THE NEW "MEANING" OF KELLY CLARKSON

When she was a contestant on a new television singing competition fifteen years ago, Kelly Clarkson was able to dabble in many different genres of music each week in front of millions of viewers. That show was "American Idol" and she impressed everyone so much with her dazzling voice that Clarkson went on to become the very first winner.

The big prize was a recording contract with RCA Records and Clarkson has had a glorious career with many worldwide hits singles.  However, she has recently revealed that her time with the label was not easy. Over the seven albums she released, Clarkson had little input on song selection on most of these albums and was not allowed to venture outside of the safe and narrow world of pop music.

Now after completing the terms of her recording contract, Clarkson decided to move on to a new label, Atlantic and with that, an new opportunity to take more control of her music. For her new album, "The Meaning of Life", the singer has decided to dive deeper in to a r&b and soul sound which she was previously unable to do. Clarkson was involved in all all aspects of the recording of the album and this busy wife and mother of two even managed to find time to co-write a few tracks.

To give us a sample of what's to come from "The Meaning of Life", two songs have been released. "Love So Soft" is a blast of classic funky soul with modern trap rhythms and features members of Earth, Wind & Fire playing on the track. Meanwhile, "Move You" is a emotional ballad with Clarkson's beautiful vocals soaring in to gospel territory. If you are a fan of Kelly Clarkson, you will be very excited by this new direction and if you are not, I think this dynamic collection might make you want to reconsider:

RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

First up, here are some interesting music videos I like:











After taking some time off to get married and have her first child (it's a girl!) last year, Jessie Ware didn't seem to have wasted anytime getting back to music. The British songstress has just released two new songs. "Midnight" is a haunting uptempo ballad delivering what we love about Ms Ware as it features her sensual vocals and sophisticated songwriting. While "Selfish Love" is another ballad but guitar-driven with a slight bossa-nova beat that presents a completely different vibe from the singer. Look for her upcoming third album, "Glasshouse" in October. In the meantime, check out the music videos for these songs:

I recently just heard one of his songs from back in the day and it made me wonder; what happened to Christopher Cross? This singer, born Christopher Geppert and originally from San Antonio, Texas, released his debut album back in 1979 and it was an immediate success. His collection of soft rock tunes included the hits, "Ride Like The Wind", "Never Be The Same" and the number one single, "Sailing" which helped sell five million copies of the album. Cross would go on to win five Grammy Awards including Best New Artist and Album of The Year. His follow-up album in 1983, "Another Page", continued the hits with "Think of Laura", "All Right" and included "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" from the Dudley Moore comedy, "Arthur" which would go on to win an Oscar for Best Original Song. But after all this immediate pop success, the easy-listening rock of Christopher Cross soon wasn't having much of an impact on the charts. He's still around making music and about to embark on a cross-country North American tour. Here are a couple of songs that I love from Christopher Cross:

"Ride Like The Wind" - Christopher Cross (1979) mp3

"Sailing" - Christopher Cross (1979) mp3

STREETS OF FIRE

Did anyone ever see "Streets of Fire"? It was a 1984 film by Walter Hill that was a crazy mix of action, comedy, drama and musical and featured a retro-futuristic look. Self-described as "a rock & roll fable",  Michael Paré (a rising star at the time that never really got off the ground) plays as an ex-solider who is called on to save famous rock singer (and former girlfriend), Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) who was kidnapped by a biker gang lead by Willem Dafoe in an early film role. The film also featured Amy Madigan and Rick Moranis.



"Streets of Fire" is a hot mess of a movie but still a thoroughly watchable and entertaining mess. One bright spot is the music soundtrack. The film's title comes from a Bruce Springsteen song from his 1978 album, "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and was supposed to be sung by the Ellen Aim character at the end of the film. However, negotiations broke down and the song was dropped. Jim Steinman, best known for his theatrical rock ballads performed by such artists as Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler, was brought in to provide new material. He wrote "Nowhere Fast", the thrilling opening number and the ballad, "Tonight Is What It Means To be Young" for the finale. Diane Lane did not actually sing so professional vocalists, Laurie Sargent and Holly Shepard performed the songs with their voices blended together and were called Fire, Inc.





The biggest hit from the movie was "I Can Dream About You", written by Dan Hartman. In the film, the song was sung by session singer, Winston Ford and performed by the fictional doo-wop-soul group, The Sorels that featured Mykelti Williamson (recently seen in the film, "Fences") and future director, Robert Townsend ("Hollywood Shuffle", "Eddie Murphy Raw"). Hartman recorded his own version and was released as a single where it reached number six on the pop charts.

THE RETURN OF SAM SMITH

Sam Smith, the British singer who burst on the scene back in 2014 with a debut album, "In The Lonely Hour" which won him four Grammys including Best New Artist, has made his return to music. Today, he just released a new single, "Too Good At Goodbyes" and it's another mournful ballad that Smith does very well. It may be a little safe and predictable but the song is quite moving and I can't wait to hear more. Have a listen for yourself:

WALTER BECKER (1950 - 2017)

Walter Becker, the inventive guitarist, producer, songwriter and co-founder of the jazz/soul influenced rock group, Steely Dan, passed away on September 3rd. No cause of death has been given at this time but he had missed performances in July as the group was a part of the Classic East and Classic West rock festivals due to an undisclosed illness.

Born in Queens, New York, Becker was quite musical as a child and first learned to play the saxophone before later switching to the guitar. In college, he met Donald Fagen where they formed a a connection through music. They formed several bands together before Becker dropped out of school and they went to Brooklyn to try their hand as a songwriting team.

The duo ended up in Southern California in 1971 and formed Steely Dan, which at the time was a full group which included guitarists Denny Dias, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and drummer Jim Hodder. Becker was mainly the group's bass player and co-songwriter with keyboardist and vocalist, Fagen at the time before eventually becoming the guitarist by their third album, "Pretzel Logic" in 1974. This was the group's breakthrough and featured the hit, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" that peaked at number four on the pop chart. This was the last album with Steely Dan as a band as Becker and Fagen would just rely on studio musicians to fill out their sound on albums and tours which included Michael McDonald who would later join the Doobie Brothers and drummer, Jeff Porcaro who would become a part of Toto.

During the time of their success, Becker had become seriously addicted to drugs and along with that came other problems. In 1978, Becker's girlfriend, Karen Stanley died from an overdose in his apartment and was later sued by her family for wrongful death. Shortly after that, Becker was hit by a cab in New York. After the stressful recording sessions for Steely Dan's 1980 album, "Gaucho", Becker decided to end his musical partnership with Donald Fagen.

Becker moved to Maui where he sobered up and eventually found his way back to music. He produced for several acts including Ricki Lee Jones' 1987 album, "Flying Cowboys".  He first worked again with Fagen in 1986 as they both played on model/singer, Rosie Vela's debut album, "Zazu". The duo officially came back together in 1993 as they went on tour as Steely Dan for the first in nineteen years. They didn't record an album until 2000 with "Two Against Nature" which went on to win four Grammy Awards including Album of The Year. Becker released two solo albums during his career with "11 Tracks of Whack" in 1994 (which Fagen co-produced) and "Circus Money" in 2008. The musician is survived by his wife, Elinor and they have two children.

In tribute to Walter Becker, here is a song he created with Donald Fagen as Steely Dan:

"Deacon Blues" - Steely Dan (1978) mp3