Well, I guess if I am going to get this done before the new year, I need to get moving. Nothing like waiting til the last minute, huh?
4/16/11 - P!nk - Who Knew (Bimbo Jones Remix) I love love LOVE the original version of this song and thought that a dance remix would be a good idea. I was wrong. The beat takes away from the emotion of the song. And, on a personal note, a good friend of mine used this in a video she made running a half marathon, so I picture not only her yelling "MILE 5!" over the song, but a clip of her urinating on the side of the road. So, a miss here for me. Grade: C
4/16/11 - Annie Lennox - Pattern of My Life and Shining Light A Huge Annie Lennox fan, I decided I would grab the two original songs from her greatest hits collection. Pattern is a very pretty song, but forgettable, and Shining Light feels like it is all over the place Not her best work (which, frankly is, and probably will always be, the entire DIVA album, which, by the way? 20 years old next year. Yeah, you're old.) Grades: Pattern: B Shining: B-
4/16/11 - kd lang and the Siss Boom Bang - I Confess Any song where kd lang tells me she'll be my daddy makes me feel funny in my no no zone...and I don't mind one bit. I need to reevaluate my entire life. A sleepy, sexy song, kd lang's voice is on point and the guitar in this is just sick. Grade: A
4/17/11 - Deadmau5 and Kaskade - I Remember I heard this at the end of a PNSexplosion and immediately fell in love with the beat, the voice, the tempo - EVERYTHING! You get lost in this one while you're on an elliptical machine, or running in the park (ok, walking with purpose in a park) Grade: A+
4/23/11 - Katy Perry - Firework I bought this for a work project, the movie I made for our annual bereavement camp. While I love the message, the singing is weak. And some of lyrics don't make a lot of sense. When she released this as a single, I kinda felt like this was a "Hey, we need a Christina "Beautiful" type song for the album!" And I also picture those frat guys in the snow. So let's watch that one. Grade: B-
5/2/11 Whitney Houston - Million Dolla Bill (Freemasons Mixshow) It's all about that note she hits to start the song. An Alicia Keyes written song, Whitney kinda fucked up her chance at a comeback. But this one has swagger (both the remix and the original) and there will always be a small place in my heart for her Grade: B
5/25/11 - Glee Cast - As If We Never Said Goodbye I didn't watch Glee after the first season, but Babaloo did, and given my penchant for following pop culture stuff, I kinda new what was going on with Kurt and the Warblers and all that. I was walking through the living room as Kurt performed this on the show and was stopped in my tracks. This song is SO perfect for his return to his original school, I have to say I was impressed with the decision to use it. (Glenn Close does it better, but I don't see her playing a 17 year old gay boy anytime soon...) Grade: A
5/27/11 - Josh Groban and Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Lullaby I heard this song at one of the Littlest Huffington's dance recitals and immediately following the performance asked the choreographer who sang this song. It was downloaded within about 10 minutes of me getting home. Love Josh Groban or hate him, this is probably one of my favorite songs ever. It's definitely one of the most beautiful. Grade: A+
6/13/11 - Lady Gaga - Fashion of His Love. This song is so fucking 1980's, I LOVE it. I got "Born This Way" though Amazon.com (so I am not including it here), but this was not included on the Amazon version. Listening to the other songs that where on the iTunes exclusive version, I liked this one the best. A GREAT song for working out. Grade: A+
6/13/11 - Ke$ha - Take It Off. Not my proudest moment. But it's catchy. Grade: B
6/15/11 - Thompson Twins - If You Were Here - Taffy and I were talking about Sixteen Candles following my watching of Easy A with Babaloo. A remix of this song played on a car radio in Easy A, and I was telling Babaloo how this was from SC. He didn't care, but Taffy did. Some further investigation found this on iTunes. And it was 99 cents, and it makes me feel like I'm 13 watching Molly Ringwald kiss Jake Ryan on that glass dinner table again. Grade: B
6/25/11 - Jill Scott - The Light Of The Sun Oh, Jill. Jill, Jill, Jill.... Have you ever had an artist whose work you love so much you can't help but feel that he or she spoke directly to you, only to have that artist release an album that then feels like you've fallen out of love? Well, that's this album for me (another album like that for me is Madonna's Music. We've never really been the same since, though we had a brief reconciliation with "Confessions On A Dance Floor"....but I digress.) This album does have a couple of wonderful songs on it, the best of which is Hear My Call Grade: C-
7/17/11 - Giles Lamb - Theme To Dead Island You can't help but be drawn in by the beauty of the song juxtaposed with the horror of the video. You feel for the family in this commercial for a video game (!) and it is in no small part to the beautiful simple music Grade: A+
