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The divas are alive with the sound of Christmas this year. Buddy B checks out their offerings.
Sarah McLachlan's The Classic Christmas Album is pretty much recycled. Most have been issued before, many on her previous Christmas album. Doing this is, frankly, pretty tacky.
Nonetheless, there is no denying the sheer beauty of this songbird's voice.
"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" and "Prayer for St Francis" are beauties. And her version of John Lennon's "War Is Over" is a wonderful cover.
But buyer beware: this album is a retread of songs you may have heard before. I was sorry she couldn't include her rendition of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" that I believe was previously exclusively on a Starbucks collection.
More successful. perhaps, is Leann Rimes' Today Is Christmas that includes two songs written by the artist. The country/pop star's cover of holiday classics are all wonderful, ending with "Auld Lang Syne" for our New Year's Eve celebrations.
Ms Rimes is a belter who knows how to put a song across in true diva style. The album has been charting well at Billboard, who gave it a positive review. Her rendition of "Carol of the Bells" lends itself to dance floors and to remixes.
LeAnn's selection of songs is choice and includes Mitch Miller's "Must Be Santa," a spritely holiday classic I've loved since I was a kid.
So choose your dueling divas for your holiday entertainment this year! Available at Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and music shops everywhere.
Deborah Cox is back, big time, on Billboard! Not only that, she's returned to the club music chart with a fantastic, new song written for her by Janice Robinson. That's diva-to-diva, party people, as Janice is best known in dance-music circles as the voice that fronted Livin' Joy in the '90s, on the amazing song, "Dreamer." Now, for those too young to recall, Livin' Joy was a house music group from Italy who released two very successful dance hits: "Dreamer" and "Don't Stop Movin'." (Tameka Starr, however, replaced Janice, who left the group for a solo career, on the latter number.)
"If It Wasn't for Love" is a powerful song with a melody that stays in your head. Cox's voice has never sounded better. It shot up nine points from last week alone and is currently in the #18 spot. Kudos to Deborah and Janice, and congratulations! Don't be surprised, everybody, if Ms Cox takes this all the way up to #1. It's a killer tune!
The club mix by Mixin' Marc & Tony Svejda can be found below, via Youtube. Support our great LGBT-supportive artists by legally downloading their music. "If It Wasn't for Love" can be officially downloaded from iTunes.
Florence & the Machine, who will appear Monday (Dec. 19) on VH-1 Divas Celebrates Soul, nationally in the USA, follows in the next slot (#19) with "Shake It Out," up from 26. Another good show!
Miss Tamara Wallace, singing with Rosabel, goes up to 21 with the exciting "Let Me Be Myself" while, at 22, Cirque du Soleil and Zarkana's "Whenever" stalls from last week.
LeAnn Rimes is up again this week with "Give," at #13, and, as I said last time, the Almighty remix is the way to go with this one. They've done wonders with Missy Rimes before and this is no exception, everybody. Give it a whirl. (On the dance floor, that is.)
The Top Ten this week is brightened by some recent entries doing well. Erika Jayne's "Party People" enters at 8 from 12 last week. "Last Drag," by ex-porn queen, Traci Lords, hits 6 from 11. The fab Wynter Gordon all the way up at #2 with "Buy My Love" (never mind her love; lots of club djs buying her record, looks like). And Beyonce, who looked overlooked last week, when Enrique Iglesias seemed to have snatched the ring at #1 from her ascent, is now at the numero uno spot after all with the fun floor-filler, "Countdown" while Enrique makes a precipitous drop with "I Like How It Feels," landing in 7th place. Not sure he likes the feel of that!
Until next time, get thee to a club, be yourself, express yourself, lose yourself in the music and remember, music is a great uniter and dance music = love for all of us, all over the world. Cheers!
Beyonce's "Countdown" stalled, in this week's Billboard dance countdown, in the #2 position as Enrique Iglesias, featuring Pitbull & the WAVs, snatches the numero uno spot away from her ascendency to the top of the heap. Anjulie's "Brand New Bitch" is up at 3 followed by "Buy My Love" by the always-of-interest vocalist, Wynter Gordon, at 4.
The rest of this week's Billboard Top 25 Dance/Club Songs chart shows promise. Traci Lords scores a new hit as she makes rapid progress in six weeks of release with "Last Drag." This is not the first time at the rodeo for the ex-underage-porn star (hey, ya gotta start somewhere). In 1995, she scored big on the music scene with the house-music track, "Fallen Angel," which went to #2 on Billboard that year. Well, praise the Lords, she's back at it with a fresh new number to have us all in a twirl!
Right behind her is recent club fave Erika Jayne with "Party People." Ms Jayne has a number of hits under her garder belt, most notably "Rollercoaster" and (my fave) "Pretty Mess." Check her out online at www.erikajayne.com.
"Give," by LeAnn Rimes, reaches #17. Favorite mix for this one? The Almighty remix, of course. "Whenever," by Zarkana, is on my latest cd-r dj club promo ("Fagtastic Too"). Zarkana is a show by Cirque du Soleil, from which this is based, and it features both male and female vocals in a driving house production that'll make you shake your money-makers. You'll want the extended Ralphi Rosario remix, trust me. The song broke into the Top 25 at 22, jumping from 27 last week.
Laura LaRue, so entertaining around Pride time with "San Francisco Is My Disco," returns with the new "Un Deux Trois" (#23) and the fabulous Rosabel with Tamara Wallace round out the chart at #25 with "Let Me Be Myself" (hey, didn't Leslie Gore sing that line?), up all the way from 37 last week. So check out these artists and support them by legally downloading the songs that make you move.
Till next my chart chat, enjoy the music, come together. Love, peace, happiness, out!
