Old Article: Randy Newman Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

This is another of my articles for KKBox. I wrote it a year ago, a few weeks after the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. While I've already posted a Randy Newman retrospective on this blog, this article was written from a different angle, so I thought I might as well post it too.

On April 18, eight artists were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, among them the 69-year-old singer-songwriter and critical favorite Randy Newman. Over the last few decades, millions have heard Randy Newman’s music through his soundtracks for numerous movies, including Ragtime, The Natural, Meet the Parents, Seabiscuit, Monsters Inc., Cars, and the three Toy Story films. He has been nominated for twenty Oscars and won twice (as he remarked when receiving his second one, “my percentages aren’t great”). It is no surprise that Newman has become a successful film soundtrack composer, since he had three uncles who were famous film composers, including Alfred Newman, winner of nine Academy Awards. However, it is chiefly for his work as a singer-songwriter and composer for other artists that Newman has been highly praised by numerous critics and artists like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Peter Gabriel, and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.

Randy Newman recorded his first song in 1962, but it flopped, so he turned to writing songs for others. Several of his songs became hits in the UK for British artists, including “Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear” and “Just One Smile”, the former of which was recorded by several artists including Newman himself, and the latter of which was later covered on influential albums by Blood, Sweat and Tears and Dusty Springfield. In 1968, he released his first album. Like most of his later albums, it didn’t sell well but was a critical success. Many of the songs on the album were covered by other artists, particularly “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today”, which has been covered more than sixty times. With this and subsequent albums like Sail Away and Good Old Boys, Newman established a reputation for writing songs in a variety of styles that paired attractive melodies with highly ironic lyrics. He usually writes in character, singing from the point of view of losers, misfits, and other slightly unsavory people. The beautiful “Sail Away”, for instance, is written from the point of view of a slave trader recruiting Africans to sail away to slavery in America, and the highly sarcastic “Political Science” is from the perspective of an American who wants to drop nuclear bombs on the rest of the world. One of his most controversial songs was “Rednecks”, a song from the point of view of a Southern racist that mocks Northern hypocrisy. “It’s Money That Matters”, as the title indicates, is from the perspective of someone obsessed with money. Newman’s sole major hit as a performer, “Short People”, also appears on the surface to be making fun of people of short stature. In fact, Newman uses these songs to criticize prejudice and narrow-minded attitudes, but it is perhaps not surprising that some people failed to notice the irony and took the songs at face value. In recent years, Newman’s pop-rock albums have been few and far between, but his most recent album of new songs, 2008’s Harps and Angels, showed that his distinctive brand of sardonic humor and his propensity for tackling controversial topics were still the same as ever.

Newman’s songs have been performed by countless artists, including Dusty Springfield, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Cocker, Art Garfunkel, Ringo Starr, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Barbara Streisand, Michael Bublé, and Korean-Japanese singer Noon, just to name a few. His “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)” was a US No. 1 for Three Dog Night and has been covered frequently since. “You Can Leave Your Hat On” was a hit for Joe Cocker and has also been performed by a number of other artists, though many miss the irony in Newman’s original. His “Louisiana 1927”, with the lyric “Louisiana, Louisiana, they’re trying to wash us away”, got frequent airplay in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which flooded the city of New Orleans. The more recent “Feels Like Home” has also been covered numerous times. Several artists, beginning with Harry Nilsson back in 1970, have even recorded entire albums of Newman covers. Nearly all of these other performers are technically speaking much better singers than Newman, but not all of them are able to capture the spirit of the songs the way Newman does himself. But whether one listens to Newman’s own versions or those by other artists, after listening to a sampling of his best work it is soon apparent why some critics regard him as one of America’s greatest living songwriters.

Live And Let Die: A Beatles Album from 1973

This is the fourth of my imaginary Beatles albums of the 1970s, after What Is Life (1970), Working Class Heroes (1971), and Imagine (1972). It would have been released sometime in 1973, probably in the spring; while in reality the Ringo songs weren't released until November, they were recorded in March. As with the other albums, I'm simply posting my original track listing and liner notes.

