Ultimate Music Guide

经过了一个月左右的修整，我想是回来的时候了，错过了太多音乐的介绍，其实本身我还在补习一个月之前的专辑和单曲，要不是时间比较紧张，有几张专辑我还是愿意多听几遍的。接下来的blog可能会有变化，具体是什么样的变化我现在自己都很难说清楚，正所谓穿到桥头自然直。我也希望能够把之前缺少的很多音乐补起来，至少也是提一下，对于那些特别有意义的专辑还得大力推荐。

PS: 感谢大家的支持

我想这样的一个暂停公告早就应该贴出来了，已经有差不多一个月没有什么更新了，试了几次，最终还是没有能够坚持下次，太多的个人问题影响到了网站的运作，我深感歉意，当然我也在想网站该如何进行下去，现在的模式也许很多人都会提出异议。

明天我要去欧洲出差了，阿姆斯特丹是第一站，与其说是工作，不如说是去散散心，忘记一些东西，让整个人不要总是处于一种非常不健康的状态下，回来之后希望能够用心工作。我会在七月中旬回到中国，网站应该是之后的事情了。人生有太多不能控制的周折了，这才是人生吧。

Tori Amos - American Doll Posse(***)
Tori Amos是那种只要推出一张专辑都会得到许多人喜欢的歌手，哪怕是一张极为糟糕的专辑，对我来说，她的音乐生涯到了Professional Widow之后就可以算是结束了，那些喜欢Tori Amos的歌迷有很多是在标榜自己独特的欣赏口味，的确Tori Amos是某些人品味的代表，这也就大大削弱了Tori Amos作为音乐人的价值，她的新专辑American Doll Posse是在2005年推出的The Beekeeper之后有一张全新大碟，如果你问我我的想法，那么你是问错人的，我永远不会说是Tori Amos的歌迷，而且这张专辑在很大程度上只是一直中庸的专辑，如果说不算差的话。
Tori Amos - Big Wheel (mp3)


Barbra Streisand - Streisand: Live In Concert (***)
我不会把Barbra Streisand在2006年举行的这场演唱会称为金曲演唱会，因为她并没有选择一些非常著名的歌曲，而是选择了很多音乐剧中的音乐，但这丝毫影响不到她的票房，事实上她在去年举行的这场巡回演出创下了非常不错的成绩，作为音乐圈中一代歌手，Barbra Streisand总能够完美了体现一首歌曲的价值，你可以在专辑中听到她对台下观众的讲话，也可以听到她和新生代团体Il Divo的合唱，这样新旧的结合虽然有些讨巧，却也是歌迷喜欢的。
Barbra Streisand with Il Divo - The Music Of The Night (mp3)


Björk - Volta (****)
有人曾经在American Idol的海选中演唱过Björk的歌曲，我还觉得真的还可以，不过最后还是没有能够进入决赛，看来有些东西我们只需要一个。就在最近的Saturday Night Live中，Björk现场演绎了她的新作Earth Intruders，不喜欢她那是的表演，但是我却很喜欢她的新专辑，上一张的无乐器演奏的专辑虽然突破，但是我还是觉得正常一点的Björk我更加喜欢，虽然她好像从来就没有正常过，Volta远不是她最强势的一张专辑，但是几年之后的她依然能给人很多惊喜。
Björk - Earth Intruders (mp3)


Groove Armada - Soundboy Rock (***)
Groove Armada在他们精选之后的第一张大碟，值得注意一下，历史已经非常久远的Groove Armada推出的这张专辑带有一些曾经的音乐风格，从garage r&b到有些另类的电子表现。最让人注意到的是一首题为Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control)，正值Mutya的单曲大放异彩的时候，这首歌曲让人越来越喜欢Mutya，这首歌曲同样将收入在她的单飞专辑中，一张hiphop般的电子专辑，许多艺人为专辑献上了自己的嗓音，让人想起了之前Mark Ronson的新专辑。
Groove Armada - Get Down (mp3)
Groove Armada - Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control) (mp3)


Manic Street Preachers - Send Away the Tigers (****)
在Nicky Wire和James Dean Bradfield各自推出独唱专辑之后，Manic Street Preachers终于推出了让人期待的第八张录音室专辑，都说他们的上两张专辑比较让人失望，但这一张觉得了得到了歌迷和评论的一致好评，我也才凑个热闹，说说这张专辑的好话吧，在最近刚刚听过他们的精选辑之后，这张新专辑我觉得可以和他们鼎盛时期的作品相提并论，主打歌曲Your Love Alone Is Not Enough唯一缺少的就是把The Cardigans的主唱Nina Persson的名字加上去，第二首不错的单曲Autumn Song不知道是不是真的会在夏天发行，曲风有些像Oasis的感觉。
Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone Is Not Enough (mp3)
Manic Street Preachers - Autumn Song (mp3)

The Tiny Dancers - Free School Milk (*****)
让我们用这支英国进来涌现出的最得力的团体来重新开启我的blog吧，定居于英国Sheffield的The Tiny Dancer是今年有一支让我能够感到生活还是有点意思的团体，他们的那些有些folk，有些乡村的歌曲不光只有人们通常认为的那种忧郁的感觉，反而是那种轻快地，不失优雅的有些嬉皮的音乐，他们的现场表演更是被形容为有活力的，他们的第一首单曲I Will Wait For You就已经相当地成功，他们刚刚发行了第二张单曲Hannah, We Know，首张专辑Free School Milk也即将发行，不过错过其中的任何一首歌曲，你也不想错过他们的任何一首歌曲，特别是我最喜欢的Baby Love。
The Tiny Dancers - I Will Wait For You (mp3)
The Tiny Dancers - Hannah, We Know (mp3)

Just for fun this weekend I took a look back at the singles chart for this week exactly five years ago. The chart for week ending June 2nd 2002 saw six new entries inside the Top 20 alone. One single was climbing, four of them were former Number One hits and all but two of those singles were four weeks old or less. Back in the modern day it is hard to believe it is a chart of the same market. Just four of the Top 20 songs are "new" with only one of them actually making a chart debut. Of the Top 20 hits, no less than 8 of them have been on the chart for two months or more and there are just two former Number One hits floating around on the chart. That is a measure of how much online sales have transformed the market in what is really a blink of an eye in historical terms.

