Album Results
Album Reviews
For reasons that no one seems to recall in detail -- but for which we can be grateful -- when it was time to release a second Fleetwood Mac LP in America, producer Mike Vernon and the band didn't just send the existing Mr. Wonderful album across the Atlantic -- a little fine-tuning and retooling was in order. The band had just expanded by one member, to a quintet -- with the addition of guitarist Danny Kirwan -- by the end of 1968, whereas Mr. Wonderful represented them as a four-piece outfit. Additionally, the group had just toured the U.S. for the first time, as a quintet, playing to very enthusiastic audiences, and so there was some point to sending U.S. licensee Epic Records something extra, representing who they were at the start of 1969. And that became the English Rose album, offering three Kirwan-authored instrumentals, plus the hit U.K. single "Albatross," and also their previous single, "Black Magic Woman," which had been a British Top 40 hit (though it was unknown in the U.S., and preceded Santana's hit recording of it by almost two years). Half of Mr. Wonderful was still there, including the opener, "Stop Messin' Round" and "I've Lost My Baby," representing the stronger tracks from that record. Between the paring down of Mr. Wonderful and the addition of the single tracks, English Rose ended up being a stronger album than its predecessor, though without a hit single in America to drive sales and get it exposure, it barely brushed the Top 200 LP listings in the U.S. Strangely enough, despite the overlap with Mr. Wonderful, English Rose was released in England about six months later, probably to help make up for the loss of the group's contract (due to an oversight) by Blue Horizon. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Track Listing
| 1. Stop Messin' Round |
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| 2. Jigsaw Puzzle Blues |
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| 3. Doctor Brown |
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| 4. Something Inside Of Me |
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| 5. Evenin' Boogie |
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| 6. Love That Burns |
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| 7. Black Magic Woman |
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| 8. I've Lost My Baby |
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| 9. One Sunny Day |
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| 10. Without You |
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| 11. Coming Home |
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| 12. Albatross |
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| Featured Review | |||
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Numb/encore Jay-Z Vs. Linkin Park | ||
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An interesting 'mash-up' between nu-metallers Linkin Park and hip hop uber-mogul and former Glastonbury headliner Jay Z, combining two songs: 'Numb' from Linkin Park's 'Meteora' LP and 'Encore' from Jay Z's 'Black Album'. This track works well as it adds quite a bit to the usual Linkin Park formula which basically goes: quiet bit, quiet meaningful bit, loud shouty bit, end. Nothing wrong with having a template to work from, but it can all get a bit samey. Numb/Encore avoids that by introducing Jay-Z for the first half, rapping over a fairly basic backing track reinforced with a nice chord progression, which segues into the main hook of 'Numb' while the main guitars are dropped altogether. Rather than just remix the two together, the artists actually re-recorded whole sections of the songs to ensure that everything sat together correctly. One not just for fans of Jay Z and Linkin Park, it stands as a decent track in its own right. ~Martin Gadgil. Copyright (c) Shazam Entertainment Limited 2009. All rights reserved |
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