My Little Empire Review

 Emeli Sandé is one of the stand out artist of 2012. She was big before the Olympics but she well be massive afterwords because of the use of here singing talent during the opening and closing ceremony. Our Version of Events is avery good album with great songs like, heaven, next to me and my kind of love (see below for videos). It is well worth the money and you will find yourself listening to it again and again. enjoy 

Amazon Review

Emeli Sandé’s aptly-named solo debut single Heaven was arguably the finest British pop song released in 2011. The Scottish singer-songwriter’s seraphic vocal swoops and producer Shahid ‘Naughty Boy’ Khan’s reassuring old-school breakbeats were warmly received by listeners, while a striking similarity to Massive Attack’s Unfinished Sympathy can rarely hurt a song’s success.

Considering Heaven, which opens Our Version of Events, and the fact Sandé has written for everyone from Alicia Keys and Leona Lewis to Tinie Tempah, Sugababes and even Susan Boyle, it’s perhaps reasonable to expect the most consistently great pop album since Girls Aloud’s Out of Control. Although this doesn’t arrive, we do have a charming and occasionally moving record full of care and polish, effort and grace.

“I can’t buy your love, don’t even want to try / Sometimes the truth won’t make you happy,” sings Sandé on My Kind of Love, amid filtered pianos and surprisingly understated gospel chants. Lovely stuff, but it would have been a more compelling listen if the track was ludicrous and overblown, like the brilliant George Michael and Mary J. Blige cover of Stevie Wonder’s As. – read more on Amazon.co.uk

Selected Videos

Heaven

Next To Me

My Kind Of Love

Lord, who co-wrote many of the group’s legendary songs including Smoke On The Water, had been receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer since last August.

He co-founded Deep Purple in 1968 and also played with bands including Whitesnake during his career.

He died at the London Clinic on Monday, surrounded by family. “Jon passes from Darkness to Light,” a statement said.

Lord was influenced by classical, blues and jazz but approached his Hammond organ with a rock attitude and helped Deep Purple become pioneers of progressive and heavy rock.

Tributes have been paid on Twitter by musicians including one-time Deep Purple bandmate Joe Satriani, Iron Maiden and Anthrax.

Ex-Rage Against the Machine star Tom Morello wrote: “RIP the great Jon Lord, Deep Purple’s cornerstone/keyboardist. So many great great songs and that incredible SOUND of his! Thankyou.”

Guitarist Joe Bonamassa wrote that he was “extremely saddened” by the news, adding: “One of the nicest and most talented people Ive ever met. Rest in Peace.”

  Born in Leicester, Lord learned classical piano at an early age before being seduced by watching early rock ‘n’ roll star Jerry Lee Lewis and jazz organist Jimmy Smith.

He could have chosen a career as an actor after receiving a drama school scholarship, but started playing in pub bands including short-lived outfits with future Rolling Stones star Ronnie Wood and his brother Art.

He also worked as a session musician and is thought to have played piano on The Kinks’ hit You Really Got Me.

After meeting guitarist Ritchie Blackmore through another project, the first incarnation of Deep Purple was born.

Lord’s classical influence surfaced when Lord composed Concerto for Group and Orchestra, which the band performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in 1969.

But the group refined their heavy rock sound and found mass success at the start of the 1970s with albums including Deep Purple in Rock and Machine Head.

In their classic years, the band also included Blackmore, singer Ian Gillan, drummer Ian Paice and bassist Roger Glover.

Lord continued to compose classical works alongside the group’s output and, when they split in 1976, he joined other groups Whitesnake and Paice, Ashton and Lord.

  Deep Purple reformed in 1984 and resumed at the height of their commercial prowess, playing to tens of thousands of fans around the world.

They sold a total of 150 million albums and Lord remained an ever-present amid numerous line-up changes until he left in 2002.

Still composing, he had signed to a classical music label and performed a concert to mark the 30th anniversary of Concerto for Group and Orchestra.

