Max Sharam - A Million Year Girl

YOURZ

Doing this review is the first time I've heard anything by Max Sharam.  In fact, up until I started doing a little research for this review, I had no idea she was Australian.  But then, hers isn't exactly the kind of music I'm likely to seek out.

Listening to A Million Year Girl, and despite its apparent success when it was released in 1995, the only tracks I recognised, apart from the cover of Melanie's Lay Down, was the single Coma and even then, my recognition was vague at best, kind of like I'd heard it in the background a number of times but was never moved enough to find out who it was.

While not offensive, this is still how I feel about this album - nice and innocuous in the background but containing nothing at all that excites me.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

MINE

Two songs into Million Year Girl and I was about to call it a Forgotten Gem.  But it didn't sparkle as much as I'd thought.

Max has an amazing voice, capable of the hugest swoops and slides, and she doesn't do any of that nauseating twiddling that it seems every R&B diva has to do these days.  Have I said that before?  Probably.  Sorry if I'm getting repetitive.

Anyway, I love the first half of the album, with Be Firm and Coma leading it out strongly.  Purple Flowers always reminds me of Sydney in springtime, when the jacaranda blossoms in every second backyard.  Her rendering of Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) is another lovely sing-along, and I was amazed at her version of Is it Okay if I Call You Mine? when this album came out, because I thought I was the only person who even knew about that gorgeous song from Fame.  Jezu's Jewellery and Hunting Ground are OK, but the rest of the album's a bit of a loss.

I have seen her perform live, well before this album was released, doing her semi-regular gig at Kinselas, an inner-Sydney bar I frequented in the early 90s.  She did a version of Minnie Riperton's Loving You that silenced the room, because when she got to that high falsetto bit (it's about 0:56 on that video) she didn't even try to sing it, she just SCREAMED.  Priceless.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP then down...

For more information: http://www.maxsharam.com/

David Bowie - The Best Of David Bowie 1969 - 1974

MINE

Mr Bowie.  The Thin White Duke.  All hail... to the man who's been a part of my musical life for almost as long as I've been buying music.  So what's this blog entry going to be about?  The first song of his I ever heard?  Hang your head in shame, Mr Jones, because I clearly remember hearing The Laughing Gnome on the BBC World Service as a child.

How about my favourite album?  Although I spent a large part of my teenage years with Ziggy on the turntable, it's gotta be Diamond Dogs.  Love the cover, love Rebel Rebel and 1984, love the whole concept/not a concept album mystique.

My favourite Bowie song?  Oh, that's too hard.   I love Heroes and China Girl and Fame and Blue Jean and Young Americans and.... gotta stop now.  Oh no, wait!  My all-time favourite Bowie song is... a cover.  I love his version of Sorrow.

How about, have I seen him perform?  Yes I have.  Only on one tour, Serious Moonlight, but I did go on two consecutive nights.  When he came here on the Glass Spider tour I was oh-so-broke and couldn't afford a ticket.  Should have tried harder.

This CD is one of two best of Bowie collections we own.  But our albums are only on vinyl and I'm voting we look at this for a box-set purchase, pretty please?  (YourZ sez: I'll go one futher - my vote is we get Bowie's box-set before we get any other).

VERDICT: TURN IT UP and hear the savage roar...

YOURZ

I've made a number of false starts trying to write this blog and have found it increasingly difficult.  Bowie should need no introduction to any of you reading this.  He is, without a doubt, one of the greats.  Personally, I would put him in the number one spot on my list.  His influence on music, fashion, art and culture is indelible and undeniable.  Bowie didn't follow trends, he invented and set them.  He might just be the most relevant solo artist to have ever come out of the UK (big call, I know) but given his career spans over 40 years, I don't think it is unreasonable to say this.

When I was 17, I left home to travel Australia.  One of the few things I bought along the way was a cassette copy of an Australia/New Zealand only release of Bowie's greatest hits to date called Chameleon.  It was the only cassette I had (apart from Adam & The Ants that I'd bought it as a gift for someone).  This cassette was played many times.  Consequently, whenever I hear a lot of the tracks from this album, I'm reminded of the wonderful sense of freedom but also the slight sense of fear I felt having finally completed school and taking on the mantle of 'adult' responsibility.  Changes was the key song but was also supplemented by Golden Years, Aladdin Sane and a few other tracks. 

Fast forward a few years to when I saw Bowie live during his Serious Moonlight tour.  Unlike Mine, I only saw him the once but what a show!  I've never seen anything like it since.  It was a greatest hits set list and covered just about every album he'd released up until then.  Hearing him sing Heroes, Ashes To Ashes, Soul Love and, particularly, Golden Years, blew me away.  I'm not ashamed to say I teared up a number of times throughout the long performance (according to sources, he played 32 songs - a huge set by any standards).

I've not been as profoundly affected by his later work but this is more due to my being distracted by so much other music.  But the 70s and early 80s Bowie has always remained a defining influence and consistent favourite.  As Mine proved, to choose a single favourite track is just too hard so I'm not even going to try.  I'm just gonna quote the following:

Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.davidbowie.com/

In our collection we also have David Bowie: The Singles Collection and Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars Live