כיף עם הבלוג נדודי שינה

מרק Lanegan יודע דבר טוב כשהוא שומע את זה. בעשור האחרון הוא CA rved מוניטין בתור זמר אורח של מומחה, עובד עם אוהב של קווינס של תקופת האבן ואת ידידו הוותיק גרג Dulli של רומי שניידר (יחד הם Gutter Twins) בין היתר. אבל הוא תמיד חוזר לסכל המתוק שלו, ד emure איזובל קמפבל מגלזגו העיר, אשר שלאחר בל וסבסטיאן קריירה כזמר, songwrit אה והמעבד כבר ממש התגלות.

היא מצאה את המוזה הקול שלה לא הוא מחוספס, Lanegan שתקן, במזומן ימינו ג 'וני שראה יותר בחייו מאשר שהוא טיפול כדי לספר. מס הכנסה הוא מערכת יחסים סימביוטית - יפה, אבל מוגבל יחסית שדון הזמר שלה, היא צריכה קול בליה שלו לעורר את המדינה / בלוז נוף היא כמו זה לאכלס עם המוזיקה שלה, והוא במיטבו לפרש שירים שלה.

שלהם ההקלטה תהליך פחות מ-רומנטית - קמפבל, auteur פרפקציוניסט, וו RKS כמו שד במשך חודשים כדי לממש את החזון המוזיקלי שלה, בעוד טיפות Lanegan ב y כמה ימים לשים את שירה שלו - הוא סתרו ידי הכימיה הצרופה את התוצאות. מה שהתחיל כמו זיווג רומן, יופי, את החיה, הפך שותפות הקלאסי עכשיו זה זוג די מוזר באלבום הם חזרה על שליש ספין סביב רחבת הריקודים, עם הטוענים שלהם המוכשרים ביותר pas de deux עדיין.

שיתוף הפעולה הראשון שלהם, הבלדה של הים שבורים, היה בלתי צפוי לנצח כמה עונג הארץ עם אדוות של חומר אפל הפרת השקט surfac אלקטרוני, אשר הוקמה אותם כמו ננסי סינטרה ולי הייזלווד של סוגים שלהם tion. בפגישה הבאה שלהם, יום ראשון בשעה השטן דירט, היתה פרשת sultrier הדרומי. עכשיו יש להם כל sussed אחרים, הוק דוחף דברים שוב קדימה. זה grittier במקומות, ד אפילו יותר בטוחים ב היערכותו של מגוון מגוון של סגנונות קוליים ו oods מ ', כגון אלגנטי סליל בעיניים טרנסאטלנטיות של ירוק, עם שלה התקבצו fidd les ותופים לחימה באוב את התמונה של ההר המחול באסם מתחת דקות o TW.

עם זאת, האלבום מתחיל עם אחד הרגעים עגום ביותר של הצמד עדיין. אנחנו מתים לראות את היופי ואת שלטון יש Lanegan לשיר מנגינה עממית דקיק של קמפבל עם ביצועים פסטורלית כמעט, יש צער כהים, עצובים וחסרי כנה.

הוא נופל לאחור כדי בדרכים הרגילות שלו ספוג ויסקי על שיר הנמוכים, הנחש rootsy ו אתה לא מרשה לי למטה, המתירה לעצמה את הפינוק של סולו גיטרה ממורקים (על ידי לשעבר פאמפקינס ג 'יימס איהא דלעת), ואילו קמפבל prowls סביב ברקע.

נפרם היא נשמה בדרום הלוהט / בלוז יתד, בעיטור strin רוטט חיובי GS, מהסוג דאסטי ספרינגפילד היה שמח לשים את שמה במהלך שהותה ממפיס. שעה של העונה היא לא מכסה של mbies המסלול Zo אלמוות, יותר זה חבל, אבל מקסים, ambling המולד השיר הארץ, עם החטא המטבח מילים K soundtracked ידי הרומנטיקה ספוג מחרוזת של ראש הממשלה ג 'ימי ווב.
limita ווקאלית צמד של tions נחשפים רק באמת על הריבה בלוז שובב של קבל מאחוריי, WH ich יכול לעשות עם upfront קול גדול. קמפבל Lanegan רחוקים fr בלוז אום shouters ואין להתפשר המסירה שלהם כאן - הוא מחוספס, היא מתנשם, הן שוב בעקשנות מינורי.

קמפבל מקבל בסיבוב הנושא על הכותרת אינסטרומנטלי המסלול ידי פריסת סקסופון-out פריק ג 'אז במקום ווקאלית כדי מופרע ro ckabilly השפעה, ואז טורח להעסיק כמה זמרים הבשורה בפועל li רגל האלבום האפי קרוב לאחרונה לתחומי הרוחני. עם זאת, אותה O עדין wn, צלילי אנחות הם אידאלי הסולו שלה מדליקה לא טרמולו השיר אורץ זריחה ואת חסר חיוניות To Hell & שוב.

אבל מה זה? אדם שלישי בנישואין? גו EST הזמר ווילי מייסון הוא נשמה אחרת במדינה בת בגוף של אדם צעיר, אשר מקנה לא רק הוא צודק בסך הכובד לכיסוי של Townes ואן Zandt שום מקום לרדת p פשוטה, שלה שיחת laintive של "עיניים יפות" ואת הזמן להיות "רכבת ישנים מהר". הוסף כמה כינור בודד יש לך את ההתחלה של beaut פוטנציאלי היחסים iful - תיזהרו Lanegan, יש לך מתחרה, והוא כנראה יודע איך לדבר purty מדי.

