Bloggerhythms

In my humble opinion 2008 was a lean year for music and it was tough compiling a good list of my favorite CDs. Long time and reliable stalwarts issued the cream of the crop. So with reservations, and hope that 2009 is artistically more rewarding, here are Bloggerhythms top five CDs of 2008. 1. Shelby Lynne - Just a Little Lovin' Four of Ms. Lynne's CDs released since 2000 have landed in my top five of the year and the remaining one needs to be in your CD collection too. Lynne's 2008 tribute to Dusty Springfield is also a tribute to the singer-songwriter's talents because this disc proves she can cover other people's work just as easily as she can write and record her own material. This music is head and shoulders above everything else I heard this year. 2. She & Him - Volume One Actress Zooey Deschanel proves that music may actually be where her true talents lie. On Volume One Deschanel (She) teamed up with singer-songrwriter M. Ward (Him) and issued a t...

Greg Lake, the guitarist and singer for early 70s prog-rockers Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, recorded his one and only hit single for Christmas 1975. The song, "I Believe in Father Christmas," has always been one of my holiday favorites. It's true that "I Believe in Father Christmas" is as pretentious as prog-rock can possibly be. The far superior 45 RPM version of the song uses over a hundred musicians and singers, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The album version, without the orchestra and chorus, appeared later on ELP's 1977 album Works, Volume 2 . If you like soft-rock and acoustic music you may prefer the LP version. If you're like me, you'll revel in the massive wall of sound that Lake produced for the single. The instrumental theme that opens and closes the song, and also appears in between the verses, is actually a fine piece of classical music composed by Russian Sergei Prokofiev who is probably best known for composing "...

Even if you're not a big fan of World Music you have to admit that nobody can put a compilation together better than Putumayo . The love, care, and research the organization works into each of their CDs is superb, right down to the cover art and liner notes. Their new release, A Jazz & Blues Christmas , is no exception. This brief ten song disc is only slightly longer than thirty-three minutes but its richness will leave jazz and blues fans in anything other than a state of blues. In their detailed liner notes Putumayo says that, "This holiday collection exemplifies the close relationship between jazz and blues. Both genres developed side by side and most of these artists go from one to the other seamlessly." The artists Putumayo blends together on the disc include some of the giants of music, including Ray Charles, jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis, Charles Brown, and Riley B. King and his long-necked girlfriend who goes by the name of Lucille. Many unknown artist...

Every Christmas 3,500 Hallmark Gold Crown stores release the greeting card giant's annual holiday CD that is sold exclusively in their shops. Each disc sells for $7.95 with the purchase of three Hallmark greeting cards or $10.95 if you buy one without cards. Hallmark CDs are not throw away efforts. Their recent seasonal CDs by George Strait and James Taylor were certified platinum within a month of release while discs by Michael McDonald and Barry Manilow went gold. All are limited editions even though you can often find them after Christmas on Amazon . This year the honors go to rocker Sheryl Crow. Home For Christmas is a ten song CD that shows Crow to be in a more subdued mood than usual and, while still technically a rock record, the disc is more blues and R&B oriented than most of her other work. Crow opens the disc with the not often recorded "Go Tell It On The Mountain," then adds a perfectly placed horn section to several tracks including soulful ve...