Too much music, too little time! :D

Hi everyone, here’s a new to me song by a newly found group as well. The band is called Young The Giant and the song is called “Something to believe in”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2bM0czdyJo

I caught this on my good old First Nation Station this afternoon. It caught my ear because I thought it had a soupçon of Black Keys flavor and quite enjoyable. This song is off their latest 2016 album called “Home of the strange” and they’ve been together 12 years. Wikipedia labels them as alternative/indi. While checking for the song, I came across this acoustic version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGXECSR8Fa4

Apparently, they’ve been doing their “In the open” feature on YouTube for quite some time.  The band record/film themselves in various settings on tour, playing alternate versions of their songs: pretty cool idea. Well anyway, hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading and listening, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Hi everyone, here’s a new song, fresh off the presses, posted only a few days ago. It’s by a new version of the Spice Girls (down to 3 members) and it’s called “Song for her”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQY0FVBebDg

From what little info they could spare on TV, the new Spice Girls will call themselves GEM (Gerry, Emma and Mel B), since Mel C. (Sporty)  is enjoying her own solo career and Victoria Beckam (Posh) is too busy with her own non-musical endeavours. This was apparently an internet leak, so I have no idea on whether this is part of a yet-to-be completed project. It’s cute clean pop and one of my rare guilty pleasures of the genre. :D I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading and listening, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Hi everyone, I just found out today about the passing of yet another musician, described as a “musician’s musician”, Mr Leon Russell, who passed away last Sunday November 13 at the age of 74. He apparently passed away in his sleep. I didn’t know much about him, aside from the fact that he was a renouned and respected songwriter and musician and that our Michael, along with Marc Friedland (as part of Joy) opened for himfor 3 concerts in 1973, if I remember correctly. Michael and Marc recorded a few demos at his Tulsa studio. It’s all documented in “The soul of it all...”. Reading his Wiki page and all the people he worked with was pretty impressive and I realized he wrote one of  my favorite songs: “A song for you”. Mr Ray Charles recorded it for his album “My world” in ’93 and it’s OMG in my top 3 songs of his. Ray apparently won a very well-deserved Grammy award for “Best male R&B vocal performance” for  it.  It was also recorded by   Donny Hathaway, the Temptations, the Carpenters, Amy Winehouse, Bill Medley (1971 album) and Whitney Houston among others. For now, I want to share this version, sung in 2003 by Leon Russell himself, Willie Nelson and finally Mr Ray Charles, recorded for a birthday celebration show for Willie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaO0_XDiz8U

Man, is Ray having a great time or what? :D Well you know, for good measure, I think I’ll also share Mr Russell’s own 1970 rendition of his song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvazuyF6eXw

You know, there’s nothing like hearing it from the songwriter for grasping the true intent of the song... Rest in peace Mr Russell. Ah man, I would so love to hear this as a dream duet of Alicia Keys and our Michael... I think I’ll put that in the “Dream duets” thread... :D Well anyway, thanks very much for reading and listening, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Hi everyone,  well here comes a review of  a wonderful new album by my dear Olivia Newton-john and her friends Beth Nielsen-Chapman and Canadian singer Amy Sky called “Live on!”. To quote  the text on Olivia’s page:

“This inspiring new project grew out of the three artists’ personal experiences with loss and illness, which they all survived to “LIV ON” and celebrate each day with a depth of gratitude. This labor of love stemmed from the trio sharing their stories together and expressing their deepest feelings from the most difficult to the most celebratory. It’s the hope that this music can uplift hearts burdened by grief while at the same time bring comfort to the listener.” Further more:

““LIV ON” – means “to thrive, to have hope and to remember.” The message is clear in the lyrics of the album’s title song:

Live on, Live on

 Brighter skies will come again

 Cry the tears you cry

 And then live on, live on

 Love is all we leave when we are gone...Live on”

Without checking the track list, I can say I love all the songs, some I knew and some are new. I love the fact that the songs do go to that dark place, but it’s okay. The upbeat song “Stone in my pocket” for instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fde41-o-2Gg

