Nina Simone has died. She will be missed so very much. With the exception of Billie Holiday, no other jazz singer ever approached such heights. "Little Girl Blue" is one of the marvels of the 20th Century: so very strange, sad, and small.
rest in peace.
I was in a car the other day (which is a rare occurrence for me), and lo-and-behold, the new Blur single came onto the radio. I had listened to Think Tank, which I didn't like much, but I was loathe to discover that the most atrocious song on the record - "Crazy Beat" - was the one that the label had selected as lead single. From the squelching vocoded chorus to the pedestrian indie-in-the-club verses, yikes! I don't know what I would have chosen as fit-for-radio, but it certainly wouldn't be that monster. It's too bad that my favourites on the album - "Sweet Song" and "Out of Time" - are too mellow to be chart-toppers. "Out of Time" spreads sad-sack Albarn vocals over a muted Beck-like guitarline. I particularly like the weird sounds and conversation in the background. "Sweet Song," meanwhile, is simply pretty. Slightly sad - felt piano notes and soothing oohs - but still many steps away from Sarah McLachlan kitsch. Very much like The Reindeer Section or Archer Prewitt or something. And Blur makes it sound so easy.