HOT AND FRESH OUT THE KITCHEN

Because of the upcoming holiday season, there is a glut of new music being dumped in to the marketplace, which is great for music lovers but a little tough on our wallets.

Here is a sampling of some hot & fresh stuff:

SHARKIRA - "SALE EL SOL"

Shakira's latest is entitled, "Sale El Sol" or "The Sun Comes Out" in English and it is her third bilingual pop album. She returns to her Latin pop/rock sound after last year's album, "She Wolf" which explored electropop music that is popular right now.

Although there are a few English-language tracks , most of the album is in Spanish. Shakira collaborates with Latin hip-Hop artists, Calle 13 and Pitbull plus the record includes the 2010 World Cup Anthem, "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) (The Official 2010 Fifa World Cup (Tm) Song)".

This song is a remake from the English indie band, The XX:


"Islands" - Shakira

BELLE & SEBASTIAN - "BELLE & SEBASTIAN WRITE ABOUT LOVE"

This alternative rock-pop band from Glasgow, Scotland has not made a huge impact here in the U.S. but they have released their eighth album, "Write About Love".

To be honest, I had never heard their music before this record but I do enjoy their sound. The album has reached number eight on the U.K. pop charts which is their highest charting record there and it is getting some airplay here.

This is the song that I really like:

"I Want The World To Stop" - Belle And Sebastian


CEE-LO GREEN - "THE LADYKILLER"

Born Thomas Callaway in Atlanta, Cee-Lo Green first came to the attention of music audiences as a member of the Hip-Hop act, Goodie Mob and later as a part of a collaboration with DJ Danger Mouse as the group, Gnarls Barkley with their hit song, "Crazy" but he is now back on the charts as a solo artist with his song, "Forget You" or the uncensored version, "F**k You [Explicit]".

He has just put out his third album under his own name, "The Lady Killer [Explicit]" and it features smooth, classic soul mixed with hip-hop all the while sticking to his very unique musical vision. It is great record and one of my favorites of the year.

It was hard to pick one favorite track but this one is it, plus the song features Philip Bailey of Earth Wind & Fire:

"Fool For You" - Cee-Lo Green Ft. Philip Bailey


RIHANNA - "LOUD"

The twenty-two year old singing sensation from Barbados has released an album almost every year since her 2005 debut, "Music Of The Sun" and now comes her fifth CD, "Loud". This record is a slight return to the sunny hip-hop flavored pop sound that she began her career with after last year's much darker edged and more rock influenced, "Rated R" but there are still traces of that sprinkled around on "Loud".

The first single, "Only Girl (In The World)" became her sixteenth song to hit the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

This appears to be her next hit single,"What's My Name?" that features Canadian rapper, Drake:

What's My Name.mp3

QUINCY JONES - "Q : SOUL BOSSA NOSTRA"

Quincy Jones is a legend in the music industry, having produced a wide and diverse group of artists during his long career and now he has released his latest, "Q: Soul Bossa Nostra", his sixteenth studio album under his own name. The record features a variety of contemporary musicians re-interpreting classic songs that Mr. Jones had previously produced with other artists.

While the project is ambitious and features an interesting line-up that includes Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, Mary J. Blige and T-Pain but it just feels unnecessary. None of the tracks are really particularly memorable, different or make you forget about the original version of the song for one moment.

This is a re-make of  "It's My Party", the number one hit Mr Jones produced for Lesley Gore in 1963. Amy Winehouse has resurfaced to record a slurred sounding version of this song:

"Its My Party" - Quincy Jones ft. Amy Winehouse

BRYAN FERRY - "OLYMPIA"
 

Former Roxy Music singer, Bryan Ferry has returned with his thirteenth solo album, "Olympia" which features the glamorous face of Supermodel, Kate Moss on the cover. The record features the lush, moody rock that isn't much of a departure from his work with Roxy Music or even from his previous solo projects.

He gets assistance on this from a fine group of musicians that include The Eurythmics's Dave Stewart, Chic's Nile Rodgers, The Scissor Sisters as well as his Roxy Music band mates.

This the first single from this album:

"You Can Dance" - Bryan Ferry

MY TUNE OF THE DAY

The Tune: Curtis Mayfield - "Move On Up" (1971)

The elections are over (FINALLY!) and all of those endless, annoying television ads will now cease. Largely depending upon your party affiliation, the country is either going to improve or things are going to get much worse.

