Various Artists [Wings Of Love]I love these compilation albums, giving me some of my most favourite songs by different Artists, and also giving me a varied selection of nice other songs i wouldn't otherwise listen to or collect, this compilation comes from the A & M back catalogue, sixteen excellent songs.
Out of all these songs, it was tracks 1-3, 6-9, 11-13 & 15-16 which were the best, i guess that that's nearly all of them!, the three real highlights were tracks 2, 6 & 8, and i would like to discuss each track below,
2 Elton John - Sacrifice, one of my most favourite Elton John songs, and his first number one hit in the UK, i just love the drumstick roll on the cymbal right at the beginning, what a stroke of genius!, the high synths, with its glockenspiel sounds, are judiciously used as accompaniment, and yet it makes such a tremendous contribution, out of all proportion to the amount it's played, but it's Elton John's voice which is the real star, a nice creamy voice, and a lovely ballad, in the first verse, i like the lyrics 'when the scent of her lingers', conjuring up all sorts of visuals, in the second verse it just gets better, a cleverly added guitar [or probably a keyboard synth] makes the music all the more powerful, and lots of glockenspiel synth at the end.
6 George Michael - A Different Corner, the best thing he has ever done, it's a slow smouldering song, very sparse instrumentation, and just focusing on that incredible soulful voice, with heavy bass chords and background piano, and an overriding string synth, George Michael can really plumb the depths and heights of the vocal range, and his voice nicely cries and breaks at the right points, a very breathy delivery, the lyric 'turn a different corner and we never would have met' is fantastic, just a slight different roll of the dice, and a completely different outcome would have happened.
8 Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight, a superb guitar theme runs throughout the whole song, and a gentle tap tap flow on the cymbals, and a swirling organ accompaniment underpins everything, three verses, each telling the same story 'you look / i feel / you are' wonderful tonight.
2 Elton John - Sacrifice, one of my most favourite Elton John songs, and his first number one hit in the UK, i just love the drumstick roll on the cymbal right at the beginning, what a stroke of genius!, the high synths, with its glockenspiel sounds, are judiciously used as accompaniment, and yet it makes such a tremendous contribution, out of all proportion to the amount it's played, but it's Elton John's voice which is the real star, a nice creamy voice, and a lovely ballad, in the first verse, i like the lyrics 'when the scent of her lingers', conjuring up all sorts of visuals, in the second verse it just gets better, a cleverly added guitar [or probably a keyboard synth] makes the music all the more powerful, and lots of glockenspiel synth at the end.
6 George Michael - A Different Corner, the best thing he has ever done, it's a slow smouldering song, very sparse instrumentation, and just focusing on that incredible soulful voice, with heavy bass chords and background piano, and an overriding string synth, George Michael can really plumb the depths and heights of the vocal range, and his voice nicely cries and breaks at the right points, a very breathy delivery, the lyric 'turn a different corner and we never would have met' is fantastic, just a slight different roll of the dice, and a completely different outcome would have happened.
8 Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight, a superb guitar theme runs throughout the whole song, and a gentle tap tap flow on the cymbals, and a swirling organ accompaniment underpins everything, three verses, each telling the same story 'you look / i feel / you are' wonderful tonight.
