Album Notes

Russ would love you to join him as friends via his MYSPACE link under the 'LINKS' heading in the left hand column. ~ *What's NEW in 2009* Visit Russ's website with new blue background www.russaimz.com (copy n paste in browser)or scroll down and click his link in the left hand column. There you can listen to full songs to every single track off 'Cruze' plus there are more new tracks and earlier non album songs as well. ~ Aussie singer/songwriter Russ Aimz slyly mixes the styles of early American and Brit folk singers with both edgy and pop modern styles. Balladic songs Melt and The Grampians Song have these dramatic harmonies with this undeniable backdrop you can't help but latch on to. Idols and Heroes has a sort of retro folk quality while still maintaining a more current edge. Russ has that certain something you can't quit place, but it works. Reviewer - Music Morsels, Serge Entertainment Group (USA) http://www.serge.org/0406albumcapsules.html The passionate strains of "The Grampians Song" opens Russ Aimz' debut confidently. His earthy voice and the soaring strings work well together. Aimz, an Australian singer makes music that has me thinking of other bands from that country. I'm hoping it's not all prejudice on my part. "Melt" recalls the Go-Betweens literate jangle, and its exuberance is all its own. Aimz is clearly capable of making hopeful songs without being too sentimental. "Victoria" is gorgeous and epic and rhymes the title with 'euphoria' just because it can. "If I Give" has a message but exhibits enough self-doubt too not become too preachy. "If I give to others will there be anything left for me" ponders the narrator. The anthemic chorus and the use of strings work well here. A version of Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy" closes the record nicely. This is a very nice debut. Copyright © 2006 Anna Maria Stjärnell (Sweden) Reviewer from Luna Kaf'e (Norway) Melbourne based singer/songwriter/guitarist Russ Aimz has finally dropped his much awaited debut album. Beautifully presented with original artwork, pics etc, ‘Cruze’ is the kind of album perfect for those long country drives, capturing the very essence of the places Russ writes and sings about. Able to hold a note well and with some truly inspirational sounds, Aimz leaves his mark. Adding his own version of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Gypsy’ shows Russ likes to challenge himself while also demonstrating his range and diversity. Best songs range from the slow moving ‘Here We Are’ through the upbeat, earthy folk feel of ‘Postcard’ to the haunting ‘Mathew’. With numerous awards behind him, Russ is well on the way to following his idols success… we wish him well. Reviewer [Mark Rasmussen ~ The Buzz Magazine] (Aus) earBuzz Review: Australian singer/songwriter, Russ Aimz, has admittedly been influenced from Neil Diamond to Meatloaf. His vocal style quivers with emotion and unconventional vibrato that is as endearing as it is individual. His 12 tune collection on CD, "Cruze", is a combination of so many influences, blended together so intensely that the output becomes a frappe of its own. The long mp3 here, "Laura", is kind of an XTC meets John Denver meets Foo Fighters meets Al Stewart. His lyrical storytelling is that of poetry - his subtle and sincere vocal performances are befriending. And his Laura is a lucky target of a song that pleads, "Laura, follow your plans, Laura, it's so in your heart". The record opens up with "The Grampians Song", an enlightening and glorious tune about a tremendously blessed day, 'a little bit of sunshine has come my will i let it stay, i drive forever i don't mind, where the road winds cause it's a glorious day'. Track 5, "Victoria", is a dedication to a geographic blessing for Aimz. The tune is a strum along acoustic guitar number, backed by strings that weave through various chordal inversions to give a perpetual feel to the movement under Aimz purposeful voice. "Postcard" we love. The easy tune has a Neil Young feel - which should be understood to be true art without pretense. The song is a smooth slow acoustic groove. The CD ends with a cover version of Stevie Nicks, "Gypsy", done with Aimz's signature wonderfully. Overall the record is a gem - a real artistic effort from a talented singer/songwriter who is carving his own voice. Reviewer Don Kimenker (USA) Smother.net review: Melbourne, Australia is the home to Russ Aimz. An independent singer/songwriter with a nifty knack for song creation, Russ was inspired as a young child by Meatloaf. "Cruze" is an album that explores gracious amounts of melody and does so without leaving behind any catchy hook or thoughtful bridge. Armed with powerful ballads, Aimz covers Fleetwood Mac’s smash hit "Gypsy" to close the album. Intended to be an album to listen to while cruising in your car, it drifts slowly from song to song with beckoning cleverness. Reviewer [- J-Sin] (USA) Well paced contemporary folky pop rock. Good vibe all 'round with unique vox that tie the CD together nicely! Reviewer [Cumbersome Records] (Aus) ***** ****** Living in Melbourne, Australia, Russ Aimz is finding more than enough inspiration to stoke his songwriting fires. Russ has a style of original cruisey rock/folk/pop earthy ballads and uptempo goodtime rock songs that will inspire you. Now take the above mentioned cruisey tracks. Then combine this with the last 3 songs on the album that dive without hesitation into a fun ˜head straight for the sky’ playful and upbeat good time vibe. Perfect timing to finish the album off on a bright note. You will experience relaxation, soothing, sadness through to colour, fun happiness and inspiration. These are all the emotions you will experience when you come for a "Cruze" with Russ Aimz. The first track ˜The Grampians Song’ is currently receiving local airplay and has now also been sent to almost 1,300 radio stations around the world. Also 'Here We Are' and 'Pound Bend'(a good time summer song)are now also getting airplay too. The album also includes a rock’n cover version of Fleetwood Mac’s 80’s hit ˜Gypsy’. Recently joining MYSPACE has seen Russ gain a lot of new fans, many of them leaving comment after comment about their love for Russ’s songs. Peter Gabriel and the legendary David Bowie are now fans too. (copy 'n' paste this myspace link into your browser) http://www.myspace.com/httpwwwmyspacecomrussaimz Since the beginning of the new millenium Russ has been sharing his songs with Melbourne and also West Australian audiences, methodically setting up and strengthening the foundations for a lengthy music career. Where was 'Cruze' recorded? 'CRUZE' was recorded in a professional studio called 'The Base Studios' in Melbourne, Australia in 2005. Excellent real life musicians we're brought together to record Russ's debut album. Where was 'Cruze' mastered? 'CRUZE' was mastered in a state of the art mastering suite inside the Metropolis building in Melbourne, Australia. World class performers such as The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Kylie, and a huge list more have been through those studios. Who produced this album? This album was co-produced with Danny Simcic and Russ Aimz. Danny used to be in one of the big Australian bands in the 80's called 'Real Life'. They had a huge hit around the world back in the day with 'Send me an angel'. Russ coincidently was a fan of theirs and bought a couple of their singles including 'Send me an angel' and 'Catch me i'm falling'. Who played on this album? "Now Introducing to you we have": (the crowd claps, cheers) Elyan Fernova-Drums: A world class drummer formerly from Italy. Passionate about lots of things like traditional Italian recipes, loves talking, loves to party hard! Sonny Ismail- Bass Guitar: A session player who has recorded on many albums over the years. Also loves Pizza Sarah Busuttil-Violin: A very young girl and a VCA trained violinist with a very beautiful feel and style for which Sarah continually recieves praise for. Cute personallity! Caz Gannel-Cello: Who is currently in a couple of promising and on the rise bands, who also has a very beautiful feel. Hard worker, also quite ambitious and last heard starting up her own podcasting show. Bob Kohler-Didjeridoo: Bob is a great real Aussie character, who brought some strength and depth to 'The Grampians Song' Nice touch! Ashley Mel'ki Shoup -Piano, classical guitar: Ash also from the VCA, provided some nice piano and some guitar. Ash loves to be in 30 million bands at once. Rolf Pop - Acoustic guitar lead fills and Mandolin: Rolf really added some colour and the cream on the top, a natural confident player with an early keith Richards (wild horses song) acoustic guitar type of feel. Lovely! Nice man. Backing Singers: Paula Jane Reid - Backing Vocals: Australian singing sensation Vanessa Amorossi had Paula Jane Reid in to sing backing on one of the tracks on her hit Millenium album 'The Power'. Paula has an amazing voice and can really belt it out if needed. Excellent pitch, harmonies with herself, Paula really sits comfortabley on this album. She brings so much fun to songs like 'Pound Bend' and 'Brand Nu Day'it makes you wanna play them over and over again at full volume to keep that exciting happy summer vibe going. Also giving emotional strength and size like a tidal wave to the anthemic enviromental song 'Melt' her voice really carry's you back to shore. Highly professional vocalist! Christine Kounnas - Backing Vocals: From the popular and highly successful Jaanz