BlogKitch: Songs

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Songs I'm Listening To - September 2014

Here's a taste of some of my favourite tunes this month!

Jimmy Barnes (Feat. Keith Urban) - "Good Times"

The Easybeats classic that Jimmy covered with INXS back in the day has been re-covered with country superstar Keith Urban. It's another powerful track from Barney's 30:30 Hindsight album, following the searing "Lay Down Your Guns" with the Living End.

Not surprisingly, the album debuted at #1 on the ARIA charts this month.

Chris Lane - "Broken Windshield View"

A former college baseball star who saw his shot at the MLB end due to an injury is the latest country rocker to be noticed by acclaimed producer Joey Moi - responsible for, amongst other things, discovering Florida Georgia Line and producing Jake Owen's monster hit "Barefoot Blue Jean Night" - and I've had Lane's debut track on high rotation this month.

The recently-released film clip fits the song perfectly, depicting Lane driving a pick-up truck around Kernersville, North Carolina, looking at the road through, yep, you guessed it, a broken windshield. The last third of the clip intersperses recent concert footage. This guy is going places, and will release his debut album for Big Loud Mountain Records, the label the all-conquering Florida Georgia Line are signed to. There's a lot of that rock-leaning FGL sound in "Broken Windshield View", proof that Moi's fingerprints are all over Lane's debut. A killer track!

Garth Brooks - "Friends In Low Places"

After years in retirement, Garth Brooks, one of the most successful recording artists in music history, is back with a new world tour, an upcoming new album and, best of all, a bundled digital release of his back catalogue at the new GhostTunes website for an insanely cheap price of $30. What's not to like about that?

Brooks's biggest hit, "Friends in Low Places" is one of country's all-time great drinking songs, and comes from his 1990 release No Fences. Entering the Billboard country chart on August 18, 1990. It took just eight weeks to go #1, where it remained for a month, long enough to make it one of the biggest hits of the year. Still a cool song all these years later!

Train - "Bulletproof Picasso"

The title track from Train's latest album is also one of the strongest cuts on the entire release. You don't fix what isn't broke, so "Bulletproof Picasso" is cut from the same cloth as so many of the band's previous hits. Catchy tune, with a nice, hooky chorus and Pat Monahan's voice is as good as ever.

Blake Shelton - "Neon Light"

September and October are good months for country music fans in 2014, with Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line and Blake Shelton all releasing new and highly-anticipated albums.Shelton's new break-up anthem is catchy from the outset, with a hooky chorus and a positive song that is less about the doldrums of being trapped in those post-relationship blues and more about getting on with life. The film clip consists mostly of live footage, and accurately shows what a real party a Shelton concert is.

Recently, Shelton said that he has to get back to "singing about getting drunk", and promises that his new album, Bringing Back the Sunshine, will be a grittier album, and less positive than his two recent chart-toppers, which found The Voice judge in a good place, after marrying

Interestingly, he also says of his style on this new release: "We're pushing boundaries...and pushing 'em and pushing 'em. And to me, it's like I'm bringing back some country into this thing!" Can't wait.

“We’re pushing boundaries … and pushing ‘em and pushing ‘em,” he says. “And to me, with that title, it’s like I’m bringing back some country into this thing.”

Read More: Blake Shelton: 'Gotta Get Back to Singing Bout Gettin Drunk' | http://tasteofcountry.com/blake-shelton-sunshine-album-getting-drunk/?trackback=tsmclip

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Songs I'm Listening to - August 2014

Here's a taste of some of my favourite tunes this month!

Bethany Joy Lenz – “Calamity Jane”

Perhaps better known as an actress (most recently guesting on ‘Dexter’ but for almost a decade as Haley James Scott on the basketball-oriented drama ‘One Tree Hill’) Lenz is also a brilliant singer, and was featured singing many times (with Tyler Hilton, Grace Potter and, most often, as a solo performer) during the nine-year run of ‘Hill’.

“Calamity Jane”, the first single from Lenz’ upcoming album, has all the hallmarks of a country song. Indeed, it was recorded in Nashville under the watchful eye of veteran producer Jeff Cohen.

Aside from that most recognisable of Nashville sounds – the lap steel – and obvious references to the western American icon, what shines in Lenz’s voice. Her range and pitch is incredible, and she has a back catalogue of impressive work – some of it as partnership with Amber Sweeney, called Everly – that has, judging by the impact ‘One Tree Hill’ had on people over nearly a decade, a fairly big built-in audience. A good song that’ll get into your head and stay there.

