Wednesday 28 November 2012

Infinity Ink - Infinity

Joe writes: Love this tune from Infinity Ink, one of whom is Ali Love

Friday 23 November 2012

from Chris Malinchak - So Good To Me to Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt

Joe writes: Great soulful track on French Express. Does anyone know what the sample is?



(update in Jan 2012: I now know what the sample is - If This World Were Mine by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, and interestingly the a cappella is also on YouTube which may be a big factor in how it came to be sampled)

So Good To Me reminds me of All I Need by Ill Beat Hustlers which went nowhere but should have been huge:




Ill Beat Hustlers sampled Don't Know Much by Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt:

Thursday 22 November 2012

Thanksgiving by Mary Gauthier

Joe writes: As a one-time regular prison visitor and Mary Gauthier fan, I was bound to like this. Be warned though - it will not get your Thanksgiving party started.

Thursday 15 November 2012

Forever Autumn - Justin Hayward

Phil writes: The Gary Barlow version has reminded me of a lovely song that I had almost forgotten.  Not sure what GB adds to it though:


Monday 5 November 2012

"the sky isn't always blue, the sun doesn't always shine, it's alright to fall apart sometimes"

Joe writes: There's an identikit cover version of Robert Miles featuring Maria Nayler's One & One floating around which reminded me what a great song it is.

It was written by Billy Steinberg, Rick Nowels and Marie Claire D'Ubaldo. Billy Steinberg is "just" a lyricist - he doesn't write melody - but he's one of the most successful lyricists of the modern era having written Like A Virgin, True Colors, Eternal Flame, and Alone by Heart, all with Tom Kelly. I heard a story, probably apocryphal, that some time after Like A Virgin had been the pivotal smash for Madonna, Billy and Tom went to a party because they'd heard Madonna was going to be there and they'd never met her. They went up to her and said "Hi, we're Billy and Tom, we wrote Like A Virgin and we've always wanted to meet you". Madonna said "Well now you have". End of conversation.

There's more about Like A Virgin here, including the one lyric they didn't use in the end: "Ask my friends and they'll tell you it's true/Nobody's had what I'm giving to you", which I think is a shame.

Rick Nowels' CV is almost as impressive as Billy's, and more current - he co-wrote one of the biggest European hits of recent times, I Follow Rivers by Lykke Li, as well as Heaven Is A Place On Earth, You Get What You Give, and a number of Dido songs including White Flag.

Marie Claire D'Ubaldo is an Argentine musician whose song Falling Into You (also written with Billy and Rick) was a hit for Celine Dion.

Robert Miles was released on Arista in North America and I have a feeling Clive Davis was involved in finding this song for Robert. Children was of course Robert Miles' breakthrough smash in both the UK and the US. Then came Fable, which sounded a lot like Children. Then came One & One, which was a big hit in the UK but doesn't seem to have charted in the US.




If you'd like to hear it dubbed from the 7" vinyl head to So Many Records, So Little Time.