The Philosopher's Attic » Soulfood

Make you sing: The Power of Love

yseult — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:08:12 +0000

Make love your goal.

This song must be one of the earliest that I have a memory off. I probably heard it for the first time when I was still sharing a room with my older sister (I did until the age of 7) who herself was a huge Frankie goes to Hollywood – or FGTH as you’d print it on your school gear – fan at the time and always.

It’s one of those songs that you never really forget and even if you haven’t heard it in ages it will immediately bring you back to a complete album of feelings and impressions. Holly Johnson has had many strokes of genius. I think this one however will stay with us for a long time still. Even after almost 30 years.

(I know that this was a huge hit and as such shouldn’t figure in this series, but it’s Christmas and sharing is the spirit ;-)

How gentle was the breeze…

yseult — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:44:32 +0000

Just posting this, because this came up in my itunes playlist for the first time in such a long time and it made me go back to a lot of happy and a lot of very painful, solitary moments and it truly warmed my heart to look back at the path that I had made for myself.

Here’s to a brilliant week to everyone out there listening.

Make You Sing: Peter Bradley Adams

yseult — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:23:49 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I personally am finding myself in a bit of a starve for good songwriter music at the moment. There really isn’t a lot of good albums about to come out (apart from the new Peter Gabriel one which I can’t wait to listen to), or that have graced us this winter. Sure, Brandi Carlile has released her long-awaited album just a couple of months ago and Sivert Hoyem has also a new album out that I like. But, I find myself delving deeper and deeper into the shuffle function of iTunes in order to discover older music that I haven’t listened to in a while.

Obviously, I ran across Eastmountainsouth sooner or later, since they keep being bumped to my shuffle list. I had already covered the group as a true songwriter jewel, but seeing as their only album never had a sequel and it doesn’t look like they ever will do music together again, I thought about posting a follow-up to Peter Bradley Adams, the brains and voice behind Eastmountainsouth.

Since 2001, he has released several albums with various female singers to contrast his ‘the dreamy-voiced Adams’ as The Boston Globe called him. Gather Up (2006), Leavetaking (2008) and the latest album Traces (2009) all hold more or less the same layered quality of harmony that was so typical for Eastmountainsouth and that drew so many in.

Out of the three I feel like Traces – a fitting title – has come back to those roots in a way that closes the circle while giving this artist more maturity and depth, even if I wouldn’t have thought it possible. There is a certain calm quality about the construction of his songs and the sound. ‘Even’, ‘polished’, are words that springs to mind, and ‘touching’ another one.

In May 2009, “Leavetaking” the IAP awarded Peter Bradley Adams IAP’s the award “Best CD’s of 2008″ for Best Singer-Songwriter-Male.

Even so, with awards and even with steady releases, Adams has never truly made it into the charts or has been featured in popular TV Series (usually a good way to get people to notice you).
This circumstance earns him a special entry in my series. I hope you enjoy.

Here’s Lay your Head Down, from the album Gather Up (2006)

From the Sky, from Traces (2009)
{Sorry for the fan girl video, it’s the only one I could find for this song.}

Always from the album Leavetaking (2008)

Song for Viola from Leavetaking (2008)

And lastly, The Longer I Run from Peter Bradley Adams (2006)