Various Artists [The Female Touch]

Really enjoyed playing this two disc set today, unlike other 'poppy' female discs, this has some real clever tracks, it's a great introduction to a number of Artists that you may have overlooked, makes you want to explore some more, i played / reviewed this disc just over 4 years ago [13th July 2010], every time i play these discs i seem to come away with a new favourite track.

Now visually this is a great presentation, love the front booklet cover, half a face, lots of out of focus, except for that eye, also the back inlay is a lesson in how to present a track listing, so easy to read, Artists in pink, tracks in black, why do other release make things harder?.

The tracks that really touched me were 5, 7, 20, 29 & 37, and surprisingly it was the last track on disc 1 that really got me going, 'Silent All These Years' by Tori Amos, i've never been a Tori Amos fan, i've tried some of her music, but i just can't get into her, this is the first time i've really listened to this song, and i love the lyrics, they're so cryptic at times, take this little gem in the middle,

Years go by

If i'm stripped of my beauty

And the orange clouds

Raining in my head

I take it she's singing about her ginger hair, and as she ages she will go grey [grey clouds?], a nice imagery, i love the intro, very Classical, i think she's lifted it from some composition, but i just can't put my finger on which one, a sort of generally discordant prelude that clashes in a nice way, when the lyrics come in, there's these beautiful treble chimes, now that's just delicious, there's an overall cleverness in little touches, tempo and volume to great effect, think i'll look out for more of her individual songs on Various Artists albums.

Here's Tori Amos singing 'Silent All These Years' on YouTube.

Various Artists [The Best Of All Woman] 

These compilation albums are really useful, collecting together many tracks i otherwise wouldn't really bother with, it's a good concept, and there seems to somewhat of a theme, or rather a nice bringing together of like minded songs, no track seems awkward or out of place, and even though there are lots of famous tracks, there are also tracks that aren't exactly popular, it's a great double disc which veers from my usual, a nice bit of escapism if you like, i played this over the park, sitting on a bench and watching the world go by, also i played these discs early last year [22nd January 2011].

Well this compilation came out in 1995, the front cover of course has a picture of a woman on it, a sepia toned black & white shot, i guess a poolside shot considering the wet hair, a nice pose with elbows on knees [well almost], the background is very much washed out, concentrating on the arms and face, the lettering is great, and i just love that pink 'All Woman', and then a smattering of a list of Artists below, nicely well laid out.

