Anastacia – Not That Kind (2000)

Anastacia Lyn Newkirk (/ˌænəˈsteɪʒə/ AN-ə-STAY-zhə; born September 17, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, producer and former dancer. Her first two albums Not That Kind (2000) and Freak of Nature (2001) were released in quick succession to major success. Spurred on by the multi-platinum, global smash “I’m Outta Love”, Anastacia was awarded as the ‘World’s Best-Selling New Female Pop Artist’ in 2001. Her commercial success continued with international hits such as “Paid My Dues”, “One Day In Your Life” and the official song of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, “Boom”. After recovering from cancer, she returned with 2004’s Anastacia which deviated from previous albums into pop-rock. Peaking at number one in 11 countries, it became Europe’s second-biggest-selling album of the year. Its lead single “Left Outside Alone” remained at number one on the European Billboard chart for 15 weeks and helped Anastacia launch the most successful European tour by a solo artist that same year. The album also provided another three singles: “Sick and Tired”, “Welcome to My Truth”, and “Heavy on My Heart”.

In 2005, the multi-platinum compilation project Pieces of a Dream was released, which spawned the chart-topping duet with Eros Ramazzotti, “I Belong to You (Il Ritmo della Passione)”. Her fourth studio album Heavy Rotation (2008) produced the songs “Absolutely Positively”, “Defeated”, and “I Can Feel You”. Her cover album It’s a Man’s World (2012) was followed by a sixth studio album Resurrection (2014), which reached the top ten of several European charts. Her Ultimate Collection was released in 2015 and peaked in the top ten of the UK charts, giving the singer her sixth top-ten album in Britain. In 2017, Anastacia released the studio album Evolution and its lead single “Caught in the Middle”. Anastacia has established herself as one of the best-selling international female singers of the 2000s and 2010s. As of 2016, she has reported worldwide sales of more than 50 million. She has had five top ten singles on U.S. Billboard’s Dance Club chart and three albums on its Top Album Sales chart.

Known for her powerful mezzo-soprano voice and her small stature of 5 feet 2 inches (157 cm), she has been dubbed “the little lady with the big voice”. She underwent corrective LASIK surgery in August 2005, although she still frequently wears the glasses for which she became noted when she first became famous.

During her life Anastacia has battled many health problems. She was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when she was 13, breast cancer at the age of 34, and supraventricular tachycardia aged 39. In 2013, Anastacia was diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time. In recognition of her decade-long charitable efforts in breast cancer awareness, Anastacia became the second woman ever to be presented with the Humanitarian Award at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in 2013.

Anastacia was born in Chicago, Illinois; her late father Robert Newkirk (of German descent) was a club-singer and her mother Diane Hurley (of Irish descent) an actress on Broadway. Her parents split up when she was five years old. After her father (who had bipolar disorder) left the Newkirk family, they moved to New York City when she was a teenager. She enrolled at the Professional Children’s School in Manhattan. After graduation, she worked jobs at restaurants and hair salons while pursuing a career in the music industry.

Anastacia was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when she was thirteen. Despite her ongoing health problems Anastacia continued to pursue her ambitions for the next decade. Anastacia started her career in 1983 as a dancer for hire. Her first claim to fame was as a professional dancer (dancer for hire), making regular appearances in the mid-1980s and early ’90s on MTV’s Club MTV. She appeared in two videos for American hip hop trio Salt-N-Pepa (“Get Up Everybody (Get Up)” in 1988 and “Twist and Shout” in 1989). In 1990, she started her musical career as a backing vocalist. She sang back-up vocals on pop star Tiffany’s New Inside album in 1990. In 1991, she featured in music video My Fallen Angel of Dominican singer/actor Coro. In 1992 she gained her first break as a solo singer on BET’s ComicView, singing Oleta Adams’ “Get Here”.

In 1993 she moved to Los Angeles to record the song One More Chance for the producer OG Pierce, it resulted however in no record deal. That same year the singer recorded a collaboration with David Morales called “Forever Luv”. Throughout the mid 1990s producers claimed to be intrigued by her voice’s unusual tone, Anastacia would be continuously told that ‘her sound just didn’t quite fit into any category’. In 1994, she sang back-up vocals on Jamie Foxx debut album Peep This, and in 1995 Anastacia sang back-up vocals on Paula Abdul’s third studio album Head Over Heels. By 1997, Anastacia had become a member of a band called The Kraze which she remained a part of until 1999. In 1997 she also sung in the background choir for Kurt Carr’s gospel vocal ensemble called The Kurt Carr Singers on their album No One Else. She had two duet songs with Cuban composer Omar Sosa in 1998, performing “Mi Negra, Tu Bombón” and “Tienes Un Solo” in 1999. Eventually in 1998, before turning 30, Anastacia attracted the interest of record labels after making the finals of the short-lived MTV talent show The Cut hosted by rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes . Anastacia signed a contract with Daylight Records, a custom label of Sony Music Entertainment’s Epic Records in March 1999.

Anastacia met Lisa Braude (who later became her manager) in 1997. She encouraged her to join MTV’s talent show The Cut in 1998. She made her way to be one of the ten finalists, performing her own composition entitled “Not That Kind”. Even though she did not win the contest, she had successfully impressed some notable artists, such as Elton John and Michael Jackson as well as the show’s judges that included David Foster and Faith Evans. This afterwards led her to sign with Daylight, one of Epic’s labels, by March 1999. Backed up by leading American producer/writers, she released her debut album, Not That Kind on June 13, 2000. The album reached the top ten in eight countries in Europe and Asia. It went four times platinum in Europe and triple platinum in Australia; her debut single “I’m Outta Love” was a global smash hit in 2000, topping the charts in Belgium, Australia and New Zealand, peaking at number two in France, Switzerland, Italy and Ireland as well as also reaching number six both in Germany and the UK. In the U.S., it was only a minor radio hit. The second single “Not That Kind” reached number 11 in the UK[29] and became a top 10 hit in Italy. It also entered the top 20 in Switzerland and France.[30] “Cowboys & Kisses” was released as the third single from the album, charting in the top forty in some European countries. As the last promotional only single, “Made for Lovin’ You” charted in the UK at number twenty-seven and in France at number seventy-two. While “I’m Outta Love” was a top ten hit on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in the United States, “Not That Kind” did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100; however by the end of the year Anastacia would go on to be the World’s Best Selling New Female Pop Artist at the 2001 World Music Awards.

Not That Kind is the debut studio album by American singer Anastacia. It was released on June 16, 2000, by Epic Records and Daylight Records. The album features production by Sam Watters, Louis Biancaniello, Ric Wake, Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken, Rickey Minor, and The Shadowmen.

