Album of the Week - Opinion/Samples

I am still spoiled from the 70's when you walked into a record store in Philly or New york City and it would take an hour to get through the new releases for just that week. Lots of original music. I am not condemning anyones choices and agree with some mentioned as excellent music. Its all subjective. Just wish there were insurmountable amounts to choose from.

My album of the week is Dianne Reeves' "A Little Moonlight." Beautiful jazz vocals with acoustic trio backing her up.

Sort of off topic - but in response to Snook's comments on "New Releases" - I found it interesting that Sony Music (among others?) are urging artists to reduce the number of tracks on their CD's, because of the fear that the populace is regarding much of a CD's music as "Filler" and therefore would much rather download the few songs they like

News article below:
By Jeff Leeds
Los Angeles Times
Published November 18, 2003

In 1975, it took Bruce Springsteen just eight songs to bid farewell to his hot rodding younger days on "Born to Run," an album that marked his arrival as an American rock icon and went on to sell millions of copies.

These days, record executives are looking to The Boss' early brevity to reverse the music industry's three-year sales slump.

Music executives are prodding acts to limit the number of tracks on their CDs in a bid to raise fans' perceptions of the value of albums.

"There's been a tendency to overload CDs because the technology permits it," said Don Ienner, president of Sony Music U.S., which is leading the industry-wide push for shorter albums.

"The final choice will always be the artist's, but I feel — and consumer research bears it out — that the public thinks albums have too much filler. We all should be concerned about giving music buyers good value, whether they're getting eight, 10 or 20 songs."

Industry executives and plenty of pop-music critics have called for shorter albums for years, saying the emergence of digital compression two decades ago led to creative excesses that wouldn't have fit in the era of the vinyl record.

A vinyl album could hold about 40 minutes worth of music before sound quality was sacrificed; a CD can hold about 80 minutes. Critics say too many artists are using a CD's capacity to record marginal tunes, diminishing the value of the product in consumers' minds.

The shift to shorter albums could mean a major shake up. For years, every facet of the music business, from artists' record contracts to manufacturing operations, has been structured around sales of albums that wholesale for about $12 and can contain as many as 16 songs.

With the rise of digital music stores and file-swapping networks on the Internet, music fans have seized the power to buy — or steal — select tracks by an artist instead of purchasing the whole album.

As a result, industry executives say the labels may have to slash full-length album prices, as Universal Music Group did this year, or rewrite the industry's economics around shorter, cheaper CDs. The industry is fighting an estimated 15% decline in album shipments over the last three years.

Sony's view on album length, mentioned by Sony Corp. of America chief Howard Stringer at a corporate presentation in New York two weeks ago, is quickly becoming the buzz among artist representatives and rival labels.

People in the industry say some label executives have been telling artist representatives that a CD should have 10 or fewer tunes.

Many representatives are cautiously backing the idea, though they would be troubled by any cuts in artist royalties, which are tied to album prices, and songwriter royalties, which are paid on a per-song basis.

"People are asking, will artists be releasing one album that contains 16 songs every three years or will they be releasing six songs every year? We're really at this point in time when the whole landscape is shifting," said Simon Renshaw, co-head of the music division at management powerhouse the Firm, which handles such acts as the Dixie Chicks and Korn.

"I don't have a problem with shorter albums, but we all need to be vigilant about what this will mean."

Labels are coming under pressure from retailers that believe consumers will have an appetite for shorter, cheaper albums. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, has pressed all five major record companies to test albums containing no more than seven songs, a collection the chain can sell for about $8.

Universal sold slimmed-down versions of top-selling albums by such acts as Ashanti and Sum 41 this year in Wal-Mart stores with mixed results. But at least two of the other major record companies — EMI Group and Bertelsmann Music Group — may begin offering such shorter recordings for sale early next year, sources said.

80 minutes.

One major label chief who has been nudging acts to release fewer songs per album, and who spoke on condition of anonymity, said consumers' demands for lower prices had increased the pressure on the labels to reduce studio recording costs.

