16 posts tagged “christmas”
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That very next day, well that's today. In honor of the day after Christmas, Cover Lover presents: "Last Christmas"!
Wham!'s "Last Christmas" song is possibly one of the best Christmas pop song. Released in 1984, it dominated the charts and is still very popular even today (especially in Japan and Southeast Asia). Re-issues after re-issues, song is one of the best-selling single in UK chart history.
All that success lead the music publisher Dick James Music, to sue George Michael for plagiarism for the song "Can't Smile Without You". If you listen to the song by The Carpenters from their 1976 album, A Kind of Hush, it does bear a heavy resemblance - and eventually the matter was settled out of court.
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Anyway, here are some more covers:
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CRAZY FROG
www.jamba.de If you've never heard of Crazy Frog, it sounds to me that they just remix music by other people and through the brilliant marketing of an animated frog. Thankfully the craze never made it over to the States, and if it does, I'll bet you that Americans will complain about the Frog's penis. If you were wondering about the woman singing on Crazy Frog's housey "Last Christmas", it is by singer Nicole Bolley. |
ASHLEY TISDALE
ashleytisdale.com ♥ ashleymusic.com In 2006, Tisdale decided to release her studio recording of "Last Christmas" for Warner Brothers Music. The song was eventually released only as a one-track radio promo, and only available as a digital download. However, if physical CD is your thing, you'll find the song as a B-Side on her He Said She Said EP. If you get a chance to listen to the sort-of-whiney version of "Last Christmas", it doesn't really add much to the song. It's definitely more modern and pop. |
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I'M SO LOOK YOU
myspace.com ♥ imsolookyou.blogspot.com Anyway, she recently remixed "Last Christmas", adding a little jingle bells, "Joy to the World", violas, synth, and techno beats to the original song. The vocals are modified enough that you might not recognize that it's George Michaels. She'll be DJing in the Nagoya area, check it out:
12/31/08 club buddha & R-base cafe "年越しパーティー☆" 01/10/09 GOLDEN CHILD CAFE 01/14/09 SARU 01/24/09 club EDITS "藤澤志保 Release Tour" 01/29/09 domina "HEIDI" 02/01/09 club EDITS "TRASH" 03/13/09 club buddha "LOVE LIFE MUSIC!!!" |
HILARY DUFF
hilaryduff.com ♥ myspace.com The title is a fictional street, as originally referenced in the 1947 song "Here Comes Santa Claus" and probably inspired the poppy "Santa Claus Lane" song on the album. No surprise, but I don't think Duff wrote any of the songs on the album, they were either written for her or established songs. Some of the covers I did recognize is Paul McCarthy's "" and Wham's "Last Christmas". Incidentally, the "chicawah" sound effects on "Last Christmas" made Duff's version very cheesy. The quirky effects are also applied to other songs on her album. Someone should've stopped the mixer/producer from over doing it. |
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BILLIE
billie-piper.net (unofficial) Unlike her teen pop contemporaries, she's not of the Disney music school. However, they're all pretty much interchangeable, aren't they? She dabbled in music, but have only managed to released two albums (strangely securing a "Greatest Hits" album based on the two previous studio albums) and seems to have taken more into acting. Currently, she's better known for playing Rose Tyler next to the Doctor in the television series Doctor Who (2005 to 2006), where she's won numerous awards for "Best Actress" to GQ's "Woman of the Year". |
DAM VINH HUNG
damvinhhung.ws ♥ myspace.com Anyway, the cover song is sung entirely in Vietnamese and contain the opening dialogue. I'm probably mis-translating it, but he said something to the extent of:
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Links:
www.weheartmusic.com
podcast.weheartmusic.com
news.weheartmusic.com
The Glasvegas article was supposed to be a short snippet in Part Two of my Christmas articles, but as I started listening to it and writing and realized this was a group that deserved to be in its own article... well you get the idea. So technically this is the second and possibly final Christmas post from me for this year. And if I don't say it, it's implied that you have a wonderful Christmas. Keep warm!
By the way, for those wondering about a "Top Ten" type list, that's being compiled for January 2009!