Not That Kind failed to make an impact in the United States, where it peaked at number 168 on the Billboard 200. Nevertheless, it was commercially successful overseas, reaching the top 10 on the majority of the charts in Europe and Oceania. By May 2002, the album had sold over seven million copies worldwide. (wikipedia)

As revealed in the multiple pictures in the CD package and in the video featured as part of the disc’s multi-media content, Anastacia is, in appearance, yet another teen dream with cascades of blonde hair and an exposed navel (though perhaps her ever-present, and ever-changing, spectacles are supposed to signal a higher intellectual content). But her musical models aren’t Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera, they are Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and Martha Wash. Anastacia possesses a big, expressive alto voice that her many co-writers and producers (primarily Rik Wake;Celine Dion, Mariah Carey) and the team of ex-Color Me Badd member Sam Watters and Louis Biancaniello, though Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers, authors of ‘N Sync’s “God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You,” have two tracks) use in updated R&B, dance, and funk tracks. “I’m Outta Love,” which just missed topping the dance charts, is an aggressive dancefloor item, and its follow-up, the title song, is in a funk style reminiscent of Aretha Franklin’s ’80s work.

“I Ask of You” is one of those slow, deliberate big ballads that recalls “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” as well as that song’s singer, Jennifer Holliday. And so it goes. The only real misstep on the album is the inevitable Diane Warren adult contemporary romantic ballad, “Late Last Night,” which forces the singer to rein in her voice, though even then she doesn’t really negotiate its lyrical complexity. Despite her toothsome appearance, Anastacia may be too old school to break through in the U.S., though this album has been a commercial success overseas. (The American version has been altered from the foreign one, with a couple of tracks added and dropped.) But Macy Gray demonstrated that a broad audience may respond to an older style if the singer herself is distinguished enough. Anastacia doesn’t have the kind of unique timbre that Gray does — in fact, the minute she opens her mouth she starts reminding you of other singers, especially Aretha Franklin — but she is clearly a big talent, and that should count for something. (by William Ruhlmann)

Personnel:
Anastacia (vocals)
Rob Bailey (guitar)
Tom Barney (bass)
Louis Biancaniello (drums, keyboards)
Vernon Black (guitar)
Chris Camozzi (guitar)
Kevin Cloud (drums)
Luis Conte (percussion)
Russ DeSalvo (guitar, keyboards)
Chris Goercke (guitar)
Rayford Griffin (drums)
Gary Haase (bass)
Loris Holland (organ)
Herman Jackson III (piano)
Paul Jackson Jr. (guitar)
Bashiri Johnson (percussion)
Richie Jones (drums)
Eric Kupper (guitar, keyboards)
Ricky Lawson (drums)
Diane Louie (keyboards)
Rickey Minor (bass)
Chieli Minucci (guitar)
John “Noodle” Nevin (bass)
Leon Pendarvis (piano)
Carl Potts (guitar)
Carl Sturken (all insruments on 04., 09. + 12.)
Sam Watters (drums, background vocals)
Steve Wolfe (drums)
+
violin:
Ann Leathers – Belinda Whitney-Barratt – Joel Pitchon – Regis Iandiorio – Shirien Taylor
+
background vocals:
BeBe Winans – Audrey Wheeler – Craig Derry –  Cindy Mizelle – Evan Rogers, Katreese Barnes – Kevin Owens – Valerie Pinkston – Keith Fluitt – Nicky Richards – Rob Mathes- Sam Watters – Audrey Martells – Barbara Laurie – Angela Brusegar – Sharlotte Gibson -Lynn Davis – Lynne Fiddmont-Linsey – Valerie Pinkston – Katreese Barnes

Tracklist:
01. Not That Kind (Anastacia/Wheaton/Young) 3.21
02. I’m Outta Love (Anastacia/Watters/Biancaniello) 4.03
03. Cowboys & Kisses (Anastacia/Jive/Pennachio) 4.41
04. Who’s Gonna Stop The Rain (Rogers/Sturken) 5.00
05. Love Is Alive (Wright) 4.07
06. I Ask Of You (Anastacia/Watters/Biancaniello) 4.27
07. Wishing Well (Jive/Rich/Bieck) 3.58
08. Made For Lovin’ You (Anastacia/Watters/Biancaniello) 3.36
09. Black Roses (Anastacia/Rogers/Sturken/Ruffin) 3.37
10. Yo Trippin’ (Anastacia/Potts) 3.35
11. One More Chance (Anastacia/Pierce) 4.39
12. Same Old Story (Anastacia/Rogers/Sturken) 5.32

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More from Anastacia:

The official website:

Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson – W W II (1982)

WWII is a duet album by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, released on RCA Victor in 1982.

By 1982, the outlaw country movement was past its peak but Jennings and Nelson, the movement’s primary artists, remained two of country music’s biggest superstars. Jennings had scored nine Top 5 solo albums in a row, with five going to #1, between 1974 and 1982. Nelson was also enjoying his commercial prime, with his 1982 album Always on My Mind not only topping the Billboard country albums chart but also peaking at #2 on the pop albums chart. By the early 1980s, Nelson’s appeal had transcended country music; his affable personae, as well as his increasing presence in films, had made him a crossover star. Jennings, who was struggling to rebuild his finances and in the throes of a crippling cocaine addiction, had seen his most recent album Black on Black receive lukewarm reviews, even though it had been produced by Chips Moman, who had also produced Nelson’s Always on My Mind.

Jennings and Nelson had enjoyed some of their greatest success together. The 1976 compilation Wanted! The Outlaws became the first million selling country album and their 1978 album Waylon and Willie, released at the height of the outlaw country movement, produced the chart-topping hit “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.” By all accounts, Jennings and Nelson were kindred spirits and close friends, but their egos did clash occasionally; in his memoir Willie Nelson, biographer Joe Nick Patoski quotes Nelson’s ex-wife Connie: “They had such a mutual respect for each other and their music, it was like a brother bond, literally. There was always a little bit of – not jealousy – but Willie would make him [Jennings] feel inferior in some ways, and I think it was because of the cocaine.” Asleep at the Wheel pianist Floyd Domino, who played with Jennings’ band in 1983, also noticed the tension between the two legends, telling Patoski, “You could tell Waylon was bothered by Willie’s success, although he said he didn’t care. He’d tell audiences, ‘I don’t care if I’m not number one. I’ll be number two.’ The crowd didn’t even know what he was talking about. I saw Willie on some cooking show on TV and the host said Waylon was mad at him. Willie laughed and said, ‘What’s he mad about today?’ Waylon cared. Willie didn’t.”

