Natasha 2007

The difficult second album by Natasha Bedingfield, titled N.B., was released in April 2007. Her brother Daniel had already been there with Second First Impression which was nowhere near as successful as his first album Gotta Get Thru This. Since her debut album Unwritten, a whole series of similar female singers had broken through, including Amy Winehouse, Corinne Bailey Rae and Lily Allen and this was the market Bedingfield was now competing in. The songs on NB focus on relationships from the very start of the ballad "Soulmate," the first single to be lifted from the album, about being on your own and wondering if there is a soulmate for everyone, through to "When You Know You Know" about breaking up, set to a soundtrack reminiscent of early-'70s soul bands like the Delfonics or Bloodstone.

It was strange that this album should be released by EMI in the middle of February. Subtitled The Voice of Romance, Amour was the debut album by classical crossover's brightest young hope (don't they have a lot in that genre?), but it was released too late for Valentine's Day and EMI should have known that this sort of material really only sold well at Christmastime. Katherine Jenkins knew that, and timed her releases accordingly. With Natasha Marsh having been touted as the next big thing, Amour was a mixture of standard classical works and film music sung in a style suited to a soprano.

William Parker Double Quartet - Alphaville Suite (2007) {RogueArt}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 467 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 170 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 9 Mb
© 2007 RogueArt | ROG-0010
Jazz / Free Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Bass

The great thing about William Parker is that he doesn't stop looking for new approaches to music, as long as they're acoustic and based on genuine interplay between real musicians. On this CD he brings a double quartet, his usual band consisting of himself on bass, Rob Brown on alto sax, Lewis Barnes on trumpet and Hamid Drake on drums, augmented with Mazz Sqift on violin, Jessica Pavone on viola, Julia Kent on cello and Shiau-Shu Yu on cello. Leena Conquest guests on vocals on "Natasha's Theme" and "Natasha's Theme 2". Or, if you want, a male quartet and a female quartet.

With more than 7 hours of tender music by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Debussy, Puccini and more, performed by greats like Luciano Pavarotti, Andre Previn and Jose Carreras, this set can complete any romantic evening at home. And if we can't play upon your heart strings, 100 classics for this low price is quite a deal.