3 Idiots Movie Review

Movie: 3 Idiots
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Producer: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Starcast: Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi, Madhvan, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani


Director Rajkumar Hirnai's much awaited flick ‘3 Idiots' is all set to release on December 25 (Christmas Day) across the globe.

Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan Sharman Joshi and R Madhvan Starrer Three Idiots has already hogged limelight due to its unusual promotional spree.

Movie Review:
Oh Bhaiyaa All Izz Well in ‘3 Idiots'. This is must watch movie in the passing year 2009. The story of 3 Idiots revolves around Aamir Khan, Madhvan Sharman Joshi. The Three Idiots in the movie are Rancho (Aamir Khan), Farhan Qureshi (Madhvan) and Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi).

The story of 3 Idiots is a lighthearted and entertaining journey of three friends in college life. The three fast friends will take you in the world of laughter with their unique approach towards life.

The story becomes interesting all of sudden as Ranch goes missing and duo embark on a mission to Shimla, Manali and Ladakh to trace him. Farhan and Raju consider Rancho as a unique thinker and his approach towards life. However, Rancho has some conflict with Raju and Farhan's mentor, a character played by Boman Irani.

Kareena Kapoor plays the role of Pia opposite Aamir Khan in the movie. She is superb in her character. On the other hand, once again Aamir's one film in the year formula seems to be worked. It will be hattrick of hit after TZP and Ghajini.

Avatar Movie Review

Simultaneously fantastical and firmly rooted in the historical here and now, James Cameron's Avatar is both raw and lyrical as all good science-fi epics should be. With an array of unlikely Hollywood heroes irreverently shaking up the cookie cutter scenarios of blockbuster conventions, Avatar impressively substitutes meaning for mayhem, and nuance for plot-preempting sheer noise.

Sam Worthington is Jake Sully in Avatar, a disabled marine and dejected wheelchair warrior yearning to have his mobility back, along with fulfillment in his life. So when the marine brass in league with a military industrial complex corporation collaborate on the Avatar, or alternate persona program that transports human consciousness into a born again, freshly buffed body, Sully goes for it. Though as he's prepped for a kind of pre-traumatic stress syndrome ordeal, the gullible grunt slowly gets hip to his exploitation as a capitalist tool. Namely, in a historically deja vu genocidal mission to clear the distant planet Pandora of its indigenous population, the better to covertly plunder foreign turf for minerals already depleted on a dying planet earth.

Let loose by his honcho handlers to essentially fend for himself on Pandora, the born again Sully goes native in lab-devised undercover tribal DNA, presumably to infiltrate, pacify and assist in an unscrupulous forest foreclosure and relocation of the unsuspecting Na'vi people. But in the process, wouldn't ya know it, he's afflicted with a serious case of jungle fever for the head digitalized princess, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). A no-nonsense eco-friendly feminist woodland free spirit, Neytiri scolds Sully into mending his ways, and even teaches him a thing or two in a makeshift wilderness boot camp of sorts, about reverence for nature and opposing the duplicitous US military.

His first project since Titanic, marinating for fifteen years and four additional years in production, Cameron held his creative chops in check till he felt futuristic cinematic technology only dreamt of at the time, caught up with his fevered imagination. The result is a visually breathtaking extra-terrestrial travelogue, but where the mystique may going a long way towards upstaging the message. Which is that rebellion against imperialism and the US war machine by oppressed peoples and even within the military is recommended, while for kid viewers, questioning authority is a good and honorable thing. Though parents might draw the line on the family home front, about that particular advice.

In any case, anything labeled make-believe tend to be smoothed over, no matter how subversive the sentiments. Though a different sort of confrontation may be looming this awards season, as Cameron's Pandora's 'box' faces off during the yearly awards skirmishes, against ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow's 'Locker' and the oppostional contents of that patriotic celebratory pro-war counter-programming.

Twentieth Century Fox Pictures
Rated PG-13
3 stars

Prairie Miller is a multimedia journalist online, in print and on radio. Contact her through NewsBlaze.

Source : http://newsblaze.com/story/20091217121127mill.nb/topstory.html

Avatar - Movie Review

Movie : Avatar

Cast : Sam Worthington, Siqourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Direction: James Cameron

Review:

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart,” said William Wordsworth. Thus, without letting our admiration for James Cameron come in the way of our verdict on ‘Avatar’, with a heavy heart, we’ll have to say that we found Cameron’s highly anticipated, expensive motion picture ‘Avatar’ not living up to our expectations.

Many who have seen the film have an opinion that since so much time (10 years), effort and sweat has gone into creating stereoscopic 3D effects for the film, and combining live and computer animation, one ought to appreciate it. True as it might be, at the end of the day, if a film fails to establish an emotional connect with the audiences, no effects whatsoever can salvage it or make it special.

