A few songs per day that you just might want to add to your collection
Track: This is the Life
Artist: Amy McDonald
Album: This is the Life
Released: July 30, 2007
This is a re-current for us on XLR Lander Radio which has been receiving heavy rotation for the last couple of weeks. The rhythmic strumming and catchy lyrics give the song a great hook. I think you will like it in your collection. Enjoy.
Track: I've Got You Under My Skin
Artist: Frank Sinatra
Album: Music for Swingin' Lovers!
Released: March 1956
Ol' Blue Eyes for you on a Thursday afternoon. I like a good snappy tune.
Artist: Vampire Weekend
Album: Contra
Released: January 12, 2010
A friend of mine at work mentioned the band Vampire Weekend to me and thought it would be a good fit with our XLR - Lander Radio playlist. This is my first download thus far and I have to say the song has a great hook. We are giving it heavy airplay and I look forward to hearing the rest of the album. Good stuff right here.
Track: Rumor Has It
Artist: Adele
Album: 21
Released: January 21, 2011
“I taught myself how to sing by listening to Ella Fitzgerald for acrobatics and scales, Etta James for passion and Roberta Flack for control.” - Adele
Adele has been burning up the charts this summer after an early 2011 release of her landmark album 21. Rolling in the Deep was a fantastic opening single and the hits just keep on coming. Here's a quick bio on Adele from Sony music:
The minute you hear that voice, the hair stands up on the back of your neck and you realize this is someone special. She’s just 19, but Adele Laurie Blue Adkins—you can call her simply Adele—sings like a woman three times her age, a soul sensation in her native U.K. who is poised to conquer America...Brash, wise beyond her years, but down-to-earth and focused, Adele was raised by a single mom to whom she’s devoted in the racially mixed, working-class London neighborhoods of Tottenham and Brixton, where she worshiped pop idols like Backstreet Boys, the Spice Girls, Take That and Britney Spears, not daring to dream one day she might follow in their footsteps to stardom herself. “I didn’t realize this was something I could do until I got my record deal,” Adele admits. “I taught myself how to sing by listening to Ella Fitzgerald for acrobatics and scales, Etta James for passion and Roberta Flack for control.” Although she went to the same performing arts school in Croydon that Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis and Kate Nash did, Adele is no pop tart, one-hit wonder, American Idol finalist or the puppet of some svengali producer. She’s an original, with a vocal style and personal charisma that is all about human warmth, honesty and embracing the audience. “I have to believe what I’m singing about,” she says. “That’s how you connect with songs. And that’s what seems to have paved the way for me in the U.K. and Europe. People can relate to me. They believe me. I’m not some sort of concoction. I’m accessible.
Track: What is Hip?
Artist: Tower of Power
Album: Tower of Power
Released: May 1, 1973
I love the funky groove found in the music of Tower of Power. Click play above, turn up the volume, and then check out this review....
With 25 years of recording and touring experience behind them, Tower of Power still garners reviews calling them a "very 1990's sounding band". Melding jazz, funk, rock and soul in a way no other group ever has, the ten-piece outfit is, as a recent Hollywood Reporter review called them "tighter than a clenched fist."
It's always been difficult to describe Top's music... even bandmembers, when asked, give myriad responses. Says founding member and saxophonist Emilio Castillo, "What Tower plays is urban soul music." Lead singer Tom Bowes calls it"funk!". And says former Tower saxophonist Lenny Pickett, who now steps out front for the Saturday Night Live television band, "It's a rhythm and blues band."
In reality, Tower of Power's horn driven, in-your-face sound is all their own, and verbal descriptions fail. You have to experience it on your own, and as Tower fans say, "seein' is believin'."
Bandleader Emilio Castillo was born in Detroit, where he fell in love with soul music. When he moved to Oakland, CA, as a teenager he started a group called the Motowns to play the music he loved. When baritone saxophonist Stephen "The Funky Doctor" saw the Motowns at a county fair in 1967, he introduced himself to Castillo and the two became fast friends.
