Hi again. Back this week with seven more songs to share with you.
First song today is a treat if you like Heavy Metal from the 80s. I’m giving you Dio with their classic Holy Diver.
Dio is an American Heavy Metal band formed in ’82 by lead vocalist Ronnie James Dio (stage name) after he left Black Sabbath. The band has sold more than 10 million copies of albums worldwide.
Ronnie James Dio (real name Ronald James Padavona) was an Italian American vocalist and songwriter. He has fronted quite a few bands like Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell and Dio.
He is credited with popularizing the “metal horns” hand gesture in metal culture and is known for his medieval themed lyrics.
-Wikipedia
Dio possessed a powerful versatile vocal range capable of singing both hard rock and lighter ballads and according to Rainbow/Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore upon hearing him sing, “I felt shivers down my spine.”
-Wikipedia
I second Mr. Blackmore’s opinion. I can never get enough of Holy Diver or any of the songs Ronnie James Dio has sung because of his simply-way-too-powerful-to-express-verbally voice.
In contrast to the heavy metal I provided to start off this week’s playlist, I’m now giving you some Jack Johnson with Sitting, Waiting, Wishing.
This song is the sixth song from the album ‘In Between Dreams’ which was released in February 2005.
Johnson explains the inspiration behind the song by saying: “A friend of mine was trying to get this girl named Michelle and I tried to write a song that would help him have a laugh at himself because he was spending so much time trying to get her and it obviously wasn’t leading anywhere. That was one just to cheer up a friend.”
-Wikipedia
I like this song. Not more than I like any of his other songs. They’re all brilliantly written and sound wonderfully mellow and relaxing. Maybe you’ll see me share his other songs in future.
I heard this song while tuned in to 202 Internet Radio’s Chillout Lounge station. It’s German duo Jazzamor with the song House On
A Hill.
There’s not a lot I can add about the duo or the song, so I’ll tell you why I like the track. Well I can’t really see a reason not to like this track. It’s a beautiful mix of jazz, world fusion, bossa nova, electro and lounge music. Bettina Mischke (the lady you hear singing) has such a smooth peaceful calming voice, you would think there’s no female jazz voice more perfect than this.
Go ahead and enjoy the track.
Now taking you back to the 70s and the emergence of really good Southern Rock, it’s .38 Special with Caught Up In You. The song is the first single released from their ’82 album ‘Special Forces’. It became the band’s first number-one single on the Billboard Top tracks rock chart.
There’s nothing not worth liking about this song. It’s got some good lyrics, lead vocalist Don Barnes has an amazing strong voice, that riff and rhythm guitar is so catchy and adds drive to the song, the song has an amazing melody line and an even better bridge. I think I love the bridge on this song the most. There’s a really catchy guitar solo in between the bridge bit as well.
I’d love for you to listen to the track and tell me what you think about it. Always love the feedback!
So I’m sure you’ll find this song familiar if you’re a Mr. Bean fan. It’s Charles Trenet with La Mer.
The song La Mer is one among Charles Trenet’s most famous songs. It was not until 1946 that Trenet recorded the song. When it was released in 1946, it became an unexpected hit, and has remained a chanson classic ever since.
I’ve watched Mr. Bean’s Holiday so many times that I cannot help but visualize the entire scene at the beach while I hear this song. Every single time.
Here’s another track I heard on a lounge station (I don’t remember which one though). Simone Kopmajer with her rendition of Lionel Richie’s famous Hello.
A cool-toned Austrian jazz vocalist, Simone Kopmajer sings in flawless English. She had classical piano lessons starting at the age of eight and at 12 began playing saxophone.
Since earning a Masters from the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria, Kopmajer has toured the Netherlands twice with the Euro Big Band, appeared at European jazz festivals, and recorded three CDs: ‘Moonlight Serenade’, her best-known set ‘Romance’, and her privately released ‘Taking A Chance On Love’. Each CD emphasizes her own fresh versions of standards.
-allmusic.com
Last song on today’s playlist is one by 70s English progressive rock super-group Emerson, Lake & Palmer and is called From The Beginning. It was 
written by Greg Lake and was released on the band’s 1972 album ‘Trilogy’. It reached #39 in the US and was the band’s highest charting single.
It is driven by an acoustic guitar line with layers of electric guitar (both rhythm and lead), electric bass guitar, and sung by Lake, with some backing on drums (played by Carl Palmer with tympani mallets and without cymbals), and with a distinctive closing synthesizer solo from Keith Emerson, accompanied by overdubbed random synthesizer-generated effects.
So that closes playlist 19. I hope you like the songs, feedback is always welcome.
Until next week.
Happy Listening!
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