So, what are you listening to these days?

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God, I hope not Waterfall. Anyhow. How do you know what I look like, lol. My avatar is Paulette Goddard in "The great dictator" 1940
 
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I have talked about Canadian power metal band Unleash the Archers in cover songs, but they are primarily known for a string of pretty solid heavy metal albums, many of them concept albums to some degree. While they have had some lineup changes over the years (especially in the bass role), the one constant is lead singer Brittany Slayes (real name Brittany Hayes) of Victoria, BC.

Enough talk. Let's rock.


Metal music will never tire of Mad Max, some of the most metal movies out there.


And from a decade ago, a track from their first album.

 
Be honest, can you get more Canadian than being kidnapped by a headbanger Sasquatch?
 
Singer-songwriter Kina Grannis has had a rough few years. An arrest in Indonesia, a struggle with infertility, a miscarriage. But this week she put it all behind her, dropping a long-gestating new album as she awaits, speaking of gestation, the imminent birth of her first child. She even put a "bump shot" on the cover of the album. This single from the new album came out a couple weeks ago.


And this one came out earlier.

 
And from indie singer-songwriters to one of the biggest stars of the past decade or two, Adele released the first single from her next album today. And it's ... Adele. Not my favorite of her works, not my least favorite, but it is quite clearly, definitely her sound.

 
And the Grammy-winning collaboration of rock vocalist Robert Plant and country-bluegrass singer Alison Krauss came back together, 14 years after their first album.

 
Back to Kina. This was one of the first songs released from what became the new album. Album title is "It's Hard to be Human".

 
Oh, I will have to have the Plant/Krauss EP. And I see that T-Bone Burnett has produced this one, as well, so it's sure to be excellent! Raising Sand is one of my favourite CDs ever.
 
So I kind of stumbled over Keiko Matsui while using a Smooth Jazz playlist on Amazon Music as a back track for writing. She has a fairly long history at this point, having put out 28 albums as well as playing with luminaries like Miles Davis and Stevie Wonder. Her husband is also a musician and plays in her band (and she has guested on some albums of his). As is common in Asian cultures, she started playing young, at 5 years old, and has been into jazz since junior high.


 
They ... are ... back ...


Melodic pop? Check
Exquisite harmonies? Check
Material for the next Mamma Mia film? You betcha

ABBA is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine but, damn, the new album really captures everything that made them tick in the first place.
 
Sweden has produced a fair number of memorable pop and rock acts, but ABBA has kind of stood tall among them. They were one of the first, one of the most successful, and the fact that they kind of vanished as a group at their peak had given them legend status. The return of ABBA has been something fans have wanted for years. Unfortunately, they are not doing any live gigs yet, at least not in person. I heard they were doing some kind of virtual performance with CGI or puppet avatars but not an actual live concert.

 
So my first reaction to hearing Citizen Queen was "all-female Pentatonix". And the first video below does little to dispel that as it has a clip of one of them hugging Scott Hoy of that great a capella group. Looks from some other clips like maybe they've even toured with Pentatonix.

That said, it's a great concept and these women have fantastic voices that blend beautifully.

Not sure of the provenance of this one. Might be an original since there's no credits on it.


This is one of the many terrific songs from The Greatest Showman and CQ nails it.


And the song that first twigged me to Citizen Queen was this cover of a cover. The song was originally written and recorded by Roberta Flack but CQ's version seems based on the cover by Fugees, which featured their great lead singer Lauryn Hill.

 
And they do occasionally drift from doing pure a capella, as in this original R&B number.

 
Been listening to Dark Passion Play by Nightwish in the car this past week. Wonderful album featuring their second lead singer, Anette Olzon. Alas, can't find a video of Anette singing the album's powerful opener, "The Poet and the Pendulum", but there is this magnificent performance from the band's gig at Wembly Arena in 2016 featuring her successor, Floor Jansen. Both have vocals from bass player Marko Hietala, who actually played and sang with all three lead singers over his career with Nightwish before taking his leave of the band at the beginning of this year.

 
Recent found this young lady Laura Lace. If you like classical and heavy rock she is worth a listen, She is extremely skilled at what she does.
 
She looks familiar. I'm thinking she has come up in my recommendations at some point and I just haven't partaken. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Just found this young lady, love her voice. She could sing a dictionary and it would sound good. She is most certainly worth a listen.
 
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