Although Chips Moman had produced both singers’ previous albums, the sessions that comprise WWII date from before those records; most are from December 1981. The songs were recorded at Moman’s Nashville studio and mastered at Woodland Studios with David Cherry serving as co-engineer with Moman. Whereas 1978’s Waylon and Willie contained several previously released backing tracks upon which Nelson had overdubbed his vocals, WWII bears all the hallmarks of Moman’s slick production. Despite being more of a “complete thought” than its predecessor, the vitality evident on Waylon and Willie is not as apparent on this LP; in his review of the album that can be found on AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine observes:

“In 1982, Waylon and Willie were still riding high on the country charts, but the quality of Jennings’ work was beginning to slip and his sales were responding accordingly, as 1982’s Black on Black reflected. Nelson had his biggest hit ever that year with Always on My Mind, but it also was his worst album to date, the first time he sounded like he couldn’t be bothered…even at its best, WWII is nowhere near as good as Waylon and Willie are at their best, since they’re coasting on reputation through most of this, a fact that’s only enhanced by Moman’s glossy showcase production.”

Although billed as a collaborative effort, WWII is more of a vehicle for Jennings; Willie sings on only five of the eleven tracks – all duets – while Waylon takes the lead on the remaining six songs. The album spawned one hit, a cover of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” which peaked at #13 on the country singles charts. Despite its modest success compared to some of the duo’s previous singles like “Good Hearted Woman” and “Mammas Don’t Let your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” the song is brilliantly interpreted and remains as good an example as any of the fellow Texans’ chemistry as artists. Another highlight is “Write Your Own Songs,” Nelson’s diatribe of the music business and music executives in particular (“We’re making you rich and you were already lazy/So lay on your asses and get richer or write your own songs”), whom he and Jennings had battled for years to gain control of their own records. Jennings had a hand in writing two songs: the inspirational “Roman Candles,” which he composed with Michael Smotherman, and the narration “The Old Mother’s Locket Trick,” written with fellow outlaw Guy Clark.

The Chips Moman/Bobby Emmons composition “May I Borrow Some Sugar from You” had appeared on Jennings’ previous album Black on Black, while “The Last Cowboy Song” would resurface three years later on the first Highwaymen album. Jennings and Nelson also cover the Tom T. Hall classic story song “The Year Clayton Delaney Died.”

Ultimately, WWII failed to have as major an impact as Waylon & Willie, although it peaked at #3 on the Billboard country albums chart and #57 on the pop albums chart. (wikipedia)

Personnel:
J. I. Allison (drums)
Jerry Bridges (bass)
Gene Chrisman (drums, percussion)
Johnny Christopher (guitar)
Bobby Emmons (keyboards)
Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar)
Mike Leech (bass)
Chips Moman (guitar)
Willie Nelson (vocals, guitar)
Bobby Wood (piano)
Reggie Young (guitar)
+
background vocals:
Johnny Christopher – Toni Wine,

Tracklist:
01. Mr. Shuck And Jive (Waylon & Willie) (Webb) 3.46
02. Roman Candles (Waylon) (Smotherman) 3.01
03. (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay (Waylon & Willie) (Redding/Cropper) 3.19
04. The Year That Clayton Delaney Died (Waylon & Willie) (Hall) 3.03
05. Lady In The Harbor (Waylon) (Gilmore/Allison/Curtis) 3.13
06. May I Borrow Some Sugar From You (Waylon) (Emmons/Moman) 3.16
07. Last Cowboy Song (Waylon) (Bruce/Peterson) 2.14
08. Heroes (Waylon & Willie) (Emmons/Moman) 2.43
09. The Teddy Bear Song (Waylon) (Earl/Nixon) 3.03
10. Write Your Own Songs (Waylon & Willie) (Nelson) 3.13
11. The Old Mother’s Locket Trick (Waylon) (Clark) 3.03

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More from Willie Nelson:

Die Sweetles – Ich wünsch‘ mir zum Geburtstag einen Beatle + Die Schule ist aus (1964)

German girl group Die Sweetles owed as much to marketing as to music. The four mop-topped Mädchen who promoted the group’s records were models, while the three actual singers were kept out of the public eye.

The behind-the-scenes singers of Die Sweetles were Peggy Peters, Charlotte Marian and Monika Grimm.

Peggy was born Christina Zakewski on 25 December 1946 in Berlin. After leaving school she worked as an air hostess before winning a talent contest with her childhood friend Drafi Deutscher (later a big star himself). As a result Christina was offered a recording contract, and as Peggy Peters released a string of singles. The first, Keine Schule mehr, issued in 1963, was a cover of French yé-yé girl Sheila’s massive hit L’école est finie.

It was followed by Nimm dich in acht vor bösen Buben and Ich setze alles auf einer Karte (which is best known for its B-side, Aus, a raucous approximation of British singer Lulu’s Shout) and Java Boy, all issued in 1964. After failing to score a hit, she was roped into the Sweetles project.

Monika had made a name for herself as a television actress, appearing as a singer in 1960’s Papas neue Freundin, and later in 1963’s Strandgeflüster and 1964’s Mitternachtszauber. She also made a number of recordings, including a German version of Paul Anka’s 1961 hit Kissin’ on the phone (which became Ein Kuss am Telefon).

Charlotte Marian was the stage name of session singer Charlotte Bischoff, born 16 February 1937 in Obernburg. She recorded a number of songs for Tempo, a label that specialised in cut-price versions of hits of the day (rather like the Top of the pops albums that were popular in Britain in the 1970s).

In 1962 she became the second wife of Christian Bruhn, one of Germany’s top songwriters of the 1960s. He composed songs for many stars of the day, including Marion, Manuela, France Gall, Conny Froboess, Rita Pavone, Wencke Myhre, Dorthe and Siw Malmkvist, and in the 1970s, for Katja Ebstein, who had become wife number three (of five) by that time.

Conceived by Bruhn in 1964 as a Beatles tribute group, Die Sweetles needed four singers for the concept to work. So, four singers it had, publicly at least. If Polydor had any notion of using the three singers as part of its promotional activities, the fact that Charlotte was five months pregnant at the time the group’s first single was released put paid to this idea. Instead, four models sporting mop-top wigs were drafted in to appear on the group’s picture sleeves and to mime during public appearances.

The tactic paid off and the group’s first single, Ich wünsch’ mir zum Geburtstag einen Beatle, became a top 40 hit in June 1964. The Christian Bruhn/Hans Bradtke-penned single has found lasting popularity amongst fans of German girl pop, and the B-side, Die Schule ist aus, is another three minutes of German garage gold.

A second single, Früher oder später, backed with Goodbye my summer-love, was issued several months later but failed to chart and a decision was taken not to pursue the group.

The three girls made another brief try together as Die Petras in 1965, releasing the single Mädchen träumen gern.

After that, Monika went back into acting, moving from television onto the big screen in Mordnacht in Manhattan, released in 1965. The following year she appeared in a further film, Um Nul Uhr schnappt die Falle zu, recorded a duet with opera singer René Kollo and took part in the Deutsche Schlager-Festspiele with Wer nimmt mich in seine Arme.

