Music Monday: Parachute Overnight

Katie January 4, 2016 0 Comments

Meant To Be
Can’t Help
Drive You Home
Hurricane
Overnight
Didn’t See It Coming
The Other Side
Waiting For That Call
The Only One
Disappear
Higher
Hurricane (Acoustic)

Parachute is one of the guests at Back to the Island this year.  Since this is the first year they have someone coming along that I am not familiar with, I downloaded a couple of their CDs to get familiar with their sound.  The first one I listed to was Overnight which was released in 2013.

The CD kicks off with ‘Meant to Be’ and I can’t help but try to imagine what it would sound like standing in the sand singing along “This is where you’re meant to be”, now I just have to hope they include it on their setlist!

Overall, I am loving what I am hearing and am looking forward to BTTI even more than I was before – if that is even possible!

Music Monday: Selena Gomez Revival

Katie December 28, 2015 0 Comments

Revival
Kill Em With Kindness
Hands To Myself
Same Old Love
Sober
Good For You (feat ASAP Rocky)
Camoflauge
Me & the Rhythm
Survivors
Body Heat
Rise

Revival is the latest release from former Disney starlet Selena Gomez. I have to say I was expecting more from this album. It got off to a really slow start and I really didn’t start getting into it until “Me and The Rhythm” – that and “Body Heat” are probably my 2 faves on the CD.  Same Old Love and Good For You also caught my attention but that is probably just because I hear them so often on the radio.  I have to say I was expecting a bit more from this album but I can see a few tracks making it into a playlist or two.  Not sure I’ll be listening to it as a whole all that often though!

Music Monday: Andrew Ripp Self-Titled

Katie December 21, 2015 0 Comments

Deep Water
Falling Faster
Surviving
Hole In My Heart
Animal
I Can’t Help Myself
Killin Me
Waiting Room
Lies
Never Forget You

If you don’t know who Andrew Ripp is, you really should take the time to fix that – after you finish reading this post, that is! He is a great singer songwriter currently living in Nashville. I was introduced to him when he opened for David Cook although I had heard great things about him from a few of my friends too and for whatever reason I decided to be stupid and ignore them.  “Andrew Ripp” is the latest release from Andrew and I got the chance to review this CD in a bit of a different fashion than what I usually do.  While I do sometimes bring CDs to work to listen to, I don’t often find myself so annoyed on a Wednesday before Thanksgiving break that I am praying that I once again didn’t bother to clean out my purse after the last couple of concerts so that I have  CD or two in there to listen to.  I did end up having 3 of Andrew’s CDs that I picked up after the concert in there. And while I would have liked to listen to all 3 of them – the annoyance that was going on around me did not lend itself to allow me to take the 15 seconds to take one CD out of the player and replace it with a new one without being even more annoyed.

Allow me to set the scene (and sorry Andrew this is less of a CD review than a rant on my coworker…) It’s about 8:30 am.  A loud coworker shows up and he cannot log on to his computer without getting a temporary profile pop up.  This is the 3rd time it has happened in as many weeks.  After a “did you turn it off and on again” that is still not working – co worker decides to call “the help desk”.  The only thing the help desk is good for is MAKING YOU GO INSANE.  So while this phone call has now been going on for 30 minutes and I fear my head might explode, I pop Andrew Ripp into the CD Player and pop on my headphones that are usually too painful if I have them on for more than 20 minutes at a time… and hope that I turned it up loud enough to drown out said help desk phone call.

FOUR HOURS LATER I have listened to Andrew’s CD 3 times in a row and fear that if this phone call goes on any longer I will end up singing along with all of the CD because it’s been repeated in my head enough that I know almost all the words now.  I have also decided that my favorite song on the CD is “Animal”.  And I have also decided that I was oh so ever thankful that the CD was actually so good that I could bear to listen to it 3 times in a row without going even more insane than I would have gone without it.

So there you have it.  If you need something really good to drown out really loud coworkers… Andrew Ripp is your guy!

Music Monday: One Direction Made In The AM

Katie December 14, 2015 0 Comments

Hey Angel
Drag Me Down
Perfect
Infinity
End of the Day
If I Could Fly
Long Way Down
Never Enough
Olivia
What a Feeling
Love You Goodbye
I Want To Write You A Song
History
Temporary Fix
Walking in the Wind
Wolves
A.M.

Made in the A.M. is the 5th studio album from One Direction.  I’m pretty much “over them” but I’m always looking for new albums to review for Music Monday and well, I’m ultimately a sucker for boybands, but I’ve given up trying to get tickets to see them in concert or even meet them.  Maybe after their “break” (assuming they really do come back) things will be a bit easier.  9 of the tracks include a writing credit to at least 1 of the band members which I think is worth noting. Why? I don’t know, I just felt like counting.

Some thoughts on select tracks… because I tried to do a track by track breakdown but got too distracted…

Hey Angel doesn’t really grip you and drag you into the album like I had hoped. It does seem to have a bit of a Coldplay feel to it mixed with another band that I just can’t put my finger on.

Perfect I don’t want to like, but something about all the scenarios in it just make me want to write a novel. Maybe someday I will.

End of the Day – this one grabbed me from the beginning and I really like it.

Never Enough gives me a bit of a Rockapella vibe and I think I like it.

Olivia – this song reminds me of an old Beatles song or a song that would be sung on a children’s TV show (based on the melody not really the lyrics lol) it’s catchy!

Wolves – this is another catchy throwback-y sounding tune. That may be stuck in my head for all eternity.

