| | Gwen Stefani Sweet Escape CD Gwen Stefani Discography of CDs
The sophomore solo effort from No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani capitalizes on the qualities that made her debut, LOVE ANGEL MUSIC BABY, a success, namely the hip-hop-infused club sound she laid down on that album's smash single "Hollerback Girl." As on LAMB, SWEET ESCAPE boasts production work from the Neptunes, among other talented trackmasters (including Akron and No Doubt member Tony Kanal).
In general, Stefani backs off the new wave aesthetic she's usually associated with, although tunes like "Wonderful Life" and "Florescent" still burst with the quirky pop energy of the early 1980s. Instead, the majority of THE SWEET ESCAPE revels in the flashy glamour of the club vibe (as the cover photo of Stefani in sunglasses and platinum suggests), riding propulsive, rickety beats and singalong choruses, as on the hands-in-the-air title track or the Neptunes-helmed single "Wind It Up" (which features samples from THE SOUND OF MUSIC). The album missteps occasionally, but there is enough fun, fizzy dance-pop here to keep Stefani in the spotlight, and to satisfy her growing legion of fans.
Additional Tracks
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.Entertainment Weekly (p.94) - "THE SWEET ESCAPE has a surprisingly moody, lightly autobiographical feel." -- Grade: B-
Q (p.106) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Stefani maintains an admirably off-kilter sound, catchy yet electronically edgy." Sweet Escape Review
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Purchase Sweet Escape CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Justin Bieber My World CD (2009) Enhanced CD
Sweet Escape album
 $7.96  
Within a couple years, Canadian teenager Justin Bieber went from covering Usher on YouTube to working with Usher. An internet sensation from his renditions of several pop and pop-oriented R&B hits, he was still only 15 years old when he released this, his first album -- though it's more like an EP since it is contains only seven songs that are 25 minutes in duration. Given the comfort level he showed in the material he covered, My World plays it straight, based on the kind of age-appropriate content that would fill out a release from a younger Chris Brown ...
| | Jay-Z The Blueprint 3 CD (2009)
Sweet Escape CD music
$15.65  
On THE BLUEPRINT 3, still unretired Jay-Z announces "the only rapper to rewrite history without a pen." It's a standard Jigga boast, but the Brooklyn icon has earned the bragging by backing it up, particularly on his gold-label, top-shelf BLUEPRINT series. Ever-ready for battle, Jay-Z takes on autotune, crossover radio, and many other hip-hop concerns with the gloriously jagged rap elan for which he's become known.
When Jay-Z first made a series out of his best album, 2001's The Blueprint, it became a game of high expectations. The first volume saw Jay-Z as vital as he'd ever been, storming back to the hardcore after a few years of commercial success. THE BLUEPRINT 2 took a different tack, with guest shots to compliment his sinuous flows. BLUEPRINT 3 is somewhere between the two, closer to the vitality and energy of the original but not without the crossover bids and guest features of the latter. Kanye West is in the producer's chair for seven tracks, and it's clear he was reaching for the same energy level as the original. "What We Talkin' About" begins the album with a wave of surging, oppressive synth, while Jay-Z enumerates (with an intriguing lack of detail) what he's said and what's been said about him, ending with a nod not to the past but the future (and Barack Obama). There's plenty more lyrical violence to come, but most of the targets are much safer than they were eight years earlier (i.e. opening single and smash hit "D.O.A. [Death of Auto Tune]" (railing against the oft-reviled '00s vocal-tweaking phenomenon is not quite ...
| | Beyonce - The Beyonce Experience: Live DVD (2007)
Sweet Escape music CDs
 $10.39  
Bringing her chart-topping hits to an ecstatic L.A. crowd, Beyonce's impassioned vocals are only rivaled by her show's incredible onstage spectacles. Sure to delight both new and longtime fans, THE BEYONCE EXPERIENCE features over two hours of music from the singer's blockbuster albums, the musical DREAMGIRLS, and even her ...
| | Whispers Thankful CD (2009)
Sweet Escape songs
$12.49
The generally earthy passions of soul and R&B can sometimes mask their very intimate connection to black gospel music, a fact that isn't lost on veteran L.A. group The Whispers. During their late-`70s to early-`80s peak they were churning out silky pop-R&B hits like "And the Beat Goes On" and "Rock Steady," ...
| | Prince Lotusflow3r/ Mplsound/ Elixer CDs (2009)
Sweet Escape album
$15.99 
Prince has never shied away from ambitious projects, and 2009's LOTUSFLOW3R/MPLSOUND/ELIXER is just the latest in a long, illustrious string. The three-disc package builds on the variety evident throughout Prince's career, mixing up rock, funk, R&B, silky-smooth balladry, and left-field genre influences. The third disc, ELIXER, is devoted to Prince's protégé, Bria Valente, who performs Prince-penned songs in the light, female R&B tradition of Prince-sponsored acts like Vanity 6.