Charlotte returned to session singing with Tempo. Interestingly, in 1968 she adopted a French accent to record a cover of Der Computer Nr 3, a hit her husband Bruhn had composed for French star France Gall.

By this time, Peggy had met future husband Peter Rainford, with whom she went on to release a number of duets in the late 1960s. To underline her new start, she went blonde and used her married name, Tina Rainford.

She joined the New Seekers-styled group Wir in 1971 before going solo. In 1976 Drafi Deutscher produced Silverbird for his old friend. It gave the singer a top five hit and is still popular in Germany today. An English version also made the US country and western top 20. A further hit in Germany, Charly Boy, followed a year later, though the follow up, Fly away, pretty flamingo, failed. (readysteadygirls.webeden.co.uk)

And here´s their hit single ”

One of the funniest beat singles from the beginnings of the early German beat scene.

Personnel:
vocals:
Charlotte Marian – Monika Grimm – Peggy Peters
+
a bunch of unknown studio musicians

Tracklist:
01. Ich wünsch‘ mir zum Geburtstag einen Beatle (I want a Beatle for my birthday) (Bruhn/Bradtke) 2.14
02. Die Schule ist aus (School´s out) (Bruhn/Loose) 2.41

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Rod Stewart – Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (1979)

Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 250 million records worldwide. He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top ten singles in the UK, 6 of which reached number one. Stewart has had 16 top ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.

Stewart’s music career began in 1962 when he took up busking with a harmonica. In 1963, he joined The Dimensions as harmonica player and vocalist. In 1964, Stewart joined Long John Baldry and the All Stars before moving to the Jeff Beck Group in 1967. Joining Faces in 1969, he also maintained a solo career releasing his debut album that same year. Stewart’s early albums were a fusion of rock, folk music, soul music, and R&B.[5][6] His third album, 1971’s Every Picture Tells a Story, was his breakthrough, topping the charts in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, as did its ballad “Maggie May”. His 1972 follow-up album, Never a Dull Moment, also reached number one in the UK and Australia, while going top three in the US and Canada. Its single, “You Wear It Well”, topped the chart in the UK and was a moderate hit elsewhere.

After a handful more UK top ten hits, Stewart announced the breakup of the Faces in 1975. His next few singles were ballads with “Sailing”, off the 1975 UK and Australian number-one album, Atlantic Crossing, becoming a hit in the UK and the Netherlands (number one), Germany (number four) and other countries, but barely charting in North America. A Night on the Town (1976), his fifth straight chart-topper in the UK, began a three-album run of going number one or top three in North America, the UK and Australia with each release. That album’s “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” spent almost two months at number one in the US and Canada, and made the top five in other countries. Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977) featured the major hit “You’re In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)” as well as the rocker “Hot Legs”. Blondes Have More Fun (1978) and its disco-tinged “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” both went to number one in Canada, Australia and the US, with “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” also hitting number one in the UK and the top ten in other countries. Stewart’s albums regularly hit the upper rungs of the charts in the Netherlands throughout the 70s and in Sweden from 1975 onward.

After a disco and new wave period in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Stewart’s music turned to a soft rock/middle-of-the-road style, with most of his albums reaching the top ten in the UK, Germany and Sweden, but faring less well in the US. The single “Rhythm of My Heart” was a top five hit in the UK, US and other countries, with its source album, 1991’s Vagabond Heart, becoming, at number ten in the US and number two in the UK, his highest-charting album in a decade. In 1993, he collaborated with Bryan Adams and Sting on the power ballad “All for Love”, which went to number one in many countries. In the early 2000s, he released a series of successful albums interpreting the Great American Songbook. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the “Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists”.[7] A Grammy and Brit Award recipient, he was voted at No. 33 in Q Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Greatest Singers of all time[8] As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and he was inducted a second time into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Faces.

Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 is Rod Stewart’s 1979 Warner Bros. Records best-of compilation. (wikipedia)

The whole notion of a Greatest Hits package seems rather antiquated today with so much music available at our fingertips for a reasonable fee or no fee at all. Of course, it wasn’t always the case. There was a time when a Greatest Hits album provided an affordable introduction to your favorite singer’s most commercially successful songs. Released in 1979, by Warner Bros. Records, Rod Stewart’s skimpy ten-track Greatest Hits is a perfect example of such a collection.

This best-of compilation features many of Stewart’s most popular songs including “Maggie May” from 1971’s Every Picture Tells a Story, “I Don’t Want to Talk About It”, and “Sailing” from 1975’s Atlantic Crossing, “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)”, “The First Cut Is the Deepest”, and “The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)” from 1976’s A Night on the Town, “Hot Legs”, “You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)”, and “I Was Only Joking” from 1977’s Foot Loose & Fancy-Free, and finally “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” from 1978’s Blondes Have More Fun. Unfortunately, there’s nothing here from any of his records (An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down, Gasoline Alley, Never a Dull Moment, or Smiler) with the Mercury label. If you’re a casual fan of Stewart’s music from the 1970s, Greatest Hits might suffice. However, for a more definitive look at his career, there really is no substitute for the 4-disc compilation Storyteller – The Complete Anthology: 1964–1990. (George Zandona)

This compilation includes one of the most important songs of Rod Stewart: “The Killing Of Georgie (Part I and II)”

Personnel:
Rod Stewart (vocals)
+
many. many other musicians

Tracklist:
01. Hot Legs (Stewart) 4.14
02. Maggie May (Stewart/Quittenton) 4.57
03. Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? (Stewart/Appice) 5.28
04. You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim) (Stewart) 4.28
05. Sailing (Sutherland) 4.23
06. I Don’t Want To Talk About It (Whitten) 4.21
07. Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright) (Stewart) 3.34
08. The Killing Of Georgie (Part I and II) (Stewart) 6.29
“The First Cut Is the Deepest” (Cat Stevens)
“I Was Only Joking” (Rod Stewart; Gary Grainger)

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Oh yeah
In these days of changing ways
So called liberated days
A story comes to mind of a friend of mine
Georgie boy was gay I guess
Nothin’ more or nothin’ less
The kindest guy I ever knew
His mother’s tears fell in vain
The afternoon George tried to explain
That he needed love like all the rest
Pa said there must be a mistake
How can my son not be straight
After all I’ve said and done for him

Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh

Leavin’ home on a Greyhound bus
Cast out by the ones he loves
A victim of these gay days it seems
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Georgie went to New York town
Where he quickly settled down
And soon became the toast of the great white way
Accepted by Manhattan’s elite
In all the places that were chic
No party was complete without George
Along the boulevards he’d cruise
And all the old queens blew a fuse
Everybody loved Georgie boy

Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh

The last time I saw George alive
Was in the summer of seventy-five
He said he was in love I said I’m pleased
George attended the opening night
Of another Broadway hype
But split before the final curtain fell
Deciding to take a short cut home
Arm in arm they meant no wrong
A gentle breeze blew down fifth avenue

Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh

Out of a darkened side street came
A New Jersey gang with just one aim
To roll some innocent passer-by
There ensued a fearful fight
Screams rang out in the night
Georgie’s head hit a sidewalk cornerstone
A leather kid, a switchblade knife
He did not intend to take his life
He just pushed his luck a little too far that night
The sight of blood dispersed the gang
A crowd gathered, the police came
An ambulance screamed to a halt on fifty-third and third

Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh
Da da da da da da duh

Georgie’s life ended there
But I ask who really cares
George once said to me and I quote
He said “never wait or hesitate
Get in kid, before it’s too late
You may never get another chance
‘Cause youth a mask but it don’t last
Live it long and live it fast”
Georgie was a friend of mine

Oh Georgie stay,
Don’t go away
Georgie please stay
You take our breath away
Oh Georgie stay,
Don’t go away
Georgie please stay
You take our breath away
Oh Georgie stay,
Don’t go away
Georgie, Georgie stay (please stay)
You take our breath away

More from Rod Stewart:

The official website:

The Corrs – In Blue (2000)

The Corrs are an Irish family band that combine pop rock with traditional Irish themes within their music. The group consists of the Corr siblings, Andrea (lead vocals, tin whistle, ukulele), Sharon (violin, keyboards, vocals), Caroline (drums, percussion, piano, bodhrán, vocals) and Jim (guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals). They are from Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland.

The Corrs have released seven studio albums and numerous singles, which have reached Platinum in many countries, and have sold 40 million albums worldwide. Talk on Corners, their most successful album to date, reached multi-Platinum status in Australia, and in the UK it was the highest selling album of the year. The band is one of only a handful of acts who have held the top two positions simultaneously in the UK album charts, with Talk on Corners at number one and Forgiven, Not Forgotten at number two. The latter was the year’s third highest selling album in Australia. Their third studio album, In Blue, went to number one in seventeen countries.

The Corrs have been actively involved in philanthropic activities. They have performed in numerous charity concerts, such as The Prince’s Trust event in 2004 and Live 8 alongside Bono of U2 in 2005. The same year, they were awarded honorary MBEs for their contributions to music and charity. The band was inactive for almost ten years because Jim and Caroline were raising families, while Andrea and Sharon were pursuing solo careers while raising families of their own. According to Sharon, it was uncertain if and when The Corrs would reunite. Rumours of a reunion sparked in early 2015 and in a radio interview with Chris Evans in June 2015, Andrea confirmed that The Corrs were working on a new album and would play the BBC Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park festival.[6] Their sixth studio album, White Light, was released on 27 November 2015, and was accompanied by a European tour. After two years, their seventh studio album, Jupiter Calling, was released on 10 November 2017.

In Blue is the third studio album by Irish pop rock band The Corrs, released in 2000 which saw the band become known in the United States. The title of the album comes from a lyric in the song “Give Me a Reason”. As well as the UK number one single “Breathless”, the album also contains new versions of “Radio” and “At Your Side”, which had appeared on their previous album The Corrs Unplugged. Mutt Lange co-wrote and produced three songs from the album.

Several of the tracks were used in various television programmes and films: “Rebel Heart” as the theme for the TV miniseries of the same name; “One Night” in Mad About Mambo; “At Your Side” in Say It Isn’t So and the trailer for the film The Holiday; and “All the Love in the World” in the film America’s Sweethearts. As of 2017, the album has sold 9 million copies worldwide. (wikipedia)

A very straightforward release from the Corrs, who spend the majority of this outing in full-blown pop mode, with the Celtic elements mostly being relegated to the backgrounds of several songs. The one exception is the closing instrumental, “Rebel Heart,” which stirs itself up full-bloodily to provide the album with an anthem. In Blue is a bright, peppy set that bears more than a few comparisons to the work of bands such as the Bangles and Fanny, though the Corrs have an additional advantage in that Caroline Corr is an impressively muscular drummer. (by Steven McDonald)

I’ve heard so many fans saying they dislike it. Yet the songs are catchy, the band sounds they are enjoying. For me, it is their second best album, only behind “White Light” which was also made this kind of way. When the band sounds enjoying it, I am more willing to enjoy it. Their first two albums are good but this one sounds prefessional, and there are not many fillers. The Celtic elements are not as strong as during the first albums. The music should be about melodies and vocals, and lyrics – and rhythm of course – the opening song “Breathless” has their best rhythm – my favorite song from this band.

“Give Me A Reason”, “All the Love in the World”, and “Irresistible” are songs most fans like. “Radio” is good too but the unplugged version is better.

“No More Cry”, “At Your Side”, “Hurt Before”, and “Rebel Heart” are my favorite non-hit songs. (by Reijo Piippula)

Personnel:
Andrea Corr (vocals, tin whistle)
Caroline Corr (drums, bodhran, piano, vocals)
Jim Corr (guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals)
Sharon Corr (violin, vocals)
+
Anthony Drennan (lead guitar)
Keith Duffy (bass)
+
Ronan Dooney (trumpet)
Paul Duffy (saxophone)
Billy Farrell (keyboards)
Mitchell Froom (keyboards)

Tracklist:
01. Breathless (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr/Lange) 3.28
02. Give Me A Reason (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 3.29
03. Somebody for Someone (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 4.01
04. Say (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 4.34
05. All The Love In The World (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr/Lange) 4:22
06. Radio (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 4.14
07. Irresistible (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr/Lange) 3.40
08. One Night (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 4.38
09. All In A Day (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 3.43
10. At Your Side (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 3.55
11. No More Cry (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 2.59
12. Rain (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 4.15
13. Give It All Up (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 3.28
14. Hurt Before (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 4.05
15. Rebel Heart (instrumental) (A.Corr/C.Corr/J.Corr/S.Corr) 4.06

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Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow (1967)

Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. They were headliners at the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969), Altamont Free Concert (1969), and the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968) in England. Their 1967 break-out album Surrealistic Pillow was one of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. Two songs from that album, “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit”, are among Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

The October 1966 to February 1970 lineup of Jefferson Airplane, consisting of Marty Balin (vocals), Paul Kantner (guitar, vocals), Grace Slick (vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (lead guitar, vocals), Jack Casady (bass), and Spencer Dryden (drums), was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Marty Balin left the band in 1971. After 1972, Jefferson Airplane effectively split into two groups. Kaukonen and Casady moved on full-time to their own band, Hot Tuna. Slick, Kantner, and the remaining members of Jefferson Airplane recruited new members and regrouped as Jefferson Starship in 1974, with Marty Balin eventually joining them. Jefferson Airplane was presented with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

Surrealistic Pillow is the second album by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane, released by RCA Victor on February 1, 1967. It is the first album by the band with vocalist Grace Slick and drummer Spencer Dryden. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard album chart and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. The album is considered to be one of the quintessential works of the early psychedelic rock and 1960s counterculture eras.

