Since getting hooked on their popular single, She Will Be Loved, from their debut album, I’ve been kind of a fan of some of Maroon5’s work ever since. Even though I don’t necessarily agree with how far they take their songs with explicit lyrics and musical videos, I’m simply a fan of their soulful pop-rock sound and lead singer Adam Levine’s unique vocal abilities.
Wake Up A Call is the second single from their follow up second album, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, which details the response to catching one’s lover with another and the accompanying lack of remorse for actions taken. In the song’s video, designed as a film trailer, Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine pays for his murderous response.
Even though the insistent, pounding, keyboard-centered soul-rock approach of the music fits the lyrical intensity of the song well, the question I’m left with is whether Wake Up Call unnecessarily glorifies the violent content of both song and video.
In any case, the song’s still so catchy it gets in your head the first time you hear it!
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The Backstreet Boys are back with an undeniably strong album (Associated Content)
Pound for pound and song for song, Unbreakable may just be the best pop album of the year so far (SputnikMusic)
If you are looking for an album of pure pop pleasure, you can not do much better with current releases than Unbreakable (About.com)
The list goes on. Everybody’s talking how great BSB’s new sixth album, Unbreakable, is. BSB has never done such an exceptional job producing authentic music before. Ironically, it took the departure of former member, Kevin Richardson, on June 2006 for the band to reach this heightened level of surreal music production. I’m not saying he wasn’t an influence, I’m just saying the band’s just doing as good as (and even better than) ever!
So as you can tell, I had a hard time picking out a featured song. Should I have gone with the first single, Inconsolable, which received massive radio playback and which everybody by now have hard, or the less heard, bonus track, Downpour, which I simply fell in love with by the first listen. Well, I chose the latter. Hope you enjoy it :)
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I’ve had an eye out for LeAnn’s work ever since being completely hooked by her fabulous single: I Need You. I completely fell in love with her strong vibrant voice which she is famous for. That’s why I’ve been waiting to check out her latest 2007 album, Family, for a while now.
Now that I’ve got a copy of the album, I can safely say it falls nothing short of the high expectations placed on this country music singer and Grammy Award winner. For the first time, LeAnn wrote or co-wrote every song on the album. While the album is incredibly personal, LeAnn managed to create music that is incredibly universal.
Doesn’t Everybody is the song I’ve picked to showcase her latest record. In addition to the catchy upbeat rhythm, it does pack a very powerful message in simple words, which is no matter what course of life we choose to pursue, the bottom line is that somehow or another we’re looking for to be loved and cherished. I think if you think about it, that’s what it always boils down to, no matter how high or low life takes us.
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How does one do Bon Jovi a justifiable review in one post? That’s what I started asking myself when I got to writing this post, where I’m bringing you the first single from Bon Jovi’s 10 studio album, Lost Highway.
The good thing about Bon Jovi though is that you don’t need to introduce him to anyone, since they’re most likely been to one of his 2500 concerts in over 50 countries world-wide, bought one of his 10 studio albums which sold 125 million copies all around the world, or simply heard one of his hit singles being played on radio. So let’s skip the introductions and get right down to it.
Lost Highway is album with a haunting set of 12 new and original sounding songs, is a stunning, multi-layered look into the nature of love and life in all its glory. It focuses on the light that love brings. The first single on this album, Lost Highway, is spectacular song to say the least, both in terms of meaning and melody.
In my rearview mirror
My life is getting clearer
I finally found my way
Said goodbye to yesterday
I’m turning 25 in a month, and I couldn’t possibly find better words to describe my life so far than these simple meaningful words. I’ve done a lot of growing up since my college graduation and I still have a lot more to do, but the amount of change that I’ve gone through seems gigantic in retrospect.
Don’t know where I’m going
But I know where I’ve been
I’m afraid of going back again
So I drive (drive drive)
I do know where I’m going, or at least what I want from life. But I don’t know what life has in store for me. Nobody does. So we just go about "driving" this "lost highway" and hope we get to that nice little town we’ve always dreamed of living in.
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It’s been quite some time since my last music post, so I thought I’d liven up things over the next couple of weeks with exclusive recommended top hits from the top albums in 2007.
First up on my list, the one and mighty Bruce Springsteen with a hit song from his latest 2007 album, You’ll Be Comin’ Down. To be fair, I said "one" and "mighty" even I haven’t really followed Bruce’s music in the past or even knew of his wide open popularity in the U.S and around the globe. But I came across this album called Magic one day and since I heard his name a lot, I thought I’d give it a try.
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I can’t believe I went this far with my music recommendations without featuring one of my all-time favorite bands, ever!
It puzzles me why the indie English alternative rock band, Embrace, have not received such world-wide recognition and appeal like similar bands such as Coldplay, Keane and Snow Patrol. To date they have released 5 studio albums. If you were to ask me, I’d say Embrace’s signature style of music, mostly based on piano rock, is a fabulous one that produced some fine collection of mostly amazing and well-crafted songs (check the recommended songs below). In fact, today’s featured song, Nature’s Law, is a true testament to that.
Nature’s Law is the leading single from Embrace’s latest 2006 studio album, This New Day. It was released a week prior to the album release charting at number 2 in the UK Singles Chart, the band’s highest chart entry to date (although there’s some controversy that it should have been a number 1 single).
I remember when this song came out in 2006 and I got to hear the sample in a promotional page for the song, I was completely and utterly hooked to the melody right in the first few seconds. In a way, it’s a sturdy, uplifting song with a powerful message (although one might disagree with the song’s invitation to simply follow "nature’s law", wherever that path might lead you into).
There are also some other fabulous songs in this album, which collectivly contribute to making This New Day one of Embrace’s finest and most successful records to date!
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Travis is a British indie pop band that’s been awarded British album of the year twice at the annual BRIT Awards. They’re often credited with having paved the way for bands such as Coldplay, Keane and Snow Patrol, all of which are all-time favorite bands of mine. I actually came to know of Travis when I was browsing a Keane forum site back in 2004.
Closer is the first single from their 2007 studio album, The Boy with No Name. I have to admit that very few songs of Travis’s material appeal to me, but this song was an instant favorite when I heard it for the first time. It has a gorgeous chorus melody that’s very heart-warming. Unfortunately, this is about the only song that stands out from their latest album, which forces me to file Travis under "bands with occasional decent records".
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Not to be confused with my other favorite Bryan Adams, Ryan Adams is a country and rock and roll singer/songwriter. I haven’t heard of him or his music until one of his songs was featured in the first season of Alias (yeah I know, Alias has given me a wonderful selection of tunes to post on this blog).
Admittedly, Ryan’s music did not quite appeal to me. However, the song I’m featuring in this post, called La Cienega Just Smiled, is an exception. When I heard it on Alias, it immediately caught my ears due to its beautiful laid-back and easy-listening nature. It’s a song to kickback and relax to. I hope you enjoy it.
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