So below are some old and some new Christmas-type songs.
connectedup.com/would-be-goods ♥ myspace.com
As you know, I am a huge Would-Be-Goods fan, particularly because I find Jessica Griffin's storytelling songs very compelling. Plus, I am a sucker for her oh-so-British accent.
They quietly released their latest album, Eventyr (which means fairytale), late October and I haven't really seen much promotion on it. I've placed my order on Matinee at a reasonably price of $10, so I am hoping to have reviewed in 2009 as I clear out what's left of 2008.
Well anyway! They have this wonderful, fun Christmas song on their 1993 album, Mondo, called "Christmas In Haiti". Listen to Griffin's dilemma as she describe to you a Christmas in the tropics, complete with voodoo chicken and a cockroach in her beer.
As I listen to other songs off Mondo, like my all-time-favorite "Black Pearls Of Polynesia", "Lisbon Beat" and "La Fonda Del Sol"... wow I can't wait to hear Eventyr.
lastnovember.com ♥ myspace.com
I previously mentioned Last November on W♥M last year, and since then I have their second album, Over the Top or Under the Weather. The album is pretty much alt-rock, so if you enjoy Story of the Year or the Midway State, you'll like this. They do utilize lots of reverb, strange loops, and echo effects, making it consisting interesting. Most of the song on the album is pretty upbeat.
My favorite song on the album is "Uppers, Downers, & All-Arounders", which is an all-out-sing-along stompering song.
Their Christmas song on the album is called "Merry Christmas Little Match Girl", a mellow and depressing song, one of the few. I should mention that toward the end, it does start to pick up a bit, giving a little hope.
Hey, guess what? They are doing a few dates:
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27 Dec 2008 Handlebar w/ After August & Sequoyah Prep School Greenville, South Carolina
10 Jan 2009 The Vinyl w/ The Drownout, The Swear, & Hot Lava Monster Atlanta, Georgia
24 Jan 2009 Soho w/ Sequoyah Prep School Columbus, Georgia
20 Feb 2009 Dragonfly Theater w/ Hot Vegas & Young and Running Boone, North Carolina
brittnicole.com ♥ myspace.com
Britt Nicole is a Christian singer, probably better known over in Europe, despite being from Nashville. Her songs even sport a weird-British-style singing, combined with hip-hoppy pop-rap. Check out tunes like "Holiday" and "Say It" from her 2007 album, Say It. Fans of Lily Allen should want to check her out.
Anyway, regarding Christmas, she covered George Michael's "Last Christmas" on the same album. Almost all the popstars have covered this song, and this version is pretty faithful with little deviation from the original song.
Well, it looks like Nicole is busy working on her next album, due out in 2009. She loves her fans, apparently you can just call her number 615-823-7325 to leave a message for her.
Links:
www.weheartmusic.com
podcast.weheartmusic.com
news.weheartmusic.com
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I’ll Stay
‘Til After Christmas
Various Artists
Things that warm the insides:
- Love- Puppies
and kitties
- Whiskey
- Heartburn
- Giving
The holidays truly are a time to give, even when you have very little to offer. Don’t worry, ‘giving’ doesn’t have to mean writing out a check; you can give back by simply being a nicer person; or maybe you’re a chronic litterer and have decided to stop throwing your shit in the street. Good for you! This Christmas, set the whiskey aside and think about someone other than yourself. Times may be tough, money may be tight, Spam may be plentiful, but there’s always the possibility that everything could get worse. Remember that when you’re feeling blue.
We here at We Heart Music support giving (and not littering). And so it’s my pleasure to share with you, our philanthropic readers, a digital-only Christmas compilation from the elves at Force Field PR. Here’s the good news: all proceeds benefit Amnesty International. Here’s the better news: the music is actually good. It helps that Force Field bigwig, Daniel Gill and his wife have plenty of capable musician friends, otherwise this could have been a very sad gift (nothing is gloomier than terrible indie music).