“My Best Friend” was released as the first single in January 1967, but reached only #103 on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart. Two singles were released later in the year, “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit”, peaked respectively at number five and number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and are the band’s only Top 40 hits on that chart.

“Today” was not released as a single but was played often on college radio and rock stations and remains one of their most popular songs. It was also recorded by jazz saxophonist Tom Scott for his 1967 album The Honeysuckle Breeze; this version was sampled in the song “They Reminisce Over You” by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth.
The initial line-up fell apart, after Signe Toly Anderson was replaced by Grace Slick

Original drummer Alexander “Skip” Spence had left the band in mid-1966. He was soon replaced by Dryden, an experienced Los Angeles jazz drummer and the half-nephew of Charlie Chaplin. New female vocalist Slick, formerly with another San Francisco rock band the Great Society, joined the Airplane in the fall of 1966. Slick, Dryden, male lead vocalist-guitarist-songwriter and former of band Marty Balin, guitarist-vocalist-songwriter Paul Kantner, lead guitarist (and occasional vocalist) Jorma Kaukonen, and bassist Jack Casady formed the core of the best-known line-up of the group, which remained stable until Dryden’s departure in early 1970.

Some controversy exists as to the role of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia in the making of the album. His reputed presence on several tracks is denied by producer Rick Jarrard, but he is credited on the RCA label copy[12] and received credits on the Flight Log compilation and the Jefferson Airplane Loves You box set. In his sleeve notes for Early Flight, a 1974 compilation album of previously unreleased material, manager Bill Thompson writes only that Garcia was “listed as ‘spiritual advisor’ on the album cover [and] played one of the guitars” on “In The Morning,” a Kaukonen composition that was released on Early Flight and subsequently included on the 2003 reissue of Surrealistic Pillow. Garcia himself recalled in a mid-1967 interview that he played the high lead on “Today” in addition to playing guitar on two other songs (“Plastic Fantastic Lover” and “Comin’ Back to Me”) and rearranging “Somebody to Love.” He also played on “J.P.P. McStep B. Blues” (included on Early Flight and the 2003 reissue) and may have played on “How Do You Feel.” Kaukonen has opined that Garcia was essentially the producer who arranged the songs for the group. More recently, in his biography, he says, “I used to think about him as co-producer, but now that I really know what a producer is, the producer of that record was Rick Jarrard. Jerry was a combination arranger, musician, and sage counsel.” A comment by Garcia about the music being “as surrealistic as a pillow is soft” also reportedly inspired the album title.

Jefferson Airplane’s fusion of folk rock and psychedelia was original at the time, in line with musical developments pioneered by the Byrds, the Mamas & the Papas, Bob Dylan, the Yardbirds, and the Beatles, among other mid-1960s rock bands. Surrealistic Pillow was the first blockbuster psychedelic album by a band from San Francisco, announcing to the world the active bohemian scene that had developed there starting with the Beats during the 1950s, extending and changing through the 1960s into the Haight-Ashbury counterculture. Subsequent exposure generated by the Airplane and others wrought great changes to that counterculture, and by 1968 the ensuing national media attention had precipitated a very different San Francisco scene than had existed in 1966. San Francisco photographer Herb Greene photographed the band for the album’s cover art.

The album was originally released on LP record by RCA Victor in different stereo (LSP-3766) and mono (LPM-3766) editions. The stereo mixes include heavier use of reverberation effects than the mono. The mono version was deleted in the late 1960s and remained unavailable until 2001. The first United Kingdom release replaced some of the original songs with tracks from the group’s first US LP, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 146 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”,[23] maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, and dropping to number 471 in the 2020 revised list.[24][25] It was voted number 174 in Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums.[26]

In January 2017, “Somebody to Love” received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, while “White Rabbit” received a platinum certification.[7]
Reissues

The first Compact Disc releases were in Japan in 1987 and the US in 1988. A 2001 re-issue by RCA was released as a limited edition gold CD and contained both the stereo and mono recordings. Both mixes were later included as part of the Ignition box set on a standard aluminum CD.

Another stereo reissue appeared on August 19, 2003, with six bonus tracks, including the mono A-sides of “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit”. The 2003 reissue was produced by Bob Irwin. (wikipedia)

The second album by Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow was a groundbreaking piece of folk-rock-based psychedelia, and it hit like a shot heard round the world; where the later efforts from bands like the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and especially, the Charlatans, were initially not too much more than cult successes, Surrealistic Pillow rode the pop charts for most of 1967, soaring into that rarefied Top Five region occupied by the likes of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and so on, to which few American rock acts apart from the Byrds had been able to lay claim since 1964. And decades later the album still comes off as strong as any of those artists’ best work. From the Top Ten singles “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love” to the sublime “Embryonic Journey,” the sensibilities are fierce, the material manages to be both melodic and complex (and it rocks, too), and the performances, sparked by new member Grace Slick on most of the lead vocals, are inspired, helped along by Jerry Garcia (serving as spiritual and musical advisor and sometimes guitarist).

Every song is a perfectly cut diamond, too perfect in the eyes of the bandmembers, who felt that following the direction of producer Rick Jarrard and working within three- and four-minute running times, and delivering carefully sung accompaniments and succinct solos, resulted in a record that didn’t represent their real sound. Regardless, they did wonderful things with the music within that framework, and the only pity is that RCA didn’t record for official release any of the group’s shows from the same era, when this material made up the bulk of their repertory. That way the live versions, with the band’s creativity unrestricted, could be compared and contrasted with the record. The songwriting was spread around between Marty Balin, Slick, Paul Kantner, and Jorma Kaukonen, and Slick and Balin (who never had a prettier song than “Today,” which he’d actually written for Tony Bennett) shared the vocals; the whole album was resplendent in a happy balance of all of these creative elements, before excessive experimentation (musical and chemical) began affecting the band’s ability to do a straightforward song. The group never made a better album, and few artists from the era ever did. (by Bruce Eder)

Personnel:
Marty Balin (guitar, vocals)
Jack Casady (bass guitar, guitar)
Spencer Dryden (drums, percussion)
Paul Kantner (guitar, vocals)
Jorma Kaukonen (lead guitar, vocals)
Grace Slick (vocals, keyboars, recorder)
+
Jerry Garcia (guitar on 04., 05., 11., 23. + 24.)

