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I spent many of my pre-teenage years listening to early AC/DC, but tend to shy away from their later efforts: I believe AC/DC produced a lot of boring, formulaic music after Bon Scott's passing. Originally released in 1977, Let There Be Rock predates the formula. This album features some very well produced recordings of some of AC/DC's best songs. There are songs that aren't so great but in those cases the performances more than make up for the average songwriting.

The John Lennon Anthology is a 4 CD boxed set released in 1998. I decided to listen to this today, the 25th anniversary of the day Lennon was murdered outside his New York City apartment, mostly because I haven't listened to it very much before. This collection features demo and alternate versions of many Lennon originals and along with a bunch of covers. While collections of this type sometimes seem to be a chance to cash in after an artist has died, this collection is well worth a listen.

15 Minutes Out To Sea is Jodi Martin's 2nd or 3rd album, depending on whether you count her 1/2 live, 1/2 studio release 21 Stairs. 15 Minutes Out To Sea features 4 songs that were previewed on 21 Stairs, along with some new songs. The production here is bigger and more varied than I've previously heard on Martin's songs.

Up To Here is The Tragically Hip's first full studio album. Released in 1989, about 2 years after their EP, this offering takes a more rocky direction. Here is what the EP promised but, perhaps, didn't quite deliver. The production seems much bigger and the songs seem more interesting - riffs and grooves everywhere. Gord Downie's vocals are also more driven and powerful - this may be due to increased confidence.

Although I'd heard many of the songs from Joe Cocker's debut album With A Little Help From My Friends at various stages, I first heard this album in its entirety about 20 years ago when I bought it on vinyl. I've been looking for it on CD and finally picked it up for $7.50 in Canada. This album is great - I'm as impressed now as I was then - no wonder Cocker went on to become a superstar.

Kings of Leon were indirectly recommended to me by a friend - someone had told him they played good rock music but he hadn't listened to them yet. I mentioned them to a couple of people I know and they thought they were OK. Yet again, I thought I'd probably heard a song or 2 on the radio. I also did some reading of the reviews of their first 2 albums on Amazon.com.

I've always liked things I've heard by The Police. However, glancing at the track listings for their various albums, I've never been able to decide which one(s) to buy. I don't usually by "best of" albums... they're not really albums. However, I finally gave in and bought a used copy of Every Breath You Take for $5 (USD).

Note: After being stupidly busy and travelling for a few months, this is the first of a series of "first impressions" (OK, short and lazy) reviews of a number of albums that I've bought recently. The usual format of extended reviews will resume shortly.

After seeing Jodi Martin back in February I was determined to get some of her albums. So I asked for, and got, a copy of Twenty One Stairs for my birthday. This album is only available by mail-order directly from the artist, who was away on tour, so my present was a little belated... but well worth the wait!

I originally became interested in The Wallflowers when I picked up a copy of their 1996 album Bringing Down The Horse for less than it was worth. It was "that sort of music" - difficult to classify because it combined elements of many different styles of popular music... and very nice to listen to. Some time later I picked up their 1992 self-titled debut and listened to it a bit, but still preferred Bringing Down The Horse.