TAKE TWO: ROBERTA FLACK

There doesn't seem to be many artists like Roberta Flack in pop music anymore.  This classically trained musician is able to create colorful sounds that are silky smooth and filled with great passion which appears to be deceptively effortless. She may not possess a big voice but Roberta Flack certainly knows how to use what she has for maximum effect.

Although she came from a musical family in North Carolina and at fifteen was one of the youngest students to ever be enrolled at Howard University to the music program, Flack first became a school teacher in Washington D.C. She later taught private piano lessons before venturing out herself to perform at small clubs around town. Les McCann, a jazz performer, caught Flack's act one evening and was highly impressed. He arranged for her to meet with executives at Atlantic Records and after a three-hour audition, Roberta Flack was signed and her debut album was quickly recorded.

"First Take" was released in 1969 and received little notice until actor, Clint Eastwood used a song from the album, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" for his directorial debut, "Play Misty For Me" in 1972. This song went on to reach the top of the pop chart, sell over a million copies and won a Grammy Award for Record of The Year. Flack hit number one again the following year with "Killing Me Softly With His Song" which also won the Grammy for Record of The Year making her the only artist at the time to have won that honor consecutively (U2 would later also achieve this feat). The song became popular again when The Fugees gave it a hip-hop spin in 1996 and took it back to the top of the charts in the U.S. and Britain.

Roberta Flack is also best known for her musical duets beginning with soul legend, Donny Hathaway. Some of their big hits include "Where is the Love" and "The Closer I Get To You" which both sold over a million copies. They recorded two albums together and won a Grammy for Best Vocal By A Duo Or Group before Hathaway's tragic death in 1979. Flack would also find more success from duets with Peabo Bryson ("Tonight I Celebrate My Love") and Maxi Priest ("Set The Night To Music").

Although her output has slowed down, Roberta Flack has continued to tour and make new music. Her last album, "Let It Be Roberta: Roberta Flack Sings The Beatles" was released in 2012. It was slightly challenging to narrow down but here are my two favorite songs by Roberta Flack:

NEW SOUNDS

NENEH CHERRY

It's been twenty-five years since the hip-hop smash, "Buffalo Stance" hit the airwaves and eighteen years since the last solo recording but Neneh Cherry has finally released her fourth album, "Blank Project".

The writing of the record began as a way to cope with the loss of her mother in 2009 with her husband, Cameron McVey and Paul Simm contributing to the music. Spare, dark and deeply personal, this album is seen as a departure for the Swedish-born songstress but it's simply a more mature extension of her sound.

Listen to "Out Of The Black" that features a guest appearance by fellow dance-pop Swede, Robyn:

"Out Of The Black" - Neneh Cherry featuring Robyn (2014)

BOY GEORGE

It's also been eighteen years since the last time Boy George has released a solo album although he's hardly been idle. During this time the dashing Boy has been a notable DJ, had a Broadway musical about his life, "Taboo" which he also performed in, hosted a weekly London radio program, had his own clothing line, reunited with his band, Culture Club for a few concerts, and spent a little time in prison for various substance abuse charges.

George is now back, healthy and fit, with a new project, "This Is What I Do". The album was released last year in Europe but it's coming out Stateside in a deluxe edition. Here is the music video for the single, "King of Everything" that displays a butcher George and more of a rock sound:




TONI BRAXTON AND BABYFACE

Toni Braxton began her music career recording a demo for the producing team of L.A. Reid and Babyface with a song for the 1992 Eddie Murphy film, "Boomerang". Originally set for Anita Baker, "Love Should Have Brought You Home" would become Braxton's song and her first big single. The soundtrack featured the first duet by Braxton and Babyface, "Give U My Heart" which also made it's way up the charts.This successful partnership lead to her first album, written and produced by the team, and the rest is history.

Now over twenty years later, these two powerhouse artists have come together again for a new album, "Love, Marriage & Divorce". Braxton and Babyface musically explore the full cycle of a relationship through the good times, the bad. and all of the emotions in between. Enjoy the first single, the smooth ballad, "Hurt You" that has become a number one hit on the Adult r&b chart:

"Hurt You" - Toni Braxton & Babyface (2014)

As a bonus, here is the very first musical pairing of Toni Braxton and Babyface with "Give U My Heart". This video is certainly dated and cheesy but still fun to see:

ROCK N ROLL FOREVER

When I was growing up, rock & roll ruled the airwaves back in the '70's and '80's. That slowly began to change when rap and hip-hop began it's dominance in the 1990's and now EDM is the current craze among music lovers.

Let's be real; rock & roll will never die but it does have a little more difficulty getting noticed in this current musical climate. This post is dedicated to the classic rockers and the old school hair bands whose sounds still thrill while making you want to pull out that air guitar and keep on rockin':

"Hold On Loosely" - 38 Special (1981)

"Turn Me Loose" - Loverboy (1981)

"More Than A Feeling" - Boston (1976)

"Dance The Night Away" -Van Halen (1979)

"I Will Follow" - U2 (1980)

"Everybody Wants You" - Billy Squier (1982)

"Dream On" - Aerosmith (1973)

"Witchy Woman" - The Eagles (1972)

"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" - AC/DC (1976)

MY TUNE OF THE DAY

We are finally getting some much needed rain here in Los Angeles today. I haven't seen rain fall like this in many years, so why not share the song, "It Never Rains In Southern California". However,  there are two completely different songs that have that title.