מייסון לוקח את ההובלה שוב ב מגניב מים, מדינה אקוסטית loping מספר עם צופר צופרי המכוניות ברקע ו ​​קמפבל טרילינג attentivel y לרגליו. האירוניה להיות כי היא זו כבר מנווט את המכונית כל יחד. קמפבל יש רמז שהיא רוצה לעבוד עם מייסון שוב - זה רק מוכיח מארק Lanegan הרגל שקשה לשבור. אבל בכל מקום האינסטינקטים שלה לקחת הבאה שלה, המאזין יהיה המנצח.

קורין ביילי ריי , לשיר אה

היו רגעים מדהימים כל כך הרבה בקריירה שלי עד כה: יורד הבמה כדי למצוא הנסיך היה בקהל, ששיחק עבור נלסון מנדלה, להיות סופית oduced בבית הגראמי של סטיבי וונדר וג בידיעה שזה ההזדמנות שלי להגיע שמעו על ידי מיליוני אנשים.

עם זאת, ברגע האהובים עלי הוא עכשיו, ה צודק היא מיידית. אני בא בסוף הסיור שישה שבועות של צפון אמריקה עם n שלי EW האלבום הים. זה כבר מדהים התגובה היא כזאת אני לא יכול היה לחלום את זה טוב. אני אוהב להסתכל החוצה אל קהל מלא באנשים מרקעים כל; שחור לבן, בעניינים ו -60 ילדים בני שנתיים, הומוסקסואלים והטרוסקסואלים, המכללות ו פרוע. אני משחק שיא אני באמת מאמין, עומד על הבמה עם חברים שאני מכיר מאז שהייתי ילד ים ורואה o הרבה של צפון אמריקה.

יום אחד אתה braving השלג במונטריאול, לאכול סושי, הבא D איי אתה Coachella בחליפה Romper, לשתות מתוך אגוז קוקוס. פגשתי ביורק על זה נהדר המפלגה היא זרקה עם Dirty מקרנים במחסן בוויליאמסבורג, ניו Y ork, וניגן על לילה מאוחרת עם ג 'ימי פאלון עם השורשים. אנחנו רוקדים על אוטובוס תיירים אל האלבום החדש של אריקה באדו ואני מעביר את הזמן לנגן בגיטרה 1920 שלי וושבורן כי הרמתי בחנות ב הייט אשברי. אני חווה אושר בחיי כי לא תיארתי לעצמי שניתן לפני כשנתיים, כשבעלי נפטר, וזה עושה את זה לא momen, עכשיו, כל כך נפלא אלי.

סר מרק אלדר, מנצח

במהלך שנים של גורבצ 'וב לשלטון, ה אלקטרוני האופרה האנגלית הלאומית עשה סיור הרוסית. אני היה המנהל המוזיקלי בזמן ד היינו החברה הראשונה האופרה הבריטי ללכת לשם. לקחנו הייצור שלנו ורדי מקבת. לא היה להם מושג למה לצפות, אבל איכשהו השמועה בסיבוב שזה הולך g להיות ערב מרגש. אני בא אל הבור איש בשורה הראשונה של t הוא השאיל דוכני קדימה, הושיט לי זר פרחים ואמר בשקט: ". אתם מוזמנים"

אני לא יכול להתחיל עבור כמה דקות utes כי אנשי הציבור היו מנסים לכפות את עצמם לתוך תיבות ש"ש ich היו סיירו ללא רחם על ידי נשים רוסית גדולה. ההופעה הזאת היתה אחת O f המרגש ביותר בחיי. כולם היו על הטופס העליון, וברגע ב הסיום המערכה הראשונה, כאשר רצח המלך הוא גילה, החברה כולה צריכה לשיר lo א.ד. המעבר הדרמטי. כאשר המוסיקה לחתוך, במקום המומים נהוג מהומת Si, הקהל פרץ במחיאות כפיים פראי. אני יכול לזכור רק לחשוב, אני הו PE זמרים אינם מאבדים את המגרש שלהם בגלל הקטע הבא הוא ללא ליווי. כשבאתי ב Ack לבור עבור במערכה השלישית, הקהל נתן את התזמורת עצום התשואות ואת נערה צעירה דילגה לאורך המעבר המרכזי והושיט לי עוד en זר ormous של פרחים.

רותר מיכאל, Neu!

זה היה יכול להיות כאשר אני שומע ד Neu הראשון! האלבום בבית, אחרי ההקלטה זה עם קלאוס Dinger ו [produc אה] Plank קוני. שיחקנו אותה משפחה וחברים, כך שזה היה מאוד Happ y, רגע מיוחד יש להם כל כך לשמוע הקלטה של ​​הרעיונות שלי. האזנה Hallogallo וכל שירים אחרים מחוץ לסטודיו תמיד היה לייבא ניסיון נמלה מאוד. זה היה כל כך נפלא לשמוע את הלחנים בסלון עם שלי אמו ואחיו - כולם נראו לי הרגשה חיובית. אתה יכול מרגישים את העוצמה של מה המוסיקה עושה לך, את היופי של זה, את הקסם. זה su rprises אותי כי היינו צריכים להקליט את האלבום של ארבעה לילות בלי שום אפשרות של הכנת החומר בבית. באותם ימים אף אחד לא היה הקלטה הילוך בבית. אז היינו צריכים ליצור את המוזיקה במקום בסטודיו. את הקסם, es pecially של Hallogallo, שרד את כל הזמן הזה.