Live And Let Die

Hi Hi Hi (McCartney/McCartney) 3:07 (1972/12/01)
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) (Harrison) 3:38 (1973/05/07)
New York City (Lennon) 4:28 (1972/06/12)
Live And Let Die (McCartney/McCartney) 3:11 (1973/06/01)
I'm The Greatest (Lennon) 3:18 (1973/11/02)
Big Barn Bed (McCartney) 3:50 (1973/04/30)
Luck Of The Irish (Lennon/Ono) 2:56 (1972/06/12)
Give Ireland Back To The Irish (McCartney/McCartney) 3:48 (1972/02/25)
The Day the World Gets Round (Harrison) 2:51 (1973/05/30)
John Sinclair (Lennon) 3:27 (1972/06/12)
Get On The Right Thing (McCartney) 4:15 (1973/04/30)
My Love (McCartney/McCartney) 4:07 (1973/03/23)
You And Me (Babe) (Harrison/Evans) 4:19 (1973/11/02)

Total Time - 47:17

Hi Hi Hi
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Wings
Recorded 1972/10; Released 1972/12/01
Single

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
Written and Performed by George Harrison
Recorded 1972/10-1973/01; Released 1973/05/07 (single release [US])
From Living In The Material World

New York City
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1972/06/12
From Some Time In New York City

Live And Let Die
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/10; Released 1973/06/01
Single

I'm The Greatest
Written by John Lennon; Performed by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr)
Piano and Harmony Vocal: John Lennon
Guitars: George Harrison
Recorded 1973/03; Released 1973/11/02
From Ringo

Big Barn Bed
Written by Paul McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1973/04/30
From Red Rose Speedway

Luck Of The Irish
Written and Performed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1972/06/12
From Some Time In New York City

Give Ireland Back To The Irish
Written by Paul and Linda McCartney; Performed by Wings
Recorded 1972/02/01; Released 1972/02/25
Single

The Day the World Gets Round
Written and Performed by George Harrison
Recorded 1972/10-1973/01; Released 1973/05/30
From Living In The Material World

John Sinclair
Written and Performed by John Lennon
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1972/06/12
From Some Time In New York City

Get On The Right Thing
Written by Paul McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/03-10; Released 1973/04/30
From Red Rose Speedway

My Love
Written by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney; Performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
Recorded 1972/03; Released 1973/03/23 (single release [UK])
From Red Rose Speedway

You And Me (Babe)
Written by George Harrison and Mal Evans; Performed by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr)
Electric Guitar: George Harrison
Recorded 1973/03; Released 1973/11/02
From Ringo


The songs on this album were recorded in 1972 and early 1973. Paul – or rather his new band Wings – didn't release any albums in 1972, but they did release a pair of singles. The first of these was Paul's response to Bloody Sunday, "Give Ireland Back To The Irish". A very unusual song for Paul, who had heretofore avoided politics in his music, it was pretty hard-hitting (and naturally got banned by the BBC), though the fact that he wrote it and recorded it rather quickly is apparent, especially in the lyrics. Another Wings' song to be banned by the BBC (according to their spokesman, for suggestive lyrics, not for drug connotations), the rocker "Hi Hi Hi", was released at the end of the year. As one of Paul's best early singles, it made a good album opener. It was in fact originally a hit double A-side with "C Moon", a melodic tune which I considered including but decided against (the lyric is a bit irritating).

Wings' second album Red Rose Speedway was recorded in 1972 and released the following spring. It is hardly Paul's best work (a few of the songs are pretty weak), but it did have a few decent tracks, including "Big Barn Bed" and "Get On The Right Thing", both of which appear here. The big hit from this album was of course "My Love", which despite hitting the top of the top of the charts in the US and top 10 in the UK, was poorly received by critics because of its sentimental lyrics. I've never been terribly fond of it myself, but after some consideration I decided that it isn't really terrible either, as it has a nice melody and even the lyric is not quite as saccharine as it seems at first listen. Anyway, it was one of his biggest hits, so I decided to add it on. The final recording from Paul and his band to appear on this album is another single and in my opinion a much better song, namely "Live And Let Die", the theme song for the James Bond film of the same name.

