Demon Days - Gorillaz

I am reviewing the album Demon Days by Gorillaz which is an excellent album. Gorillaz is comprised of Damon Albarn & a couple of others from Blur & a couple of other members & they often have a guest vocalist. On Dare the guest vocalist is Sean Ryder of the Happy Mondays. I saw an interview with Damon in which he said the vocalist he would most like to work with would be Liam Gallagher of Oasis. In the 90's there was a lot of rivalry between Oasis & Blur. They even both released a single in the same week. I think Dare which was a No1 single in Britain is the best track on the album. Gorillaz is a virtual band in the sense they are represented by manga animations in their pop videos. I did hear them described as the biggest virtual band in the world some years ago. Feel Good Inc was also a top 10 hit single.

Republic - New Order

I am reviewing the album Republic by New Order which is an excellent album. It was a No1 on the album chart in Britain & features the Top 10 single Regret which just happens to be the best track. There best track ever has to be Blue Monday which was the best selling 12 inch single of all time in the UK. Apparently it had a fancy sleeve which cost more to produce than what the set price for 12 inch singles so the record company lost a lot of money. There biggest single ever was the No1 World in Motion which was a soccer world cup song. There music is alternative but I think americans would class it as rock. They started out as Joy Division but their lead singer died tragically so they reformed as New Order. This album came out in 1993 when New Order were at there peak and is probably their finest hour.

Moseley Shoals - Ocean Colour Scene

I am reviewing the album Moseley Shoals by Ocean Colour Scene which is an excellent album. The best track is The Day We Caught The Train which was a top 10 single in Britain but all the tracks are good. This was their first album and it showed a lot of promise and although their later albums were good they failed to surpass this album. I have a friend who used to say to me that a groups first album is their most important one and normally their best. OCS came from Moseley in Birmingham & I think the album name came from the swarms of people on shopping days in Birmingham & also at their concerts. I think this album would be alternative music in Britain although there is a definite 60's influence & rock in America. With the success of this album they were briefly one of the biggest groups in Britain.

Amazon Elastic Load Balancing

The book I read to research this post was AWS Elastic Load Balancing Developer Guide which is a very good book which I downloaded from kindle for free. Elastic Load Balancing or ELB works with EC2 & S3 to allow you to configure how many instances need to be open in response to various situations. It's also compatible with SQS. For complicated procedures you can any of a variety of software development kits or SDK's which include java and ruby among others. The default destination server farm is North Virginia but you can specify any & it's a good idea to use two in case one goes offline. You use the command line in the console for most of your work & the book contains useful sample code. Finally a lot of people like there cloud site to have a proper domain name & this can be done using Route 52 or alternatively you can visit http://icann.org for a list of official vendors.

1977 - Ash

I am reviewing the album 1977 by Ash which is an excellent album. Apparently this was the first No1 album by a group from Northern Ireland & I think it was helped by the fact that if you bought this album on tape or record they charged 1977 prices which was just £3.99. The cd was full price and 1977 was the year of Ashes birth and perhaps more significantly was the year Star Wars was released which was Ashes favourite film. Ash was sitting his A levels at the time this album was released. Tim Wheeler wrote most of the songs. The best track is Goldfinger although every track is pretty good. I think in Britain this album would be classed as alternative music & in America it would be rock or maybe punk although they don't die there hair.

Loose - Nelly Furtardo

I am reviewing the album Loose by Nelly Furtardo which is my favourite album of all time. The best track is Maneater which was a No1 single in Britain but every track is great. It's dance music & produced by Timbaland I think before he made the big time. Of course he became a pop star in his own right and had several No1 singles in Britain. I noticed Chris Martin who I assume is the lead vocalist in Coldplay has co written several songs on this album. Since doing this album Nelly has done an excellent spanish language album called Mi Plan & recently released another album which I haven't heard.