School of Singing is where Christine hails from. Many Australian acts to hit the big time came out of this school. Singers like Delta Goodrem, gabriella cilmi, Tania Docho (bachelor Girl), Peter Andre, Cheyne Coates (Madison Avenue), the school even gave a few pointers to Anastasia. Christine sings on the Cruze' album with very delicate tones and almost fragile like on the track 'Postcard' and perfectly suited to this song in particular too, again another nice touch! Russ Aimz - Vocals, Acoustic guitar, electric guitar lead fills, backing vocals: Russ is a self taught guitarist, came out of the Jaanz School of Singing, is a songwriter and loves pizza, peanut butter, colourful things, sexy things, women. Can be a social butterfly, otherwise off stage usually socially quiet. Achievements and awards have seen Russ receive a ˜certificate of merit’ in the 1999 A.S.A songwriting awards, for his song titled ˜VICTORIA’. Which has now been re-mixed and found its way onto his ˜Cruze’ debut album. Plus it was also included on the West Australian Nannup 2004 festival CD as well. In 2002, he also received an EXCELLENCE award in his advanced singing class from the Jaanz School of Singing. Continuing to develop his live performing skills and to create and perform new material along with the ongoing self-promotion of his album "CRUZE" is where Russ is today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Russ is either already on or will soon be on these sites listed below Russ Aimz on Apple iTunes USA Russ Aimz on iTunes-Europe Russ Aimz on Rhapsody Russ Aimz on iTunes-UK Russ Aimz on MusicNet Russ Aimz on MSN Music Russ Aimz on iTunes-Canada Russ Aimz on MusicMatch Russ Aimz on Napster Russ Aimz on iTunes-Japan Russ Aimz on Emusic Russ Aimz on Sony Connect Russ Aimz on MP3tunes Russ Aimz on AudioLunchbox Russ Aimz on iTunes-Australia Russ Aimz on BuyMusic Russ Aimz on Puretracks Russ Aimz on Napster-UK Russ Aimz on Audiolunchbox Subscription Russ Aimz on LoudEye Russ Aimz on MusicNow Russ Aimz on Napster-Canada Russ Aimz on Mperia Russ Aimz on NetMusic Russ Aimz on Interia Russ Aimz on Tradebit Russ Aimz on MusicNow Russ Aimz on MusicIsHere Russ Aimz on BuyMusic Russ Aimz on GroupieTunes Russ Aimz on Muze Russ Aimz on GreatIndieMusic Russ Aimz on Puretracks Russ Aimz on MP3-Extension Russ Aimz on Inprodicon Russ Aimz on PassAlong Russ Aimz on PayPlay Russ Aimz on Bitmunk Russ Aimz on Daiki Russ Aimz on RuleRadio Russ Aimz on USEN Russ Aimz on Destra Russ Aimz on PlayIndies Some more keyword examples of how you might find Russ via search engines. Cruze Russ Aimz digital Downloads available Gypsy by Fleetwood Mac cover song by Russ Aimz Itunes Fleetwood Mac Gypsy mp3 fleetwood mac mp3 Gypsy mp3 stevie nicks gypsy Stevie nicks gypsy mp3 stevie nicks music Stevie Nicks Picture you tube gypsy fleetwood Gypsy Mirage album dowloads Fleetwood-mac gypsy cover Russ Aimz cruze downloads Gypsy downloads Gypsy cover song Russ Aimz gypsy fleetwood mac sex Myspace free mp3 downloads Gypsy iTunes Music Downloads Free Music downloads Download Gypsy Gypsy cover song Fleetwood Mac covers Free mp3 cover of Fleetwood Mac download fleetwood mac mp3 Gypsy album version mp3 by Fleetwood Mac gipsy album download 'stevie nicks gypsy russ aimz itunes digital downloads' You Tube FLEETWOOD MAC GYPSY Stevie Nicks myspace Stevie Nicks You Tube Stevie Nicks Gypsy You Tube Nicks Fix The Nicks Fix Fleetwood Mac You Tube Fleetwood Macs Myspace Russ Aimz MYSPACE http://www.myspace.com/httpwwwmyspacecomrussaimz Cruze album russ aimz download on itunes Cruze russ aimz stevie nicks fleetwood mac gypsy cover version A brand new day Russ Aimz sings It's a brand nu day buy ring tones iTunes gypsy iTunes Stevie Nicks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PREVIOUS 'Single' One of Russ Aimz's previous songs is titled 'ALEXANDRITE'. Although Alexandrite is a 'one off' different style of song for Russ ie: done in a more older period style to suit the bushranging days of Australian folk lore. It is a much loved song by those who have heard and purchased it. Alexandrite is not on any Russ Aimz album, however it was listed on cd baby as a 'Single' and Unmastered. Yet this is not by any means an indicator of the usual style of Russ Aimz songs. For further info (as there is tons more): - Interview bookings, photos, CD signings and in-store appearances please contact Russ buckleyr@netspace.net.au ~ ~ 'Alexandrite' the single: ~ ~ “The story of this song really captured the truth about Ned Kelly and is one that will be enjoyed listening to over and over. A job well done” ...quote; Reviewer CD Baby, Frank Grech 'Thanks so much for sending in your tape, your song is wonderful' - Reply letter, Katherine Heads Of the Ned Kelly Movie (Our Sunshine Pty Ltd)