CD of the Month (12)

It will be no news that I am a long-time Dire Straits / Mark Knopfler fan, so here's the track that really got me hooked, on late-night radio 30 years ago.

CD of the Month (11)

Not a very original choice this month, I know. Queen is the classic, the greatest band ever, cliché of the month, superlatives cannot do them justice.

And then there's the song: when Freddy Mercury was starting to become ill, to write this song is just amazing.

Of course, I could have put up the image of Innuendo, which is also impossible to take out of the car when its turn comes around. But this collection of Greatest Hits is, by itself, an amazing collection, full of powerful, fun, well written, well performed tracks, so here it is...

CD of the month (10)

I'm no expert on musical genres, but I know what I like, and this, Sade's debut album, is one of the all time greats, whether we call it easy listening, groove, soul or something else.

With a majority of original tracks, Sade Adu and her band invented a new sound and niche, which proved so successful that they were quickly imitated, though nothing that matched the pioneering quality of this album.

One of my all-time favourites.

CD of the month (9)

Another iconic 80's album to show my age, Avalon by Roxy Music is classic pop with a soulful edge that many others tried to imitate.

While Brian Ferry's posing makes me cringe, his music is simply sublime, so here's the title track as my mp3 of the month...

CD of the Month (8)

The Corrs are one of my great favourites, despite being relatively recent. I saw them at the Pavilhão Atlântico last year, with my older son - a great concert!

Their Unplugged album shows them at their best as spontaneous, talented musicians, though with a huge backing orchestra, and reveals cover versions of some unexpected tracks, such as Everybody Hurts.

CD of the Month (7)

J.S. Bach Violin Concertos / Gidon Kremer / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (1983)

This CD of the Bach Violin Concertos was one of my early acquisitions back in 1984, when CDs were a novelty. It reflects the "best practice" of the time, which didn't run to period instruments, more to chamber orchestras of modern instruments, such as the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Nowadays they don't do things that way, but I think this recording is quite acceptable.

My only gripe is having Gidon Kremer playing both violin solos on the Double Concerto for two violins - they tend to merge into each other rather than standing out as two separate virtuosi, as you might expect.

Anyway, it's a long standing favourite of mine.

CD of the Month (6)

Well it's four months since the last CD plug, and I think this disc has been in the car all that time.

Music Box is the classic Mariah Carey album, from the young and innocent days before the marriage, implants, ventures into rap and experiments in screeching rather than singing. The best part is there are no tracks that make you want to hit the skip button. It also includes a cover of the classic track "Without You".

CD of the Month (5)

Another easy-listening CD - Secrets by Toni Braxton. A very calming influence when facing hellish traffic.

Apart from a number of rather explicit, seductive tracks, there is the classic grammatical screw-up: Un-Break My Heart. The confusion lies in the word unbroken. Anything, once broken, cannot be un-broken, it can only be repaired. Something that is unbroken, has never been broken.

Of course, Toni can claim to be at the vanguard of development of the English language. The word is intuitive - nobody has any doubt what it means, but it's wrong (gets out panda outfit, goes on a shooting spree...).

Enough of that, just listen to the music and relax.

CD of the month (4)

Gustav Holst is considered one of the key members of the renaissance in British classical music in the early 20th century. His most famous work is the Planets suite, written between 1914 and 1916.

I've uploaded the first track - Mars, the Bringer of War. This is not good driving music, you risk driving through the car in front.

Curiously my friend JMMG also wrote a post about this back in September.

Shania Twain - Up!

Our CD collection is well over 200 discs now, but nowadaysrecent additions are usually bought by other family members. Recently I came across this one. Now it doesn't get a recommendation as "CD of the week/month", but it is worth a mention as an interesting academic exercise.

The double album contains the same tracks on both CD's, the first having an "electric/rock" mix and the second a "groove/rhythmic" feel. Apparently there are also country and western mixes on her website, but I'm not that curious. Of course there are tracks that work well in both mixes, some work well only with one mix, and others that could have been left out completely.

Anyway, I found the album an interesting exercise, as a music boffin (or snob, if you like). Even so, I'm not going to put a track on the blog, so if you want to hear one try launch.yahoo.com, or similar music sites.

CD of the Month (3)

Josef Haydn is the recognised master of the symphony, having written at least 104. The best known is number 104 itself - the "London" symphony, so called because it was written in London (along with eleven others). Despite having had to study it at school, I still never tire of listening to it, which is how it has come to supersede Lighthouse Family.

My recording of it is probably considered rather dated now - Christopher Hogwood conducting the Academy of Ancient Music, which were really the first to make a serious attempt to play period music in a period style on period instruments - a 1980's obsession. Nevertheless, I think that this CD sounds better than my other recording (Colin Davis and the Concertgebouw Orchestra). I'm only going to upload one of them though, so you'll have to take my word for it.

From easy listening to popular classics, we're on a slippery slope now...

CD of the Month (2)

I have to admit that I have not taken the time to find out anything about Lighthouse Family since my sister gave me this CD for Christmas (2003?), and according to Wikipedia, there's not really much to know.

Anyway, it's one of the great easy-listening albums and has been helping me endure my commute for the last month, so here it is.

CD of the Month

So much for CD of the week - I don't get through enough music to keep that up, even when I end up stuck in the car in the rain for hours on end.

This week, one of the classic albums from one of the best-ever bands - Supertramp's Crime of the Century. Their third album out of fourteen (so far) is mainstream 70's US pop, contemporary with the Eagles' Hotel California. I think it's the best of their albums, music that I never tire of.

I went to see them at the Pavilhão Atlântico in 2002 - a great show. The location is awful, due to the lousy acoustics, and the public, mostly kids who didn't know the music and spent their time chatting and making phone calls, didn't help at all. Now I'm really showing my age, I suppose.

CD of the Week (3)

Marillion: Season's End

This was the first Marillion album after the departure of Fish (who will be in Lisbon in a fortnight, by the way), raising questions as to whether the group's music could survive the departure of its muse. 18 years on, the answer is an emphatic yes!

This 1989 album reflects important issues of the day such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the armed struggle in Northern Ireland and global warming.

As ever, the band knows how to use musical textures and timings to support the lyrics and their messages - musical capabilities sadly lacking in 99% of modern pop. In fact, that must be the main reason that the CD has been in the car now since September 24 while other music has been swapped out.

Apparently the band will be coming to Lisbon in April 2007. I'll be there.

CD of the Week (2)

One of the first CD's I bought, back in 1983 when CD's were young, was this classic recording of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", played and conducted from the piano by Leonard Bernstein, perhaps the greatest American musician of the 20th century.

That well known piece is followed by the Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story", Bernstein's landmark musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in 1950's New York. While possibly rather pretentious, creating Symphonic Dances from a musical movie soundtrack, the dances are more developed, musically, and much more satisfying to listen to than the original, with its purposely untrained singers.

And who better to conduct them than the composer himself, with his favourite Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra.

CD of the week

Sting: Ten Summoner's Tales

Strangely enough, this album, which is always difficult to replace once it reaches the CD player, actually contains eleven tracks, including the epilogue. That epilogue is important, as the album's only hit single: "Nothing 'Bout Me".

The tracks cover a mix of styles, with tones of The Police, plenty of story telling, touches of blues and classical music textures. While not dazzling, Sting produces intelligent ballads with often intriguing lyrics and complex, richly orchestrated music - just right for a music snob like me! A CD that I just can't put down.