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...home town of Swindon hasnt contributed much to the world since the demise of the railways, but it did give the world X.T.C. From a punk origin, through a power pop adolescence and finally settling down to a mature and unclassifiable later period, this band are a national treasure and Andy Partridge lives about ten minutes from me, so there. Y is for… Yes Although known for their over the top performances, eccentric musical creations, in band bickering and spending more money than the national debt of Brazil, they created some great music, and were the reason punk had something to kick back at. Either way you don't lose. Z is for… Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction Lead by a tongue in cheek front man, these innuendo ridden cartoon rockers gave us humour and top rock tunes in equal quantity. Its sophistication nil, rock and roll ten. I... Read review

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Advantages: Brilliant tracks
Disadvantages: Some people may find the album to be too samiesh

...Brian Mcfadden after leaving Westlife, clearly wanted a change in the style of music of his songs. Instead of singing pop and ballads Brian's debut album is full of catchy ballads and rock tracks. His vocals are pleasant and the quality of the songs - in terms of lyrics is pretty high. ''Irish Son'' is Brian Mcfadden's debut album and seems to say alot about him. ''Irish Son'' is a really good pop and rock track. Very catchy and has a great rhythm. The song has meaning and defines Brian Mcfadden's life and views. ''Irish Son'' was the second single released off this album and it reached the top ten. A brilliant video, this is a really really catchy rock track. ''Real To Me'' is a good rock and pop song. Very instant and catchy and well written as well. The rhythm is meaningful and slow, the song itself is of brilliance. It is sang... Read review

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Advantages: Shows the Vines ability to do both quiet and loud very well
Disadvantages: the weak tracks are very weak indeed

...'Winning days' is the second album form Australian group 'The Vines' A lot of critics consider this a poor follow up to their much lauded debut, but in reality it's a solid album, if at times slightly uninspiring. The msuic press got very overexcited with 'Highly Evolved', the debut album, with the NME comparing it to 'Nevermind' by Nirvana. In reality 'The Vines' are influenced more by British pop music such as The Beatles, Supergrass and The Kinks than American grunge. Their songs manage to be aggresive and loud, whilst remaining great pop songs. Their quieter moments are country-esque ballads that can be something of a hit or miss affair. I'm going to go through the album track by track: 1.Ride The lead single is MTV approved commercial rock with a killer shouty chorus and a stabbed guitar riff. Inane lyrics aside it's a fine slice... Read review

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Advantages: Plays "Real Music", good presenters.
Disadvantages: poor reception and adverts

...I listen to virgin because... It plays only rock music, "Real music" During the week day it plays "Ten Great Songs in a Row" which is almost an hour with no adverts. The range of music within the station is good, varying from "70's classics" (one per hour)to more modern chart rock. The station does seem to like the Stereophonics slightly too much, but that is only my personal opinion. But if you want a station that will play "Hotel California" by the Eagles and follow it with "Imitation of Life" by R.E.M this is the station. The presenters range from the great; Chris Evans and the team are still funny and a good listen, as is Nick Abbot. to the very ordinary like Harriet Scott, with Pete and Geoff inbetween. For all those who dilike R&B, dance and pop, Virgin is definately the place to be.... Read review

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Advantages: nice radio frendly song
Disadvantages: naff lyrics

...thunderbugs are a girl band in the form of a soft rock band more than a spice girls girl group. Think of the corrs or much likey the bangles. Its very much an 1980s sound but this pop song was a top ten hit last year. Nice catch radio friendly tune and more importantly the girls are all stunners. The video is typical girly video with the group members posing and pouting sticking it in the camera. Frends forever was a very cheesey song, the sort that would get on radio two play list. Nice harmonies run through it but real naff lyrics like "remember when we used to talk all night? we didnt get much sleep." this is pop in its purest form. Naff... Read review

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Advantages: You can see how the band evolved into Thunder
Disadvantages: Moe pop and AOR influenced than Thunder are

