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Tag: James Ingram

  • Happy German Unity Day…

    Happy German Unity Day…

    I am old enough to remember when East and West Germany reunited. And now that I live in Germany again, happy German Unity Day!

    Maybe it seems odd to write about a political event on a blog that is supposed to be about music. But as of today, I’ve been living in Germany again for two months. I had forgotten that today is a public holiday in my current home. However, as a person who came of age in the 70s and 80s, I remember when Germany was divided. I was eighteen years old in 1990, when the two sides formally reunited. This holiday is not actually about the reunification of Germany, but rather it’s about the “unity” of Germany.

    I notice a bunch of my neighbors are home today, which is why it’s probably better if I write rather than work on any musical projects. And given that I remember when Germany was divided into the Eastern and Western portions, maybe it’s good to reflect. I bet I can tie this to music, too.


    A 1990 era news broadcast about Germany’s reunification…


    Germany’s lovely national anthem…

    Actually, as I sit here thinking about October 1990, I suddenly feel very old. At that time, I was a college freshman. The music that was popular in October 1990 didn’t appeal to me that much. I also went to college in a rural town in south central Virginia which really didn’t get very many radio stations. So I kind of quit listening to radio at that point, except what was played on our college station which had all of ten watts of power. I eventually became a disc jockey there, but not until the following year.

    But what I do remember about that time was that songs like “Close to You” by Maxi Priest were popular… Egad.


    Damn, this makes me feel old.

    I did like James Ingram’s “I Don’t Have The Heart”, which was popular around the same time period. I always thought it was a pretty ballad.


    Of course, now that I listen to this now with its many electronic keyboards, I’m reminded a little of the soundtrack for Saved By The Bell. But it also has nice strings, which gives it sort of a majestic air.

    Another popular song in October 1990 was Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby”, which ripped off a vastly superior collaboration between Queen and David Bowie.


    I never cared for this song, but I have to admit Vanilla Ice is sort of a guilty pleasure for me. He won me over when he was on The Surreal Life with Tammy Faye Messner and Erik Estrada.

    I’m not sure if the Germans were into these songs, but they were kind of the soundtrack for this American in October 1990. And October 1990 is when Germany officially started to celebrate its unity, although it’s not the day when the Berlin Wall started to crumble… That event occurred on November 9, 1989.


    This was very exciting news at the time…

    I think we need to make a point of visiting Berlin while we’re here. I have been to so many European capitals, but I have yet to see Berlin, other than the airport. Berlin’s airport, as I remember it, sucked… though I understand a new one is either in the works or already constructed.


    This report has footage as the Wall started to fall…

    My husband, Bill, was in Germany when this was going on. He was on his first Army tour here. I remember the last time we lived here, from 2007-09, we visited the Czech Republic a few times. He always marveled as we approached the border, remembering that he was here when that border was off limits and guarded by very large female Czech guards. It turned out the Czech Republic was happy to abandon communism and quick to bounce back. It remains one of our favorite European destinations for the beer alone. Hungary runs a close second, especially since there’s some great music coming from Hungary.

    David Hasselhoff was once much loved in Germany. He was at the Berlin Wall on New Year’s Eve in December 1989 and here he is, rocking out with revelers celebrating the new freedom for East Germans!


    I want to hassle the Hoff!

    Anyway, since it’s Friday and the weather is fine, I imagine we will celebrate too. Maybe we won’t party like the Germans on Unity Day, although it is pretty exciting to be here now that the whole country is united.

    Have a great weekend, y’all!

  • The New Music Files 1/27/09: The Boss is Back

    bruceWelcome to the first “big-name” release date of 2009. There’s something for everyone this week, whether you’re an indie snob, a meat and potatoes rock ‘n roller, or a nostalgic hip-hopper. Here’s a quick taste of what’s new and interesting.

    Bruce Springsteen Working on a Dream: There was apparently a wealth of good material that didn’t make the cut on Bruce’s last album, 2007’s Magic, so he and the E Street Band have cobbled the rest of those moments up, polished them a little, and voila. Working on a Dream is here. With Bruce’s usual intense character studies, anthemic rockers and political message, The Boss’s legion of followers is sure to be satiated.

    Franz Ferdinand Tonight!…Franz Ferdinand: The Scottish foursome scored a huge smash with “Take Me Out” a few years back, but their follow-up didn’t fare as well. Album #3 promises more of the dance/rock sound that brought the band fame, with a little bit more emphasis on the “dance” side of the equation. This could be the sleeper of this week’s releases.