גארי קמפ, בלט שפנדאו

L סיוע ive היה כזה רגע מכריע עבור הדור שלי של קבוצות. זה היה o איפקס f כי בעשור, הנקודה הגבוהה ביותר של גיל הזהב של מוזיקת ​​הפופ הבריטי. אף אחד O f לנו אי פעם, כי חזקה שוב. בואו נודה בזה, כולנו היינו מנסים לגייס כסף עבור thiopia E, אבל זה היה גם רגע מדהים לכולנו ליהנות. היה ALS OA כמות עצומה של הנדחקים לתפקיד לאורך היום, וחלק היו יותר הצלחה בהתמודדות עם זה יותר מאחרים.

מזג האוויר עזר כדי להדגיש ערב rything. אני זוכרת בטיסה במסוק, מגיע מעל וומבלי וראו t הוא מגדלי התאומים - וומבלי אמור לי יותר מבחינת סמלי יותר מאשר מקום רק ל לעשות הצגה. ישבתי ליד [לשעבר פרצופים למתופף] קני ג 'ונס ב "המסוק. אני מעריץ ענק מי, כל כך הייתי מעוניין היה כי זו היתה ההופעה הראשונה שלהם במשך שמונה שנים ס

היינו בשעה 02:00. הייתי מעדיף להיות על בשמונה בערב נינג. אבל לאחר 20 דקות האלה היה מדהים, למרות שאני לא ממש זוכר PE שלנו , Rformance רק את החלקים סביבו, כמו לראות את פיט טאונסנד, דיוויד בואי, את כל אלה אנשים יוצאי דופן. חשבתי לדבר עם בואי, אבל הוא לא יודע מי לעזאזל הייתי. נכנסתי הדרך שלו בבר. הצגתי את עצמי והוא נתן לי אחד מאותם נראה כי הציע הייתי צועד קרוב מדי המכ"ם שלו.

בינתיים, הייתי מזיל ריר OV אה טאונסנד פיט. הוא אמר לי ללכת אחריו עולה על הבמה כדי לעמוד בצד ו לראות את מי - להקת הרוק הגדולה בעולם - עושה לא תקבל שולל שוב. אז קיבלתי טפיחה על הכתף. זה היה פול מקרטני. הוא אמר שהוא חושב שעשינו הופעה גדולה ND נתן לי את אגודליו למעלה. אבל שפנדאו לא לעשות את זה נכון. האחרים היו טובים יותר דוחף thems שדונים קדימה. בונו היה לא אוהד של אף אחד: הוא פשוט ניגש ישר אל מרכז הבמה € "ג 'ורג' מייקל, מדי.

עדיין, הייתי נרגש להיות חלק מהחלום כי סלע. אני - עבודה ing נערי הכיתה מ Islington - היתה לי הרגשה, בכל רגע, מישהו wa זה הולך לעלות מאחורי אומר, "סליחה, יש כאן טעות איומה, אתה יכול לצאת?"

La Roux , זמרת

Glastonbu ry 2009 – it was the first time I had been to Glastonbury, which is pretty lam e, really. But it was also the first time I had played a big English festival. I t was also the same weekend that Bulletproof went to No 1. Even though we had a No 1 and had had another hit with In for the Kill I thought no one would give a toss that we were playing. But it was an incredible experience. That's when YouTube comes in handy. There were more people there than I could have hoped for. I remember peer ing out from behind the curtain and seeing the crowd spilling out of the sides o f the tent and Tony, my manager, saying: “See, I told you. Stop pranging out!” I didn't stop being nervous for the entire gig, but I remember secretly crying a tiny bit during the drop-down in In for th e Kill. Every single person for as far as I could see had their hands up and san g every word back louder than me. I had never seen that before. It was the momen t we realised how many people knew La Roux.

Luke Steele, Sleepy Jackson and Emp ire of the Sun

It was pretty rock'n'roll – it was one of the best moments of my life. It was when I played a little show in New York with my father, who's been a musician for 40 years bu t had never been to the US. I produced his last solo record early last year and said I'd fly him over to support a set I was doing as Luke Blonde. There were these black boun cers from the future, and me on laptop and electronics. My dad was a bit shocked to see my sci-fi alter ego going straight into this Martin Luther King speech; it was pre tty full on. Then my father came on and played all this Dylan, JJ Cale, Johnny C ash and Kris Kristofferson stuff and just blew away this New York crowd at the B owery Ballroom. Jack Black was there. So was Heather Graham, who came in on roll er skates. I tried out her skates – her underpants as well. She tried out my g uitar. We did a duet, with Jack Black on the drums. It was very surreal for me, a young musician from Perth, the most isolated city in the world, where usually a gig attracts a couple of fat drunk guys. The night dissipated into a long-dist ance dream. At one point, I refused to go on stage unless I got a box of Krispy Kremes. Then we left the venue and went to find Michelle Pfeiffer.

Baaba Maal , singer

I met Nelson Mandela, then president of South Africa, for the first time in September 1996. I was performing at the Arts Alive festival in Johannesburg and was invited to meet him at his office in Pretoria. I wanted to bring him ag ift, so I decided to give him a boubou, one of the west African robes that I wea r on stage. He put it on at once, and I have a picture of him wearing it. I also had a letter to give him from the Senegalese president, Abdou Diouf, and he ask ed about all the important people in Senegal. And then he gave me advice. He sai d that I should be a voice for the people, and that I could make a difference as a musician. He said that people believed what I said even more than they believ ed politicians, and I had a role as a messenger.

