From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V8 #361 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, December 30 2002 Volume 08 : Number 361 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: FYI: Women In Video weekend (VH1 Classic) [Xenus Sister Subject: Re: FYI: Women In Video weekend (VH1 Classic) Amy, yep, it turns out they were played in 6-hr blocks, played 4 times in a 24-hr period. I'm assuming that they'll start a new batch at 5am (Central). Maybe Wuthering Heights will be in that batch. I think Cloudbusting was an interesting choice, considering it wasn't even a single in America. Here's the full list of what they played on day 1. Most were pretty blah, unfortunately. What I wouldn't give to program a block like this! === 12-28-02 5am-6am Carole King - Up On the Roof Rita Cooledge - All Time High Tina Turner - What's Love Got To Do With It Holly Beth Vincent - For What It's Worth Madonna - Like A Prayer Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam and Full Force - All Cried Out T'Pau - Heart and Soul Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - Circle Heart - What About Love Joan Jett - Cherry Bomb Pat Benetar - We Belong Go-Gos - Vacation Toni Basil - Mickey Mari Wilson - Just What I've Always Wanted The Human League - Human 6am-7am Carly Simon - You're So Vain Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams Kylie Minogue - Locomotion Kim Carnes - Crazy In the Night Donna Summer - Last Dance Chic - Good Times Evelyn Champagne King - Out of Control Cyndi Lauper - True Colors Berlin - Take My Breath Away Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart Bangles - Hazy Shade of Winter Waitresses - I Know What Boys Like Altered Images - Happy Birthday Katydids - The Boy Who's Never Found (was mention of Kate Bush coming up in next hour) 7am-8am Heart - Nothing At All Joan Jett - I Love Rock'n'Roll Lita Ford & Ozzy Osbourne - Close My Eyes Forever Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi (Painting with Words and Music) Tracy Chapman - Fast Car Juice Newton - Angel of the Morning Bette Midler - The Wind Beneath My Wings Aretha Franklin - Freeway of Love Patti Labelle - New Attitude Vanessa Williams - The Look Romeo Void - Never Say Never Martha and the Buffins - Dansparc Kate Bush - Cloudbusting 8am-9am Marianne Faithful - As Tears Go By Roberta Flack - The Closer I Get To You Laura Branigan - Shattered Glass Stevie Nicks - Talk To Me Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait Blondie - The Tide Is High Debbie Gibson - Only In My Dreams Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now Madonna - Express Yourself The Pointer Sisters - Jump Chaka Khan - I Feel For You B-52's - Roam Cher - Main Man Janet Jackson - What Have You Done For Me Lately 9am-10am Melanie - Brand New Key (live) Linda Rondstat - Blue Bayou (live) Martika - Toy Soldiers Gloria Estefan - Rhythm Is Gonna Get You Soul II Soul - Keep On Movin Whitney Houston - So Emotional Taylor Dayne - Tell It To My Heart Siouxsie & the Banshees - Spellbound The Sugarcubes - Motorcrash Sinead O'Connor - Mandinka Cyndi Lauper - She Bop Bananarama - Cruel Summer Voice of the Beehive - Don't Call Me Baby Alison Moyet - Invisible 10,000 Maniacs - Like The Weather 10am-11am Janet Jackson - When I Think Of You Jody Watley - Looking For A New Love Sheila E. - The Glamorous Life Jefferson Airplane -White Rabbit (live) Heart - Barracuda (live, Beat Club) Joan Jett - Bad Reputation Tina Turner - What's Love Got to Do With It Swing Out Sister - Breakout Kim Wilde - You Keep Me Hanging On Roxette - The Look Indigo Girls - Closer To Fine Bonnie Raitt - Thing Called Love Sheena Easton - Strut Bangles - Walk Like An Egyptian ============ ============ Repeated 3 times. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 20:11:58 +0000 From: jjhanson@att.net Subject: Year - End Best Ofs 2002 was an interesting year in music--some of my favorites were things actually released in previous years, but I just found out about them this year. Lots of big releases by some of my favorite artists--but many were disappointing, few lived up to the hype. There seemed to be lots of solid releases, but few spectacular releases. Here are some of my favorites--roughly broken down by category, in rough order Rock/Pop Tori Amos - Scarlet's Walk I haven't obsessively listened to an album on its release like I did to this one for a long time. I kept thinking it would somehow open up and reveal itself to me--but it mostly remained sort of obscure. It appears to be trying to be something bigger than it is, but I'm not sure it really is. Still, it's got some beautiful moments, and is one of my favorite Tori albums in