On this day in 1963, in a tragic plane crash, America lost one of its finest singers: Patsy Cline. While many are familiar with her acclaimed rendition of the Willie Nelson-penned
Crazy, let's pay a visit to some lesser-known but nonetheless masterfully impressive vocal performances from that sublime, transcendent voice, shall we? Here's two live TV spots: Patsy in full cowgirl regalia with a delightful performance of the Hank Williams classic
Lovesick Blues and the snazzy
Walking After Midnight, one of the tunes that reminds us that Patsy could've just as easily been marketed as a pop/jazzy chanteuse as the *country* artist she was presented to the world as. And here's the gorgeously smooth studio renditions of
She's Got You and
I Fall To Pieces, and...
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Mar 5, 2013 -
44 comments
Although she's not a household name, Marva Whitney is fondly remembered by funk devotees as one of the rawest, brassiest, most powerful divas the music ever produced. Along with fellow funk belters Lyn Collins and Vicki Anderson, Whitney made her name singing with the James Brown Revue for a few years, and her limited, much-sampled recordings for Brown-associated labels now fetch astronomical sums on the collector's market. -
AllMusic
posted by Trurl
on Jun 4, 2012 -
8 comments
"Whether writing as herself, or through one of the many voices she heard in her head, Previn's sinister riverboat chansons revealed the pain, games, lies and loneliness behind the L.A. free love myth. 1971's Mythical Kings And Iguanas was, perhaps, the peak point of Previn's eerily confessional style containing the searingly honest
Lemon Haired Ladies and
The Lady With The Braid, both of which recount encounters between young men and single older women in chilling detail. Her third album, Reflections In A Mud Puddle was a concept album based upon her life with her father, and contained the astonishing
Doppelganger, a Weillian Sympathy For The Devil in which the world's evils are found to lurk in all of us. "
Singer-Songwriter Dory Previn has died. (
previously on Metafilter).
posted by The Whelk
on Feb 22, 2012 -
13 comments
"
Birdcloud met in Murfreesboro and
immediately didn’t like eachother. At a party in 2009 they had some
whiskeys and became friends and started dicking around on guitar,
writing their first song, a song about going down on your best friend,
now lost to the sands of time. Despite a lukewarm reception at
Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe, they have been sitting on eachother’s faces
ever since, showing eachother their bruises and generally doing
whatever they want when it works out that way." Songs on the inside NSFW if you can't tell.
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posted by cmoj
on Feb 21, 2012 -
14 comments
This song was recorded at home in the 1970s by German actress Sibylle Baier. Her son collected her recordings and created an album to share with family, and in 2006 the Colour Green was released by label Orange Twin.
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posted by KingoftheWhales
on Dec 6, 2011 -
11 comments
"A ballet dancer needs a mirror to perfect her style, her technique. A singer needs the same -- an aural mirror."
In 1950 and '51, Japan’s first reel-to-reel tape recorders, the "
G-Type"
(for gov't use) and the "
H-1"
(for home use) were released by a company named Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo. Music student Norio Ohga was unimpressed by the wobbly sound of "
Talking Paper," so he wrote a note complaining to the firm's founders, who hired him. Mr. Ohga never achieved his original dream of becoming a baritone opera singer, but the future President of TTK, (later renamed Sony,) would still make an indelible, global impact on the world of music -- including the development and introduction of the compact disc. Mr. Ohga
died on April 24, 2011.
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posted by zarq
on May 4, 2011 -
3 comments
Have you heard of
Washington Phillips? He was possessed of a wonderful voice, and delivered his simple but gorgeous gospel tunes in an easy and utterly unprepossessing style. He accompanied himself not on guitar or piano, as might be expected, but rather on a chiming, delicately ethereal zither, lending a curiously timeless air to his recordings from the 1920s. An altogether unique performer, his music is a real treat for the soul:
Take Your Burden To the Lord,
What Are They Doing in Heaven Today,
Denomination Blues,
I Had a Good Father and Mother,
Lift Him Up,
Paul and Silas in Jail,
Mother's Last Word To Her Son and
Train Your Children.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jun 14, 2010 -
23 comments
Sometimes, when you've had your fill of people basking in the golden light of their self-righteous indignation, you just wanna hear a song about somebody telling those holier-than-thou-ers where to get off. Something like, say,
Harper Valley PTA.
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posted by flapjax at midnite
on Apr 24, 2008 -
39 comments
Queens of
Carnatic singing:
Nithyasree Mahadevan:
1,
2 and
3.
Sudha Ragunathan:
1,
2,
3 and
4. And the legend of the legends,
M.S. Subbulakshmi, in her film appearances from decades past:
1,
2 and
3, and as an elder stateswoman of Carnatic vocal artistry:
1,
2,
3 and
4.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Mar 15, 2008 -
13 comments
Head over to
Cheikha Rimitti's MySpace page and listen to the first tune up on her player (starts when you open the page), called
Saida. Whoa! Is that badass or
what? Well, there's 5 other tunes of hers there for your listening pleasure, covering a wide swath of stylistic territory within the Algerian music tradition she was such an important part of. Yet
another MySpace page pays tribute (with 4 more songs!) to this powerful singer, and you can also learn more about her at the
Cheikha Rimitti website, which is in French, but with links like "Musique" and "Vidéos", you shouldn't have too much trouble with it. There's an informative English-language video
biography of this "Mother of
Raï", not to mention this performance footage (with those fantastic flutes!) of
Saida.
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Feb 5, 2008 -
18 comments
This post isn't about the great Belgian guitarist
Philip Catherine - too many guitar posts recently - it isn't about the Belgian singer
Katerine (nothing to say). It is about the French singer Philippe Katerine, who has been changing the way lyrics are written, as well as giving a whole range of new topics to French song. With
Je vous emmerde (F*** you) he explains what's on a loser's mind.
Excuse-moi is about the things a man focuses on during sexual intercourse in order to avoid early ejaculation. The individual struggling with an meaningless society is always present :
Borderline (
warcraft version with English subtitles). His lists and his humor clearly link his work with the texts of Poets like Raymond Queneau, Boris Vian (and Serge Gainsbourg), or the prose of Georges Perec. He can be
Elegiac,
Paradoxical,
Funky,
prosaic, he's always twofold.
posted by nicolin
on Oct 25, 2007 -
13 comments
