Taylor Swift plays Rosemary who is only in the movie for like 300 seconds tops so who cares, though she has brunette hair and really, I saw Taylor on the increasingly dreary “The Tonight Show” the other day and will somebody please feed the damn girl. Cmon, Taylor, you are too cool to worry about how much you weigh.
Off the newly extended That’s The Way It Is, this rehearsal take is a masterful form of verbal gymnastics which Presley did, and this is why his outtakes are so awesome, he is relaxed and flexible and his phrasing is the stuff of gods… during a rehearsal 40 odd years ago – A
Rock is about an unleashing of the Id not a wallowing in the superego. In “Special View” Peter does the impossible, he writes a song from the Superego. And what we gain from this is the most important thing we can, we realize we are not alone.
Does FKAT sound like Sade or what? Maybe sounds is too strong a word, have a similar minimalist vibe. I wrote Tricky but it is more like Sade fronting Massive Attack, which might explain why she can be so out there and yet sound so pop.
The setlist is huge but it isn’t really, the Young Money owner and the Young Money principle star will rap just their verse on many a song. And while the battle of the rap stars concept (yes, they’ve got an app for that) may be a little on the lame side, I am hardly the target audience by any stretch of the imagination.
This was a specifically excellent week of music with one of the best albums of the year released FKA twigs, and a number of close runners up including Sinean, Escott and Dilated Peoples. And Twista, who isn’t included here but could be and Soca King Bunji Garlin
The Way I Am – Ingrid Michaelson – I’m not a big fan but Taylor swift is (she was seen dancing in the wings of Ingrid’s Summerstage gig earlier this year and so did Caroline Kole who covered this 2007 hit to great effect at the Bitter End. It is a very sweet, very catchy track – B+
On “Mama’s Broken Heart” she attacks the hootenanny of a song with gusto and joy and on the very next song “Money To Me” she rocks the chorus with conviction. She can sing speak, she can shout, she can whisper, she can suggest intimacy with a guy and go down low and when she needs to she can belt it out.
If you’ve never seen Iggy this isn’t a bad place to start. I saw fun. at T5 a couple of years ago as they just broke pop and man was the buzz around the show intoxicating. After awhile, a band gets used to the big bang of people knowing all the words to all your songs and ceases to be this amazing moment in time
“Diana is too smart to ever oversing so I guess if your idea of fun is the jazz singer gliding though heavy emotional outbursts like “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” be my guest. But as to why a woman who sing Gershwin should want to sing Finn I had no idea. I just wish she wouldn’t – Grade: C
I’ve been kinda impressed by the Top Ten Singles in the US, nothing here is an insult to my ears, and significantly,most of it is top drawed modern pop music; there is so much to admire here. Plus, Ariana, Charli XCX and Iggy all are stars shining bright right now, and they all have hits and they all overlap!
what the hell are the Vamps doing here? Did I miss that meeting? I am telling you, it is a golden age for Boy Bands. The lead song on the EP, with Demi Lovato, is a real winner. The Vamps are to the Wanted what 5SOS is to 1D only they are a little better than the Wanted, and 5sos are not as good as 1D. So who will be th last band standing???
The odd thing about rap is that if you strip it down to just the vocals, the skills are consistence right across from Iggy Azealea to Wu tang to these guys who add echo and have heavy effects laden tracks but whose rapping carries em to the finish line – B+
“Sam is our top choice. He has the profile, cool image and astonishing voice to record a Bond theme. And there is only so long we can hold out for Adele. Daniel Craig was pushing for her because she did such a great job last time around.”
“40 is a gorgeous age for a woman. I make it a point to mention my age in interviews for that reason. If I had a nickel for every time someone told me that my ‘window is closing,’ I would be richer then Michael Bloomberg. I started hearing that when I turned 27. Guess what! I’m gigging still!”
If Jackson was indeed a child molester these stories need to be told if only to change the vision of what a child molester really is, but do we need this nonsense from his maids? he had three children, he wasn’t living in squalor and he had a battery of maids to clean it up if he was.
