The leaves have fallen and turned to mush, the trees stand alone and bare, it can only mean one thing; Winter has arrived. With the arrival of December comes the end of Paramore's 'Singles Club' a collection of three songs released one by one over a three month period. October 11th - 'Renegade', November 7th - 'Hello Cold World' and December 5th - 'In The Mourning'.
At the end of last year Paramore lost two of its founding members; Josh & Zac Farro, although it was not a complete surprise to the band or fans, internal problems had been brewing for some time, it has still left many fans wondering what fate awaits the band.
Paramore's fourth album has been scheduled for a 2012 release, three years after their chart topping 'Brand New Eyes', how will it fare without the Farro brothers? I reckon quite well. Hayley Williams teaming up with B.O.B on 'Airplanes' in 2010 opened Paramore up to a wider audience, not forgetting bagging the lead single on the 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon Soundtrack' with their song 'Monster' which hardly suffered with the absence of Josh & Zac.
I was rather pleased today when asked to bring in my favourite book to my next seminar for discussion. It is widely known that I am a massive fan of 'Wicked: The Life and Times of The Wicked Witch of The West' and the series to follow: 'Son of a Witch', 'Lion Among Men' and 'Out of Oz'. But before you judge, please note the series is very different from the Musical that some of you may have seen. More importantly it isn't 'just' a retelling of 'The Wizard of Oz', I feel compelled to address such opinions. Fictional Revisionism is the retelling of a story with considerable changes to environment or character, and that is exactly what Gregory Maguire does with 'Wicked' not only does he take us back into a place that millions of people fell in love with as children, but he allows us back there as teenagers and adults. We are invited back to the magical Emerald City, but from a different perspective.
'Wicked' as you might have guessed from the title is from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West - Elphaba. There is a slight mention of Dorothy towards the end, but otherwise she doesn't feature, the story focuses on life before Dorothy. Oz is an extremely complicated place economically and politically with the Wizard running riot, causing all sorts of chaos. Not to mention the unrest between the different religions throughout Oz. This book is about liberation, well the fight for it, lead by the head-strong Elphaba who we almost fall in love with. She isn't the nasty green witch she is painted as in 'The Wizard of Oz' but instead we are shown a softer side to her where she experiences love, friendship, heart-ache, rejection & acceptance. She becomes a loner for the good of Oz trying to keep the Grimmerie (book of spells) out of harms way, very much a selfless person =]
'Wicked' has not only sold millions of books around the world, but is also on stage in numerous countries (the award winning musical is definitely worth seeing, I've been twice) and is rumoured to be made into a film (which I warmly welcome) =]
What you can expect from 'Wicked':
An explanation into how the Cowardly Lion came to be a coward
Elphaba's family life
Elphaba's love life
The difference between animals and Animals
The love/hate relationship between Elphaba & Glinda (formely Galinda)
Who Dorothy's house actually landed on
and so much more
I really do suggest you give 'Wicked' a go if you find yourself wondering what to read next, it really is an amazing place and a great book =]
Live Fast & Die Young, seems to be a common practise among the young, rich and talented these days. Fortunately for us their music has continued to live on.
Less than 5 months since Amy Winehouse's untimely death ( 23/07/2011) and she is in the race for the Christmas Number one for her latest album 'Lioness: Hidden Treasures'. Some of the songs on the album may date back to before 'Frank' and 2002, but this is ultimately an album of previously unreleased work from the amazingly talented Amy, brought to us by Mark Ronson, Salaam Remi et al.
'Back to Black' is probably Amy's biggest achievement during her short career, reaching sales of 3.3million, making it the highest selling album of the 21st Century, until recently when the deserving Adele took the top spot. 'Rehab', 'Tears Dry On Their Own', 'Back to Black' and 'Valerie' are all songs that we can sing along to, our parents can sing along to, and a few kewl grandparents. 'Back to Black' is an infectious album, often on repeat and rightly so.
She may have had a troubled personal life, but it can't be denied that she gave her everything to music. The fact that 'Lioness' is an album of unreleased/unused songs that hadn't previously made the grade goes to show the talent that was floating around. I'm thankful Ronson and Remi took the time to sift through her back catalogue and bring us an album worthy of great success.
After listening to 'Lioness: Hidden Treasure' it is clear the name sums up the album perfectly; a reworking of 'Valerie - '68 version', the original 'Tears Dry' remind me of how great she was, but also of the waste of such a great talent. These really are hidden treasures and luckily for us they don't remain so. =]
Elvis Presely & Bob Marley are known to have sold more after they died at similarly young ages to Amy, is our Hidden Treasure heading in the same direction? Can she reclaim her spot on the top of the 21st Century Albums list? I hope she can (sorry Adele).
