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Tag: christopher cross

  • New Music In Stores and Online10/7/08: The Streets, Sarah McLachlan, Oasis & More!!!

    Obviously I can’t have a record buying bonanza every week, otherwise I’d go broke. Definitely not a good look in today’s economy. So, this week will mark something of a vacation for me, with only one release that I’m nutso about. Here’s this week’s lineup of releases.

    Mike Skinner AKA The Streets. Photo by "realname".

    The Streets “Everything is Borrowed”:
    Folks on these shores (most of ’em) don’t get Mike Skinner or his style of music. Considering I didn’t think Amy Winehouse would cross over, I think Skinner is long overdue for some American love. “Everything is Borrowed” is his fourth, and reportedly the last album he is releasing under the Streets moniker. Expect more personal raps spiced with enough British slang that you might have to IM your best friend from London to ask “what the hell is he talking about here?”

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  • Out There!- “Swept Away” by Christopher Cross

    Christopher Cross was on top of the musical spectrum in 1980 upon the release of his self-titled debut album which produced four Top 20 Singles (Ride Like The Wind, Sailing, Never Be The Same, and Say You’ll Be Mine). For my fellow trivia buffs out there, did you know there is only one person to ever in the sixty something year history of the Grammys to win the Grand Slam for Best New Artist, Song Of The Year, Album of the Year and Record Of The Year? Yep, it’s our boy Christopher Cross who won album of the year for his self-titled debut as well as Song and Record of The Year for his hit single “Sailing”. And it didn’t stop there as one year later in 1981, he also would claim an Academy Award and Golden Globe for his performance of Arthur’s Theme (It’s The Best That You Can Do) from the classic Dudley Moore move. “When you get caught between the moon and New York City!” Now you know what I’m talking about. Did you also know his name wasn’t really Christopher Cross? I was shocked upon researching for this column that his real name was Chris Geppert. Makes sense that he changed it. Anyway….

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  • Beatles Memory Battered

    I know better, you shoulda known better and Todd Rundgren sho’nuff knows better.

    Entering our National Park system tonight at DC’s Wolf Trap (if you pay taxes in the US, you’re a part-owner), is a monstrosity of an idea:  It Was Forty Years Ago Today.  The Beatles tribute concert is on national tour and features Rundgren, Foreigner’s Lou Gramm, Denny Laine, Christopher Cross, and Bo Bice.

    Where to begin?

    The Beatles landing in New York in 1964
    The Beatles landing in New York in 1964

    Rundgren is a public Beatlemaniac whose music is often infused with the Fab Four. By infused, I mean influenced by, not ripped off like he was a lost Gallagher brother prepping a new Oasis album.  He knew better than to tackle 1967’s (yes, that’s 41 years) Sgt. Pepper.  He must have known that mogul Robert Stigwood tried to do the same thing twenty years ago with artists actually on the charts and horribly failed despite Marurice White with EW&F creating the definitive version of Got To Get You Into My Life.

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