Order Of Battle: My Cartoons On DVD Part 2

 

Due to the increasing size of my cartoon collection, I have found it necessary to break them up into a series of groups. This will be an ongoing post of my cartoons on DVD and Blu-Ray that start with the letter B, as I obtain them. All photos are actual scans.

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RIP Kevin Conroy

 

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Retro Spins: Laura Branigan - Self Control

My first attempt at Laura Branigan left me very disappointed. Her debut album was expensive and beyond the hit Gloria offered nothing for me. Hopefully, this will change as I continue through her discography in today's Retro Spin.

It's a solid tie between Gloria and Self Control as my all time favorite songs from Branigan, and as it were, the latter of those tracks just so happens to be on today's particular album. Of course, that would make sense considering I'm listening a record with the same name, 1984's Self Control from Laura Branigan.

Everything starts off on a high note with The Lucky One. This song struck notes with me as sounding more so like something Meat Loaf would have sang. It may have been why I dug it all the more. Self Control followed, only solidifying a high expectation for the album.

I recognized Ti Amo as one of Branigan's hits, but quite frankly it's not a song I'm all that excited about. It's okay, but definitely not a powerhouse. Heart also wasn't bad. It was pretty jammin' and had a pretty good tempo to it. Definitely a toe tapper.

The singer provides a "pretty" rendition of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, a song originally made popular in 1961 by The Shirelles as, Will You Love Me Tomorrow. However, it doesn't do the original version any justice. Further, while I know the song's been remade numerous times over the years, you really can't improve on the original. It's a classic.

The last single from the album, Satisfaction, was pretty much the last thing I knew from Self Control. It was never one of my favorites, but it's poppy and fits in with the album's layout. As for the remaining tracks, Silent Partners, Breaking Out, Take Me and With Every Beat Of My Heart, they're nothing special. They feel like filler.

Overall, Self Control was better than Laura Branigan's debut album. Still, the singer isn't pushing me over the edge like I was hoping. I was really wanting to find the next best thing I missed from the 80's, and I'm just not finding that with her. It's really disappointing, and I have to say a lot of this letdown is driven by how expensive her CD's have become.

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Order Of Battle: My Cartoons On DVD Part 1

 

Due to the increasing size of my cartoon collection, I have found it necessary to break them up into a series of groups. This will be an ongoing post of my cartoons on DVD and Blu-Ray that start with the letter A, as I obtain them. All photos are actual scans.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Retro Spins: Culture Club - Kissing To Be Clever

I'll be honest, I didn't really expect Culture Club's Kissing To Be Clever to be any better than their 1983 Colour By Numbers. I really more so listened to it because I wanted to determine if I was going to bother tracking down their 1984 Waking Up With The House On Fire.

I know Culture Club has it's hits, and I'll be fair and say those hits are amazing. However, what I was hoping to find out was if the non-hit tracks were strong enough to justify digging further into the band. Let's be honest, critically wise, their 1984 album didn't blow anyone away.

I digress though. Let me jump into Kissing To Be Clever.

Right off the bat, it wasn't really hitting a high note. White Boy wasn't a truly fantastic song. However, You Know I'm Not Crazy had something about it which was intriguing in sound. It wasn't the cabana style sound, but more so the notes Boy George was hitting. I decided to add it to my shuffle list for a later hearing. A second scoop if you will.

While I wish I could say things only got better from there, I kind of lost interest in the album completely in lieu of something else I was working on. I let it play out, but I honestly can't say anything pulled my attention back to it.

Because of this, I won't be making their 1984 album a priority. I just don't think it's going to be worth grabbing immediately. Eventually, I'll probably get around to it. For now, there's other things on my list.

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