years. Mary Margaret O'Hara - Apartment Hunting This soundtrack has some quirky moments, and some beautiful songs. Not solid all the way through, but still a great album from an artist who just doesn't release enough music. Alison Moyet - Hometime This album was touted to be the best of her career, and it's a very solid album. But it lacks the one or two absolute standout tracks that most of her previous albums had. Plus the bass-heavy sounds on about every other track can sound sort of boomy unless listened to on a great stereo-- but still, it's always great to hear my favorite singer of all time. She's still got the best "rock n' roll" voice in the biz in my book. Veda Hille - Silver/Auditorium The special disc celebrating the Vancouver Folk Festivals' 25th Anniversary and the live recording capture some great Veda moments--but neither really showed the creativity and cohesiveness of her previous releases--still both are must-have's for the Veda fanatics, of which I'm definitely one. Peter Murphy - Dust One of the best releases Peter Murphy has ever made--I love this album-- moody, atmospheric, beautiful. Berlin - Voyeur One of my favorite "bands" of the eighties returns with a whole new band, but Terri Nunn still leading the pack, this time with another singer. Still, it manages to capture the sound of the previous line-up, but still sound fresh and fun. A very fun album overall. I still think Terri Nunn is underrated as a vocalist--I got to see her live way back on the Count 3 and Pray tour and was completely blown away--the woman definitely has a powerful voice and a great stage presence. This album brings back those memories, while still sounding fresh and relevant. Marianne Faithfull - Kissin' Time Marianne Faithfull came out with a much overlooked album of great pop songs, written alongside the likes of Dave Stewart and Billy Corgan--lots of great rock/pop/dance songs, though not as cohesive as some of her earlier releases. Sarah Slean - Night Bugs Sarah got a lot of grief about this album and her affected cabaret like vocals, but I personally loved it. Great piano, dramatic, catchy. Moby - 18 - Probably not as good as Play, but still has some great songs. Heather Nova - South Another much overlooked album--a bit overproduced, but has some great simple songs as well--not nearly as overproduced as her past couple of releases. Julia Fordham - Concrete Love Julia Fordham is another "great voice" whose material has often not been as strong as her voice--this album doesn't really change that but its still an interesting release with a number of good songs. Victoria Williams - Sings Some Ol' Songs I've been waiting for Vic to make a standards album for a while--and while this is more of a compilation of recordings over the past few years than a single cohesive "new" album, it still has some great moments--and a few klunkers as well. Voltaire - BooHoo A fun, campy, goth release--not great art, but a lot of fun. Kristian Hoffman - & Found out about Kristian just this year thanks to Anna Maria. This album is an album of duets with very interesting people (including the always wonderful Maria McKee). Kristian writes great pop songs and sounds a lot like Elvis Costello, but this album is a lot of fun, and despite the wide range of people he works with, is suprisingly cohesive. Neko Case - Blacklisted Neko Case returns with a very odd, dark little album--her sound is still dominated by her powerful voice and lots of reverb. I think one day she's going to release something truly amazing--this isn't it, but it ain't bad either. Katell Keanig - What's the Only Ting Worse than the End of Time EP A great little EP from another great voice. Contains one of the best Nick Drake cover's (of River Man) I've heard. Sigur Ros - () Another interesting album of noise that isn't a whole lot differnt than their first. Still beautiful, but somehow not as fresh sounding as their first. Jorane - Live A good live CD from a fabulous musician--but not as compelling as I thought it could be, based on seeing her live (if only briefly). Dayna Manning - Shades A compelling sophomore effort from this great young Canadian singer-songwriter. Edges more toward pop than her debut, but "Miracle" is one of the best feel-good pop songs of the year. Jann Arden - Live with the Vancouver Symphony This is a solid live album, and Jann's material benefits from the addition of the symphony, but the real highlights are the hilarious stories included. Rarely on live CDs would I ever skip the music to listen to the in-between song patter, but this one is one I find myself doing that every time I play it for someone. Country/Folk Eliza Gilkyson - Lost + Found Eliza Gilkyson