Lots of goodies this week:
First up — I loves me some Thomas Dolby. If I had to pick a favorite song, I probably couldn’t. But this would be on the short-list. It’s from his second album, The Flat Earth, which, like most of his post-“Blinded Me With Science” output, was mostly overlooked here in the states. Thomas Dolby – “Dissidents.”
The theme to the HBO series True Blood, is a nice bit of Chris-Isaak-tinged country/rockabilly, and is a fan, so here ya go: Jace Everett – “Bad Things.”
The most recent single from the fabulous Dame Shirley Bassey, from 2007 (marking her 50th anniversary on the UK singles chart!). Her voice is, as always, phenominal — but when the instrumentals really kick in, the whole thing goes VERY Bond, including the subtle presence of the 4-note walk-up from the beginning of the Bond theme…. Dame Shirley Bassey – “The Living Tree.”
I realized that in all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never posted any reggaeton — which some of you might not be familiar with. Reggaeton is latino urban music, combining caribbean influences like Jamaican dancehall with Latin American influences like salsa, merengue, bachata, bomba, etc. and electronica and hip-hop. Good stuff. I was going to post some material from the Puerto Rican group Calle 13, but I stumbled across this collaboration they did with Nelly Furtado which is pretty damned good — so here we go: Nelly Furtado feat. Calle 13 – “No Hay Igual (remix).”
A song I had nearly forgotten, from Pete Townshend’s mid-80s solo album White City. Pete Townshend – “Give Blood.”
A nifty mashup of Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” with, of all things, Nirvana. And it works. Bizarre. DJ Schmolli – “Smells Like Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis vs. Nirvana).”
Lastly, another favorite 80s track of mine, featured in the movie “Doomsday” which we watched last night (which apparently is a message film about how all Scots are either cannibal punks or medieval re-enactment enthusiasts.) Love this song, and love this mix of the song in particular: Frankie Goes To Hollywood – “Two Tribes (Carnage Mix).”
There you go kids. Enjoy. As always, if a link gives you trouble, try copy-and-pasting.
Have a nice weekend!
