"Almost Absolutely None Of The Hottest New Music Since 2007" News and opinions about the best music ever - the new albums, tours and reissues by the greatest rock, hip-hop, country, blues and reggae artists. With some newer artists thrown in, because there's always great new music being made.
In a lot of ways, Mary J. Blige and Led Zeppelin come from the same place: the blues. Mary considers herself R&B, but she's blues. She's lived it. The Led Zeppelin dudes obviously loved the blues and were great followers of the masters like Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters.
Still, hearing Mary's version of "Whole Lotta Love" was a bit weird. Produced by RedOne, it kind of sounds like it's a car commercial. You can find it on the international version of her latest album, Stronger With Each Tear. Apparently, that version also contains a cover of "Stairway To Heaven"! I haven't heard that one. But go here to find out where to get "Whole Lotta Love."
This isn't a film blog, but last weekend I finally saw Precious, and I was pretty shaken by it. Incredible film. The title character lives the blues, and what I did like about it was that there was a kind of redemption there.
The movie's theme song, "I Can See In Color," by Mary J. Blige, is, to me, a blues song. I said it on The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick on OutQ, but I think of Mary as a blues singer. A soul singer, and a R&B singer, but also a blues singer. I know she might not like that - these days, "blues" is taken to mean Eric Clapton. Music for older people. Predominately white people listen to it these days. But when Mary sings "I Can See In Color," it's blues just like they were sung by Muddy or Wolf or even Robert Johnson. I've posted it before, but here's Mary's performance of the song from the SIRIUS|XM studios. At the end, she really tears it up.
I have always been a fan of Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair. I went all three years, and saw some great artists, including Sarah herself, Tracy Chapman, The Indigo Girls, Missy Elliot, Morcheeba, Sheryl Crow and The Pretenders, among others. As I've mentioned, this year's lineup includes Sarah, Sheryl and The Indigo Girls, as well as Emmylou Harris, Mary J. Blige and Miranda Lambert. Now they've also announced The Bangles, The Go-Gos, Loretta Lynn, Norah Jones, Heart, Kelly Clarkson, The Courtyard Hounds (aka Emily Robison and Martie Maguire of the The Dixie Chicks), Cat Power, Sia, The Gossip and Beth Orton, among others. Of course not every artist plays every city, but odds are that every show will have a great lineup.
I can't wait to see that. Rolling Stone says that she is going to play Nina Simone in a biopic of the legendary singer. I don't think I've seen Mary J. Blige act (other than playing herself on 30 Rock), but I would definitely line up and buy my tickets to see her playing Nina. She conveys pain and angst in her music like very few other singers can. Need proof? Here's a version of her doing "Color" from Precious at the SIRIUS|XM studios (I actually was one of the camera-people, it was pretty heavy being in the room: the band hadn't actually rehearsed the song!
As per my last post, this morning on OutQ, I'll be talking about songs that have been nominated for Oscars this year, by Ryan Bingham, Randy Newman and others. I'm also bringing some songs from films that were not nominated, including songs by Paul McCartney, U2, Mary J. Blige and Jack White.
By now, everyone knows that you can download all the performances from Friday night's Hope For Haiti telethon on iTunes. There were truly great performances by Bruce Springsteen ("We Shall Overcome" with members of The Sessions Band, all of whom were on the last E Street Band tour as well), Stevie Wonder ("A Time To Love" which went inot Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water"), Sting (The Police's "Driven To Tears"), Justin Timberlake (Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah") and Dave Matthews and Neil Young (Hank Williams' "Alone and Foresaken"). But the two best performances of the night were by Mary J. Blige ("Hard Times") and Jennifer Hudson ("Let It Be"). It also includes the collaboration between Jay-Z, Rihanna, Bono and The Edge ("Stranded") written just for the occasion.
I've also mentioned that you can get Eddie Vedder's cover of Bruce Springsteen's "My City Of Ruins" from The Kennedy Center Honors ceremony on iTunes which also raises money for Haiti. Rihanna performed "Redemption Song" on Oprah this week, that's also at iTunes.
There's also this online album, Download To Donate For Haiti. It features songs by Peter Gabriel (his cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" from his upcoming albumScratch My Back), a song by Slash with Beth Hart (she had a hit in 2000 with "L.A. Song," she still does her thing and has also toured as Jeff Beck's singer), The Dave Matthews Band and Alanis Morissette, as well as Linkin Park, The All-American Rejects and a few others. Find out more at Music For Relief. And you can donate more here.
Watch this video. All the way through, to the end.
