Guilty Pleasures

Ok, so I was up in East Lansing and picked up the soundtrack to a movie titled, "Swing!" in a cd store that was closing up shop (RIP, Wazoo's). The movie got so-so reviews (think "The Committments" - "The Full Monty" X "Brassed Off" and you get the general idea) but get this - Lisa Stansfield sings most of the songs. You probably know her from "Around the World," which was a major single for here in the US. Many people couldn't believe she was this little petite English girl singing with the large, bluesy voice.

You can hear sample clips at artistdirect.com. Not all of the songs are winners, but it definitely counts as a guilty pleasure. This should make a great addition to a brunchy playlist.

My other guilty pleasure has been Charlotte Church's new pop album, "Tissues and Issues." Yes, that-little-girl-who-sounds-like-a-castrati-Charlotte Church. Seems she's gone all Melissa Joan Hart on us, looks-wise, though that's not a bad thing. She looks like a beautiful big 'ol friendly girl, with a phenomenal voice. The album has an early 90's R&B flavor (which I guess are still fairly popular over the pond) so I am debating about importing it, but then again, it might be easier than grabbing each track individually from iTunes UK. You can listen to samples from the album and hear commentary on the tracks here. Her speaking voice sounds like Helena Bonham Carter with a head cold and a teenaged vernacular.

Cool trivia: Charlotte explains that "Even God" was written by a 17 year old Boy George. I am hoping that someone releases the sheet music to it soon.

There are microsites for two of the releases from the album, which so far are the ones I like best:
Moodswings
Even God Can't Change the Past
The videos are great - good for her, I say!

On the main site,www.charlottechurch.com, you can find videos for two other songs, Crazy Chick and Call My Name, which are catchy, but I don't like them as well as the other two.

Which, brings me to my third guilty pleasure - staying up way too late blogging. Bedtime for bonzo! At this point, the dogs have given up trying to get me to go to bed at a decent hour.

^_^