Over the weekend, I picked up 4 new music albums and I wanted to give them a brief review.

Amy Winehouse “Lioness: Hidden Treasures” – This is a collection of unreleased songs and rarities from the late pop star who passed away not too long ago. This album I did love and listened to it about three times and I’ll be addicted to this album. It’s different than “Back to Black’, it’s more Jazz & R&B, than pop. Amy’s voice will knock you out cold in this album, she was really great vocally.

The Black Keys “El Camino” – I’ve been a Black Keys fan for a long while, been buying their earlier albums lately. Here is their new album that they just came out with this year. It was okay, kind of a disappointment. I thought the producing sound on this album was badly done. It’s definitely different than their older albums. I liked the Black Keys better when they do their usual tight blues rock thing, but this album is more pop/rock than anything. My favorite Black Keys album will always be “Attack and Release” ’cause it’s a fuckin’ tight as hell album. Maybe I should give “El Camino” a few more listens and it might grow on me, who knows. It just didn’t grab me the first listen.

Bjork’s “Biophilia” – Now here’s an album that I absolutely enjoyed. I think it’s one of the best albums of 2011. Bjork, the Icelandic singer who I’ve been a fan of for years. This is her best work ever. This album is different than her stuff in the past though. It’s really trippy and out of space sounding music. If you want a good stoner album, this is it. In this album, she wants to stay away from the pop star thing and do something serious. The songs are very powerful on this album, check it out.

Kate Bush “50 Words For Snow” – I don’t know much about Kate Bush but I heard her music before. I got this album out of curiosity ’cause it was getting positive reviews everywhere. I gave this album a listen and turned it off halfway through. It’s really slow, mellow, piano music. Not my cup of tea. I’ll probably get rid of this one by selling it at a used record shop.

When will I do the “Top 15 Best Albums of 2011” list? I’ll get it done at the end of this month, sometime after Christmas. I’m always shopping for music and looking for new albums all the time, it’s about choosing the best. Once in a while, I’ll buy an album I don’t like, it don’t happen a lot.

Kev