Monday, 15 August 2011
Fat Boy Sings "忐忑"
This is an ultra hilarious rendition of the the infamous song, the first original and the second....well. LOL.
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
U2 ~ Achtung Baby 20th Anniversary.
Another '91 iconic classic album. After the hugely successful Joshua Tree album (1987), the subsequent live and new songs album/documentary Rattle And Hum (1988) gathered generally mixed critical review, with accusation ranging from being over-grandiose, over-earnest, and self-righteous. Personally, it still nevertheless contains some memorable songs, such as When Love Comes To Town duet with the great BB King, the unrated Heartland, and really excellent live, gospel infused rendition of I Still Haven't Found What I Am Looking For. But perhaps the best of all is the live (?) version of With Or Without You which contains the additional "we will shine like stars on the summer night" or something like that, excellently captured, with Larry looking probably as the best drummer of the year. But yet, after the mammoth success of Joshua Tree, how can the band top that? It did, and in 1991, after a tumultuous recording process which nearly break the band, Achtung Baby landed and is famously described as the album "intend on chopping down the Joshua Tree". Re-inventing themselves from previously "savior" like role, the band members, particularly Bono, took hold of the fast food pop culture, style over substance, decadent, sleazy culture and mix it all up into one particularly addictive album of the 90s. Everybody knows "One", "Mysterious Ways" and perhaps "The Fly" but the one favourite personally is "Ultraviolet" and on the U2 360 Tour, it is such a treat to see the glowing UFO like mic with Bono wearing a laser beamed jacket singing it which then segue into With Or Without You. And perhaps to capture the decadency of the entire idea of the Achtung Baby idea, there's the "Uber Deluxe Set" which comes even with a set of the Fly infamous goggle like sun glass! But the price, whew! I think I''ll settle just for the Super Deluxe Set instead.
Nirvana ~ Nevermind 20th Anniversary.
1991 - Didn't realise the impact the musical realm has had on me. So many good releases. And top amongst them is undoubtably Nevermind, the seminal, break through, sopomore album from the Seattle sound "grunge" band, Nirvana which re-defined the early to mid 90s musical direction and opened up numerous opportunities of previously cult-ish "underground"/"alternative" bands not heard amongst the mainstream music listeners and avoided by listener friendly radio stations. The 20th Anniversary edition has been officially announced, available late Sept 11, and is a must have, coz of arguebly the album which defined the early to mid 90s musical direction. Comes in two format - 2 CDs deluxe ed, and a 4 CDs + 1 DVD "super" deluxe ed., with the later said to be limited only to 40,000 copies worldwide.
Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011)
And so she woke up
Woke up from where she was
Lying still
Said I gotta do something
About where we're going
Step on a steam train
Step out of the driving rain, maybe
Run from the darkness in the night
Singing ha, ah la la la de day
Ah la la la de day
Ah la la de day
Sweet the sin
Bitter taste in my mouth
I see seven towers
But I only see one way out
You got to cry without weeping
Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice
You know I took the poison
From the poison stream
Then I floated out of here
Singing...ha la la la de day
Ha la la la de day
Ha la la de day
She runs through the streets
With her eyes painted red
Under black belly of cloud in the rain
In through a doorway she brings me
White gold and pearls stolen from the sea
She is raging
She is raging
And the storm blows up in her eyes
She will...
Suffer the needle chill
She's running to stand...
Still.