Leslie G. Nichols

June 4, 1927 – February 26, 2006

‘Biophilia’ by Bjork.  A concept album, but in a new way.  This album, the eighth from the Icelandic singer, was partly recorded on an iPad.  Really!  Listen/watch on  your tablet and it becomes an entirely interactive experience.  (And don’t be afraid of the song ‘Virus,’ nothing nasty will happen to your computer) Listen here on the stream and you’ll hear an inventive performance (with new instruments invented just for this album) from an amazing, unique voice.

‘New Blood’ by Peter Gabriel.  New blood for Old Songs, actually.  These are re-imagined arrangements of classics like ‘Solsbury Hill‘ and ‘In Your Eyes’ that have been stripped of guitars and drums, and the lyrics have been laid bare.  Peter’s voice has lost some range (he’s 61 now) but has gained new character and depth.  PLUS…instrumental versions of these songs, that we’ll drop in sparingly.

‘Ain’t Necessarily So’ by Andy Bey.  Andy is a jazz singer from New Jersey who doesn’t get the attention he deserves.  He’s been singing since the 50′s, John Coltrane called him his favorite vocalist and this album, from 2007, features some spot on renditions of Depression Era songs.

‘Bad As Me’ by Tom Waits.  Doesn’t every song he sings sound like it comes from the Depression Era?  That amazing voice, gravelled by decades of non-filtered Camels and Jack Daniels, is as emotional as ever.  To quote Rolling Stone Magazine, ” This latest set is a classic American narrative: a hard-luck case setting out for a better life. But this is 2011, the world bled by Wall Street, and things are fucked everywhere. Dude is hoping against hope, but no one – himself included – expects this to end well.”

‘A Very She & Him Christmas’ by She & Him.  Look, I know that Zooey Deschanel is the latest ultra-super-megastar with her new Fox TV series ‘New Girl’ and her collaborations with M. Ward (‘Him’) are cheerily frivolous indie pop, but dammit, their approach is fun and carefree and they chose the right songs to make a Christmas album.  Guilty pleasures, guilty as charged, your honor, shaddup.

‘No Turning Back,’ ‘Love Tattoo’ and ‘Mayhem’ by Imelda May.    The first three albums by this Dublin born vocalist combine fuse rockabilly, blues, surf guitar songs and more.  She started singing in Irish pubs when she was 16 and twenty years later, she appeared with Jeff Beck at the Grammy Awards.  Hope you caught that performance.  She just finished a U.S. tour with Jamie Cullum, another regular here at Vermont Mornings.  She’s probably too eclectic to become a superstar, but this is smashingly good music.  Imelda May?  She certainly can!

Who knows why we pay any attention at all to these loonies, but we do.  Once again, a predicted Rapture has come and gone and either:

1)  We didn’t make the cut upstairs.

2)  This is already heaven.

3)  Well, duhh!

We’re still here, we might as well dance…