Shawn Colvin - Tougher Than The Rest YTV

23/02/16 YouTube Video

The long and arduous of logging my playlists is continuing and I am currently processing the year 2001 which includes great releases from the likes of Ashley Stove, Weezer and yes you guessed it Shawn Colvin. I am a new listener to this lovely lady and am surprised that I haven't heard of her before now. Having released 10 albums and been around for well over a decade, she is quite the big and hard-working talent. Which is one of many reasons why I have chosen this cover she did of the classic Springsteen track that I found on her YouTube. It takes the romance and emotion of the original and elevates it to another level and really transports me to imagine so vividly the love story the song epitomises. In a lot of ways I think it is a better version than the original, (vocals, instrumentation and all) and I am a big Springsteen fan (his great version below) so it would take a lot to beat the boss. Enjoy!

Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town YTV

22/12/18 YouTube Video

One last slice of Christmas cheer before the big event and you cant get much greater than Bruce Springsteen singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town with Paul McCartney on back up vocals. This performance closed possibly one of my all time favourite episodes of SNL with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosting. Two very funny people with such a legend that is Springsteen makes for a absolute smasher of a show and gets me excited for the future performances SNL are going to produce. Enjoy!

Billy Currington - Summer Forever JA

June Album

During this pretty busy part of my life with the ending of University life and my relocating to Manchester in a few days time, Billy Currington has helped keep my spirits up with his latest album Summer Forever. Other albums that I have enjoyed come from Kid Wave, Girlpool, Pins, Wolf Alice and many more.

Summer Forever has a definite chirpy country sound to it and this is a major part of why I like it, but what makes it special to me is that it is not just a standard country album that can be boring with 12 stereotypical songs all the way through. It has some of the tracks where I think he switches it up and has more of a John Mayer Bluesy vibe and others with more of a straight up Americana kind of feel that wouldn't sound out of place on a Springsteen modern album. Below is one of the singles from the album which isn't much of a surprise seeing as it has a good hook but the whole album is this and much more. Enjoy!

D.O.T.F. Album Covers

Design of the Fortnight

This came up on my Facebook feed and looked pretty cool so I checked it out. Basically, a guy who goes by Harvezt on Flickr has posted a load of different album covers with an image of what he imagines the back side of these covers would look like. One of my personal favourites is the Bruce Springsteen cover which I think has been cleverly done. There is also some cool Beatles and Strokes versions on his website, link is below.

Which one/ones are your favourites? Let me know below.

                        https://www.flickr.com/photos/93699963@N04/sets/72157632894352624/

Bruce Springsteen Live at Ricoh Arena Coventry!

Last night I went to see Springsteen with my papa at the Ricoh Arena. This was my first stadium sized show I have been to and let me tell you it was brilliant. Driving there and back was a proper ball ache due to the amount of traffic but once we got inside the venue all was good. It was quite easy to get a decent spot in the crowd and we didn't have to wait too long before the main man came on stage. I was impressed with him not having a support act and doing the whole set which was roughly 3 hours long just himself and the band. He has so much energy, running all over the stage and putting so much effort into singing and guitar playing, it really is amazing. With The E Street Band I was sort of expecting a backing band like The Roots are on Jimmy Fallon's show but I was dead wrong. It was much more of a partnership, those guys are so talented and brilliant musicians and I was particularly impressed with the saxophonist, some of his solos really stood out for me. Another thing I really liked about the show was Bruce's interaction with the audience, either by picking people to come join him on stage or getting handmade signs from audience members he particularly likes, more bands should learn from this guy. On the set list side of things I think he had a decent mix of older tracks and stuff from the new album, there were both songs for me and my dad to sing along to. I can honestly say he kept me excited and pumped up the whole way through compared to some bands in the past where at points my interest wavers. He was easily worth the money paid for a ticket and I would for sure see him again.

Christmas Holidays

Over the past couple of months I have been extremely busy at university. But now its the christmas holidays and I have enough time to update my news/goings on. I am really lucky to have received tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in June at the Ricoh Arena. I'm really looking forward to it!! Also in the past couple of weeks I have seen Mumford & Sons and Florence & the Machine. Both of which were really good but very different. I probably would say I preferred Mumford just because the whole crowd were more up for it. They both put on a great show.

Since starting uni, I have found out about a lot of new music, new genres and a load of artists. I'm getting into my great guitarists. Like right now I'm listening to a Susan Tedeschi greatest hits album and she is brilliant. But yea I have lots of new music to be getting through during the holidays. :)


Merry Christmas!