Coming to the story, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is an ex-marine who is forced into participating in Avatar program. The program is setup by humans and comprises of encroaching a distant moon Pandora as it has an abundance of precious minerals on its land. However, getting hold of Pandora won’t be easy as humans can’t breathe on it. Also, the warrior Na’vi tribe resides in it.

In order to encroach Pandora’s land, one has to be able to breathe its air and thus become one of the Na’vis. Scientists thus create these genetically-bred human-Na’vi hybrids known as Avatars. The Avatars have a Na-vi body and a human DNA. Jake becomes one such Avatar...human kind’s weapon to make truce with Na’vis and thus force them to evacuate their planet. As Jake starts shuttling between his human and Na’vi body, he starts getting emotionally attached to Pandora and there begins the conflict between his medium of existence.

Avatar begins well but goofs up as it progresses. The story which seems promising initially starts faltering the moment Cameron shows Jake fall in love with a Na’vi woman. The film then on becomes just another clichéd love story where a hero will save his lover and her people from the villains. The villains happen to be humans here who now want to wage a war on the Na’vis as they refuse to give in to their demands. Jake even readies himself to battle it out with the humans to save his Na’vi tribe... things people do for love! If the love wasn’t clichéd enough, Cameron even makes his hero single out the lead villain and engage him in a one-to-one fist fight with him!

Avatar begins well, drags tremendously in between and then picks up on its pace towards the climax, but its too late by then. Titanic oozed romance and we loved it but the setting of Avatar didn’t require romance as its prime ingredient. This wrong move of Cameron transforms a sci-fi ‘Avatar’ into a highly clichéd run-of-the-mill dramatic love story set against a war backdrop.

The film is a visual delight, but lacks an original plot. This visual treat doesn’t make up for the weak storyline. The infusion of human trauma in an idyllic fantasy setting doesn’t seem to be a good idea! Avatar loses direction somewhere along the way, and its huge length plays spoil sport too.

Performances are decent, but not outstanding. Unfortunately, so is the film! However, ‘decent’ is not what one expects from a James Cameron.

Source : http://movies.indiatimes.com/reviews/hollywood/Avatar-Movie-Review/moviereview/5341025.cms

Vettaikaran - Tamil Movie Review

Vettaikaran - Tamil Movie Review

Vettaikaran movie is a must watch. Vettaikaran was one of the most awaited movie of Vijay in the year 2009.The movie stars actor Vijay and Anushka Shetty in the lead roles.

Vijay playes the role of an auto driver in the movie. His role reminds us of superstar Rajinikanth, who played the role of an auto driver in the hit Baasha. Actress Anuskha, Arundhati fame, plays the role of a medical college student.

Vettaikaran’s story is based in unwanted elements that needs to be removed from the society and the country. Who other than Vijay can fit in such a role? One by one he removes all those unwanted elements. Meanwhile he falls in love with Anushka, who comes from a middle class family. Both share a great chemistry, whether it’s fighting or romancing. Initially both fight every now and then, but finally they fall in love.

Expectations are high and people are hoping that Illayathalapathy’ Vijay lives up to their expectations.The movie is directed by Babu Sivan and produced by M.Balasubramaniam, B.Gurunath Meiyappan. Vijay Anthony has taken care of the music for the movie. Sun Pictures has the rights of Vettaikaran from AVM productions.

The Top 25 Female POP Singers

The Top 25 Female POP Singers

Pop is a wide term, though it's considered to be short for "popular," pretty much everyone has accepted the idea that it also means something slightly different, a kind of "hook-filled" arena where songs stick in your head regardless of where they fall stylistically. Sure, Shania Twain is a country artist, since her songs appear on the country charts, but they also crossover to the pop charts and anyone's who's witnessed her stageshow would have to say it has as much to do with Kiss as it does with Dolly Parton.

In some ways, this is my favorite genre, since it isn't a genre at all! And I'm now wondering too, how I left Jessica Simpson off this list? I didn't think I had anything against her! Sorry, Jess.

25) Gwen Stefani: I was having a discussion with a friend of mine of similar age and he was saying how much he didn't care for Ms. Stefani's music and I pretty much agreed with him. Fair enough. But then I started to wonder, wouldn't Ms. Stefani be doing something completely wrong for her career if her music started appealing directly to guys like me? Isn't the whole point to appeal to young women? And if she connects with that audience, isn't she then doing something right? In other words, I don't think teaming up with Wilco would be a smart career move.

24) KT Tunstall: Here's one of those young up-and-comers who isn't actually as young as she seems. She's been around for awhile and she gets good reviews, which probably means she's doomed. In the world of pop music, the last thing you really need is a good review. You need a big stageshow and a manager who can bully everyone else into putting you on the cover of whatever magazine you choose.

23) Nelly Furtado: I remember when Nelly was more girl-next-door and she didn't sell many records and then she changed her image and now she's downloaded everywhere. What's that saying about a fool and his obsession with a girl's bellybutton?