Overall a good CD although I just can’t see myself screaming along to most of these in an arena.  Small theater, sure. Ah, maybe someday 😉

Music Monday: Justin Bieber Purpose

Katie December 7, 2015 0 Comments

Mark My Words
I’ll Show You
What Do You Mean?
Sorry
Love Yourself
Company
No Pressure (feat Big Sean)
No Sense (feat Travis Scott)
The Feeling (feat Halsey)
Life Is Worth Living
Where Are U Now (w/ Skrillex and Diplo)
Children
Purpose
What Do You Mean? (acoustic)

Justin Bieber’s latest album, Purpose, came out in early November.  While I do not consider myself to be a Bieber fan (or sorry, a ‘Belieber’) I have seen him live several times and it is often hard to avoid him when you listen to Top 40 radio.  The first 2 tracks on the CD “Mark My Words” and “I’ll Show You” I had trouble getting into after the first 30-60 seconds so I moved on.  I really like the debut single from the album, “What Do You Mean”, so that one got a full listen.  The second single is “Sorry” and that is also the next track on the album.  This one got a full listen as well. And I am left to wonder if I liked them more than the first 2 because I am just more familiar with them, or if it is because they aren’t quite as slow as the other two. (I am not a fan of slower songs and I am also the person who needs to listen to a CD 3 or 4 times before I can really “get into it” so to speak.)  Love Yourself is a pretty song but again, too slow.  And I’m pretty sure he means to be saying something else other than love 😉 Company kind of put me into a trance so I didn’t end up skipping it even though it’s a bit too slow for my tastes.  After Company there are 3 tracks in a row with collaborations – Big Sean, Travi$ Scott and Halsey. I couldn’t make it through No Pressure or No Sense. The Feeling was a bit better, but still couldn’t make it through in its entirety. Life is Worth Living is a pretty nice ballad, I really like Justin’s voice on this one even though in theory I shouldn’t like the slow ballad 😉 Children and Purpose are another couple that I enjoyed (probably because they were lulling me to sleep or into a trance while I was getting some paper crafting done)  Been You was also pretty catchy from the opening notes. This is more of a throwback Bieber track which is probably why I like it so much. Get Used To It also has a bit of a throwback vibe too it, but I couldn’t get as into it as some of the other songs. We Are is another collab song, this time with Nas. This one is probably my fave of the collabs and it may just be because it says “Mets cap”.  Trust was a pretty good track too. All In It closes out the album (ignoring the What Do You Mean? Acoustic version)  All In It is a bit too slow and repetitive for my liking.

Overall this seems to be a more mature Bieber and not exactly what I’d be rocking out to in the car since it has a bit of a more R&B and Rap edge to it than the usual Pop which is what I am all about. But I did like it a lot more than I was expecting to.

CD Review: Harry Connick JR That Would Be Me

Katie November 3, 2015 0 Comments

TRACK LISTING:

Definitely two thumbs up from me on this album! Love it and I think it will be getting heavy spins at work and probably while I am scrapbooking New Orleans as well 🙂

Buy it here:

Music Monday: We Love Disney #WeLoveDisney #O2O

Katie November 2, 2015 0 Comments

Friend Like Me (Aladdin) Ne-Yo
Part Of Your World (Little Mermaid) Jessie J
Can You Feel The Love Tonight / Nants’ Ingonyama (The Lion King) Jason Derulo
The Rainbow Connection (The Muppets Movie) Gwen Stefani
Zero to Hero (Hercules) Ariana Grande
In A World Of My Own / Very Good Advice (Alice in Wonderland) Jhene Aiko
I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song) (The Jungle Book) Fall Out Boy
Colors of the Wind (Pocahontas) Tori Kelly
A Spoonful of Sugar (Marry Poppins) Kacey Musgraves
Ev’rybody Wants To Be A Cat (The Aristocats) Charles Perry
A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (Cinderella) Jessie Ware
Let It Go (Frozen) Lucy Hale & Rascall Flatts
It’s A Small World Various Artists

Bonus Tracks on Deluxe CD, Vinyl and Picture Disc:
It’s Not Easy Being Green (The Muppet Show) Brenna Whitaker
A Whole New World (Aladdin) Yuna

We Love Disney is a compilation album from Verve Records and Walt Disney Records. The album features the hottest artists from across the pop, rock R&B and country worlds delivering their own unique interpretations of classic Disney songs.  “In choosing the artists to appear on We Love Disney, we retied to cover the whole spectrum,” David Foster said. “I wanted great singers. That’s always been my mandate. WE set the bar high and everyone who came in absolutely killed it. The vocals on this album are spectacular.”

If you have a Disney fan in your life, definitely consider this CD or one of the collector’s editions. The Holidays are right around the corner and this would be the perfect gift!

Order it online:

I received a free digital copy of this album to write this review from One2OneNetwork. I was not otherwise compensated and all thoughts and views are 100% mind.

Music Monday: Seal 7 #Seal7 #O2O

Katie November 2, 2015 0 Comments

Music Monday: Andrea Bocelli Cinema

Katie November 2, 2015 0 Comments

I am not a big movie fan, so a good majority of these songs I am just not all that familiar with.  Andrea Bocelli is not someone that I listen to regularly either.  I am aware of him and knew he had a great voice, but wasn’t totally sure what I was getting myself into with Cinema.  I have to say that while it is not my usual listen, the songs are absolutely beautiful and it was a nice calming escape before bed after a wildly busy week!

I received this CD for free from One2One Network in order to write this review.

Music Monday: Katharine McPhee Hysteria

Katie October 26, 2015 0 Comments

Hysteria
Feather
Burn
Stranger Than Fiction
Lick My Lips
Break
Appetite
Love Strikes
Round Your Little Finger
Only One
Damage Control
Don’t Need Love

Kat McPhee was certainly not a favorite of mine when she was on Idol.  But since watching her on Scorpion I seem to have a newfound respect for her.  This is her 4th studio album. Favorites include: Feather, Lick My Lips & Only One.  Definitely a great girl power listen.