But fans will be most interested in the first two discs, which feature the man himself ...
| | Annie Don't Stop CD (2009)
Sweet Escape CD music
$12.79
Annie ran into some obstructions on the way to the release of her second album. Don't Stop was supposed to come out on Island well over a year before it was finally issued on Norway's Smalltown Supersound; Island had gone as far as releasing "I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me" as a single and video, as well as a cover of Stacey Q's "Two of Hearts" as a promotional single, but Annie and Island split, and Don't Stop finally surfaced with a different track list that included neither "Girlfriend" nor "Hearts." As on Anniemal, Don't Stop contains some of the catchiest, most clever dance-pop in circulation, highlighted by the fizzy "I Don't Like Your Band," one of three songs produced by Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Florence and the Machine). Nearly as ensnaring as "Chewing Gum," Annie's taunting, attitudinal wordplay is in top form, with "It's not you, it's your tunes" closely followed by a pointedly insincere-sounding "I feel bad." The collaborations with Xenomania (five songs), Timo Kaukolampi (three), and Richard X (one) aren't as powerful, however, with a good handful of their songs no match for Anniemal's weaker moments. The worst of all, "The Breakfast Song," has a chorus and call-and-response that resemble a flabby M.I.A. parody. [Some copies came with a bonus disc, the All Night EP, which included "I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me" and some other material that originally leaked prior to the album's release.] ~ Andy Kellman
Annie ran into some obstructions on the way to the release of her second album. Don't Stop was supposed to come out on Island ...
| | Gram Parsons Warm Evenings, Pale Mornings, Bottled Blues CD (1992)
Sweet Escape music CDs
$17.75
It's amazing to think that it took until 1991 for a comprehensive anthology of Gram Parsons' work to appear anywhere, and it came from Raven Records in Australia. Warm Evenings, Pale Mornings, Bottled Blues tackles the task of distilling Parsons' decade-long career into 75 minutes and 21 songs and it succeeds admirably -- Parsons' most hauntingly beautiful original song with the Shilohs, "Zah's Blues," opens the collection and from there you jump to the three strongest tracks off of the International Submarine Band's one and only album. Rhino's double-CD Gram Parsons anthology goes deeper into his later history, but the Raven set casts a slightly wider net and is a little more concise, as well as providing a pretty fair bio on the man himself. ~ Bruce Eder
This compilation CD is the first attempt to anthologize the whole span of Gram Parsons' solo & group career. Its generous 21 tracks & ...
| | Masters At Work 10th Anniversary PT. 1 CDs (2000) (Import) Germany
Sweet Escape songs
$36.39 
Masters at Work's Tenth Anniversary Collection is a prescient, inestimably valuable four-disc compilation of MAW tracks covering the first five years of what may be the greatest partnership in house music. As surprising as it is to see a single-artist house box set, perhaps the label of release (BBE) makes it a bit more fathomable, considering MAW's Kenny Dope has mixed volumes in two different BBE series (Hip Hop Spectrum and Strange Games and Funky Things). Still, BBE spared no expense with this box, licensing tracks from many different labels -- always a problem considering the large number of outside productions MAW takes on -- and fashioning a lavish box with stellar liner notes to complete the set. Thanks also in part to Little Louie Vega and Kenny Dope themselves, The Tenth Anniversary Collection is also compiled excellently. Since separate discs cover vocal productions, dubs or remixes, beat workouts, and club tracks, fans of Masters at Work for different reasons can focus on facets of their production genius, whether it's a tight club track or a glorious vocal production. Rare and influential MAW tracks ("Blood Vibes," "Justa ...
| | Crain Speed CD (1992)
Sweet Escape album
$12.19
This reissue contains 4 tracks previously not included on Speed.
Two layers of groups can be found in every musical movement: the groups that receive the most attention and generally go into the history books as predominant examples of their particular sound, and the other groups that remain stratified as history buries them beneath the surface. Thankfully, the reissue culture enables listeners to act as archaeologists and perhaps even mad scientists, digging up and resuscitating releases that may not have received proper attention the first time around. Such is the case with Crain's only release, Speed. Buried beneath the success of colleagues Slint and Rodan in the Kentucky soil, Crain had local fame but remained hidden to all but those who diligently sought them out, until Temporary Residence had the good sense to reissue Speed in 2005. Beneath the history is an unadulterated session of brutal post-rock and math rock that laid the blueprint for so many bands (for better and worse) that would come later in the decade and beyond. The reissue features two of post-punk's most revered producers behind the boards: Big Black/Shellac producer and softball guru Steve Albini for the proper album tracks and D.C. figurehead ...
| | My Morning Jacket Demos Package CD (2007)
Sweet Escape CD music
$11.09
Recording information: Nashvegas; WFPK.
| | White Lion Definitive Rock CDs (2007)
Sweet Escape music CDs
$17.05
| | Vnv Nation Judgement CD (2007)
Sweet Escape songs
$13.69
The serene opening instrumental simply titled "Prelude" may not give any clue that thudding drum machines will dominate soon. Instead, it paints a perfect, widescreen picture of how huge and ambitious VNV Nation's seventh effort Judgement is, while also warning that this album is not afraid to be soft. Fans of the gritty and gutsy early days may think this another sub-Depeche Mode effort, and there is no hint VNV has any desire to chase them. Adjust your expectations accordingly and the up-tempo numbers -- most stretching past the five-minute ...
| | Dawn Robinson Dawn CD (2007) (Import) Import
Sweet Escape album
$17.09
| | Snowgoons The Trojan Horse CD (2009)
Sweet Escape CD music
$12.25
Audio Mixer: DJ Waxwork.
| | Haven Let Earth Receive Her King CD (2009)
Sweet Escape music CDs
$11.39
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