The tracks i liked most of all were 9-10, 18, 23, 26 & 30, and i would like to give a short synopsis of each of these tracks,
9 - Joan Armatrading - Love And Affection, A very acoustic track from Armatrading, strumming and plucking guitars, i love the way Armatrading almost ad-libs the vocals, she nicely staccato's the wording, then launches into legato, a nice and effective idea, the song builds up into something really soulful, and a superb saxophone solo [2:51-3:14]. 
10 - Sinead O'Connor - My Special Child, This is a song that i don't know that well, i remember buying a Various Artists package that had her song 'This Is To Mother You' on it, another great song, there's certainly a hidden talent there, the intro is great, a vague tune that is quite haunting, her vocals are nicely ghostly, and they get more serious as the song goes on, halfway through there's a solo for uilleann pipes [a sort of Irish bagpipes], where O'Connor talks over the solo, the best lyrics are at the beginning 'Think about my little girl, her yellow skin and her dark curls'. 
18 - Dinah Washington - Mad About The Boy, An old song from 1963, with an orchestra to back her up, there's a constant trickle / cycle in the piano keys, sounding backward to the point at first i thought it was a harp, and a gentle brushes on the drums, this underpins the whole song, Washington constantly swings from half talking to half singing, and that's just fantastic, i love the way Washington drags out the first word of each verse like a long stutter [0:16], the second one is great [0:42] as the strings come in right afterward [0:47+], a lovely lazy serenading addition, and the piano in the background that just ups the volume, as well as goes up into treble territory [1:16+], that's another lovely addition, but can easily be missed, there's a nice serenading instrumental interlude by the strings [2:01-2:18], this track might be considered easy listening, but there's more than just a simple tune being played. 
23 - Kate Bush - The Man With The Child In His Eyes, A lovely atmospheric opening, just piano and voice [0:00-0:10], that piano is so affecting, the cello comes in [0:11+], and it really creates a mood, the music changes into high strings [0:32+], it's a nice slight change of direction, and the lyrics are great here, epitomizing the whole meaning of the song, 'And suddenly i find myself listening, To a man i've never known before', it's almost Classical in its conception, there's flute [1:10], horn [1:21], and oboe [1:23].
26 - Dorothy Moore - Misty Blue, A wonderfully soulful song, Moore has such a compelling voice, tinkling piano and soft strings as an intro [0:00-0:16], Moore has this ability to add oohh's and mmmm's, and lengthen out her words, and hesitate in the most stunning way, it's that gently twanging guitar that makes the song so affecting [0:19+], the background strings are lovely and swooning, going well with the music and the gist of the lyrics.
30 - Hazel O'Connor - Will You, The 'saxophone track', rather like Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty, it uses a very upfront and central use of the saxophone [played by Wesley McGoogan], the lyrics are fairly banal, but the music slowly builds up and up, the second half of the song is really just a saxophone solo [2:45-4:44], over a constant beat and background strings, there's an 'overblown angry' feel to the solo, the solo develops a real intensity the longer it goes on, and right at the end McGoogan blows and only air comes out! [4:41+], quite possibly the best long saxophone solo in Rock music, but the Gerry Rafferty / Baker Street use of the sax is more memorable / famous.

Alana Davis [Fortune Cookies] 

Here's something new, a disc that i bought quite a while back on Ebay, and i've always looked forward to playing it, there's a big reservoir of discs to play, i almost never buy a disc and play it on the same day as i bought it!, in fact the same week or the same month is rare too!, she looks like an exciting find, however some of the best discs visually, turn out to be the worst aurally, in sound i would say she's sort of like Joan Armatrading, but with a more R&B beat [at times], she's almost impossible to pigeonhole, where do you chuck her?, i guess she would go into the same place that Tracy Chapman and Beth Orton would go, on the Last FM Website, one of the top similar Artists is Shawn Colvin, maybe gives you some idea, well this is only a first listen, and i don't make hard and fast opinions on one listen, things can change dramatically the second time i spin the disc, but this was an enjoyable enough experience to get into my Blog today.

Alana Davis is American, she's now 38 years old, and she recorded this disc in 2001, i bought this album because of the front cover, wow! just look at that hair!, i could easily bury my face in there hahaha, the cover is wonderful [photo by Eric Johnson], a wry smile with lipgloss lips, a plain background which shadows at the bottom, a nice distinctive top, love the browns throughout, and the lettering is small and cute, i love this cover a lot.

I set this to play on random, and the first few tracks made me feel that she's fairly average, nothing special about her musical creations, a bit of a disappointment really, but fate had it that the very best two tracks came at the end, tracks 3 & 5 were excellent, it changed my opinion of her, and my opinion of the album, i'll certainly be looking forward to hearing this album again within the next year, here's a synopsis of these two tracks,
3 When You Became King - the best track in my opinion, it has this constant acoustic guitar vibe i love, it's a very soft track, the lyrics are wonderful,

