Category: Pop Music

Ed Sheeran – ÷ (Divide) – Album Review

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Ed Sheeran’s album came out on Friday and my oldest daughter couldn’t be happier.  She has been streaming the album almost non-stop since.  I am sure I will have to go out and get her the vinyl real soon which I am okay with because I would listen to it as well.

Sheeran’s new album is called Divide (÷) and is his third album in his young career.  Ed isn’t like all the other pop artist on the radio.  He actually writes his songs and plays his instruments as well.  I would even go as far as saying he is a musician and not just a prop for someone else’s songs.

The album has been breaking Spotify streaming records and is getting a lot of press.  As a result, going into this record I had pretty high expectations.  His first single, “Shape of You” is outstanding and has been blowing up the charts.  It is a pop, dance song about new love and the song currently is still my favorite song on the album, but some others are catching up as I keep hitting repeat on the album myself.

The album opens with “Eraser” and has Ed Sheeran doing a little rapping which comes as no surprise since he has done it before and he is a huge hip hop fan.  The song talks about his struggles with fame which he doesn’t expect you to feel sorry for him.  I could imagine how hard fame really can be and understand the way he feels.  It would be hard to have success so fast and all sense of privacy being stripped away.  The song is great start to the album.

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My Sunday Song – “You Keep Me Hanging On” by Kim Wilde

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My Sunday Song #29 is the song “You Keep Me Hanging On” by Kim Wilde.  It is hard to believe my wife has only one more week after this one.  How time flies.  Now I have to actually think of songs again!  I will now turn it over to my wife to explain the special meaning behind this song and maybe why the Kim Wilde version over the Supremes (which drops the “g” on Hanging)???…Enjoy!

“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” is a 1966 song written and composed by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland. It was a Billboard Hot 100 hit in late 1966 for the American Motown group The Supremes. Over the years, various artists have covered this song; however, my absolute favorite is Kim Wilde’s version. Wilde released “You Keep Me Hanging On” on her album Another Step in 1986. This song became the biggest hit of Wilde’s career.

In researching this song for My Sunday Song, I discovered that Reba McEntire covered the song in 1995 for her twenty second studio album, Starting Over. I am a HUGE Reba fan and while I am sure I have or had this CD, I do not recall her covering this song. Perhaps I heard it and loved Wilde’s version so much more that I just blocked it out. I will try to locate Reba’s version of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”. I’m curious now!

Traveling back to 1986 when Wilde released “You Keep Me Hanging On”. I was in high school going into my senior year and music was EVERYTHING! Music was my way of making sense of everything going on around me and this song was no exception. I would sing this song “loud and proud” and “over and over”. Now, I read the lyrics and this song could be applicable to so many things. Maybe you want to be set free from a relationship, which is likely the first thing many people would think about when listening to this song, but what about being set free from addictions, bad habits, anxiety, depression, self-destructive behaviors, sin, or anything that is keeping you from living the life you deserve. You try to break free from these things only to go back to them.

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Friday New Releases – February 17th

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Happy Friday.  Welcome to the end of another long work week and hopefully something released today will fit your needs.  Not much out this week, but a couple to look forward to for me.  They are highlighted in Blue.

  • 170x170bb-78  Alison Krauss – Windy City – (Hokker, Inc):  Hard to believe that this is her first solo release in 18 years.  Sadly it is only a covers album and not original material.  I will take what I can get from this bluegrass/country superstar.

  • 170x170bb-28  Ryan Adams – Prisoner – (PaxAmericana Recordings):  Ryan hasn’t waited 18 years for his next solo release.  He has only waited about 3 years.  For him, this is his 16th studio album.  That seems crazy, but he does put out a lot of albums as he averages about 1 album a year.  I am sure it will be interesting as his usually are.

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Michael Bolton – ‘Songs of Cinema’ – Album Review

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Now before I get into the album review, let me preface this with that I am a fan of Michael Bolton’s earlier work starting with his 1983 release ‘Michael Bolton’ which had “Fool’s Game” up until ‘Time, Love & Tenderness’ in 1991.  After that it started to go down hill for me as he was doing way too many covers.  More covers than originals, which is disappointing.  He was also getting further and further from his original rock roots (listen to his early releases and you will hear what I am talking about).