has been around for years, but she's really hit her stride in the past few years. This album is much more upbeat than the last, but still a lot of fun. One of my favorites songs of the year is one on here written by her brother Tony (who's played with X and Lone Justice) called "He'll Miss the Train". Also features backing vocals by Patty Griffin. Ruthie Foster - Runaway Soul A great album that almost captures the joy and excitement of one of Ruthie's live performances--a great bluesy, gospely voice--this woman can really sing it all--a great album. The Be Good Tanyas - Blue Horse A fun, new sound somewhere between bluegrass and... I don't know what. Great harmonies, lots of fun. Kate Campbell - Wandering Strange A compelling album that came out a few years ago I just discovered this year, from a great Mississippi singer-songwriter. An album of traditional and originally penned Gospel songs--"The Last Song" (about the song Jesus and the disciples sing after the Last Supper) is one of the best things I've heard in a long time. Dolly Parton - Horns and Halos A very solid album, but worth hearing if only for the bluegrass, but surprisingly true-to-the-original cover of Stairway to Heaven. Going Driftless - A Tribute to Greg Brown This album is an amazing collection of female singer-songwriters covering the songs of Greg Brown--an artist I never paid much attention to since I never liked his voice much--but hear you can pay more attention to the songwriting, plus hear some of the best women in the biz today. Tift Merritt - Bramble Rose An interesting album by an artist to watch. Beautiful, catchy, fun Other: Alessandro Safina You might have heard this guy singing on the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, or on Elton John's latest compilation CD on Your Song. Yeah, yeah, everyone's already sick of Andrea Bocelli, so why do we need another Italian pop star singing lite-opera? Well, because he's damn good I suppose, and this album is way over the top with it's passionate swells, but that voice really is marvelous. Diane Jarvi - Flying Into Blue I think this came out prior to 2002 but I just discovered it this year and really love it. Diane Jarvi is an interesting poet (writes under the name Diane Jarvenpa) and singer-songwriter of Finnish descent living in Minnesota--her first album, Revontuli was great, but this album is even better as she broadens her range and sings songs in English, Finnish, Karelian, Sami, Gaelic and Spanish as well as puts poetry by Keats, Rossetti, Dickinson and Poe to music. A great album. Azam Ali - Portals of Grace The lead vocalist of Vas comes out with a beautiful solo album that sounds amazingly like....Vas. A bit more pure in its Iranian influences than Vas, but a great album none the less. Audra McDonald - Happy Songs Audra McDonald can't appear in on Broadway without winning a TOny it seems, but her previous recordings have always made her incredible soprano voice sound quite shrill (which it isn't if you see her live). This album of "fun, happy" songs doesn't sound nearly as shrill and it a fun collection--more varied than you might you think from the title. Most Promising New Artists: Tom McRae - Tom McRae Tom McRae was probalby one of my favorite discoveries of the year. His first eponymous release really captured my attention--and probably defines the "male" side of ecto for me almost more than any other artist (even Peter Gabriel who I just can't seem to get into anymore). I'm definitely looking forward to his new release due out next February. Aengus Finnan - Fool's Gold/North Wind A Canadian singer-songwriter of amazing talent I discovered at last year's Folk Alliance--captures the lonely sound of the Canadian plains and writes incredibly heart-felt songs--second album isn't quite as good as the first, but still a very solid effort. Shannon McNally - Jukebox Sparrows This album really captured my attention when I got it early this year. Shannon shows surprising depth and maturity in her vocal style, and stylicstically this album covers a lot of territory--from sparse, folk-like tunes to over-produced stuff that sounds a bit like Sheryl Crow--still a very solid effort and a great debut. Hem - Rabbit Songs Beautiful sparse arrangements--fans of Innocence Mission and Cowboy Junkies should love this one. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 20:46:11 EST From: AURALG@aol.com Subject: 2003...Here it be ! Just a quick hello and my warmest wishes to the "best" human beings (on Ecto) for a safe and joyous holiday and prosperous and peaceful New Year ! Love yas always Kevin B. ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V8 #361 **************************