Either way, let's forget about all of that for a moment.  Here is some great classic soul to dance to from the late, great Curtis Mayfield, a song off of his first solo album, "Curtis! (Deluxe Edition)" after leaving the group, The Impressions.

Enjoy.

Move On Up - Curtis Mayfield

FOCUS ON: TINA TURNER

I remember watching Tina Turner make her highly anticipated comeback performance on the 1985 Grammy Awards telecast. During the musical break in the song, she simply started strutting across the stage and the audience broke out in wild applause. This tiny, simple act showed how much power she has to captivate audiences.

I was familiar with her long before this appearance. I remember her most vividly shaking her thang on the "Cher" show and her performing with Ike, doing "Proud Mary" on the late night show, "Midnight Special" (yes, I'm dating myself) in the way that only they could do that song. I always loved her look and just simply watching her be TINA.

She is known as the Queen of Rock & Roll and she has truly earned that title. She gives her all in every performance and you can feel it when you see her work her magic on stage.

To say that Tina Turner is unique is putting it much too mildly. She is a fiery, sexy presence that effortlessly commands whatever stage she is on. There is absolutely no one else like her; in the way she uses that voice with either a sensual purr or a raspy growl or in her skimpy and suggestive stage costumes that on anyone else would probably just be too much or in the unparalleled way she moves that body as an extension of expressing her music, it is all in one woman who will never, ever be duplicated.

Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939 and raised in Nutbush, Tennessee, which she would later write a song, "Nutbush City Limits", that was about life in that small town. Anna Mae and her sister, Ruby grew up with their grandmother after their parents split up. Ruby later went to live with her mother in St.Louis while Anna Mae stayed in Nutbush. After her grandmother's death, Anna Mae moved to St. Louis at the age of sixteen.

One night, Ruby took Anna Mae to a club where musician Ike Turner was performing. Anna Mae talked Ike into listening to her sing and he was impressed enough to have her as an occasional vocalist in his soul revue.

During a recording session in 1960, a singer didn't show up, so Anna Mae filled in and recorded the song, "A Fool In Love" which hit number two on the r&b charts and crossing over to the top thirty on the pop charts. Ike changed Anna Mae's name to Tina, they married in Mexico and the Ike & Tina Turner Revue was born.

Although they continued to occasionally have songs hit the charts (The group's cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's song, "Proud Mary" was their biggest hit in 1971 and also won the group their only Grammy), Ike & Tina Turner became best known for their wild and energetic stage shows. They added three female singers/ dancers and called them The Ikettes who, along with Tina, created sexy dance routines that enlivened their performances.

Ike managed the act and controlled all of the decisions on recording contracts and performances but as his drug addiction and erratic behaviour grew worse, the band suffered. This caused musicians and back-up singers to come and go quite frequently.

Tina was verbally and physically abused by Ike throughout most of their marriage. After sixteen years of this, in 1976, she had finally had enough. Ike and Tina had a violent argument before a concert in Dallas and Tina left him with nothing more than thirty-six cents and a gas credit card. She hid out with various friends while Ike tried to locate her.

By walking out in the middle of a tour, Tina learned that she was legally responsible to tour promoters for the cancelled shows. So, Tina became a solo performer and made numerous television appearances and performed at conventions to supplement her income.

Tina wanted to re-start her recording career on her terms so in 1978, Tina released her third solo album, "Rough". The album had a more rock & roll sound which was the direction she wanted her music to move towards. The record did not do well nor did a follow-up disco album, "Love Explosion" in 1979. Tina was only able to tour small stages in the U.S.but in Europe, where she was still popular, she was able to sell out major venues.

In 1983, she put out a single, which was a remake of the Al Green soul classic, "Let's Stay Together (Single Version)". The song went to number six in the U.K. and charted throughout the rest of Europe.Despite this success, her record label, Capitol, was still not interested in giving her a full record deal and had no intention of releasing the song in the U.S. Capitol only relented because Americans were snapping up the imported version of the record. The song only reached number thirty-six on the U.S. pop charts but went to number three on the r&b.