John's album for 1972 was the highly political Some Time In New York City (actually it is a John Lennon and Yoko Ono album). The rather strident tone of the lyrics was a major reason that this is John's least popular release among both critics and the public. Nevertheless, there are some good tracks, and together with Paul's "Give Ireland Back To The Irish" and to a lesser extent George's songs, they make this the most political "Beatles" album. "New York City" is a solid rock song, musically and lyrically kind of like a sequel to "The Ballad Of John And Yoko". "Luck Of The Irish" was co-written by John and Yoko (and is clearly an actually collaboration, unlike the songs of Paul's on which Linda was given a writing credit) and they share lead vocals. Not a brilliant song, but pretty clever nevertheless (and with Paul's Irish song, it also makes this a distinctly pro-Irish album). "John Sinclair" is a song supporting the activist John Sinclair, who in an obvious case of political persecution was given a ten-year prison sentence for selling two marijuana cigarettes to an undercover cop ("they gave him ten for two"). The lyrics are perhaps a bit simplistic, but the song has a good melody and some cool guitar playing.

George finally released his second solo album Living In The Material World in early 1973, over two years after All Things Must Pass. It would be too much to expect LITMW to measure up to its predecessor, and it doesn't. However, overall it is one of George's better solo efforts, and some of the songs are as good as those on All Things Must Pass. Furthermore, as the AMG reviewer pointed out, it gave George a better chance to shine on the guitar, unlike the previous album which had a number of other guitarists, including Eric Clapton. Here George is the only guitarist, so he really gets to show his stuff. Two of the songs from the album appear here, including the big hit single, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)" and the ballad "The Day the World Gets Round."

Ringo had released an album of oldies and an album of country songs in 1970, but so far he had not released an album of pop songs. He finally rectified that with Ringo, which is without doubt his best solo album and for that matter one of the best solo Beatles albums. Of course Ringo didn't do it all himself, rather, as someone put it, he was "getting by with a little help from his friends." The first song from the album, included here, was "I'm The Greatest", written by John and performed by John, George, and Ringo (plus Klaus Voorman), making it the closest thing to a Beatles reunion on a single song until the Anthology sessions. In fact the album had all four Beatles on it, as Paul contributed a song as well (which will appear on the next "Beatles" album). George contributed the most to the album of any of the other three. Besides appearing on "I'm The Greatest", he wrote one song and co-wrote two others, one of them the album's best track, which will also appear on the next album. On this one you can hear one of his other contributions, "You And Me (Babe)", the song he co-wrote with ex-Beatle roadie Mal Evans as the album's closer (it originally also included a spoken part by Ringo where he thanked all those who contributed to his solo album, but since it wasn't appropriate for this album, I cut it out).

This album, if it had been released by the Beatles, would have come out in early 1973 after George and Ringo finished recording their contributions. This year would prove to be high point for Beatles recordings and releases, so much so that the next album in this series will also consist of 1973 recordings (including some real standout tracks), and even the one after that will included a few songs from this year. Stay tuned!

Paul Simon

This is an article I wrote for the music service KKBox a little over a year ago, just before Paul Simon came to play several concerts in this part of the world. It's basically a career overview.

From “The Sounds of Silence” and “Bridge over Troubled Waters” to “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” and “You Can Call Me Al”, the songs of Paul Simon have entertained millions for half a century. One of the few artists whose music appeals to audiences of all ages, Simon has received numerous accolades over the years, and he is highly respected by his fellow musicians, with people as diverse as Randy Newman and the late Joe Strummer of the Clash praising his work. Now he is bringing the songs which made him the first recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song to East Asia for concerts in Taipei on March 20 and in Singapore in March 22.

Paul Simon has been making and recording music since he was a teenager in New York. He first gained fame as a member of Simon & Garfunkel, a folk rock duo he formed with his friend Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote the vast majority of the pair’s songs, including such timeless classics as “The Sounds of Silence”, “Homeward Bound”, “Mrs. Robinson”, “The Boxer”, and “Bridge over Troubled Water”, as well as the lyrics for their adaptation of the Peruvian melody “El Condor Pasa”. Due to his poetic lyrics and the duo’s classification as folk rockers, Simon was sometimes compared to Bob Dylan, but Simon & Garfunkel had an even broader appeal than artists like Dylan or rock bands like the Rolling Stones. Together they were one of the biggest acts of the 1960s, and many of their songs are still staples of radio play today. Their songs have also frequently been covered by other artists, particularly the gospel-flavored “Bridge over Troubled Water”, which was performed by luminaries such as Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley.

