What I'm Listening to Today: 2/24/04
Wilco - "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" - 9:00 A.M. - This sounds like something fans of Bob Dylan would probably like. During the times that they aren't singing, the instrumentation is pretty good! OK, song number 2, "Kamera," is earning my interest, even with their singing. (Zack, this song isn't actually all that bad!) Well, the album does seem to get better as it goes along. I'm on song #4 now and I'm finding myself reluctantly getting somehow involved. I don't know why, but I usually try to avoid these alternative-type bands. I think it's subconscious that I do that. I dunno. *sigh* OK, I like this CD. I'm glad I don't stick with my first impression and just turn off the CD at the beginning without giving it a chance. Their songs are very lyrical. This CD is definitely one I'd listen to again. "I'm the Man Who Loves You" is very Beatles-esque, at least to me. Oh this is a very fun album! OK Zack, you win!!! Funny, at the end of track 10, a woman's voice comes repeats "Yankee... Hotel... Foxtrot," just like the same type voice I pick up on my shortwave radio from time-to-time! COOL!
"Star Wars - Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" soundtrack - 9:50 A.M. - Who doesn't know and love the stunning "Dual of the Fates" track? Sci-fi soundtracks are pretty cool! As a side-note, I also enjoy the "Star Trek: First Contact" soundtrack, yet another sign that sci-fi soundtrack music is breathtaking.
Bach - Sonatinas & Partitas For Solo Violin: Disc 1 - 2:15 P.M. - First impression after only seconds of listening to this CD is of a haunting solo violin song, the player has his eyes closed and he is walking alone through the brick streets of Italy by the moonlight. Someone in one of the houses opens a window on the second floor and leans out the window to listen. (After reading this I think my thoughts may have been heavily influenced by two novels I read some time ago, BOTH by Anne Rice - "Cry to Heaven" and "Violin." I recommend both books, by the way!) What a haunting song that is being performed! A lover trying to tell a woman something without words, only music to speak to her heart, softly, gently, then louder and more intense.... OOohh I can just melt to this!
Charlotte Church - "Charlotte Church" - 3:20 P.M. - This self-titled album is slightly better than her debut album, "Voice of an Angel." (In fact, "Voice of an Angel" is now in my "never-to-listen-to-again" stack. But I have to give her credit, she was only 12 years old when she came out with that CD.) "Just Wave Hello" is a song you've probably heard before without realizing it. The Ford Motor Company used it in a commercial for the Ford Global Millennium vehicle. That is my favorite track on this album. To enjoy Charlotte Church you must first have an affinity for the Soprano voice, and secondly you must appreciate the opera. Her "Enchantment" album is probably the best of her work, in my opinion. On this album, though, I adore "The Jewel Song." I first heard this song when the movie The Phantom of the Opera, with Robert Englund, came out. I loved the song Christine was singing at her audition in the movie, but I never could figure out what song it was. Imagine my surprise when more than 10 years later I pop in this CD to hear that very song. Finally I found out the name! (I must have been too lazy or too stupid as a teenager to look at the credits in the movie.)
"Sweet November" soundtrack - 5:00 P.M. - This album is growing on me. It just took more than one listen, I suppose. Oh dear, I just love K.D. Langs' "Consequences of Falling - Lenny B. Remix" She has such a pristine voice! My favorite song on the CD is a Robbie Williams "Rock DJ" remix. Totally a fun song!
