When You Were Mine

In my Business of Music class, my professor plays a song or two from a new(er) album.  He played four different artists today, one of them being Night Terrors of 1927.  The LA-based duo just released their debut album through Atlantic, Everything's Coming Up Roses.

One of the songs my professor played was "When You Were Mine," featuring twins Tegan and Sara.  After hearing it that one time, it's probably one of my favorite songs at the moment.

[Source;  YouTube]

It may sound a little amateur, but I really like how this song has two duos.  It's pretty symmetrical - it goes well with my OCD.

How many Beatles can you name?

There are two things I love:  music and hockey.  My sister-in-law sent me a video yesterday of a bunch of NHL players trying to name the four members of The Beatles.  The results were appalling.

P.K. Subban of the Canadiens, T.J. Oshie of the Blues, and Ryan McDonagh of my beloved Rangers were just a few of the players who couldn't name a single one.  Not one.

From the Flyers, Wayne Simmonds was able to guess Ringo, but he quickly stated that he's the only one he knows, while Claude Giroux took what was clearly a wild guess:  "McCarthur?"  I'm assuming he means McCartney.

My Rangers continued to let me down, unfortunately.  Goalie Henrik Lundqvist, a man who is in a rock band, mentioned Paul and then John, but John was guessed with the help of the woman behind the camera.

As the video proceeds, though, more and more Beatles are becoming known.  Justin Williams of the Kings, Patrick Kane of the Blackhawks and Andy Greene of the Devils mention John, Paul and Ringo.  Poor, George.  As stated by Brian Gionta of the Sabres a little bit later, "Sorry, George, I think you're always forgotten."  That's so sad.

In the end, there's only one player who successfully names all four of The Beatles without stumbling, and that's Blake Wheeler of the Jets.

[Source:  NHL]

Nobody Does It Better

If you have been a reader of my blog for a while, you will know that I go through quite a number of obsessions.  Sometimes they're songs, while other times they are people or groups (ahem One Direction:  still going strong!).  Well, right now I have a new obsession with an old song.

"Nobody Does It Better," the theme for The Spy Who Loved Me, performed by Carly Simon.

[Source:  YouTube]

I have probably heard this song around fifty times in my nineteen years of living.  "Why is she so obsessed with it now?"  Well I am glad you asked.

The song is phenomenal if you have not heard it - if you haven't heard it that means you didn't watch the video I so kindly provided above.  Typically when you hear someone talking about a James Bond song, you think of a song like "Goldfinger" - something a little more on the jazzy side.  While the song may not sound like the other Bond songs, it still did something that most 007 songs do:  the writers, Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer, incorporated the title of the movie in the song.

I love the pace of the song, as well as the lyrics.  "I wasn't looking but somehow you found me / I tried to hide from your love light / But like Heaven above me / The spy who loved me / Is keeping all my secrets safe tonight."  Nothing says "James Bond" better than using "spy" and "secrets" in the song.

Ghost

We're more than a week into 2015.  I think that means it is time to talk about who I want to see more of in the music industry.  Normally I would add the acts I wish to not see, but I'll skip that for now.

There's one person in particular I am excited to see this year - someone I have already spoken a little bit about.  Who is it?

Ella Henderson.

I remember back in 2012 when she was eliminated from UK's The X Factor.  She was removed from the competition with quite the number of weeks remaining and people everywhere were in shock.  Her audition (an original track) wowed the judges - Tulisa Contostavlos gave her a standing ovation along with the entire audience.

[Source:  YouTube]

Ella's debut album, Chapter One, is available on January 13th.

Irresistible

Fall Out Boy have done nothing but impress me so far with this new album of theirs, American Beauty/American Psycho, which is set to be released January 20th.  The most recent song released from the new record is "Irresistible" and already holds the number one spot on iTunes, bumping Mark Ronson's and Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk" to number two and T-Swift's "Blank Space" to number three.  The band also has "Centuries" in the number nine spot.

As put by Ryan Reed in his Rolling Stone article from yesterday, the song is "deadly love."  "You're second hand smoke / I breathe you in, but honey I don't know what you're doing to me" starts the bridge, while lyrics such as "I didn't come for a fight but I will fight till the end / This might be your battle, might not turn out okay" line the verses.

Whether you're a fan or not of this pop punk/alternative rock band, this track - hopefully as well as the rest of the LP - is a must buy.

[Source:  YouTube]