Something really strange happen ed during the meeting. There was a girl in the delegation from the festival who had not met President Mandela before. Immediately he saw her he started asking a bout her grandmother. “How did you know that she's my grandmother?” asked the girl. “I just looked at you, and I knew you must come from the same family,” Mandela replied. It was amazing. What a memory!

Amy Macdonald, singer

It w as a gig last summer, a beautiful evening in Locarno in Switzerland. They cordon ed off the town centre, and there were 12,000 people all crammed into the market square. The Kooks were my support band, who I love. I remember being on stage a nd seeing endless amounts of people singing back to me all the words. I was over whelmed that you can travel so far from home and have so many people know your m usic. The best thing was seeing all the people at the front, smiling. It was an incredible feeling, making all those people happy just by singing my songs. I ha d to stop myself from getting a little teary-eyed.

Ellie Goulding , singer

I tho ught I was insanely lucky when I was asked last year to go on Later … with Joo ls Holland. It's an institution. I never expected to be where I am now, let alone go on shows like that. I felt pretty odd album, a bit out of place. I was on with Diana Kral l, Stereophonics, the Unthanks, Maxwell – I felt so honoured to have been ther E. I thought, “What on earth am I going to do when Jools starts playing piano and everyone joi ns in,” so I started shuffling. It was one of the most nerve-wracking moments of my life. I'm lucky in that I don't go crazy and lose it; I'm quite grounded and laidback. But Later … was a worry. It was the start of my caree r, and suddenly I was on this incredible show with some of the most talented art ists, and I had to perform with them.

Professor Green, rapper

My greatest mome nt was when my single went in the charts at No 3 this year. Not because I'm self-absorbed, but because of the run-up to it. I was originally signed to Mike Skinner's label, and that went u nder, and it took a year to get my music back. Then I lost my father, who killed himself. That was two years ago. Then last May I got stabbed in the neck. It wa s some asshole in a club, and it was completely unprovoked. It was serious – I had three-and-a-half hours' surgery to put it right. It was close to my carotid artery. I wou ld have died if that had been nipped, or at least lost the use of my face, neck and shoulders. All in all it's been a pretty rough few years.

I threw myself into my work. Aft er the stabbing, I felt angry for quite a while. But I used the negative energy. It's nice to be on an up. Lily [Allen] had an awful lot to do with it. We did a song together , and she took me on a tour of Europe and Australia. I can't tell you how much love I've got for her. I foun d out I was No 3 on the Sunday morning. I was over the moon. I celebrated with m y first drink in seven weeks – a Jameson.

Andy Sheppard, saxophonist, compos er

It was in the late 1980s, I was playing at Ronnie Scott's and I got a call to play on a fil m session the next morning. My manager had said it was just to do a sax solo ove r an orchestra, no problem. But when I got to the studio, it was the London Phil harmonic Orchestra, and the composer and conductor was Elmer Bernstein.

He intro duced me to the orchestra as if I were some world-famous classical soloist. אז it turned out not to be an improvisation, but 580 bars of written music, to go with a seduction scene featuring River Phoenix (from A Night in the Life of Jimm y Reardon) they were screening as we played. After five bars, I came off the rai ls. Bernstein stopped the orchestra, looked at me over his glasses, and said: “Everything OK?”. I said, giv e me five minutes to think about it, and it would be great to have a beer and a cigarette. A guy went out and came back with a cold beer, a packet of cigarettes and an ashtray. I sat in the middle of the orchestra while they stared at the c eiling, got out crosswords and newspapers – you could see them thinking: “We've got a right one here.”

I thought, I've fallen out of my safe zone – though I know the jazz world seems pretty unsafe to a lot of pe ople – and now I'm right out of my depth. But I drank the beer, smoked the cigarette, and somehow did it in one take. At about bar 500, I remember hearing that little voice at my shoulder saying: “You're going to mess this up now.” But it worked. In the end, I thought I'd played all the notes exactly as Bernstein had writt en them, but he said to me afterwards “I love the way you interpret my music.”

Kit Downes, pianist, compose r, Mercury prize nominee 2010

It was a couple of years ago when I was with Empir ical and we played the Newport Jazz festival. It was a blazing hot day, with tha t beautiful view out over the bay, and when we came off stage they announced the re was going to be a special guest appearance. It was Bill Frisell with his trio , the one that made the East/West album. I'd never heard him live before, but I was sitting th ere among all those boats, water at my feet, and he started playing Moon River a nd Heard It Through The Grapevine, stuff that was so bluesy and laidback compare d to our rather earnest modern jazz thing. It felt like the music was playing it self. It made a huge impact. He never makes what he does a product, his diversit y and constant creativity is amazing, and however different his projects are, th ey always sound like him. I've got a picture of him on my wall from the Cheltenham Jazz festiv al, with this big smile on his face at something somebody's just played. He looks like someone who's just happy to be doing what he's doing, it's a real inspiration.

