Well, Calgary ex-pat Feist has won 5 Juno awards last week, making her the big winner. I will refrain from the much overused 1,2,3,4 and now 5 pun that seems to have endeared itself to many of those in the media.
Here are some of the winners and our holdings here at the Library.
INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Good Girl Gone Bad
Rihanna
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Feist
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Serena Ryder
ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Small Miracles
Blue Rodeo
ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Them Vs. You Vs. Me
Finger Eleven
For more winners, go to the Juno Awards Website.
Well the Grammy awards were last weekend, and for those interested here are some of the winners and the items we have here at the Library.
Record Of The Year
Rehab
Amy Winehouse
Track from: Back To Black
Album Of The Year
River: The Joni Letters
Herbie Hancock
Song Of The Year
Rehab
Amy Winehouse
Track from: Back To Black
Best New Artist
Amy Winehouse
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Rehab
Amy Winehouse
Track from: Back To Black
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
What Goes Around...Comes Around
Justin Timberlake
Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Makes Me Wonder
Maroon 5
Track from: It Won't Be Soon Before Long
Best Pop Instrumental Performance
One Week Last Summer
Joni Mitchell
Track from: Shine
Best Pop Instrumental Album
The Mix-Up
Beastie Boys
Best Pop Vocal Album
Back To Black
Amy Winehouse
Best Dance Recording
LoveStoned/I Think She Knows
Justin Timberlake
Track from: FutureSex/LoveSounds
Best Electronic/Dance Album
We Are The Night
The Chemical Brothers
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Call Me Irresponsible
Michael Bublé
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
Icky Thump
The White Stripes
Track from:Icky Thump
Best Hard Rock Performance
The Pretender
Foo Fighters
Best Metal Performance
Final Six
Slayer
Track from: Christ Illusion
Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
Radio Nowhere
Bruce Springsteen
Track from: Magic
In December 2007, jazz legend Oscar Peterson passed away at his home in Mississauga, at the age of 82. Peterson leaves behind a legacy of musical accomplishment and is considered one of the greatest pianists of all time. His career spanned 65 years, and he released over 200 recordings. He was honoured seven times with a Grammy award, including a Grammy for lifetime achievement in 1997. He also received numerous other awards, including Canada's top honour, the Order of Canada.
For those interested in the works of this great Canadian composer and musician, we have the following CDs and other works to borrow.
- Books and Videos about Oscar Peterson
- In the Key of Oscar
- A Jazz Odyssey: The life of Oscar Peterson
- Oscar Peterson: The will to swing
- Oscar Peterson: A Night in Vienna
Beauty & Crime
Suzanne Vega
New York : Blue Note, p2007.
Her name rendered in an Art Deco typeface, Vega poses on the cover of her Blue Note debut in a chic trench coat and bright red lipstick. Yes, it's an album of torch songs--but the lover she's pining for is the NYC of her past, from the formerly gritty Lower East Side ("Ludlow Street") to "the 27th floor above the midtown roar" ("New York Is a Woman"). The brushed drums and acoustic guitars of "Anniversary" allow her whispery voice room to breathe; elsewhere, club rhythms and stabs of violins conjure up an exultant roar of their own. A-
Review from Entertainment Weekly - Sean Howe
High School Musical 2
Burbank, CA : Walt Disney Records, p2007.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try ... whoops. Disney did succeed with "High School Musical," to the tune of 7 million albums sold worldwide, a catalog of DVDs, a concert tour, stage and ice shows, and lyrics that every teen on the planet knows by heart. "High School Musical 2" doesn't dance too far off the beaten path. The full-cast opener, "What Time Is It," even references its predecessor's closing "We're All in This Together" as it sends the kids of East High School off for a summer vacation filled with the requisite romantic tribulations, light class warfare and, yes, a Midsummer Night's Talent Show for everyone to strut their stuff. The music again skews toward hip-hop beats and hooky pop melodies, and such tracks as "Work This Out," the sports-themed "I Don't Dance," "Bet on It" and "All for One" make you feel like Backstreet's not only back, but never left.