22) Annie Lennox: People always make a big deal about pop singers who can sing. It's like they're surprised or something. Like, what's that about? Once a member of the Eurythmics, who also featured a guy who would go on to hang out with Tom Petty, Lennox did it without a lot of hair in an era that was mostly big hair. That alone makes her a renegade.

21) Sheena Easton: When she first appeared on the pop radar screen, I used to get her mixed up with Juice Newton, who doesn't look, act or sound anything like her. Then there was that "Sugar Walls" song and I started getting her mixed up with Sheila E. I can't win.

20) Pussycat Dolls:

I saw them on television the other night and thought they had their dance moves down pretty good. And only one of the members had anything resembling clothes on. The rest of them were close to naked. They covered up the private parts, but not by much. I think this makes them "really good" by industry standards. Anyone remember the song?

19) Olivia Newton-John: She once had an album called Totally Hot and whenever I was in the record store I would always stare at it and think, "It's probably better than McCartney II." I never bought either of them.

18) Helen Reddy: These days the Helen Reddy Fan Club isn't as vibrant as it once was--though I think singing "I Am Woman" at top volume in any club anywhere is still a political act of defiance. What that actually means, I don't know. But I do put her in the "Better Than Anne Murray" category and I'm not sure why. "Snowbird" was a nice song, after all.

17) Lily Allen: Her voice still gives me the hee-bees, but I like the fact that she's not afraid to "confront" difficult topics and situations. She doesn't mince words, unless you buy the "clean" version of her albums. Does anyone do that? What would be the point?

16) Rihanna: I don't know. She's been in the news because some guy hit her? And she sings about Umbrellas. And I keep thinking she was almost named after a Fleetwood Mac song!

15) Wilson Phillips: Now this was when the music mattered, man! Well, not quite, But I remember when they came out and people seemed pretty excited by the idea that these daughters of other famous musicians had come together to form a group. People seemed to think we'd gotten lucky!

14) LeAnn Rimes: She was so young and small when she started out that she was barely allowed to ride on the all the rides in the theme parks where she was singing. It was no surprise to me to see that she grew up. That's what young girls (and boys, for that matter) do. And she got better. But that's not always a guarantee.

13) Missy Elliott: I think most of us admire her for the fact that she isn't your typical pop singer and she doesn't have a traditional look and she flirts with many different genres and she looks swell in a puffy coat and has encouraged others to do the same. It's time that art departments put down their airbrushes and Photoshop programs and let people be the real people they are. Let's hear it for a real person!

12) The Carpenters: Karen Carpenter had a sweet voice and she was on AM radio so much in the 1970s that you'd think her family owned the entire dial. Very few musicians define an era quite like Karen, and while I no longer hear her music in the dentist's office like I once did, that doesn't mean she's lost the endorsement of the 4 out of 5 dentists who recommend the Carpenters to their patients who continue to listen to music.

11) Cyndi Lauper: There was a time when Cyndi first became popular that critics and fans alike thought she'd outlast Madonna. This was the gal with the talent! Except something happened. I'll have to watch the Behind The Music to find out, but her She's So Unusual album sure did speak to a lot of people. Like Scientology.

10) Shania Twain: In terms of crossover acts, Shania Twain is one of those ultimate crossovers. Even people who list their favorite music as "Anything--except Country" like Shania. Or say they do. I can hum at least half a dozen of her songs and I'm not even paying attention. Imagine what it could be like if I actually applied myself!

9) TLC: I see that T-Boz is now on Celebrity Apprentice. This makes me nervous. I was hoping she still had a music career. I suppose Trace Atkins still does, so it isn't like your career has to be completely in the crapper to share airtime with Andrew Dice Clay, Tom Green, and the Rivers twins.

8) Spice Girls: I actually paid money to see their movie Spiceworld. That was what it was called, right? I remember Elvis Costello was in it and unlike when I went to see Chevy Chase's Las Vegas Vacation, no kids threw candy at my girlfriend's head, so I considered the Spice Girls' movie an unqualified success. And I liked that "2 Becomes 1" song, though it didn't help on the math portion of my GREs...no wonder they threw me out of grad school twice.

7) Pink: I interviewed this tough cookie once. She was a fighter. I knew she wasn't going to go down easy and anyone who thought that just because they hadn't heard from her in awhile that she was done, they needed to think again. She was one of those determined people, who one day will sell us, if not her music, an amazing new cleaning agent! But for now, she's back on the charts.

6) Shakira: Here's one of those performers with international appeal. Just when you think you can't get any more popular, she finds a new market and becomes even more populous! I'll bet she's the best-selling artist in Antarctica at this point.

5) Britney Spears: Sometimes up, sometimes down, but never out. I feel like I've lived my whole life with Britney lurking somewhere around the corner. It's as if the Disney network planted her in my head when I wasn't paying attention. Others feel the same. From what I'm told.