1 ~ 1 ~ UMBRELLA ~ RIHANNA FT JAY-Z ~ DEF JAM ~ 1735491 ~ 2
2 ~ 2 ~ MAKES ME WONDER ~ MAROON 5 ~ A&M/OCTONE ~ 1734956 ~ 3
3 ~ 3 ~ BEAUTIFUL LIAR ~ BEYONCE & SHAKIRA ~ COLUMBIA ~ 88697093072 ~ 8
5 ~ 4 ~ HERE (IN YOUR ARMS) ~ HELLOGOODBYE ~ DRIVE THRU ~ 88697098472 ~ 4
6 ~ 5 ~ CUPID'S CHOKEHOLD ~ GYM CLASS HEROES ~ DECAYDANCE/FUELED BY ~ AT0271CD ~ 8
7 ~ 6 ~ DON'T MATTER ~ AKON ~ UNIVERSAL ~ CATCO913588 ~ 10
4 ~ 7 ~ SIGNAL FIRE ~ SNOW PATROL ~ FICTION ~ 1734375 ~ 4
9 ~ 8 ~ GIVE IT TO ME ~ TIMBALAND/FURTADO/TIMBERLAKE ~ INTERSCOPE ~ 1732199 ~ 9
11 ~ 9 ~ REAL GIRL ~ MUTYA BUENA ~ 4TH & BROADWAY ~ 1734395 ~ 2
10 ~ 10 ~ SHINE ~ BOOTY LUV ~ HED KANDI ~ HK33CDS ~ 3

Now let's be honest. In a straight up race between a brand new physical release from an incredibly popular band which had already made the Top 20 on two days of download sales, and the download-only release from an R&B artist who in spite of her success so far is still something of a niche taste, who would you expect to win?

## ~ 1 ~ UMBRELLA ~ RIHANNA FT JAY-Z ~ DEF JAM ~ CATCO125347336 ~ 1
19 ~ 2 ~ MAKES ME WONDER ~ MAROON 5 ~ A&M/OCTONE ~ 1734956 ~ 2
2 ~ 3 ~ BEAUTIFUL LIAR ~ BEYONCE & SHAKIRA ~ COLUMBIA ~ 88697093072 ~ 7
17 ~ 4 ~ SIGNAL FIRE ~ SNOW PATROL ~ FICTION ~ 1734375 ~ 3
11 ~ 5 ~ HERE (IN YOUR ARMS) ~ HELLOGOODBYE ~ DRIVE THRU ~ 88697098472 ~ 3
4 ~ 6 ~ CUPID'S CHOKEHOLD ~ GYM CLASS HEROES ~ DECAYDANCE/FUELED BY ~ AT0271CD ~ 7
3 ~ 7 ~ DON'T MATTER ~ AKON ~ UNIVERSAL ~ CATCO913588 ~ 9
5 ~ 8 ~ FLYING THE FLAG (FOR YOU) ~ SCOOCH ~ WARNER BROS ~ WEA421CD ~ 6
7 ~ 9 ~ GIVE IT TO ME ~ TIMBALAND/FURTADO/TIMBERLAKE ~ INTERSCOPE ~ 1732199 ~ 8
25 ~ 10 ~ SHINE ~ BOOTY LUV ~ HED KANDI ~ HK33CDS ~ 2

SEPTEMBER TO MAY ROMANCE: Does September of last year seem like a long time ago? In chart terms, it's almost an eternity. But for those of you who can recall last fall, the week of Sept. 16, 2006 was when Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" (Arista) debuted on the Hot 100. Now in its 38th week on the tally, "Cheats" rewrites chart history as it has taken the longest trip of any song into the top 10.

Before "Before," the song that took the longest to reach the top 10 was Creed's "Higher," which took 36 weeks (in two chart runs) to achieve top 10 status. "Higher" moved into the top 10 the week of July 8, 2000.

"Cheats" rises 11-8 based on pop airplay. It is the first single by a female country artist to reach No. 1 on Hot Country Songs and then break into the top 10 of the Hot 100 since Faith Hill's "The Way You Love Me" peaked at No. 6 in January 2001.

This is Underwood's third top 10 hit on the Hot 100. She spent one week in pole position in July 2005 with "Inside Your Heaven," the song she performed on the fourth season finale of "American Idol." Three weeks ago she debuted and peaked at No. 6 with her cover of the Pretenders' "I'll Stand By You" (Fremantle), from the special charity edition of "Idol."

The triumph of "Cheats" coincides with the removal of the follow-up, "Wasted," from Hot Country Songs. "Wasted" enters the country recurrent list at No. 1, giving the "Idol" franchise its 123rd chart-topper, counting all national, domestic charts compiled by the Billboard Information Group.