top album of 2024
Laurie Anderson's tender 'Amelia' album caught me by surprise during Brat summer. Backed by a Czech orchestra on the recording,... Anderson softly unspools a narrative retelling of pilot Amelia Earhart's final flight before she disappeared forever.
Sometimes Anderson is narrator and sometimes she's Earhart as she elegantly pivots between singing and spoken word. Throughout the album, guest vocalist Anohni delicately weaves in and out of the storytelling just at the right times—conjuring up cloud cover, emotional shifts and a watercolor pastiche that gently leads you to Earhart's inevitable unhappy ending.
Oh, but the journey on 'Amelia' is worth it. show more
Listening to Counting Crows’ ‘This Desert Life’ and thinking how badly I’ve wanted them to make a country album all these years.
40 years ago today Madonna was FINALLY able to release her “Like A Virgin” single after waiting for months while “Borderline” and "Lucky... Star" went top 10 in the U.S. and "Holiday" took off in Australia - along with her debut album still selling.
She was supposed to drop this lead single in the spring / early summer of ‘84. It hit #1 in the U.S. on December 22nd and stayed there for 6 weeks. Her first #1!
Fun fact: Madonna couldn’t hit the high note on “Like a Virgin” so Nile Rodgers had to slow the tape down (“A Luther Vandross trick” he told RuPaul in 2019) during recording so she could hit it.
I rarely return to this song or album even though it holds a special place in my heart because I was 15 when it came out so it’s part of my formative years soundtrack.
Her debut album the ‘Like A Virgin’ album were formative years for Madonna as well - she was still learning how to handle vocals and work in a studio with producers and musicians. ‘True Blue’ is where she utilized all she had learned and took the reins. show more
“The world is my oyster / Baby, come touch the pearl”
Addison is not singing about precious stones here.
I just wrote about this album for its 10th anniversary for Albumism. One thing I had to cut from the article is that... the opening song - “Welcome To New York” - is a metaphor for Taylor welcoming listeners to her new era as an official pop artist. “It’s a new soundtrack…”, “The lights are so bright…” plus the fact that New York City is big, loud, brash and fun … it’s a song that teases what’s about to come on the album and the next decade of her career. show more