Track List:
1. Our Day Will Come
2. Between The Cheats
3. Tears Dry - Original Version
4. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? - 2011
5. Like Smoke ft Nas
6. Valerie - '68 Version
7. The Girl from Ipanema
8. Half Time
9. Wake Up Alone - Original Recording
10. Best Friends, Right?
11. Body And Soul
12. A Song For You (The perfect song to finish on, I actually love this song)
This album is definitely £9.99 spent well, I urge you all to go out and buy it, you won't be disappointed. Lets pay homage to such a talented treasure.
Hint: Listen out for the sweeping in 'Wake Up Alone' really helps you imagine her in the recording studio with just the janitor sweeping up long after everyone has gone home, everyone except Amy.
I love this poem a lot, it's really special. To me its about taking responsibility of your own happiness as well as self empowerment. You can't wait around for things to happen, you have to make them happen.
Releasing a second album is always going to be a daunting task, not only do you have to live up to the success and standards of your debut album, but your expected to surpass it whilst bringing something new to the table, but not diverting too heavily from 'your' sound. Years often go into the making of a debut album, perfecting it without any time constraints or public pressure nibbling at the back of your mind. Artists often put their hearts and souls into their debut albums, delivering to the world their pride and joy, not to mention their blood, sweat and tears. When it comes to creating and releasing a second album you are on a very thin timeline, with the pressures of being current and memorable (there are only so many times you can re-release an album) it's a hard task and many have fallen short.
Is it simply a matter of re-inventing yourself or developing a new side of you? creating a male alter-ego like Lady Gaga and Rihanna? It would seem Marina of Marina and the Diamonds has gone down a similar path with the immersion of Electra Heart. Telling Popjustice "Electra Heart is the antithesis of everything that I stand for. And the point of introducing her and building a whole concept around her is that she stands for the corrupt side of American ideology, and basically that’s the corruption of yourself. My worst fear - that’s anyone’s worst fear - is losing myself and becoming a vacuous person. And that happens a lot when you’re very ambitious."
Marina has teased her fans by releasing two songs that are likely to feature on her second album. 'Part One: Fear & Loathing' following the familiar footsteps of 'Family Jewels' whereas 'Part Two: Radioactive' bringing a very commercial, very different sound to Marina and the Diamonds.
Home grown treasures Kate Nash and Lily Allen had a tough time living up to their incredibly popular debut albums 'Alright, Still' and 'Made of Bricks'. Kate Nash's 'Foundations' catapulted her into the lime light with her witty and real lyrics whilst Allen's 'Smile' saw her stepping out from behind her webcam. Follow up attempts; 'It's Not Me, It's You' by Lily and Kate Nash's 'My Bestfriend Is You' failed to make a mark on the charts when released, despite relatively good feed back on both of their first singles. Lily Allen's 'The Fear' was an over night success, but forgotten in the morning and Kate Nash's ' Do-Wah-Doo' peaked at #15 on the UK charts.Their albums & singles, along with sales slowly fell down the charts.
Lily Allen has supposedly 'retired' at the ripe old age of of 26 and recently became a mum (well done). Kate Nash may have disappeared from our radars in recent years, however, she has been busy exploring other avenues; working with new band Supercute! as well as previously playing bass for Punk band The Reeceders. Have our cockney cuties befallen the 'sophomore slump' never to regain their former popularity? or are they carefully biding their time eagerly trying to tap into the popular music of 2011 which has blossomed and captured us Brits from the depths of the underground?
Kate Nash
Lily Allen
However,
2011 has been Adele's year, going from a popular London artist with debut album '19' to a world wide phenomenon and the word on everybody' lips thanks to her second album '21' becoming an instant hit. Not only has she WOWED the UK but she managed to have our friends across the pond on their knees begging for more, raking up numerous #1 hits with 'Rolling in the deep' and 'Someone like you'. She has captured the hearts of millions people, ever increasing. Four of her songs have currently been used on the hit show 'Glee': 'Rolling in the deep', 'Turning tables', 'Someone like you' and 'Rumour has it' (you've made it if you make it onto 'Glee'.)
Adele
Following Adele's success from a distance is Florence Welch from Florence + the machine, with second album 'Ceremonials' firmly making its mark here in the UK. Following 'Lungs' was always going to be a difficult challenge for Florence with hits such as 'You Got The Love' and 'Dog Days' (made ever popular by Channel 4's 'Slumdog Millionaire' adverts, so much so it was re-released.) she had a task on her hands. Florence brought something new to the table when it's contents were going stale, a fresh injection. Rising up the ladder Florence is ready to embark on her first arena tour in 2012.
Florence Welch
Now we are left wondering whether artists such as Katy B, Ellie Goulding, Marina (and the Diamonds) and Jessie J to mention a few, can break the curse of the second year blues and trump their first albums or will they fall victim, thus becoming a distant memory of "oh, I liked that song" when tuning into Heart.