At my day job working in the interactive department at SIRIUS XM, I produce a number of videos that we post to our YouTube page and website. Some interviews, some performances. I occasionally operate a camera - not my area of expertise at all, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I've enjoyed shooting some performances, but I think I can retire from that now. Mary J. Blige performing "Color" from the film Precious blew the roof off, I doubt I'll ever film anything that tops that one.
This was filmed as part of our Artist Confidental series, where a SIRIUS XM host interviews the person between performances. What was so interesting about the performance of this particular song was that it was not planned. Artists usually give a pre-planned setlist for TV shows, radio shows, webcasts, etc. This was a live radio broadcast: it was live without a net. During the show, Mary decided to play this song. When she mentioned the song, some of the band members immeadiately looked a bit nervous. They had rehearsed the songs on the set list, not "Color." I was under the impression that the keyboardist in blue was the musical director. When you see him saying something into his mic, it was fed right into the other members in-ear monitors. I couldn't hear him, I think he was actually directing them through the song. Well, watch the video, they killed it. Just an unbelievable performance. I didn't have ear-monitors - so all I could hear was Mary, the bass player, the drummer and the backing singers, no keyboards (they didn't have amps, they were just fed straight into the board). So what I was hearing at the time, was much more stripped down than what you hear in this video. Still, I was stunned and had a lump in my throat.
I have long thought that Mary is one of the best singers out there, and more than that, when she sings something she believes it. She makes you believe it. I think that even if she didn't have an incredible voice, she'd be a great singer just on the strength of her convictions. I think Mary really identified with the title character of Precious. If, as she says, she is truly stronger with each tear, she must be a strong lady.
For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUSXM channel OutQ. I am a weekly contributor to The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. Divas -- talented female singers and artists -- always go over well on the show, and tomorrow we are going to be talking about some really cool ones.
My favorite of the bunch is Alicia Keys. I am a big fan, she is one of my "Artists of the '00s." But last time I brought her up on the show it was for her duet with Jack White for their duet of the James Bond theme "Another Way To Die." Larry and Keith let me have it, they weren't feeling it. I am unrepentant. I love the song. Her new album, The Element Of Freedom, is great. It's really heart-felt... or maybe heart-broken is a better way to put it. Without going too into her personal life, she's very private, something hasn't gone right with a guy. Hopefully she's feeling better these days, but damn, it led to some great songs and some great performances.
Mary J. Blige: she's just one of the best singers around, I think. I wouldn't mess with her, though. 'Nuff said. I recently filmed a performance by her at SIRIUS XM for an episode of Artist Confidential, and it was incredible. I hope to post some video soon. This woman feels her music and isn't able to keep her cool sometimes. Whatever else that may cause, it does result in some great music. I dig her new single "I Am," and also her song from the film Precious, "Color."
I have always liked Shakira. I don't always like her music, but I like her. A few years ago when I worked at VH1, her label flew me down to her place in the Bahamas for a day to interview her about her live DVD. I watched the DVD and was pretty impressed, and when I interviewed her, she was great. I've had some pretty annoying experiences with pop stars, but she was great. She had great taste in music, cares about the world, and wants to use her position for good. I've liked a lot of her singles, and the new one, "She Wolf," is fun.
Queen Latifah, like Will Smith, is now more of a movie star than musician. It is hard for her to get people to pay attention to her music these days. I filmed an Artist Confidential with her recently, and she tore it up. Don't believe it? Watch this video:
Longtime No Expiration readers know that on Tuesday nights, I post the topic that I will be discussing the following morning on the SIRIUS XM show The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick on OutQ. Tomorrow, however I won't be on the show because Larry and co-host Keith Price are on vacation. But next week, on December 30, we'll be back. I'll be continuing the same topic I discussed two weeks ago on December 9 - great overlooked albums of the '00s. I have a few albums in mind by Ray Davies, George Harrison and even Bruce Springsteen. But one I will definitely cover will be Cyndi Lauper's Bring Ya To The Brink, as requested by OutQ listener and No Expiration reader Mel. I'm not that familiar with the record (I actually worked on the press campaign on her standards album, At Last, a few years earlier) so I'll have to check it out!
Then, in the first week of the new year, I'll return to the ever-popular divas topic, as there are new albums by Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys and Shakira to discuss. In the meantime, keep an eye out for more of my "Best Of The '00s" posts. There are several more on the way. Who are your favorite artists of the decade?
I've written about how The Lilith Fair is going to return in the summer of 2010. Their official site announced some of the artists who will be participating in the tour (it has traditionally been Sarah McLachlan headlining, maybe one other act on the entire tour, and other artists on select dates but not the whole tour. Pretty diverse group: Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige, Emmylou Harris, Erykah Badu, The Indigo Girls, Jill Scott, Miranda Lambert and Tegan & Sara, to name a few.