After the release of their biggest album of all, 1970’s Bridge over Troubled Water, the duo split and Simon embarked on a solo career, writing and performing an even more eclectic variety of songs than he had with Garfunkel. He had numerous hits in the 1970s, including “Mother and Child Reunion”, “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”, “Kodachrome”, “Loves Me Like a Rock”, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” and “Slip Slidin' Away”. He was less prolific in the late 1970s and the early 1980s and his work was less successful commercially. But he staged a spectacular comeback in 1986 with Graceland, an album inspired largely by the music of South Africa and mostly recorded in South Africa with South African musicians. Featuring songs such as “You Can Call Me Al”, “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”, “The Boy in the Bubble” and the title track, it became Simon’s biggest commercial success as a solo artist and won him a Grammy. It still is commonly included in lists of the “best albums of all time”. The subsequent tour helped bring South African musicians like Ladysmith Black Mambazo (who had also performed on the album) and Miriam Makeba to greater prominence.

After Graceland, Simon released the Brazilian-influenced The Rhythm of the Saints, featuring the UK top 20 “The Obvious Child”. This album was another commercial and critical success. While his releases no longer have much chance of matching the sales records achieved by Simon & Garfunkel or Graceland, his albums have continued to be well-received. His most recent album, So Beautiful Or So What, released in 2011 and featuring meditations on mortality such as “The Afterlife”, reached the top 10 in both the US and the UK and got excellent reviews from critics, and he continues to perform frequently, as well as contribute his money, time, and music to different causes. Back in the 1960s, Simon once sang “how terribly strange to be seventy”. Now he is already passed that milestone, but he is still going strong. Paul Simon’s concerts in Asia offer people in this part of the world a rare chance to see a living music legend in person.

West of Memphis: Voices for Justice (Review)

The following is another album review I wrote for the online music service KKbox. While I might have written it slightly differently if I'd been writing for my blog, it's a fairly accurate representation of my thoughts on the album, which is a very interesting listen, if not as immediately accessible as most mainstream pop.

For some, music is just entertainment. For others, it can be a weapon in the struggle to uphold human rights. West of Memphis: Voices for Justice is the soundtrack for West of Memphis, a documentary about the case of the West Memphis Three, three young men who were sent to prison in 1994 for the murder of three boys on the basis of questionable evidence, in what many people considered a serious miscarriage of justice. Many of the artists who appear on the soundtrack have been involved for years in the fight to clear the names of the three, and their efforts helped the three win their freedom in 2011, though they are still seeking full exoneration, and a portion of the proceeds from the album will go to their continuing legal struggle.

The soundtrack opens with Henry Rollins reading a letter from Damien Echols, who was one of the West Memphis Three and also the co-producer of the documentary, along with Peter Jackson. The letter, sent by Echols from death row, describes the conditions he was living under over music from the movie’s original score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, effectively setting the mood and reminding the listener that this is not just a collection of songs. The songs themselves include covers of songs that were of particular significance to Echols during his time on death row, and others that were written in support of the three.

The artists appearing on the soundtrack include a wide range of superstars, often with intriguing choices of songs. Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks does a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Mother” that builds from a low key country-tinged tune to a heavier rock sound, Lucinda Williams performs a gritty, guitar-heavy version of her own “Joy”, and Camp Freddy – a group led by Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction and the Red Hot Chili Peppers – delivers a powerful bluesy cover of “The Jean Genie”, originally by David Bowie, one of Echols’s favorite artists. Longtime West Memphis supporter Johnny Depp, performing with his ad hoc group Tonto’s Giant Nuts, does a dark cover of the Mumford & Sons song “Little Lion Man” and also plays guitar on shock rocker Marilyn Manson’s heavy metal reinterpretation of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam accompanies himself on ukulele on “Satellite”, a love song he wrote for Echols and his wife. Even Bob Dylan makes an appearance with “Ring Them Bells”, a song originally released on his album Oh Mercy. But just as moving as the big name performances are the songs by artists who may be less familiar to some listeners, such as Band of Horses’s live rendition of their Crosby, Stills and Nash-style “Dumpster World” or “Anything Made of Paper”, written by Texan singer-songwriter Bill Carter and his wife Ruth after Echols told Carter to bring him “anything made of paper”, as that was all he was allowed to have in prison [click on the song title to see the excellent video for the song].

