Bush - Razorblade Suitcase

If there is one thing that hold true to any media you listen to music (except your own iPod), no matter what, you always hear the same things over and over. Since I'm on my satellite kick lately, there is a station called Lithium (channel 34 on Sirius) that plays solid alt rock type music all day long. It's nice, except they've been really overplaying Bush tracks off this album in particular. Now, I enjoyed Bush when I was younger, bought the first couple of records. I look back on them today, and I wonder why I was so much enamored. I bought this record for one of my first real girlfriends back in the 7th grade. It was probably the best gift she'd received at the time, as she also really loved the band. Regardless, I was pretty pumped about this album too. I was still riding the high off 'Sixteen Stone' and this one seemed to be a lovely follow up. There is no denying the drop off between those two records though. In terms of sales and overall sound. This album is a mere 3x platinum compared to the 6 of 'Stone'. This record was so beaten by critics that Bush dropped the remix album 'Deconstructed' to quell some of the musings that they were trying too hard to be a grunge band from Seattle. While I don't think this album is bad, the dropoff is substantial. And although I'm leading in too much, the sound didn't get any better during the next couple of drops. But I'll get to those in time. Go ahead and queue this up if you feel nostalgic today, but don't expect it to be the gold that you perceived 15 years ago.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Personal Holloway
2. Greedy Fly
3. Swallowed
4. Insect Kin
5. Cold Contagious
6. Tendency to Start Fires, A
7. Mouth
8. Straight No Chaser
9. History
10. Synapse
11. Communicator
12. Bonedriven
13. Distant Voices

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Greedy Fly
2. Mouth
3. Cold Contagious

FINAL RATING:
2.5 out of 5 stars

Bush - Sixteen Stone

Ahh yes. Alt rock and 90's rock. Have I said how much I loved this time period for music? I think I have. Here is yet another great album from 1994. There was an overload of great new artists and records coming out at this time...so many that you couldn't keep track back in the day. And to be honest, I don't think I really picked up on Bush and really heard this album until 1996 or so. I remember hearing 'Zen' on MTV and the radio, but it never really clicked for me. When Razorblade Suitcase dropped, I really went back to the previous record to see what that was all about. Let me tell you, this album is by far the best in their collection. As good as other may be, this one is truly great. These guys met, made a band - had problems - broke up and now reunited. Doesn't that seem to be a very similar story to almost every rock band ever created? Stereotyping aside, I think these guys had a really nice, new blend back in the day. A nice mix of hard, heavy guitar and then ballad tracks all mixed up into one bright orange label. This album is over 6x platinum in the US and for good reason. Monstrous singles and an overall great feel even when you listen to it to this day. They recently talked about putting a new one out this fall and they released a single to be on the record. I wasn't very impressed with the single, but who knows what'll happen come album time. I'll give it a chance, but until then - I'll just sit back and enjoy the old Bush I've grown to love.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Everything Zen
2. Swim
3. Bomb
4. Little Things
5. Comedown
6. Body
7. Machinehead
8. Testosterone
9. Monkey
10. Glycerine
11. Alien
12. X-Girlfriend

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Glycerine
2. Comedown
3. Machinehead

FINAL RATING:
4.25 out of 5 stars