Michael Jackson would have celebrated his 54th birthday, had he been alive yesterday. However just like it happens with some music legends, he left us when we still wanted more from him.
In a decade that saw the decline of quality that came from legendary bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, King Crimson and others, Michael Jackson emerged as an undisputed, imposing figure that became synonimous with majestic, royalty and genius talent, right there on the same pedestal where The Beatles and Elvis Presley sit.
Strange and eccentric as only himself could be, he was misunderstood by a society that to this day keeps labeling and judging those who stand out, pointing at them and rejecting them when they most need affinity and love. Michael was a kid until the last days of his life, and all he did was try to enjoy life as best as he could, doing the one thing that gave him most pleasure: entertain. As time goes by, I am quite sure that his legacy will continue to grow and his presence will be missed more every day, among mortals who weren't able to appreciate him the way he deserved.
The quality that impressed me most from Michael was the energy he was able to transmit in each of his appearances. Without being a remarkable singer, he was able to take full advantage of his voice and use it to the best of its extent. His concerts were more than spectacles to collect tens of thousands of people to watch him sign and dance; his musical videos were more than just random scenes backing up his songs. Michael carried a message with him, similar to that brought to us by John Lennon and Carole King. Michael was telling us that life is simple, and that the more positive feelings you collect, the closer you will get to happiness.
My favorite Michael Jackson song is "Man in the Mirror". Not only it's a musical achievement, transitioning from a ballad to a pop song to a gospel song. It is a strong critique to hypocrisy, fake feelings and vanity all human beings are possesed with. The lyrics...
"the kids on the streets with not enough to eat"
"who am I to be blind not to see them"
"I'm starting with the man in the mirrror"
"I'm asking him to change his ways"
... are powerful sentences with a strong and profound meaning, that make you think about what justice and equality really are.
Michael may not be with us anymore, but he did enough to leave his message on Earth... forever.
jueves, 30 de agosto de 2012
jueves, 16 de agosto de 2012
Happy Birthday Madonna
If the 80s were dominated by the King of Pop Michael Jackson, one could say that there was another artist who began to rise in her own right and paved the way to establish herself as an iconic legend. Today, that artist celebrates her 54th Birthday: Louise Ciccone, aka Madonna.
Madonna's first album -titled Madonna- was sort of an introduction to a new fresh sound that featured a voice with independent tones from what we were used to listening on the radio. It still had that 80s fragance, but with a more fresh approach, that leaned towards quality rather than new wave. The biggest hit was Borderline, followed by Holiday and Lucky Star.
Like a Virgin is in my opinion the album that started the whole Madonna-Mania. Most people don't know this, but the success of the album is greatly caused by the inclusion of Neil Rogers and Bernard Edwards as producers. If you don't know who those guys are, it'd be easier for me to say "the guys from the 70s group CHIC".
Rogers had already been working on a successful producing career, getting involved with David Bowie's Let's dance, INXS' Original sin and Duran Duran's The reflex. The songs from Like a Virgin are polemic, contradictory but enticing; basically the three elements any great album needs. The biggest hit no doubt was Like a Virgin, backed by Material Girl, Angel and Into the groove.
True Blue followed as her third album, and it was a more mature product than its predecessors. Production values rose, as well as the complexity and lyrics of the songs. TB includes my second personal favorite song of Madonna: Live to tell, which is an interesting ballad that deals with several emotions such as trust and childhood traumas. It is one of the first songs that saw Madonna changing her appearance to pay tribute to Marylin Monroe. It is also one of the first songs that brought several interpretations of her race against the church, as her live performance features her stepping down from a cross. The album additionally lists, Papa don't preach, Open your heart, True Blue and the iconic caribbeanish La Isla Bonita, which is the first song I vividly remember memorizing its lyrics, as I was shocked when I heard the verse "I fell in love with San Pedro..."
Between True Blue and her next album Like a Prayer, came in the soundtrack of Who's that girl and the remix album You can dance.
Like a prayer was a full shot to the catholic community, by its album, its lyrics and of course the video of the titled song. Regardless, it is a great album that shows Madonna as an artist who wants to keep pushing the limits and also seeks to rise the bar of her personal ceiling. Apart from Prayer, other hits include Express yourself, Love song (with Prince), Till death do us apart and Cherish.
I'm Breathless and The Immaculate Collection are the next releases for soundtrack of the movie Dick Tracy and her first greatest hits compilation. Immaculate also included two new singles, Justify my love and Rescue me, the former being a very explicit sexual song ala Serge Gainsburg. Immaculate went on to become the best selling compliation album of all time, and personally, I can only rank The Beatles' Red and Blue albums ahead of it. Immaculate also contains another of my favorites: Vogue.