...tells the listener it’s okay to have those feelings. The song “Don’t know what to say” says it’s okay to just let one be sad or mad and love is all you can do, when you don’t know what to say...  There are several wonderful interviews on YouTube with all 3 friends elaborating about the compassion poured into this CD and  one thing Amy Sky said was that sometimes grief is too big for people to process so they try and hide it. Seriously, many images about the process are shared in this wonderful CD, which I think helps validate the listener’s feelings so they can be expressed and then move on to the next step and “Live on!”. Each singer has their solo on various songs as well as working on their harmonic sound. It’s a wonderful CD and I definitely recommend it. Thanks for reading and listening,sincerely, Sylvie <3

Hi everyone, today’s post isn’t a new discovery, it’s kind of a long-distance dedication from a very dear friend. It’s a French song that’s almost 40 years old, “Prendre un enfant par la main”, which means “Take a child by the hand” by Yves Duteil:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuaNqlFdFSs

For good measure, I thought I’d throw in the lyrics also: a sweet song for my sweeter friend:

Prendre un enfant par la main

Pour l'emmener vers demain,

Pour lui donner la confiance en son pas,

Prendre un enfant pour un roi.

Prendre un enfant dans ses bras

Et pour la première fois,

Sécher ses larmes en étouffant de joie,

Prendre un enfant dans ses bras.

Prendre un enfant par le cœur

Pour soulager ses malheurs,

Tout doucement, sans parler, sans pudeur,

Prendre un enfant sur son cœur.

Prendre un enfant dans ses bras

Mais pour la première fois,

Verser des larmes en étouffant sa joie,

Prendre un enfant contre soi.

Prendre un enfant par la main

Et lui chanter des refrains

Pour qu'il s'endorme à la tombée du jour,

Prendre un enfant par l'amour.

Prendre un enfant comme il vient

Et consoler ses chagrins,

Vivre sa vie des années, puis soudain,

Prendre un enfant par la main

En regardant tout au bout du chemin,

Prendre un enfant pour le sien.

While searching for the best version, I came across a rendition by Joan Baez from 1981:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akcCGcbt0qc

She’s pretty good in French too! Well anyway, I do hope you enjoy, whether you know French or not. Thanks for reading and listening, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Hi everyone, I just caught the tail end of a Kelly Clarkson interview on TV and she seems to have interesting upcoming projects, including a children’s book released today and, as she put it: “the album she always wanted to make”, so that sounds exciting! Well anyway,  since I only caught the tail end, I checked my library to find her book but found a little surprise instead. It seems Kelly recorded a duet of Jewel’s song “Foolish games” for Jewel’s  “Greatest hits” album 3 years ago. Here it is, “Foolish games” by Jewel featuring Kelly  Clarkson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LDD_gbR9Ww

I’ll have to listen to it a few more times, without singing it... XD I love singing this song so much, I can’t see straight... XD It’s different, that’s all I can say. Now, my favorite version of it, which I believe is the single version by Jewel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sab-J4hB4ug

Thee album version is much different and I was told was recorded after Jewel had voice lessons, which I feel might have taken away a bit of the cathartic edge. I can’t believe I’d never posted this one before... It’s definitely a song on my desert island playlist. All rightie then, thanks for reading and listening, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Hi everyone, today I’m bringing a new find that sounds inspired from my musical attic. I caught this on CHOM FM 97.7 this morning and it transported me to a 70’s time-warp that I would have blamed on “throw back Thursday”, if it had been a few hours earlier... It was possibly  the chord construction of this song added to the stellar vocals, but even my son thought this had a Led Zeppelin feel to it: quite impressive. The cherry on the sundae is that this is a Montreal band, called the Damn Truth and here’s their impressive song “Heart is cold”:    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN9rZ6IcJE8&feature=youtu.be

I did a little research, browser-permitting and came across this article:

http://www.warnermusic.ca/press-release/1749/the-damn-truth-new-alb...