Although cheerful this album is not. You won’t find any chestnuts roasting or drummers drumming; every song, even the classics, sound a little world weary and brooding. This is not to say that Gill and co. have compiled “Christmas: a Break-up Mix”; I’d feel encouraged to call it “Christmas: The Reality”—not entirely melodramatic, but certainly aware that for some, the holidays are a trying state of lapsed merriment, low funds, and estranged/strange relatives (yet, there’s always the hope of better things to come).
Au Revoir Simone opens the album with a soft, dreamy cover of Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmastime is Here” (from A Charlie Brown Christmas for all you classic holiday film heathens); other notable tracks include Le Loup’s sparse interpretation of “Shenandoah,” freaky Animal Collective devotees Au doing a freaky, nearly unintelligible “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” Blitzen Trapper’s yuletide ode to Steve McQueen, high school girls, Donkey Kong (just listen), and Man of Arms’ pertinent, if not cynical, “It’s Christmastime and Everything’s Wrong.”
Full track listing
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1. Au Revoir Simone - Christmastime is Here 2. Le Loup - Shenandoah 3. Figurine - The Holidays Behind Us 4. Sally Shapiro - Anorak Christmas (Piano mix) 5. Arthur & Yu - My White Elephant 6. My Brightest Diamond - Nature Boy 7. Parenthetical Girls - Festive Friends (Forever) 8. No Kids - Another Winter in a Summer Town | 9. Radar Bros. - Baby Jesus 10. Blitzen Trapper - Christmas is Coming Soon 11. Man of Arms - It's Christmastime and Everything's Wrong 12. Au - I'll Be Home for Christmas 13. The Papercuts - Go Tell it on the Mountain 14. Bosque Brown - Silent Night 15. Turk Dietrich of Belong - Blue Christmas |
The album is available for purchase on iTunes. For more information, please visit Myspace.
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01/09/09 Harrah’s Kansas City Kansas City, MO*
Read More
01/10/09 Toad Tavern Littleton, CO* 01/12/09 Depot Salt Lake City, Utah* 01/14/09 Belly up Solana Beach, CA* 01/15/09 House of Blues Anaheim, CA* 01/16/09 House of Blues Hollywood, CA* 01/17/09 Slim’s San Francisco, CA* 01/18/09 Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, NV* 01/20/09 Tower Theatre Bend, OR* 01/22/09 Alladin Theatre Portland, OR 01/23/09 Richards on Richards Vancouver, British Columbia* 01/24/09 Showbox at the Market Seattle, WA* 01/25/09 Knitting Factory Spokane Spokane, WA* 01/27/09 Knitting Factory Boise, ID* 01/28/09 Mangy Moose Saloon Tenton Village, Wyoming* 01/30/09 Aggie Theatre Ft. Collins, Colorado* 01/31/09 Belly Up Aspen Aspen, Colorado* 02/01/09 Fox Theatre Boulder Boulder, Colorado* 02/03/09 Cain’s 2nd Stage Tulsa, Oklahoma* 02/05/09 The State Theatre Starkville, Mississippi* 02/07/09 Harrah’s New Orleans New Orleans, Louisiana* 03/27/09 MayerCraft Cruise Los Angeles, The Sea, Cabo San Lucas, California+ 03/28/09 MayerCraft Cruise Los Angeles, The Sea, Cabo San Lucas, California+ 03/29/09 MayerCraft Cruise Los Angeles, The Sea, Cabo San Lucas, California+ 03/30/09 MayerCraft Cruise Los Angeles, The Sea, Cabo San Lucas, California+ * w/ Marc Broussard and Josh Hoge + w/ John Mayer, Guster, OAR |
This first entry is for Jessie Baylin.
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I did end up checking out the video for "Was I On Your Mind" via the poor quality of youtube. The video looks to me like a cross between sexy and smarts (Baylin in bed with an apartment full of books... and, erm, candles).
As for "That's What I Want for Christmas", this song is a reworking of an old jazz standard. I couldn't find anyone else doing the song, but probably the most famous version is by Nancy Wilson (missnancywilson.com). Miss Nancy Wilson might be best known for being the host of NPR's Jazz Profiles, a show that I subscribe to.
