12 Songs (Randy Newman album)

12 Songs is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman, released in April 1970 by Reprise Records. It features a swampy style of roots music with introspective, satirical songwriting. "Have You Seen My Baby?", the album's only single, was released in May.

When 12 Songs was first released, it was well received and has since garnered retrospective acclaim from critics such as Robert Christgau and Rolling Stone, both of whom cite it as one of the best albums of all time.

Music and lyrics

According to Q magazine, 12 Songs demonstrated Newman's eccentric mix of traditional pop song structures and his sardonic, satirical humor.AllMusic's Mark Deming said although his sense of humor seemed more caustic than on his self-titled debut album, Newman's "most mordant character studies" on 12 Songs "boast a recognizable humanity, which often make his subjects both pitiable and all the more loathsome." In the opinion of Robert Christgau, American songwriting in general is often "banal, prolix, and virtually solipsistic when it wants to be honest, merely banal when it doesn't", but Newman's truisms on the album are "always concise, never confessional", and unique:

Weezer (1994 album)

Weezer, also known as The Blue Album, is the debut studio album by the American rock band Weezer, released in May 1994 through DGC Records. The album was produced by Cars frontman Ric Ocasek and recorded in Electric Lady Studios in New York City. The Blue Album produced the singles "Undone - The Sweater Song", "Buddy Holly", and "Say It Ain't So", which brought Weezer mainstream success, helped by music videos directed by Spike Jonze. As of August 2009, the album had sold over 3,300,000 copies in the United States. It peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200 and is certified triple-platinum in the US and double-platinum in Canada.

Background

Weezer was formed on February 14, 1992, in Los Angeles by Rivers Cuomo, Patrick Wilson, Matt Sharp, and Jason Cropper. At the time, they would play at clubs and other small venues around L.A.. However, it took a long time for the band to gain popularity. Cuomo explained:

Weezer recorded The Kitchen Tapes as an attempt to create a buzz around L.A. The band eventually attracted attention from major-label A&R reps looking for alternative rock bands while performing on the same bill as the band That Dog. They were then signed to DGC Records on June 26, 1993, by Todd Sullivan, an A&R rep from Geffen Records.

Suzanne (Leonard Cohen song)

"Suzanne" is a song written by Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen in the 1960s. First published as a poem in 1966, it was recorded as a song by Judy Collins in the same year, and Cohen performed it for his 1967 album Songs of Leonard Cohen. Many other artists have recorded versions, and it has become one of the most-covered songs in Cohen's catalogue.

In 2006, Pitchfork Media listed the song #41 on their list of "The Top Songs of the 1960s".

Background

"Suzanne" was inspired by Cohen's platonic relationship with Suzanne Verdal, the then-girlfriend of sculptor Armand Vaillancourt. Its lyrics describe the rituals that they enjoyed when they met: Suzanne would invite Cohen to visit her apartment by the harbour in Montreal, where she would serve him Constant Comment tea, and they would walk around Old Montreal past the church of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, where sailors were blessed before heading out to sea.

Verdal was interviewed by CBC News's The National in 2006 about the song. Verdal says that she and Cohen never had a sexual relationship, contrary to what some interpretations of the song suggest. Cohen stated in a 1994 BBC interview that he only imagined having sex with her, as there was neither the opportunity nor inclination to actually go through with it. She says she has met Cohen twice since the song's initial popularity; once after a concert Cohen performed in the 1970s and once in passing in the 1990s when she danced for him, but Cohen did not speak to her (and possibly did not recognise her). Verdal never benefited financially from the song's enormous commercial success.

Glow

Glow or GLOW may refer to:

In science and technology

In computing and telecommunications

In physics

Other uses in science and technology

In arts and entertainment

In film and television

Glow (The Innocence Mission album)

Glow is the third album from American folk rock band The Innocence Mission, released in 1995 on A&M Records. Musically, it marks a radical departure for the group, as The Sundays/10,000 Maniacs-inspired dream pop aesthetic found on their first two albums was replaced by a more straightforward, cleaner rock sound. The album was recorded over a several-month period at Kingsway Studios, New Orleans, Louisiana and Bad Animals Studios, Seattle, Washington.

Track listing

All songs written by Karen Peris except "Keeping Awake", music by Don and Karen Peris.

"Bright As Yellow"

"Bright As Yellow", the album's only official single, peaked at number 33 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. It was featured extensively on several episodes of the hit TV series Party Of Five and can also be found on the soundtrack to the movie Empire Records, among others.

Glow (Kaki King album)

Glow, the sixth full-length album by American guitarist Kaki King, was released October 9, 2012. On Glow King returns to her instrumental roots and is accompanied by the string quartet ETHEL. “This is a guitar record,” King says to describe this album. The first single, "Great Round Burn", is available to download at RollingStone.com.

Track listing

Critical reception

The album currently has a Metacritic rating of 68% based on six reviews from professional critics, indicating generally favorable reviews.

Personnel

Production

References