Joe Perry, Aerosmith

I'd have to say when Aerosmith played wit h Jimmy Page in August 1990. I'm not sure how it came about, but it was an amazing experience because he had been one of our major influences. Jimmy played just about every s ong we knew and loved, including a lot of blues stuff and Yardbirds stuff. The s oundcheck at the Marquee was one of the most eventful couple of hours that I can think of. People call Aerosmith the American Stones, but we were always more th e American Zeppelin. We didn't get a chance to rehearse, but it was a lot of fun. He travelled with us on the bus and we hung out with him for the whole weekend. It blows my mind to think that Jimmy would think that much of the band that he'd want to spend that much t ime hanging with us, and then play with us.

I would never have thought it would have been possible, growing up in Boston in the late 60s, when the idea of being in London was like for a Catholic going to the Vatican; the holy grail. The fact that 20 years down the line I'd not only know Jimmy Page but be able to play with him, that was beyond anything I thought could ever happen. That weekend, we mostly talked about pla ces where we'd recorded in common and how hard it is to keep a family together on the road. d being a survivor. Me, Jimmy, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck – we're still doing it, and Jimi Hend rix isn't. למה? Luck. I think Jimi felt impervious to everything. But you can only take so muc ח And mucking around with street drugs is like playing Russian roulette, and in Jimi's case, he lost.

Stan Tracey, pianist, composer

It has to be Sonny Rollins. When I was the house pianist at Ronnie Scott's in the 1960s, the star American soloists came over without their own bands, and we all had to do the best we could. The first time I met h im was probably 1965, he arrived at the rehearsal – I think this was in his be ret phase – and asked me to name something to play. I said Prelude to a Kiss. We kicked it around for 45 minutes, then never played it again for the entire mo nth he was here, until he came back again the next year. I wasn't nervous – I might have bee n if I was another sax player – I was just concerned about whether he'd be easy to get on wi th or not. Some of the Americans could be difficult with local players back then . He was an amazingly nice, gentle guy and a massive talent back then, and he st ill is.

Meat Loaf , singer

If I'm telling you what the greatest moment of my career is, my car eer must be over! So as far as I'm concerned, I haven't had the greatest moment of my career yet. But if you want to talk about a moment that highlighted something, that moved something fo rward more than anything else, I would say January 1978, the CBS convention, whi ch we closed. I was kind of upset about being the last band on, because normally everybody starts going home in the afternoon on the last day. But they didn't in this case, a nd the room was absolutely packed with all the other bands – Elvis Costello, B illy Joel, Cheap Trick. So we did the show and I sang For Crying Out Loud. כאשר it was over my eyes were closed I thought everybody had left the room, because there was a moment of dead, stunned silence, and it seemed to last forever. I went, “Oh my God, what hap pened?” And I opened my eyes and when I did the room exploded. They went completely insane. פ ople started rushing the stage – there are pictures of Billy Joel standing on a table and all these people going completely crazy. They did $40,000 worth of d amage to the room – there were broken chairs, smashed dishes, everything! That's really what made Bat Out Of Hell take off. That was the turning point. It was an amazing, e xtraordinary moment.

Rokia Traoré, singer

My greatest moment was back in June 1997, my first-ever European show. I flew from Bamako to Paris, and then travel led down to the Angoulême festival, where I was performing on a big outdoor sta ge as the opening act for Salif Keita and Ali Farka Touré. I had only performed live four times before, back in Mali. I had nothing to lose, and I was totally confident that nothing bad could happen and everything would be good – even th ough I knew that my band didn't respect me because I was young and female. They said that it w asn't possible to mix balafon and n'goni in the backing for the songs. All of this was made possible because of the French Cultural Centre in Bamako, who helped me, and sent tapes of my so ngs to Christian Mousset at Angoulême. Without that help from the Cultural Cent re, I would never have enjoyed this career as a musician.

Martin Carthy, singer

Selecting one great professional moment from 50 years on the road presents prob lems. Four and a half years of music-making with Dave Swarbrick – especially w hen we rehearsed for our first gig in a train compartment on the way there, surr ounded by Indian lads who giggled and clapped all the way? The moment on stage w ith Steeleye at Manchester University in 1970 when it was clear that the band wo rked so wonderfully? The first ever Brass Monkey gig at the Black Horse in Telha m when sensational is the only word for the sound we made? Persuading Norma to m ake her first solo CD, working on it with some of the very best musicians and a great producer called John Chelew, then seeing it miss the Mercury prize by a wh isker? Why not any one of those? The truth is that when, in Elkins, West Virgini a in August 1991, I first made music on stage with my daughter Eliza (and with N orma, of course) really does put everything else in the shade. There I experienc ed the extraordinary magic of playing – and especially singing – with a bloo d relative for the very first time. It was almost as though one didn't have to think. There wa s never a moment when she was anything other than an equal in the matter and tha t in itself was astonishing and quite liberating. Ain't nothing quite like that feeling – th at freedom.

Stephen Hough, pianist

What comes to mind is the encore I played af ter a concert at Berlin's Waldbühne with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. It was thr ee summers ago. I'd played the Rachmaninov Rhapsody, it was a big event – in front of 23,000 people, and filmed for TV, and after I'd played this very loud tempestous work, I came back o ut and played a little piece by Mompou called Young Girls in the Garden. I play this in encores a great deal – more so than any other. Many encores can spoil the mood, but this fits after almost everything.

I came from a house without any classical music . Mompou's piece was the very first record my parents bought me, aged 5 or 6: it goes right back to my very first musical experience. The music has such innoc ence and purity; playing it at this venue, that had been built by the Nazis, in a city tha t was being bombed not so long ago – the whole thing just came together in av ery magical way, and it was an amazing moment, a meeting of childhood memories a nd a full adult's career.

