pier_paolo_farina

Yes, it's a moment when this site is loaded by skilled collaborators... excellent feedback on this too! In truth, I find that Oldfield has excessively diluted his talent on several occasions in the past, and apparently, in this latest one as well. In fact, he has always done so: personally, I even find "Tubular Bells" a bit boring.

Excellent reception. I love Level 42, the best of the best of ’80s pop, but also of white funk, as well as virtuosic art-rock. I’m not enthusiastic about this album, I don’t like the production (too many instruments, too many notes played, too much stuff, it sounds “washed out” to me), and I still can't accept the shift from my beloved Phil Gould to the stiff and school-like Gary Husband. Moreover, there's a lack of "hooks," the melodic "hooks" that make a pop or rock song great. Long live Mark King and his miraculous thumb.

You have no idea how commas are used in Italian grammar. At least, try to use fewer of them.

I'm responding by showering you (undeservedly) with more drops of expertise, so not only will you bestow upon me your respect, but maybe you'll even make me a bank transfer. Pop metal won't mean anything to you. However, many of us around the world use this term to encompass that branch of music which is essentially pop (in the sense of having wide accessibility, usually through "hooks" that are melodic, rhythmic, or perhaps in the lyrics, etc.) and characterized by distorted guitars, piercing vocals, explosive drumming, and so on—essentially all the outward trappings of metal.
"Here Comes the Sun" by Harrison and "Paranoid" by the Sabbath are both pop songs; in particular, the former is country pop, vaguely inspired by what the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, etc. were doing in California, while the latter is indeed pop metal, a simple and irresistible litanies from Ozzy (about a romantic breakup) over Iommi's great insight to darken and blacken as much as possible the hard rock form invented by Cream, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Beck, Kinks, or anyone you like.
The Ten are pop metal: saccharine, often ridiculous, sometimes featuring brilliant melodies from their crooner Gary Hughes. Saigon Kick are pop metal, and so are King's X if you want. Hair Metal is all that AOR or Hard Rock or pop metal or FM rock (???... This definition of yours is even more all-encompassing than pop metal) highlighted by curly heads, perms, hairy chests, grimaces, extremely vulgar macho attitudes, which was in fashion during those years I’ve already mentioned. So Poison, Whitesnake, Stryper, Motley Crue, Guns & Roses, House of Lords, Cinderella... all exceptionally varied people if you’re passionate about the genre.
As for the Beatles, I'm glad you have no issues with them: so it’s just the two of us who don’t. When you manage to write (assuming you write what you think, of course... if you're just messing around, then never mind) about them not in terms of "macrocosmic ineptitude," but in terms of "I don't find anything noteworthy in their melodies, in their arrangement experiments with their producer, in their voices, in the fact that people still talk about them as if it were yesterday, in the strangeness that they've managed to unite in praise jazz musicians, classical musicians, metalheads..." then you'll be a gentleman like me.
At over forty years old, and now that you think about it.

Well, I own the two Damn Yankees albums, but I find it hard to get in the mood to listen to them again. They belong to that melting pot of pop metal from around 1985-1992, unfortunately partially tarnished by the numerous hair-metal degenerations, which intrigued me quite a bit back in the day, but now I only hold gratitude and pleasure in re-listening to the big names (Foreigner, Toto, Boston, Journey, Van Halen, Def Leppard, etc.). I have always had issues, ever since the Styx days, with Tommy Shaw, who I find completely boring in his singing style, songwriting, guitar solos, and even his look (mop-top, big head with too much hair, pouty lips like a kid, guitar too big for him).
On the other hand, I admire Jack Blades, while Nugent neither excites me nor bothers me.
For the record, since the comments above have expanded into comparisons, I also have major issues with boredom and disinterest regarding Nirvana, Lou Reed (except for the first four or five albums of his career), De André (on the musical side), but certainly not with the Beatles.

Yes, beautiful cover. On the back, the photo continues with the other thigh and a bit more of the panties. For the second album (the best), "Out of our Hands," the cover was dedicated to a decent pair of tits, facing censorship. Peter Banks was an excellent guitarist, unfortunately pushed to the periphery of the scene that mattered in London after being kicked out of Yes. He shared with Steve Howe mainly the inclination for clear and clean sounds, almost jazz-like. The Flash could also count on a perfect clone of Chris Squire on bass guitar and backing vocals, named Ray Bennett, and the agile and brilliant drummer Mike Hough. I love this band, and Banks's death a few years ago hit me hard. The group tried again a couple of years ago, releasing their fourth studio album forty years after the third: Bennett also handles the guitar and plays in a style opposite to that of Banks (long, enveloping, vibrant sounds), and Colin Carter has lost much of his vocal power and range with age, retaining at least some of his unique timbre. Magnificent losers, these Flash, but their battle was not entirely lost: they leave behind four studio records and a couple of pretty good live CDs, for the enduring enjoyment of posterity.

Greve is the opposite of lieve and, literally, means heavy. Used in a figurative sense, it indicates profound ignorance (but "profound" is also a metaphor... there’s no escaping it!).
Regarding your question: it’s not entirely true; there are hundreds of interesting reviews on the site, written by people who know, who love music, who can write. You just have to seek them out, patiently sifting through the majority of writings hastily put together for enjoyment, or because people are ignorant, superficial, or simply still too young.

There's a time for serious matters and a time for fooling around: this belongs to the fooling around.
There are the lesser-known albums, which therefore require some info and context, and the famous ones that have been reviewed multiple times, for which a bit of fooling around can serve as a diversion.
Nevertheless, there's always a jerk (Marco Orsi) who has the time and inclination to point out (just for the hell of it) "Sesta Rece!", without even realizing that it’s not even a review.
P.S.: What is your "the verses have their merits" then? Difficulty typing on a smartphone? Fooling around? Grim ignorance?

Holy God, the singer of Iron Butterfly was the organist Doug Ingle. Brann was the lead vocalist very sporadically.

I did an experiment on YouTube: I watched a concert of Kotzen with his trio and immediately after a concert of the Winery Dogs. Result: Kotzen with his two guys, just the right amount of skillful, cohesive and clean, is much better than the supergroup version, with the sound pumped up too much and the instruments banged around too much and the technical displays, etc. In these groups of virtuosos, the essence of the rock blues genre is lost, which is made of dynamics and nuances. Kotzen is a great artist, but he’s more enjoyable when he doesn’t show off too much and lets out the blues as it should be let out, with feeling and warmth, speeding up and slowing down, “getting into” what he’s playing continuously. I have nothing against the Winery Dogs, but their exciting brilliance remains superficial to me.