Kamil Walczak

One of the most beautiful and intriguing debut albums in the 80s, released in 1987 by the Nordic cold-wave band – Ben Canto. We can find here solid dream-pop songs (“Blank Sheets”, “Dreaming Girl”), emotional ballad (“Without you”), instrumental experiments (“Agassiz”, “Kloeberdanz”, “Chaideinoi”), and a few pearls inspired by Norwegian folklore or the rough climate of the Arctic Circle (“White-Out Conditions”, “Baltic Ice-Breaker”, astonishing “Upland”). Timeless music. Highly recommended.

At first glance, it’s the most mainstream-orientated album of Bel Canto and has a bit different flow than their previous material. In the first few songs, the beautiful voice of Anneli Drecker sounds a bit similar to Annie Lennox, while the music itself is also not so far from Eurythmics. After a promising opening (“Foolish Ship”), we can find potential hits (“Feels Like I’m Already Flying”, “You Rock My World Tonight”, and “Disappear Club 5” mainly due to its melodic refrain). Somehow, the sunshine burst through the dark clouds to warm up the souls of the musicians of the band but definitely changed the chemistry. It turned out that it would be their last album (released in 2002). At this time, Anneli already launched her solo career by releasing the debut album “Tundra” in 2000. The band captured some magical moments in two ballads (“Dorothy’s Victory” and “Tree”) and an interesting experimental attempt (“Happy Times Fly Fast!”). The album becomes more nostalgic and less poppy toward the end.

This is a great album of the dark electronic duo from the Eastern Coast of the United States. A perfect connection of minimalistic synth-pop music with elements of hypnotic beats created by Augustus Muller and the purring-groaning stylish voice generated by Jae Matthews. Some of the songs sound like the soundtrack for b-movies (“Keep driving”, “Crush”, “Careful”), others seem to epitomize some kind of erotic content (“Fate”, “Come closer”). However, there are quite a few melodic jewels that reflect the upbeat climate of the 80s (“Face the fire”, “LA”, “The look you gave (Jerry)”, “Tears”, “Lost”). Those songs have the potential to become dancefloor hits in the suburban nightclubs. Enjoy!

Another brilliant EP of an Australian rock band from Perth. Again, a high-quality and nicely flowing material that could be used as one side of an epic album. "Astray" and "Self Censored" are characterized by interesting arrangements perfectly executed by all members of Ragdoll. However, "Irreplaceable" is a potential hit, showing a more melodic and mawkish side of the band (there is some similarity with Def Leppard). Non-trivial lyrics! Keep it up...

As long as Ragdoll will play, rock music has a bright future! A high-quality and solid material that could (and probably even should) be used as one side of an epic album. The unstoppable Ragdoll machine works perfectly like a heavy steamroller! All songs are great, but my attention was captured by two amazing ballads ("Could It Be Love" and "Heaven Above"). Honey for the ears of true rockers!!!

As long as Ragdoll will play, there is hope for rock music! Epic album of another excellent band from Australia (after AC/DC, INXS, Midnight Oil, and Men at Work) that deserves worldwide recognition. Here we can hear some influences of grunge (Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters) as well as heavy metal giants (Whitesnake, Metallica). After a cosmic intro, we have 10 consistent hard rock songs played at the right speed of the Ragdoll sound. We can feel the great chemistry between all musicians that know their instruments backward. The virtuosity of a very technical guitar player (Leon Todd) has not been abused, although we can hear a nice riff or a beautiful solo in almost every song. My suggestion for a hit is "Love on the Run". A slower ballad near the end of this album could cool it off a bit for non-full-time rockers.