1. I Am Such A Mobsta – Twista – Mobsta, indeed, but Twista isn’t the first rapper to use gun shots to manage the beats, and he is not the
Ten songs of modern ascending trip hop which sounds like Tricky only a different Tricky, a different voice and temperament, or maybe Portishead, FKA Twig lives up to the hype and beyond. In many ways a typical first album, it sounds like a warehouse of great songs she has built up over years, it isn’t weighed down by a single bad move. “Lights Out” is terrific – ALBUM OF THE WEEK- A
As the last couple of weeks have proven, there is an epidemic of bad manners at rock concerts that needs to be addressed. People have forgotten how to act in public and the result is a steadily degraded concert going experience. I’ve been blaming the IPhone
Anyway, I asked my friend freelance writer Rob o”Connor to get in touch and ask Dave -who is now the head of Yahoo Music (nice work, etc.) to see if he could press list me for the Taylor Swift Live, from New York Streaming Worldcast show.
if he had said “I was very very sick and I know I’ve cancelled three times in Atlanta now, and I know I’ve let down my fans and my record company and I am very very sorry. Please forgive me.” I would’ve forgiven. There are other people at the end of those tickets you know, who pay handling fees whether or not “No Show” Moz makes it.
Slap And Tickle – Squeeze – Classic story song as a young couple fail to connect in the verses and in the chorus Difford offers up a Tilbrook aphorism: “never chew a pickle with a little slap and tickle, you have to throw a stone to get the pool to ripple”. Amen – A+
Both of these bands reached their height in the 00s, both are quite good, both sets were more than fine. And both are not near the true nostalgia circuit. There is still life in the 20 somethings as they flip to their thirties and now it is time for new material.
Consensus opinion is Spoon delivered the goods and for sure this is their best song to date, so good their Summerstage gig on September 10th is looking better and better except, given the type of venue and the type of band, I am not sure I can take the audience again. The new Al Jarreau is terrific.
Charlie Simpson used to be lead singer with UK Pop-punk band Busted, but now he is all grown up and sounds like Mumford and Son produced by Ryan Tedder. The album has has been out a coupla weeks now and nothing happening Stateside..
A little on the bland side, right? Nothing sticks out and what does is Cheryl Cole and Tine Tempah. Tempah is one of those UK rappers that you expect to crossover, that you expect to be bigger but in the end the only UK guys crossing over hip hop are good looking soul cats.
Right As Rain – Adele – Who was it who called Adelle a psychotic moldy old cow? well, yes, I admit it but I was discussing 21 not 19, and I even liked “Someone Like You” and I really love this gorgeously sung MOR soul song, from 19, which I didn’t hate – A
Betts was a concentrated powerhouse on his Gibson, using the entire body of the guitar but at his best at the neck, it was the supple sound we’ve come to admire so much. Always, even when the rest of the band are going elsewhere, he sounds more country than blues
we already almost nearing the end of NEXT SUMMER… well, I guess you’d consider that smart planning ahead of nothing else. The band and management gains interest on the money for 13 months and the fickle tweens who might easily loose interest in the band have a vested interest in still following them. Sounds like an awful awful good idea to me
A toss up between FKA Twigs and Sinead O’Conor and I am gonna go with FKA Twigs because my gut is by the time I get round to reviewing them, Sinead is gonna win. Having said that, the more I listen to FKAT the more mesmerized I am… Steve Aoki? Could be good.. The Gaslight Anthem? Not a chance in hell.
I keep on looking at the date, August 16th, and the time, 7pm, and hoping there is some mistake somewhere because one of the most eagerly anticipated concerts of they year, the 15th anniversary of Okayplayer (you know, Guestloves music website thingy) at Summerstage, is happening at the same time as Eminem and Rihanna at Metlife. So I will be going to Em but my heart will be with Dev Hynes
. Take Me To Church – Sinead O’Connor – Another in a long line of pretty good Sinead tracks, though the lyric is a little bit, Church rhymes with hurt (I know but I didn’t write it) which isn’t good at all apparently. I’ll give her this: her voice is in prettty good nick – B
The problem with modern Gospel is not the singers but the songs, the voices are these beautiful instruments raised in worship but the songs let them down over and over again. Well, this should helo to change that and then some. Great modern Gospel singers singing great Motown songs!!!
There are other differences, though the sheer weight of hits isn’t one, there aren’t as many for Ree and Em to collaborate on and that is clear by the plethora of Rihanna tracks followed by Eminem tracks: it is clear this is two separate sets which segue at the start and end.