So, their album “Devilish folk” was out on July 8, their site is simply:

www.thedamntruth.com/

...and according to the above article, they started getting a lot of recognition because they had the good fortune to have lead singer Lee-la Baum being selected by YSL Beauty by Yves Saint Laurent, to record a cover version of U2’s “Love is Blindness” to be used as the soundtrack to its newest fragrance's ad campaign, "Mon Paris", a two-year multi- platform campaign, which will feature a roll-out of the commercial both online and in TV campaigns around the world. Here is said ad;

https://youtu.be/W3ggPjNbfnc

Just for good measure, here is U2’s version of the song used in it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8_HZ2jG_60

In search for the lyrics, I found a very informative and illuminating article on Wiki, relating to the recording of the song.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is_Blindness

I did check out the lyrics, which are pretty bleek, but they come from a lot of pain. Musically-speaking though, it’s something else... Well anyway, I do hope you’ll enjoy some of these and I must say I’ve quite enjoyed today’s musical journey. :D Thanks for reading and listening, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Hi everyone, today I bring a couple of lost gems from my vintage tapes. I’d most often tape songs off the radio and some songs weren’t the huge hits they were meant to be, but  I still enjoyed them very much. The first one is a little known hit that probably isn’t on any “greatest hits” compilation, the song “Spotlight” by Madonna:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSbgcr4fvk0

Out of curiosity, I checked it out and it’s on a 1988 remix album called “You can dance”. It apparently wasn’t even released in the U.S. as a single, but was in Japan, just before “Like a prayer” and it did chart on the Billboard Airplay chart.  The second one is a cool one I hadn’t heard probably since the year it came out, sadly, but just glad I found it again! So the song is by Prince and it’s called “I could never take the place of your man”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_B6wxC4XeQ

It’s from his 1987 album “Sign “O” the times”, but was apparently not featured in the movie of the same name. The things you learn on Wiki! I like the Prince song because it kind of has a retro element to it and there’s a terrific instrumental mid section. Well anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this 1987 flashback. Thanks for reading and listening, sincerely, Sylvie <3

Bonjour tout le monde, today I found a sweet little song I was grateful to find, despite my growing disenchantment with one of my favorite radio stations. My Radio-Classique has changed format since last year and switched from 24/7 classical to classical mixed in with what they call classic songs, about twice an hour. Those classic songs can be anything from “La vie en rose” by Edith Piaf to “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones. Needless to say I find that disturbing, because although I love all those songs, I wouldn’t put them together in the same format, but enough of my rant. The song they’ve had me discover is a song by an unknown to me French singer named Didier Barbelivien and his song is called: « La Ou Je T' Aime” (where I love you):  

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnMCtLD1tow

Here are the French lyrics, followed by the translation :

La Ou Je T' Aime

C'est une maison grise entre un arbre et un abreuvoir

 Une région de France où la pluie fait bien son devoir

C'est une terre boueuse où passent les machines agricoles

Une vallée silencieuse où les lapins vont à l'école

refrain : Là où je t'aime, le ciel n'a pas la même couleur

 Là où je t'aime, tu peux toujours cueillir des fleurs

 Là où je t'aime, le roi est un valet de coeur

C'est un chemin perdu où tu m'avais donné la main

 Un village inconnu aucun facteur ne s'en souvient

 C'est un château de sable avec une église au milieu

 Où les statues de marbre ont des grains de blé dans les yeux

refrain 

C'est une rivière morte où les poissons croient au bon Dieu

 Où j'ai fermé ma porte aux mendiants et aux orgueilleux

 C'est une forêt vierge où les mots d'amour sont maudits

 Un nuage de fièvre entre la Sologne et Paris

refrain  (2 fois le refrain)

Là où je t’aime...

translation :

Where I love you

It’s a grey house between a tree and a drinking fountain

A region of France where the rain does its duty well

It’s a muddy land where the agricultural  machines go

a silent valley where the rabbits go to school

chorus: Where I love you, the sky isn’t the same color

Where I love you, you can always pick flowers

Where I love you, the king is a jack of hearts

It’s alost path where you gave me your hand

It’s an unknown village no postman remembers

It’s a sandcastle with a church in the middle

where the marble statues have grains of wheat in their eyes

chorus

It’s a dead river where the fish believe in the good Lord

where I closed my door to the beggars and the proud

It’s a  virgin forrest where words of love are damned

A fever cloud between Sologne and Paris

chorus repeat

where I love you...

I’m usually pretty picky with French songs, but it caught my ear because the intro is similar to another song I’ve posted here a long time ago: “Je l’aime à mourir” by Francis Cabrel. It’s nicely poetic and paints a pretty picture in your mind. If it’s a classic, it’s one that passed me by... :D Merci de me lire et d’écouter, sincèrement, Sylvie <3