RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

Calvin Harris is on fire this year and seems like he's unable to make a wrong move. After some great collaborations with Dua Lipa and Sam Smith, the DJ turned producer has just dropped two new tracks with former Fifth Harmony member, Normani. One is "Checklist" that features WizKid and has a dance hall beat while "Slow Down" is a mid-tempo dance floor banger. They are both great songs and will definitely help give Normani an even bigger profile after her top-ten hit duet with Khalid with "Love Lies":





Here is some Chaka Khan, past and present. First, we go back to 1986 with "Love of a Lifetime", a song written and produced for her by Scritti Politti, a hot British band at the time who was best known for the hit, "Perfect Way". This song was a not a big success but I loved it. In the music video, what I find notable is Chaka's neon-colored hair which was long before it became trendy like today. And we have a new song, "Keep Reachin'", a funky jam for the recent Netflix documentary on Quincy Jones. Mark Ronson produced the track and together with Chaka's soaring vocals, it features the spirit of the legendary music maker.





Here is the newest single, "Money" by the hottest artist in hip-hop/rap right now, Cardi B and a couple of music videos that I find interesting:







Finally, we close with that '80's boy band, Duran Duran, who managed to deliver plenty of style and substance. When this British band first began, they were much closer aligned musically with the new-wave/new romantic scene before the 1982 album "Rio" and the music video for their smash, "Hungry Like The Wolf" helped pushed them in to the mainstream. While I liked their more commercial sound, I really enjoyed their early records. Let's look back on two of my favorite Duran Duran songs, "Planet Earth" and "Girls On Film" from 1981 with both of the music videos featuring adventurous and sensual imagery that would became a staple of the MTV generation:

TAKE TWO: TRACY CHAPMAN

Thirty years ago, Tracy Chapman seemed to come out of nowhere and exploded in to the pop music scene with just her voice, guitar and the moving single, "Fast Car". She found immediate success and may have enjoyed her moment in the spotlight but that was not what motivated her. Throughout her remarkable career, the singer/songwriter was never flashy or chased trends and preferred to use her music to speak on social issues and political activism.

Chapman began her musical career busking and playing her guitar in coffeehouses in the Cambridge area while attending Tuffs University. She met Charles Koppelman, who ran a music publishing business, through his son, Brian who was a fellow student at Tuffs, and helped get Chapman signed to Electra Records in 1987.

She released her self-titled debut album the following year with the single, "Fast Car" becoming an international hit and reaching the top-ten on the U.S. pop chart. With the help of the additional singles, "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution" and "Baby Can I Hold You", the album went on to sell twenty million copies worldwide and received seven Grammy nominations and wining three awards including Best New Artist.

While her follow-up albums didn't reach these same commercial heights, Chapman did maintain a very devoted fan base with all of her records selling very well with them either going Gold or Platinum. She did find pop success again in 1995 with the blues number, "Give Me One Reason" which reached number three on the pop chart and won her a Grammy for Best Rock Song.

Chapman released her last album to date in 2008 with "Our Bright Future" but she still pops up from time to time to perform at charity events for Make Poverty History, amfAR, and AIDS/LifeCycle which are causes that are important to her. Here are two of my favorite songs by the amazing Tracy Chapman:

NEW SOUNDS

PAUL MCCARTNEY

"Egypt Station" is Paul McCartney's eighteenth solo studio album and his first featuring new music since his 2005 record, "Chaos and the Creation in the Backyard". The seventy-six year old music legend has created a solid collection of songs that takes us on a journey through different musical moods. With production assistance from current pop hit makers. Greg Kurstin and Ryan Tedder, McCartney delivers a gentle piano ballad, a Bossa Nova inspired tune, some hard rocking garage band jams and songs that offer an interesting mix of eclectic sounds. Here is the video for the first single, "Fuh You":



PAUL SIMON

That other iconic singer/songwriter named "Paul", Paul Simon also has a new album out. With "In The Blue Light", Simon is reexamining his past work and giving some of his lesser known songs a make-over. Starting with "One Man's Ceiling is Another Man's Floor" from his 1973 album, "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" and ending with "Questions For the Angels" from "So Beautiful or So What" from 2011, the seventy-six year old has given these songs new arrangements and even some reworked lyrics. Many of the songs have been stripped down to focus on the words and melody, creating a reflective and melancholy mood. Listen to one of my favorite tracks from the album, "One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor":

And we have Barbra Streisand who has been pretty vocal about her feelings regarding this current Presidential administration. After her last few albums featured classic show tunes and famous duet partners, this legendary vocalist has been inspired to make the rare move to write songs for her upcoming album. "Walls", Streisand's thirty-sixth album, is due in November and will feature mostly original songs with three she was involved with co-writing. The record is designed to explore her social concerns and offer optimism during these troubling times. The first single, "Don't Lie To Me" is one her original compositions that directly takes aim at the President and his controversial policies. Ms Streisand directed the music video for the song and it is not subtle on exactly what she's trying to say with the song:

THE 100 BEST ACTING PERFORMANCES BY MUSICIANS

While Lady Gaga has been receiving heaps of critical praise and audience love for her dramatic performance in the latest version of "A Star Is Born" which opened in theaters today, she is hardly the first pop singer to venture in to acting. It seems like a natural progression as singers express many complex emotions through song, so it would appear obvious that they should be able to do the same as an actor. And while some musicians have made an easy and impressive transition but for others, it is not necessarily a comfortable fit.

Billboard Magazine has decided to look back on one hundred different musicians throughout history who have moved from the concert stage to the silver screen and ranked them from the least successful to an outstanding achievement. The rules applied to compiling this list was that they had to begin their careers as a musician, they could not be playing themselves and only one performance per artist. This line-up is wide-ranging and features one-time acting appearances (Britney Spears, Erykah Badu, Eminem, Björk) to second careers (LL Cool J, Childish Gambino (a.k.a. Donald Glover), Mandy Moore, Kris Kristofferson) to Oscar winners (Frank Sinatra, Jennifer Hudson, Barbra Streisand, Cher).

Click below to read:

The 100 Best Acting Performances By Musicians