    The Bird & The Bee Ray Guns are Just Not the Future: I discovered this mellow duo via their ethereal cover of The Bee Gees’ “How Deep is Your Love”, and picked up their self-titled debut as well as Please Clap Your Hands, the EP that contained said cover. Album #2 should blow them up, hopefully to the status of kindred spirits like Feist. Someone hook these folks up with an iPod commercial, stat.

    Hoobastank For(n)ever: Crappy title, generic band, quite probably the end of their career, unless lightning strikes again and the band comes up with another “The Reason”-type hit.

    Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes Eye Legacy: Why a Left Eye solo album is being released seven years after her death is totally beyond me, especially considering her solo debut (which was released overseas but canned by her label here in the States) was widely available as an import (hell, I own it…). Even more galling is the fact that this album contains plugged-in guest verses from the likes of Missy Elliott, Chamillionaire and Bobby Valentino. This is one I’d definitely say stay away from, or at least tread carefully.

    Elsewhere, Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante releases his latest solo album, The Empyrean, which features a guest shot by bandmate Flea. James Ingram tries his hand with gospel on Stand (In the Light), a collection of spiritual songs. Jayhawks frontmen Mark Olson & Gary Louris team up for Ready for the Flood, while my man Duncan Sheik continues his exploration of theater with Whisper House. And for those of you who are up for hearing Steve Martin play and sing, you might wanna check out The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, which is sure to be more exciting than “The Pink Panther 2”.

    On the reissue/compilation tip: Grammy Nominees 2009 arrives in stores just a little under 2 weeks before the big show, and Motown celebrates Valentine’s Day with Love Songs collections from The Commodores, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight and the Pips and The Jackson 5. Speaking of the J5, the albums Destiny and Triumph are being remastered (finally!) and re-released, from their later days as The Jacksons. Six Alan Parsons albums also get the remaster/reissue treatment, while Kylie Minogue and Rihanna both come out with remix albums. Finally, in the “we never asked for this” column, there’s a 20th Anniversary Special Edition of…Tone Loc‘s Loc-ed After Dark, for those of you (all five of you) who care to delve beyond Wild Thing and Funky Cold Medina.

    Happy shopping, folks. Get your complete list of this week’s releases here.

  • Infatueighties: “Yah Mo B There”

    Chances are, if you were anywhere near a radio station from roughly 1980-1987, within thirty minutes you’d hear something from either James Ingram or Michael McDonald. The two Midwestern guys (Ingram was from Akron, OH while McDonald repped St. Louis) were very fond of the duet and/or the background support vocal, and their list of collaborators reads like a laundry list of Eighties hitmakers: Michael Jackson, Shalamar, Kenny Loggins, Donna Summer, Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, Nicolette Larson, Linda Ronstadt, Patti Austin, Anita Baker and Toto, just to name a few. It was inevitable that the two would eventually collaborate.

     

    Actually, it wasn’t that eventual. “Yah Mo B There” was the second single from Ingram’s debut solo album “It’s Your Night”. Of course, Ingram was already a Grammy winning success story at that point, due to “Just Once” and “One Hundred Ways”, his featured spots on Quincy Jones’ “The Dude” album. McDonald was only a year or so removed from his lead singer’s spot in the Doobie Brothers and had only released his own debut solo album a few months before. The result was a smash: “Yah Mo B There” reached the Top 15 on the pop charts, Top 5 R&B, and won the pair a Grammy for “Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group”. It was Ingram’s third Grammy as a solo artist, McDonald’s second.

    The song itself screams “Eighties”, with a hypnotic, synthesized beat. Rod Temperton, the former Heatwave member who wrote many of The King of Pop’s biggest hits, co-penned this track, while the legendary Quincy Jones produced.  Both men were at this time riding high off the success of “Thriller” (in which Ingram was also a participant, having co-written “P.Y.T”. Thematically, it comes thisclose to being gospel. “Yah”, of course, being shorthand for “Yahweh”. Ingram purposefully fudged with the spelling of the title phrase so as not to scare off pop listeners from it’s fairly explicity spiritual message.

    One person they definitely didn’t scare off was me. Ingram and McDonald both give phenomenal performances, full of passion. They’ve not always given themselves the best material, but they scored here. Over twenty years later, this song still moves me. Not to sermonize at all, but even as an occasionally lapsed Catholic (maybe even more because of that) this song’s message resonates with me especially when I’m going through dark patches. Both the song and it’s video make clear that there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

    Although this video version is of a slightly inferior remix (what’s up with the percussion tracks?), the power of the song’s message rings as clear as the voices that sing it. Well, maybe those voices aren’t so clear. I can never figure out what the men are singing after they vocalize the title (folks say it’s “up and over”, but it sure doesn’t sound like it)