Miranda Lambert & Carrie Underwood – “Somethin’ Bad”

Two of the biggest stars in country – or, arguably, any genre – today have teamed up for an epic, rockin’ song that with a video clip where Underwood and Lambert are robbing a bank in leather. The tune is definitely closer to rock-pop than traditional country, but that’s pretty much the way things are going in Nashville at the moment, but it’s catchy, loud and features a double-shot of strong vocals. Not much to not like about this one.

Eric Church (Feat. Lzzy Hale) – “That’s Damn Rock & Roll”

The North Carolina native recently declared that genres are dead, and that he just writes songs that sound good. Well, this is one of those, and whilst the studio version that appears on Church’s 2014 release ‘The Outsiders’ is good, what caught my attention, and the attention of millions of others, was Church’s duet at the CMT Awards and then CMA Fest with Lzzy Hale, the incredibly-talented front-woman from Grammy-winning Pennsylvanian hard rock outfit, Halestorm.

Hale’s voice is perfect for a song that is more rock than country, and you could argue that she’s the standout performer on the duet. That’s no knock on Church, just a giant nod to Hale, whose mainstream profile has been raised by this song and by her duet with YouTube violinist sensation Lindsay Stirling.

You only have to check out Church’s face when Hale is singing her parts to realise how much in awe he is of her talents. When someone of the calibre of Eric Church, he of multiple #1 songs, is impressed, you know you’re doing well.

Brantley Gilbert (Feat. Justin Moore & Thomas Rhett – “Small Town Throwdown"

The tattooed Gilbert, whose microphone has knuckleduster grips, has skirted the line between country and southern rock over his last two releases, which feature songs with crushing guitar riffs and hard drumming, making them sound more like something AC/DC might release. Not that it matters, because good music is good music. And besides, Eric Church reckons genres are dead.

“Small Town Throwdown” features Gilbert’s talented label mates, Justin Moore and Thomas Rhett, singing about a country party and a video clip where said party is crashed by none other than UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell. There’s also a bunch of smokin’ hot girls, powerful firearms and more solo cups of Jack than you can poke a stick at. The result? A raucous video clip, and Gilbert may just have another big hit on his hands.

Train – “Bulletproof Picasso”

I saw Train in 2012 at the Sydney Opera House in support of their ‘California 37’ album, and it remains one of the best and most jubilant shows ever. The group, fronted by Pat Monahan, are back with a follow-up album, “Bulletproof Picasso” and three songs are already available on iTunes.

The title track is the best of the three. It’s typical Train – sure, maybe it’s inoffensive middle-of-the-road rock/pop but it’s catchy, fun and Monahan knocks the vocals out of the park. To a certain extent, you know what you’re gonna get from a Train song, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Can’t wait to hear the rest of the album when it’s released in a couple of weeks.

The Cadillac Three – “Party Like You”

Nashville’s long-haired southern rock trio recently signed to Big Machine Records, the powerhouse label that counts Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw amongst it’s stable, and have released “Party Like You” a ridiculously catchy and addictive single to follow their anthemic hit “The South”, a reference more to trials and tribulations with women than a big party.

TC3 are known for their dirty, edgy southern rock sound and vocalist Jaren Johnston, whose ‘day job’ is writing hit songs for other artists – think “Southern Girl” for Tim McGraw, “Beachin’” for Jake Owen and “You Gonna Fly” for Australia’s own Keith Urban – is a big reason why this trio, formed out of the now-defunct American Bang quartet, is making waves in Nashville.

If “Party Like You” is an indication of what’s to come on this group’s major-label debut, they’re going to deliver an awesome party album and I can’t wait!

Jimmy Barnes (Feat. The Living End) – “Lay Down Your Guns”

Hard to believe Barnesy is celebrating his thirtieth year of rocking us all. To celebrate, he’s invited a bunch of his best friends – Keith Urban, Little Steven Van Zandt, Jon Stevens and others – to re-record some of his biggest hits for the ’30:30 Hindsight’ album.

Imagine all of his best songs reinvigorated and modernised! And it starts with The Living End’s pulsating and frenetic take on “Lay Down Your Guns” which has always been one of my favourite Barnesy songs, and a long-time live performance favourite.

Generally, I’m wary of these re-recordings because they don’t usually stack up very well with the original, but that’s not a problem on this one. Not even close. The Living End absolutely smash it, laying down – you’ll pardon the pun – an epic version of a song that’s a big part of our country’s rock heritage.

If it’s an indication of the rest of the reworked performances on ’30:30 Hindsight’, then roll on the release date, August 29!