21 - Adele

I am reviewing the album 21 by Adele which is one of the best albums I have ever heard. The best tracks are Set Fire to the Rain & Someone Like You but every track is great. She had several No1 singles in Britain from this album. Also the album was No1 on the album for 10 weeks making it the most successful album by a female soloist ever. It also won practically every award possible. The newspapers in america called the grammy awards the adele awards such was her success that year. The music is a mix of dance or pop and ballads. Set Fire to the Rain is my favourite song ever.

Change - Sugababes

I am reviewing the album Change by the Sugababes which is an excellent album. I think the music is part dance music & pop. Cathy Dennis who used to be a pop star in her own right has written several of the tracks. The best track is About You Now which did well on the singles chart in Britain. Various members have come and gone with the Sugababes over the years & I don't think it contains any of the original members. They have had quite a few big hits over the years. I bought this album from a car boot sale & it was only £1 & was brand new & still sealed up in its packaging.

Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline - Gomez

I am reviewing Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline by Gomez which is a very good album. I am sure the butler in the Adams Family was called Gomez & they must be named after him. On the back of the album is a photo of a sign with the album title & a phone number which must have inspired the album title. I think a lot of this album is about how western society has decayed. The music is alternative music which would probably be called rock or maybe grunge in America. They're not the most tunefull band but there songs are catchy in a funny sort of way. The best track on the album is Buena Vista & there is a good cover of The Beatles, Getting Better. There first album won the Mercury Award & I think this album is almost as good. That album incidently is Bring It On & is worth a listen.

3 - The Script

The album I'm reviewing is #3 by the Script which is excellent. The best track is Good Ol Days but all the tracks are good. It has a polished sound and has quite complex musical arrangements. It reminds me of an australian group called Semisonic who had quite a few hits in Britain. The best album by The Script was Science & Faith but this album is almost as good. I think technically this music is alternative music but it is so gentle it could almost be pop. I think in America it would be classed as pop. I'm surprised this album isn't a much bigger hit on the album at least in Britain. Science & Faith got to No1 on the British Album Chart.

Myths of the Near Future - The Klaxons

I am reviewing the excellent album Myths of the Near Future by The Klaxons. It's alternative music but most of the music is quite gentle. I think the theme that runs through the album is these scaremongers who make out the world is ending & how we should take it with a pinch of salt. I think this is quite relevant as some people claim the world will end this december. The best tracks are Two Receivers & Golden Skans. All the tracks are pretty good though. Also this album won the Mercury Prize for best british album.

Christina Aguilera - Christina Aguilera

I am reviewing the album Christina Aguilera by of course Christina which is a very good album and all the tracks are pretty good. The best tracks are Genie in a bottle & What a girl needs. Apparently one of the cowriters of Genie was a backing vocalist for the Pet Shop Boys and she was always writing songs. If you wonder how people get good at songwriting the answer is practise. This album is pop & I think Christina's best song is Beautiful which was a No1 single in the UK & is on her second album. Genie was a UK No1 too. 

A Little Deeper - Ms Dynamite

I am reviewing the fantastic A Little Deeper the debut album by Ms Dynamite. It quite deservedly won the Mercury Music Prize. It's a mixture of rap and hip hop. It contains the beautiful ballad Brother. The best track however is It Takes Time which I think was a popular single. It has good lyrics. There is a saying that if Sgt Pepper was released nowadays it would be a dance album & I think such is the quality of this album it could be that album. Ms Dynamite is well known for doing a duet with George Michael at the Brit Awards where they took one of Georges songs and changed the lyrics to highlight poverty. All the tracks on this album are pretty good.

The Truth About Love - Pink

I am reviewing the album The Truth About Love by Pink which is an excellent album. There is a couple of ballads on here, the best is Beam Me Up. Most of the album is uptempo and she does write snazzy lyrics. This would be the kind of album to play at a party or at the very least invite some friends around & have some drinks whilst listening to. The best track is How Come You're Not Here although all the tracks are good. Apparently there is a warning on it saying it isn't suitable for young children. I think her best song ever was So What which was also a No1 single in Britain. Also it has a terrific pop video. As an album I'd say this maybe her best.

