Language of Life

How many jazz musicians can you invite to contribute to your pop album?

Everything But The Girl's "Language of Life" is one seminal album that will remain as one of my favorite of all times. It is an exquisitely crafted piece of art and performed with the accompaniment of more than 10 acclaimed jazz sessionists of that time (1990).

Here is a sample of who the sessionists were and they were a real "Who's Who List" of the 80's Jazz era:

• Omar Hakim - drums 
• John Patitucci - bass guitar 
• Larry Williams - synths 
• Joe Sample - piano 
• Russell Ferrante - piano 
• Lenny Castro - percussion 
• Stan Getz - tenor sax 
• Michael Brecker - tenor sax 
• Kirk Whalum - tenor sax 
• Jerry Hey - flugel 

Usually with such a cast one would worry that "too many cooks will spoil the soup" but in this album it was not the case at all and the talents of Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt were beautifully showcased as the music was fantastic!

This album really proves that you can have it all and still make it all sound great! I am sure many would envy them (and Tony Lipuma) for assembling such a cast of talents. This is "pop" at its best!

Here is another great song from EBTG:

Doobie Brothers vs ZZ Top

Its the final face-off between The Doobie Brothers and ZZ Top as they fight it out for The Ultimate Classic Rock Hall of Fame honours for 2013!



You can still vote to choose your favorite band before the close on Jan 5, 2014 here

As a tribute to The Doobie Brothers (which is my choice!) here is one of my favorite track from their album The Captain and Me (1973):




For collectors and fans check out the Original Album Series 5CD compilation box sets featuring their most memorable albums at a very nice price!

  

A Bitter Sweet Symphony

A great song from The Verve in 1997 which is still being played all over the world (except in Malaysia).


It is interesting to note that this song was mired in controversy due to "plagiarism" claims. Does it sound a bit like The Last Time by The Rolling Stones?

A Tribute to the late great George Duke

I have been following George Duke since I fell in love with the Brazilian Love Affair in 1979. He is one awesome musician and keyboardist and his love for jazz funk was what brought me into the genre in the 80s. There was his Clarke Duke Project (1981) which produced the hit "Sweet Baby", Dream On (1982) and Thief In The Night (1985). George was a very prolific musician and producer and soon I lost touch with his meanderings into more mainstream stuff.

George Duke passed away on August 5, 2013 but not without leaving us a huge legacy of his contributions for the past almost 50 years. Check out his well written history here and the many albums he has written and produced.



Enjoy this amazing track "So I'll Pretend" featuring his cousin Diane Reeves from the album Illusions produced in 1995.

Light Up The Night - The Brothers Johnson

You can never go wrong with this great R&B album produced by the great Quincy Jones in 1980 who later went on to produce for Michael Jackson's biggest albums. Michael even contributed his signature "woos" in one of the tracks in this one of the finest pre-MJ era funk album!

Light Up the Night

Lana Del Ray

The 25-year-old songstress became one of 2011's most seemingly organic upstarts. Following the release of her breakout single "Video Games" and its vintage-shaded video, apparently filmed and edited on her Macbook, the Lake Placid, N.Y., native racked upwards of 13 million YouTube views and has sold 20,000 copies of her double A-side "Video Games" single since its October 2011 release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It debuted and spent three weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart.

Rarely is a breaking artist as polarizing as Lana Del Rey and of course if you are in Malaysia, obviously no radio station here is aware of her near cult status as she is not given any airplay here.



Lana Del Ray's "Video Games"

Article from Billboard Magazine

Farewell my dear Donna Summer

Farewell Ms Summer & Thanks for a great 70's through to the 80's!

LA Times: The Sonic Seduction

Best Of Stevie Wonder

The missing song from his many Greatest Hits album. I wonder why none of his Greatest Hits album contain this  superb number which has also been covered by the likes of Barbra Streisand and recently by Heejun on American Idol. Here is "All In Love Is Fair" from his amazing Innervisions album.

Pet Shop Boys's best sounds

After coming out with new albums almost every year since the 80's, the Boys are still at it! However, I still believe their best songs were from the album "Behaviour", released in 1990.
Here is "To Face The Truth" to attest to that.

Great music from Chris Rea

If you are still in the Christmas mood tune in to Chris Rea's unforgettable driving music in Driving Home For Christmas, which is sure to bring back all those Christmas memories.
This singer whom has been around for years is famous for Fool (If You Think Its Over) and On The Beach - that great melody that makes you wanna head straight for the beach.

Enjoy!

Fictional band but real music

Gorillaz entertains in virtual reality

Gorillaz is a multimedia project created by singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett. The pair created the idea of a fictional band, called 'Gorillaz', who would, despite their fictional nature, participate in as many activities as a real band would as possible.

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Thus the Gorillaz have been on a world tour, released albums and singles, made acceptance speeches at award shows, given print and radio interviews, talked with fans on their website, amongst other things. These were all possible due to the utilisation of a vast array of modern media and a huge range of talented artists who have all played their part in bringing the Gorillaz to life.

Enjoy their latest manifestation in Plastic Beach and from the album comes this exquisitely crafted Empire Ants.

Rock can't get more mellow than this

Jackson Browne has always had his own brand of rock, the inimitable mellow Californian rock which soothes you and sets you on the road to the vast American highways smothered by the beautiful evening sun.



