Review: Roxette - Joyride

 Hi!

 Just letting you know that my Record Reappraisal of Roxette's 1991 album Joyride has been published in The Mancunion - both in print and online. I hope you enjoy learning about this classic.

 In other news, I am back from Spain and at Uni. I'm doing some interesting modules this year and trying to do plenty of writing too, both creative and journalistic. I'll post any of it that's music-related here, so watch this space!

 All my writing, musical or otherwisde, will be posted on my writer blog, so please keep an eye on that, too!

 Thanks for reading, hope you're well.

 Liz x

Review: Meghan Trainor - Title

 Hello!

 Just letting you know that my review of Meghan Trainor's debut album Title has been published in The Mancunion. I hope you enjoy it!

 Liz x

Review: Edwina Hayes - Pour Me a Drink

 Hello, readers!

 You may remember that I have been to two Nanci Griffith tribute concerts in Southport - one in 2013 and one in 2014. Both times, Edwina Hayes was present and I had the privilege of hearing her beautiful and unique voice. Both times, I also met her - last time, I literally ran into her - and she was lovely.

 So, it is a great pleasure to be able to listen to and review her album Pour Me a Drink. Released in 2008, it is Edwina's second solo album.

 I must begin by commenting on its beautiful artwork: it is incredibly pretty and I feel that the blossoms decorating both the cover and some of the inside pages of the sleeve represent the album really well: the songs are soft, delicate and fragile like blossoms, yet also very strong, as is a cherry tree.

 The album opens with Run, a rather dark, sad song which I personally would not have chosen as an opener but which is very good nonetheless. The next track is one of my favourites, Leave a Light on for You, which is simple but very sweet and for me is reminiscent of a Nanci Griffith song.

 Season of Love is more bluegrass and I like it, especially the chorus.Very American-sounding. Call Me flows in the same vein as Leave a Light on for You and is similarly sweet and delicate. One of several songs on the album written by Edwina alone rather than in collaboration, it is a good example of her song writing - a simple but beautiful song about a never-ending love.

 The title track, which I saw Edwina perform live in Southport, is slow and haunting and very sad. It's followed by her take on the traditional Froggie Went a Courting, which is smooth and pleasant to listen to and has a happy ending!

 Edwina's cover of Randy Newman's Feels Like Home is the first song I heard her sing, due to its use in the film version of My Sister's Keeper. It also became very important to me when I moved from one University hall of residence to another and felt much more at home in the second one. I kept playing this song in my head and I now associate it with that time.

 It is a marvel in that it manages to be smooth and very easy on the ear while being extremely raw and emotional. It is probably still my absolute favourite of her songs, although I have discovered several new favourites on this album.

 The album ends with Irish Waltz, a lovely piece that sounds genuinely like it could have been written centuries ago in Ireland unlike certain other modern pieces designed to sound so that don't. Edwina's voice is always lovely but here it is divine, and Jack McKeague's guitar work and especially his dobro work are stunning. It is a wonderful end to the album.

 I enjoyed this album. While most of the songs are quite similar in that they are simple, delicate love songs with an acoustic guitar, each one does create its own unique ambience. Edwina's guitar work is very nice and her voice is gorgeous.

 As a writer, one measure of what I think is a good song is one that I would use in a film of one of my books. I would certainly consider this for both Leave a Light on for You and Edwina's version of Feels Like Home (although the latter has already been done).

 Overall, a lovely album and one which I am sure I will listen to a great deal.

 Rating: 8/10

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

My songs of the summer

 Hi!

 I'm really sorry that I haven't updated this blog for quite a while. I will now do my best to blog as regularly as possible.

 This summer I have been listening to several songs, some old and some new.

 First, as my college year was ending and I was spending a lot of time editing videos, I rediscovered this song. I was looking through music I had so I could choose music for a video I was making, and I found this.

 I had heard this already, but just bits of it. When I heard the whole thing, it enchanted me. It is just so beautiful.

 Therefore it didn't really surprise me to find that the song was written by Diane Warren, the American songwriter who wrote many songs that I like, such as "Because You Loved Me," "There You'll Be," "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," and, "If I Could Turn Back Time," songs made famous by, respectively, Céline Dion, Faith Hill, Starship and Cher.

 In the end I didn't use this song in my video; it wasn't really appropriate for it; but I was so glad that through my video project I had rediscovered this lovely song that I had overlooked for so long.

 Between college ending and the start of my summer holidays, I went on a college trip to see the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. We stayed one night in each city. In Oxford, a group of my friends and I were having a sort of party in one of our rooms, and someone played this song which they had on their iPod, on an iPod docking station so we could all hear it.

                                         

 I don't know if I had heard it before. It did sound vaguely familiar. But I really liked it, and I remember thinking, "I must look that song up when I get home."

 And I did, and I have listened to it many times since. Not only is it a really nice song, but it reminds me of the amazing trip to Oxford and Cambridge; of the great time I had there, of the old friends I got to spend time with, and the new friends I made.

 Just after this trip, I was on a car journey and I heard this:

                                     

 Normally I don't have much interest in Lady Gaga's music, but for some reason I really like this. It might be the really catchy chorus, the passion with which she sings the song, the 1980s-esque video, or the sublime saxophone solo by the late, great Clarence Clemons; or probably it is a combination of all of these factors. I just love this song.

 There are a few other songs that have been important to me this summer so far, and I will try to add them to this blog tomorrow.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

 Songs: How Do I Live - LeAnn Rimes

            In This City - Iglu and Hartly

            The Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga

Bonjour!

Hi!

Having got back from a week in the South of France, I am now obsessed with French music!

Here is a sample of what I have been listening to:

I study French and I love the French language and culture, and I love French music! I know that I have only just scratched the surface; that there is a whole world of French music out there, and I am truly looking forward to many happy years of discovering it.

Liz x