What I like about all the versions that I've heard, is that the song is simply a love song about wanting love instead of gifts, all wrapped around a classic Christmas big band-esque arrangement. Well, except for the cover by country/western act SHeDAISY (shedaisy.com/myspace.com), which sounds more pop.
Jessie Baylin's choice in cover should give you an insight on her influences, which apparently consists of classic jazz/pop women singers, such as Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.
I couldn't find any details about her previous releases (according to wikipedia she released You, an album of "intimate, stylish amalgam of pop, jazz, blues, Western swing"). Although they said the album was available on iTunes, I couldn't find it.
There's really no information on how you can purchase Part of You, all the searches I did all point to her major-label debut album, Firesight.
My favorite songs on Firesight is "By Any Rules" and "See How I Run" (which I think gave such a good impression as the first song). "See How I Run" has a catchy melody, and I thought the album version sounded just fine... but apparently they remixed it for a radio version.
I can see why Baylin decided to go with "Was I on Your Mind" as the video, it's poppy and about longing for someone. It seems to me that most of her songs are about searching/struggling to find someone special... even though in real life she's engaged to drummer of Kings of Leon, Nathan Followill.
So expect to see more of Baylin's easy-on-the-eyes and easier-on-the-ear in the near future as she heads on tour with with Marc Broussard in January (who recently appeared on W♥M).
In the meantime, you should head over to Daytrotter and download some live tracks before she becomes too famous. She's already very popular, just check out her personal blog with heaps of followers. (An interesting thing I've noted is that she's currently listening to Glasvegas, who are appearing in a future xmas xtravaganza post).
Firesight is out now, you can find it at most retail locations. Her That's What I Want For Christmas EP is only available on iTunes for a measly $2 with video!
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As much as I hate the DRM on iTunes, this EP is only available through iTunes. If you have an iPod and likes funny Christmas songs this might be worth your while.
Guests includes Toby Keith, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Feist, Willie Nelson, and Jon Stewart. The John Legend song about Nutmegs has very sexual innuendos that's safe for the kids and fun for the adults. I was happy to see that W♥M favorites Elvis Costello made an appearance too!
Recently, Colbert declared war on Kanye West because his 808s & Heartbreaks is #1 while Colbert is at a respectable #16. So, I guess, "Operation Humble Kanye" will be on next Wednesday, December 5th at 5pm (eastern).
Since I actually block double-click, I couldn't actually view the video on comedycentral.com, so instead here is a clip via hulu.com:
* Before you dismiss this Christmas cash-in and Colbert's arrogance, this project is actually for a good cause, for the charity group Feeding America.
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Alright, here's the final Christmas wrap-up (haha). They are fast and loose, so don't be too picky about my research.
The Parselmouths are two girls from Seattle, Washington, who writes Harry Potter songs through a Slytherin point of view. They're part of the Wizard Rock thing (see link).
They have an album called Sssss which they released last year. They seem to have been disenchanted (god I'm horrible with my puns) with traditional CD and will stop printing their debut album (currently it's selling at a reduced price of $8).
The Christmas song they did is a cover of "Santa Baby" (a song that's often miscredited to Marilyn Monroe) as "Voldy Baby" on the Jingle Spells: Leaky's Rocking Christmas (2007). All the details on this sold-out album is on the-leaky-cauldron.org.
More information on theparselmouths.com or myspace
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Speaking of puns, check out George Strait's "Merry Christmas Strait To You" from his 1986 album of the same name.
There are a few things I like about this song, first the 'strait' part
and, second, it's very cheerful and unapologeticly country look and sound.
The other cheery and happier song I really like is T.Rex's "Christmas Bop", which I couldn't dig up any information about this Christmas single. It seem to have been released in 1976 and according to Rhino: "the quashed single". Was this song forcibly suppressed ? It's so good!
For those who don't know T.Rex, they are a wildly popular glam rocker from the 70s, whose lead singer, Marc Bolan tragically died of a car accident shortly before his 30th birthday. The band re-formed under Mickey Finn's direction, but renamed themselves as Mickey Finn's T.Rex until Finn's death in 2003.