“Thirty years later the piece came back and changed my life again… It gave me the courage to step outside and carve a career for myself outside the band,” he told an interviewer.

He broke the news of his cancer diagnosis on his website last year, telling fans he would continue to write music as part of his therapy. – see original

I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed — Corinthians 15:51,15:52

History of Taps

The tune is actually a variation of an earlier bugle call known as the Scott Tattoo which was used in the U.S. from 1835 until 1860, and was arranged in its present form by the Union Army Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield, an American Civil War general and Medal of Honor recipient who commanded the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division in the V Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac while at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia, in July 1862 to replace a previous French bugle call used to signal “lights out”. Butterfield’s bugler, Oliver W. Norton, of Erie, Pennsylvania, was the first to sound the new call. Within months, Taps was used by both Union and Confederate forces. It was officially recognized by the United States Army in 1874.

“Taps” concludes many military funerals conducted with honors at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as hundreds of others around the United States. The tune is also sounded at many memorial services in Arlington’s Memorial Amphitheater and at grave sites throughout the cemetery. see original.

Lets we forget

ADAM YAUCH, one of the founding members of the legendary US hip-hop act The Beastie Boys, died yesterday aged 47. He had been fighting cancer for the last three years after discovering a tumour in his salivary gland.

Best known by his stage name, MCA, the Brooklyn-born Yauch formed The Beastie Boys with fellow members Mike Diamond (Mike D) and Adam Horvitz (Ad-Rock) in 1981. They broke through with their first hit Fight for your Right (to Party) in 1986. Albums such as Ill Communication, Check Your Head and Paul’s Boutique changed the course of hip-hop and the band were catapulted into the mainstream, becoming one of the biggest acts of the 1990s.

They were known for their memorable rhythms and their jokey, pop-culture-influenced lyrical style.

Just last month, The Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but Yauch was unable to attend the ceremony due to his illness.

A lifelong practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, Yauch was a passionate advocate of Tibetan rights. A talented film-maker, he was responsible for most of the band’s notable music videos.

There were many tributes to Yauch from the music world, with rapper Snoop Dogg saying he was “a legend and a pioneer”. Ex-Guns ‘n’ Roses guitarist Slash said Yauch was “f-cking awesome” and would be sorely missed by fans and fellow musicians alike.

Yauch’s film work, though always secondary to his musical work, was important to him. He formed the production company Oscilloscope Pictures which released films such as Wendy and Lisa and We Need to Talk about Kevin. He also worked on a series of Tibetan Freedom concerts. He was regarded as a significant force in the independent music world.

Speaking yesterday, Justin Timberlake said “I am crushed to hear the news of Adam Yauch’s passing. He was a true pioneer of art.”

Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons, the man who signed The Beastie Boys to their first record deal, said “One of our heroes, Adam Yauch, aka MCA, has passed away after a long bout with cancer. Our prayers go out to the family of Adam and the entire Beastie Boys crew.”

She went on to win six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Legendary producer Jerry Wexler once called her “the greatest of all modern blues singers”.

James’ manager said she died at Riverside Community Hospital in California with her husband and sons at her side.

“It’s a tremendous loss for her fans around the world,” Lupe De Leon said. “She’ll be missed. A great American singer. Her music defied category.”

Singers have paid tribute to the star on Twitter. Bryan Adams wrote “Etta James… one of the best voices of all time… RIP”.

Songwriter Nile Rodgers added: “When I was a kid, I remember walking all the way to Flash Record Shop in LA to buy a 45rpm single by Etta James. RIP.”

British singer Adele has often cited James as an influence, and wrote an article praising her for The Observer in 2010.

“Everything she sings – you believe her, even if she never wrote a word of it herself. I saw her live in New York not so long ago: Extraordinary.”

 The singer’s anguished blues vocals made her stand out, even as a child Born Jamesetta Hawkins in 1938, her mother was only 14 years old, and she never knew her father.