His musical signature is a sound that once you listen to you will not likely to forget as it will bring back past memories when you first heard that song.

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Popular worldwide but hardly heard on our radio

Sometimes you wonder what it takes to get on our radio stations. Being popular in the international arena and sold-out mega concerts certainly are not one of the criteria I suppose.



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Slated to perform in the upcoming 2012 Olympics is London, Coldplay is certainly a well sought after band elsewhere but not on our pathetic radio stations. Here is Coldplay from their very under-rated album Parachutes which featured the song "Trouble" among other equally notable songs like herewith "Spies"

A Dashing Singer with a video no red-blooded male can forget

The famous video featuring a clutch of gloss-lipped, black mini-skirted deadpan models posing as backing band to the song Addicted to Love, is the late Robert Palmer's most enduring image.

Born in 1964, Robert Palmer joined his first band, The Mandrakes, at the age of 15. With his impeccable suits and slicked-back hair, Robert Palmer had a 1974 hit with the Allen Toussaint song, Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley. A move to the Bahamas to record the albums Double Fun and Secrets brought him success with singles Every Kinda People and A Bad Case of Lovin' You. By 1982 he managed to achieve his biggest hit in Britain with Some Guys Have All the Luck.

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Three years later, a side project, Power Station, saw him team up with John and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran. The group scored three US Top 10 hits with Some Like It Hot, Communications and Get It On.

A prolific singer with a varied musical style, here is a hit from his 1978 album Double Fun - Every Kinda People

From Roxy Music to Mr Cool

Bryan Ferry formed Roxy Music with a group of friends and acquaintances, beginning with Graham Simpson, in November 1970. The line-up expanded to include saxophonist/oboist Andy Mackay and his acquaintance Brian Eno, who owned tape recorders and played Mackay's synthesiser. Other early members included timpanist Dexter Lloyd and ex-Nice guitarist David O'List, who were replaced respectively by Paul Thompson and Phil Manzanera before the band recorded its first album.



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Ferry continued to record, and released his sixth solo album, Boys and Girls, in 1985. The album reached number one in the UK, his first and only solo recording to do so, and also became his biggest selling album in the US.

Here is a great track form Boys and Girls - Stone Woman

Which Breakfast Show is the worst?

It is a daily struggle to find the best and not the worst Breakfast Show every morning. We used to have JD and Dilly dishing out not so great fare but at least they have a chemistry between them. But then they suddenly dissapear into a deep abyss and then just as suddenly reappear again on a different station! (I still pass a billboard in Penang every day featuring them with their old station!)

But JD has nowfallen into the sickening "Call and shame" strategy and so now I have to choose between them, another station featuring a PSYCHOLOGIST (!! - can you beat that!!) and another station featuring 2 guys trying to outdo each other to see who can embarass himself more! (I guess you guys can guess which 3 stations I am talking about - the rest are just not worth mentioning).

Can't we have NORMAL people in our radio stations? Guys/gals who don't talk much but are smooth and play good music? Dream on.... I guess....

I guess STYLE is something they lack very much and here is someone who has loads of it. Here is Paul Weller from The Style Council with "You're The Best Thing".

Jamiroquai is a class act

I remembered when Jamiroquai came to Malaysia a few years ago I was wondering why there was litlle and almost no publicity for him? Mind you, he was appearing for the F1 concert finale and yet there was hardly an ad announcing his performance. I would have attended his concert if his act was announced earlier but for some reasons known only to SIC they preferred to keep his act quiet until 2 weeks before he was to slated to perform.



Anyway Jamiroquai is a class act and he should have been given a better treatment by the organizers whom maybe have not heard of him? In any other country he would have been mobbed by his fans but Malaysians I guess will settle for Bieber fever. Here is Jay Kay from his album Dynamite with the classic lounge number "Seven Days in Sunny June".

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Great album soundtrack

Have you bought a soundtrack from a movie? Soundtracks are so hard to sell as usually only one or two songs inside are good. And it is even harder to get the songs to gel with the movie, you know what I mean. Good soundtrack albums are hard to come by but I have uncovered a gem.

From the 2001 movie "Bandits" produced by director Barry Levinson and featuring great acting by Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett this is one excellent movie with a heck of a soundtrack which matches the mood of the movie so well. The songs in this album are classics and well selected. Featured here is "Just another" by Pete Yorn.

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Good music that lasts

So many artists nowadays are producing songs that are so forgettable and shallow you wouldn't remember their names in 12 months time. What wouldn't we give to have back the good old times where superstars hugged the top 10 spot for 2 to 3 years (compared to 2 to 3 months nowadays)! And the songs they played then were at least songs which we could sing along too!

Here is a great group which produced so many good songs I had a hard time choosing one for this site. It had to be one which was not that popular and yet sounds so good. Here is Steely Dan and their song from their mega-album Aja with "Home At Last".

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Backstreet Boys are back?

Oh nooo..... not another BSB song! But I guess its better than MLTR, no???
These are the dreads we face each day in Malaysia when we turn on the radio.
James Blunt would be a welcome change or how about Five For Fighting? Sorry, not in Malaysia (actually only Superman ever got played here)!

In his amazing album Battle For Everything, John Ondrasik had so many good songs it is so sad none of the songs ever turn up on our radio waves. Listen to this one "Maybe I" and see why John Ondrasik is so heavenly...


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