Review from Billboard - Gary Graff, 8/18/07
So Metallica is apparently thinking of premiering their new single through the game Rock Band (thanks Joystiq).
Having defeated Napster, Metallica goes on to conquer new forms of media!
Well, if all this vidjamagame nonsense is not for you, you can still rock out old school with the CDs we have in our Catalogue.
Underclass Hero
Sum 41
Montréal : Aquarius Records, p2007
"Weird Al" Yankovic may have stolen a bit of Sum 41's thunder when he wrote "Canadian Idiot" for his latest album. The Great White North (now L.A.-based) trio's fourth full-length is, wittingly or not, something of a homage to Green Day's "American Idiot," from its thematic (though not narrative) "us against them" unity to the fierce political sloganeering of "March of the Dogs" to the sophisticated arrangements that bolster Sum 41's punk roots with references to Queen, Weezer and Linkin Park. And with its acoustic guitar and strings, "So Long Goodbye"--a paean to departed guitarist Dave Brownsound--ends the album on a decidedly "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" note. But don't write off "Underclass Hero" as mere imitation; its growth feels genuine and, unlike Sum 41's punk peers, its musical maturation doesn't come at the expense of that all-important snotty 'tude.
Review from Billboard - Gary Graff,7/28/07.
Absolute Garbage
Garbage
Santa Monica, CA : Almo Sounds, p2007
Check Catalogue Availability
A newly recorded Garbage single, "Tell Me Where It Hurts," will be included on an upcoming best-of collection, "Absolute Garbage." Due July 17 via Geffen, the CD/DVD set includes 17 audio tracks on its first disc, a second disc with 14 remixes and a DVD with 15 music videos, live clips and behind-the-scenes footage. Among the acts chipping in with remixes on the bonus disc are UNKLE, Massive Attack, the Crystal Method, Todd Terry and Felix Da Housecat.
Review from Billboard - Jonathan Cohen.
Big Dog Daddy
Kieth, Toby
[United States] : Show Dog Nashville, p2007.
Anyone looking for a dose of Keith's famous attitude won't be disappointed on his new release The thumping title cut finds him channeling Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry on a song that one could easily imagine pumping across the border from a Mexican AM station back in the day. "Hit It" is a rocking number about taking advantage of opportunities and first single "High Maintenance Woman," which recently peaked at No 3 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, is a working man's take on the fairer sex. But like Sears, there's a softer side to Keith, who produced the album and wrote or co-wrote nine of its 11 cuts. "1 Know She Hung the Moon" is a tribute to the singer's love interest and "Burnin' Moon Light" reflects on a late-night rendezvous that turns into a long-term relationship.
Review from Billboard - Ken Tucker 6/16/07
Zeitgeist
Smashing Pumpkins
[United States] : Reprise, p2007
The long, weird saga of the Smashing Pumpkins opens a new chapter with "Zeitgeist," their first disc since splitting in 2000. The group was always primarily a fancy name for Billy Corgan anyway, so this quote-fingers comeback, which features only he and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin from the glory days, is actually more genuine than most. It's still a mess, though an ambitious and grandiose one. Corgan certainly hasn't forgotten how to make a Pumpkins record, as gleaming serrated guitars, fantastic torrents of drums and twisting layers of vocals dominate. But though his celestial indulgences are still in place (especially on "United States," the record's end-times centerpiece), Corgan's rock tracks sound weirdly thin, an odd development coming from Queen vet Roy Thomas Baker. He's more disarmingly effective on tracks like "That's the Way (My Love Is)," a pop gem that leaps off the record, and the "Mellon Collie"-referencing closer "Pomp and Circumstance."
Review from:Vrabel, Jeff. "The Smashing Pumpkins: Zeitgeist." Billboard 119.28 (July 14, 2007): 43(1)
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