The first was recorded by Albert Hammond, a British rock artist who co-wrote the semi-autobiographical song about a singer coming to L.A. to try and make it in the business but struggles in this highly competitive city. "It Never Rains In Southern California" reached the U.S top five in 1972 and became his only hit.

The other is a r&b classic from Tony! Toni! Toné!. "It Never Rains (In Southern California)" reached the top of the Billboard r&b chart for two weeks and hit the top forty of the pop chart back in 1990.

I can't decide which song to pick as I love them both so, enjoy each of them:

2013 OSCAR NOMINEES FOR BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Most of the conversation about this year's Oscar nominations for Best Original Song has been about the disqualification of the tune, "Alone Not Alone". I had found it a little suspect that a song from a film that nobody never heard of (let alone ever seen) managed to earn a nomination but the real news is that the rest of the selections are actually a solid collection of songs. It's been quite a while since music from a motion picture has received serious radio play but two of our nominees have been climbing up the Billboard charts. One of this year's big Grammy winners, Pharrell Williams has a top-ten hit with "Happy" from the animation sequel, "Despicable Me 2" while "Let It Go", the breakout song from another smash animated film, "Frozen" is also moving up the top-forty.

The other two notable songs include rock legends, U2 who received their second Oscar nomination for the moving ballad, "Ordinary Love" which closes out "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom". Karen O from the art-punk band Yeah Yeah Yeah co-wrote "The Moon Song" with the director of the film, "Her", Spike Jones. A version of the song is performed in the film by actors, Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix and by the artist during the end-credits.

The best news is that all of these great artists will be on the Oscar telecast, March 2nd to perform their songs. And the nominees for Best Original Song are:

"Let It Go" from "Frozen" -  Performed by Idina Menzel - (Music and lyric by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez)

"The Moon Song" from "Her" -  Performed by Karen O - (Music by Karen O, Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze)

"Ordinary Love" from "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" -  Performed  by U2 -(Music and Lyric by U2)

"Happy" from "Despicable Me 2" -  Performed by Pharrell Williams - (Music and lyric by Pharrell Williams)

TAKE TWO: CAPTAIN AND TENNILLE

After the somewhat shocking revelation that Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille, who are better known by their stage moniker, Captain & Tennille, where splitting up after almost forty years of marriage, it made me think back upon their musical career. Their wholesome family act fit perfectly in the mid-seventies and the duo found huge success starting with "Love Will Keep Us Together" which took them to the top of the U.S. pop chart, won the Grammy Award for Record of The Year and became the best selling single in 1975.

Daryl Dragon was a keyboardist for The Beach Boys touring band and first met Toni Tennille when a player was needed for a musical she had co-written in Los Angeles. Later, when The Beach Boys were in search of another keyboardist, Dragon suggested Tennille and she went on tour with the band, becoming the first "beach girl".

The couple became a team personally and professionally as they married in 1974 and became the musical act, Captain and Tennille. After touring the L.A. area, they were signed to A&M Records and began work on their first album. Following their first chart-topping song, Captain and Tennille had many other hit singles including "Lonely Nights (Angel Face)", "Do That To Me One More Time" and the infamous, "Muskrat Love". During the height of their fame, the duo had a short-lived television variety show in 1976.

By the 1980's, the hits dried up for Captain and Tennille but they continued to tour successfully across the globe. Around the same time, Toni Tennille began a solo career singing pop standards and appearing on Broadway. Captain and Tennille had officially retired around 2008 due to Dragon suffering from a neurological disorder that has left him unable to perform.

Enjoy the pure pop sounds of two of my favorite songs from Captain and Tennille:





Finally, here is a performance of the very odd song, "Muskrat Love" from their variety show:

THE BEATLES INVADE AMERICA

It was exactly fifty years ago today when a scruffy rock band for Britain made their American television debut and an entire nation swooned. An estimated seventy three million people tuned in to the popular "The Ed Sullivan Show" to watch The Beatles make the first of three consecutive appearances on the program. On that inaugural evening, the foursome performed "All My Loving", "Til There Was You" and "She Loves You". By the time The Beatles finished their act, they left the audience completely mesmerized and screaming for more.

There is no way to overestimate this band's power and influence they had not only on these shores but on the rest of the globe. Many other British acts followed and found great success here but very few made such a lasting impact on music and culture like The Beatles.

Enjoy the recorded versions of two of the songs the Beatles performed on the show:

"All My Loving" - The Beatles (1963)

"Till There Was You" - The Beatles (1963)

Here is the group performing, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" live on "The Ed Sullivan Show":