The main soundtrack closes with Johnny Depp reading another disturbing letter sent by Echols from death row over Cave and Ellis’s haunting score. This is followed by two bonus tracks including Patti Smith’s live rendition of her song “Wing” from a benefit concert for the West Memphis Three and Bill Carter’s rendition of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Road to Nowhere”, another favorite of Echols while in prison. With an array of powerful renditions of classic songs by top-notch performers, West of Memphis: Voices for Justice combines good music with a good cause.

The Songs of Pete Seeger, plus the Beatles on Ed Sullivan

Late last month, one of the most important figures in 20th century American folk music, Pete Seeger, died at the age of 94. I wrote a retrospective article on his career for use by the music service I've mentioned before, and eventually I'll post it here. For now I just want to list a few of the significant songs that were written or performed by Seeger.

The Songs of the Almanac Singers – In the early 1940s, Seeger was a member of the Almanac Singers, who sang songs supporting unions and opposing war, along with other progressive causes. Some notable songs they recorded were "Which Side Are You On?", "Talking Union" (written by Almanacs Millard Lampell, Lee Hays, and Seeger), and "Reuben James" (written by Almanac Woody Guthrie).

The Songs of the Weavers – In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Seeger was a member of the Weavers. Among their best known recordings were their versions of Lead Belly's "Goodnight Irene", the South African song "Wimoweh" (originally written and recorded by Solomon Linda under the title "Mbube"), the Israeli song "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena", the Woody Guthrie song "So Long (It's Been Good to Know You)", and the traditional "On Top of Old Smoky". In addition, the Weavers rewrote an old folk song with Irish origins (it had been further adapted by Lead Belly) as "Kisses Sweeter than Wine", with mostly new lyrics by Seeger's fellow Weaver Lee Hays and a few additional changes by Seeger himself. The Weavers were also the first to record "The Hammer Song" (see below). Contemporary performances by the Weavers of several of their songs can be seen here.

If I Had a Hammer – Originally titled "The Hammer Song", "If I Had a Hammer" was written in early 1949 by Seeger (who, by Seeger's own account, wrote the music) and Lee Hays (who wrote the words). The Weavers released the song (under the title "The Hammer Song") as a single in 1950, and that same year the sheet music appeared on the cover of the folk music magazine Sing Out! The lyric "all of my brothers" was changed to "my brothers and my sisters" in 1952 to make the song inclusive of women. Seeger recorded a solo version of the song in 1956. In 1961, Peter, Paul and Mary changed the melody slightly for their recording of the song, which became a huge hit. They can be seen performing the song live in 1963 here, and a live performance the same year by Seeger himself can be seen here.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone – Seeger wrote the first three verses of this song in 1955. He said the melody he set them to was that of a Russian folk song named "Koloda Duda". In 1960, folk singer Joe Hickerson added some additional verses. In 1961, the Kingston Trio recorded the song, making it a hit. Subsequently it has been recorded by many artists, a notable example being Marlene Dietrich, who sang it in English, German and French. Seeger himself recorded the song in 1960. Here's a live version from 1968 in which Seeger opens with a nod to Dietrich's German version.

Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) – Seeger wrote the music to this song, originally titled "To Everything There Is a Season", in the late 1950s. The lyrics were taken almost word for word from the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes. The song was first recorded in 1962 by the Limeliters and Seeger recorded his own version about the same time (this may or may not be that early recording). In 1963, Judy Collins recorded the song under the title "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)". One of the backing musicians on that recording was Jim McGuinn (later known as Roger McGuinn), whose band the Byrds recorded the song in 1965 and made it a massive international hit.

The Bells of Rhymney – This song was written by Seeger in the 1950s. The words were from a poem by Welsh poet Idris Davies. Seeger first recorded it in 1958 on a live album he did with Sonny Terry. In 1965, the Byrds recorded the best known version of the song for their debut album Mr. Tambourine Man. Here is one of Seeger's live recordings of the song.