One of my favorite albums of 2008 was Raphael Saadiq 's very underrated The Way I See It. The album was like a tribute to early Motown, it was just great, and it didn't get the credit it deserved. Well, Raphael just released the Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) EP, you should check it out. In other Raphael news, he produced and co-wrote Mary J. Blige's song "I Can See In Colors" for the film Precious, which is supposed to be incredible.
Will.i.am had a big viral hit with "Yes We Can," a pro-Obama song that really helped to rally the troops earlier this year. He's done a few more Obaba songs since then, which is cool. They haven't really appealed to me on a musical level, but anything that helped the cause I was cool with. He now has a new song - "America's Song," featuring himself, Faith Hill, Seal, Mary J. Blige and Bono. Again, not really a great song to my ears, but nice effort. Supposedly it was being offered as a free download today at Oprah's web site, but I can't find it, and apparently neither can a lot of other people judging by her message boards. Hopefully it will be available for everyone who wants it.
I wonder if Washington D.C. has ever seen anything like the excitement for Barack Obama's inauguration. Certainly the concert that will take place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial this Sunday for the We Are One celebration is kind of unprecedented: Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock, John Mellencamp, Usher, Shakira, James Taylor and will.i.am are among the artists who will be performing at this historic event. The show will be open to the public: I think it is supposed to be freezing that day, but who cares? I wish I was going.
A couple of years ago I was in a store somewhere, and over the soundsystem I heard what is maybe my favorite Stevie Wonder song ever: "As." It was a duet by, quite obviously, George Michael and Mary J. Blige. I found out it was only available as a very expensive import. I was like, "I want it, but not that bad."
Years later, I asked George Michael about it. I like his solo cover of Stevie's "I Believe When I Fall In Love (It Will Be Forever)," and told him so, and asked if "As" would ever be released. He said he hoped it would be in the U.S. at some point. So, now it is coming out on a new best-of that he has coming out.
I watched the video at VH1.com, and I still like their version of the song. It's not nearly as good as the original, but how could it hope to be? Still, if it brings more attention to the very underrated "As," and more people get turned on to it, then great.
Who's on tour? What are they playing? Who's still in the band these days? What's on that box set? Don't I have all of that stuff already? That's the stuff NO EXPIRATION sorts out for you. So you don't end up being the loudmouth at the Neil Young show who yells out "Heart Of Gold" when he's only doing garage rock with Crazy Horse. Or you're not the person complaining at George Clinton's shows because Bootsy isn't there (but odds are, he won't be there). You get the idea - I'll let you know what's up, and you won't have to weed through stories about lame celebs or (many) bands you haven't heard of.
I've written about how The Lilith Fair is going to return in the summer of 2010. Their official site announced some of the artists who will be participating in the tour (it has traditionally been Sarah McLachlan headlining, maybe one other act on the entire tour, and other artists on select dates but not the whole tour. Pretty diverse group: Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige, Emmylou Harris, Erykah Badu, The Indigo Girls, Jill Scott, Miranda Lambert and Tegan & Sara, to name a few.
One of my favorite albums of 2008 was Raphael Saadiq 's very underrated The Way I See It. The album was like a tribute to early Motown, it was just great, and it didn't get the credit it deserved. Well, Raphael just released the Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) EP, you should check it out. In other Raphael news, he produced and co-wrote Mary J. Blige's song "I Can See In Colors" for the film Precious, which is supposed to be incredible.
Will.i.am had a big viral hit with "Yes We Can," a pro-Obama song that really helped to rally the troops earlier this year. He's done a few more Obaba songs since then, which is cool. They haven't really appealed to me on a musical level, but anything that helped the cause I was cool with. He now has a new song - "America's Song," featuring himself, Faith Hill, Seal, Mary J. Blige and Bono. Again, not really a great song to my ears, but nice effort. Supposedly it was being offered as a free download today at Oprah's web site, but I can't find it, and apparently neither can a lot of other people judging by her message boards. Hopefully it will be available for everyone who wants it.
I wonder if Washington D.C. has ever seen anything like the excitement for Barack Obama's inauguration. Certainly the concert that will take place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial this Sunday for the We Are One celebration is kind of unprecedented: Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock, John Mellencamp, Usher, Shakira, James Taylor and will.i.am are among the artists who will be performing at this historic event. The show will be open to the public: I think it is supposed to be freezing that day, but who cares? I wish I was going.
A couple of years ago I was in a store somewhere, and over the soundsystem I heard what is maybe my favorite Stevie Wonder song ever: "As." It was a duet by, quite obviously, George Michael and Mary J. Blige. I found out it was only available as a very expensive import. I was like, "I want it, but not that bad."
