Category: Artists (Page 171 of 262)

Deep Cuts: The Police

Few bands in history have enjoyed the impact the Police created when they started up in the late seventies. Nobody knew who they were, but when Sting began belting out “Roxanne” over the radio airwaves, it was the beginning of an era. Through five studio albums – and God willing, perhaps the recently reunited band will provide us with a sixth album in the not too distant future – the band had its share of hit singles, in particular “Every Breath You Take,” which was a global #1. But many less acclaimed songs on each record were works of art in their own way, and a sampling follows after you click here.

The Grammys

I’m not even going to pretend that I watched the whole thing; it’s not an elitist thing, but the reality is that I don’t really tend to listen to a lot of albums that end up being nominated for Grammys, which means that I mostly watch to see older artists popping up. That’s why the highlights of what I saw were threefold:

1. The Police doing a quite acceptable job on “Roxanne.” C’mon, baby, let the world tour stop in Hampton Roads!
2. Smokey Robinson knocking “The Tracks of My Tears” out of the park. Dude’ll be 66 years old next week, but you couldn’t prove it by looking at him OR listening to him.
3. Lionel Richie singing “Hello” and making me feel like I was a teenager again.

Yeah, that’s pretty much all I can say I full-on loved…but something I legitimately disliked was the fact that when Tony Bennett won his award for Best Pop Collaboration (with Stevie Wonder), he thanked Target for being the best sponsor he’s ever had…and you could hear people booing him! Are you kidding me? The guy’s 80 years old, he’s a legend, and thanks to the sponsorship of Target, he got major publicity for his album of duets AND a prime-time special to celebrate his 80th birthday. So what if he thanked them?

Video Vault – Lily Allen

I love Lily Allen. Her debut album Alright, Still is already earmarked for my Best Album of 2007. We’ll see if anything manages to top it or be half as original by the time the end of this year arrives. It’s definitely a very British sounding album, which is all part of its charm, along with Lily’s own personal take on life and her lyrics which draw on her own experiences. Here’s the clip for her latest taste, “LDN.” Enjoy.

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