Tinchy Stryder , rapper, producer

I got to chill with Jay-Z and Beyo ncé in his dressing-room! I was on my way to South Africa for the World Cup so I didn't have time to worry about what to wear. I watched the gig first, which was crazy, man – I grew up listening to him, so seeing how he put a show together was really inspiring. It was mad. Then I went backstage. It was the first time I'd met him – I'd seen all his team a lready but I was on tour the last time I was invited to meet him backstage at Ma dison Square Garden. I wasn't nervous – I don't really get nervous with things like that.

He's a cool guy. He's chilled, laidback and humble and makes you feel welcome. Beyoncé was there as well. She was real frie ndly – you see people on TV and don't know what to expect, but she's even better in person. Real down to e arth. He had words of advice for me – he told me to stay focused and not let m y ego get too big. No one from the grime scene has crossed over in the US yet, s o it's hard to say what might happen with me there, but right now everything's in place to make it happen.

Jason Yarde, saxophonist, composer, arranger, producer

The moment I remember mos t vividly is working in the British big band put together to play with pianist M cCoy Tyner at the Barbican in 2001. But it wasn't the gig, it was the first rehearsal, at thes e little studios, The Premises, in Hackney. We played McCoy's Passion Dance, that was the one that did it for me, because his playing is so passionate and so full, and that s eems perfectly to represent it.

I'd accepted the gig thinking I'd be playing on the free stage before Tyner, not actually in the band. Now I found myself playing with McCoy Tyner about fiv e feet away from me. He was really gracious about it, told us all he was more ne rvous than we were – we didn't believe it, but it made us feel better. At lunchtime he had t ime for everybody, signing vinyl, telling stories. The way he used the big band made a big impression on my writing, he wasn't afraid to change things around a bit: have four saxes and a tuba, not follow the usual big-band lineup. But more than anything it was the way he played while you were soloing, how he listens to you. You're playing, and th inking: “He's done this for John Coltrane.” It's wonderful to be in the slipstream of that legacy, and it's stayed with me ever since.

Sarah Connolly , mezzo soprano

Two moments come to mind. The first was after a performance of G uilio Cesare at Glyndebourne. David Attenborough had been in the audience, I was introduced to him afterwards. “This is a real pleasure and an honour,” I said to him. And he said to me wit h absolute sincerity: “Believe me the pleasure is all mine.” I thought: “That's it then. This great, great man believes in me and rates me. I have no reason to ever doubt myself again.”

The other moment I choose is after a recent concert. A couple came up to me and said, “Our mother died recently. We found in her handbag a list she'd made of things to think about on her deathbed. One of these things was your perfo rmance of Dido's Lament. We wanted to tell you.” I was terribly moved by that, to think that somebody wanted to take that with them. I could have mentioned appearing on this stage, or that stage, or working with so and so, but nothing comes close to that to moving oth er people – it's why I'm in this business. To move people.

What are your most memorable musical moments? Maybe it was you r band's first gig, meeting one of your heroes, or being blown away by a live performance – you've read what the artists w e interviewed had to say, now share your own stories by posting a comment in the thread below.

To quote the effervescent Dame Edna, “Good night,
possums!” I'm heading up to Michigan for two glorious weeks of R&R, although
I will be taking a handful of CDs up to review while I'm vacationing, and those
will be the reviews you'll read when I’m back in the saddle later זה
month.

The difference, of course, is that instead of writing in the dank,
windowless cell of the Bunker, I'll be sitting by the lake, beer within reach,
cool breeze stirring the trees, water lapping at the shore, music coming in at
a gentle volume through the headphones while I scribble my thoughts in longhand
on a scrap of parchment with a goose quill dipped in ink. OK, all but the last p art. Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music would sound good in
those circumstances. אני might take it up just to test the theory.

I'll likely be taking up a pile of CDs to check
out, over and above the things I’ll be reviewing, as well as a fe w books to
read, including George Carlin's last offering, Steve Martin’s aut obiography and
a book about Johnny Cash and the untold story of the making of hi s Bitter Tears protest album in 1964. ו
I might find a couple more in my favor ite used CD/book store in Petoskey when we
hit town on the Saturday after we arr ive.

Two weeks will go pretty quickly, but
I'll be doing my level best to slo w it down to an acceptable crawl. אני
thinking that margaritas supplied by Gar y, our cabin neighbor who we met on
last year's trip to the lake, will help co nsiderably.

Well, there's still a lot to do, including some
of the reviews yo u're going to be reading below, so before you start reading
I've got to get writing, or you'll have nothing to read and I'll still be
writing while youâ ™re trying to read what's not written. Man, this is that hot tub
Time Machine thing all over again. Spot me five seconds, then go. And see you
in a couple of weeks.

Each new triumph that Sheryl Crow has notched in her career has been s lightly more
unlikely than the last. Not many elementary school music teachers h ave
lucrative jingle singing gigs, and even fewer parlay that success into a
bac k-up vocalist slot with Michael Jackson. Crow's official 1993 debut album, Tue sday Night Music Club , barely made a
dent when it came out, but the following sp ring saw the impossible rise of “All
I Do,” leading to three 1995 Grammys, i ncluding
the often-fatal New Artist of the Year award.