Tracklist:
01. She Has Funny Cars (Kaukonen/Balin) 3.09
02. Somebody To Love (D. Slick) 2.59
03. My Best Friend (Spence) 3.04
04. Today (Balin/Kantner) 3.01
05. Comin’ Back To Me (Balin) 5.23
06. 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds (Balin) 3.43
07. D.C.B.A.–25 (Kantner) 2.38
08. How Do You Feel (Mastin) 3.33
09. Embryonic Journey (Kaukonen) 1.54
10. White Rabbit (G.Slick) 2.33
11. Plastic Fantastic Lover (Balin) 2.39
+
mono versions:
12. – 22.
+
23. In The Morning (Kaukonen) 6.20
24. J.P.P. McStep B. Blues (Spence) 2.36z
25. Go To Her” (version two) (Kantner/Estes) 4.02
26. Come Back Baby (Traditional) 2.56

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More from Jefferson Airplane:

James Young & Jan Hammer – City Slicker (1984)

James Vincent Young (born November 14, 1949) is an American musician who is best known for playing lead guitar in the American rock band Styx, having served as the only continuous original member of the band. Young began playing keyboard and piano at the age of five. He attended Calumet High in Chicago and learned to play clarinet and guitar during those years. He was nicknamed by Styx members & long time fans as “J.Y.” and is often referred to as “The Godfather of Styx”.

In 1970, Young joined the band TW4 while a student at Illinois Institute of Technology, from which he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering. That band later became the first incarnation of Styx.

After Styx’s initial breakup in 1984, Young released the solo albums City Slicker (1985 with Jan Hammer),[5] Out on a Day Pass (1993), and Raised by Wolves (1995 with James Young Group). Young tends to write the more hard rock pieces for Styx. He is best known for the Styx songs “Miss America” and “Snowblind”. Young managed the Chicago, Illinois -based rock band 7th Heaven in 1998 along with Alec John Such of the band Bon Jovi. (wikipedia)

Let’s hear now ”City Slicker”, the collaborative effort from Styx lead guitarist JAMES YOUNG and composer Jan Hammer (Miami Vice, Neal Schon). This is ‘JY’ debut solo album, however marketed as a Young/Hammer effort, released in 1984, 1985 or 1986 depending the country, and reissued on this not so easy to find CD in 1993.
There is a confident swagger to this album that many other ‘big band member going solo’ albums, with a rocking approach thanks to JY guitar work but not being the main focus only, with Hammer providing an arsenal of keys / synths for a wonderfully textured LP.
We find commercial, mid-80s slick sounding catchy tracks mixed with more elaborated compositions. For Styx, Young only provided one song per record, and in most cases that cut was a keeper (“Miss America,” “Snowblind”), and here he finds room for his pen, and proves he can sing very well too.

Following Styx’s former cohorts Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung solo albums, it was time for JY own debut, and for his first LP he wisely gets help from moral booster Jan Hammer, whose consummate keyboard skills guided guitar-first giants like Tommy Bolin, Jeff Beck, and Neal Schon.
The resulting collaboration contains some really cool moments, such as radio track “Give Me Something to Remember You By” and quasi-classic Bolin reference “Wild Dogs in the Night.”

”City Slicker” might have made waves if properly promoted, but the album promptly disappeared, along with Young, who resurfaced in Styx and recorded another solo work, ”Out On A Day Pass”. Young also teamed with admirers Enuff Z’Nuff in the ’90s for the ‘Raised By Wolves’ CD. … Highly recommended (0dayrox2.org)

“A blistering collection of driving rock!” (Cashbox)

I wasn’t that convinced by the album … It’s too rough ad the sound is like a metal hammer … not enough elegance

Personnel:
Jan Hammer (keyboards, drums, drum machine)
Colin Hodgkinson (bass)
James Young (guitar, vocals)
+
Steven A. Jones (cowbell)
Rick Young (bass on 05.)

Tracklist:
01. City Slicker (Young/Jones) 3.54
02. Something To Remember You By (Young) 4.25
03. Waiting (Hammer/Hodgkinson) 4.54
04. Still Feel Your Love (Hammer/Hodgkinson) 3.44
05. Runnin’ Out Of Time (Young) 3.14
06. Chain Me Down (Young) 3.48
07. No Mistake (Hammer/Hodgkinson) 3.44
08. Prisoner Of War (Hammer/Hodgkinson) 4.04
09. Wild Dogs In The Night (Young) 3.31
10. Empty Promises (Young) 4.23

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Various Artists – Honeymoon In Vegas (OST) (1992)

Honeymoon in Vegas is a 1992 American romantic comedy film directed by Andrew Bergman and starring James Caan, Nicolas Cage, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Private Detective (“Private eye”) Jack Singer (Nicolas Cage) swore to his mother on her deathbed that he would never marry. His girlfriend, Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker) wants to get married and start a family, and he proposes a quick Las Vegas marriage. They check into the Bally’s Casino Resort.

Before the wedding, however, a wealthy professional gambler, Tommy Korman (James Caan), notices Betsy has a striking resemblance to his beloved late wife, Donna. He arranges a crooked poker game (with Jerry Tarkanian as one of the other players) that prompts Jack to borrow $65,000 after being dealt a straight flush (7-8-9-10-Jack of clubs), only to lose to the gambler’s higher straight flush (8-9-10-Jack-Queen of hearts); Tommy offers to erase the debt in exchange for spending the weekend with Betsy.

After Tommy agrees to no sex, the desperate couple consent. Jack discovers that Tommy has taken Betsy to his vacation home in Kauai. The gambler asks his taxi driver friend, Mahi Mahi (Pat Morita) to keep Jack as far as possible from him and Betsy. Jack discovers this, steals the taxi. He sees Betsy outside the Kauai Club where he is attacked by Tommy and arrested. Jack’s dentist friend, Sally Molars (John Capodice), bails Jack out of jail. Mahi Mahi meets Jack outside and admits that Tommy left for Las Vegas with Betsy and has convinced her to marry him. Mahi races Jack to the airport. Betsy decides she cannot go through with the wedding and escapes from Tommy.

Meanwhile, after changing many planes and finding himself stuck in San Jose, Jack tries frantically to find a flight to Las Vegas. He joins a group about to depart for Las Vegas but discovers mid-flight that they are the Utah chapter of the “Flying Elvises” – a skydiving team of Elvis impersonators. Jack realizes he has to skydive from 3,000 feet to get to Betsy. Jack overcomes his fear. He lands and spots Betsy, ruining Tommy’s plans.

Jack and Betsy are married in a small Las Vegas chapel with the Flying Elvises as guests. Jack is wearing a white illuminated jumpsuit and Betsy in a stolen showgirl outfit. (wikipedia)

And here´s the soundtrack from the movie:

Country singers rule this soundtrack of Elvis Presley covers, which is every bit as flawed, frivolous and fun as the film from whence it came. While Billy Joel parodies “All Shook Up” and “Heartbreak Hotel,” John Mellencamp labors to avoid parodying “Jailhouse Rock,” and U2’s Bono transforms “Can’t Help Falling in Love” into an obsessive parable about hero worship, folks like Ricky Van Shelton and Trisha Yearwood just sit back and sing the things, which at least makes them pleasant after more than one plaing.

