I happen to like Elton John but sometimes only in small doses. Some songs I LOVE (like the entirety of the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album) and some I loathe. My husband Perry however is a huge Elton John fan (need I be worried?!) so I have him to thank for introducing me to this album: Elton John Versus Pnau- Good Morning to the Night. It is a somewhat collaboration between the legend Elton John and Australian dance-music duo Pnau which you may be more familiar with their side project: Empire of the Sun. I had never heard of Pnau but Perry assured me that I sort of had as I happen to really like Empire of the Sun’s music and Pnau features a member from Empire of the Sun, Nick Littlemore, and also Peter Mayes, who co-wrote songs for EOTS’s debut album “Walking on a Dream”.

This album is essentially Elton John songs remixed into dance tracks by Pnau. It is a project that was initiated by Sir Elton himself and to be honest, I prefer some of the remixed sounds to the originals (sorry EJ)..but only some! It was released and peaked at number 1 in the UK charts in July 2012 so why am I reviewing it now? Because I can’t get enough of it, it is definitely worth a listen, and I want to share it with the world…just as Elton John is sharing the news of the newest addition to his family with the world (congrats Elton and David)! Plus, I wasn’t blogging back then…

My favorite tracks from this album are the title track “Good Morning to the Night”, “Sad”,  “Black Icy Stare”, “Phoenix”….ahhh who am I kidding? The whole album is great! The Elton John songs that are sampled (see below for a list) are primarily from the 1970s but the remixes provide a fresh and modern sound to Sir Elton’s classics. This is perfect for introducing the younger generation to Elton John’s sounds. At times, the underlying remixed sample is so different from the original that I can’t even hear what song is being sampled (For example the “Crazy Water” sample in “Sad”). However, the vocal samples do not stray too far from the original and it is evident which song is being sampled when the vocals are heard. It is a very creative project and although it is quite modern, it is bound to make some listeners nostalgic for the 1970s.

At only 8 tracks, and just over 28 minutes long, the album is rather short but I really have no problem playing it on repeat 4 or 5 times in a row as it is so upbeat. It may be a dance album but for me, the best time to blare this through the speakers is in the morning. It wakes me up and gets me going and best of all, it puts me in a good mood! Not a morning person? Try this album, it may help!

I am hoping that the collaboration between Elton John and Pnau will continue, but for now, this will keep me going! If you are not an Elton John fan, this may change your mind. It is worth a listen so check it out!

Album Tracks and Songs Sampled:
(Click on title to see/hear track on YouTube (where available) – links open in a new window/tab)

1. “Good Morning to the Night”
Featuring samples of:
“Philadelphia Freedom”
“Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”
“Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding”
“Tonight”
“Gulliver/It’s Hay Chewed”
“Sixty Years On”
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”

2. “Sad”
Featuring samples of:
“Nice and Slow”
“Crazy Water”
“Curtains”
“Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word”
“Friends”

3. “Black Icy Stare”
Featuring samples of:
“Cold Highway”
“You’re So Static”
“Solar Prestige a Gammon”

4. “Foreign Fields”
Featuring samples of:
“Pinky”
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
“High Flying Bird”
“Sweet Painted Lady”
“Cage the Songbird”
“Chameleon”

5. “Telegraph to the Afterlife”
Featuring samples of:
“Harmony”
“We All Fall in Love Sometimes”
“Funeral for a Friend”
“Sweet Painted Lady”
“I’ve Seen That Movie Too”
“Love Song”
“Indian Sunset”

6. “Phoenix”
Featuring samples of:
“Grey Seal”
“Are You Ready for Love”
“Bennie and the Jets”
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
“Where to Now St Peter?”
“Love Lies Bleeding”
“Border Song”
“Country Love Song”
“Three Way Love Affair”

7. “Karmatron”
Featuring samples of:
“Madman Across the Water”
“Funeral for a Friend”
“Stinker”
“The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)”
“Tonight”
“One Horse Town”
“Screw You (Young Man’s Blues)”

8. “Sixty”
Featuring samples of:
“Sixty Years On”
“Sixty Years On (Live in Australia)”
“Sixty Years On (17-11-70)”
“Indian Sunset”

Download this album on iTunes
        Buy this album on Amazon
(and check out all the great reviews on those links as well…see, I am not the only one loving this album!)

So last month, one of the radio stations they tune into at work was heavily repeating this one song…actually they heavily reapeat every song which usually makes me hate every song on the radio, but this one I didn’t mind so much. I found out it was called “Kemosabe” by a band called Everything Everything. At first, I thought it was Panic! At The Disco as it sounded like the lead singers of both bands had something similar in the sound of their voices (to me anyways) but now I don’t hear it so much,e specially with the wide vocal range of Everything Everything’s lead singer . When I got home from work the first day I heard it, I played it on repeat and got my husband loving it too.

They have a bit of an indie sound but as my husband says “they’ve got all sorts in there, It’s pretty difficult to pin them down!” I think what I really love about this song, and this band in general, is the range of the lead singer’s voice and the vocal harmonies, both of which are highlighted in the chorus. The vocal range of the lead singer doesn’t just change from phrase to phrase or verse to verse but also what sounds like from word to word at times which makes it sound really unique. It is now getting more airplay than ever and hitting the charts. It came on this morning when my husband was scraping the snow off the car windows and I put it on full blast and danced around while he pretended he didn’t know me…it then came on three times at work as well!

