Friday, March 21, 2008

Donna's new song -- it's on fire!!



Fans of Donna Summer are anxiously awaiting her new album, entitled "Crayons", later this spring. It's hard to believe, but it's been 17 years since Donna released an album proper (unless you count her excellent Christmas album from 1994). She's released a few singles in the interim, but not a full-length album, so you can understand her fans' anxiousness about her new project.

"I'm a Fire" is the first single from Donna's new album, and it's a great song which will undoubtedly be huge in clubs. Thankfully, Donna is not going the route of other singers of her age and releasing a - yawn - covers album. She's sticking to what she does best - dance music. After all, she is the Queen of Disco, and she's a serious contender for Queen of Dance music if it were not for Madonna. While music fans are buzzing about the upcoming releases of Madonna and Mariah Carey's new albums, I'm equally excited about Donna's. Having seen her in concert two years ago at Casino Rama, the almost-60-year-old diva still has those powerful pipes (and they sound better than ever on "I'm A Fire"). While most of her contemporaries have lost their vocal power, Donna can still hit those notes with ease. In fact, I think she sounds better than she did 30 years ago, and I attribute that to clean living and proper vocal training.

So, when "Crayons" comes out on May 20th, be sure to pick it up. And if Donna comes to your area, be sure to see her live. She's worth it!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

"Release Me" from this Guilty Pleasure!





I don't care what anyone says... I love Wilson Phillips' "Release Me". I was a huge fan of the female trio in the early '90s. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing their hits "Hold On", "Impulsive" and "You're in Love". But my favourite WP song has to be "Release Me", their second single. It hit number one on the Billboard Pop charts during their hot streak of chart hits. Say what you will about WP, but on their first album, they had beautiful harmonies even if the songs were a little cheesy. You could sing along with their music, and their songs actually had melodies!! (Remember them??) I think this is their best song because they really let go and SANG on this song with gusto! I never get tired of this song. Almost 20 years later, it's still a great guilty pleasure!