Which one is your favorite? - XXV -

I guess songs from the 80s bring back good memories since I was a teenager in that era. This one is coming from 1982 from a British new wave band. It reached Number 1 in UK lists and Number 2 in USA.  At first, the band leader didn't want this released as a single because it was such a personal song for him (he later admitted that he wrote the lyrics about his relationship with their drummer Jon Moss).

Here is the song for this week;

"Do You Really Want To Hurt Me"

Culture Club wrote this song for their first album "Kissing To Be Clever". The song rose rapidly in the UK charts after the group's first appearance on Top of the Pops, which resulted in George's androgynous style of dress and sexual ambiguity making newspaper headlines. The group were only asked to appear on Top of the Pops the night before the show, after Shakin' Stevens pulled out.

The band came up with the soft reggae beat and put the song together when they found they had some spare studio time during a recording session for the Peter Powell show on BBC Radio One. Their bass player Mikey Craig brought a Caribbean influence to the band's sound.

The concept of the video was Boy George as an outsider, getting kicked out of different places in various historical settings. It was directed by Julien Temple, who came up with the idea of jurors dressed in blackface. This was a shocking image for American audiences, who long associated blackface with racism, but in England it was far more accepted as part of their music hall tradition.

Here are the versions I picked for you;

• Rita Coolidge - "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me"

• Violent Femmes - "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me"

• Akira Mitake - "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - LXV -

On one side, saddened by the death of David Roback, co-founder of Mazzy Star. On the other side, news about coronavirus spreading all over the world...Today isn't the day to feel great but let's try to feel a bit better with the healing power of music.

As Robert Fripp once said;

"Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence."

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Mazzy Star - "Look On Down From The Bridge"

• The Wailing Souls - "Jah Jah Give Us Life To Live"

• Gene Ammons - "Don't Go To Strangers"

• Calexico - "The Ballad of Cable Hogue"

• Morrissey - "Bobby, Don't You Think They Know?"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Which one is your favorite? - XXIV -

This week our song is coming from the 60s. It is a song that was written by English composers Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd. It was first performed on stage in 1964 by Cy Grant on the UK tour and by Gilbert Price in 1965 with the original Broadway cast. However, the song became a trademark for Nina Simone and she was the first to sing it off stage, that is why I did not include her version among the choices below...

Here is the song for this week;

"Feelin' Good"

Nina Simone's version, arranged and produced by Hal Mooney, was recorded in New York in January 1965 and appeared on her album I Put a Spell on You. It was not released as a single at the time. In 1994, Simone's recording was used in a British TV commercial for Volkswagen, and became popular. Released as a single, it reached no. 40 on the UK Singles Chart in July 1994. Five years later it was used in an advert for Comfort Silk fabric conditioner.

Simone's version was remixed by Joe Claussell in 2002 for the first volume of the Verve Remixed series.

Here are the four versions I picked for you;

• Muse - "Feelin' Good"

• Michael Bublé - "Feelin' Good"

• Randy Crawford & Joe Sample Trio - "Feelin' Good"

• George Michael - "Feeling Good"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - LXIV -

Good news coming in and immediately followed by bad news; strange times we are living in... Politics have really changed during the last 25 years or so and ramified so fastly that it is nearly impossible to follow or understand unless you are in it. I guess this is a way to depoliticize the people but in any case decency, honesty and freedom will prevail all over the world...

As the great Frank Zappa once said;

"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."

And here is this week's list;

• The Housemartins - "Happy Hour"

• Zita Swoon - "L'Opaque Paradis"

• Monaco - "What Do You Want From Me?"

• PJ Harvey feat. Thom Yorke - "This Mess We're In"

• Ambrose Akinmusire - "A Blooming Bloodfruit In A Hoodie"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

RIP: Jon Christensen

Norwegian drummer and one of the most popular members of the ECM sound has passed away yesterday.

In the late 1960s, Christensen played alongside Jan Garbarek on several recordings by the composer George Russell. He also was a central participant in the Jazz band, Masqualero, with Arild Andersen, and they reappeared in 2003 for his 60th anniversary. He appears on many recordings on the ECM label with such artists as Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Bobo Stenson, Eberhard Weber, Ralph Towner, Barre Phillips, Arild Andersen, Enrico Rava, John Abercrombie, Michael Mantler, Miroslav Vitous, Rainer Brüninghaus, Charles Lloyd, Dino Saluzzi and Tomasz Stanko. He, along with Jan Garbarek and Palle Danielsson, was a member of the legendary Keith Jarrett "European Quartet" of the 1970s which produced five excellent jazz recordings on ECM Records.

His drumming style was rather interesting as he liked to describe his rhythm concept not in linear terms but rather as a wave — with the implication that it could accommodate all manner of ebb and flow.

Here is a beautiful recording of him with the "European Quartet" I mentioned above...

RIP Jon Christensen, thank you for the music...

Which one is your favorite? - XXIII -

Normally I am not a big fan of country music but there are certain songs I love from the genre, and this one is definitely one of them.
This is a song written and performed by American country music artist Dolly Parton. It was released on October 15, 1973 as the first single and title track from her album of the same name, produced by Bob Ferguson.