Several months back, I heard Michael was signing with Frontiers Records Srl and I was actually excited to hear that as Frontiers is a great record label and they are a ROCK record label.  They have brought back many bands of my youth and signed them including Night Ranger and Stryper and now Michael Bolton.

Imagine my utter disappointment when I heard the new Michael Bolton album was a cover album of movie songs called ‘Songs of Cinema’.  Wow!!  It is just what I wanted (heavy, heavy sarcasm)!  I told myself going into it, I would keep an open mind and give it a solid listen…which I feel I did for about 30 seconds.

What songs did he cover?  I will tell you.

It starts off with “When A Man Loves A Woman”. Hasn’t he done that one before? Why yes he has, but this one is different…it is the 2017 Version.  Oh yeah, that is right…I am supposed to keep an open mind.  I am sorry, but I can’t. That ship has sailed.  When the first song is a rehash of an old song that you have already covered, you lost me.  The original one he did back in 1991 was so much better.

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Train – A Girl A Bottle A Boat – Album Review

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Train has found a niche in the pop world.  They bring a fun, summer song feel to their albums and are firmly fitted in the Adult Contemporary world.  They have found their formula and they are sticking to it.  However, they are starting to show signs of a disease called BonJovitis.  What is BonJovitis?  Well here is the clinical definition:

BonJovitis – a disease caused by repeating the same song formula without ever changing anything other than the words. It causes dull, lifeless and completely uninspiring albums and puts your fans and listeners to sleep.  Ultimately the disease will cause your album sales to drop and fans to leave and search elsewhere for music.  (See Bon Jovi as a perfect example).

All their albums are starting to sound the same, but it isn’t as bad for me as how Bon Jovi does it.  If you are a regular reader of my site, you know Train holds a special place in my families heart.  That is the only reason they don’t have full blown BonJovitis in my eyes…YET!!!

All joking aside, Train has delivered another solid album.  I even think the album cover is actually quite beautiful.  It has the ocean, a beautiful girl, a boat and the American flag.  I don’t see a bottle though.

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Friday New Releases – February 3rd

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The year is already flying by as we are now in February in what seems like a blink of the eye. I am still getting through all of last week’s releases so luckily there are only 2 I find intriguing this week. They are highlighted in Blue.

  • 170x170bb-10  Black Star Riders – Heavy Fire – (Nuclear Blast):  Black Star Riders returns with their third album.  The band is basically Thin Lizzy but they are not using the name.  Not sure why, but regardless, I love the new material.  The first two albums were great and I feel they are just getting warmed up.  High hopes for the new release.

  • 71wxshqv-8l-_sx522_  Judas Priest – Turbo (30th Anniversary 3CD set) – (Sony Legacy):  Wow!  30 years since the release of Turbo.  I am looking forward to revisiting this classic Judas Priest album and eager to hear what special they might have added to this addition.  Here is the original video to “Turbo Lover” and the video was awful…sorry.

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My Sunday Song – “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus

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Here we are…already half way through the next series of My Sunday Song with my wife picking the songs and telling here story behind each one.  I have enjoyed it and hope you have as well.  For song #25, she has chosen “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus.  And here she is telling it in her own words…

“The Climb” was written by Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe about their personal struggles in the music industry. Before reaching Cyrus, the song had been rejected by several country artists. It was eventually picked up by the director of “Hannah Montana: The Movie” and he gave it to Cyrus to perform. The song was released on February 6, 2009. Now, if you don’t have children between the ages of 8 – 14 or you hate the thought of reading about a song that in any way relates to Hannah Montana, please, I encourage you to read on.

