Random acts of music

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Nemo by Tuomas Holopainen is one of my "perfect songs". I swear I have not yet heard a bad version of it from either Tuomas' band Nightwish, the original performer, or the various covers that have come across my Youtube recommendations. I have heard it done by a solo singer with just a guitar accompaniment, by Nightwish in their current six-piece configuration, and some other arrangements in between. This performance is by Nightwish's current lead singer Floor Jansen but with an arrangement done for the Marcel Fisser Band, which backs Floor on her solo gigs in the Netherlands.

 
Julia Westlin kicks off 2022 with a new song and the release of her long awaited album Live and Let Live. When I first heard Julia, she was still mainly a cover artist but she has spent most of 2021 releasing original songs destined for this album. She is a really good songwriter and packs a beautiful voice.

 
And from sublime popular music to sublime Renaissance church music, here's Voces8 with a motet by William Byrd based on Psalm 150.

 
Something new and different from Finnish soprano rock singer Tarja Turunen. Tarja has been associated with symphonic metal for most of her 25 year career, first in her time as founding vocalist of Nightwish and then in her subsequent solo career. So hearing her do EDM-inflected material in her new Outlanders project is a definite switch. However, Tarja's voice packs its usual punch and there's some marvelous guitar work from guest artist Trevor Rabin, the South African guitarist who helped revitalize Yes in the eighties and who has subsequently had a successful career as film composer and in other musical projects (including the odd reunion with bandmates from Yes). This is the first release from an upcoming album per an article I read this morning. Besides Rabin, featured guests on the album will include Joe Satriani (with whom Tarja has worked before) and Mike Oldfield.

 
From Nightwish's first lead singer to their third.

Floor's regular duet partner since her appearance on the Dutch TV show Beste Zangers (Best Singers) 2019 season has been Henk Poort. While Floor has some operatic and musical training, Henk has made the musical stage his career. They have sung two duets from musicals together both recorded and live. Their rendition of "The Phantom of the Opera" from the show of the same name (Henk has played the Phantom in a Dutch production of the show) originated on Beste Zangers and was a hit on Youtube and in their native Netherlands.

Here, though, they move from Henk's world to Floor's. "Sweet Curse" is an amazing power ballad with lyrics by Floor and music co-written by her with other members of her band ReVamp. She has sung the duet with several partners over the years, including American rocker Russell Allen in the original version and Simone Simons of the Dutch band Epica. Henk proves to be a perfect partner on this, too. His powerful stage trained voice is perfect and he and Floor have really honed their stage performances, playing off each other beautifully. "Sweet Curse" is one of my favorites of Floor's own writing and this version is fantastic.

 
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I've grown an appreciation for music from Ireland - my maternal grandfather was Irish, but sadly I never got to know him as he died before I was born. This song is about a mother losing her son as he emigrates for pastures anew, but the words can be changed slightly to reflect someone you have lost and miss as much as the mother in this song misses her boy.

 
Davyc said:
I've grown an appreciation for music from Ireland
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I've loved Irish music since childhood when the Irish Rovers were popular in my family household. It's very influential in Canadian music, too, especially in Newfoundland and some parts of Ontario. The Newfie band Great Big Sea once recorded with The Chieftains and it was a perfect fit.

It's part of why fell hard for Nightwish, too. Even though the band is Finnish, there is a strong Celtic influence in their music and they have had an Irish member, Troy Donockley, playing flutes, uilean pipes, and other instruments (and occasionally singing) since 2013. And he had worked as a session player for two albums and at least one tour before they asked him to join permanently.

The instrumental Last of the Wilds is a real showcase for Troy and the band's love of Irish music.

 
And a few years before they started working with Troy, the band had a hit with a cover of "Over the Hills and Far Away" by Irish rocker Gary Moore.

 
And Elan, from 2015's Endless Forms Most Beautiful (best album title ever) has Troy's playing nicely incorporated into a more straight-up rock anthem.

 
And something more traditional to send us off. The Parting Glass has to be one of my favorite Irish songs.

 
Searching for The Parting Glass reminded me of the existence of this wonderful performance.

 
I love the Parting Glass, especially when it's done by Celtic Woman - I stumbled across CW by chance when searching for something on YT and have since bought all their DVD concerts.


They also do Mo Ghille Mear as well as a load of other traditional Celtic songs


The Murphy's are my latest discovery - another find by chance (or is it chance?) and I'll be opening a new website soon called Irish Ceol (Ceol is Celtic for Music) it's not too far away from being ready.


Love Nightwish and will be checking out more from them later. In the meantime here's another song from the Murphy's.

 
After last week, it was probably inevitable that the next release from Floor's Amsterdam concert would be another duet with Henk. "Dangerous Game" is from the musical Jekyll and the two first recorded it last year as a follow-up to their hit cover of "Phantom of the Opera".


And yesterday was what we fans call a "Floorgasm". Not only did Floor reveal her new fan site (which I have yet to sign up for but will be), but she announced that there is a new, original song coming in March (March 25 to be precise), all in a rare live edition of her Friday vlogs. We have not had new original Floor Jansen songs since Northward came out in 2018 and those songs had actually been written a decade earlier. I have become a big fan of Floor's writing from ReVamp and Northward so, much as I love hearing her sing Tuomas Holopainen's compositions for Nightwish, I am looking forward to hearing her sing her own material again.
 
I love this song and the two artists that perform it. Its a little ironic in a way as Lisa and Nathan were an item for about six months and decided that their careers were not suited to a long term relationship so they parted ways to pursue their careers, but have remained good friends. Love the song, love the two artists and just enjoy the subtle beauty of their performance.

 
I have been listening (finally, not sure why I haven't before) to Elise Trouw's debut album Unraveling from 2017. It's a remarkably mature and well-done album given that she was like 16 when she made it. Yes, I checked Wiki expecting to find Elise was maybe in her mid or late twenties only to find she is 22 going on 23.

Elise is a singer-songwriter who seems to be able to play just about any instrument as well. She is a master of the "live loop" style of performing. So she'll play a paradiddle on her drum kit (she is a drummer by trade) and her synth will start playing that over and over. Then she adds a guitar or keyboard riff and maybe a bass line, all looped to create a backing track to which she sings and sometimes plays keys. All in real time. However, Elise also does more conventional recording, as on this album, and she packs a jazz-funk-pop sound with some terrific playing and a soft, slightly sultry voice.

A live performance of the title track from Unraveling:


A couple other songs from the album.



And a couple recent performances showing off her looping technique. These are new originals so I hope a new album is in the works.


 
Besides her own work, Elise occasionally guests with funk cover band Scary Pockets, sometimes just as a vocalist and sometimes on drums as well.

 
I remember Todd Rundgren did his whole albums this way, working out of his basement, and playing all of the instruments on them.
 
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New Ghost. I am still debating how seriously to take these guys, but I general believe they are taking the piss on metal's "Satanic" elements. Their music is, ahem, damn good for a parody band, though.:whistle:

 
German rock band Scorpions was started by lead guitar Rudolf Schenker the year I was born, with lead singer Klaus Meine joining in 1969. The band broke through in the English speaking world in the eighties with hits like "Rock You Like A Hurricane" and "Still Loving You". While the lineup has continued to changed occasionally through time, Schenker and Meine still lead the band today, and they just dropped a new single.


And going back to the band's heyday, a performance from German television in 1985.

 
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