"If people want records for less," he said, "you've got to figure out a way to make them for less."

Although music executives believe consumers are more likely to bet on shorter albums, there are exceptions.

Outkast's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below," a double CD containing more than three dozen tracks, has sold an estimated 1.5 million copies in seven weeks, one of the hottest sellers of the year.

Record labels have run into trouble when trying to shorten albums without slashing prices. In the mid-1980s, BMG's RCA Nashville division tried to limit all releases to eight songs, part of an effort to reduce studio recording costs and songwriter royalties. But the label continued selling them for about $15, and consumers revolted with a blizzard of angry mail. RCA removed the cap about six months later.

For their part, some artists began experimenting with shorter recordings before the push from label executives. Singer-songwriter Ben Folds, who has sold more than 1.5 million albums for Sony's Epic Records division, has released two five-song "extended play" recordings in recent months. The two recordings have sold about 20,000 copies combined, and Epic executives say they believe the recordings will help develop interest in the singer's full length album due early next year.

For Folds, who has been averse to the glitzy build-up surrounding most album releases, the extended plays mark the start of what he believes will be a cycle of near-constant issuing of short recordings.

"I think things are coming around my way," Folds said. The cycle of releasing longer albums every few years "is just over. The record companies don't exactly know how to sell that [shorter albums], but I think they're going to have to find out."

AOW - Week 8

Kirsty McColl's posthumous 2001 release Tropical Brainstorm

What do you get when you cross Cuban/Latin rhythms with the cheeky, acerbic, and sexy/earthy humour of a middle-aged British divorcee with a sultry voice? Well - the musical equivalent of Shirley Valentine, I suppose - that is to say, a simply glorious statement of liberation!

Kirsty McColl was the daughter of a famous folkie (Ewan McColl). Her solo career started in the late 70's/early 80's in the UK(notably the hit "There's a guy down the chipshop thinks he's Elvis"). She married producer Steve Lillywhite, and seemed to have slowed her career down, releasing a few albums in the late 90's/early 90's (I think "Titanic Days" had some play in the US); but then took a long hiatus before this - her last album - in 2001. Unfortunately, she was struck by a speedboat while swimming in Cozumel.

Tropical Brainstorm is part love song to the Carribean, part declaration of a newfound femininity and sexuality (I'm assuming after a nasty divorce), part paeon to her homeland of England.

I bought the album based on radio play of the catchy "In These Shoes" - but it's just smashing all the way through. She can be hilariously funny and incredibly moving at the same time - bittersweet, as much of the best in life is. Partial lyrics included for tunes, because they go hand-in-hand.

Songs -

1. Mambo de la Luna - a love song to Cuban music.

"I know a land where they live for today
'Cause tomorrow is too far away
Maybe one day you will go there with me
And we'll dance underneath the ceiba tree"

2. In these shoes? - A sultry Salsa-ish romp, Love English Style

"I once met a man with a sense of adventure
He was dressed to thrill wherever he went
He said "Let's make love on a mountain top
Under the stars on a big hard rock"
I said "In these shoes?
I don't think so"
I said "Honey, let's do it here."

3. Treachery - Star stalks fan...

"Wherever he goes
I won't be too far behind
Just hanging around
Driving him out of his mind
I'm stalking a fan
He's gone to the record store
To buy a CD
By some other girl not me
He's taking her home
Getting her out of her box
And putting her on
And dancing around in his socks"

4. Here comes that man again - Cyber sex...

"Oh, here comes that man again
A car crash in my psyche
My curiosity's driving me
Yes here he comes again
Who'd have thought I'd have as much fun
With an anonymous Dutchman?
I never knew I had it in me
He says the camera is on and
Can I see him yet?
I say "Babe you look like a ghost
And sound like a Dalek to me"
So let's go back to the written word
Even though we both know it's absurd
Here comes that man again
Here comes that man again
Here comes that man again"

5. Autumngirlsoup - One of the touching ones, about being stuck in a loveless situation.

"I'm an autumn girl, flying over London
With the trees on fire it looks like home
I'm an autumn girl on the endless search for summer
Cause I need some love to cook my frozen bones
You needed something to get your teeth into
And in my voodoo kitchen you said
"I've got something to show you,
It's a recipe handed down from father to son
For a thousand years, and it goes with those hot salt tears."

