Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor
These girls do Bach justice
Girls Aloud: A Guilty Pleasure
I have to admit I like girls groups. The Brits have refined them over the decades. In the 80s they gave us Bananarama, in the 90s All Saints, The Spice Girls, in this decade several more like the Sugababes, but I have to say I really like Girls Aloud, who are an extremely popular group. Especially overseas.
Unlike some of the aforementioned bands, this girls are really talented in a lot of ways. There is a lot of versatility to their music. They aren’t so prepackaged as the others. Here’s a sample of their music just to give you an idea. Sexy No No No is a club dance track, Jump is a cover of an old Pointer Sisters Song, I’ll Stand By You is another excellent cover. Call the Shots is one of their songs that sold me on them.
It doesn’t hurt that they’re easy on the eyes, but their CDs are surprisingly good. I can listen to them all the way through and not get bored. It’s not surprising that they have so many hit songs.
They were created out of an American Idol like competition show in the UK and have gone on to huge international stardom.
Shirley Bassey Time
Man, she blows away so many singers. Amazing.
Duffy
I have become a huge Duffy fan. This Welsh singer does an amazing job of recreating the sound of the mid-sixties female singers who I happen to really like. Yet she has her own style. I like her a lot more than Amy Winehouse.
Here’s one of her latest videos, “Rain On Your Parade”. Very cool. She definitely should sing a Bond movie theme song. They were crazy to use the last song (which was OK, but not great) when they could have got her.
The above video is sort of related to the one she did for Mercy which had a similar style. All her videos are good in their own way. Great stuff.
Another Amazing Talent
A 12 year olf kid blows them away on Britiains Got Talent. Simon just made another Billion dollars.
The Genius of Hoyt Curtin
I often think back and wonder why I like certain things, and then I realize it was an influence from my early childhood. Most of that was spent in the early 1960s, a period I still love till this day. It was the dawn of the Beatles, Surf Music, James Bond movies, Clint Eastwood Westerns a lot of things I still like. And one of the things I loved back then was Jonny Quest. The jazz music in that show was so amazing, it had a huge influence on my musical tastes since. I think it may be why I am drawn to swing jazz with that big brassy sound that was used in so many things back then.
The man behind the Hanna-Barbara themes back then was named Hoyt Curtin. He wrote the theme to the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Space Ghost and most of all Jonny Quest. Here are the main title credits. I can listen to this over and over again and I have. It and the ending credit music is simply phenomenal. But I didn’t know until I came across the above clip that the incredible trombone sequence in that song was done as a joke. Amazing.
Here is the top three most popular episodes of Jonny Quest. A show I saw when it debuted and watched over and over again well into my teens. My sisters will attest to that because it really annoyed them. But I think that show had a big influence on my writing. I loved the international locations, colorful characters and adventure stories.
The shows back then promoted science and learning and made you want to think about new and interesting ideas. Today it’s all about idiots and their stupid behavior.
I hear Warner Brothers wants to make a Jonny Quest movie starring Zac Efron and the Rock. No comment.
Anyway, Hoyt Curtin was an amazing jazz composer who should have been one of the giants of Jazz in my opinion. His work is incredible.
Here’s an interview I found with him.
Disturbing Stuff of the Day
I thought I would ruin your Easter with these examples of some of the worst cover songs ever done.
Celine Dion doing AC/DC? Sheryl Crow doing Guns N Roses? Yikes!
A-Hole of the Day
The Infamous Billy Bob Thornton tantrum on Canadian radio. Must be seen to be believed. I guess this is how actors turned musicians get media attention now. Make a fool of yourself while promoting your CD.
UPDATE: What’s Candian for nutjob?
30 Icons American Idol Would Reject
I’ve brought this subject up on the old blog. I don’t think a lot of classic talents would make it on American Idol, though they do seem to be willing to try some different types. Ultimately, they go for a safe style. And these major artists do not fall in that category.
Especially Satchmo, though he really became famous for his trumpet playing. The singing was later.
But I don’t think Ella Fitzgerald or Dinah Washington would cut it despite being two of the great standards singers of all time. Just because they weren’t slim and pretty enough.
Then again, Fantasia won a season.
This is not a statement on the talent, but on the way the music business sees people today. They promote people byu their look more than their talent a lot of the time. Tom Waits is neither handsome or has a good singing voice, but he is an amazing song writer.
RIP: Dan Seals (aka England Dan)
Dan Seals was a member of the duo England Dan and John Ford Coley, brother of Jimmy Seals of Seals and Croft fame. I grew up listening to their music and really liked them.
Dan Seals, who was England Dan in the pop duo England Dan and John Ford Coley and later had a successful country career, has died of complications from cancer. He was 61.
Longtime manager Tony Gottlieb said Seals, diagnosed with lymphoma two years ago, died Wednesday night at his daughter’s home in Nashville.
With England Dan and John Ford Coley, Seals had hits including “I’d Really Like to See You Tonight” and “Nights Are Forever,” both in 1976. His country hits in the ’80s and ’90s included “Bop,” ”You Still Move Me,” ”Love on Arrival,” and a duet with Marie Osmond, “Meet Me in Montana.”
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