Eriks musical diary

lørdag 2. april 2011

The Leisure Society returns in May

May 2nd is the release date for British band The Leisure Society's sophomore disc, titled Into The Murky Water. Their first, The Sleeper (2009), was a low-key affair, great songwriting in a slightly folk-poppy direction with rich arrangements contrasting quite nicely with the tenderness of the songs themselves. The band have even recorded covers of songs as diverse as The Beatles' "Something" and Gary Numan's "Cars" with impressive results. I really look forward to the new album, and especially love the title of track two, "Dust On The Dancefloor". The album will be preceded by a single, "This Phantom Life", on April 25th. You can have a taste of their wonderful music on amazon's pre-order page here.

Rodney Crowell - Fate's Right Hand

Rodney Crowell used to be a successful countrysinger and songwriter and was married to Rosanne Cash for a number of years, thus having Johnny Cash as a father-in-law. Wow! to that... Anyway, in 2001 he kind of reinvented himself with the album The Houston Kid, his strongest to date. He's followed that with three albums in a similar vein. Here's the title track off Fate's Right Hand (2003), which is really, really good.

Watch and listen

Simon & Garfunkel - America

It's hard to name Simon & Garfunkel's prettiest recording, but "America" has to be one of them. Taken from the album Bookends (1968) it describes both a physical and metaphorical journey across the continent. It was also featured prominently in Cameron Crowe's film Almost Famous (2000), to great effect.

Listen

Duran Duran - Save A Prayer

Duran Duran's new album All You Need Is Now has been met with mixed reviews. I like it a lot though, and there's one song off it that resembles their best ever song "Save A Prayer" off Rio (1982). It's called "Leave A Light On" and should be a single soon. In the meantime, let's enjoy "Save A Prayer" and also watch the video, shot in Sri Lanka. It looks fantastic!

Watch and listen

Prince - If I Was Your Girlfriend

One of Prince' greatest songs, the sensual ballad "If I Was Your Girlfriend", the second single to be released from the masterful Sign O' The Times album, recorded back in his prime (1987). I didn't find a music video (can't remember ever having seen one either), but you can listen to the song by following the link below.

Listen

Elbow - Friend Of Ours

Here's a nice quiet song to start off this Saturday. Elbow's performing their wonderful "Friend Of Ours", the final track off the The Seldom Seen Kid album (2008), with help from the BBC Concert Orchestra at legendary Abbey Road Studios. This is simply beautiful.

Watch and listen

fredag 1. april 2011

Listen to new Jane's Addiction song here

Jane's Addiction will finally return with a new album, their first since Strays (2003). It's only their fourth proper studio album since the great Nothing's Shocking (1988). On Chilean radio a few days ago, frontman Perry Ferrell unveiled the lead single "End To The Lies" from the forthcoming album, The Great Escape Artist. The album is expected some time this summer, but you can listen to the song and read a bit more by clicking here.

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On & Let's Get It On

The great Marvin Gaye was a man of many moods. During the 1960's he was more of a traditional Motown man, a great singer and equally great songwriter. He was the label's best selling solo artist during the decade and dubbed "The Prince of Motown" and "The Prince of Soul", because of a magnificent voice and hits such as "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)".

Fast forward to 1971, and Marvin releases the album What's Going On, a masterpiece of reflecting soul music, vastly different in sound from his earlier effort, and even more different in theme. The album is told from the point of view of a Vietnam War veteran returning home and seeing injustice, suffering and hatred everywhere around him, a social commentary that rang true across the world and still does.

On his next album, Let's Get It On, released two years later, he returns as a sex god. The title track is possibly one of the most sexually loaded songs of all time, a great recording, smooth as silk. It set an immidiate standard for all soul singers to come wanting to bed their female audiences. It's simply as sexy as it gets.

So who do you prefer? Marvin the social commentator or Marvin the sex god? Here's a bit of both:

What's Going On

Let's Get It On

The Cure - Friday I'm In Love

How original, you might think, to publish this on a Friday, but then again - is there anything wrong with this song? "Friday I'm In Love" (1992) is simply a beautiful, surprisingly upbeat and happy song to belong to professional gloomsters The Cure. The sad thing really is that this track is from their album Wish that started the band's decline. The four albums they have released since have not been very good either, and "Friday I'm In Love" is in fact their last truly great song. Then again, if you only write one song in your lifetime and it sounds like this, you should be proud. Robert Smith and his group have quite a few more memorable tunes under the belt, so good for them and good for us.

Watch and listen

Friday party - 10 great tracks to start the weekend (April 1st)

Let's have some nice tunes to kick off the weekend. Mainly these are just meant to put you in a good mood, so I hope you'll find something to like. Follow the links to the songs, or if you subscribe to a streaming service, put a list together and play them all at once. Have fun!

Justin Timberlake - SexyBack