"Doc was the strangest bird I'd ever met," Castillo remembers. "He loved soul music, and that was my passion... we just clicked immediately." Out of their friendship came their songwriting career and the beginning of the Tower of Power repertoire. The first song the pair penned together was the band's signature classic "You're Still a Young Man".
In 1968 the Motowns became Tower of Power. They became a fixture in the Bay Area music scene, and in 1971 cut their first record, East Bay Grease for Bill Graham's San Francisco Records. The rest is history, from What is Hip? to Dont' Change Horses to Soul Vaccination.
The Tower went through a down period in the early 80's but never disbanded. In 1991 with the addition of singer Tom Bowes they made their first record for Epic/Sony, titled Monster on a Leash, followed in 1993 by Top. When not in the studio the band tours constantly, crisscrossing the world with sold out shows in Japan, Europe, and all over the United States. Staunch fans travel miles and hours to see them, some people planning their vacations to coincide with Tower performances.
A band that has remained true to itself, Tower of Power never fails to please the audience. As a reviewer from the Fort Worth Star Telegram stated recently, "If your see someone sitting still at a Tower of Power concert don't bother checking their pulse... they're already dead!"
- Review, Europe Jazz Network
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Album: Nebraska
Released: September 30, 1982
The Boss went against the advice of all the musical experts when he released a mellow Nebraska album in 1982. Springsteen was demonstrating his ability to dig deep with introspection which balanced his reputation as a live music rocker demonstrated on Born to Run. This track features one of my favorite lyrical lines from any Springsteen album...
"Poor man want to be rich, rich man want to be king, king ain't satisfied until he rules everything".
Artist: Mercy Me
Album: The Generous Mr.Lovewell
Released: May 4, 2010
I used to believe that Mercy Me was a one dimensional group responsible for I Can Only Imagine, a crossover tune that seemed to get way overplayed on both CCM and AC radio. Then I bought the Coming Up to Breathe album and was blown away by what I heard as the tracks unfolded. The music and lyrics were inspired and delivered beautifully. I had a chance to see Bart and the other guys on a tour stop in our area and I have been a fan of the band ever since. All of Creation is another wonderfully written song off the latest MM release, The Generous Mr. Lovewell. This music moves me, it speaks to me, it comforts me, it goes beyond melodies and harmonies and I hope you enjoy it.
Artist: Fitz and the Tantrums
Album: Pickin' Up the Pieces
Released: August 24, 2010
This is a relatively new addition to our stable of music on XLR - Lander Radio. Moneygrabber has an infectious hook of a chorus that you will find yourself singing in the shower or on the lawnmower or walking down the hallway at work. I haven't had the chance to listen to the rest of the album yet but love this piece of isorhythmic goodness.
Artist: Diane Birch
Album: Bible Belt
Released: May 19, 2009
I first heard of Diane Birch through the Daytrotter website where Diane had performed an acoustic set shortly after releasing her debut album, Bible Belt. For an artist born in 1983, Diane has an amazing sense of tangible soul that resides in many of her songs off the debut like Fools, Nothing But a Miracle, Ariel, and the track I present to you here, Fire Escape. Birch wrote all of the songs on her debut. In Mojo, reviewer Charles Waring described Bible Belt as:
"a mighty impressive first album....combining strong vocal melodies with infectious hook lines delivering them with a soulful fervour."
She is an old soul and I have become a fan looking forward to her next solo release. I hope you enjoy this great song!
Artist: Sons of the Pioneers
Album: The RCA Victor Years Volume 1
Released: 1934
With all the heat (especially out west), I thought a good Cowboy song might be appropriate today. Roy Rogers sings on this tune written by Bob Nolan, one of the founding members of Sons of the Pioneers. The rest of the group included Tim Spencer, Hugh Farr, Karl Farr, and Lloyd Perryman. Pat Brady replaced Roy when he went branched out into television work. Brady would later co-star with Roy Rogers on his 1951 television program.
The group was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980. Sons of the Pioneers appeared in over 150 films providing musical back-up for many screen legends including John Wayne. The group's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 6845 Hollywood Blvd.