...comes with the bluesy rock-pop intro to "Don't Walk Away", which sounds a little like the opening to Thunder's cover of the Faces' "Stay With Me". This track, however, is a far more pop-rock number once it gets going and very reminiscent of some of the material on Thunder's "The Raw, the Raw and the Rest" album or some very early Bon Jovi material, if only in that it feels a little under produced and Danny's vocals are a little buried in the mix. There's a 1980s style AOR opening to "When You're Hot", before it expands into a catchy pop-rock tune, very much in the Thunder style. You can hear how songs like this could easily evolve into "Backstreet Symphony" era Thunder, as this has all the hallmarks of that style, although there is a minor Def Leppard style break part way through and it's more of a pop-rock tune than the rock-pop... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Wonderful analysis and insight and pleasing to read and very detailed
Disadvantages: Monthly publication makes it seem out of context at times.

...World Soccer Magazine (WSM) is a long running (perhaps longest) international football magazine. The title reflects pretty much its aim except that they annoyingly use the word 'Soccer' instead of football despite the publication being British and having little to do with the U.S . Oh well, it's a corporate world we live in I suppose we just have to accept that fact. I began buying this magazine around the turn of the millenium when avid football fans may realise, that Italian league football (Serie A) was taken off our screens. Being in the pre-sky digital era I was forced to keep up to date on the latest happenings by course of this excellent monthly publication. The magazine always profiled a singular player at the front. This would usually be the player who was the most famed or publisiced player at the time of printing. Hence... Read review

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Advantages: Brilliant output and nice bass
Disadvantages: Cant quite go loud enough for me ;-)

...This is a suberb speaker, before buying it i never imagined that it could handle all the variouls different styles of music and sound brilliant with all of them. Rock ---- The vinyl cones make rock music really stomatch churning as they make the air vibrate whenever the guitar is struck giving you a brilliant quailty sound. Classical ---- The Ball at the top, plays the very light notes and the tweeter handles the sound perfectly giving you a crips, sharp and clear sound output. Pop ---- As much as i hate it, pop even sounds good on these speakers, they manage to get the blend of trebble and bass just right so the sound makes you in that party mood. Dance ---- They have the power to put the highest notes on house music and the deepest bass on some trance, they also bend these perfectly giving you, even at loud volumes a very good quality... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap to buy, some good songs
Disadvantages: Older music, only one good song, a bit dated

...night at a club somewhere. The group are a sort of cross or merge between the stone roses and oasis, as the music changed and moved from the roses style to oasis that is where and when the Charlatans happened. By the way some of the later music is very good and they have a greatest hits album out if you would like to sample this band. Some of the songs are slow for a rock pop sort of group with the guitars and drum rhythms like the main Brit pop bands such as Oasis, The Verve and Ocean colour scene. The first song “Your not very well” leans to a sort of cycadelic tune mixed with the Brit pop sound much like the cover of the album, very colourful but with a late 80’s feel. You can tell this is an album stuck in the transition period when nothing was really hot, when Depeche mode and Duran Duran were fading and nothing... Read review

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Advantages: I could live my life with these albums
Disadvantages: You're not going to know who half of these bands are

...of the photos on the inlay cover. The music and Danny’s voice sound a lot rougher than they would later become, but that was part of the band’s charm. They enjoyed what they did, and they didn’t really care if anyone else liked it. This album contains the best of Thunder’s traditional pop-rock songs, with “Dirty Love” and the title track being amongst the best work they ever did. Add to this the wonderful power ballads that were “She’s So Fine” and “Love Walked In” which, by being included on every rock ballad compilation of the last ten years has cemented Thunder’s place in history, and you have a fine album indeed. A Thunder trademark was their humour. The track “An Englishman on Holiday” should be the standard instruction manual for any Club 18-30 holiday, as it gives the perfect instruction in what to drink, what to do, and how to get... Read review

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