Ceremonials - Florence and the Machine

I am reviewing the album Ceremonials by Florence and the Machine which is an excellent album. I think they have probably been reading books on wicca or maybe tribal religions for the inspiration to this album. It's got that kind of feel although I don't think there's anything like spells chanted like you might find on a heavy metal album. What I mean is it's quite atmospheric & I think even better than there last album. The best tracks on it are Seven Devils & Spectrum although all the tracks are good. I think in Britain this music would be classed as alternative & in America it probably borders on rock. One group it reminds me of is the Cure. Definitely worth checking out.

AWS Account Billing

The book I read to research this post was About AWS Account Billing which is a very good book which I downloaded for free from kindle. This book merely tells you about the different types of billing & account and doesn't contain the specific charges. I typed AWS free tier into google and that took me to a web site that contained information on free tier usage. There are 2 types of billing which are consolidated where everything is consolidated into one bill and programmatical where you pay for each service individually. Consolidated makes you ineligible for the free tier service. The free tier service is only available on certain products & only lasts for 12 months. You are allowed upto 15 Gb of usage on free tier but may be charged if you open more than one instance in elastic compute cloud. Also you are generally charged per hour so it might only be a small charge per hour but it adds up over a month. I think if you are tempted to go with Amazon Web Service you need to read about it very carefully & make sure you know roughly what they are going to charge you to avoid any nasty surprises. When you sign up you must give credit card information so they can bill you. Finally I noticed there is a database which is free called Mongo DB and there is other downloadable software some of which is free on the AWS Products & Services website.

This is My Life - Shirley Bassey

I am reviewing the album This is My Life by Shirley Bassey which is an excellent album. This album contains cover versions & some of Shirley's singles and they have reworked the music on them. When I bought this album my expectations weren't that great but I was pleasantly surprised. The best track is her version of Get This Party Going which was originally by Republica. Shirley did that track for an advert & it was a hit single for her. I also really liked her version of version of Slave to the Rhythmn originally done by Grace Jones. Of course Shirley is most famous for her bond themes & there is several of them on here. There is also what I think is a new track which is the title track & that is very good. Finally she has got a fantastic voice.

The Brain

The book I read to research this post was The Brain A Very Short Introduction by Michael O'Shea which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. Even in primitive times people knew that the brain was the human control centre. We can see this by the number of attempted operations like drilling the skull to let demons out when in fact someone was maybe mentally ill. Interestingly people often survived this kind of operation. Leonardo da Vinci studied the human brain and often dissected them. He knew the eye had a kind of onion type structure, He also made wax mouldings of different parts of the brain. The brain is the most complex structure known to man & typically has 100 trillion connections between the brain cells. In 1963 someone won a nobel prize for discovering that the brain uses potassium & sodium ions to conduct electricity. The axons themselves are very poor conductors.

Talk Dat Talk - Rihanna

I am reviewing the album Talk Dat Talk by Rihanna which is excellent. My favourite tracks are Cockiness (love it) & Watch And Learn & there is also a great ballad called Farewell. My favourite Rihanna track of all time is Under My Umbrella which was No1 for 10 weeks in the UK. I also love Only Girl In The World. I think Rihanna has done a lot of good stuff & this album definitely ranks as one of her best. It has quite a poppish kind of sound which borders on dance. I notice a couple of the tracks are written by Calvin Harris who is a famous popstar in his own right. All the tracks on this album are pretty good.

Amazon Cloudformation

The book I read to research this post was Amazon Cloudformation User Guide which is a very good book which I downloaded for free from kindle. Cloudformation is a service that integrates the other services that Amazon into one almost seamless service. You might have a website hosted by Amazon & integrate it with things like storage of your work and one of the database options. Alot of people use the wordpress open source software to build their site and this works fine & there are instructions in the book on how to do this. It also integrates with simple notification service & simple queque service to send you updates on various issues. Most of your work is done in elastic compute cloud although you can also use simple storage service for archiving.

