R & F’n R

I promised G a review today, so here goes….

Before we start, let’s get one thing straight: I’m a fan. As a 14 year old boy hearing Appetite for Destruction for the first time….it changed everything. Yes, I’m also a fan of Mr Hudson’s side projects: Snakepit (don’t judge until you’ve listened to “Its 5 o’clock somewhere”) and VR.

When I heard that he had a solo project in the pipeline which had numerous ‘friends’ attached to it, I was sceptical to say the least…. I needn’t have worried!

The album is, in my humble opinion, one of the best Rock albums for years. It’s much better than anything he’s done with VR, and is absolutely putting him back on the map.

There are a number of highlights, but I have to say the Miles Kennedy tracks are superb. No wonder Slash has signed him up to front his touring band later this year….superb!

Ghost – Ian Astbury ( and a certain Izzy Stradlin ): great opener, you know exactly where you are, and who you are listening to.

Crucify the Dead – Ozzy Ozbourne: the best thing I’ve heard come out of his mouth for a long time. Great riff that hooks you from the off.

Beautiful Dangerous – Fergie: I know what you’re thinking….that Black Eyed Pea goon??? Well check it out, she’s awesome, and I don’t even like female vocals!!!!

Back from Cali – Miles Kennedy: best track on the album, and apparently a very late addition. Mr Page….you missed a trick here!!!

Promise – Chris Cornell: again, best he’s sounded for a long time, certainly no James Bond theme that’s for sure.

By the sword – Andrew Stockdale ( Wolfmother ): think what you like about him and his band, but his vocal suits this track perfectly. Another standout track and I think, a single too.

Gotten – Adam Levine ( that cock from Maroon5!!! ): don’t let that fool you… This is as close to a ballad as the album gets, and it’s quite superb, in fact, surprisingly so!

Doctor Alibi – Lemmy: it’s Lemmy!!! You know what it’s going to be… Not unlike “Shake your Blood” off Dave Grohl’s Probot album.

Watch This- Dave Grohl/Duff McKagan: an instrumental powerhouse if a track with an amazing drummer in full flow.

I hold on – Kid Rock: another guy I hate, but a surprisingly good track. Thankfully no shit rapping!!!

Nothing to say – M. Shadows: very metal, with some shredding from the cat in the hat!!!!

Starlight – Miles Kennedy: another corked from Sir Kennedy, they really seem to work well together so here’s hoping for the tour.

Saint is a Sinner – Rocco DeLuca: almost folky in it’s approach and sound, but what a vocal! Awesome!

We’re all gonna die – Iggy Pop: it’s Iggy Pop… Slow deep verses and screaming high choruses… Surprisingly good.

My personal highlights are, well, everything! The poorest tracks I guess are Doctor Alibi, Nothing to Say and We’re all gonna die, but even they are pretty good. All in all, a cracking album and well worth the wait.

Thank you Mr Hudson…. R&F’nR Indeed!!!!!!

Well, blow me…

Nope, that’s not me trying to take this blog in a more porn-oriented direction. Or me telling someone in a very US-inspired way where to go. It’s me being very thoroughly gobsmacked by everyone’s generosity….we surpassed the £800 mark over the weekend and I am literally and figuratively speechless. Well, obviously I’m not as I wouldn’t be writing this shit, but you get my point.

I’m going all Lassard again, but many many many thanks to everyone who has donated and have helped us reach such lofty heights. You can see a list of all those fine individuals on our Roll Of Honour page on the right hand side…just over there…no, the other way…just under the album picture…there you go…that’s it…

We Are The Champions etc etc…

Thanks to a flurry of orders yesterday we made our £500 donation target on JustGiving.com. To quote Captain Lassard, many many many thanks to everyone who has donated to the cause.

However, the page on JustGiving and the donation facility is open for roughly a year so we will be ploughing on with trying to sell as many as we can to garner as much money as we can for the MS Trust.

If you are one of the truly special people who purchased the album and donated (and by clicking on the “Roll Of Honour” link on the right you can see who all those people are), then many thanks and we would be even more thankful if you could continue to recommend it to your family and friends.

If nothing else, I am intrigued as to how JustGiving will display percentages greater than 100% and if it indeed does ‘just keep going’.

Again, Matt and I could not be more grateful for the donations so far and we are so pleased that so many people have donated to a worthy cause…

Heavy Shit…

Now, I’ve got to be careful. I can’t give anything away as I don’t know how far G has progressed through the game so I’ll keep things generic, and won’t get into the nitty gritty of the details…. Let’s get the main point out of the way:

Heavy Rain….. I knew it was going to be good, but not this good! Outstanding achievement.

It’s probably a little unfair to just call it a game….it’s more than that, I’d call it an interactive movie. It’s kind of a Film Noir style Detective movie with a dab of Saw thrown in for good measure.

Not perfect by any means. Frustrating? You bet your ass. But….one of the most absorbing gaming experiences of my life and unlike anything I’ve ever played before.

Superb!!!!

It’s Ladies Night…

Or day, more like…

Thanks to the four lovely ladies who donated and bagged the album yesterday – Michelle, Jean, Sharon and Andrea. Thanks to you we have moved up to £373.50 in donations, which my advanced mathematical brain tells me is exactly 75% of our £500 target.

Nine days in…75% of the way there. Not too shabby at all, so thanks to everyone who has donated thus far. We will be making an extra push in the next week or so to try to hit our target…and then see how far past it we can go…

Heavy man…

Tomorrow is the day…..

Heavy Rain comes to the PS3. I’ve been looking forward to this for sometime. In fact, since I first looked into a PS3.

Having played the excellent demo recently, my expectations have been raised even further. It’s no online splatfest like MW2, in fact it’s only a solo player game, but I can’t wait. It’ll be a different kind of experience to the Batman/Assasins Creed 2/Tomb Raider experiences I’ve been having recently and I’m looking forward to playing something very different in look, feel and pacing. This one is all about the narrative.

Yep, that’s the next three weeks of my life gone….hope Lottie doesn’t mind!

I’ll write some kind of shit review next week….

Peace

Day 6

Okay, so I’ve missed a few days but seriously, who’s actually counting anyway?

A huge thanks to everyone who has donated so far and bagged the album. We are currently at 64% of our target (a figure I could have worked out myself with a calculator, ruler, set square, spirit level and 20 feet of nylon twine but JustGiving were kind enough to do it for me) so with more of a push this week I hope we can get somewhere near the grand total.

Meanwhile, talks are afoot regarding album No.2. I’ll say no more than that…