7/25/11 - Jordin Sparks - The World I Knew - I'm not sure why I bought this song. It was playing in a Boston Market I was having lunch in and I Shazam-ed it. I figure if I cared enough to find out who sang it, I should just buy it. Grade: B
7/25/11 - Empire of the Sun - Walking On A Dream This song is another one I Shazam-ed on that same Boston Market lunch, but it was more because I had heard this song in various places over the previous few months and I wanted to know who the hell sang it. It has a mid to late 80's Brit pop feel to it I like. It reminds me of something I would listen to while driving my car to a friends house after school, or home from work at the mall. Grade: B
8/5/11 - Crystal Gayle - Talking In Your Sleep Another Taffy conversation where, somehow, this song came up. We both laughed about it, and unbeknownst to the other, downloaded it at our respective homes. So, now when I hear this song, I will always think of Taffy (which, given the lyrics, is kinda weird.) Grade: B
8/13/11 - Maroon 5 - Moves Like Jagger Disclaimer: Adam Levine is a dirty monkey boy who I would like to do bad things to me. This song is ANNOYINGLY catchy. And then you add a swarthy Christina to the bridge? Yes, yes, yes! (the first close up of him in the video when he says, "ow!" makes me twitch down there every time) Grade: A-
8/13/11 - Penny and The Quarters - You And Me. I watched Blue Valentine, and after reconsidering putting my head in the oven, I bought this song. This is one of those songs that I can't help but think Taffy would like. It's got a bluesy feel to it that I don't normally like, but the recording is so raw, intimate in many ways, that you can't help but appreciate it Grade: B
9/12/11 - Johnny Mathis and Jane Olivor - The Last Time I Felt Like This. The theme to one of my all time favorite movies, Same Time Next Year, my MP3 that I had...ahem...obtained from Napster many years ago had somehow become corrupted, so I thought it was time to upgrade. It's schlocky beyond schlocky, but I love it so hard! Grade: A
9/20/11 - Jennifer Lopez - Papi Yeah, I bought the song because of the video. So what? It's good to see someone who is as reportedly as divaish as Lopez make a little fun of herself. And full fledge choreography in a video. Does anyone do that anymore?!?! Grade: B
9/20/11 - Janet Jackson - Make Me I had no idea that Jackson had released a greatest hits CD a couple of years before, nor did I know that she had bonus tracks on it. The song has an old school Michael Jackson "Rock With U" vibe to it that I like, but ultimately, it's a forgettable song. Grade: B-
10/2/11 - Jason Graves - Welcome To Nova Praetoria The theme song to City Of Heroes: Going Rogue, I always thought this was an amazing piece of music that I liked to listen to while I was creating my new heroes and villains for the game. Little did I know you could buy it on iTunes. Grade: A-
10/13/11 - Pussycat Dolls - I Hate This Part (Remix) Again, another one I'm not proud of, but I heard this playing in a store at Downtown Disney and asked the salesgirl who it was. It's good walkin' music, but that's about it. Grade: B
10/18/11 - Magnetic Man (feat. Angela Hunte) - I Need Air Another song played at the end of a PNSexplosion, it's got a great beat. You can picture the choreography in your head while you listen to it Grade: B
10/18/11 - Tim Curry - Sweet Transvestite Ever get a song stuck in your head for no reason? All other versions (yes, even the black chick's from Glee) pale in comparison. Grade: A
10/26/11 - Duck Sauce - Big Bad Wolf - It's stupid, and I got suckered into buying it after watching the video, but honestly, I'd rather watch the video online than listen to this while doing stuff around the house. Without the visuals, the music just makes me anxious Grade: C
12/5/11 - The Carpenters - Christmas Portrait There is not a single bad thing to say about this album. Except that now whenever Karen sings the phrase "Christmasing with you," I picture my boyfriend saying that sounds dirty. Grade: A+
12/10/11 RuPaul - Champion I bought the album following finishing Season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race on Netflix. I like it, but I'm disappointed that some of the songs that were featured on the show (ex: Jealous of My Boogie) are not the same version, and for that, it gets a B-
12/17/11 Annie Lennox - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. An amazing interpretation of this classic. Using middle eastern influences, Lennox makes this the only version of this song you might want to fuck to, which I think that statement alone gets me a FastPass to hell. Grade: B
12/17/11 The Boy Least Likely To - The First Snowflake Another song heard at a Littlest Huffington dance performance. The youngest dancers dressed as snowflakes while this song played and it was beautiful, as is the song. Grade: A
Well, that's all the songs I grabbed this year - On the whole, I feel like it was not a bad selection for the most part. I hope that 2012 brings new music for me to enjoy. Do you have any suggestions based on my ratings and selections?
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