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I previously mentioned The Lovers
and their sex-drenched song "Christmas Tree" (I don't think she's
singing about a tree, if you know what I mean) and so I thought I'd put
up their BBC live performance.
A few songs will end this post: Baxendale's "Flash Gordon" is from A Very Magistery Christmas. I bought this song off of e-music
and my number one complaint about e-music is that they don't offer
album artwork - so apologies for the poor artwork.
As you know I love Baxendale and am sadden that they are no longer releasing music. You can read more about them on W♥M.
The Jackson Five's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is quite cute. I believe they only released one Christmas album (in 1970), but the album's been re-issued over the years with different artwork and tracklisting.
The original chart-topping song was recorded by Jimmy Boyd, who was barely 12 years old at the time. Boyd went on to record several other #1 hits, but I've never heard of any of them :/
Finally, who doesn't like The White Stripes? V2 Records released Merry Christmas From ... The White Stripes on 7" in 2002.
The b-sides are pretty hilarious, it includes Meg White singing (or trying to sing while forgetting the lyrics) to "Silent Night". The other b-side is just Jack White reading "Story of the Magi".
So happy Christmas, we'll do this again next year!
Edit: I was waiting for the artwork to "The Spirit Of Things", so I was finally given the image (it's very very tiny).
Cerebral Paul is a solo project from Paul Saylor, the keyboardist from Fish Relics.
He's offering this instrumental song for download on his myspace until midnight.... which is probably over by now.
In the spirit of the holidays, I've made my single In "The Spirit Of Things" available as a free download. This offer ends at midnight tonight, so get your copy now!
Find out more about Fish Relics on their myspace page.
12/25/2007 19:02:34
vu
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com
"I Don't Intend to Spend Christmas Without You" is possibly my favorite Christmas song, written by Margo Guryan for Claudine Longet. Longet have always loved Christmas, marrying singer Andy Williams on Christmas Day (December 25th, 1961) and naming two of their children Noëlle and Christian.
Their
marriage didn't last long, they separated in 1969 (officially divorced
in 1975). By this time, she was seeing Olympic skier Vladimir "Spider"
Sabich, who was fatally shot in 1976 by Longet.
In the trials, she claimed it was an accident, for which she was acquitted for felony manslaughter.
The irony she had made a recording of Cher's "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)". It was later asked that she removed her song from public circulation.
Margo Guryan wrote "I Don't Intend to Spend Christmas Without You" and as you can hear in her demo recording, it's slightly different (and I think superior to Longet's recording, even though she's lacking that French accent).
Guryan never toured or actively promoted her debut album Take a Picture (1968), so it failed to make much impact in the music charts. She retired and ended up being a music teacher and songwriter for other artists.
Here's an excerpt of an interview regarding her writings for Claudine Longet:
Excerpts from an August 23, 2001 phone conversation with Margo Guryan
Q: Tell me about writing songs for Claudine Longet.
A: Claudine Longet is the only artist that I ever wrote a tailor-made song for. With all my other songs, people ask me if I wrote them for different artists. I never did. I just wrote what I felt like writing. But Tommy LiPuma called David [Rosner, her husband/publisher] one day, and said "Can Margo write a song for Claudine? A Christmas song. No snow, no mistletoe, no presents under the tree. No mention of any of that stuff." So David asked me, and I wrote "I Don't Intend to Spend Christmas Without You." As I was finishing the demo, there was a guy from UPS or some air-freight company standing in the studio, waiting for it. I was putting on a last vocal, and then they had to go out and make an acetate of it. They flew it to California, and she recorded it. Later, the group Saint Étienne heard it on Claudine's record, and they recorded it a year ago last Christmas for their fan club. It wasn't released commercially, but it was like the Christmas card they sent out to their fan club. And I've got a copy of that.Q: What did you think of Claudine's versions of "Think of Rain" and "I Don't Intend to Spend Christmas Without You"?
A: Well, obviously, I was very pleased that she did both of them. I was less than pleased with the Christmas song, because she didn't get the time right. But that may not have been her fault as much as the producer's. But ehh, I'd have to go through it, send you a lead sheet and show you where.It's not worth it. Just say I loved it.
