Music reviews
For some reason, most of our favorite bands have put out albums recently (and I've picked up some new-to-me music at the used book store).
Barenaked Ladies are Me:
I love these guys and this album is quite good. Several songs had me laughing outright. :) Though if I'd downloaded it from iTunes, I would have gotten the extended version of the album which isn't due out in stores until a few months from now. argh... but I love getting the lyrics in the actual CD version.
Indigo Girls - Despite our Differences
Great as always! And our favorite new singer, Brandi Carlile, sings backup on Last Tears. We got the extended version with 6 extra songs - some of them live since their live versions always seem to be better than the studio ones. So glad we did!
Weird Al Yankovic - Out of Lynwood
I *love* the song "White and Nerdy"! It's been playing in my head for several days now. The video is also incredibly funny:
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/video/whitenerdy
I also love the parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" as "You're Pitiful", but it was unable to be included on the album. But you can download it from Weird Al's website:
http://www.weirdal.com/
Alanis Morissette - random songs from iTunes
I'd been thinking about some of her songs that we don't have on CD (we only have Jagged Little Pill), but that I've heard on the radio and loved. One of them, I never hear anymore ("Precious Illusions") and really loved a lot - it's a great song about those illusions we have and letting go of them, but also how they comforted us. (like the "knight in shining armor")
Miles Davis - Porgy and Bess
I've wanted this ever since I heard a snippet of it in my Jazz History class in undergrad. I found it at the used bookstore. It really is as beautiful as I thought it would be. It's wonderfully lyrical with Miles' trumpet playing the vocal parts and an orchestra behind him. So amazing!
And the gem of our findings:
Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys
This is a wonderful collection of authentic songs sung by a wide variety of people. The opening song, "Cape Cod Girls", is sung by Baby Gramps who was described by NPR as "a Tuvan Pop-eye". If you've never heard Tuvan throat singing, it's an amazing sounding technique full of overtones, weirdness, and just plain coolness. My love can do it and was asked by a professor in our department to demonstrate it to his class (as they didn't believe him that a recording was one person). Bono's song "A Dying Sailor to his companions" is so gorgeous!!! He opens by humming the song and wow! And it's just a perfect song for him! Sting also sings on the album: "Blood Red Roses". We've only listened to half of this and we want to tell everyone about it! :)
(one drawback for this album: some of the songs are *authentic* - meaning they are quite bawdy and filthy - one of them "The Good Ship Venus" has the unfortunate fault of being incredibly catchy. I know we'll be singing it for a long time... yipe!)
Barenaked Ladies are Me:
I love these guys and this album is quite good. Several songs had me laughing outright. :) Though if I'd downloaded it from iTunes, I would have gotten the extended version of the album which isn't due out in stores until a few months from now. argh... but I love getting the lyrics in the actual CD version.
Indigo Girls - Despite our Differences
Great as always! And our favorite new singer, Brandi Carlile, sings backup on Last Tears. We got the extended version with 6 extra songs - some of them live since their live versions always seem to be better than the studio ones. So glad we did!
Weird Al Yankovic - Out of Lynwood
I *love* the song "White and Nerdy"! It's been playing in my head for several days now. The video is also incredibly funny:
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/video/whitenerdy
I also love the parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" as "You're Pitiful", but it was unable to be included on the album. But you can download it from Weird Al's website:
http://www.weirdal.com/
Alanis Morissette - random songs from iTunes
I'd been thinking about some of her songs that we don't have on CD (we only have Jagged Little Pill), but that I've heard on the radio and loved. One of them, I never hear anymore ("Precious Illusions") and really loved a lot - it's a great song about those illusions we have and letting go of them, but also how they comforted us. (like the "knight in shining armor")
Miles Davis - Porgy and Bess
I've wanted this ever since I heard a snippet of it in my Jazz History class in undergrad. I found it at the used bookstore. It really is as beautiful as I thought it would be. It's wonderfully lyrical with Miles' trumpet playing the vocal parts and an orchestra behind him. So amazing!
And the gem of our findings:
Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys
This is a wonderful collection of authentic songs sung by a wide variety of people. The opening song, "Cape Cod Girls", is sung by Baby Gramps who was described by NPR as "a Tuvan Pop-eye". If you've never heard Tuvan throat singing, it's an amazing sounding technique full of overtones, weirdness, and just plain coolness. My love can do it and was asked by a professor in our department to demonstrate it to his class (as they didn't believe him that a recording was one person). Bono's song "A Dying Sailor to his companions" is so gorgeous!!! He opens by humming the song and wow! And it's just a perfect song for him! Sting also sings on the album: "Blood Red Roses". We've only listened to half of this and we want to tell everyone about it! :)
(one drawback for this album: some of the songs are *authentic* - meaning they are quite bawdy and filthy - one of them "The Good Ship Venus" has the unfortunate fault of being incredibly catchy. I know we'll be singing it for a long time... yipe!)