10 DAYS THAT UNEXPECTEDLY CHANGED AMERICA (The History Channel)
This three-disc set is something everyone should see. Ten hours of content sounds like a lot, but each one-hour piece goes by very quickly, making you want more. Every feature is helmed by a different director and covers one of these topics: \"Shays\' Rebellion: America\'s First Civil War\"; \"The Homestead Strike\"; \"Antietam\"; \"Einstein\'s Letter\"; \"The Gold Rush\"; \"Murder at the Fair\": \"The Assassination of President McKinley\"; \"Freedom Summer\"; \"Scopes: The Battle Over America\'s Soul\"; and \"When America Was Rocked\". My guess is you don\'t know anyone who could tell you more than ten sentences about these topics combined, so it wouldn\'t hurt to watch these with your friends.
BARRY MANILOW - EVEN NOW/TRYIN\' TO GET THE FEELING/BARRY MANILOW II (Arista Records)
MAN-I-LOW! I don\'t know what to say other than that! If you\'re a fan of the shaggy-haired legend, you\'ll love these three reissued CDs. They\'re remastered to perfection, and each disc contains two new bonus tracks. Time to make some hot cocoa and a bubble bath....
Antarctica is a cool idea for an album. The Never have created a disc to go along with a fully-illustrated storybook, inspired by old-school storybook records. The music itself keeps my attention, but the vocals fall flat for me. I\'m not a big fan of honey-smooth, high-pitched boy singing, so I have a hard time getting past that aspect of the album. It\'s interesting to listen to once, but I don\'t feel the need to listen to it again.
VARIOUS ARTISTS - PURE \'80s: #1s (UTV Records)
Oh yeah! The Eighties! All of the number one hits from that decade! Well... sort of. I’d say they included about four of them, so this isn’t exactly definitive of those years to me. Still, you take a little Christopher Cross, throw in some Hall & Oates and some Police, and you don’t need much else. Any other tracks on the disc are just gravy. I wouldn’t kick this CD out of bed.