Music & More

A couple of songs caught my ear this morning while channel surfing Sirius satellite radio. Mutya, formerly of the Sugababes has a new song called "Real Girl" that is built on the string riff from Lenny Kravitz' "It Ain't Over Till It's Over" which will insinuate itself into your brain if you hear it more than once, a testament to the songwriting power of the original. She's no slouch vocally, either. If you spend any time checking out BBC1 , you won't be able to avoid it, seems to be in heavy rotation now, resistance is futile so here's the video from YouTube, courtesy of bkmassive. Mutya's myspace. Buy Real Girl (Import CD Single) at Amazon On a more serious note, Sirius Disorder (channel 32) played a great new version of Bob Dylan's "With God on Our Side" by Gurf Morlix. Give a fresh listen to Gurf performing it live, as posted to YouTube by mopacmedia. In his intro he makes the excellent point that this song "is e...

Joan Osborne was positively brilliant performing before her hometown Brooklyn crowd as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn! concert series at the Prospect Park Bandshell. Her well selected set spanned her entire career, including nice chunks of both of her current albums. Although Joan has been well known as a singer-songwriter since releasing Relish (1995) with its huge hit "One of Us", the range of versatility as a performer that she has displayed over the past few years, singing on Standing In The Shadows of Motown (2002), singing with The Dead (2003) and also with Phil Lesh & Friends (2006); combined with her highly developed songwriting skill (the originals on her two current albums are equal to or better than the superbly chosen cover songs) is proof that she is totally an artist working at the top of her game. Her nearly two hour performance at Prospect Park embodied all of these qualities and then some. The sound and lighting at this venue are quite impressive, with ab...

After months of hearing good things about Elizabeth & the Catapult, the calendar finally aligned for a spin to New York to catch her Rockwood show last night. As good she sounds on her 2005 EP, her live set was all that and more. Elizabeth opened with a beautiful cover of "Spanish Harlem" starting solo on piano with the band gradually joining in. Her set primarily consisted of originals, some from the EP, some newer compositions, along with some very nice covers. Her band sounded great, bass (both electric and upright), guitar (electric and acoustic), violin, and drums. The guitarist doubled on melodica, as did Elizabeth who emerged from behind the piano to also play a few songs on acoustic guitar. In addition to the great sounding originals, she unleashed a dynamite version of the Beatles' "I'm So Tired". Later she brought up two members of a group called Old Springs Pike to harmonize with her on a sweet sounding version of Crosby, Stills & Nash...

It was magic time Friday night at the Rockwood as Melody Gardot brought her band to one of the most intimate venues on New York's Lower East Side. Baby it was cold outside, but inside the Rockwood it was hot in every sense of the word. Mixing a few new tunes with selections from Worrisome Heart and a couple of covers, Melody gave another breathtaking performance. The Rockwood's performance room could not be any larger than about a thirty foot square and it was quite a challenge just to load in the band to the tiny stage amidst the packed house. Melody was in good spirits, joked with the crowd, and even squeezed in an unplanned encore, the gorgeous "All That I Need is Love" to send her audience home on a tuneful high. Melody at one point asked the band to disappear (not really possible in this venue) while she went solo acoustic for a new tune, "Baby I'm a Fool" which has a simply beautiful melody and lyric, almost on the order of "Gone". The g...

Lily Allen's first tour of the states came through Philadelphia tonight, stopping at the sold out TLA. The delightfully abrasive cheekiness that makes Lily's myspace blog posts so refreshingly funny seems impossible for an artist with the degree of success she has already amassed in her native Britain. In concert she spits, she drinks, she smokes, she belches, she dances, she bounces, she liberally uses the f-word, and she sings her heart out with joyful abandon; she does all this with such cuteness and charm that the entire package is both unlikely and compelling. Smile CD Single I didn't catch the names when she introduced her band, but this group of keyboard, guitar, bass, drums, trumpet, trombone and saxophone played the hottest reggae and ska groove for a group from outside Jamaica since the early days of the Hooters before they signed to Columbia. These guys killed it on every song. Lily was awesome too, nailing every song while dancing around the stage like she owned...