Dwight Yoakam’s power-chord-country version of “Suspicious Minds” and Travis Tritt’s “Burning Love” rank with their best remakes. Breaking the trend are pop crooner Bryan Ferry, who sings a seductive British soul version of “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” and the usually trustworthy Vince Gill, whose Pat Boone-style rendition of Arthur Crudup’s classic blues “That’s All Right” cleans up the grammar. (by Brian Mansfield)

And if you are interested in rarities from musicians like Billy Joel, Bono, Jeff Beck, Willie Nelson. Bryan Ferry, Amy Grant or John Mellencamp …

… you should listen and enjoy !

Tracklist:
01. Billy Joel: All Shook Up (Blackwell/Presley) 2.10
02. Ricky van Shelton: Wear My Ring Around Your Neck (Carroll/Russell) 2.14
03. Amy Grant: Love Me Tender (Matson/Presley) 3.52
04. Travis Tritt: Burning Love (Linde) 3.35
05. Billy Joel: Heartbreak Hotel (Axton/Durden/Elvis Presley) 3.22
06. Bryan Ferry:  Are You Lonesome Tonight? (Handman/Turk) 5.00
07. Dwight Yoakam: Suspicious Minds (James) 3.52
08. Trisha Yearwood: (You’re The) Devil In Disguise (Baum/Kaye) 2.38
09. Jeff Beck &Jed Leiber: Hound Dog (Leiber/Stoller) 2.13
10. Vince Gill: That’s All Right (Crudup) 2.44
11. John Mellencamp: Jailhouse Rock (Leiber/Stoller) 3.36
12. Willie Nelson: Blue Hawaii (Rainger/Robin) 2.37
13. Bono: Can’t Help Falling in Love (Creatore/Peretti/Weiss) 2.04

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Pic of the week: Black Sabbath …

… live at the Manufaktor, Schorndorf (near Stuttgart), Germany, 1969:

Spandau Ballet – The Singles Collection (1986)

Spandau Ballet (/ˈspændaʊ ˈbæleɪ/ SPAN-dow BAL-ay) were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital’s post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids, playing “European Dance Music” as “The Applause” for this new club culture’s audience. They became one of the most successful groups of the New Romantic era of British pop and were part of the Second British Invasion of the Billboard Top 40 in the 1980s, selling 25 million albums and having 23 hit singles worldwide. The band have had eight UK top 10 albums, including three greatest hits compilations and an album of re-recorded material. Their musical influences ranged from punk rock and soul music to the American crooners Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

The band’s classic line-up featured Gary Kemp on guitar, synthesiser and backing vocals, his brother Martin Kemp on bass, vocalist Tony Hadley, saxophonist Steve Norman and drummer John Keeble. Gary Kemp was also the band’s songwriter.

Their debut single, “To Cut a Long Story Short”, reached No. 5 in the UK in 1980. It was the first of ten UK top 10 singles. The band peaked in popularity in 1983 with the album True, with its title track reaching No. 1 in the UK and the top five in the US. In 2011, it received a BMI award as one of the most played songs in US history with four million airplays. In 1984, they received a Brit Award for technical excellence and were the first act to be approached by Bob Geldof to join the original Band Aid line-up. In 1985, they performed at the Live Aid benefit concert at Wembley Stadium.

In 1990, the band played their last live show before a 19-year absence. In 1999, Hadley, Norman and Keeble launched an unsuccessful case in the High Court against Gary Kemp and his Reformation Publishing Company for a share of the band’s songwriting royalties. Spandau Ballet reformed in 2009 for The Reformation Tour, a sell-out “greatest hits” world tour. In 2014, their archive-only feature-length documentary biopic, Soul Boys of the Western World, was world-premiered at SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It was officially screened at the Rome, Ghent (Belgium) and NYC Doc film festivals and received its European premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

In 2017, Hadley announced his departure from Spandau Ballet.[18] A year later, the band announced singer and actor Ross William Wild as their new frontman for a series of European live dates and a one-off show at Eventim’s Hammersmith Apollo.[19][20] In May 2019, Wild tweeted that he had quit the band “to pursue my own music with my band Mercutio”, while Spandau bass player Martin Kemp confirmed there were no further plans for Spandau to tour without original singer Hadley.

The Singles Collection is a compilation album by Spandau Ballet, released in November 1985 by Chrysalis Records. The album peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified double platinum by the BPI within six weeks of release. It is the band’s biggest selling album in the UK, though despite its success, the album was released without the band’s approval as they were leaving Chrysalis Records and signed to CBS Records for their next album. (wikipedia)

An excellent round-up of the 15 hit singles that, between late 1980 and fall 1984, saw Spandau Ballet transcend every prediction ever levelled at their music, and establish themselves among the most versatile British bands of their era. From the utterly convincing white boy Funk of the early “To Cut A Long Story Short”, “The Freeze”, “Musclebound” and “Chant No 1”, through the bodyswerve to ballad-ville that ushered in the age of “True” and “Gold”, and onto the near-anthemic guitar pop of “Only When You Leave” and “Highly Strung”, The Singles Collection suffers only from its failure to tell the tale in strict chronological fashion. Tracing the band’s development, after all, is almost as satisfying as having their first few pounding moments all lumped together at the beginning – for was there any more satisfying sound than that?

The problem with that approach, of course, is that many listeners might not even want to progress beyond them – arguably, late ’81’s “Paint Me Down” represented the peak of Spandau’s ambition, with the following year’s “Lifeline” sounding almost retrogressive when lined up alongside the band’s other 1982 releases. On the other hand, there was an entire new audience for whom Tony Hadley crooning “Only When You Leave” and “She Loved Like Diamond” represented an entire new beginning for a band that had hitherto been too badly scarred by the New Romantic brush – in which case, a very good case exists for this album (and every other Spandau Ballet collection) to be abruptly sliced in half, and reissued across two volumes, the Funky Years and the wimpy ones. But who would ever do that? (by Dave Thompson)

Personnel:
Tony Hadley (vocals, synthesizer)
John Keeble (drums, vocals)
Gary Kemp (guitar, synthesizer, vocals)
Martin Kemp (bass, vocals)
Steve Norman (guitar, percussion, saxophone, vocals)

Tracklist:
01. Gold 3.59
02. Lifeline 3.24
03. Round And Round 4.35
04. Only When You Leave 4.50
05. Instinction 3.35
06. Highly Strung 4.12
07. True 5.38
08. Communication 3.26
09. I’ll Fly For You 5.12
10. To Cut A Long Story Short 3.21
11. Chant No. 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On) 4.05
12. She Loved Like Diamond 2.54
13. Paint Me Down 3.43
14. The Freeze 3.31
15. Muscle Bound 3.58

All songs are composed by Gary Kemp.

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The official website: