Virgin Voices is one of the best tribute albums I've ever heard. I happened to come across it when I was doing a Madonna search on Spotify.

All of the tracks are more than decent (well except for the dreadful and very odd cover of "Material Girl"), but the incredibly impressive ones include: Dead or Alive's take on "Why's It So Hard," Heaven 17's "Holiday," Annabella Lwin's "Like A Virgin" and Flock of Seagull's "This Used To Be My Playground."

Atralasia's version of "Vogue" is intriguing vocally, but the tempo has been intensified to the point that it sounds almost cartoon-like, a sound that also shows up on "Bad Girl" (James Hardway with Amanda Ghost.)

Front Line Assembly's "Justify My Love" actually improves on the original, sounding more sultry than sleazy. "Open Your Heart" by Ofra Haza has an opera quality to it and is very beautiful. I could go on and on about the rest of the album (on two discs) but it's so awesome you need to discover it for yourself!

Another Madonna tribute album that's not half bad is by The Popettes. Instead of a variety of artists, it's just one and while the Popettes take few creative liberties and stay almost 100% faithful to the original versions, Tribute to Madonna is still worth a listen.

Of particular note is the Popettes' take on "Miles Away;" it's actually better than Madonna's.

In reading news stories online about Amy Winehouse, I've already seen dozens and dozens of  rather unkind comments posted about her specifically and drug addicts in general.

The most striking note (one that is kind and sincere) I saw posted simply said, "He who is without sin cast the first stone." I'm not a particularly religious person, but I've always liked this line.

I don't know a lot about drug addiction, but I do know that unless someone is deeply suicidal, chances are she is not planning her own death when she takes that first drug. And that once her life begins spiraling out of control, she  is truly helpless to take it all back and start over unless someone else is deeply committed to helping her.

All I really can say for certain about Amy Winehouse is that she had a spectacular voice and was instrumental in bringing about the recent wave of 60s girl group (say The Shangri-Las) sound fused with jazz. Duffy, quite good but not nearly as much a belter, came after Amy...as did the amazing Adele.

"I know Amy Winehouse very well," Lily Allen once said. "And she is very different to what people portray her as being. Yes, she does get out of her mind on drugs sometimes, but she is also a very clever, intelligent, witty, funny person who can hold it together. You just don't see that side."

Sometimes it's easy and tempting to say drug addicts dig their own grave, but I think it's a lot, lot more complicated an issue and that expressing sympathy and other heart-felt emotions doesn't mean you condone drugs. It just means that your heart is big enough to feel bad for anyone who is suffering no matter what the cause...

Re:lounge: Celebrating The Hits of George Michael and Wham is not nearly as bad as you'd expect a knock-off version of George Michael covers to be. I discovered the album on the (awesome!) Spotify. Of particular note is the lovely (though not nearly as lovely as the original) and surprisingly disco-friendly take on "A Different Corner," one of the saddest and prettiest songs to come out of the 80s.

...
It's a day later and I'm still intrigued by this odd album...I can't find out who the singer is...it's clearly not George Michael or a voice as wonderful as his, but it's oddly fascinating and almost as heart-breaking on "A Different Corner." This isn't the case on all the covers, but certainly this one!

Found my old copy of The Pointer Sisters' Greatest Hits tonight and am really enjoying re-discovering their music.


I was in the fifth grade when "He's So Shy" first started getting lots of airplay on the radio and I was simply mad for it. Somehow I got it in my head that it was an anthem for shy people everywhere and it gave me this ridiculous amount of hope (and a little thrill) whenever it caught me off guard with it's familiar opening notes.

A few years later the trio's very very popular album Breakout came out and "Automatic" caught my ear. I was only in middle school at the time and just liked it for its awesome sounds, but now I realize that it captures how love (or at least, lust) truly feels (inside) more than any other song.

Look what you're doing to me
I'm utterly at your whim
All of my defenses down
Your camera looks through me
With its X-ray vision
And all systems run aground
All I can manage to push from my lips
Is a stream of absurdities
Every word I intended to speak
Winds up locked in the circuitry
No way to control it
It's totally automatic
Whenever you're around
I'm walking blindfolded
Completely automatic
All of my systems are down
Down, down, down
Au-to-mat-ic (automatic)
Au-to-mat-ic (automatic)
What is this madness
That makes my motor run
And my legs too weak to stand
I go from sadness
To exhilaration
Like a robot at your command
My hands perspire and shake like a leaf
Up and down goes my temperature
I summon doctors to get some relief
But they tell me there is no cure
They tell me
No way to control it
It's totally automatic
Whenever you're around
I'm walking blindfolded
Completely automatic
All of my systems are down
Down, down, down
(Automatic)
(Automatic)
Au-to-mat-ic (automatic)
Au-to-mat-ic (automatic)
Au-to-mat-ic
Au-to-mat-ic
Au-to-mat-ic
Au-to-mat-ic (automatic)
Look what you're doing to me
I'm utterly at your whim
All of my defenses down
Your camera looks through me
With its X-ray vision
And all systems run aground
All I can manage to push from my lips




































Is a stream of absurdities
Every word I intended to speak
Winds up locked in the circuitry
No way to control it
It's totally automatic
Whenever you're around
I'm walking blindfolded
Completely automatic
All of my systems are down
Down, down
No way to control it
It's totally automatic (automatic)
Whenever you're around (automatic)
I'm walking blindfolded
Completely automatic (automatic)
All of my systems are down
Down, down


Breakout was definitely one of my favorite albums from the 80s...I love All Music's website review for it:

read here

"Destroyed" is sounding pretty awesome to me right now. I like Moby's most recent album more than anything he's done since "Play" in 1999. And the title is pretty accurate.

So many of the songs are full of the kind of emotion that only comes from having been through the wringer. Moby himself has said that the music was inspired by the feeling of isolation you can get being all alone in the middle of the night in a barren city.

There are some soulful tracks, like "The Right Thing," that go down easy like your favorite drink and help ease the loneliness, but the real kick in the gut is “The Day,” where he brings to mind David Bowie in his Heroes days. The sound is so sad and haunting it's almost devastating, especially when you really take in what the song is all about.

I've only had one evening to listen to this gorgeous album so there are still a lot of things about it I have missed. Some of the critical reviews I have read are ready to dismiss this as average, but I think that's a mistake...'cause there's a lot of yet to be discovered beauty here...

Lately I am super-convinced that the most beautiful song in the world is "Your Arms Around Me" by Jens Lekman. See the expression on the album cover? That's how you feel when you listen to it...oh my gosh, lovely, lovely stuff. Jens Lekman, your name should be whispered with awe in every household across America!:)

As my insomnia has gotten worse, I've discovered an odd sense of comfort in watching Columbo on dvd, sometimes well into the morning. Maybe it's not that odd, though. Peter Falk always played the beloved detective in the most rumpled and casual way so that could be what ups the comfort level. He certainly is low key, not into tantrums or riling up things:)

But my comfort level also has a lot to do with the content of the movies themselves...it's a little more complicated than Murder She Wrote and definitely more clever, but not nearly as dark and complex as say today's fare...like the gratuitously violent Criminal Minds or the more sincere-intentioned but equally harrowing Law and Order: SVU.

When I was a little girl I always felt so safe when Mr. Rogers was on. I loved the way he talked and put things on and took them off. That's sort of how I feel when I watch Columbo in action.

I have never been the calmest of people. I've gotten better over the years, thanks to music and counting a lot under my breath, but there are still times when I have to concentrate hard at what I'm doing so I don't let stray, jittery thoughts in.

I used to know this quote by heart but forgot it somehow and who said it...but it talked about being able to find true inner peace in the middle of the worst chaos.

This is where Ashwagandha comes in, an herb I recently found at Whole Foods that has transformed my entire pre-bedtime experience. It hasn't completely solved my insomnia issues, but it sure has made it easier to unwind, to lay back and open my mind to nothing, even when the world and bills and worrying about family or friends threatens to swim in.

I don't really feel comfortable recommending something that may differ from person to person. Other herbs I've liked (let's say Valerian Root) have agreed with me, but almost sent someone else I know to the hospital because her heart started beating madly. Herbs, like prescription medicine, can be dangerous if not used right.