This was enough for Capitol to finally allow Tina to complete a full album and in 1984, the next single off of it, "What's Love Got To Do With It?" was released. Although it got off to a slow start, it ultimately became a world wide smash hit. At the age of forty-four, Tina Turner had her first number one record in the United States. The album, "Private Dancer" was quickly released and sold over eleven million copies world wide. It would go on to win four Grammy Awards including Record of The Year for her comeback song.

Tina was back where she belonged and she has achieved much success. She released four more popular albums and had many hit singles along the way. Her live performances was always her strength and she had many successful world tours that broke concert ticket sales records, including her last one in 2009 which was a celebration of her fifty years in show business. She gave dazzling acting performances in the films, "Tommy" (1975) and "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome" (1985). She wrote her autobiography, "I, Tina" with MTV's news correspondent, Kurt Loder in 1986 that explored her career and revealed her abusive relationship with Ike. The book was adapted into a celebrated film in 1993 called, "What's Love Got To Do With It?" that starred Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, who both received Oscar nominations for their fantastic performances.

Tina Turner was inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, she received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2005 and she has sold over one hundred and eighty million records worldwide during her career.

Tina has one son, Craig with Raymond Hill, a saxophonist with Ike's band and later, another son, Ronnie which she had with Ike during their marriage. Tina also raised two of Ike's sons from previous relationships, Ike, Jr. and Michael.

Tina met German record executive, Erwin Bach at London's Heathrow Airport in 1985 and they have been together as a couple ever since.

Here are a couple of my favorite Ike &Tina songs:

"A Fool In Love" - Ike & Tina Turner 

"Sexy Ida Part 1" - Ike & Tina Turner

This is a classic performance of Ike & Tina doing "Proud Mary":





This is Ms Turner on her own:

"I Might Have Been Queen" - Tina Turner 

"Typical Male" - Tina Turner

"Better Be Good To Me" - Tina Turner

And here is the video for her slow burn version of "Let's Stay Together":



Here is a bonus of Tina rocking out on a song that was the B-side of her single of "Let's Stay Together":

"I Wrote A Letter" - Tina Turner

TRICK OR TREAT

BOO!

Have a scary good time this weekend and be safe.

It's just not Halloween without hearing this song, so let's kick this off right:

Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett  (1962)

MUSIC AND THE MOVIES: PART ONE

I heard the theme song from "Flashdance...What A Feeling" on the radio a little while ago and it made me wonder:

"When was the last time a song from a film became a hit and made it on the pop charts?"

I was struggling to come up with something and I think it might have been Eminem and his rap song, "Lose Yourself" from his film, "8 Mile" (which actually won the Oscar for Best Original Song) but that was eight years ago.

The right piece of music could be an important part of a film that helped create the perfect mood or feeling as well as being just a great song you want to listen to. There is an obvious hunger for this type of music considering the success of the television shows like, "High School Musical" and "Glee" and their multiple soundtracks.

Unfortunately, there is no longer much thought put into creating a distinguishable song for a movie anymore and the songs that are used today tend to be something you would never want to listen to again. It's too bad but maybe this will make a comeback.

For this post, I'm going to focus on movie songs from the 1960's and 1970's. I think this was the golden age of songs created specifically for a film and a time when people actually loved the music enough to buy the movie's soundtrack. These songs were played regularly on the radio and became pop hits.

Let's go back and enjoy a few of the tunes that became just as memorable as the films they were used in:

Alfie - Dionne Warwick (1966)

Theme From "Valley Of The Dolls" -  Dionne Warwick (1967)

Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel (1967)

Theme From "Mahogany" (Do You Know Where You're Going To?) - Diana Ross (1975)

Night Fever - Bee Gees (1977)

"You're The One That I Want" - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John (1978)

And here is a selection of the theme songs from the James Bond, agent 007 films:

Diamonds Are Forever - Shirley Bassey (1971)

Live And Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings (1973)

Nobody Does It Better - Carly Simon (1977)

HAIR WHIPPED: UPDATE

Willow Smith's music career is now in high gear as the new music video for her first single, "Whip My Hair" has just been released. It's a great video with a futuristic vibe with plenty of hair whipping and I love her look in it. But the thing that amazes me the most is how poised and confident she comes across in this clip, quite impressive for a nine year old. It's quiet clear that show biz is in her blood.