I've never known someone so much like me 

Yet you're your own, and parts of you

Remain a sweet mystery

i can't place that plucking guitar vibe, it's really getting to me, ha! it's Bron-Yr-Aur by Led Zeppelin!, her voice is smooth, it just ghosts in from nowhere, there's excellent percussion from Bashiri Johnson, a sort of gentle chuck a chuck a chuck in the background, she's got a lovely voice, and a lovely way with words, yes very Tracy Chapman-esque.
5 I Don't Care [Lonesome Road] - another very acoustic and soft track, wow again, that voice is just butter, it melts in my ears if you get what i mean, it starts off with a breathy almost whisper lyrics, and a restrained acoustic guitar as background [0:00-0:17], and then the instruments kick in [0:18+], it's a fabulous moment, a real cello comes in [0:25+], another great moment, there's a gentle string orchestra of real strings, they bring in a heartbreaking quality to the song, there's an instrumental break in the middle, where those strings gently swoon and sway [1:15-1:39], and i find my emotions swooning and swaying along, the second verse is terrific, and the words are so meaningful,

Smiled, someone at the red light smiled

Saved me, saved me from my inner strife

Baby he just saved my life

after the words are finished, there's a sort of long outro, where Davis hums away, it's a gorgeous track, in retrospect possibly even better than the other.

Here's her album Fortune Cookies on Amazon, you can hear 30 second samples of all of the tracks.

Various Artists [Soul Searching]

Another Soul compilation, this one's different, instead of a certain era [say the Seventies], this encompasses a wider timeframe, this one's from 1967 to 1993, if you like 'the last 25 years of Soul music', it's a mixed bag, at one end you have more purer Soul, at the ether end it's more like R & B, but there's some good nuggets in there, i'm not so covinced of the Nineties stuff in here, but it's a well laid out compilation, the front cover is nicely done, a sunset / silhouette of the beach, looks relaxing and nostalgic, the back inlay track listing is clearly done, the tracks and Artists are in different colours, making reading clearer.

Of all of these tracks, i loved 27, 34 & 36 the most, here's a short synopsis of these three tracks,
27 Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free, i gave a review of this previously on another disc [5th May 2011].
34 New York City - I'm Doing Fine Now, with lyrics that are really meaningful and touching, it only has two verses, and lasts just 2:50, it would have benefited from more storyline in a third verse, plus musically it would have made an impact from a bridge to the last verse,  
36 Dorothy Moore - Misty Blue, the last track of this double disc set, and it's a nice way to finish, this is such a sad Soul ballad, of longing and regret, the opening treble tinklings from the piano are so perfect [0:00-0:17], and the gentle strumming rhythm from the guitar give it a constant vibe, and Dorothy Moore's soulful voice is tremendous, she sings with that sense of nostalgia and trying to forget, but you just can't.

Various Artists [Boom Selection 'The Essential Urban Soundtrack']

Now here's something really different from the usual in my Blog, some nice R n B / Hip Hop / Rap, yes i admit that there's a fair bit of these two discs that didn't hit the spot with me, but... i so much believe in delving into every genre of music, that i force myself to listen to even the fringes of my musical loves, there's great music everywhere in every genre of music if you so open your ears and crumble down the walls of prejudice, that's what i'm trying to do, to get away from becoming ever deeper entrenched in Classical music as an entity with the exclusion of all else, music is best listened to with the cross fertilization of all its genres. 

I once referred to Rap music as CRap music!, hahaha, well it's still not really my thing, and yet, someone who's creative, and has good music for the lyrics, can still amazingly make it work, yes there's a lot of crap Rap music out there, but don't discard it all, there's actually some gems lurking, this compilation was released in 2002, the front cover caught my eye [photo by Phil Silcock], a picture of a guy facing away from the camera, headphones over the ears, and that shaved head at the back, all couched in a blue tinge, and the gold lettering over the top, it really is a good visual product. 

Most of the tracks didn't do much for me, but even here i notice that a number have possibilities, and with some more listening they could really catch on, here's where i'm excited by music, the breaking down of hard fixed ideas, and realizing after all this time i've probably been wrong, it's like hating foreign food, but then one day you eat something, and suddenly your exploring Indian and Chinese etc, the three tracks that i really thought were excellent were 5-6 & 25, and here's a short synopsis of each of them,
5 Tweet - Oops Oh My, 
6 Missy Elliott - 4 My People, 
25 Mary J Blige - Family Affair,