I occasionally happen upon a piece of music on the radio that I do not recognise but which arrests me, triggering emotions and a want to hear it again. Yet I rarely am able to find it again. But this happened again just recently and I did hear the song again, and then managed to find out what it was, thanks to a guy in a bar who had some gizmo on his computer (this techno stuff never ceases to amaze me!).
Seems like it is a bit of a hit at the moment. You will have to excuse my ignorance but there is so much older stuff, of varied sorts, that I listen to that I never can keep up with what is being done these days. Bla bla bla, silly old git....
Anyways, this comes from a young London singer named Adele. She seems to me to be of the Amy Winehouse school of blues and soul influenced singing. She also reminds me a bit of Julie Driscoll too, not physically (Adele seems to have a few extra stone!), but for the voice and the sense of pace in her singing. I really like this, and she can write as well.
I show you the video below just for the lyrics as the sound is pretty bad. Listen to the one further down which is much better.
Here is some bio stuff that I took from her official web site.
“As soon as I got a microphone in my hand, when I was about 14, I realised I wanted to do this,” she says. “Most people don’t like the way their voice sounds when it’s recorded. I was just so excited by the whole thing that I wasn’t bothered what it sounded like.”
She is a fan of artists such as Jill Scott, Etta James, Billy Bragg, Peggy Lee, Jeff Buckley and The Cure (not all of whom I have even heard, but it makes me curious)
“I’ve got no problem explaining what my lyrics are about,” Adele says. “I really like poetry: I’m not very good at reading it, but I love writing it. Singers like Jill Scott and Karen Dalton are amazing; proper poets.”
And here is a video using footage from recording sessions for this track in California. I prefer it to those silly mimed clips that totally invade musical TV channels these days, not that I ever watch these.
This lady has something folks!
Yes - Adele is very good and sings with soul and feeling. Her size has absolutely nothing to do with her talent - so why mention it?
ReplyDeleteBecause it is a fact, and, in the case of this article, because it makes sense when comparing her to Julie Driscoll. Why not mention how someone looks anyway?
ReplyDeleteIn future, as it is always "a fact", will you comment on body size with everybody else please? I haven't seen any evidence of this in previous postings. Otherwise you might be accused of being gratuitously offensive.
ReplyDeleteWill you delete this I wonder?
No "Anchois", I will not delete it as censorship is not part of my approach to life.
ReplyDeleteHowever this would not appear to be the case from your point of view. Why on earth should the fact that sombody is fat, thin, beautiful, ugly, tall, short, black or white be something that should not be mentioned? And, if you consider that I am being "gratuitously offensive" by mentioning that Adele is a little on the heavy side (I actually think that she looks good, but that is another matter) then you must have a problem with this yourself since you consider the fact that I mention it to be offensive. Etta James was pretty big too, and this did not prevent her from being a great singer.
Poor me David ! I cannot even fly, let alone dive!
ReplyDeleteAs for the comparison with Anchois, I can see your point, but you should realize that anchovies get smaller and smaller, yes even ridiculously so, especially in the Mediterranean. I think this explains this poor chappy’s frustration and reaction.
In my case, I’m none of Batman’s relatives, never was lucky enough to contemplate Wonder Woman – let alone dressed – and have not been intimate with the Invisible Man for a long time. So, all this was purely descriptive and I qualify for your Paradise Island. So, fly along, You Lost Boys; follow-me Tinkerbell; trust me Wendy and Tiger Lilly. Neverland is within reach.
Returning to your Batman story, Luc, one has to wonder (not woman) at the limits of his so-called X-ray vision regarding this mistake. Also, I should say, a probable issue regarding some other sensorial capacities of his. Clearly the Invisible Man did not protest at this landing and the ensuing action from the winged wonder. Maybe he was in the Gay Pride march yesterday in Paris (oh dear, I am probably going to get stick from someone about this).
ReplyDeleteWe had our limited gay pride as well, located somewhere in the Quercy, where my dearest friend was celebrating her birthday, together with her family, a Belgian cop (intelligence) whom I suspect to be on a mission of surveillance aimed at me and a large panel of lesbians of all kinds, every one of them a “butch” (no single “lipstick”), all very cultivated, playing several instruments and on average good fun to be with.
ReplyDeleteBut we restricted it to a nice chat, the more so since my lady-friend also kept an eye on me: there was plenty of excellent goat-cheese, Ardbeg and Laphroaig at hand and I’m likely to do strange things when abusing those goodies (especially the cheese).
"Etta James was pretty big too, and this did not prevent her from being a great singer."
ReplyDeleteThat really is my point. Her physical attributes add nothing to the statement "being a great singer", and indeed you haven't mentioned her size until now; why not? Its a fact. If instead you were to have said Etta James was black (a fact)would you perhaps start to see the irrelevance and potential harm that such a statement might make?
Probably not.
I feel I've wondered into a Kingsley Amis novel with old men chuntering on about the state of the modern world. And I'm getting bored with this, so I'm off to other websites.
Why on earth should stating that Etta James (or anyone else for that matter) is black be "harmful"? If it is a fact, tyhen it is part of a description of that person. I cannot see your point here. Saying, to take another example, that I am white, of English origin and that I live in France are three facts all of which are merely descriptive, non judgmental and thus totally inoffensive. They may or may not be relevant to another subject such as my professional activities (I don't sing, luckily for the world), but the writer in this case should be perfectly free to mention them if he so chooses.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to be mixing up things of very different orders here.
“He’s off, he’s off, he’s off in a motorcar,
ReplyDeleteThe Anchois guy got bored of us
And now drinks in another bar ....”