- From home.earthlink.net/~elbroome
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St Etienne needs no introduction (in fact, Maggie did a wonderful article on them previously), they recorded "I Don't Intend to Spend Christmas Without You" (based on the Longet version) and was made available to their fan club in 1998.
St Etienne must really love Christmas too, every couple of years they put out a Christmas EP for their fans. If you were interested in collecting them here are all their Christmas releases:
[1995] Xmas '95 (3-track CD single)
[1998] Xmas '98 (2-track CD single)
[2003] Xmas 2003 (3-track CD single initially given away free at Xmas '03 gigs then given out free to fanclub members in 2004)
[2006] Merry Xmas 2006 from Saint Etienne (2-track CD single given
away free at the Saint Etienne Xmas Party Turntable Cafe on 21 December
2006)
Bonus: As I previously mentioned Longet being married to Andy Williams, he's quite the Christmas man himself! After giving up his The Andy Williams Show in 1971, he agreed to do Christmas specials in 1976. Throughout the years, he's released over eight Christmas albums, and I'm including a song from the re-issued The Andy Williams Christmas Album (1963).
This recording would've been pretty much around the time that he was married to Longet.
12/25/2007 13:20:15
vu
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com
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Belle & Sebastian that well-loved band from Glasgow, Scotland, are back with a new Christmas song called "Are You Coming Over for Christmas?". The song is available for download on their official myspace on Christmas day.
Fans of B&S should already have their special Christmas Peel Session from 2002, but in case you don't have it, here the Christmas tracks from that session:
- Oh Come All Ye Faithful
- Christmas Time Is Here
- Santa Claus (The Sonics)
- Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto (James Brown)
- Silent Night
- O Little Town Of Bethlehem
- Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me (Elvis Presley)
- O Come O Come Emmanuel
- I Took Some Time For Christmas
- The Twelve Days of Christmas
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Here's another Christmas song from one of our favorite, The Pipettes. Good luck on finding this 7" single, as there were only two hundred of them made (by hand) and was only available at their Christmas show in 2004. The song, "In the Bleak Midwinter", is an old Lutheran Christmas Hymn, originally written by Gustav Holst.
They're currently on tour through Australia, but they still managed to put together a "Bandzine" The Pipettes Christmas Zine just time for Christmas. I did download the PDF file and it looks very professional for a bandzine.
Tour dates as follows:
12/29/07 The Factory Sydney, AUS
12/30/07 Tasmania Falls Festival Victoria, AUS
12/31/07 Tasmania Falls Festival Victoria, AUS
01/02/08 East Bruswick Melbourne, AUS
01/05/08 Southbound Festival Western Australia
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Meanwhile, Manic Street Preachers is also offering a new Christmas song called "Ghost of Christmas" on their myspace. This is an original song with some jab at expensive technologies::
No xbox and no computers
We just used our imagination
A leather football was perfection
What more could you want
I wouldn't mind a soccer ball to play outside, but unfortunately it's snowing outside so I'm going to stay indoors with my PS3 :)
Anyway, the band is still around, releasing Send Away The Tigers on February 2007, and is actually the only album I don't have from this band. I guess, I'm just waiting to find it really cheap/used and there's really no compelling reason for me to rush out to get the album.
I think the only song I know off of it is "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" (that song with the Cardigans singer Nina Persson) which I think is quite popular.
Apparently so popular that NME have named MSP the 2008 "God Like Geniuses" Award.
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Finally, remember the awesome Strawberry Fair (Jenny Franzén)? Lately she's been busy with her live band with: Mathias (Kissing Mirrors, Sarto, Twig), Alice (After School Sports, The Never Invited to Parties), David (The Morning Paper), Ida (The Bridal Shop), Maria (The Happy Birthdays[W♥M]), appearing on Digfi playing some Christmas songs.
The two songs she did was "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" and "Winder Wonderland". I thought you can only watch it on Windows Media Player, but I was told that it will work on a mac using flip4mac.
The band was also recently on Rip It Up! 2007, you can watch some clips on youtube.
PS, this may be the last xmas post from me! You're welcome!
