Izz ~ Don’t Panic

 

A new album put out by Izz? Wonderful! The title track, which opens up the album, at first listen, I didn’t like, but, after a second listen, I found myself liking it much better. Then comes the epic “42” which is over 18 minutes long, starts off a bit odd, but, after about 5 minutes gets back into the great Izz sound. “Six String Theory” is an acoustic track, which would resemble a Steve Howe song on a YES album, & is only about 2 minutes long. “Moment Of Inertia” has that great Izz sound that is all over the place, and almost makes the 10 minute mark. It does tend to go up & down on my interest level. There is some nice keyboard work on this song. The last song on the album is “Age Of Stars” which again, starts a bit off-kilter but then picks up to be right where it belongs. This song is about 9 minutes long. Some great epic songs with about 2 shorter songs. I would give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

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Collective Soul ~ Blood

 

Coming out on June 21, you can get the new album from Collective Soul. This is their 25th anniversary album, & I can tell you that I was pleasantly surprised. I was not a fan of the band, but, once again, the surprise is on me. I liked this album. It seems as though they have gotten better with age. Of course, there may have been a couple of songs that I didn’t like. One of those was “Over Me”. The music didn’t really make me want to listen to this song. Most of the album, the music was much better than I had heard before. Give this a try, I think that you’ll like it. I give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Be-bop Deluxe ~ Futurama 3 CD set

 

This CD Set came as a surprise to me, since they’ve been around since 1972. The first CD which is much rougher to listen to than CD 2 or CD 3. Futurama is the 2nd album released by Be-bop Deluxe in 1975.  Disc 1 is the original mix remastered. Disc 2 is a new stereo mix of the same album. After listening to both of them, I hear a big difference in disc 2. Disc 3 is some live tracks from the BBC. All of these tracks have not been released prior. I was very surprised that I have never listened to Be-bop Deluxe before since I have been listening to music for over 50 years. Now that I’ve heard this set, I may have to remedy that. Again, disc 1 & disc 2 are the exact same tracks, but, sound entirely different. Disc 1 has 2 extra bonus tracks, while disc 2 has 4 extra bonus tracks, of which 2 of them are the same as disc 1, but, with a different mix. I would give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Black Oak Arkansas ~ Underdog Heroes

 

After more than 30 years, Black Oak Arkansas is back. There is good & bad in this. I’ve never been a fan of Jim “Dandy” Mangrum. His vocals never did it for me. The good, however, is the music is still great. Better than ever. The song writing team of Jim “Dandy” Mangrum & Rickie Lee Reynolds still holds true to form. New female vocalist Sammy B. Seauphine (“Lil Bit”) made some of the songs really soar. This is the original FUN Rock & Roll band, although, there are only 2 original members on this album. The new members of this band really hold up. This is what they were. This is what they still are. This may rate up with my favorite BOA album of the past, which was “Rated X”. I give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Axel Rudi Pell ~ XXX Anniversary Live

 

There are 16 songs on this concert album. This band ROCKS. There is a drum solo that really didn’t do much for me. Although, MOST drum solos that I don’t see live, don’t really do much for me. The rest of this album does rock however. Most live albums don’t do much either but this band does engage the audience, which makes for a much better show, and I do like this live album. They do a large amount of songs including “The Wild And The Young”, “Fool Fool”, “Oceans Of Time”, “The Line”, “Warrior” “Rock The Nation” & more. Not much that I can tell you about this album other than the musicianship is awesome. What else do you need besides good music, good lyrics & great fun. I give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Emil Bulls ~ Mix Tape

 

This metal band put together a bunch of covers from when they were growing up in the 80’s & 90’s. Covers include songs from Genesis, Bruno Mars, Billy Idol, (Jefferson) Starship, Pixies, Taylor Dane, Eminem, Destiny’s child & more. Of course, these were harder rock versions of these songs that they covered. Songs that were covered similar to the originals were “We Built This City” by (Jefferson) Starship, “Tell It To My Heart” by Taylor Dane, and, “Jesus He Knows Me” by Genesis. Those of you who like their music hard may like this more than I did. I didn’t hate it, but, I didn’t love it either. I give this 3 out of 5 Music Guru stars.

Aeon Zen ~Inveritas

 

The new album from Aeon Zen starts off strongly with a strong guitar presence. Everything is right where it needs to be for a great progressive rock album. On “Rebel Theory” the bass tries to come off strong, but, it didn’t quite make that cut. The rest of the album, the bass works fine. If you’ve heard Aeon Zen before & you liked it, then you’ll like this one as well. There are moments where the music overpowers the vocals, but, overall the album works. Musically they are right on cue. I give this 4 out of 5 Music Guru stars. Only because of the few flaws that I did hear. Give this band a try. I think you’ll like them.