Halfway to Heaven

Album : Bryter Layter (Remastered Edition)
Artist : Nick Drake
Label : Island Records
Rating : ***** out of *****
Standout tracks: At the Chime of a City Clock, Fly, Northern Sky

In his brief musical career, British folk singer-guitarist Nick Drake recorded only three proper albums -- Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter and Pink Moon -- three masterpieces of everlasting beauty.

Sandwiched by the baroque pop-heavy Five Leaves Left and the morose Pink Moon, Bryter Layter stands out as the most upbeat of Drake's body of work. It is so sunny that one could not foresee that, two years later, he would compose the hauntingly dark Pink Moon, admit himself to a psychiatric institute and commit suicide in 1974.

With more individuals from the Fairport Convention and Velvets veteran John Cale lending their hands to this record, Drake composed some of the most uplifting songs of his repertoire. On a couple of tracks, he added a heavy dose of jazz in between his chamber music compositions.

Drake's masculine and husky voice resonates amid the crystal- clear sounds of his guitar and other rich sonic adornments consisting a flute, celeste, harpsichord and acoustic piano or a complete string section.

In Fly, Cale's harpsichord and viola were more than what Drake needed to assemble a heavenly composition that could lure all angels down to terra firma. R.E.M.'s mid-nineties hit Nightswimming owed a great deal to Fly, down to its haunting viola sound.

After all, it was R.E.M.'s own Peter Buck who said that people could turn a Nick Drake song up all the way, but it would still sound quiet.

The three acappella tracks, Introduction, Bryter Layter and Sunday, are not simply album fillers but the mortar that holds the album together as a single piece.

It is utterly baffling that, with an album of this quality, Drake never achieved mainstream success during his lifetime. -- M. Taufiqurrahman

The Simpsons Show

Album : I Am Me Artist : Ashlee Simpson Label : Geffen Rating : ** out of ***** Standout Tracks : -

There is something gravely wrong with the music industry these days, and Geffen Records is a case in point. What was once the home of Nirvana, Sonic Youth and Neil Young is now a safe haven for Ashlee Simpson, a performer so devoid of talent that she was once caught red-handedly lip-synching his way out of an SNL show.

And yet, Simpson has been given the go-ahead to record her second album after her debut album Autobiography in 2004.

Now here's Simpson's second album.

There's actually little that can be said about this record, a pedestrian synth-punk album so synthetic that even Green Day's American Idiot will sound like The Clash's London Calling.

The building blocks for this album consist of a thin layer of crisp guitar atop mechanical drum parts -- although the drum is actually played by a living person.

Simpson's vocals, well, there is nothing to say about her nonexistent voice.

Unless you are in dire need of a night out karaoke-ing, avoid this record like the plague. -- M. Taufiqurrahman