Take a peek:

THE FIRST TIME: PART SEVEN

NATALIE COLE - "INSEPARABLE" (1975)

Natalie Maria Cole was born in Los Angeles, California to pop/jazz singer Nat "King" Cole and Maria, a former vocalist for Duke Ellington in 1950, so it seems like she was destined for a career in music. At the age of six, Natalie sang on one of her father's Christmas albums and began performing by the age of eleven.

When Natalie decided to pursue music professionally during college, she wanted to distance herself from her father's musical legacy as much as possible. While performing pop and rock and roll songs at a nightclub, Natalie caught the attention of  producers Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy and soon they began working on her first album, which would have a r&b sound.

"Inseparable" was released in 1975 which was lead off with the smash hit single, "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" that went number one on the soul charts and number six on the pop. Natalie would be awarded the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for the song as well as winning the award for Best New Artist that year.

She would continue with a long string of hit songs throughout the rest of 1970's but her career would be derailed by 1980 when she would enter rehab many times due to her addiction to heroin and cocaine. By 1985, she was back in health and resuming her place on the top of the music charts.

By 1991, Natalie was ready to perform her father's music. She released, "Unforgettable: With Love" which was a collection of twenty-two standards previously recorded by Nat "King" Cole. The highlight of the album was a duet with Natalie and her father, "Unforgettable" which was done using his original recording and blending the two together using digital technology. The album would go on to sell over seven million copies here and would win six Grammy Awards including Album of The Year.

She has recorded nineteen albums to date with her latest being an another album of standards released in 2008 entitled, "Still Unforgettable (Amazon Exclusive Bonus Track)" which includes another digital duet with her father.

Natalie has been married three times and has a son from her first marriage to Marvin Yancy, Robert, who is a musician and occasionally tours with his mother.

This is the song that started Ms Cole's career:



THE JETS - "THE JETS" (1985)

Although there are seventeen Wolfgramm children, eight of them, LeRoy, Eddie, Eugene, Haini, Rudy, Kathi, Muana, and Elizabeth began performing professionally as The Jets in 1985. They were raised in Minneapolis, MN and played all of their own instruments. The Jets were signed to MCA Records and later that year released their self-titled debut album," the Jets".

The first single, "Curiosity" made a dent on the r&b charts but their next, "Crush On You" hit it big at number three on the pop charts and number four on the r&b. They would go on to have a total of five top ten singles and be nominated for a Grammy Award.

By 1990, a few of the band members left the group but were replaced by their younger siblings. The family belongs to the Church of Latter Day Saints and the Jets soon moved to performing religious music which they continue to do to this day.

This is The Jets' first big song:

THE PRETENDERS - "THE PRETENDERS" (1980)

Chrissie Hynde moved to London in 1973 from Akron, Ohio with dreams of becoming a rock star. She worked at the weekly music paper, NWE and performed with a variety of different bands including early versions of The Clash and The Damned.

She formed a band with James Honeyman-Scott on lead guitar, Pete Farndon on bass guitar and drummer Gerry Mcilduff with Chrissie as the lead vocalist and she played rhythm guitar. The band didn't have a name yet but they recorded a few tracks. Soon, Mcilduff was replaced with new drummer Martin Chambers and Chrissie came up with the name, "The Pretenders" after the Platters hit song, "The Great Pretender".

The Pretenders first single was a remake of The Kinks song, "Stop Your Sobbing", which was a modest hit in the UK as well as their second, "Kid" but their next song, "Brass In Pocket" was their breakthrough and it became a huge hit across the globe. The band released their debut album, "Pretenders" in 1980 and it was a commercial and critical success, selling over a million copies in the U. S. alone.

Shortly after the release of the second album, "Pretenders II", Chrissie fired Pete Farndon from the band in 1982 due to his increased drug use. Two days later, James Honeyman-Scott died of heart failure due to cocaine intolerance. Less than a year later, Farndon was dead due to drowning in a bathtub after passing out from shooting up heroin.

Chrissie and Martin Chambers kept the band together and had a variety of different guitar and bass players over the years while continuing to have many hit singles. The Pretenders have completed nine albums with their latest, "Break Up The Concrete" being released in 2008.

The band was inducted in to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Pretenders still continue to rock on tour.

Enjoy this band's classic tune: