The top three (and # 11 -“Smeels Like Teen Spirit”) were the battle for # 1, with #1 trouncing all comers by a margin of :1. It is the sort of fun thing you can’t, or at least couldn’t, you probably good today, do in the US. It is fun with the charts you can only pull off in a small country
How can a man sound so true so many years later? This tale of a small town boy knocked on his ass by the big city is an echoing cathedral of sound. It sounded so wrong for the songs aspirations back in the day, but now its charm lies as much in its inconguity as anything else.
Darlene Love – The first and still the one to beat because of Darlene’s deranged, out of control, ending. There is something very moving about adding heartbreak to holiday and Darlene gets it all.
Acoustic guitar, handclaps, blues singalong, one take on a bus in Minnesota, what’s not like about “Stuck On Fuckin’ You”, Lady Gaga’s Christmas release released gift to her little Monsters.
Since the success lies in the medium, even live action animation isn’t gonna solve the problem.That doesn’t mean Spielberg’s action adventure isn’t a doozy. Watched in IMAX 3D it is a thrill ride oand a half. But it doesn’t have the Herge magic
The Head And The Heart – Generic indie folk outta Seattle. But generic are just as good as the original only earier t get. A consistently pleasurable kichen sink of folk sound. Especially the haunting “Down In The Valley”. Grade: B
Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me – Elvis Presley – Remember, you can’t spell elves without Elves. The best part? That ineleuctable bridge where the Jordanaires join him.
It is actually pretty amazing: it begs the question, why has no one ever thought of adding Emerson, Lake And Palmer to Queen and Charles Dickens, taking Broadway type staging, spending that much money, and puting it on the road.
Rigby is a pleasant singer and ridiculously athletic for any age, the children in the audience adored it, and it kept their attention, including Juliet, who sat next to me, eating popcorn and watching the action intently.
“Rhinestone Cowboy”, “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and “Dreams Of the Everyday Housewife” to name just the first three songs on his “In Concert” album. Not to mention new material from his latest release, Ghost On The Canvas, which made my best of 2011 list
The most underrated album of the year was this bands Portamento -it made my top ten of 2011. But, shockingly enough, I didn’t get them at first. It took a live concert, Halloween 2010, and this song (I originally heard it on their Daytrotter session) changed my mind. Just about perfect surf rock as played the Smiths.
I am not sure why Game gets no love, maybe because he is an arrogant prick except… well, doesn’t that come with the job description. As for, TLC: he is way on top of his own game here.
Also to be honored will be Diana Ross, Gil Scott-Heron, The Allman Brothers Band, Glen Campbell, Antonio Carlos Jobim and the Memphis Horns and who can deny any single name on that list?
They took the words from letters written by wives of military personnel and added music tby the dreadful Royal Wedding composer Paul Mealor. It is worse than it sounds.
I just don’t know if I can handle it. Vince did say “not definite” so I am holding on to that hope, I am grasping it, and not letting it go,. Maybe, just maybe, wiser minds, will prevail. Maybe this madness will come to an end.
This hasn’t moved much in ages. All winter long: Rohanna, LMFAO, Adele, Maroon 5. The only adds have been T-Pain and the Throne. It is the opposite of the album charts this year, where there is almost constant movement at the top
Christmas means giving in country land and that’s why Lady Antebellum and the American Idol kid are back up there. Two of the top three will be gone soon. And congrats to Black Keys, who aare now a legitimate big time rock band.
I can hardly bare the sight of lipstick, On the cigarettes there in the ashtray Lyin’ cold the way you left them. At least your lips caressed them while you packed.”
if Common is not bragging, he is plying Gangsta, loverboy or holding hands over black excellence. There is something so horrible, so undignified, about this calling up the centuries dead ghosts of black slaves to point at how great you are.
Fantastic news, Daniel is out of Itu (intensive therapy unit) and making great progress. Daniel has a way to go yet but at the moment all is going in the right direction..
early Beatles , when they left the path of early rock and roll, seemed more likely to sing showtunes like “Till There was You” or novelty hits like “Besame Mucho”.
Catch L.A.’s finest at a small club in the West Village for ten bucks. What’s not to like?
But she pulled it through in the end, just through her relentless singlemindedness. Any sort of self-revelation aka “Piece Of Me” was over and done with, what Spears was offerring was a pure pop product
this was not the year of musical innovation it was a holding pattern: from indie to pop, from rock to dance, it was more of the same but without the thrill of the new.
An 8 minute epic of identity, reunion and time as an identity, revolving around a question: “Can’t you see that should’ve been me…” John explains, and the two lovers are dazzled through time, getting nowhere.
