Notwithstanding one or two isolated exceptions, it wasn’t until the mid-Sixties that independent female voices really began to be heard within the music industry. The feminist movement naturally coincided with the first signs of genuine musical emancipation. In North America, Joan Baez and Buffy Sainte-Marie emerged through the folk clubs, coffee-houses and college campuses to inspire a generation of wannabe female singers and musicians with their strong, independent mentality and social compassion, while the British scene’s combination of folk song revival and the Beatles-led pop explosion saw record company deals for a new generation of pop-folkies including Marianne Faithfull, Dana Gillespie and Vashti Bunyan.
An Australian release, this is a 2CD set celebrating the very best male singers and songwriters - artists include Bernard Fanning, Josh Pyke, Paul Kelly, Xavier Rudd, Dan Sultan, Ash Grunwald, José González, Ryan Adams, Rufus Wainwright and many more.
Time Life Music’s Singers & Songwriters: 1976-1977 collects 24 radio hits over the span of two discs. Despite the title, the compilation doesn’t just favor traditional singer/songwriters like Al Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, and England Dan & John Ford Coley, though they are represented here. Group contributions include Orleans (“Still the One”), Fleetwood Mac (“Say You Love Me”), Chicago (“If You Leave Me Now”), and Bread (“Lost Without Your Love”), but it’s the solo acts that provide the most recognizable hits.
Fred James & Mary-Ann Brandon are the real deal. If you like southern roots Americana and blue eyed soul music, you’ll love the sound these two journeyman performers conjure up. Their new CD release on SPV Records showcases their exceptional song-writing and musicianship. Their harmony blend is all their own but harkens back to the classic duet sounds of Delaney & Bonnie, Billy Vera & Judy Clay and Bonnie Raitt & Delbert McClinton. It’s a sound that is timeless. This record has wound up being a loose chronicle of their life together. It's a love story with all its twists and turns. Their life together has not always been easy. They have lived, loved, fought and played with passion. For this album they went back to record some of the music from the early days and dug into their country and R&B roots to bring you a southern stew pot of blue eyed soul. This is, in fact, a record that has been a quarter of a century in the making.
After tackling old-school R&B, country-roots, and Memphis soul on his previous three releases, Australian rock veteran Jimmy Barnes returns to more familiar territory on his 16th studio release, Rage and Ruin. Produced by longtime collaborator Don Gehman, the back-to-basics affair sees the gravelly-voiced rocker, the most successful home-grown recording artist in his country's history, battle his demons on 12 tracks inspired by a book of notes he wrote while struggling with drug and alcohol addiction – hence the biblical titles like the driving country-rock of "This Ain't the Day That I Die," the Eagles-influenced AOR of "I've Seen It All (Rage and Ruin)," and the self-described "raw rockin' stomper" "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead."
As a concept it’s a revelation – the original versions of (mostly) familiar songs that went on to become big hits by other artists. Familiarity is turned on its head as mental receptors attuned to the better-known hit versions – the received wisdom, if you like – are challenged for attention by the performers who made the original recordings to little or no acclaim. It’s a parallel universe where the reassuringly familiar landscape is a beautiful illusion.