4) Avril Lavigne: I never bought the idea that she was punk-rock, but I did always think she had better instincts with makeup and clothes than most pop stars. And the hooks to her songs have always stayed with me longer than most. And someone suggested to me that sometimes it's all about the music. Now that just seems silly.

3) Janet Jackson: Sometimes it's a matter of what just one wardrobe malfunction can do. And carrying on the family name. And family tradition. I mean, she could've ended up like LaToya. But she didn't. And I remember when she was even more popular than she is today. Some people are everlasting.

2) Kylie Minogue: Huge in Australia. Which might not mean much to you. But it means an awful lot to our friends Down Under, and I think we shortchange those people more than we should. Just because their toilet bowl water goes down in the opposite direction is no reason to get touchy about these things. And Kylie has even sung with Nick Cave, who readers of this blog know, practically owns me.

1) Madonna: OK, so she's like 50 now. And she got involved with A-Rod. And she hasn't been at the top of her game for some time. But if anyone defines the pop star in the past 50 years for the longest consecutive streak in history, it's Madge. Sure, her movies were less than impressive. Her book didn't exactly do the kind of numbers to which she's accustomed. But she had a string of hit singles and videos that changed the way we saw ourselves. She was (and is) a mirror to our souls. Without her, we are an empty reflection on civilization and most likely would've burned out before the new millennium. This, sadly, is not hype, but the very truth upon which all of us exist.

Source :http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/listoftheday/128415/the-top-25-female-pop-singers/

Top 100 Singers

Top 100 Singers

A few weeks back we put out a call to all Day in Rockers to submit their picks for their favorite singers and we are now happy to present you with the results. And what results they are! Some expected results but also some real surprises show just how diverse the rock community really is with the top 10 spanning decades but leaning towards harder rockers.

Think you can guess who came out as No. 1? Think again because some superstars like Bruce Springsteen and Bono from U2 made poor showings, just barely making the list. In fact, ''Weird Al'' Yankovic proved to be far more popular with Day in Rockers. Just shows you that trends be damned!

Another surprising result it how some replacement singers from legendary bands actually received more votes than their original singers. Dio bested Ozzy and Sammy Hagar topped David Lee Roth.

While harder rockers ruled the day, some mellower artists like Dave Matthews and Jason Mraz also made the list. So it's a diverse collection of singers and we now give you the list to see if your favorites made strong showing and if you are agree or disagree with the results. [Stay tuned for our next poll where you get to pick your favorite guitarists!]

Day in Rock Poll of the Top 100 Favorite Singers

1) Maynard James Keenan of Tool, Pucifer, A Perfect Circle
2) Bon Scott of AC/DC
3) Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam
4) W. Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses
5) Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
6) Ronnie James Dio of Dio, Heaven and Hell and Black Sabbath
7) John Lennon of The Beatles
8) Layne Staley of Alice in Chains
9) (3 way tie) Chris Cornell / Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin /James Hetfield of Metallica
10) Prince
11) Phil Anselmo
12) Josh Homme
15) Ozzy Osbourne
16) Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails
17) Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver
18) Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden
19) Jesse Leach of Killswitch Engage
20) Thom Yorke of Radiohead
21) Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy
22) Mike Patton of Faith No More, Fantomas, Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk
23) Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers
24) Dave Matthews
25) Freddie Mercury of Queen
26 (tie) Steven Tyler of Aerosmith / Les Claypool of Primus
28) Robin Zander of Cheap Trick
29) Brian Johnson of AC/DC
30) Hayley Williams of Paramore
31) Sammy Hagar of Van Halen, Chickenfoot, Montrose
32) Joey Ramone of the Ramones
33) Paul Rodgers of Bad Company
34) Rob Halford of Judas Priest
35) Mark Hoppus of Blink-182
36) Jim Morrison of The Doors
37) David Draiman of Disturbed
38) Paul McCartney
39) Phil Labonte of All That Remains
40) Don Henley Of The Eagles
41) Cedric Bixler-Zavala of The Mars Volta
42) Geddy Lee of Rush
43) Tom Araya of Slayer
44) Liam Gallagher of Oasis
45 (tie) Bob Marley / Paul Stanley of KISS
47) Joe Elliot of Def Leppard
48) Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day
49) Michael Jackson
50) Jeff Buckley
51) Kate Bush
52) Ian Astbury of The Cult and The 21st Century Doors
53) David Gilmour of Pink Floyd
54) Jonathan Davis of Korn
55) Elvis Costello
56) Johnny Cash
57) Collective Soul
58) David Lee Roth of Van Halen
59) Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October
60) Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum
61) Ian Gillan of Deep Purple
62) Perry Ferrell
63) Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd
64) Aaron Lewis of Staind
65) Joe Strummer
66) Rod Stewart
67) Doug Pinnick of King's X
68) John Garcia of Kyuss
69) Kid Rock
70) Jon Anderson of Yes
71) Lajon Witherspoon of Sevendust
72) Peter Gabriel
73) Jeff Tweedy of Wilco
74) Neil Fallon of Clutch
75) Tom Petty
76) Sully Erna of Godsmack
77) Tom DeLonge of Blink-182
78) Billy Idol
79) Josh Todd of Buckcherry
80) Brandon Boyd of Incubus
81) Paul Di'Anno of Iron Maiden
82) Brent Smith of Shinedown
83) Jon Bon Jovi
84) Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage
85) John Bush of Anthrax
86) ''Weird Al'' Yankovic
87) Ryan Adams
88) Aretha Frankilin
89) Vince Neil of Motley Crue
90) Hank Williams Jr.
91) Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys
92) Ed Kowalczyk of Live
93) Cat Stevens
94) Bjork
95) Michael Stipe of REM
96) B.B. King
97) Jason Mraz
98) Bono of U2
99) Ann Wilson of Heart
100) Bruce Springsteen

