it again. In Gossip in the grain Ray LaMontagne has again taken his music writing skills to a new level. After watching him live in his last tour I will b...

#the difficult third album? (2008-10-23) Having waited a long time for this album to arrive and read the other reviews I didn t know what to expect. Ray however has not let us down, after his masterful first two albums I think he deserves the chance to experiment with other genres and ideas. An album along the lines of his first two, whilst good would not have shown Ray s talent off fully. Gossip in the Grain is superb and as other reviewers have said it is a grower. Certain tracks are immediately classic, whilst others take 3 or 4 listens until you grasp the quality of them. Any R...

#A great show of diversity and longevity (2008-10-18) Like many great albums this is a grower. You ll think you know what your favourites are but you ll listen again and other songs will emerge as magic. Trouble was heartfelt whilst retaining catchiness. TTSTB was dark, epic and moving. `Gossip is all of those things and so much more. Here Ray shows what he is capable of in Genres from Soul to Country to Folk to Foot Stompin Blues and back to gut wrenching Soul. This is a man that LISTENS to music. Lots of music and absorbs it like a sponge. The single (You are the best. . . ) ...

1. Mississippi 2. Most Of The Time 3. Dignity 4. Someday Baby 5. Red River Shore 6. Tell Ol Bill 7. Born In Time 8. Can t Wait 9. Everything Is Broken 10. Dreamin Of You 11. Huck s Tune 12. Marchin To The City 13. High Water (For Charley Patton)

Subtitled Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006, Tell Tale Signs, the eighth of Dylan s long running Bootleg series of officially approved outtakes, comes in two formats. The two-disc version consists of 27 tracks, including alternate versions of songs from his last three studio sets: Oh Mercy, Time out of Mind and Modern Times. Even non-obsessives will be seduced by the highlights here. A lovely sparse solo version of Most of the Time, just Dylan strumming guitar and blowing a wheezy harmonica, outdoes the Daniel Lanois-produced original. The bleak, stately Can t Escape from You, the sad and beautiful Civil War epic Cross the Green Mountain, The Lonesome River a bluegrass standard with vocals from Ralph Stanley and a great, lo-fi live version of Reverend Gary Davis s influential Cocaine Blues are all standouts. Two versions of Dignity--a piano demo that reduces it to an oddly naked state and an unexpected rockabilly take--neatly capture the idea behind these volumes--to expose dedicated fans ...

#Clearly a five star album (2008-11-19) How this is averaging so low is beyond me - it s the best album I ve heard all year by a country mile. The alternative take of Can t Wait - magestic, unsettling, and superior to the original release in every way - would alone make this unmissable. Add to that the alternative takes of Mississippi - his greatest song of the last decade - and the wonderful unheard track, Girl from the Red River Shore, and this is absolutely essantial. Don t listen to the naysayers - this is a great record.

#You can always come back, but you can t come back all the way (2008-11-16) This is effectively a follow up to Bootleg series vol 1 - 3 (1961 - 91)How anyone thought they could find 2 let alone 3 discs worth of recent material to compare with those glory years is beyond me. Dylan has had several peaks over the decades, but each has hit a lesser height. Dylan s released work of the last ten years, while good, does not match the mid seventies era (Planet Waves / Blood on the Tracks / Desire), let alone the mid sixties classics. These outtakes reflect that drop in quality. There is no...

#The best yet (2008-11-04) The standard of the bootleg series has been consistently high - this collection demonstrates that Bob s output since Oh Mercy is as strong as anything he s done in his career. Some suprise acoustic versions of songs (Most of the Time, originally off Oh Mercy and Mississipi from Time out of Mind), the opportunity to get Tell Old Bill and Cross the Green Mountain in a Dylan rather than a movie soundtrack collection and excellent live tracks plus Red River Shore as a completeley unrealeased song, make this a great collection. I know people moan about the rip off...

#Every track tells a tale (2008-10-29) This 8th in the series of Dylan Bootleg Series was well worth the wait. There is some dedate over which version to buy, both the single and double CDs are good value, both coming with the excellent 64 page booklet, which for hardcore Dylan fans is worth the price alone. For me, it s the cooking Live tracks from 2002/2003 which make this a must-buy, plus the superb unreleased tracks from Oh Mercy and Time out of mind. Both these albums were heralded as returns to form and the best Dylan product of their respective decades, the 80s and 90s. Side 1 e...

#Review the reviews! (2008-10-27) Most of the very negative reviews pertain to the ridiculously overpriced three CD version of this album--buyers of that version (me among them) are rightly outraged at the low value for money. Please note that there s nothing wrong with the two CD version, which is in fact the one that should be reviewed at this place (there s also a one CD version--the Single version--but that s best left on the shelves). Whatever version you consider, the album in itself contains a more than decent collection of tracks, as many reviewers found, however, there might ...

1. Rich Woman 2. Killing The Blues 3. Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us 4. Polly Come Home 5. Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On) 6. Through The Morning, Through The Night 7. Please Read The Letter 8. Trampled Rose 9. Fortune Teller 10. Stick With Me Baby 11. Nothin 12. Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson 13. Your Long Journey

Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and bluegrass crooner Alison Krauss may not be the likeliest of musical combinations. But on this welcome collaboration album, they work beautifully together, wringing a kind of magic from other people s songs. The key to the album is its versatility. Between them, Krauss and Plant can handle a vast repertoire on their own, and here they take on the lot, from folk laments and country soul to searing blues and upbeat rock & roll. Overseen by Elvis Costello producer T Bone Burnett and backed by high caliber musicians like guitarist Marc Ribot and multi-instrumentalist Mike Seeger, Raising Sand sees the duo create stellar covers of songs by Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Mel Tillis and The Everly Brothers, among others. Highlights include a killer version of Roly Salley s Killing the Blues, and a cover of the Plant-Page collaboration Please Read the Letter, though in truth, it s difficult to find a weak spot on the whole album. --Danny McKenna

#Raises the hair on your neck (2008-11-22) Sublime, intersting and flawless. For me, reminiscent of Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris in terms of depth, colour and spirituality.