Still, I can't help but be excited about something that has made finding inner peace (at least in small doses) within my reach...and in this lifetime!:)

I am madly in love with this album...okay, maybe that's too soon a statement to make since I've only just heard the entire album today.

But really...the kind of things I'm feeling about Wayward Fire can only be called magical...like how I feel when I take out all of my so-so personal memories from the 80s and just remember how good (and sometimes goofy) the music was...the music you grew up with is (I think) always going to the music (for better or worse) that has an almost mystical hold over you.

Listening to Wayward Fire I'm suddenly that shy high school girl again, the girl who hid in her room on Friday nights listening to all the newest records and waiting for that one that would make the world a less scary, lonely place...the one you could dream your life by until the real one got better.

The Chain Gang of 1974 (great name for a band!) has the kind of sound that belongs in a John Hughes film when all the hairs on your arms rise and you get goose bumps because 'that special song' is playing exactly at 'that special moment.' I can't really define it, I just know not every group (then or now) has it. It's something very special.

I first discovered TCG1974 about a month ago when I heard "Undercover" through a Spin magazine sampler and almost jumped out of my skin. Its energy is instantly contagious and its sound reminiscent of Echo and The Bunnymen. It's the kind of song I couldn't imagine having a better successor, though I would soon find out it did.

But don't mistake a fascination for a great 80s sound for a lack of originality. These guys are awesome in their own right. I impulsively bought the rest of the album online today having only heard "Undercover."

With much relief and very little surprise I discovered Wayward Fire is full of great stuff..."Heart Breakin' Scream," "Teenagers" and "Don't Walk Away" are the three I've gotten to know and love the most in one day's time, but I have formed an attachment to the others as well...

"Teenagers," though, is the hands-down winner, the one that feels like a John Hughes moment, even if I am 41.

I know I've blogged about Black Tie White Noise before and that I've probably sang its praise once too often, but it's another rare album where I like every single song on it. It's so beautiful and sad and energetic and mysterious.

Surely one of his most underrated works ever, Black Tie White Noise may just have been a victim of bad timing. It came out shortly after Bowie's Tin Machine debacle (if you can call it that) and many hardcore fans with grudges were still thinking Bowie had sold out with the commercially successful Let's Dance (even if the title track is one of the most haunting upbeat dance songs ever).

"The Wedding" and "The Wedding Song" are so incredibly full of emotion, which comes as no surprise if you know that Bowie wrote it shortly after his wedding to super model Iman. "Pallas Athena" is both ominous (with its thunderous repetition of "God is on top of this") and pleasingly moving as a dance tune.

"Miracle Goodnight" and "Don't Let Me Down and Down" are lighter fare (in comparison with the rest of the material) but are so sincere in their plea for things to get better they are irresistible to anyone with a heartbeat. (On a side note of trivia, Bowie recorded the latter song in Indonesian.)

But whenever I listen to Black Tie White Noise it's always "The Wedding Song" that I return to...it's so earnest and beautiful and (just as I thought with the hit single "Let's Dance") oddly romantic and even kind of sensual...in that sensual kind of way only Bowie is capable of creating.

I'm sort of bummed to be staying inside on the 4th of July, but have to be rested up for work tomorrow...so I've been enjoying the Bewitched marathon on TvLand and mellowing in the sounds of the cd sampler from Mojo's July issue, the music magazine's collaboration with the Communion record label.

It's so rare that I like every song on every sampler or cd I get to listen to...but in the case of this one: Oh. My. Gosh. Beautiful, beautiful stuff...

Stand-outs include: Michael Kiwanuka's "Tell Me A Tale"...Ben Howard's "Three Tree Town"...Jay Jay Pistolet's "Vintage Red"...Behjamin Francis Leftwich's "More Than Letters"....Kyla La Grange's "Walk Through Walls" (sounds a bit like Florence and the Machine in the best way possible!) and Daughter's "Peter" (this one is absolutely heart-breaking)

The Mojo "Collective Worship" inset of the mag (pp. 80 and 81) mentions Leftwich's "fine knack for a melody"...of all the tracks on this album, "More Than Letters" is the one I can't get out of my heart or head. I'm so excited there's more what that came from on Benjamin Francis Leftwich's new release, Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm.

This is why music magazines can be so dangerous...you discover more and more artists whose music you just have to have!:)