Turns out that Everything Everything has been around for quite some time..since 2007 to be exact! Singer and guitarist John Higgs met bassist Jeremy Pritchard at Salford University where they were both studying Popular Music and they started a band with drummer Michael Spearman and former lead guitarist Alex Niven who has since been replaced by Alex Robertshaw (there is some more repetition: Alex and Alex). They even released an album in 2010 called Man Alive, the first single being “Suffragette, Suffragette” (wow they sure like repetition). The album peaked at number 17 in the UK album charts! I had never even heard of them until last month, so this is quite impressive!

It is now 2013 and they seem to be hitting the mainstream and getting some credit. “Kemosabe” is actually the second single from their latest album Arc which was released just ten days ago. The first single from Arc, “Cough Cough” (there is that repetition again!), was released in August 2012 and this song is really something else. It’s got that fantastic range in the vocals again and it just has a unique sound in general, the instrumentation helping in this as well.

It looks as they are about to embark on a UK and Europe tour. Of course it begins on the day that my husband and I leave for our Asia backpacking trip (February 6th) and ends the day we fly back (April 27th). Are we not meant to see them live?? Hopefully they add some more dates. Either way, I have high hopes for these guys! I am just not so sure about all the repetitions though! What is that all about!?

Download Everything Everything’s music here

What do you think of this band?

The 90s are very nostalgic for me, as they are for many people. For me, it was the decade that I moved to Canada from Greece, learned English, started going to school, started to get into music and started to understand things (or think that I was anyways). Some memories from this decade have faded, as they do, but there are always certain songs that come on that bring me back to the 90s and the aforementioned memories in addition to others.

Of course the following songs/artists/albums did not reach every corner of the globe and may not be nostalgic to some, but hopefully the following lists will help add to your playlist if you are having a 90s party…or if you just want to be brought back to the 1990s  and to fanny packs, flannel checkered shirts, tearaway pants (or trousers for those in the UK), Screech and the rest of the Saved by the Bell cast, Macaulay Culkin, McDonald’s pizza (yeah whatever happened to that?!), WWF wrestling, the Macarena, nanos and tamagotchis, pogs, Dr. Martens, slap bracelets and other pop culture of this era.

These albums are ones that I remember EVERYBODY having! Do you agree?:
Green Day- Dookie
Alanis Morrisette – Jagged Little Pill
No Doubt – Tragic Kingdom
Nirvana- Nevermind

In addition, these are ones that I also recall being heavily played on my DISCMAN (remember those?!):
Offspring – Smash
Silverchair – Frogstomp
Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Siamese Dream

And then there are the following songs that just SCREAM the 90s…many of them (but not all) were one hit wonders…these are the ones that make me go “OH YEAH! I REMEMBER THAT SONG! I TOTALLY FORGOT IT EVEN EXISTED”…Click on some links, I bet you will have that same reaction to some!:
Blur – “Girls and Boys”
Enigma – “Return to Innocence” (I was obsessed with this one…in fact, I remember doing interpretive dance to it in the house….how embarrassing!)
Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “The Impression That I Get” (wow this one brings me way back!)
Ace of Base – “The Sign” , “All That She Wants”, and tons of others
No Mercy – “Where Do You Go”
Baz Luhrmann – “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen)”
Fool’s Garden – “Lemon Tree”
Blackstreet – “No Diggity”
C+C Music Factory – “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”
Chumbawamba – “Tubthumping” (wow ! believe it or not, I spelled both the artist and song title correctly, without googling!)
Shaggy – “Oh Carolina”
Soundgarden – “Black Hole Sun” (I remember despising this music video)
Eagle Eye Cherry – “Save Tonight”
Lit – “My Own Worst Enemy”
L.F.O – “Summer Girls”
Blind Melon – “No Rain”
Bone Thugs N Harmony – “Crossroads”
3T – “Anything”

Then you had your typical boybands and girlbands: Nsync, Backstreet Boys, Hanson, The Moffatts (which were my favourite, along with Hanson- hey at least they played their own instruments and wrote their own songs), Spice Girls, Take That, East 17, Five…

Then you’ve got a variety of others that had multiple songs on the airwaves like Oasis, Ma$e, Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, R.E.M, T.L.C, L.F.O, (any other initials I am missing?), The Cranberries, Brandy (Moesha!), Radiohead, The Fugees, Beastie Boys, Daft Punk, The Prodigy, Blink 182, Foo Fighters, Britney Spears, Weezer, Eminem, Fatboy Slim, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth, Barenaked Ladies, Natalie Imbruglia, Savage Garden, Weird Al, Sublime, Sugar Ray  etc…the list really does go on…

It is quite scary how the time flies! Some great music and artists to come out of this decade, and great to see that some are still going…..at the same time, not so great to see others haven’t quit yet…

These lists are by no means complete. It’s impossible to sum up a whole decade of music. Even as I write this now, I can think of songs, albums, and artists that are definitive of 90s music that I have not included. This is just to get your nostalgia flowing…

Are there any songs, albums or artists that SCREAM 1990s for you and that you would add to your playlist(s)?