Just realised I promised a review of a different Bad Religion album; 'All Ages' is a compilation and I was going to be reviewing the newest album, 'New Maps of Hell' which came out this year.

Therefore I will ACTUALLY be doing a review of this album and not 'All Ages', although I am happy to do a review of that album at a later date if anyone is so inclined!

Cheers

TMM

I have been working on this one for far too long now so, as promised, here it finally is!

'Stir Crazy' is the brand new offering from Riyadh born Karim Fanous, a rising singer on the rock/pop scene with an impressive schooling in
popular music.

A fan of such greats as AC/DC and even Joni Mitchell, Karim's music takes an interesting perspective and original style. His background is largely responsible for the sophisticated and pondering lyrics, and his extensive classical music training indicates the talent this new singer holds.
(Press speak for what I'm supposed to think of it!)

Now to what I actually do think of it:

The sound varies between a sort of rocky-soul sound and simple pop, his lyrics, however, are interesting, The title track, 'Stir Crazy', appears to be about his recent life experiences trying to make it in the music business and how he feels about the ups and downs with an effective dreamy melody.

The dude has a fairly diverse background and his biography tells me he was raised in London by a Palestinian father and a Greek/Syrian/Turkish mother (perhaps it's actually her that's diverse?), he uses this upbringing effectively with aspects of his sound branching out to many genres, and people from all walks of life who can enjoy a quirky, ironic and often amusing view on life.

I would agree that this is a mixture of indie, pop and soft rock and on the whole I enjoyed the album, the stand out tracks include 'Perfume', the previously mentionned 'Stir Crazy' and 'Ship is Sinking'. Most of which I'm sure you can find via his myspace page. I would recommend him to fans of Eagle Eye Cherry or Damien Rice and perhaps at a push someone like David Gray or a younger Colin Hay, his guitar work reminds me of aspects of Prince although with a more bluesy sound which creates some sound (teehee) tunes.

You can check out his stuff for yourself at his myspace HERE or visit his website HERE

Let me know what y'all think and look forward to 'Bad religion - All Ages' and the 'Van Tramp' gig reviews up sometime tomorrow!

Cheers

TMM

Morning guys, I'm still working on that Karim Fanous review but I saw a comment from Kevanos that reminded me I promised a Bad Religion review a couple of weeks ago now! My memory... Anyhow, I will get the Karim review up for later today and then this evening I will have a listen to the Bad Religion cd again and get something up here ASAP, as a way of giving something back to my loyal readers... perhaps I'm not that popular yet but at least someone likes what I'm doing which is encouraging!

Anyone who's wondering or who has forgotten I promised a review of 'All Ages' by Bad religion which is a recent compilation of older material from their early career.

Also for anyone who's interested I am going to a gig by 'Van Tramp', a band I reviewed at the start of this whole blogging thing, tonight in London, so I'll write a review of that as well and include it as soon as possible, anyone who's forgotten about them look back on the blog and remind yourselves, I'm looking forward to it!

Have a great wednesday guys!

Cheers

TMM