To end my life, take away music.
I find increasingly that I cannot get through the day without music - it provides stimulation, inspiration, comfort, soothing, diversion, distraction, salvation, delight, catharsis and ecstasy.
My taste is hugely eclectic, occasionally random and generally open minded. Jazz, heavy metal, Bach to Bruckner, Mozart to Mahler, blues, country, hip hop, rap, ambient, house, zydeco, folk, ethnic / world, latin, european, rembetika, laiki and so on....
A soundtrack to the soul, music takes me away from myself and also takes me into myself...
Lately I have been listening to a particularly varied selection which I commend to you here:
Anouk - "Who's Your Momma". Anouk is dutch blues rocker. This lady has a lot of hot buttered soul in her, and a lot of anger and pain. This 2007 album was clearly written after a break-up and contains songs of great pain and emotion, as well as anger and resentment. This is Anouk's "Blood on the Tracks". There are also tender and soulful reflections on relationships, people, society and mores which balance the record in terms of both music and lyrical content. And her voice is incredible. Strong, powerful, emotive and delicate at the same time. I recommend this record heavily!
Lucinda Williams - "Car Wheels on Gravel Road". The Louisiana born country blues singer's finest album. She'll remind you of Sheryl Crow - except Crow followed her and not the other way around. Drunken Angel is a favourite track...as is the title track. These songs are subtle and creep up on you with each listen and the whole album suddenly becomes a favourite after a few listens...great country sounds, great bluesy numbers and another great female voice.
Paolo Nuttini's new album "Sunny Side Up" is a large departure from his first soulful outing and moves through ballads, country, jazz, sixties soul and reggae to cover a much broader range of material both musically and lyrically. It shows this incredible young talent has grown up a little and his voice which recalls Rod Stewart at his bluesiest (and not the POP era!) is also more mature with his strong Scottish accent coming through far more strongly. "Coming Up Easy" and "Simple Things" are two great tracks, and "Funky Cigarette" and "Smokey Joe's Cafe" show fun and humour and are also very enjoyable. Less teenage angst, more musical freedom and security suit Paolo Nuttini - this guy is a talent to watch!
Ted Hawkins - "Happy Hour". I've owned this album for more than 20 years and return every now and again. Hawkins was a jailbird who after prison found a career playing acoustic blues and soul on Venice Beach down from Santa Monica pier. A wonderful rich black voice - soulful and harsh at the same time - his lyrics are delightfully simple and immensely moving. The opener "Bad Dog" covers infidelity and is tragic and poignant. The blue "You Pushed My Head Away" is a break-up blues featuring lovely electric guitar picking as the accompaniment to Hawkins acoustic strumming... Magic. The title Happy Hour - another song about infidelity is tragically painful with the juxtaposition of the concept of Happy Hour and the misery of discovering his woman betraying him in front of his eyes. This is a great album from a man who saw a lot of pain and anguish in a difficult life. Real soul blues.
Finally I have been listening to a lot of Greek music in recent days - especially the Pix Lax / Giorgos Dalaras classics "Ta Veggalika Matia" which is incredibly beautiful and whose lyrics are so deep and expressive and "Enas Kombos, H Xara Mou" (My Pleasure, My Pain). Dalaras and Pix Lax created a unique sound in modern Greek music which fused something from REM with traditional Greek folk rhythms and a beautiful emotional and philosophical examination of the human condition. Have also been listening to Giannis Kotsiras and his incredibly tender voice applied to love songs which can't fail to capture a mood and Dimitris Mitropanos - a Godfather of Greek lyrical singing and with an amazing unique voice. There is something remarkable about the marriage of the Greek language and the Greek soul that results in truly beautiful and moving music... Difficult for non Greek speakers to appreciate fully perhaps, but I know many friends who speak not a word but who cry to the songs above...
And now I have just landed in Bahrain and have to remove the earphones and go to work...
Enjoy the music.
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