No need to cuss, Del Rey's album elevates

Supersized: Lana Del Rey appears as a giant in the video for Doin' Time.
The video is part homage to Attack of the 50ft Woman.

Don't go looking for wall-to-wall sweetness and light on Lana Del Rey's latest album, because you won't find it.

Yes, she is one of the most talented and significant singer-songwriters of her generation, and her star continues to rise with increasingly accomplished work. She's written and recorded achingly beautiful songs, some are on her latest release - one of the best albums of the year. And I will speak about these in a moment.

However, on first listening to Norman F***** Rockwell, which was released in September, I felt she'd overplayed the cussing. The title track is one of five from 14 that contain choice language. That's excessive in a world where the impact of f-bombs has been hugely diluted through overuse.

Is cussing a sign of the times? I was in an airport terminal bookstore recently and encountered multiple shelves of new releases featuring bold titles yelling things like "Get Your S*** Together" and "Stop F****** up in Life." As always, I studiously ignored them.

But back to Del Rey. On repeated listens I've come to enjoy all the tracks on NFR (as it was craftily titled in the store where I bought it). However, she would have been better served limiting the cuss-word impact. The track where the strong language works best is Hope is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have - but I Have It, which includes a nod to Sylvia Plath. The mood and content is enhanced by the fearless expression of the lyrics.

Now for the other standout songs to which I alluded. The bulk are in the second-half of the album, although earlier on is Doin' Time, a rare cover version. It suits Del Rey's treatment, and presents her in a switched-up tempo and vocalisation that breaks away from much of the surrounding songs. An imaginative accompanying video for the song pays homage to the cult 1950s movie Attack of the 50ft Woman, and features a giant Del Rey walking through the streets of Los Angeles.

California is a song of relationship and longing, and an example of Del Rey's ability to evoke a sense of place and time, while The Next Best American Record is dreamy and timeless, with sound motifs that harken to the delightfully elegant Love from 2017's Lust for Life.

Another interesting song is Happiness is a Butterfly. You try to catch happiness, but like a butterfly it can elude.

But the best track of the album, that would be The Greatest. It has a haunting, melancholy appeal. The subdued feel nails the sentiments of lyrics such as: the culture is lit ... if this is it, I'm signing off ... the greatest loss of them all. The video for this track is also remarkable.

Norman F***** Rockwell is a new high point for Del Rey, with plenty to elevate the spirit. That said, I sense her best is yet to come.

Video of The Greatest:

Garfunkel as artful as ever

Art Garfunkel was a mesmorising presence from the moment he took to the stage at the Civic Arts Plaza, in Thousand Oaks, California. His voice belied his 75 years and the forced multi-year hiatus from singing caused by vocal chord problems that prematurely curtailed the most recent Simon & Garfunkel reunion tour.

On Sunday evening it was as though he had never been away. His vocal dexterity seemingly boundless, as it had been half-a-century ago when the songs of Simon & Garfunkel spanned the world, searing into the collective consciousness of those who heard them in the moment, and those who came across them in later years.

That one of the greatest purveyors of popular music can still recreate the nuances of tone and texture that shaped classics such as The Boxer, The Sound of Silence, and Bridge Over Troubled Waters, is a joy.

Yes, the singing showed a degree of fragility, as would be expected from a performer who turns 76 this year. Garfunkel warned he would not be attempting the higher notes at the finale of Troubled Waters, but he and his two backing musicians had come up with an abridged version. "It's a work in progress," said Garfunkel. The standing ovation that followed the song was testament to its effectiveness.

It was a pared-back show, with Garfunkel singing, acoustic guitar by Tab Laven, and piano and keyboards by Dave Mackay. The intimate show was enriched by Garfunkel sprinkling in words of prose and poetry from his upcoming autobiography, to be released this September.

He took us to days gone by, not only the immediate pre-fame years as he and Simon busked around England and Paris, but to his childhood in Queens, New York. However, it was the songs that most magically transported the audience into their own precious memory moments. Scarborough Fair was an early gem for the evening, as was The Sound of Silence, which Garfunkel introduced as "the song that changed my whole life".

Garfunkel spoke of his walking journeys across the US and Europe. While on the latter trek he encountered cows in a field. The animals gathered around as he sang to them and, in their widening eyes, he sensed an inter-species connection through song. The anecdote led into his seminal solo hit, Bright Eyes, a worldwide smash except in the US, where the record company decided not to release it as it did not believe it would fit with the musical scene of 1979.

During the evening, Garfunkel alluded to the magic of connection through song between a performer and audience. He said it was at an early age that he realised he had a gift for singing when he saw how deep feelings, and even tears, were evoked in listeners. He decided to stick with singing and the world was enriched as a result, through the classics of Simon & Garfunkel, and his later solo work including 99 Miles to LA and Bright Eyes.

At the Thousand Oaks concert, Garfunkel's vocals were rich and gently nuanced. In the simplicity of the acoustic show his voice soared freely, taking the audience on a journey along an incredible half-century of music and songs.

I never thought I'd have the opportunity to attend a concert by Garfunkel. So it was by fortunate chance that Heather and I happened to be staying a few miles down the road from the venue, and that we saw a mention in a local newspaper that Garfunkel was due to put on a solo show. It was an evening to savour, and the songs reverberated with crystal clarity in my mind at daybreak each morning as I ran through the canyon trails.

BELOW: A recording of Garfunkel singing Bridge Over Troubled Waters, not at Thousand Oaks, but in New York City a few weeks earlier.