We Shall Overcome – This internationally-renowned civil rights anthem had a complicated history. Among the songs which have been named as influences or early versions of the song are "I'll Overcome Someday" by Kenneth Morris, "I'll Be Like Him Someday" by Roberta Martin, "If My Jesus Wills" by Louise Shropshire, "I'll Overcome Someday" by Charles Albert Tindley, and the 18th century Italian Catholic hymn "O Sanctissima". In any event, Seeger learned the song as "We Will Overcome" from Zilphia Horton, who heard it from a group of striking tobacco workers, one of whom, Lucille Simmons, has been credited with changing the original "I" to "we". Seeger himself apparently was the one who changed "will" to "shall", and both Horton and Seeger wrote new verses. Frank Hamilton, Guy Carawan and students at Highlander Folk School further adapted it to the form heard in the civil rights era. Here is a video of Seeger singing it in the early 1960s.

Guantanamera – This song from Cuba apparently originated as a love song, commonly attributed to José Fernández Diaz. Julián Orbón adapted poetry by Cuban independence hero José Martí to the tune, and this is the version sung in Cuba today. Seeger further adapted the song, popularizing it in the US. He recorded it on his live concert album We Shall Overcome in 1963. His version was the basis for the 1966 hit recording by the Sandpipers.

Waist Deep in the Big Muddy – Seeger wrote this song in 1967 and included it on his album Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and Other Love Songs. The song, while telling the story of a platoon (commanded by a captain who is a "big fool") on a practice patrol in 1942, is obviously directed at the then on-going Vietnam War. Seeger taped the song for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in late 1967 (his first national television appearance since being blacklisted in the early 1950s), but the song was censored by the network before broadcast. After widespread protests, he was able to perform the song on the show early the following year.

Little Boxes – The satirical "Little Boxes", which mocks conformity, was written by folk singer Malvina Reynolds in 1962. Seeger recorded it in 1963 and it became a hit. The song has been widely covered since.

This is just a small selection of the songs that Seeger performed in his seven decades in music. Just as important as his music was his activism, as he continued to fight for causes he believed in almost to the day he died.

In other news, a few days ago we passed the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, an anniversary which inspired numerous news reports and media references. I have covered the Beatles frequently here – for instance see my reviews of Revolver and Abbey Road, my articles on Paul, John, George, and Ringo, and my imaginary post-breakup Beatles albums – and I'm sure I will again. For now, here's a clip of the Beatles performing "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Overexposed: Maroon 5’s Slick New Pop Album (Review)

The following is a review of Maroon 5's album Overexposed that I wrote for the online music service KKBox a year ago. Their head office is in Taiwan, but they recently set up a Singapore branch, which is why they needed articles in English, and this is the first one I did for them. As the version they used is only viewable by subscribers to their service in Singapore (so I can't even view it myself), I am republishing it here. I haven't changed it from the version I sent to them (though I don't know whether the editor I was working with did anything to it), but I've added some comments at the bottom to further clarify my opinion of the album as compared with the band's earlier work.

Overexposed: Maroon 5’s Slick New Pop Album

Maroon 5 first burst into the public consciousness with soulful funk rock like the group’s breakout hit, the Stevie Wonder-inspired “This Love”. Their debut album Songs About Jane was released in 2002, though it wasn’t until “This Love” was released as a single in 2004 that the group achieved international superstardom, solidified by further hits taken from Songs About Jane such as the popular ballad “She Will Be Loved”. The band’s next two albums, 2007’s It Won't Be Soon Before Long (which featured the group’s first US No. 1, “Makes Me Wonder”) and 2010’s Hands All Over, showed increasing pop sophistication and polish, while retaining much of the funky edge of their debut. Following slightly weaker sales for Hands All Over, Maroon 5 bounced back in 2011 with the huge international hit “Moves Like Jagger”, a single featuring Christina Aguilera that sold over 8 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the top songs of the year and Maroon 5’s best selling song by far.

With their fourth album, Overexposed, Maroon 5 is clearly aiming to capitalize on the massive success of “Moves Like Jagger” (the title of which refers to Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones) in the hope of matching the sales of Songs About Jane, which remains their best selling album. They have stated in interviews that they consciously made a pop record, shifting further away from indie rock and toward polished pop and dance-oriented music. “Jagger”, which was written mainly by producer/songwriters Benjamin Levin (co-writer of songs like Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and Rhianna’s “Diamonds”) and Shellback (co-writer of P!nk’s “So What” and “Raise Your Glass”) with some additional writing by Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine, also inspired the group to make increased use of outside writers on Overexposed. On the band’s first two albums, all the songs were written by Levine with other members of the band (chiefly guitarist James Valentine and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael) or on his own. On Hands All Over, the group collaborated with outside writers on a few tracks, but wrote most of the album themselves. On Overexposed, however, while Levine co-wrote all of the songs, he only wrote four of them with other members of the band, writing all the rest, including the album’s singles, with Shellback, Benjamin Levin and other outside writers. The result is an album that emphasizes a radio-friendly, danceable sound over guitar rock.

