Positive surprise: Aled Jones - Reason to Believe

When I heard that Aled Jones new album was going to be "a departure", a more pop oriented cd I caught myself thinking it would be a disaster. I’ve heard several examples of artists deciding to experiment with genres they really should stay away from, needless to say the result isn’t pretty.

But this time I was pleasantly surprised. The tracklist had me a little worried because a lot of them have been recorded so many times before by so many artists, and may be getting a little worn out. Amazingly enough, Aled manages to make it seem like you’re hearing the song for the first time. When he sings "You just call out my name/and you know wherever I am/I’ll come running to see you again" in "You’ve got a friend", it sounds like a sincere decleration of friendship. No wonder he has been known to ‘sing with his heart first and his voice second’.

I would say his voice and heart are equally present in his singing, though. His vocals are silky smooth, and he shows that the brilliant technique from his choir boy days is still intact.

Which is partly why the album doesn’t rate to a full 100% in my opinion - sometimes the vocals seem almost too smooth and a little too stiff for what the genre requires. I do believe that his voice is more versatile than what you’d think at first glance - I noticed that he tends to let loose more during the 2nd verse and not reach his full pop potential until the song fades out and you just want to hear more. Maybe he has to take some time to get used to his "new style" first.

One thing that really stands out in comparison to the previous albums in his adult career, is how well produced it is. It’s his first album recorded with an actual band instead of synth effects and it really gives the album a different level of integrity. He’s not a 100% there yet, but overall this is a little star twinkling in the sky of his career.

Greatest voices of our time #5: Clay Aiken

[photo: ocregister.com]
Some may wonder why I include someone as seemingly mainstream as Clay to my list - others may wonder why I didn’t add him to the list long ago. True, he has no formal vocal training and lives with the curse of having the title ’American Idol runner-up’ forever associated with his name, but his voice still has a quality to it that touches me.

I still think that Clay’s voice was too good to be on a show like American Idol, where the contestants are put into molds and come out as polished, non-descript ’pop stars’. The first time I heard him sing; I think it was O Holy Night, it was not at all what I’d expected – I didn’t expect someone who shot to fame on a show like that to possess such a big voice. It’s very strong and powerful – in the beginning I felt he turned the volume up a little too much but he seems to have ’calmed down’ a little through the years. A brilliant example of that is the song he wrote himself, ”Lover all alone”, especially on live performances. You are instantly drawn into that little world that is Clay Aiken and his voice.

The thing with Clay though is that, modest as he is, he doesn’t really seem to grasp what instrument he’s really got to work with – like his voice is too big for him to know what to do with it. That’s why, I think, some songs may turn out a little unfortunate. I do think he’d benefit from some vocal training to help that but more importantly I also think he needs the freedom to create more music of his own – so that we’ll hear more magical moments like ”Lover all alone” in the future.

If you want to hear and see Clay sing, his eager fan base has somehow managed to capture every syllable that has escaped his mouth and uploaded it to clackunlimited.com.

Greatest voices of our time #4: Robin Blaze

I seem to have a thing for counter-tenors – the way their voices sound not quite like a man’s and not quite like a woman’s; something out of this world, they way their singing seems to be coming from a musical instrument rather than a human being. A good example of this is Robin Blaze.
I first heard his voice on the album ”Händel: Great Oratorio Duets” in which he duets with soprano Carolyn Sampson. I had to fight back tears.

His voice literally soars; sort of glides through each piece and making it sound amazingly effortless. Compared to Andreas Scholl, his voice seems less intense, if you will; a little lighter (I’m not that trained in music to know the terminology, I just have to trust my ears).

To hear for yourselves, you can go to Robin’s artist page at hyperion. It contains his biography and a large audio gallery with streaming tracks from all of his recordings. This video clip from youtube is also highly recommended.

..all about the music?

Well intended fan interaction can turn into a security problem, as in Josh Groban's case. (photo: Rachel/NCGrobanFan)


It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Josh Groban; what you'd call a Grobanite. I've been a member of his official internet fan community since 2002 and official fan club member since 2004.
Grobanites have, since the beginning I guess, had a reputation of being 'crazy' in terms of how much they're willing to do for Josh and how far they're willing to travel to catch a glimpse of him - that, 
and the fact that a lot of these people are women in their 40's and 50's seems to fascinate the media. There's a lot of inside jokes and made-up words; I don't blame people for thinking we're a crazy bunch.

But it's ALWAYS been about the music. Josh's voice was the one thing that caught our attention, that brought us together, the reason why we keep going to his concerts.

Or so I thought

Lately I've read stories that have shocked me so much I still can't grasp what was said; it's unbelieveable: People who are so persistent and stubborn with their gift-giving that they refuse to let Josh go on with the concert until he's unwrapped every little present and heard the story behind every little item. People who try to grab his private parts as he's sitting on the edge of the stage. People heavily influenced by alcohol licking his leg, trying to fondle his thighs.

The last two incidents shocked me the most, especially when it was revealed 
that in the first case, the so-called fan in question had done it NOT because she couldn't control herself, 
but purposely to "give him a scare". Is it suddenly ok to sexually assault the artist at a concert??

This goes for Grobanites and other equally intense fan communities - It's OK to have fun at a concert, but please RESPECT whoever's up there on stage.

For once, let it all be about the music.

Promising Preview - Michael Bublé: Everything

When I heard that Michael Bublé's new single would be called "Everything" I immediately assumed it would be a smooth ballad - and knowing that he wrote it himself a love song to his fiancé Emily Blunt, I was even more convinced.

The single was released yesterday on iTunes, and after one listening I realize I was terribly wrong. This is a mid-tempo, happy, positive pop song; very untypically Michael, yet it won't cause him to fall into the mainstream pop category. It's the sort of song that makes you want to go out and embrace the spring. His vocals are brilliant as usual, and I think it's a smart move that he doesn't change the style of his singing to suit the pop style of the song. That's part of his unique sound. I also think - and hope -  the song will help to increase his fanbase, as people will learn that he can pull off modern, original songs too and not just standards.

This is a great preview of what's to come when his album "Call Me Irresponsible" will be released May 1st.

What's the point?

More and more people buy music by ordering CDs or buying MP3s online - and there are several brilliant and reliable web sites for that purpose. When I say reliable I mean in terms of payments safety and general integrity, but if you don't know exactly what album you're going to buy beforehand, things get tricky.

Say you like classical music, and browse the classical section of iTunes. Say you're particularly interested in Medieval music. And what do you find when you browse that sub-genre? R'n'B artist Mike Marshall. If you want to listen to the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, they can be found in the Comedy section. The one and only J.S. Bach is apparently classical crossover now, and so is, again according to iTunes, Tracy Chapman.

It seems the artists are devided into genres by mere coincidence or by some automatic system. When I browsed the genre World Music on Amazon.de I chose the sub-category Europe and under that, the sub-category Greece, and the first search result is Josh Groban's Live at the Greek. Most people know that even though Josh Groban has world music influences, he's not likely to belt out tunes in Greek, accompanied by bouzouki. But surely categories can't be put together just by looking at the title.

My euphoric dream is of course that these people would actually listen to the music before deciding what genre it shold be put in. Extremely time consuming, and of course almost impossible, but a girl can dream, can't she? It would certainly be my dream job. Mixing up the genres like these sites do makes it extremely inconvenient to look for new music. When you browse a genre it shouldn't be too much to ask to actually find music of that genre listed, not German 80's disco and low quality country music that seems to sneak in wherever you look.

How about just listing the artists alphabetically instead?