Source : www.antimusic.com/news/09

Top-Selling Albums of All Time

The Recording Industry Association of America's Top-Selling Albums of All Time

29 Million

• Eagles: Their Greatest Hits, 1971–1975, Eagles (Asylum)

27 Million

• Thriller, Michael Jackson (Epic)

23 Million

• Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin (Atlantic)
• The Wall, Pink Floyd (Columbia)

22 Million

• Back in Black, AC/DC (Epic)

21 Million

• Greatest Hits, Volumes I & II, Billy Joel (Columbia)
• Double Live, Garth Brooks (Capitol Nashville)

20 Million

• Come On Over, Shania Twain (Mercury Nashville)

19 Million

• The Beatles, The Beatles (Capitol)
• Rumours, Fleetwood Mac (Warner Bros.)

17 Million

• The Bodyguard (soundtrack), Whitney Houston (Arista)
• Boston, Boston (Epic)
• No Fences, Garth Brooks (Capitol Nashville)

16 Million

• Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin (Swan Song)
• The Beatles: 1967–1970, The Beatles (Capitol)
• Greatest Hits, Elton John (Island/Mercury)
• Hotel California, Eagles (Elektra)
• Cracked Rear View, Hootie & the Blowfish (Atlantic)
• Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette (Maverick)

15 Million

• Appetite for Destruction, Guns 'N Roses (Geffen)
• Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd (Capitol)
• Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack), Bee Gees (Polydor/Atlas)
• Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen (Columbia)
• The Beatles: 1962–1966, The Beatles (Capitol)
• Supernatural, Santana (Arista)

14 Million

• Metallica, Metallica (Elektra)
• Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits, Simon & Garfunkel (Columbia)
• …Baby One More Time, Britney Spears (Jive)
• Greatest Hits, Journey (Capitol)
• Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf (Epic)
• Backstreet Boys, Backstreet Boys (Jive)
• Ropin' the Wind, Garth Brooks (Capitol Nashville)

13 Million

• Purple Rain (soundtrack), Prince and the Revolution (Warner Bros.)
• Greatest Hits: 1974–1978, Steve Miller Band (Capitol)
• Millennium, Backstreet Boys (Jive)
• Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live: 1975–1985 (box set), Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band (Columbia)
• Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston (Arista)

12 Million

• Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin (Atlantic)
• Abbey Road, The Beatles (Capitol)
• No Jacket Required, Phil Collins (Atlantic)
• The Woman in Me, Shania Twain (Mercury Nashville)
• Ten, Pearl Jam (Epic)
• Forrest Gump (soundtrack) (Epic)
• Wide Open Spaces, Dixie Chicks (Monument)
• Yourself or Someone Like You, Matchbox Twenty (Atlantic)
• Hot Rocks, The Rolling Stones (abkco)
• II, Boyz II Men (Motown)
• Kenny Rogers's Greatest Hits, Kenny Rogers (Capitol Nashville)
• Slippery When Wet, Bon Jovi (Mercury)
• Hysteria, Def Leppard (Mercury)
• Breathless, Kenny G (Arista)
• Pieces of You, Jewel (Atlantic)

11 Million

• Up!, Shania Twain (Mercury Nashville)
• Human Clay, Creed (Wind-Up Records)
• CrazySexyCool, TLC (LaFace)
• Dirty Dancing (soundtrack) (RCA)
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles (Capitol)
• James Taylor's Greatest Hits, James Taylor (Warner Bros.)
• Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. II, Eagles (Elektra)
• Falling into You, Celine Dion (Epic)
• No Strings Attached, 'N Sync (Jive)
• Devil Without a Cause, Kid Rock (Lava)
• Houses of the Holy, Led Zeppelin (Atlantic)
• Titanic (soundtrack) (Sony Classical)
• Aerosmith's Greatest Hits, Aerosmith (Columbia)
• Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Outkast (So So Def)

10 Million

• 'N Sync, 'N Sync (RCA)
• Life After Death, Notorious B.I.G. (Bad Boy/Arista)
• Let's Talk About Love, Celine Dion (550 Music/Epic)
• Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin (Atlantic)
• Greatest Hits, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (MCA)
• The Stranger, Billy Joel (Columbia)
• The Immaculate Collection, Madonna (Warner Bros.)
• Fly, Dixie Chicks (Monument)
• Eliminator, ZZ Top (Warner Bros.)
• Best of the Doobies, Doobie Brothers (Warner Bros.)
• Van Halen, Van Halen (Warner Bros.)
• Faith, George Michael (Columbia)
• Music Box, Mariah Carey (Columbia)
• Like a Virgin, Madonna (Sire)
• Unplugged, Eric Clapton (Reprise)
• Can't Slow Down, Lionel Richie (Motown)
• Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em, Hammer (Capitol)
• Tapestry, Carole King (Ode)
• The Lion King (Soundtrack) (Walt Disney)
• The Joshua Tree, U2 (Island)
• Nevermind, Nirvana (DGC)
• Legend, Bob Marley & the Wailers (Island)
• Tragic Kingdom, No Doubt (Trauma/Interscope)
• 1984 (MCMLXXXIV), Van Halen (Warner Bros.)
• Dookie, Green Day (Reprise)
• The Hits, Garth Brooks (Capitol Nashville)
• Daydream, Mariah Carey (Columbia)
• Come Away With Me, Norah Jones (Blue Note)
• Pyromania, Def Leppard (Mercury)
• Greatest Hits, Patsy Cline (MCA)
• Hybrid Theory, Linkin Park (Warner Bros.)
• Oops!…I Did it Again, Britney Spears (Jive)
• Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder (Motown)
• 1, The Beatles (Capitol)
• Best of the Doors, the Doors (Elektra)
• Sevens, Garth Brooks (Capitol Nashville)

25 Best-Selling Albums of All Time

25 Best-Selling Albums of All Time

1. Eagles/Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, Eagles

2. Thriller, Michael Jackson

3. Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin

4. The Wall, Pink Floyd

5. Back in Black, AC/DC

6. Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II, Billy Joel

7. Double Live, Garth Brooks

8. Come on Over, Shania Twain

9. The Beatles, The Beatles

10. Rumours, Fleetwood Mac

11. Boston, Boston

12. The Bodyguard (soundtrack), Whitney Houston/
Various Artists

13. The Beatles 1967-1970, The Beatles

14. No Fences, Garth Brooks

15. Hotel California, Eagles

16. Cracked Rear View, Hootie & The Blowfish

17. Greatest Hits, Elton John

18. Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin

19. Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette

20. The Beatles 1962-1966, The Beatles

21. Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack), Bee Gees/Various Artists

22. Appetite for Destruction, Guns N' Roses

23. Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd

24. Supernatural, Santana

25. Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen

Source: Recording Industry Association of America

Best Selling Albums of All Time

The Best Selling Albums of All Time (in millions):

1. Michael Jackson, Thriller (100+) 2. AC/DC, Back in Black (45+) 3. Meat Loaf, Bat out of Hell (43+) 4. Eagles, Their Greatest Hits (42+) 5. Dirty Dancing Soundtrack (42+) 6. The Bodyguard Soundtrack (42+) 7. The Phantom of the Opera (40+) 8. Backstreet Boys, Millennium (40+) 9. Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack (40+) 10. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours (40+) 11. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon (40+)

The best selling albums of all time are a topic of conversation again with the news that Michael Jackson died. For several years now, the best selling album of all time has been Michael Jackson's Thriller, and Thriller also recently took back the title of best selling album of all time in the United States as well. The second best selling album of all time in the United States has been the Eagle's album Their Greatest Hits, and for a time it had passed Thriller in the standings, but had fallen back into second place a few years ago. Both Thriller and The Eagles Greatest Hits rank among the best selling albums in the world as well, with extremely great sales numbers.

The best selling albums of all time have a list is best viewed on a worldwide scale with the passing of Michael Jackson, who had sold more than 100 million copies of Thriller. To put that in perspective the second highest best selling album of all time is the AC/DC album Back in Black, which has sold only 45 million copies worldwide. That word "only" has to be surrounded by quotations, because 45 million is amazing on its own, it just doesn't measure up to the sales that Thriller has achieved over the years.

Chasing those two albums are nine other albums that have passed the 40 million copy threshold themselves, making the list of best selling albums of all time have a total of 11 albums that have sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. Following AC/DC on this list is Meat Loaf with 1977's Bat out of hell, The Eagle's with the 1976 release of Their Greatest Hits, and then the first soundtrack on the list, from the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. The Dirty Dancing soundtrack has sold over 42 million copies since its release, putting it on a very successful list of the best selling soundtracks of all time.

