Category: Music

Katie Melua

Plucked from music school obscurity by songwriter/producer Mike Batt, Katie Melua saw her debut bolt up the U.K. charts upon its release there in late 2003. Melua was born in Soviet Georgia in 1984. Eventually, she and her family moved to Belfast, Ireland, and finally to London, where Melua entered the B.R.I.T. School for the Performing Arts & Technology. The record industry-funded school had a habit of graduating talented performing artists (Floetry, for example), and Melua became its next success when a 2003 showcase caught the attention of Batt, who’d been looking for a vocalist capable in both jazz and blues styles. Call Off the Search was issued in the U.K. in November ’03 through Batt’s Dramatico Records imprint. A comfortable, extremely tasteful blend of jazz vocals, pop style, and adult contemporary sway, the album featured two cuts penned by Melua (including a tribute to one of her biggest influences, Eva Cassidy), as well as covers of material from John Mayall, Randy Newman, and the James Shelton classic “Lilac Wine.” The single “Closest Thing to Crazy” hit number one in December, and by January of the following year, Call Off the Search had gone platinum (300,000 units in the U.K.).

Johnny Loftus, All Music

The album has now gone 4X platinum in the U.K. and at least one copy in New Mexico.

Best selling albums ever

The Recording Industry Association of America’s Top-Selling Albums of All Time

28 Million

* Eagles Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, Eagles (Elektra)

26 Million

* Thriller, Michael Jackson (Epic)

23 Million

* The Wall, Pink Floyd (Columbia)

22 Million

* Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin (Swan Song)

21 Million

* Greatest Hits Volumes I & II, Billy Joel (Columbia)

19 Million

* Rumours, Fleetwood Mac (Warner Bros.)
* Back in Black, AC/DC (Elektra)
* The Beatles, The Beatles (Capitol)
* Come On Over, Shania Twain (Mercury Nashville)

17 Million

* Boston, Boston (Epic)
* The Bodyguard (Soundtrack), Whitney Houston (Arista)

16 Million

* Cracked Rear View, Hootie & the Blowfish (Atlantic)
* Greatest Hits, Elton John (Rocket)
* Hotel California, Eagles (Elektra)
* The Beatles 1967-1970, The Beatles (Capitol)
* No Fences, Garth Brooks (Capitol Nashville)
* Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette (Maverick)

15 Million

* Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen (Columbia)
* Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin (Swan Song)
* Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd (Capitol)
* Saturday Night Fever (Soundtrack), Bee Gees (Polydor/Atlas)
* The Beatles 1962-1966, The Beatles (Capitol)
* Appetite for Destruction, Guns ‘N Roses (Geffen)
* Double Live, Garth Brooks (Capitol Nashville)

The list continues to include all albums selling 10 million copies or more. The list is current through six months ago.

Update: Revised through May 2005.

Blogging to iTunes

Last 10 —

500 Miles, The Journeymen
Says My Heart, Billie Holiday
Bookends Theme, Simon and Garfunkel
These Foolish Things, Billie Holiday
Down To The River To Pray, Alison Krauss & Union Station (Live)
Sixteen Tons, Tennessee Ernie Ford
Body And Soul, Coleman Hawkins
Respect, Otis Redding (Monterey)
Heart of Glass, Blondie
Fight The Power, Public Enemy

End the Beguine

From the Los Angeles Times:

Artie Shaw, who rose to fame as one of the Swing era’s finest band leaders and most innovative clarinetists before slamming the door on the music business with a Shakespearean flourish, died today. He was 94.

Unwilling to compromise and play just what the audience wanted (the same stuff), Shaw retired at age 44 in 1954. He never again played or recorded publicly.

Shaw was married eight times, including to Lana Turner and Ava Gardner, and he reportedly had affairs with Betty Grable and Lena Horne.

The title for this post stolen unabashedly from dangerousmeta!. Begin the Beguine was Shaw’s most famous hit recording.

