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Alicia Keys - Songs in A Minor
She may be beautiful, but Alicia Keys is a musician first and foremost. She plants herself firmly behind the piano keys on her debut, unlike many of the booty-waggin' junior divas who are crowding the R&B videoscape these days.
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Bach's Goldberg Variations
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Murray Perahia
Performer: Murray Perahia
Our price: $13.99
(€12.17)
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Bach: Cello Suites (Double-CD)
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Mstislav Rostropovich
Performer: Mstislav Rostropovich
Our price: $31.32
(€27.25)
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Elton John - Songs from the West Coast
The appearance of "Rocket Man"-era cohorts Nigel Olsson and Davey Johnstone as backing vocalists touches this CD with one of the trademark sounds of Elton John's 1969-75 LPs. John has acknowledged those records--his most typically singer-songwriterish - occasionally, if mostly to revisit audience favorites in concert (1987's Live in Australia, a late-'90s VH1 show). But on Songs from the West Coast, his admiration of Ryan Adams and Rufus Wainwright (a guest here) inspires him to recall the stripped-down, lyric-driven sensibility of his early days. The tone of the words Bernie Taupin feeds this notorious diva is elegiac, rooted in a wearier version of the romanticism that fueled oldies as diverse as "Your Song," "Love Lies Bleeding," and "Burn Down the Mission." West Coast sidesteps bombast with a couple of exceptions; only "The Wasteland," with its invocation of Robert Johnson, is enough to provoke a dismayed "oy." The standout track is "I Want Love," a Lennonesque rumination that's their most impressive writing, separately or together, in more than a decade.
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Eva Cassidy - Songbird
Songbird is a posthumous anthology culled from the album Live At Blues Alley and her other solo release, Eva By Heart, along with one track from her 1992 duet album with Chuck Brown titled The Other Side.
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(€10.34)
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Lenny Kravitz - Lenny
Lenny Kravitz is known for proudly wearing his influences on his sleeve, but on his sixth album it's clear Kravitz has at last honed a sound he can call his own. Mixing hard rock and ballads, Lenny kicks in with the blistering "Battlefield of Love," a solid rocker with a funk groove. The retro "If I Could Fall in Love" displays a touch of psychedelia, while the Lennonesque "God Save Us All" is bluesy and uplifting. The success of "Again," the smash single from his 2000 hits package, appears to have registered with Kravitz, who surfaces a new crop of midtempo ballads here - all far stronger than "Again." "Yesterday Is Gone (My Dear Kay)" is a finely crafted tune on it's own, yet Kravitz experiments with atypical sounds. The soulful "Stillness of Heart" builds with acoustic guitars and layered harmonies, concluding with a lovely string arrangement. And "You Were in My Heart" mixes synth loops over solid rhythms and a haunting melody. Lenny may seem like an oddly nondescript title, but it's apt; these 12 songs simply sound like the work of Lenny Kravitz.
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Manu Chao - Proxima Estacion Esperanza
Manu Chao incorporates the Spanish, English and French languages into fun, infectious songs that are bound to catch your ear. With his solo album "Clandestino", the former leader of the band Lo Mano Negra uses multicultural sounds to compose tunes like "Lagrimas de Oro" and "Je ne T'Aime Plus" which are only two of the quirkiest songs on the album (if you translate them, they're even more amusing). Each song tells a cool story using funky lyrics in more than one language. And, despite a few allusions, he does so without using expletives. With each listen, you will discover even more in each song.
His follow-up album, "Proxima Estacion: Esperanza" is another melting pot of tunes that even combines Spanish and French phrases into a single refrain in the whimsical "Me Gustas Tu". Using three languages has influenced not only the lyrics, but also the fun sounds and rhythms of Chao's tunes. Yet, a beneficial quirk is that you do not have to be a linguist to get the overall meaning of his songs.
Whether or not Latin music is your favorite, Manu Chao is an awesome artist. Check him out.
His follow-up album, "Proxima Estacion: Esperanza" is another melting pot of tunes that even combines Spanish and French phrases into a single refrain in the whimsical "Me Gustas Tu". Using three languages has influenced not only the lyrics, but also the fun sounds and rhythms of Chao's tunes. Yet, a beneficial quirk is that you do not have to be a linguist to get the overall meaning of his songs.
Whether or not Latin music is your favorite, Manu Chao is an awesome artist. Check him out.
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Mariah Carey - Glitter
Despite songbird Mariah Carey's emotional troubles during the release of the soundtrack to Glitter, she has never sounded giddier. In keeping with the semiautobiographical flick's 1980s time frame, Glitter mines the rich and rhythmic fields of discofied funk and club-friendly jams, and Carey soars on thumping covers of Indeep's "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" (featuring DJ Clue, Busta Rhymes, and New Jack of the moment Fabolous), and Cherrelle's skittish, synth-soaked love song "Didn't Mean to Turn You On", which in a nice touch, is revisited by its production auteurs Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Also well worth a listen is "All My Life", a sweet and nasty Rick James track that finds Mariah looser than she's ever been; it's on those uptempo jams that Mariah is all sass and sex. Unfortunately, she loses the mood on the by-the-numbers ballads, which slow the party down just as it's getting hot.
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Melissa Etheridge - Skin
During the dark days of the singer's split from Julie Cypher, her companion of 12 years, Melissa Etheridge retreated to her home studio to pen songs lit from within with her searing pain and confusion. From those heart-wrenching sessions comes arguably Etheridge's finest work. She vents and rages and all but spits on her Tony Llama boots, giving these 10 songs a depth and grit that she only hinted at in her prior six albums.
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Modjo - Modjo
It's often a long-term disadvantage, especially for dance acts, when a debut single enters the chart at No. 1. Rather than hurrying the release of their self-titled debut, Modjo, and cashing in with an album full of "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" clones, the duo have instead opted to experiment with more diverse musical styles. Some of the tracks still retain a hint of that emerging "Modjo sound" ("Rollercoaster," "On Fire"), but overall they successfully veer away from just being French house anthems. "Peace of Mind" and "What I Mean" are successful forays into pop-laced R&B, while the album opener, "Acknowledgement," is a Pet Shop Boys-style synth instrumental. The best track is undoubtedly "No More Tears," an upbeat pop number that could have been recorded by Stevie Wonder. "Saviour's Eyes" is another funky little number, with a Jamiroquai-style arrangement and vocals strangely mimicking those of Level 42's Mark King.
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