Last week's releases were above average, Hayley Williams knocked it out of the park with some of the best Pop I've heard this year, Aly & AJ released a surprise single that was really catchy called "Joan of Arc on the Dance Floor," Kim Petras released a single called "Malibu" that, while not being a Miley Cyrus cover, was a catchy Pop song in its own right. Dani Wilde released an inspiring single called "Brave" and I dove into some of my favorite songs from the past, buying songs from Pat Travers, Joan Jett, Duff McKagan, Beth Hart and RSO (a group made up of guitarists/singers Richie Sambora (ex-Bon Jovi) and Orianthi (ex-Alice Cooper)).
Sadly, tragedy struck the music business last Saturday as we lost Little Richard, one of the biggest influences in rock and roll. He was over 90 and died of bone cancer, so we can't blame COVID on this. The Beatles covered him a few times with Paul McCartney singing, and he also recorded "Good Golly Miss Molly," which has been featured in movies. Little Richard also appeared as himself in an episode of Full House, where he performed his hit "Keep A-Knocking," which partially inspired the Led Zeppelin song "Rock and Roll." I decided to buy "Keep A-Knocking" in his memory because I always loved that Full House episode. He was also in an episode of Baywatch as a restauranteur who spoke in Little Richard song titles. Little Richard will be missed.
There are two releases I am considering purchasing songs from this week, depending on how they play out, and a small release I pre-ordered.
Firewind-Self-Titled Release: Firewind is a Grecian Heavy Metal band who is famous for their guitarist, Gus G, who was the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne for the first part of the last decade. He plays like a virtuoso and the band will let him indulge himself with solos throughout the track. The first single, "Rising Fire," sounded good, but "Welcome To The Empire" felt like a step down. Another interesting thing to note is this band did a metal cover of the 80s Pop song "Maniac." As in, "She's a maniac, maniac, maniac on the floor/and she's dancing like she's never danced before."
Charli XCX-How I'm Feeling Now: Remember How I speculated those singles were going somewhere? I was right. Charli XCX has used modern technology to record an album through the month of April to release it tonight at 9:00 pm PDT/Midnight EDT, all while staying under the quarantine. She promises the album will feature her feelings under the pandemic and quarantine, so this could be beneficial to several people.
Pacific Breeze 2 Ep: Japanese City Pop, AOR and Boogie 1983-1986: This is the release I preordered, 4 songs from four different J-Pop artists in the 80s. J-Pop can be very relaxing and fun, and I love hearing the language sung in the style of pop or upbeat rock. My only regret is this release doesn't cover the 1989 release of "Yume no Naka E" by Yumi Saito, a personal favorite of mine for appearing in Godzilla vs. Biollante in an establishing shot of Osaka. It starts with kind of a kick-butt edge, but the song is actually a piano-driven pop song and sadly, I can't find the version that appeared in the film on Amazon.com, only in Spotify. Maybe it will be there eventually, I don't know. Well, that's all for this week.
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