Just get over it

A man in Maryland is suing Wal-Mart for $74,500 because his 13-year-old daughter bought a CD by the rock group Evanescence at the store and the lyrics contain the f-word. (The CD did not have a parental advisory label.)

As Roger Ailes says, “As for young Miss Skeens, I doubt $74,500 will compensate her for the pain and mental suffering resulting from being the daughter of Trevin Skeens.”

Take Five

Dave Brubeck is 84 today.

And it was on this date in 1896 that Ira Gershwin was born. The Writer’s Almanac says:

[B]orn Israel Gershvin on the East Side of New York City. He’s considered one of the great lyricists of the twentieth century, best known for writing the lyrics to songs like “I’ve Got Rhythm” (1930) and “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” (1937). But he always felt overshadowed by the talent of his younger brother, the composer George Gershwin. The two brothers worked together on many songs, and Ira once heard a radio announcer say, “Here is a new song by George Gershwin and his lovely wife Ira.”

Ira Gershwin won the Pulitzer Prize for his lyrics for Of Thee I Sing (1932). Among Ira Gershwin lyrics — A Foggy Day, Fascinating Rhythm, Funny Face, I Got Rhythm, The Man I Love, Oh, Lady Be Good, Summertime.

The Official George & Ira Gershwin Web site is nicely done and includes a jukebox.

To Know Me, Know My IPod

New York Times writer John Schwartz acquires a colleague’s iPod and wonders at the invasion of privacy.

So eavesdropping on Ken’s iPod worried me. I have read about people randomly plugging in to each others’ iPods to figure out what songs are in their friends’ heads, or even in the heads of strangers. (They call it “podjacking.”) But this was a mind meld.

What if I hated Ken’s taste? Would I lose respect for him? I’m not talking about the Paula Abdul songs; we’re all entitled to our guilty pleasures. But what if it was all bubblegum, or deeply dull? It would be like opening his closet and finding Star Trek uniforms. I fretted.

But I fretted wrong. Moments of serendipity thrilled me; I was driving with my teenage daughter, listening to the iPod through the car stereo, when the Beatles’ “Yesterday” began to play. It’s a song that is nearly dead to me after so many thousands of repetitions. But when it finished, the machine skipped to a version of the song I had never heard, by Ray Charles. He sang with all the pain and heart that the twentysomething Paul McCartney could not have known, and I listened with tears in my eyes.

It’s an interesting essay.

Rolling Stone 500

Rolling Stone has published a new list of the 500 “greatest rock & roll songs of all time.” All 500 are listed with a discussion of each (ranging from lengthy to a sentence). There is a sound clip for most songs and a link to purchase many for just 79 cents each (from RealPlayer).

At the moment, NewMexiKen has 358 of the 500 on the iPod.

Which headphones are best?

Slate has a rundown on after-market earpieces for iPods (and, one assumes, those few other digital music players people might have). You can spend $40, or $70, or $330.

NewMexiKen was pleased on a recent trip with a pair of Bose headphones. (No, not the $300 noise cancelling set.) Having an over the ear model cut down considerably on ambient noise, and it appeared to keep me from irritating those nearby with the horrible, whistling-like sound that escapes from ear buds with the volume high. (A crime that should be a capital offense.)

The Edmund Fitzgerald …

went down off Whitefish Bay, Lake Superior, on this date 29 years ago.

The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald
©1976 by Gordon Lightfoot and Moose Music, Ltd.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they called “Gitche Gumee.”
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy.
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,
that good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
when the “Gales of November” came early.

The ship was the pride of the American side
coming back from some mill in Wisconsin.
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
with a crew and good captain well seasoned,
concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
when they left fully loaded for Cleveland.
And later that night when the ship’s bell rang,
could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
and a wave broke over the railing.
And ev’ry man knew, as the captain did too
’twas the witch of November come stealin’.
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
when the Gales of November came slashin’.
When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain
in the face of a hurricane west wind.