Further down the list of the best selling albums of all time are 16 additional albums that have sold more than 30 million copies, and then many other selections that have sold more than 20 million copies. Michael Jackson appears on the list a couple more times, with his 1991 album Dangerous selling 32 million copies, his 1987 release Bad selling 30 million copies, and his 1995 release of HIStory selling more than 20 million copies. Michael Jackson was one of the greatest performers of all time, and looks to be the permanent resident at the top of the best selling albums of all time chart.



By Ryan Christopher DeVault
Published on AssociatedContent.com

Music album: 2009 One World One Moment

Music album: 2009 One World One Moment

• Album: 2009 One World One Moment [archive.org | jamendo]
• Band: Starfish Stories :: The Band
• Original compositions by Adrian Loo & Ivan Chew
• Mixing & sound engineering: Ivan Chew
• Released: Jan 2009
• Cover art: Designed by Ivan Chew; adapted from a Creative Commons Public Domain Licensed image from buchan | Downloads for the album cover available at Flickr.com

TO DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE MP3 ALBUM:
128Kbps VBR version (35MB ZIP) | 64Kbps version (15MB ZIP)

INDIVIDUAL TRACKS:

1. ONE WORLD (4.6MB) | 64Kbps (1.9 MB) | Music Video

2. QUIET AFTERNOON (3.1MB) | 64kbps (1.2MB)

3. GENETIC (re)MIX (7.4MB) | 64kbps (3.2MB)

4. RAINY DAYS 2.4 (3.0MB) | 64kbps (1.2MB)

5. SURFING ON SOLAR WINDS (2.9MB) | 64kbps (1.1MB)

6. HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY part 2 (4.4MB) | 64kbps (1.9MB)

7. DRIFTING (2.0MB) | 64kbps (679KB)

8. FIREFLY 1.4 (3.7MB) | 64kbps (1.6MB)

9. THE HILL (4.2MB) | 64kbps (1.8MB)

We welcome comments on how to improve our music. Feel free to share what you liked or disliked.

Visit the band blog at StarfishStories.wordpress.com

Source : StarfishStories.wordpress.com

Animal Collective - 'Fall Be Kind' (Domino)

Album review: Animal Collective - 'Fall Be Kind' (Domino)

Imagine for a moment that the internet is something you can hold in your hands. You pick it up and, ignoring mother’s pleas to leave the mucky thing alone, you set about building a scrapbook for every band ever blogged about, by anyone, anywhere. When you’re done, a billion volumes of yack-stack tower and teeter above you like an ironic and never-ending forest of corpse trees, but it’s Animal Collective whose music has inspired the most virtual ‘column inches’; their book of clippings is so thick Yuri Gagarin can see it, and he’s not just flung out in space any more, he’s nowhere.

And that’s strange, isn’t it? Not that they attract praise, or that Gagarin’s dead (it’s a dangerous profession), but that so much blather surrounds the quartet when the noises they make – slippery, absurd, familiar yet future-new – are so hard to talk about. Taking this record apart is like diving into the sea and trying to glue water together. Better to let it wash over you, because the sound of ‘Fall Be Kind’ is one of a band fast running out of context.

Baltimore-born, Brooklyn-based, Animal Collective already seem to exist on no-one else’s terms but their own. This EP looms into life with ‘Graze’; a track that begins by stealing Walt Disney’s strings and disappears while playing electric panpipes on a medieval waltzer. Where did it go? Where did the electricity come from? Is Walt Disney still frozen in the past? Gluing. Water.

That absurd, time-defying hoedown somehow bleeds seamlessly into ‘What Would I Want? Sky’, which has been in Animal Collective’s live set for over a year, and as such is already more famous on the internet than Tyson the skateboarding bulldog. Sun-baked and blissed out, it’s just as warming and impressive as watching Tyson roll around California’s oceanfront and mocks the band’s assertion that what’s here was “too dark” for their last album. It contains the first legal sample, sounds a bit like Lemon Jelly’s ‘The Staunton Lick’ and still manages – through its hook’s hypnotic repetition – to be the best thing you’ll hear all day.

The surprises continue to gather. ‘On A Highway’ and ‘I Think I Can’ are the most ‘standard’ Animal Collective fare here, the former guided through a lonely night drive by Avey Tare, his eyes picking out pissing workmen, pretty lady passengers and dreaming bandmate Noah Lennox. The latter, the EP’s final track, is Noah’s, and as such loops and lopes along, his throat trailing cascades across strange, quacking synths and war-march drums as he harmonises with sampled versions of himself. It’s good – everything on ‘Fall Be Kind’ is good – but it’s not something we haven’t heard done better before, either in Animal Collective’s past or in 2007, on Lennox’s full-length ‘Person Pitch’.