Madonna's fifth album kept bringing controversy, but it also maintained quality and success. Erotica was released at the same time than her book "Sex", and as you could imagine,, matched its contents with those one could find in the book. Erotica is a very complex and profound album and some may regard it as Madonna's less commercial album. It also contains my third favorite Madonna song, Erotica of course.
After Erotica, no one was quite sure of what would Madonna release next, having engaged in a liberal war against catholics and sex haters. Surprisingly then came Bedtime Stories, a very pop-soft-ballad toned album that only years later we would be able to understand. It showed a transition between the challenging artist and the evolved artist that would come. Its best songs are Secret, Human Nature, Forbidden love, Bedtime Story and Take a Bow -who went on to win the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards.
Something to remember and Evita, were a compilation and soundtrack released after Erotica.
I'm not sure what Ray of Light has or what is it about that seventh album, but it stands as my favorite Madonna album. I'm not sure whether if it's her best or not, but I do know that if I could pick a Madonna album to go listen at a desert island, it would be Ray of Light with three bonus tracks (Live to tell, Erotica and Vogue). With Ray of Light Madonna begins to drop essential pop and ventures into techo, and boy what a way to venture that is. The songs are nothing anyone have heard before and especially considering it comes from Madonna. The sound is a combination of liberating, freedom, techno, dance, electronic and ambient emotions that somehow find themselves working in a perfect harmony. You can summarize Ray of Light in three simple words: Madonna reinvents herself. As you may have figured by now, my favorite Madonna song is of course Ray of Light.
It's always tough for an artist to surpass a masterpiece and this was no excepcion for Madonna in the case of following Ray of Light. However she came really close of doing so with Music, which is an even more reinvented album. It still keeps techno and ambient but it also includes come country and folk elements in it. The entire record is sublime, but I'll give special mention to Music, What it feels like for a girl, Paradise and Don't tell me. Music was followed by another Greatest Hits compilation, GHV2.
American Life is perhaps the only album of Madonna I don't care of. There isn't much worth mentioning about it other than its successful single Hollywood. I guess Madonna was a bit busy being too British.
Then came Confessions on a Dance Floor and it totally redeemed Madonna. It's a great album that evidently pays tribute to dance music of the 70s (and sometimes 60s and 80s). ABBA members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus gave Madonna permission to use sampling from their hit "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" and reportedly said they wouldn't have given the chance to anyone else but Madonna, who incorporated in the single Hung up. Other highlights include Get together, Jump, Forbidden love and Push.
A couple of compilations and live concerts were released after Confessions, nothing really worth mentioning.
Hard Candy was released in 2008 as Madonna's eleventh album. It's more of a tribute / collaboration album, that features Madonna working with Justin Timberlake and Kanye West. It's an ok album, from which you can't say nothing bad, but it's also hard to give any sincere complements. It does include a great song which is Miles Away.
Finally we reach MDNA, Madonna's twelfth album released earlier this year. Since only a few months have passed, I think it is fair enough to let time fly, so we can make a more fair judgement on the quality of this one.... as in "I am still digesting MDNA"
So there you go, that's my tribute for her birthday. I hope you enjoyed it and it put you in a good mood to listen to Madonna all day long
.
Brought to you by www.vidacaracas.com
Madonna's first album -titled Madonna- was sort of an introduction to a new fresh sound that featured a voice with independent tones from what we were used to listening on the radio. It still had that 80s fragance, but with a more fresh approach, that leaned towards quality rather than new wave. The biggest hit was Borderline, followed by Holiday and Lucky Star.
Like a Virgin is in my opinion the album that started the whole Madonna-Mania. Most people don't know this, but the success of the album is greatly caused by the inclusion of Neil Rogers and Bernard Edwards as producers. If you don't know who those guys are, it'd be easier for me to say "the guys from the 70s group CHIC".
Just in case you didn't know who Nile Rogers is
Rogers had already been working on a successful producing career, getting involved with David Bowie's Let's dance, INXS' Original sin and Duran Duran's The reflex. The songs from Like a Virgin are polemic, contradictory but enticing; basically the three elements any great album needs. The biggest hit no doubt was Like a Virgin, backed by Material Girl, Angel and Into the groove.