If you recall from one of my first posts, I said if I found a song I liked that I would listen to it over and over again? Well, this one is probably at the top of the charts! From the moment I first heard the song I knew I loved it and could completely 100 percent relate to the lyrics. Everything about “The Climb” seemed to apply to everything I had ever tried to do in my life whereby I really wanted to get out there and succeed, do my best and make it to the top. But then once I did all that, meaning I met my goals, succeeded as I set out to do – something was still missing. It took me a very long time to realize that it was all about the climb, all about the process, the hard work, the challenges that kept me motivated in life. It was never about sitting atop the mountain as I originally anticipated.

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Friday New Releases – January 27th

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I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and a fantastic weekend.  I should be sitting on a tropical beach in Jamaica about now soaking up the sun and the alcohol with my lovely bride of 15 years.  We are two weeks past our anniversary, but we finally got away just the two of us.

The bad news is I am missing so many great releases this weekend, but I don’t really care.  I will listen when I get back.  One release that is actually quite fitting is the Train release.  That is “our band” as I have mentioned many times on this blog.  That will the one I definitely check out this week.  I have highlighted in Blue all the ones I am interested in and will find some time to give a listen.

  • 170x170bb-14  Train – A Girl, A Bottle, A Boat – (Sunken Forest/Columbia):  So happy for another Train album.  I have heard a couple songs so far and they have been okay.  They seem to be rehashing the same formula with every album and song now and loosing some of the magic (reminds of what Bon Jovi is going through).  I am hoping the rest of the album is better otherwise, they might loose their place as my wife and I’s favorite band.

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Danny Gokey – ‘Rise’ – Album Review

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You probably know Danny Gokey from his time on American Idol.  He place third on Season 8 behind the winner, Kris Allen, and the runner-up, Adam Lambert.  To me Adam should have won, but that is the topic for another discussion.  I am going to talk about Danny Gokey and his new album, ‘Rise’.

Danny is on his 5th album (if you count the Christmas album and his Spanish version of his 2nd album).  He has seem to have found his niche in the Christian Pop genre and is getting better with each release.  You can see the maturity and the improvement in the songs on this release.  Ever since he started adding to the songwriting on his second album, the releases have been getting better and better.

He has definitely gained more confidence and ease with his singing as his voice hasn’t sounded better.  The smooth, soulful vocals along with the Pop vibe makes for an exceptional album that could easily be on the mainstream Pop radios.

For this release, he has taken songs with a positive, Christian message and turned them into sleek, danceable pop songs that at the same time have deep meaning and heart.  The first single, “Rise”, is a dance, pop song, but is absolutely beautiful and is such an uplifting song and instantly became a favorite of mine.  The video even shines a light on domestic violence and an organization that will help women going through such a tragic event.

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My Sunday Song – “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction

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My Sunday Song #24 is “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction.  Since this is now my wife’s series, I will let her explain why she chose this song…enjoy!

The man upstairs has had his hands in this My Sunday Song thing I’ve been asked to do! At the first of the year, my husband wanted at least 3 – 4 of my Sunday Song write ups all at once. Truth be told, I didn’t even have one at the time he asked. I’m thinking to myself, “Geez, glad I don’t work for this guy”! Anyway, I wrote up the approaching My Sunday Song and then provided him with a list of songs for the remaining 8 weeks…which brings me to week 4 and the My Sunday Song I had already selected weeks ago: “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction. You are likely wondering where I am going with all this blabber, so stay with me for a minute.

I had already decided I was going to write today but needed to run to a very popular and large beauty store. This store is AH-MAZING and has everything you can think of related to makeup and hair! I needed a couple of hair products and one makeup product. I like to browse around and I usually already know what I’m looking for because I’ve already done my research on Pinterest and looked to see what the best sellers are, etc. A sweet lady approached me to ask if I was finding everything okay and could she help me. I normally say “no thank you” and quickly walk away to another aisle hoping they won’t follow me and try to sell me something. But, this time I did need help. Actually, I need lots of help but that’s a story for another time. I let her know that I was looking for something to hide the puffiness under my eyes and something that would not settle into the lines that have so graciously developed in the aging process. Of course she had just the right productS! Yes, products, as in plural, multiple, more than one, even more than two! All I wanted was a simple concealer to cover up my under eye concerns.

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