You are not alone child

I finally got my hands on a copy of Live ‘Songs From Black Mountain’, and I must say that after my first few listens I am quite impressed. It has been quite awhile since we’ve had any new material from Live, and after reading all the quotes from Ed about how the album is based on the thoughts of females as muses, I was a little concerned. I should have had more faith, Live are yet to let their fans down.

Stand out tracks are ‘The River’, ‘Mystery’ and ‘Wings’ for me. There are moments that it does sound a little bit preachy, but hey, they make no secret of the fact tat they are a Christian band, and this has always been reflected in their music, so this comes as no great surprise. It is quite funny in ‘You Are Not Alone’ when Ed declares ‘You are not alone child’, he sounds like a priest! Perhaps that was the intention…

The word is that they will be here to tour this album in December. I have seen Live play about half a dozen times, and will continue to see them as many times as they come back. They always put on a fantastic show, and it will be great to hear some of the songs from ‘Songs From Black Mountain’ played live. This is classic Live; but when you have a winning formula why would you mess with it?

Whilst we are talking about Live, Adam Kowalczky (Ed’s cousin) also has a band, Adam and the Weight, check out their website: http://www.adamandtheweight.com/ and thank me later…

Also landing on my door step this week was Pink’s ‘I’m Not Dead’. Wow, this sees a new direction for Pink. The single ‘Stupid Girls’ does not really reflect the album. This is a very mature album containing many styles of music, from the poppy beats of ‘Stupid Girls’ (though I stand by my comments that this track’s film clip is a little hypocritical – see rant in earlier post), to the heart wrenching ‘Dear Mr. President’ and the soulful of ‘Nobody Knows’ and rocking ‘U + Ur Hand’, this album has something for everybody. This girl can certainly sing and this album should be a lot stronger than its under-performing predecessor 2003’s, ‘Try This’. I also noticed she has produced this album herself…good decision after hearing it!

Now if Christina and Justin would hurry up with their new albums!

I am off to see Aussie band Faker tonight and I am pretty damn excited about it! Will let you know how it goes….

Luv Pop Princess xo

Break the Night with Colour...

There are so many fantastic albums out at the moment that are rocking my world!!! We are so spoilt for choice at the moment it is no funny. There are a few albums in particular that I need to rant about.

As mentioned in a previous post Placebo’s ‘Meds’ is fantastic with ‘Song to Say Goodbye’ and ‘Meds’ stand out tracks. Rumour has it that these guys will be back here before the years end. Let's hope so!

Richard Ashcroft ‘Keys to the World’, hello perfection. No wonder Chris Martin talks this guy up so much. I was a fan of The Verve, but this album is something else, it is in a league of its own. This is an early contender for my Top 10 albums of the year. My fave tracks are ‘Break the Night with Colour’, ‘Why Not Nothing’ and ‘Why Do Lovers?’

We Are Scientists ‘With Love and Squalor’ has the best cover art around at the moment. I love kittens; the tunes are not bad either! These guys were signed following last years SxSW conference. I can’t wait to see these tracks live…please let them tour here soon. (Fingers crossed).

Can someone please explain to me why Starsailor are not huge in Australia? The only impact they have had chart wise was with the remix of ‘Four to the Floor’. It is criminal. The same can be said about bands like Keane and Snow Patrol…what is wrong with people? Do they need to be hit around the head with an album before they can see how amazing it is? Check out their latest offering ‘On the Outside’. It was produced by Rob Schnapf (The Vines, Beck)

Corinne Bailey Rae, people are calling here the new Macy Gray. If you have not heard the superbly laid back single ‘Put You Records On’ it is only a matter of time. Bailey Rae’s self-titled album is out now and is a great chill out album. We need more female vocalist making this sort of music, it makes a nice change to the standard Jack Johnson, Donovan Frankenreiter and Ben Harper "kick back" CD’s.

I am in great anticipation of Prince’s newie and the debut from Mark Scholtez, a Brissy boy with very cruisey jazz sounds.

Hats off to The Church, The Cat Empire and Deltra Goodrem for their performances at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. I thought they were all amazing; I felt very proud to be an Aussie!

Oi Oi Oi!

Pop Princess xo

Play my favourite song!

I had an interesting conversation with a friend the other day that prompted me to blog about it. It is a concept that both confuses and interests me…but I am getting ahead of myself, let me explain.

It all began with the mention of Primus, and I said, “Ah yes, Primus…'Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver'…charming song”. This comment offended my friend and prompted the conversation and friendly argument that followed.

He sympathized with bands that have made several albums, but only seemed to be known to the masses off the back of one song. He felt that often this song is a gimmicky, fun type of song that does not reflect the bands work as a whole. This in turn attracts the attention of people who would not normally be fans of the band, fans that do not understand the rest of the bands music. Often as a result the band will refuse to play this song live as a protest. My friend understands the bands frustrations and finds this move to the ban song justified. I disagree.

Most popular bands have “a song” that you think of every time you hear of the band. Often you think Coldplay…you think ‘Yellow’; Oasis – ‘Wonderwall'; Backstreet Boys – ‘Backstreets Back’; Britney – ‘Oops I Did It Again’ and so on and so forth, I think you get the drift. Is this a negative thing for the band? In my opinion, no.

The great thing about having a hit is that it opens up your audience. People will go and buy your single and listen to the b-sides, or they will go and buy the whole album. It expands the amount of people listening to your music. That has to be a good thing. Surely the goal of a band is to make the best music that they can and have as many people as possible hear it? Does it matter if your most successful commercial track is not your finest musical moment? Surely not, as long as your finest musical moment is being heard as a result of it and given the best chance it can, does it really matter? And who decides if it is the bands best song or not? Dot he band? Do their “real fans”? Surely again, this is a matter of personal opinion anyway.

Another concern that my friend had was that this popular son g may drive people who are not really interested in the band to their gigs. If a fan enjoys a song to the extreme that they are prepared to pay $80-odd to see that one song, not knowing any others, that to me s the ultimate compliment to the song writer and performer of that particular song. The fact that the song has affected them that deeply that they wills it through an hour or more songs they don’t know just to hear it is amazing.

Personally, when I go and see Robbie Williams, I am expecting ‘Angles’; when Foo Fighters perform, I am excited to hear ‘Learn to Fly’ and I expect that Bon Jovi will belt out ‘Livin’ On a Prayer’ like it is not the 50 millionth time they have played it. If an artist is going to accept the royalties and the awards/accolades and praise for a tune, they in turn, have to embrace the song as part of their history and have love and respect for it. One thing is for sure, their fans do.

Go the hits!

Pop Princess

P.S. I had the pleasure of hearing ‘You Needed More’ a sneak peak from the new Sleepy Jackson album expected in June. One word….WOW!

P.P.S Whilst all in Australia are disappointed we will have to wait to see U2, I am sure that all fans will agree with me when I say that we understand the reasons and wish The Edge’s family all the best through this difficult time. Hopefully they will make it here sometime in the new future.