Dance Classics Volume 8

I am reviewing Dance Classics Volume 8 which is an excellent album. I don't know if this album is available outside Britain. It contains lots of disco classics from the era of Saturday Night Fever which would be late 70's & early 80's. The best tracks are probably Just an Illusion by Imagination & Reach Out I'll be There by Gloria Gaynor. Gloria of course was called the Queen of Disco. There is lots of other great stuff like Instant Replay by Dan Hartman & Love Pains by Yvonne Ellimann. I must say this album really took me back to a time when I was a teenager.

Under My Skin - Avril Lavigne

I am reviewing the rock album Under My Skin by Avril Lavigne which came out in 2004 & is something of a classic. Every track is pretty good. The best track is My Happy Ending which was a Top 10 hit on the British Singles Chart. Avril became successful at an early age & this was a follow up to an album that was hugely successful. She looks every bit a rock chick. This album was just £2 and it was brand new.

Glassheart - Leona Lewis

I am reviewing Glassheart by Leona Lewis which is a very good album & is currently still in the Top 30 of the UK album chart. Leona won the X factor a british talent show a few years ago. Since then she's even enjoyed some success in the USA. The best track on the album is the big hit Trouble. The title track & Shake you up are also pretty good. Actually all the tracks are quite good. I think her best track to date is the cover version of Oasis's Stop dragging my heart around which was on her last album prior to this one. She also has a great voice and is very pretty.

Halcyon - Ellie Goulding

The album I am reviewing is Halcyon by Ellie Goulding which is a very good album. The music is mainstream pop but the last track called I need your love which she did with Calvin Harris is more of a dance number. That's also the best track on the album. All the tracks are pretty good. There's a nice soft ballad called I know you care. There's some pretty pictures of her in the booklet. She also has a great voice. This album has been out a while but is still in the lower part of the album chart in Britain.

Station to Station - David Bowie

I am going to start doing album reviews for both new & classic albums in addition to the other blogs. The first one I'm doing is Station to Station by David Bowie. This album came out in 1976 & was a kind of soundtrack for the film The Man Who Fell to Earth which also starred Bowie & was directed by Nicholas Roeg who also made Performance starring Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. It has been said that Bowie who played an alien who visited Earth was taking so many drugs he really did think he was an alien & wasn't acting. He does give a good performance in the film. The title track which is also the opening track is one of the best tracks Bowie ever did. In fact every track on this album is good. Golden Years which made No2 on the british singles was one of his biggest hits upto that time. Other singles which were Wild is the Wind & TVC15 were only minor but are pretty good.  On the whole this is an excellent album.

Amazon Simple Notification Service

The book I read to research this post was Amazon Simple Notification Service User Guide which is a very good book which I downloaded for free from kindle. Amazon SNS is a service where you can specify a topic which I think should be called parameters and if the messages matches that it is sent to you. You have to sign up for a SNS account separately to an AWS account. It's compatible with Cloudwatch & Simple Queque Service. If you want notifications in conjunction with an Amazon service you have to specify that in the SNS console. In addition you must specify where you want the endpoints of various notifications to be. An intermediate point will often be your mail server.

Amazon ElastiCache

The book I read to research this post was Amazon ElastiCache User Guide which is a very good book which I downloaded for free from kindle. ElastiCache is online memory cache and is useful if you have a network server which does memory intensive jobs. It's obviously a lot faster than hard drive memory storage and works with Simple Notification Service to keep you informed of what is going on. They handle things like the patching as far as the cloud service is concerned. If for example you need 20 Gb of cache you might elect to have 3 lots of 7.1 GB which more or less equates to the same thing. It also works with several computer languages among them ruby, java & .net. In this way you can automate processes you want. Also you can specify when you want Amazon to do their maintenance, this will generally be 1 hour per week and will ideally be when usage is low. If you don't specify a time Amazon will choose a random time. Finally you can use a command line and dashboard to operate this service.