A weekend/Holiday post:
While December is the beginning of Christmas music, note that the 1st is also World Aids Day.
Let's combine the two.
Annie Lennox has done amazing work to draw attention to the plight of African children in the Aids epidemic. Here she sings a version "Coventry Carol" backed up by The African Children's Choir.
(And for good measure, I'm also posting Lennox singing "Many Rivers To Cross" on an Idol Gives Back special; it is perhaps one of the most beautiful, emotional music performances I've ever seen on television)
Hear the song on Youtube.
Hear the song on Youtube.
Showing posts with label annie lennox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label annie lennox. Show all posts
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Len "Steal My Sunshine"
Here's another Weekend Post:
Just pulling out some 90s hot weather songs. This one makes me want to run under the sprinker.
Hear the song on Youtube.
Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.
Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show. They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.
Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.
Just pulling out some 90s hot weather songs. This one makes me want to run under the sprinker.
Hear the song on Youtube.
Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.
Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show. They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.
Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.
Labels:
90s,
92.7,
annie lennox,
every day I write,
hot hot hot,
martha's vineyard,
MVY Radio,
mvyradio,
PJ Finn,
steal my sunshine,
summer,
weekend posts,
WMVY
Friday, October 22, 2010
Annie Lennox “Universal Child”
It’s getting harder and harder to put out a Christmas album.
What with the stores starting to play holiday tunes in October and some radio stations flipping to an All Christmas format every November, the need for new Christmas albums is increasing at an exponential rate.
The downside for you, if you’re thinking of finally recording your Christmas masterpiece, is that every-freaking-body and their cellist has recorded “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “Silver Bells” and even lesser tunes like “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas.”
It’s harder and harder to find untapped Christmas resources.
So Annie Lennox went the Sting-route, following the bearded Bard’s lead by recording tunes so traditional, no one has ever heard of them.
“C’mon everybody, it’s ‘I'l est ne le Divin Enfant.’ You know the words!! . . . Anyone?”
“Liven up your Christmas Party with, uh, 'In The Bleak Midwinter'”!!
Well, she does do “Silent Night” so you’re not completely out in the wilderness.
And, in what is a more a curse than a blessing (when speaking about most artists), she writes one of her own. Fortunately, Lennox has a pretty good quality control detector, so “Universal Child” is actually a pretty good tune.
As holiday resources deplete, look for some punk band to cover it, for Christmas 2011.
What with the stores starting to play holiday tunes in October and some radio stations flipping to an All Christmas format every November, the need for new Christmas albums is increasing at an exponential rate.
The downside for you, if you’re thinking of finally recording your Christmas masterpiece, is that every-freaking-body and their cellist has recorded “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “Silver Bells” and even lesser tunes like “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas.”
It’s harder and harder to find untapped Christmas resources.
So Annie Lennox went the Sting-route, following the bearded Bard’s lead by recording tunes so traditional, no one has ever heard of them.
“C’mon everybody, it’s ‘I'l est ne le Divin Enfant.’ You know the words!! . . . Anyone?”
“Liven up your Christmas Party with, uh, 'In The Bleak Midwinter'”!!
Well, she does do “Silent Night” so you’re not completely out in the wilderness.
And, in what is a more a curse than a blessing (when speaking about most artists), she writes one of her own. Fortunately, Lennox has a pretty good quality control detector, so “Universal Child” is actually a pretty good tune.
As holiday resources deplete, look for some punk band to cover it, for Christmas 2011.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
David Gray “Stella The Artist”
Should mvyradio be playing this song . . . or that song?
Picking a single that is really going to pull people’s attention to an album is not an exact science. But it is certainly an art.
Take the new David Gray, for example. Word had been, for several weeks, that the follow-up to “Fugitive” was going to be the beautiful duet with Annie Lennox, “Full Steam.” Their voices soar, and the arrangement is interesting. It seemed like a challenging, but satisfying choice.
At the 11th hour, the label changed his mind. I asked my friend Sean Coakley, an independent record promoter, why Downtown Records had switched to “Stella The Artist.”
Sean said, “Hopefully, because I convinced them to.”
His point was that the song was interesting. Striking even. But it wouldn’t stand up to multiple listens.
I always make the knock-knock joke analogy, in these situations. You may laugh your ass off the first time you hear a knock-knock joke. But is it still funny the 5th time you hear it. Is it funny after 6 months of hearing it regularly?
Other songs are like pizza. I could eat a slice every day, and never get sick of it. My attention turning to different flavors each time I bite in.
Ultimately, Sean felt, “Full Steam” just wouldn’t have a long life, as a radio single. The novelty of the duet would wear thin, quickly, in his opinion. And a long life at radio, is what propels listeners to seek out the full album, and hear the other amazing tracks.
Was Sean right? Which one of these songs would you have added to rotation?
See the video, here
Buy "Draw The Line"
See this previous post, for details on how a song gets into rotation on mvyradio, then let me know what you think.
Picking a single that is really going to pull people’s attention to an album is not an exact science. But it is certainly an art.
Take the new David Gray, for example. Word had been, for several weeks, that the follow-up to “Fugitive” was going to be the beautiful duet with Annie Lennox, “Full Steam.” Their voices soar, and the arrangement is interesting. It seemed like a challenging, but satisfying choice.
At the 11th hour, the label changed his mind. I asked my friend Sean Coakley, an independent record promoter, why Downtown Records had switched to “Stella The Artist.”
Sean said, “Hopefully, because I convinced them to.”
His point was that the song was interesting. Striking even. But it wouldn’t stand up to multiple listens.
I always make the knock-knock joke analogy, in these situations. You may laugh your ass off the first time you hear a knock-knock joke. But is it still funny the 5th time you hear it. Is it funny after 6 months of hearing it regularly?
Other songs are like pizza. I could eat a slice every day, and never get sick of it. My attention turning to different flavors each time I bite in.
Ultimately, Sean felt, “Full Steam” just wouldn’t have a long life, as a radio single. The novelty of the duet would wear thin, quickly, in his opinion. And a long life at radio, is what propels listeners to seek out the full album, and hear the other amazing tracks.
Was Sean right? Which one of these songs would you have added to rotation?
See the video, here
Buy "Draw The Line"
See this previous post, for details on how a song gets into rotation on mvyradio, then let me know what you think.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