Crow's eponymous and
s elf-produced 1996 follow-up was a gritty revelation and proof that she was
willi ng to shed the innocuous Pop veil of her first album to delve into darker,
יותר contentious lyrical territory. And while none of her subsequent six studio
album s have come close to registering Tuesday Night ’s multi-platinum numbers, Crow
has posted more than a few impressive accomplishments, recordings with Sting,
Ry an Adams, Kid Rock, Scott Weiland and Mick Jagger, a James Bond theme song, more Grammys, some acting
and movie music gigs and surviving breast cancer among the m.

For her seventh studio album, 100 Miles from Memphis , Crow takes a page
מ the Shelby Lynne handbook and returns to her southern Midwest roots for an
albu m full of vintage Soul/Pop sounds. Horns, crystalline back-up singers and
slinky rhythms dominate 100 Miles ,
but Crow wisely weaves the Soul thread into her exi sting and highly successful
Roots Rock tapestry.

Without the propulsive backbeat and Soul
appointments, “Our Love Is Fading” would be an easy
fit in Crow' s previous catalog, as would the Reggae-touched “Eye to Eye” and
the Folk/Co untry bounce of “Long Ride Home.” But Crow digs deeper on 100 Miles , too; this isn't simply a
Sheryl Crow album with a Soul paint job. She writes from an authentic '60s AM
Soul/Pop perspective, particularly on the album's first single, “S ummer Day,”
and the joyous “Peaceful Feeling,” which bristle with Stax goo dness.

Francis Farewell Starlite might have a higher profile in the Hip Hop co mmunity because of his opening slots
with Jeezy and Drizzy and
his collaboration with Drake on Thank Me
Later . In his group configuration as Francis
and the Lig hts , Starlite stands at the crossroads
of '70s R&B, slick '80s synth Prog and contemporary I ndie Pop, as evidenced on a pair of
previous EPs but most prominently on the Lig hts' debut “full-length,” the
eight-song, 27-minute It'll Be Better .

Sta rlite definitely delights in
couching his songs in a sophisticated production co ntext on It'll Be Better , but thankfully that
sophistication never leaks into excessively swollen bombast. Starlite operates in the appealing vein of Peter Ga briel's
post-Genesis Pop explorations, with a similar sense of subtlety and
un derstatement, particularly on the airy “In a Limousine” and the gently
כוח ful Beat Pop of “Darling, It's Alright,” featuring Starlite's
pleading v ocal. The '80s-tinged Dance Pop of “For Days” bobs and weaves and
starts a nd stops with a quiet effervescence that makes Maroon 5 seem overplayed
and hist rionic by comparison, while “Knees to the Floor” suggests a
Gabriel/Michael מקדונלד 'ס בשיתוף עם זרם קל פופ הבשורה.
"הקש על € טלפון מציעה גוונים של לירית ציני של רנדי ניומן מוסיקלי
הפרספקטיבה “Get in the Car” will clearly attract any fan of Francis Dunnery's Folk/P op excursions from the '90s.

With all of the innocuous, sugary Pop that curre ntly clogs
the airwaves, the tasteful restraint and polished intelligence of Fra ncis and
the Lights would certainly make a refreshing style shift.

Jimmy Gnecco has the kind of backstory that would
sound fictional if it weren't completely נכון. A gold medal-winning gymnast and
world champion BMX rider as a New Jersey teenager, he started playing guitar at 15, joined local bands and began develop ing his
distinctive whisper-to-scream falsetto. He eventually co-founded Ours, a n
unconventional AltRock band that existed in various
incarnations before Gnecco took a sabbatical,
befriending Jeff Buckley in the process. Buckley’s tragic death in 1997 spurred
Gnecco back to performing; he garnered a Warner
Brothers contract, r eformed Ours and released a trio of well-received albums: 2001's Distorted Lul labies , 2002's Precious and 2008's Rick
Rubin-produced Mercy .

With Gnecco' s debut
solo album, The Heart , the Ours frontman addresses directly and indirect ly some of the
tragedy that has marked his life, the most recent being the passi ng of his mother
while he was working on this album. The Heart €™s opener, “Re st Your Soul,” is his bittersweet farewell to her, a quietly
reflective acoust ic hymn that lilts and weeps and soars with the passionate
delivery that Buckley made famous on Grace .

Gnecco has endured unfair
accusations of cribbing Buckley 's style for years, and The Heart displays Gnecco's range better
than any pr evious Ours outing, particularly on the Thom Yorke-meets-Nick
Drake ache of “M ystery,†the Iggy Pop demo power of
“Bring Me Home,” the Bono-tributes-Ruf us Wainwright emotion of “Gravity†and
the Curtis Mayfield Soul splendor of “These Are My Hands.”

The Heart will likely be held up as partial evidence, but there's a
fair case to be made for parallel development. In fact, Jeff Bu ckley’s ghost is a palpable presence in Gnecco's work, but The Heart is guid ed by more than a
single spirit and they all ultimately pass through his unique creative filter.

Big
Head Tpretty odd album & the Monsters roared into the public consciousn ess with their
third album, 1993’s Sister Sweetly , a
ferocious Blues/Classic R ock masterstroke and an album that the Denver trio has
been trying to live up to for the past 17 years. They might have come as close as
they ever have on 2007â ™s All the Love You
Need , an album that the Monsters cleverly marketed by givin g away a total
of a quarter million copies, a ploy that actually drove up their attendance
numbers on their subsequent tour.

