Archive for December, 2006
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
As I predicted earlier this year, Rick Rubin projects dominate the 2007 Grammy Nominations, with Red Hot Chili Peppers scoring six nominations, and the Dixie Chicks with a total of five nods, more than any other country artist. Their fantastic album, Taking the Long Way, earns them their third consecutive nomination in the general Album of the Year race, which is considered the highest honor of the night. They also, for the first time, are nominated in two other major categories: Record of the Year and Song of the Year for their hit, “Not Ready To Make Nice.” Having been nominated for Best New Artist several years ago, they have now been cited in all four major categories.
Also popping up in the big categories is Carrie Underwood, who is cited in the Best New Artist race; the songwriters for her hit “Jesus, Take the Wheel” are up for Song of the Year, marking the first time in recent memory that two country songs compete for that honor.
Country artists surfaced in many other non-genre categories as well, most notably Dolly Parton, who secured a songwriting nomination for “Travelin’ Thru” in the Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media category; and Big & Rich, who scored a nomination for “8th of November” in the Best Short Form Music Video category.
Look for a full rundown of the country categories this weekend.
Sunday, December 3rd, 2006
#20
Wild Angels
Martina McBride
1995
She’s been screaming her head off for so long now, it’s easy to forget that Martina McBride once seemed destined to make albums like Emmylou Harris rather than Mariah Carey. Her third album is a startlingly strong collection of songs, sung with subtlety and maturity. It lacks bombastic vocal performances and “issue songs”, her two signatures these days, but the stories told about everyday life are ultimately more compelling: a husband on their anniversary confessing to his wife that he feels like a failure (“All the Things We’ve Never Done”), lonely women leaving after being fed up with cheating (“Phones Are Ringin’ All Over Town”) and fighting (“Cry on the Shoulder of the Road”), single women waiting patiently (“Safe in the Arms of Love”) and admitting they’re not as strong as they seem sometimes (“A Great Disguise”, “You’ve Been Driving All the Time.”) Opening with the classic title track and closing with the Beatlesque “Beyond the Blue”, which allows McBride to shine by blending with harmony singers, this is an album that showed great promise when released and now, eleven years later, reminds us of what could have been.
RIAA: Platinum
Download This: “All the Things We’ve Never Done”, “Safe in the Arms of Love”, “Cry On the Shoulder of the Road”
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Saturday, December 2nd, 2006
All apologies for the site going quiet, but blogging couldn’t compete with Wii-ing. Here’s a long overdue rundown of recent singles.
AARON TIPPIN, “He Believed”
Nice, heartfelt ode to a father that could’ve devolved into the umpteenth country single about believing in God, but the kicker is that most of all, “he believed in me.” Could’ve done without the backing singers, but Tippin’s still a forceful, distinctive singer and he never loses control of the record. Good stuff.
ALISON KRAUSS & JOHN WAITE, “Missing You”
I’m disappointed that this amazing song sounds like it was recorded over the original 80′s backing track. Krauss should re-cut this solo in her own style; it would be timeless.
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