What Are You Listening To?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

SUSAN BOYLE "I dreamed a dream" cd, 2009

her debut...
multi platinum just about everywhere with some fifteen million
copies sold worldwide...
all covers on here...
but by Christ she has a voice on her!...
not really my choice of music overall but some lovely renditions...
title track is the stand out here but her cover of The Stones "wild horses"
comes a close second...
I DO NOT LIKE THIS ALBUM

"wild horses"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dAIyIzT9_I  live

and the one that started it all (I still love the look on Simon Cowell's face when the frumpy old boiler
opens her mouth and starts singing, just goes to show you cant judge a book.....!)

[Ruby]

I listened to A Song for You and then went backwards and listened to Close to You - Carpenters. The one song that stood out above all the others (on this excursion) is from Close to You - "Crescent Noon". Written by John Bettis and Richard Carpenter - it's thoroughly engaging and quite haunting IMHO ...  

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JOAN ARMATRADING "what's inside"  cd,  1995:

Joan's fourteenth studio set...
I own a couple of studio sets and a compilation, I should own more...

some soft rock, some easy listening and some bluesy-jazzy tinged numbers also...
album barely made the top50 in her homeland (stupid Brits!) and failed to chart in the US
( even more stupid Americans!)…
a classy album from an under appreciated/often overlooked singer/songwriter
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

from the album:

[Ruby]

^I have this album - love that track. 

HUGH COLTMAN - Who's Happy?

 

Hugh Coltman is British born, has lived in France for some time now and recorded this album in New Orleans. A latecomer to jazz – this album is a combination of blues/rock/jazz/some biggish band and a touch of crooning. He sounds a bit like a broken Michael Bublé (which is a good thing, in my opinion ) – I like his rough edges.

First noticed him on a video clip where he was standing in for Krystle Warren (who lends her voice on this album), with Eric Legnini, and have been meaning to listen to his own work for ages.  I think this was what sent him off in more of a jazz direction than he’d previously been. Said clip – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxL3sSfeDrE
 
On Who’s Happy? there are four immediate standout tracks, for me …
 
“Civvy Street” – spot on for an album opener – excellent vibe – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxnl_d_i4-g
“The Sinner” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCc7S5QpM9Y
“Ladybird” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmkjMkF4CK0

And “Hand Me Downs” – with Melissa Laveaux. It starts off in French and moves to English about a third of the way in … I will pick this album up at some point …

[CRAZY-HORSE]

LOREENA McKENNITT  "parallel dreams" cd, 1989

another from the box of cds my colleague's wife gave me...
box included "the visit", a live set and this one...
always loved Loreena but never got round to purchasing anything...
Canadian artist...
third album, failed to chart but the talent is still shining through...
music is mainly folk/traditional folk but sits just as well in Easy Listening....
uses a lot of orchestrations...
nothing I dislike on here, a lovely classy album from a classy artist
I LIKE THIS ALBUM

[CRAZY-HORSE]

DIRE STRAITS "on every street" cd, 1991:

a revisit...
the band's sixth and final album...
contains all the soft rock/easy listening elements we expect from Knopfler…
the two weakest track (for me) are the ones issued as the first two singles in
Calling Elvis/Heavy Fuel, but their still likeable...
album just keeps on getting better with age IMO, probably because it is for themost part
forgotten by mainstream radio, and was never over played back in the day neither...
surprised to find that it has sold over fifteen million copies, I would never have guessed that
in fifteen million years, LOL....
pretty well closing in on being regarded as my go to, and favourite, album of theirs
I LOVE THIS ALBUM





as a footnote:

on the fifteen million sales of this album I have found a list on the internet which calculates not only physical sales but also downloads and streaming figures,
so incorporating all those together here is the rundown of Dire Straits studio album combined sales figures to 2018:

1....Brothers In Arms....45.7 million
2....Dire Straits...……….23.1 million
3....On Every Street.....15.1 million
4....Making Movies...….11.7 million
5....Love Over Gold...….9.4 million
6....Communique...…….7.4 million

[CRAZY-HORSE]

PETER ALLEN "peter allen" cd, 1971:

his debut album...
one of the best balladeers/piano men of the rock era IMO...
superb album IMO
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

I couldn't find my favourite track called Honest Queen or even my second favourite track Dixie, all I could find
was an interview and the first minute of it is a verse of my favourite track and the last minute or so is a portion of my 
second favourite track...

[CRAZY-HORSE]

EVA CASSIDY "songbird" cd, 1998:

compilation, plenty of covers from Curtis Mayfield thru Seeger. McVie and Sting....
she makes each song her own...
classy artist, beautiful voice...
a sad loss indeed...
I LOVE THIS ALBUM

I could have picked just about any song from this one to post but i'll
go with this one...

[CRAZY-HORSE]

JACK JOHNSON "to the sea" cd, 2010:

fifth studio set...
soft rock/easy listening/folk rock is how the experts describe his music,
my description is 'beach bum pop', reminds me of Jimmy Buffett...
I LIKE THIS ALBUM

favourite track (beach bum-LOL, had no idea until I saw the video!)

[Ruby]

The scene I’m fortunate enough to be looking at reminded me of this album cover, even down to the angles, so I’m listening to it now, with lashings of nostalgia - a very old favourite!  The moon and its reflection are blindingly bright – hardly need any lights on  …

Firefall – Luna Sea