Raised mainly by friends and relatives, she began singing when her grandparents took her to a Baptist Church, where she joined the choir as a soloist.

Later, in San Francisco, she formed a singing group called the Creolettes, who were discovered by bandleader Johnny Otis, who coincidentally also died this week.

The band recorded together for a number of years but it was not until 1960, when James signed to the legendary Chess Records as a solo artist, that she began to achieve musical recognition.

It was for this label that she released her two most acclaimed albums, At Last and The Second Time Around.

The former included her impassioned cover of Muddy Waters’ I Just Want To Make Love To You, which is considered the predominant interpretation of the song – and gave James her biggest chart hit in the UK, landing at number five in 1996 after it was featured in an advert for Diet Coke.

However, her success in the 1960s was hindered by an addiction to heroin, and she was forced to rebuild her career after quitting the drug in 1974.

‘Wonderful music’   Although she was popular on the R&B and blues scene throughout her career, mainstream success eluded her for many years.

She did not receive her first Grammy Award until 1994, for the album Mystery Lady, which consisted of covers of Billie Holiday songs. In 2003, she was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several modern R&B stars paid their respects following the news of her death. Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am wrote on Twitter: “Showing respect appreciation and love for all the wonderful music and joy Etta James brought to the world.” Kelly Rowland said: “Classic. One of a kind. Pure soul.” “Thank you for gracing us with your incredible talent and presence.” – original article on bbc.co.uk

I have included the commercial below and I have also included Elvis sing “Bossa Nova Baby” taken from “Fun in Acapulco”. Enjoy Bossa Nova !!!

Elvis Heineken Commercial – Bossa Nova Baby

Bossa Nova Baby by Elvis Presley

(40 years ago today)

James Douglas “Jim” Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was born in Florida, he had one sister and his father was an admiral in the navy and moved around a lot.

In 1965, after graduating from UCLA and lived in Venice Beach. Morrison and fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek were the first two members of The Doors followed after by John Densmore and Robby Krieger.

Thought out the history of the band, Jim Morrison became one of the best live performers in the 60’s. With this came arrests in Miami and New Haven for public nudity and many bouts with drink and drug of all sorts.

After the finish of the band last album, Morrison flew to Paris in March 1971 and lived on the Right Bank. After months of drink and drug fueled nights, Morrison died on July 3, 1971. He was found in a Paris apartment bathtub dead. There was no autopsy done and because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. As Jim said “the future is uncertain and the end is always near”.

For more on all things “Jim Morrison” and “The Doors” just click on thedoorsareopen.com

My Little Empire review

Well this album was meant to be the difficult second full album (taking “Sun Giant” as an ep). Well this is just as well rounded an album as Fleet Foxes”. The sound is great the harmonies are spot on and the feel is great also. I see where people say that it is a little jazzier but I don’t think that take away from the album but I think it adds to it. If you like the first album you will love the second. Can’t wait for the third!!

Amazon review

“It was at times difficult to make this record,” writes Fleet Foxes’ lead singer Robin Pecknold in the self-penned press release for Helplessness Blues, citing illness, creative doubt and reassessment as factors the Seattle sextet grappled with in following up their massively popular, critically adored debut album. Not that you’d know it from a cursory listen: Helplessness Blues sounds every bit as assured as their earlier work, but given time to unfurl in your consciousness it displays facets of the band hitherto unseen. Peppered with ghostly harmonies and references to aging – even breaking out into free jazz at one point – it is a bigger, braver set than that which precedes it, suffused with both melancholy and sunshine….

……Helplessness Blues is born out of a fraught gestation period, touched by doubt, uncertainty and the travails of growing older and finding your place. But it is also a thing of beauty, and as the blissful outro of its title-track or the breathless, exuberant surge of closer Grown Ocean demonstrate, at its core lies a tangible sense of wonder and hope.
–James Skinner read full article click here.

Stand out Tracks

Helplessness Blues
The plains/ Bitter Dancer
Lorelai
Montezuma

Helplessness Blues Video