True Blue followed as her third album, and it was a more mature product than its predecessors. Production values rose, as well as the complexity and lyrics of the songs. TB includes my second personal favorite song of Madonna: Live to tell, which is an interesting ballad that deals with several emotions such as trust and childhood traumas. It is one of the first songs that saw Madonna changing her appearance to pay tribute to Marylin Monroe. It is also one of the first songs that brought several interpretations of her race against the church, as her live performance features her stepping down from a cross. The album additionally lists, Papa don't preach, Open your heart, True Blue and the iconic caribbeanish La Isla Bonita, which is the first song I vividly remember memorizing its lyrics, as I was shocked when I heard the verse "I fell in love with San Pedro..."
Between True Blue and her next album Like a Prayer, came in the soundtrack of Who's that girl and the remix album You can dance.
Like a prayer was a full shot to the catholic community, by its album, its lyrics and of course the video of the titled song. Regardless, it is a great album that shows Madonna as an artist who wants to keep pushing the limits and also seeks to rise the bar of her personal ceiling. Apart from Prayer, other hits include Express yourself, Love song (with Prince), Till death do us apart and Cherish.
I'm Breathless and The Immaculate Collection are the next releases for soundtrack of the movie Dick Tracy and her first greatest hits compilation. Immaculate also included two new singles, Justify my love and Rescue me, the former being a very explicit sexual song ala Serge Gainsburg. Immaculate went on to become the best selling compliation album of all time, and personally, I can only rank The Beatles' Red and Blue albums ahead of it. Immaculate also contains another of my favorites: Vogue.
Madonna's fifth album kept bringing controversy, but it also maintained quality and success. Erotica was released at the same time than her book "Sex", and as you could imagine,, matched its contents with those one could find in the book. Erotica is a very complex and profound album and some may regard it as Madonna's less commercial album. It also contains my third favorite Madonna song, Erotica of course.
After Erotica, no one was quite sure of what would Madonna release next, having engaged in a liberal war against catholics and sex haters. Surprisingly then came Bedtime Stories, a very pop-soft-ballad toned album that only years later we would be able to understand. It showed a transition between the challenging artist and the evolved artist that would come. Its best songs are Secret, Human Nature, Forbidden love, Bedtime Story and Take a Bow -who went on to win the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards.
Something to remember and Evita, were a compilation and soundtrack released after Erotica.
I'm not sure what Ray of Light has or what is it about that seventh album, but it stands as my favorite Madonna album. I'm not sure whether if it's her best or not, but I do know that if I could pick a Madonna album to go listen at a desert island, it would be Ray of Light with three bonus tracks (Live to tell, Erotica and Vogue). With Ray of Light Madonna begins to drop essential pop and ventures into techo, and boy what a way to venture that is. The songs are nothing anyone have heard before and especially considering it comes from Madonna. The sound is a combination of liberating, freedom, techno, dance, electronic and ambient emotions that somehow find themselves working in a perfect harmony. You can summarize Ray of Light in three simple words: Madonna reinvents herself. As you may have figured by now, my favorite Madonna song is of course Ray of Light.
I could listen to this song all day long
It's always tough for an artist to surpass a masterpiece and this was no excepcion for Madonna in the case of following Ray of Light. However she came really close of doing so with Music, which is an even more reinvented album. It still keeps techno and ambient but it also includes come country and folk elements in it. The entire record is sublime, but I'll give special mention to Music, What it feels like for a girl, Paradise and Don't tell me. Music was followed by another Greatest Hits compilation, GHV2.
American Life is perhaps the only album of Madonna I don't care of. There isn't much worth mentioning about it other than its successful single Hollywood. I guess Madonna was a bit busy being too British.
Then came Confessions on a Dance Floor and it totally redeemed Madonna. It's a great album that evidently pays tribute to dance music of the 70s (and sometimes 60s and 80s). ABBA members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus gave Madonna permission to use sampling from their hit "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" and reportedly said they wouldn't have given the chance to anyone else but Madonna, who incorporated in the single Hung up. Other highlights include Get together, Jump, Forbidden love and Push.
A couple of compilations and live concerts were released after Confessions, nothing really worth mentioning.
Hard Candy was released in 2008 as Madonna's eleventh album. It's more of a tribute / collaboration album, that features Madonna working with Justin Timberlake and Kanye West. It's an ok album, from which you can't say nothing bad, but it's also hard to give any sincere complements. It does include a great song which is Miles Away.
Finally we reach MDNA, Madonna's twelfth album released earlier this year. Since only a few months have passed, I think it is fair enough to let time fly, so we can make a more fair judgement on the quality of this one.... as in "I am still digesting MDNA"
So there you go, that's my tribute for her birthday. I hope you enjoyed it and it put you in a good mood to listen to Madonna all day long
.
Brought to you by www.vidacaracas.com
Suscribirse a:
Comentarios (Atom)