Overexposed’s lead single, “Payphone”, is a catchy mid-tempo track about a broken romance featuring somewhat superfluous rapping by Wiz Khalifa. Propelled by its propulsive chorus, the song hit number 2 in the US and became their first UK chart topper. The album opener and second single, “One More Night” is a reggae-tinged pop song about a bad relationship with sexually irresistible lover that topped the US Billboard singles chart for nine straight weeks. The album’s third track and third single is “Daylight”, a soft rock ballad reminiscent of Coldplay. Of the four tracks written entirely by Maroon 5 themselves, the most notable are “Ladykiller”, a Michael Jackson-style number in which the singer’s girlfriend has left him for another woman, and the piano-based ballad “Sad”, which is a welcome change of pace from the dance beats that dominate elsewhere. Lyrically, the songs on Overexposed tread familiar ground for Maroon 5, being mostly about broken, dysfunctional, and sexually-charged relationships, but with the focus on the catchy pop hooks, the lyrics are relatively unimportant. While it marks a distinct departure from the sound heard on Songs About Jane, Overexposed should appeal to fans of danceable, soul-flavored pop, possibly winning Maroon 5 a new audience.

While of course I didn't write anything in this review that I didn't really think was true, I also didn't ever state outright what I really thought of Overexposed. However, most people no doubt can read between the lines and see that I strongly preferred their earlier albums, particularly their first. Overexposed is not terrible: it's got a few decent songs and overall it's more listenable than a lot of pop albums. But it's way too slick and overproduced, and it's obvious that the band was abandoning much of their original sound in a blatant effort to repeat the commercial success of "Moves Like Jagger" (which isn't that great either). While it's true, as I wrote, that this album will appeal to many pop fans (e.g., those who like shallow, disposable pop), I myself would much rather listen to the band's previous albums.

A Look Back, And a Look Forward

This is my final blog entry for 2013 and also the 50th post I've made on this blog. This seems like a good place to look back over my previous entries and talk a little about what I hope to post here in the future (admittedly, my inability to pick a more specific topic to write about is another reason for doing this now). I've done reviews of favorite albums by the Beatles (Revolver and Abbey Road), Queen (A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races), Randy Newman (Sail Away), Genesis (Genesis and Selling England by the Pound), the Police (Synchronicity), Sting (Ten Summoner's Tales), the Super Furry Animals (Rings Around the World) and Radiohead (The Bends). I've written career retrospectives on each of the Beatles (Paul, John, George, and Ringo), the members of Queen (Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor), the members of Genesis (Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, and even Anthony Phillips), Randy Newman, Sting, Jimi Hendrix, and Lou Reed, plus a listing of my favorite Rolling Stones songs. I've posted several of my previously published articles on Taiwanese popular music, or links to articles online elsewhere. I've posted several of my imaginary post-breakup Beatles albums, and my compilations of 50s rock and roll and late 60s-early 70s classics of the psychedelic era. While some of these articles could use some revising and updating, I think for the most part I'm satisfied with them.

In the next year, I plan to continue to write articles similar to those I've already posted, particularly more album reviews, though as before I'll write whatever I'm inspired to write without following any particular plan. However, I'll probably be posting at most at a pace similar to that I've maintained for most of this year (about three articles every two months), or even less often than that. The main reason for this slower pace is I hope to be working intensely on my book on Taiwanese aboriginal music, and possibly also on my other book project, a general history of Taiwanese popular music. I also plan to post some of the reviews and articles I've written over the past year for the online music service KKBox, since for most of them the period for which I gave KKBox exclusive use has long expired. In some cases I may revise or elaborate on them, though probably I'll just post most of them in the form they were originally written. If I'm particularly busy on other projects, these articles may end up constituting the majority of my posts for the upcoming year. Fortunately I wrote a dozen reviews and articles for them this year, so even if I don't have time to write anything new at all, I should be able to post at least once a month in the upcoming year.