“The Way You Do The Things You Do” was the Temptations first hit and you can hear why: this is the immaculate Motown house band and a great singer and harmonies just at the exact moment they became great. How could this version be anything at all? It isn’t anything at all. It has no choice but to be product.
Slade were like the working class manifestation of all those 70s glam bands, T Rex, Suzi Quattro, Gary Glitter: they would evolve sideays into the New Romantics, straight ahead into post punk and 90s rock and roll UK style and to this day in their native land remain completely beloved. Beloved by me as well
S she is really all over the eleven song album she is mostly singing back up and only gets Lorde-y on “Piece Of Mind” which, considering she didn’t wrote it, has the sort of shaking bigness we associate with her nowawdays
Six Degrees – Ghostface Killah And badbadnotgood – Featuring a verse by one Danny Brown whose voice flows well within a Ghostface track, better than you’d thing, and the Canadian jazz outfit have a clicky Oriental beat which works like magic on this terrific track – A
Based on the simplest of romantic declarations, him to her about her, “Never change”, him to her about him, “I can change” and a falsetto which caresses the music just out of reach, the song has a simple romatic yearn and a deep seated loss.it is like James is stretching his hand to her, and also, like it is too late. The longing can’t save it, the pleas feel as though they are falling on deaf ears.
I have no particular kick one one or the other? Stupid? Absolutely bit hardly my problem. Though it is worth mentioning that the duo Dalia Shusterman and Perl Wolfe are pretty good if their 2012 EP Down To The Top is anything to go by. I’d give em the first two songs but the other two kinda suck. “Frigid City” is country indie rock and “Easy Pray” is the equivalent of Jewish Gospel.
This is Marvel but it is more like Marvel when Spidey used to be a bemused, amused superhero, and the heavy weight Thor and Iron Man of latter years. And it is alright, though it isn’t anything compared to Star wars -not even the bad Star wars. Star wars had a Joseph Campbell type proto-myth stuff going on, there is nothing much underneath this story.
I know, I know, I’m late to Hurray For The Riff Raff but I am making up ground! Superb at Summerstage on Sunday, I went back to the album Small Town Heroes and I could actually hear it! Otherwise, note the two mainstream pop songs in the middle there. Yeah, I know, I know but “Bang Bang” caught my ear.
Invitation to The Blues – Emmylou Harris And Rodney Crowell – It is hard to go wrong with this Roger Miller song, it is part of the pantheon and every one from Ray Price to Reba McIntyre have covered it, indeed this isn’t even Emmylou’s first trip to the rodeo. S stellar band really sells it – B+
Crowell’s lead on Roger Miller’s “Invitation To The Blues” is heartbreaking and swinging, any night you get to hear Emmylou singing “Red Dirt Girl” is going to be one of the best nights of the year by definition.
OK, it is all true. I am being heartlessly manipulated by the powers that be into embracing something as pure product as the Jessie J’s All Stars but the reason for something like this is simple enough: to sell, and if it does sell, it is a successful product and while I didn’t much care for “Bang Bang” I love it now it is a hit.
The problem with this iteration of Kidz Bop Kids is the covers are a little more muddled than usual, both “Happy” and “Dark Horse” should have had the arrangements much cleaner, smaller if you will. Surely Kidz Bop isn’t just about taking out the dirty words? Tom Petty? 133K units sold, Clapton? 65K.
Music, Music, Music – Theresa Brewer – The prolific 1950s pop star will always be remembered from this 1949 “B” side which caught on big time, a true anthem for just about everybody, it focuses life on just two things: love and music. who can deny it? – A+
As Nancy crawls on all fours towards George’s guitar (Later, you would hear him say: “Hey why is it sticky?”, she oozes carnal desire, you kisses he neck of the guitar, caresses it, she will take a sip from one of their tea (hope it isn’t Brian), and she is in such a state of lust, she seems to be orgiastic, a sort of internal five way.
My friend Ken Shane is a writer for Popdose and interviewed the Four Seasons songwriter Bob Gaudio. Gaudio is one of the all time greats, his songs include “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,’ “Rag Doll,” “Big Man in Town,” “Bye Bye Baby” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” so, yeah, we pop guys are very very impressed
It is really simple: EDM functions better on drugs. Sad? Perhaps. But it is not alone, psychedelia functioned better on psychedelics, punk was better with speed, jam bands with weed, disco with coke. And there will always be people who die, that’s just the way it goes