“Those old songs are my lexicon and prayer book. All my beliefs come out of those old songs, literally, anything from `Let Me Rest on that Peaceful Mountain’ to `Keep on the Sunny Side.’ You can find all my philosophy in those old songs”
“I find, if it’s not the world it’s the people, and if it’s not the people than maybe it’s you, if it’s not you than maybe it’s me, but if it’s not me than it’s the music”
6 out of 10 top slots being women is impressive, 4 out of 5 top slops being women is amazing. But it is really just a continuation of 2010. So how about this: 2 hip hop stars and 7 dance pop stars, now that is telling you something. How many country stars? Taylor, yeah, but not really, Adele? A freak occurrence. And rock stars? Coldplay?? Anybody? nope, nobody.
It is a lot more exciting than Michael Buble. If SNL actually manage to up their writing skils to the level of the Fallon/Sanberg mirror sketch, Radcliffe has proven himself capable of handling the musical comedy portion of it.
It actually drags a little in the beginning and the ending is so cutesy you wanna punch Cruise, but otherwise it is a cool way to kill a couple of hours. If it had a thought in its pretty little head, it might be dangerous
And somewhere between all that strangeness, this time around she seems steadier, a little less successful, a little more manufactured, a little better off. And finally off the radar and out of the Lohan league of national disaster.
Hurt – Leona Lewis – The X Factor Limey is such a big star, her lack of chart presence feels much like choice. Her new single is mood music, a gorgeous downer of whispering intensity and a signpost for how Lewis wants to maneuver from her late 20s to her early 30s.
here at rock nyc Havel will be remembered more as a rock and roll fan, the governing intelligence behind the Plastic People of the Universe and took Velvet Undergrounds disillusionment and ran to places we can’t imagine
So that makes 100 and we are not done yet and I am sure I am missing many. And still 2011 isn’t the year 2010 was. There is no Titus or Kanye knock out punch and so much of it is only OK.
I’ve seen McCartney on stage at every opportunity since the 1980s and I have never seen him better. Sporting a back catalog without peer in the history of pop, he played a long, thrilling , career ranging set of just about perfection.
Common is the absolute pits, how can somebody be a bore, a braggart, a muewling black pride jackass and a crappy songwriter all at the same time. Of Monsters
One – Bee Gees – One last time, in 1989, the Bee Gees did it for old times sake, a song as great as anything they had written in 1979. The production by the way is more 21st century.
1. Goblin – Tyler The Creator 2. 4 – Beyonce 3. Better Day – Dolly Parton 4. Cynics Need Love Too – Wesley Wolfe 5. Red Nation – Game 6. Another World – Fall On Your Swords 7.Portamento – The Drums
Of course, he was singing the line of least resistance and Angelou hadn’t done her homework. Given the circumstance, she can blame herself if she finds it offensice. As for Commin, what a plank. He should have know better, it is as simple as that.
The surprise of the year has been Eric Contractor, whose debut album Night Escape, a baroque pop of immense power and beauty. Now we get to see him live on Wednesday at Sidewalk Cafe -a 7pm set.
Yup, still Christmas for Buble, but the surprise is Coldplay, riding hit single “Paradise” for an increase of, dig it, 113% in sales. Otherwise, the usual UK mish mash of local greatest hits and Yanke pop plus Ed Sheeran of course.
Comment: Another big hit by another X-Factor winner very doubtful to be matched Stateside at next week’s conclusion. It is really amazing how X-Factor has taken over the UK’s important Christmas # 1 slot. It’s depressing.
Please Mr. Post Man – The Beatles – Covering Tamla Motown is always a dodgy business, improving upon the original almost impossible. Here is the rarest of songs, it is more exciting than the Marvelettes original, mostly due to Lennon’s tour de force lead vocal.
They sold out MSG in ten minutes of presale. And the audience were berserk, a truly fun buncha kids, who were like dayglo hippies on ecstacy instead of weed, and dancing up a storm. I, myself, who only white man dances, felt moved to shake it. But it wasn’t a “concert”. It was a DJ set.
One scene occurs during a production of Mozart’s Don Giovann -begging an answer to the question, why do supervillains love opera? iHere and there the score gets topical, an occasional waltz.
Mac And Devin Go To High School – Snoop Dogg And Wiz Khalifa – It is what it says it is, one guy who should know about, another who shouldn’t, go back to High School and remain “Young And Wild And Free”. What a strange idea. Grade: B
You’re Mine – Jeremih – The finest new Christmas song this season is this Chicago soul guys old time doo wop cmon There is an easy going chard to his come on and male and female choirs right beneath him, carrying the song along.
On song after song, crisp smart production by the likes of Dr. Dre and Babyface, assure they aren’t claustrophobic, and while the lyrics are asinine by definition, the songs, which Hamilton co-wrote, never devolve into love jams.
From Avenged 7Fold to Tony Bennet, these acts were the top of the Billboard 200. How did that happen. Easy. People stopped buying albums so established acts with a fanbase only needed their fanbase to buy the album to have a “hit”.
What are they going to do? Put him mid stage behind an unplug keyboards while Mike Love runs around like a octogerian teenager singing “Be True To Your School”? I’m squirming at the though.