6. Celestine - the monster from the Id inside of all of us:

"So many men, so many fights
So many parties and late nights
She plumbs the depths and hits the heights
That Celestine
She pretends that she can't hear me
She pretends she's nowhere near me
She just goes quiet and pretends that she's not in
But Celestine I know you're there
In your exotic underwear
And you are fixing up your hair now, Celestine"

7. England 2, Colombia 0 (Last Tango in some English bar)

"Oh you shouldn't have kissed me cause you started a fire
But then I found out that you're a serial liar

You lied about your status
You lied about your life
You never mentioned your three children
And the fact you have a wife
Now it's England 2 Colombia 0
And I know just how those Colombians feel
....
It is not in my nature to ever pick the winning team
Sometimes I think I'm happy then I remember it's a dream
Now it isn't in my nature to ever pick a winner
I always pick a bastard who would have me for his dinner*"

8. Nao Esperando - heartbroken in Brazil

"She's not waiting anymore
Não esperando seu amor
(She's not waiting for her love)
Now the sun is up the spell is broken
She's not waiting anymore
Não esperando seu amor
(She's not waiting for her love)
Now the sun is up the dream has flown away"

9. Alegria - Mostly a jungle fugue

"I close my eyes, another dream arrives
Deeper and deeper into the sweet water
Filling my senses with happiness and joy
Happiness and joy

Alegria

Happiness and joy"

10. Us Amazonians - Reverse Neanderthal theory (women clobber men on the heads)

"He'll learn to hunt and I'll teach him to fish
We'll boil up our rice in a satellite dish
We'll plant cassava wherever we can
Us Amazonians always get our man

Us Amazonians know where we stand
We got kids, we got jobs, why do we need a man?
Us Amazonians make out alright
But we want something to hold in the forest at night"

11. Wrong Again - Love Stinks
" thought my karma might protect me
From any harm you might subject me to
That my heart could be ruled by my brain
Wrong again
So you took a little piece of me
Laid me open for the world to see
But if I meant so little to you
Why couldn't you just leave me be?
It wouldn't have made so much difference to you
But it meant the whole world to me"

12. Designer Life

"Who am I to criticise you?
Just a girl to twist the knife
Welcome to designer living
This is your designer life"

13. Golden Heart (US Bonus Track)

"I used to dance and
I knew romance till
A dagger of glass tore my world apart
But if you could hold me
When I am lonely
I'd love you back with a golden heart"

14. Things Happen (US Bonus) - Stripped down acoustic, with a nice Brazilian-ish guitar (a la Louis Bonfa).

"Every Friday night she rides the whole way over town
Just to see some stupid boy who never turns around
He never sees the girl whose dreams have told her he's the one
Still she gets excited whenever Friday comes"

15. Good For Me - US Bonus Track
She ends nicely on an optimistic note (after some pretty virulent tracks earlier). Guess that's why we all stay in the game of love; because we hope it can get better.

"I'll tell you a story of love lost and found
There's no-one else for me now you are around
And everyone can see that you are good for me
Cut me adrift in the bluest of skies
I'm so close to heaven, it was such a surprise
Now everyone agrees that you are good for me"

The enchanced CD also contains a video for Mambo De La Luna, shot on the streets of Cuba, with Kirsty lip-synching as she drives around in one of those old American classics.

Folks - this is great stuff. About as literate a singer as you're going to find this side of XTC, tropical horns and beats, and a REAL voice that can deliver the stings of the lyric, or immerse you in velvet.