That’s not to say their past is becoming a curse. This EP’s centrepiece, a stunning hymnal called ‘Bleed’, ranks alongside anything Lennox, Tare (real name David Portner), Brian ‘Geologist’ Weitz and Josh ‘Deakin’ Dibb have ever put their names to. Slow-motion and sparse, it’ll widen your eyes and put an ache in your gut; consisting of little more than Tare’s cooing, Lennox’s wailing and the sombre drone of a lone cello. Stripped of all the sonic flotsam that usually surrounds them, Animal Collective come into their own – if you can ignore the chatter to listen with innocent ears, they surpass ‘good’ and remain bewildering.

Kev Kharas

Source : www.nme.com/reviews/

The Bravery 'Stir The Blood' (Island)

Album review: The Bravery 'Stir The Blood' (Island)

The Bravery’s second album famously failed to come out over here, despite the band having at one time been neck-and-neck with The Killers in the new new romantic stakes. While they’ve slipped out of view for us, (and, indeed, you’ll only be able to buy this album on import for now) apparently they’ve been doing pretty well in the States, and after singer Sam Endicott recently came out as the writer of Shakira’s striptease backing track She Wolf’ we were quite looking forward to hearing where The Bravery have gone since we last heard from them.

Well, turns out they’ve just stayed as still as Endicott’s jet-black quiff. Their sound remains meets Sisters Of Mercy meets . Which actually is no bad thing, as their big hit ‘An Honest Mistake’ proved, it’s just that when ‘Song For Jacob’ or ‘Adored’ occupy such a similar template, it’s almost self-parodic. Except their Future Sailors shtick isn’t tongue-in-cheek.

This is part of their problem; being so po-faced on songs such as ‘I Have Seen The Future’ makes it almost impossible not to ridicule them (as with Marilyn Manson’s ‘Mechanical Animals’, the future is apparently filled with rubbish synth-metal). Another one of their problems is Endicott’s voice, which sounds like a friendless Gary Numan being pushed on a swing by a stranger; it grates, and when it reaches new levels of shrillness on ‘Red Hands And White Knuckles’, it tortures.

And yet if you can overlook such stylistic clunkings and immerse yourself in the ‘Blue Steel’ of Bravery-world, there’s much fun to be had. ‘Slow Poison’ and ‘Jack-O-Lantern Man’ are Spandau Ballet in their choruses, and New Order in their basslines, and slowies ‘Sugar Pill’ and ‘She’s So Bendable’ add touches of Soft Cell to the obvious aping that we now associate with The Horrors.

Also, Sam Endicott is quite pathological in his imagery, and on this album casts himself as a masochist who wants to be punished for being a bad little boy. The nicely unpleasant ‘Hatefuck’ has him squealing, “If I put my fingers in your mouth would you bite them”, while on ‘I Am Your Skin’ he sings “I want to be your skin/I want to feel everything you feel/I want to be your covering”. Sam Endicott is almost certainly a serial killer and we wouldn’t want to be his next-door neighbour, but this does mean The Bravery are still one of the weirdest bands around. They’re out of step, out of time, out of place, and have completely gone off on one in their own strange little world; as such, there’s much to admire about The Bravery. Just never go down to Endicott’s basement.

Martin Robinson

Source : www.nme.com/reviews/

'The Twilight Saga: New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'

Album review: Various artists: 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'

At a conservative estimate, around 30million people saw the first Twilight film (and that’s from the base of 70million who bought the novels) worldwide, and the figure will surely rise for New Moon. Think about those numbers: there isn’t a single media outlet around that can reach so many kohl-eyed young consumers.

Just as the curators of Guitar Hero etc have become the new kingmakers, Alexandra Patsavas, ‘music supervisor’, is turning the movie soundtrack into a 21st century Peel Session of sorts. So – phew – this collection doesn’t suck.

Thom Yorke’s unsettling rumble ‘Hearing Damage’ is dark without layering on the pathos, and Anya Marina’s ‘Satellite Heart’ is all sweetly plucked acoustic guitar and tales of being lost in love. Grizzly Bear and Beach House’s Victoria Legrand imbue ‘Slow Life’ with a glow of aching longing, and ‘Possibility’ from Lykke Li is an evil joy dusted with Li’s breathy vocals, but the biggest treat comes from the unlikeliest source. ‘Shooting The Moon’ from Ok Go (!) is both introspective and massive , with planet-sized drums thumping behind the heartsore musings of what sounds like one dude plucking a guitar as the apocalypse rains down.

It’s a shame, then, that The Killers’ ‘A White Demon Love Song’ sounds half-finished and limp, while ‘No Sound But The Wind’ from Editors is so textbook it boggles the mind how the miserablists can cannibalise themselves again. Moreover, Muse’s remix of ‘I Belong To You’ only adds more baroque madness to an already overwrought canvas. As an album, the moments of intelligent beauty aren’t quite obscured by the gloom-by-numbers and, considering how rabidly commercial this really is, that’s something of a little victory.

Ben Patashnik

Source : www.nme.com/reviews/