12/24/2007 09:41:29
vu
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com
David Bowie is one of those musicians that came slightly before my time. I remember seeing "Let's Dance", "Modern Love" and "China Girl" in the 80s, but I didn't really appreciate him until many years later.
I recently got the 30th Anniversary of Diamond Dogs (re-released in 2004, originally 1974), which came with a double CD and a nice retrospective booklet about the album. It tells the story about how originally David Bowie got this great idea of concept album about George Orwell's 1984.
Unfortunately, the Orwell's widow, Eileen O'Shaughnessy, did not grant permissions:
And they said, 'No, she won't let you, you see, she won't give you the rights. She won't sell you the rights for any amount of money in the world. She said she's seen one film of it, and that was such a disaster that she'll never let it out of her grasp ever again.'
- as told by David Bowie
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A few songs, particarly "1984" and "Big Brother", still had some residual from 1984 - The Musical, but it ultimate became what is known as Diamond Dogs.
What's interesting about this album was that it was a departure from Ziggy Stardust and the first album to not use his backing band, Spiders From Mars. This album was supposed to be Bowie's most ambitious album yet.
The most famous song off this album is definitely "Rebel Rebel". It has the most recognizable and distinctive guitar riff, which kind of was a nod to The Rolling Stones and Mick Ronson (who wasn't working with Bowie at this point). It should also be noted that Davie Bowie actually wrote and plays almost all the guitar parts on Diamond Dogs!
I still think the strong song off the album is "1984", but apparently when it was released in the United States as a single - it failed to even chart. If you listen to it, especially with headphones and listening to the violins, it's clearly the best song on the album. I found out later that "1984" was originally a medly of two songs: "1984" and "Dodo", but by the time they had studio time, it was recorded as two separate songs.
Anyway, in the tradition of the awesome "Davie Bowie's Teeth" documentary (yes, a whole five minutes devoted to talking about Bowie's teeth!!!), I thought it would be fun to concentrate on David Bowie's genitalia. So, please note the picture on the left and concentrate on that camel bow-ie.
Now, let's talk about the cover art. It is a painting by Guy Peellaert, featuring half dog and Bowie, displaying its genitalia. Apparently very few copies of the original album had the full artwork (it's one of the most expensive and rare record collectibles of all time).
That offensive area was quickly airbrushed out on the original 1974 album, and in the South American's release of the record, the WHOLE bottom half was blacked out (see picture).
If you have the original LP and was thinking of upgrading to CD, this 30th Anniversary Edition is worth upgrading, simply because of the very nice booklet and the bonus disc. The bonus disc includes alternate versions and demos of the Diamond Dogs. The most interesting version was "Dodo" which was known as "You Didn't Hear it From Me" (recorded during Ziggy Stardust era).
BONUS: In keeping with the Christmas theme (I know you must be getting sick of this!), did you know about Bing Crosby and Davie Bowie's "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy" song? The two had met on Crosby's Christmas special in 1975 to perform this song. Shortly after the record was cut in 1977, Crosby died of a heart attack.
The single went on to become an annual holiday hit, even charting to #3 in the UK in 1982.
12/24/2007 02:10:15
vu
my♥posts
www.davidbowie.com
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Comedy Top 7 on W♥M in 2007! This is a special two-for-one Comedy and Christmas post, meaning funny-man Weird Al Yankovic is not only hilarious, but he's written a few original Christmas songs: "Christmas at Ground Zero" and "The Night Santa Went Crazy".
"Christmas at Ground Zero" is basically Christmas carol, whose title parodies Fishbone's "Party At Ground Zero". The second is a pretty dark song about how Santa went postal and killed everyone. Apparently there is an "Extra Gory" version on the single for Amish Paradise.
So, I was actually on his official website and he seems kind of bitter/funny. He received permission to recorded a parody "You're Beautiful" from James Blunt, but his record label, Atlantic Records, refused permission. So what does Weird Al do? He gives away the song:
But if you're so inclined, you can just download it for FREE! Go ahead, we won't tell anybody! Right-click (option-click for Mac) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, or here or here, not to mention here, or even here!
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12/23/2007 00:05:50
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