I have again been listening to all female singers today: Christina , P!nk, Joan, Tracy, Melanie, Avril, Norah, and Alanis Morissette.

Having listened to Stripped by Christina Aguilera, for the last few days, I’ve also been listening to some of the other female singers I have in my collection. First was P!nk – M!ssundaztood. As soon as I had refreshed my ears to that album, I needed to investigate just why Christine Aguilera sounds so much like Pink on half the album. Easy! Linda Perry wrote or co-wrote and produced four of the tracks on Christina’s album (including Beautiful) and six or seven of the tracks on Pink’s! Linda Perry was the huge voiced lead singer from 4 non blondes. More on Linda here, here, and here.
I’ve also listened to Joan Armatrading, Tracy Chapman, Melanie C., Avril Lavigne, Norah Jones, and Marianne Faithfull today. Of course I’ve got lots more ladies to listen to tomorrow.

I finally got around to buying Stripped by Christina Aguilera after several recommendations. I really didn’t want to like this but after three singles which I did like I finally succumbed. There are some really good tracks on this album, the production is nice and crisp if unadventurous, and Christina’s voice is great!
Recommended!

I ‘re-discovered’ Reanimation by Linkin Park this morning. That is, I put it in my CD drive at work for the first time in a few weeks and found myself unable to remove it 🙂 A truly classic album.
But then I forgot to bring it home tonight, so I’m currently listening to Meteora

Sad to see that Barry White has died today after being ill for some time. The BBC has an obituary. I like his music and Jan is a big fan.

“Chester Bennington, vocalist for Linkin Park was admitted to a Los Angeles
area hospital last Friday afternoon after an attack of severe back and
abdominal pains. Bennington remains hospitalized as doctors are still
trying to determine the cause of these ailments.
“All touring and video shoot plans in Europe have been put on hold this
month as we make sure Chester fully recovers,” states a spokesperson for
the band “we wish him the best, and will keep everyone posted as to his
condition.”

My best wishes are with him and his family.
Update 11/06/2003:

Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington is out of hospital but details of his illness are still a mystery. Chester himself thinks it was simply a virus.

Like, “Duh!” Record industry cutting off nose to spite face.

“New research has confirmed what many already suspected – music download services such as Napster and KaZaA are a major factor in driving CD sales.
Many music fans use services such as KaZaA, and previously the now defunct Napster, in a ‘try before you buy’ capacity – finding out what new music they like before going out and buying a CD.”

“Perhaps the real truth is something the RIAA is unprepared to face up to. Many critics have suggested the homogenising of the music industry is the real reason for the CD slump of recent years.
Endless streams of indistinguishable boy bands, churning out cover versions, and the proliferation of the Pop Idol format, has seen the music industry stagnate in recent years.”

I’ve also read somewhere (I will try to find the source), that the music industry released 12,000 fewer CD titles last year than the previous year. If you don’t produce the goods, your sales are going to go down!

Yesterday, whilst sat having a coffee in my local (to the office) Java Cafe Bar, they were playing Desire by Bob Dylan. Wow! It must be more than 20 years since I’d heard that album. I realised I still knew all the lyrics too (I used to listen to it a lot). Or at least the lyrics to the three or four tracks I heard whilst drinking my coffee. I also remembered, eventually, that the haunting violin work was by Scarlet Riviera, and backing vocals by Emmylou Harris!
After I found myself still singing snatches of the songs today, I realised two things: One, I rarely hear songs which tell a story these days, and pretty much every song on that album tells a story; and two, I really need to go buy a copy!
Desire was the first contemporary album I listened too. Back in 1975 (I think) when it was a new release, my sister Carole’s boyfriend, Mike, left a copy at our house. I listened to it over and over again. Prior to that the only LPs (12 inch vinyl records to you youngsters) I had access to were Carole’s Elvis albums, my Mum’s Perry Como, Andy Williams, and Frank Sinatra albums, and my Dad’s John Denver collection. All good grounding for appreciating talented singers, but Desire was something else entirely. Later Mike also left a copy of Cat Stevens’ Tea for the Tillerman, another great album I no longer own.