#eclectic percy (2008-11-05) Should be no surprise to find Robert Plant making great music with any musician. Being famous for making music in one genre has never stopped this singer from admiring other forms. He has, after all, appeared with Fairport at Cropredy and was an admirer of the Incredible String Band back in the day. Nice to hear these two together and with such a great band of musicians. Good also, to hear a Doc Watson song being aired. Be interesting to hear Zep cover Doc eh?

#An Over-rated Wasted Opportunity (2008-10-21) I m a fan of both Plant and Krauss and bought this CD without having heard any tracks in advance. I reckoned the juxtaposition of two great but very different talents was bound to result in something new and interesting. Ouch!!! How wrong I was. I sold it on eBay the next week. This album sounds like the pair were brought together by their marketing teams to make an unchallenging, easy-listening sure-fire hit for a bland middle of the road market. Sure, if this was the intention then the project is a great contribution to their pen...

#Disappointed (2008-09-25) Heard great things about this album over some period of time before I bought it, heard Gone, gone, gone and thought Hmmmmm, I d give it a go. . . . . Can t say much more than I think it s just a mediocre musical outing by two accomplished performers. It s not the electric mix of eclectic styles that people make it out to be, it s not a ground-breaking album, it s never going to be in my top ten fave albums [or any list of fave albums]. It is a raggle-taggle collection of songs, some a bit too similar to its partners on the album to make it an overall hal...

#So Good!!! The Golden god did it again!! (2008-09-09) Since I got my deliver this morning I can t stop playing it. Their voices work so well together, the music is absorbing and it brings you a very special energy. And if you want a little bit more of the Golden god buy also Might Rearranger another fantastic CD of Plant.

1. Save The Lies 2. Sweet About Me 3. Sanctuary 4. Einstein 5. Got No Place To Go 6. Don t Wanna Go To Bed Now 7. Messy 8. Awkward Game 9. Safer 10. Cigarettes And Lies 11. Terrifying 12. Sit In The Blues 13. Echo Beach

It s hard to imagine someone even younger than 19-year-old Laura Marling making a splash on the music scene, but 16-year-old Australian singer Gabriella Cilmi is doing a pretty good job. Having smashed apart stereotypes of innocence with her killer single (There s Nothing) Sweet About Me, Cilmi (pronounced Chill Me) now offers a debut that s not only lyrically and emotionally mature, but boasts the kind of potent musical content guaranteed to propel you towards the dancefloor. Lessons To Be Learned is a diverse bag. Produced by Xenomania (Girls Aloud, Sugababes) it s seemingly influenced by everyone from Stevie Wonder and the Kings of Leon, though it ll inevitably draw the most comparisons to Amy Winehouse, thanks to Cilmi s soaring vocals, the record s modern-Motown feel and Xenomania s bright, punchy production. Opener Save The Lies, though, is nothing like Winehouse--a big, in-your-face disco-stomper with a massive irrefutable chorus. The record drops from there into sultry soul ter...

#Fab, far more than just 1 hit song (2008-11-19) We brought this albumn after hearing the Sure advert song, Upside Down, and were very impressed with the whole albumn. The second half of it for me is the best. Would defintiely recommend this and look forward to future albumns by Gabriella. If you like Duffy, Katie Melua etc your sure to like this albumn

#Disappointing (2008-10-24) I bought this on the sole basis of the single Sweet about me I liked this song and her voice. . . . I still like that song and her voice but this album truly disappointed me. The lyrics, nothing clever here, she rhymes everything, Owe, Show. Thunder, Wonder. Night, Bite. Play, Day. Grumpy, Bumpy. Ding and Swing!! and Maybe Baby!! No!! I know she s young but this just goes to show poor inexperienced songwriting and in my mind very lazy! Her voice is quite pleasant and some of the tunes are nice but the laziness of the lyrics just made me l...

#Autopilot Xenomania (2008-09-01) Cilmi has a characterful voice, but her album is let down by poor quality control. Sweet About Me is undeniably great, and the ballad Safer is well above average, but much of the rest seems like autopilot Xenomania to me - too many tracks sound like the ones Girls Aloud left in the wreckage after a ram-raid on the studio. The bonus cover of Echo Beach , a proper song with a memorable tune, only shows up the fluffy filler that precedes it.

#wow (2008-08-27) loving this album,can t stop listening to it,she is going be be HUGE!

#Is There Anything Sweet About Gabby? (2008-08-02) One of the best albums i ve heard since Amy Macdonald s 2007 album This Is The Life, Best Album Of 2008, once you here Sweet About Me you d expect it to all be soul, but the devilish side of Gabby comes out in 6 of the albums top tracks which are, Save The Lies, Got No Place To Go, Don t Wanna Go To Bed Now, Messy, Terrifying and Echo Beach, She sounds good whilst being devilish, You ve got the soul singing side of gab in great tracks such as, Sweet About Me, Sanctuary, Einstein, Awkward Game, Safer, Sit In The Blues, thease bring out g...