Here is the song for this week;

"Jolene"

The song was ranked No. 217 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004. 

The title was inspired by an encounter with a 10-year-old fan. "She had this beautiful red hair, this beautiful skin, these beautiful green eyes, and she was looking up at me, holding out for an autograph," Parton recalled to NPR in 2008. "I said, 'Well, you're the prettiest little thing I ever saw. So what is your name?' And she said, 'Jolene.' And I said, 'Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. That is pretty. That sounds like a song. I'm going to write a song about that.'"

There is another version of the story of the song which is also told by Dolly Parton and that is the song tells of Parton confronting Jolene (a bank teller), a stunningly beautiful woman, who she worries will steal away her lover/husband.

Here are the versions of the song;

• Miley Cyrus - "Jolene"

• The White Stripes - "Jolene"

• Sara Gazarek - "Jolene"

• Sophie Ellis-Bextor - "Jolene"

And here is a funny version of Jolene by Theresa May, obviously out of the competition.

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - LXIII -

Valentine's Day is coming this Friday so I would like to dedicate this week's songs to my dear wife.  Why don't you all do a list for this special day for your beloved ones?

As Jean Paul Richter once said;

"Music is the poetry of the air."

And here is this week's list (with some bonus songs on top of the usual five);

• Jeff Buckley - "Hallelujah"

• Leonard Cohen - "Dance Me to the End of Love"

• Brad Mehldau - "And I Love Her"

• Chet Baker - "Let's Get Lost"

• Billie Holiday - "What's New?"

• Peter Gabriel - "In Your Eyes"

• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "Into My Arms"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Which one is your favorite? - XXII -

The song of this week comes from my beloved cousin who lives in Amsterdam.
You can also follow her on this website, www.ceydaartist.wixsite.com/ceyda.
I thank her for the tip.

This is a song recorded by the British group Hot Chocolate. It was written by Hot Chocolate's lead singer Errol Brown, and produced by Mickie Most. The song was released in October 1975 and reached number two on the UK Singles Chart in 1975, as well as number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 a year later. Billboard ranked it the number-twenty-two song for 1976. It went on to gain notability by being featured in films, such as The Full Monty (1997).

Without further ado, here is the song for this week;

"You Sexy Thing"

The song was originally a 1975 B-side. Not yet convinced that the song could be a hit, producer Most put it on the flip-side of the Hot Chocolate single "Blue Night". The song was later remixed by Most, who re-released it as an A-side some months later on his RAK label. The song was a hit and ultimately became the group's best-known song. In the UK the song was poised for the number-one spot, but was beaten to it by "Bohemian Rhapsody", when on November 29, 1975 the Queen single leaped above it from number nine.

The original "You Sexy Thing" has a simple structure, with most of the song alternating between two major chords (F and Bb). It has a chorus-verse form. One of the song's most memorable aspects is its distinctive six note riff which is repeated intermittently throughout, played on a mildly overdriven electric guitar on a high treble setting and with noticeable vibrato.

And here are the 3 versions I (one coming from my cousin, I won't tell you which...) chose for you;

• Stereophonics - "You Sexy Thing"

• Zella Day - "You Sexy Thing"

• Tom Tom Club - "You Sexy Thing"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - LXII -

Here we are again approaching the weekend. The weather report says that it is going to be a snowy weekend here so if you are around the below songs might make your weekend a bit warmer. Thanks for listening and keep on filling your life with music...

As Robert Browning once said;

"Who hears music feels his solitude peopled at once."

And here's this week's list;

• Lana Del Rey - "Shades Of Cool"

• James Basdanis - "Chechen Girl"

• Isaac Gracie - "Reverie"

• Ultimate Spinach - Jazz Thing

• The Standells - "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Electronic Maloya from La Reunion

In this post, I would like to briefly mention some really special music coming from La Reunion, a small island off the coast of Madagascar. It is called "Electronic Maloya from La Reunion since 1980". I would like to thank @outromusic for letting me discover this album in vinyl.

Digital Kabar is a compilation of electronic music endemic to the Reunion Island, at the crossroads of cultures and porous to all sound experiences. The musicians of the island that have been cross-fertilized by many musical genres, their way of life and their diversity have enabled them to come up to the music scene with such an amazing album.

One can tell that a tradition of music was all around the island, Maloya (the major music genre of Réunion, usually sung in Réunion Creole, and traditionally accompanied by percussion and a musical bow) was the dominating cultural factor for the islanders. And this beautiful music was totally banned by the French Republic almost through all the 20th century. The ban was quite aggressive between the early 60s and early 80s. Maloya has been built up over centuries in the sugar plantations of the island, agglomerating popular sounds brought along by slaves from Madagascar, India, and Mozambique. It was the music of the poor, especially black people, infused with mystical beliefs.  It can be considered as trance music with dark elements.

Patrick Manent - "Kabaré Ater"

Obviously, the ban by the French governments did not stop the music develop in time. Maybe that's how it did not stay frozen in time nor became the music of the older generations. It blended with rap, chanson, reggae and ultimately electronic music, and this album is a fine example of the latter.

Kwalud - "Angel Choirs"

The album is also available on Spotify in digital streaming format. Give it a listen, I am sure you'll love it...