When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin’.
“Fellas, it’s too rough t’feed ya.”
At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said,
“Fellas, it’s bin good t’know ya!”
The captain wired in he had water comin’ in
and the good ship and crew was in peril.
And later that night when ‘is lights went outta sight
came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does any one know where the love of God goes
when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay
if they’d put fifteen more miles behind ‘er.
They might have split up or they might have capsized;
they may have broke deep and took water.
And all that remains is the faces and the names
of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
in the rooms of her ice-water mansion.
Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams;
the islands and bays are for sportsmen.
And farther below Lake Ontario
takes in what Lake Erie can send her,
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
with the Gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
in the “Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral.”
The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they call “Gitche Gumee.”
“Superior,” they said, “never gives up her dead
when the gales of November come early!”

The ship was thirty-nine feet tall, seventy-five feet wide, and 729 feet long.

Lightfoot’s lyrics had one error — the load was bound for Detroit, not Cleveland.

There were waves as high as 30 feet that night; so high they were picked up on radar.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was only 17 miles from safe haven (Whitefish Point).

The captain and a crew of 28 were lost.

Is nothing sacred?

Michael Barbaro in The Washington Post writes that retailers are planning to play remixed Christmas songs in hopes of boosting sales.

On the remixed holiday CDs now hitting retailers’ shelves, the song titles are familiar, but the sound is not. On Old Navy’s “Jazzy Jolly” holiday CD, 46Bliss remixes Mahalia Jackson’s rendition of Silent Night. Jackson’s voice is still there, but the original tune is all but unrecognizable, replaced with a thumping drum base line and computer-generated pulses.

On Pottery Barn’s “Christmas Chill” album, Michael Kessler remixes Mel Torme’s recording of “The Christmas Song.” Torme sings, accompanied by his own echo, which reverberates throughout the piece, and a hip-hop-inspired rhythm is inserted in the background.

iTunes shuffle, my favorite deejay

As suggested at Body and Soul (who apparently got the idea from Roxanne), the first 10 songs when I shuffled iTunes:

  1. All Your Love – Norah Jones & The Peter Malick Group (dare I say, Norah’s best album)
  2. (The Best Part Of) Breakin’ Up – The Ronettes
  3. Wabash Cannon Ball – Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys
  4. Because They’re Young – Duane Eddy & The Rebels
  5. All of Nothing at All – Dianna Krall
  6. Witchcraft – Frank Sinatra
  7. Lulu’s Back in Town – David Grisman & Martin Taylor
  8. For a Dancer – Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris
  9. Never Can Say Goodbye – The Jackson 5
  10. Midnight Sun – Ella Fitzgerald

Do you know who Steve Cropper is?

He’s 63 today. According to the All Music Guide, Steve Cropper is:

Probably the best-known soul guitarist in the world, Cropper came to prominence in the early ’60s, first with the Mar-Keys (“Last Night”), then as a founding member of Booker T. & the MG’s. A major figure in the Southern soul movement of the ’60s, Cropper made his mark not only as a player and arranger (most notably on classic sides by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and Wilson Pickett) but as a songwriter as well, co-writing the classic “In the Midnight Hour.”

And Green Onions is the single greatest rock instrumental ever, period (Booker T. Jones, organ; Steve Cropper, guitar; Lewis Steinberg, bass; Al Jackson, drums). MG’s, by the way, stands for Memphis Group, not the car.

Let’s see if we can get anyone to comment

Atrios has an idea that NewMexiKen likes (maybe even Atrios is getting restless about being all-politics all-the-time). He’s interested in music and asks:

So, post your top 5 “still listen to frequently even though I’ve had them for years” CDs.

When I last looked, he had 479 responses.

Here’s mine (subject to reconsideration and change) —

Miles Davis, Kind of Blue
Cowboy Junkies, The Trinity Session
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, Facing Future
Eva Cassidy, Imagine
David Grisman & Martin Taylor, Tone Poems II

Eva Cassidy

NewMexiKen hasn’t written about Eva Cassidy for new visitors. Here’s what I had to say in August last year.