The Monsters have returned to the c oncept of
retail with their eighth studio album, Rocksteady , but the sad reality is there's only about half
an album here to sell. The first five tracks follo wa similar path, a Caribbean/Soul stew that simmers but
rarely boils up into an ything substantial. The title track opens the albums and
starts promisingly, wit h Tpretty odd album Park Mohr's guitar creating a swirling and
inviting atmosp here, but the song quickly shifts gears into a predictable and
rather pedestrian rhythm that doesn't offer much other than a decent solo and a
little more var iety at song's end. “Beautiful” is a pleasant enough attempt at
R&B, and “After Gold” has a certain quiet charm, but Mohr's tribute in
“Muhammad Ali” is all flo ating butterfly and little bee sting and “Happiness
Is” has the clichéd sou nd of someone trying to steal Maroon 5's lunch money.

Rocksteady doesn't rea lly get started in earnest until
“Back to the Garden,” which blends Caribbea n/Soul with an almost Native
American undercurrent and an infinitely more engagi ng lyrical perspective (“She
can break a sweat jumping on the dance floor/She can sell you world peace at
the mall book store”). Mohr's cover of “Smokes tack Lightning” starts off like a
period homage but launches into a contempora ry reading that swings while
retaining the gritty soul of the original and â œI Hate It When You're Gone” and
the funky €œPeople Train” seem closer to Ro cksteady ’s overall intent. The album finishes with a quiet
acoustic-shuffle co ver of the Stones' “Beast of Burden” that features an
electric solo that P eter Frampton would be proud to claim and “Fake Diamond
Kind,” which chugs a long on an Indie Blues/Funk
groove that would sound pretty good on most Modern R ock playlists.

The first half of Rocksteady might require time to
take root in t he listener's ear, but Big Head Tpretty odd album & the Monsters have
invested so much more en ergy in the second half that it makes the rest seem
forgettable by comparison.

Take her singing and songwriting off the table,
and Ruth Gerson still has an ast onishing résumé. A graduate of and former teacher at Princeton University, she founded the New & Used Songwriters Collective
while in New York City and formed San Francisco V ocal Coaching after relocating
last year. She also invented The Singingbelt, a
ב iofeedback device that helps singers recognize diaphragmatic breath support.

לא w can we talk about her musical accomplishments? Her previous albums have
been p roduced by Don Dixon and John Cale collaborator
Lance Doss and her new album, Th is Can't
Be My Life , will be followed by her next album, Deceived , which is al ready done and slated for release early next
בשנה. Oh, and she's a producer he rself, having helmed an album of songs for
comedian Steven Wright, which is awai ting release. And as long as she avoids
kryptonite, she's good to go.

OK, Gers on's not
Superwoman, but she tries pretty hard on This
Can't Be My Life , muc h of which was written when she was going through the
pain and anxiety of a divo rce (in fact, the album was actually finished and
ready to release in 2007, but she held it back because of the upheaval in her
life). Gerson's epic Piano Pop will certainly draw
comparisons to Tori Amos, but, while she is clearly more ly rically and musically direct than Amos and not
nearly as ephemeral, there are mo ments where Gerson
drifts into Amos' dramatic presentation, as on the jazzy mu rder ballad “Black
Water” and the whisper Folk of “Take It Slow.”

Even i n her most balladic moments, Gerson maintains a forceful presence. “Does Your לב
Weep” and “Hazel” quiver with the quiet intensity that Chrissie Hynd e brings to her lower key material. On “Fresh Air,” Gerson swaggers with the melancholy power of Paula Cole,
while the title track shows her fortitude in th e face of her impending split
(“I want you to be happy/But not with me”) and “Bulletproof” soars like a soulful
Sheryl Crow Pop hymn.

While there might not be a great deal of dynamic
range on the largely mid-tempo This Can't
Be My Life , it clearly evokes Gersonâ ™s emotional
state at the time it was written a nd recorded. Greil Marcus has already raved about Gerson’s next album, so TCBM L will have to tide us over
until her masterpiece comes along.

It's now been four years since Hello Love , the last Be Good Tanyas album, and during the trioâ ™s subsequent hiatus,
Samantha Parton has kept her herself musically occupied, producing Jan Bell
& the Cheap Dates' Songs for Love
Drunk Sinners , while Trish Klein has put out three albums with Po €™ Girl, her
side project with Alison Russell, equaling the Tanyas' output to date.

Frazey Ford took some time out for
motherhood an d reflection and brings some of that perspective to her debut solo
project, Obad iah . Like her work in the Be Good Tanyas,
Obadiah is a compelling and lovely com bination of quirk and
classicism. Shaped by Ford's gritty and quivering warble , an pretty odd album blend of
Samantha Crain, Ani Di Franco (in her less milita nt
moments), Dolly Parton (in her less overly emotive moments) and Victoria
Will iams' lower register, Obadiah
sports a musical groove that suggests masters li ke Neil Young (“Lost Together,”
“Lay Down with You”), Van Morrison (“I f You Gonna Go,” “Firecracker”), Al Green (“I Like You Better”) and Em mylou Harris (“Hey
Little Mama”).

Obadiah exhibits Ford's passion for
tra ditional Folk and Bluegrass filtered through a contemporary sensibility. אבל
For d is not interested in merely retracing steps she's already taken with the
Tan yas and expands her sonic palette accordingly, folding
Blues, Gospel and Soul in to her solo mix. As a result, her unique magic is conjuring the spirits of
מוסיקה al giants while retaining her own identity throughout Obadiah , which slowly reve als itself to be a contender for one of
the year's best and most unexpected al bums.