Two Words, One Answer.
Junction
 The Junction Boys: How Ten Days in Hell with Bear Bryant Forged a Championship Team $14.95 I read this book only for its historical value. I have never liked Coach Paul Bryant because his actions and coaching style were clearly abusive, rude, hostile, disrepectful, confrontational, and brutal. He came close to killing some of his players! The hard part of reading this book are the detailed, graphic injuries sustained by many of the players. It is deplorable how these players were treated by Coach Bryant and his assistants. Coach Bryant almost appears to be sadistic and callous in his attitude toward hurt players.  Cross Country Stitching $21.95 I have been cross-stitching for over 25 years. I found this magazine in my local shop and was hooked. I liked the idea that the designer(s) have incorporated Bible verses into the designs, and often it is very subtle and in the end you have a nice picture to look at. Keep up the good work!  Junction Seven $16.98 This certainly isn't Steve Winwood's best album, not by a long way. But it's not terrible either, and it's definitely better than most of today's pop music. It does have some genuinely nice songs on it. "Angel Of Mercy" and "Real Love" are nice ballads. I like them both, even though I usually don't care for such songs. "Lord Of The Street" is a pretty good song and it's the one song on here that comes closest to being like Winwood's earlier work back in the mid to late Eighties. And "Plenty Lovin' "...wow. Des'ree's vocals really make this song stand out! It's got kind of a smooth jazz sound and it's one of my favorites here. Other songs on the album are merely okay. "Let Your Love Come Down" would be better if it didn't have the distorted backing vocals. This was tried on a much earlier Winwood tune, "Big Girls Walk Away", from his "Talking Back To The Night" album of the early Eighties. On that song, it sort of worked; on this one, not so much. Upon my first listen to this album, I was disappointed. I could've given up right then, but I listened some more and it eventually grew on me. If you listen with an open mind, you'll recognize it for what it is: an okay pop album by Steve Winwood, rather than a spectacular one. It was something different for him. Sometimes a musician tries something different and the result is a disastrous, unlistenable album. Fortunately, this one turned out better than that. |
|