Eva Cassidy was a singer from Bowie, Maryland, near Washington, who died of melanoma in 1996. She was 33. Click here and here and here to read about Eva.

I first heard Eva’s CD Imagine one evening last October at Tower Records in DC. I bought it then and three more CDs since. Her eighth album, American Tune is due out August 12th. [I have it, too.]

According to reports, Boston DJ Robin Young was able to get Sting to listen to Eva’s rendition of “Fields of Gold”. “She has him on camera saying that he was quite territorial about that song, arrogant even, only to be brought to tears by her totally different vocal interpretation.”

Eva Cassidy owns “Over the Rainbow” and “Fever”.

Well, actually Eva shares ownership of “Over the Rainbow” with Israel Kamakawiwo’ole.

Two of country music’s immortals …

were born on this date.

Jimmie Rodgers, considered the “Father of Country Music,” was born in Meridian, Mississippi, on September 8, 1897. He died from TB in 1933. Jimmie Rodgers was the first person inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and among the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Patsy Cline, the most popular female country singer in recording history, was born in Winchester, Virginia, on September 8, 1932. She died in a plane crash in 1963. Patsy Cline is an inductee of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

John Cage …

was born on this date in 1912. On his death in 1992, The New York Times described Cage as a “prolific and influential composer whose Minimalist works have long been a driving force in the world of music, dance and art.”

Cage’s most influential and famous piece is 4’33”. It consists of four minutes and 33 seconds of silence. The work was among National Public Radio’s 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century.

The piece, premiered in 1952, directs someone to close the lid of a piano, set a stopwatch, and sit in silence for four minutes and thirty-three seconds. Musicians and critics alike initially thought the piece a joke. But its premiere pianist, who never played a note, calls it his most intense listening experience. “4:33” speaks to the nature of sound and the musical nature of silence.

Listen to the NPR report [Real Audio].

Ruth Lee Jones …

was born on this date 80 years ago. We know her as Dinah Washington. Richard S. Ginell at the All Music Guide:

Dinah Washington was at once one of the most beloved and controversial singers of the mid-20th century — beloved to her fans, devotees, and fellow singers; controversial to critics who still accuse her of selling out her art to commerce and bad taste. Her principal sin, apparently, was to cultivate a distinctive vocal style that was at home in all kinds of music, be it R&B, blues, jazz, middle of the road pop — and she probably would have made a fine gospel or country singer had she the time. Hers was a gritty, salty, high-pitched voice, marked by absolute clarity of diction and clipped, bluesy phrasing. Washington’s personal life was turbulent, with seven marriages behind her, and her interpretations showed it, for she displayed a tough, totally unsentimental, yet still gripping hold on the universal subject of lost love.

Washington’s biggest hit was in 1959 with What a Diff’rence a Day Makes. [Link is to Apple iTunes.]

She died at age 39.

Is random truly random?

From The New York Times, an article on the iPod shuffle feature —

Such are the perils of using Shuffle, a genre-defying option that has transformed the way people listen to their music in a digital age. The problem is, now that people are rigging up their iPods to stereos at home and in their cars, they may have to think twice about what they have casually added to their music library.

Shuffle commands have been around since the dawn of the CD player. But the sheer quantity of music on an MP3 player like the iPod – and in its desktop application, iTunes – has enabled the function to take on an entirely new sense of scale and scope. It also heightens the risk that a long-forgotten favorite song will pop up, for better or for worse, in mixed company.

There is an unintended consequence of the allure of Shuffle: it is causing iPod users to question whether their devices “prefer” certain types of music.

NewMexiKen adapted to shuffle when he bought a CD jukebox (now two jukeboxes with 8,984 tracks on line). Howling Wolf to Mozart works, but it takes some getting used to — and occasionally use of the disc skip button.