American pop - music I want in 2009, Part 3

I can be strange this way.
I know that Taylor Swift was one of the US artists of 2008 but made no commercial in-roads in the UK. Her first UK single release, Love Song, is now being played on the radio here quite intensively. I like it and I'm not afraid to admit that; except to rue the fact that the album Fearless is not yet widely available in the UK. I'm usually not one quite so impatient, it is to be released in the UK in a month or so, but for once I'm glad to be so!

Last week temperance wasn't my strong suit so I ordered the US version on a whim. Now I'm very glad that I did - today I heard that the UK album version is going to be "sanitized" by the removal of the banjos and fiddles.
I know I can cope with the original, which some in the UK call the 'country' version. To add to that, unless you have been living under a stone for the last few years, you might have noticed these instruments often in UK and US alt/nu/anti-folk and actually in far more surprising situations.

Love Song has just been confirmed #2 in the UK single chart for the week ending 28 February, beaten only to to the top spot by Kelly Clarkson with the single My Life Would Suck Without You and two American solo artists at the top of the UK charts does much to restore the balance again but don't think the UK is going roll over and lie down. This is just as it should be!

Karaoke for big prizes!

While I'm always very happy to celebrate the success of British music I'm certainly not against music made in America, or indeed anywhere else for that matter.

Audition in Seattle, singing Celine Dion's 'Because I Love You'.

This is just such an awful pub karaoke scenario but it didn't matter in the end - Jordin Sparks went on from this to win American Idol 2007. I rather suspect that that her first single Tattoo, which is pure pop and available on download tomorrow, will in time reach the higher reaches of the UK chart. I think it fair to say that it is not so very different from the later power-pop output of the first American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, but I for one wouldn't hold that against her. It is as catchy as sin and I doubt that she'll ever need to wear jeans, t-shirt and a prison number on stage again, unless it is a matter of choice!
The next single, 'No Air', features Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown together on vocal duties.

'Want To Listen' Music 2007 - Part 5

The problem is that, much as I like wandering off on excursions into musical byways and backwaters, I can certainly still find and enjoy plenty of releases by artists well known who have recently released new material, or are shortly to do so.

Here is one of each of mine as of now...

Kelly Clarkson - My December

Yes I know; she was the first winner of 'American Idol' and I'm usually pretty unimpressed with such 'reality TV' artists but, amongst all the choss, there has to be a something that shines...

Kelly Clarkson turned out to be less the diamond, more a seam of bright coal, and the further she moves away from her 'Idol' beginnings the better she becomes. My December is another big shift from her 2005 album Breakaway - and one that is taxing her home fans. On the other hand it seems perfectly placed to take Europe, Japan and Australasia by storm - they are already no strangers to her music - because this time it's darker and more confessional.

KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic

The 200% girl (she's 100% Scottish, but also 50% Irish and 50% Chinese) returns with a second studio album, the follow up to her multi-platinum 2005 début 'Eye To The Telescope'. It is due for release on 10th September in the UK.
If you feel you might need to hear her play acoustically then that's actually "YOU NEED TO HEAR HER PLAY ACOUSTIC": it is an imperative, not a suggestion! You need 'KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza'; on the face of it this was a stop-gap release after the amazing success of 'Eye To The Telescope' and it consists of some re-workings, some covers (rather interestingly chosen) and various other acoustic odds and ends including hints for the new album... The real point to note is that, while it was recorded live on the island of Skye over a couple of days in 2006, it has a lot to recommend it and it is now available fairly cheaply from amazon.co.uk. It was originally available only on-line through her label and, while the packaging may not be the same, the recordings are apparently identical.