Tag: summer

video review : The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

video review : The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Five people on their way to a summer rock concert almost runs over a girl walking down the middle of the road. Tires squeal and dust flies as their truck barely misses her bony frame, but she just keeps walking like nothing happened with a look of total despair. Most people would probably count their lucky stars and keep going. This compassionate gang, headed by a girl named Erin, offers her a ride home. It’s a mistake that signals the beginning of the worst day of their lives.

Flash forward to Erin, who’s stunningly sexy even with snot dripping from her nose, being chased thru the woods by a masked maniac with a roaring chainsaw and you realize how not-that-scary other horror movie villains are. Freddy looks scary but talks too much. Jason doesn’t talk but doesn’t run. Leatherface comes at full-speed, doesn’t utter an intelligible word and wants to saw off your limbs to lock your bloody torso in his parent’s basement like a slab of hog meat.

my rating : 4 of 5

2003

video review : The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [ The Beginning ]

audio review : Black Summers Night ( album ) … Maxwell

audio review : Black Summers Night ( album ) ... Maxwell

It’s actually Maxwell’s band that makes the music sound so damn good. The songs themselves, in terms of melodic arrangements and such, generally hold-up decently, but it’s the accommodating instrumentation that makes them drip with soulful sexiness.

This is a muddy mix of bassy funk music; the kind jazzmen jammed to in the summers of the 1970s. There’s what sounds like a live trumpet section in the mix; a nice backdrop for Maxwell’s voice, which can go from whiny to falsetto at a moment’s notice.

He’s singing mostly to a girl, pleading and protesting his love for her to the point of worship, which would be acceptable if it were just about sex. When it comes to pretty girls, Maxwell is a sucker for romance and that the crooner has no qualms about.

What’s redeeming is a dance groove called Phoenix Rise. It’s the one song that isn’t held back by sappy lyrics. That makes one wonder how much better this lukewarm album could be vocal-free as just a straight music soundtrack for black summer nights.

my rating : 3 of 5

2009

audio review : Reveal ( album ) … REM

audio review : Reveal ( album ) ... REM

As far as choruses and drumbeats go, REM’s Reveal is a step down from Up. That’s despite the titles of the first two songs, which seem to imply further artistic elevation. High, with a dreamy snare and hazy chords, conjures 1980s Phil Collins. That’s a good thing. The Lifting, even with a rhythm section pleasantly reminiscent of Can You Feel It by The Jacksons, never really gets off the sand.

There’s a Beautiful Beach Boy ballad on the last album, but this entire Reveal has a warm summer atmosphere. There’s a Beachball flying thru the sky. The shiniest gem, Beat A Drum, has the sun reflecting in the back of Michael Stipe’s eye. Cool in contrast are the spacey sound effects on Saturn Return, which throws what sounds like a referee’s whistle into the mix, and the album’s Rain song.

my rating : 3 of 5

2001