Love the song #1: Stronger - Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson in a video dance scene for 'Stronger'. Guitarist Cory Churko is just over her shoulder

This is the first in an occasional series where I'll highlight a song that particularly inspires, uplifts or simply grabs me. The tunes will appear in no particular order.

First up is Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) by Kelly Clarkson. Although it was released five years ago, I only recently came across it for the first time when, by chance, I heard a snippet of it being played as incidental background music.

Kelly Clarkson was the first winner of the American Idol TV talent show in 2002, and despite some obstacles along the way she went on to forge herself a very successful career,

Stronger is an infectious, rock-anthem whirlwind. Clarkson's vocal delivery captures the empowering essence of the song's theme. Yes, the lyrics don't go deep, but then they don't have to. The message is simple, pretty much universally understood, and delivered with a stomping, punchy verve.

The song features some great guitar playing by Cory Churko, who is a mainstay of Clarkson's band and is also a key figure in Shania Twain's current backing band. Churko can be seen in the official video, both as a member of the band and in the flash mob dance scene led by Clarkson.

The video is as uplifting and fun as the song, with some great choreography for the aforementioned flash mob dance scene, which includes a few light-hearted kung fu fighting moves from Clarkson. The video is interspersed with clips submitted by fans doing their own dance interpretations of the song. Both as a song and video, Stronger is a feel-good wonder.

Here is the video:

Yoko's 'Thin Ice' beautifully revisited

In the video Yoko Ono walks through the rainy streets of New York in 1981

"And when our hearts return to ashes, it'll be just a story ...."

So sings Yoko Ono in Walking on Thin Ice, an extraordinary song that continues to works its magic in new ways some 36 years after it was recorded.

The latest orchestral remix by New York-based DJ Danny Tenaglia lays the song bare in a beautiful manner.

An accompanying short video using footage from 1981 further highlights the evocative nature of the track, and captures the absence in Ono's life following to death of her husband John Lennon a few months earlier.

The video of Ono walking alone through a grey, rainy day in New York City in 1981, shows a virtually deserted and unglamourous looking Times Square followed by contemplative images of Ono back at her apartment in The Dakota building, and sitting on a bench in Central Park where she and Lennon once took walks together.

Brooklyn-born Tenaglia has remixed this song before, taking it to the No.1 spot on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart in 2003 and 2013. However, there is nothing dance-clubby about Walking on Thin Ice (Maestro Version) 2016. Instead, Tenaglia has delivered a hauntingly beautiful orchestral-led version that perfectly complements Ono's poignant lyrics.

In a previous blog I wrote about how this was the track Ono and Lennon were working on at the Record Plant recording studio on December 8, 1980. Lennon had said to Ono he was certain she had just recorded her first number one hit.

Walking on Thin Ice twice reached the Top 40 in the UK official record charts. The original recording did so in 1981, and Tenaglia's first remix matched that achievement in 2003.

Over the years there have been numerous re-recordings of the song by a variety of artists, together with remixes of the original track by a host of producers and DJs, including Tenaglia's two dance playlist topping versions. However, this 2016 mix adds a new dimension to enhance the track's timelessness.


Walking on Thin Ice (Maestro Version) 2016 appears on Ono's new album Yes, I'm a Witch Too. 

Rainy day song in a bus shelter

A setlist from a Suzanne Vega concert in 2013, featuring her most famous hits Luka and Tom's Diner

Today wasn't a rainy day, but there have been plenty in the past month. On one of the wettest I found myself ducking in and out of bus shelters as I made my way to work, because with seven miles to cover on a moped scooter, trying to ride through torrential cloudbursts was not advisable.

When it rains in Bermuda it is common to see moped and bike riders seeking cover in roadside bus shelters, sometimes taking their bike with them, to get out of the worst of the weather and wait for a break before continuing their journey.

This day was an exceptionally unpleasant one, with unpredictable squalls sending pummeling rain sweeping across the island at almost five-minute intervals. If you were riding a bike it was nigh on impossible to get anywhere without being drenched.

And so it was that I found myself dashing to a stone-built bus shelter to sit out the next blast of rain, my banana-yellow rain suit dripping and my bike parked on the pavement next to the shelter. Moments later I was joined by another rider. He was heading in the opposite direction and was just as soggy.

We exchanged greetings and commented on how the rain was ensuring it would take three-times as long for us to get where we were going. We stood and watched the world around us being washed, then the other rider started to hum to himself. It was a tune I instantly recognised - Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner.

The song first appeared as an a cappella track on Vega's 1987 album Solitude Standing. Its catchy melody spanned the world after British dance music duo DNA remixed the track in 1990 and created a global smash hit.

Hearing the song being hummed unexpectedly on that rainy morning transported me back to the summer of 1987 when I first heard it and soon afterwards attended a performance by Vega at the small outdoor amphitheatre in London's Regent's Park.

In my younger days I listened to a fairly wide spectrum of music. Today, there are only four contemporary - and still active - musical artists that I follow closely. Suzanne Vega is one of them.

I've been fortunate to see her in concert at various stages of her career, and to have collected each of her albums as they have been released. My life has been enriched as a result.

Standing in a stone-walled bus shelter with rain clattering all around, it was uplifting to hear a stranger hum the refrain of Tom's Diner. Great tunes take on a life of their own, and you never know where you'll encounter a sweet musical memory.

The rain stopped and we got on our bikes and rode off in opposite directions. I now had Tom's Diner echoing in my mind as I headed for work where at least one of my colleague has the "do do do do" part of Tom's Diner set as a cell phone ringtone.

Below is a video of Suzanne Vega performing the original a cappella version of Tom's Diner. You can hear the more widely known DNA remix of the track, which starts with the 'do do do do' refrain, here