“I love everything about the holidays,” enthuses Rimes—so much so that the Grammy-winning country star is releasing a trio of Yuletide-themed EPs over the next three years. The first finds her covering favorites originally recorded by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder and Dolly Parton, whose “Hard Candy Christmas” allows Rimes a chance to put her own sweet touch on the season.
The sumptuous, post-Edwardian world of Downton Abbey is well suited to Yuletide celebration. Christmas specials of the popular award-winning TV series are already an annual tradition, which makes this double album the perfect stocking stuffer for fans of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants. Many of the 45 tracks are sung by the likes of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and the Choir of Kings College. And the Budapest City Orchestra performs an extended festive-suite version of the series theme. But the songs that will most excite Downton followers are those sung by cast members. Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Cora) delivers a jaunty “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” The American actress, who fron...
The iconic voice of James Bond themes, Dame Shirley has sold over 135 million records over five decades. Now the 77-year-old legend returns with a new album, revisiting her signature “Goldfinger” and teaming up with Paloma Faith on “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” As she sings on the Stephen Sondheim classic: “I’m still here.”
Britain’s boy band is releasing its fourth studio album in three years, a cause for excitement among 1D fans everywhere. Along with the hit single “Steal My Girl” and “Fireproof,” the new album from Niall, Zayn, Liam, Harry and Louis features the edgy “Night Changes” and the ’80s vibe of “Stockholm Syndrome.”
Of all Dylan’s bootlegs—official and unofficial, none has been more attracted more mystique and allure than the over 100 diverse recordings he made with The Band during the summer of ’67. Now they’ve been exhaustively restored and compiled in six- and two-disc collections, including 30 never-bootlegged tracks like the rollicking roadhouse blues “Dress It Up, Better Have It All,” that represents the roots-rock mother lode.
Even in the gender-bending heyday of Eurythmics, when videos ruled the music world, Lennox’s voice rose above imagery to become one of the era’s most distinctive features. Here was a formidable singer, one who caused shivers in listeners. It was entirely fitting that when she embarked on a solo career in 1992, her debut album was titled simply Diva. Now the multiple Grammy winner has set her divine voice to classics from the American Songbook. But the collection, she insists, is not a covers album. “These are interpretations of these songs,” says Lennox, who turns 60 this Christmas Day. “I went deeper because, for me, the origin of these songs is the blues. Blues comes from something both be...
In many ways, Aretha is the original diva—a singer raised in the gospel church who became a vocal legend with her soaring and swooping mezzo-soprano. Through the ’90s artists from Mariah Carey to Whitney Houston were all students of her style, while more recently Christina Aguilera and Martina McBride have paid their respects. Now the original Queen of Soul, still active at 72, returns the favor by covering classics originally performed by her contemporaries and admirers. Aretha shows off her ecstatic gospel style on Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” and gets a little funky on a mash up of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and Destiny Child’s “I’m a Survivor.” She dips into the ’60s with her pian...
The Irish troubadour’s rise to stardom came fast with his 2002 debut, O, which featured sensitive folk confessionals like the hits “Cannonball” and “Volcano.” After a disappointing followup, Rice is back with more string-laden intimacy, including “It Takes a Lot to Know a Man” and the soul-baring “I Don’t Want to Change You.”
Voisine once played a hockey player in the Quebec TV series Lance et compte (He Shoots, He Scores). The bilingual star has certainly scored with his new English album. Recorded in Montreal, Nashville and London, it includes polished numbers like the country-tinged “The Gift” and the inspirational “I Will Remain,” which sounds a lot like a promise.
This soundtrack for the movie adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling memoir, starring Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon, features some inspired choices. Bruce Springsteen’s “Tougher Than the Test,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound” and the Hollies’ “The Air that I Breathe” provide note-perfect accompaniment to a tale of survival and self discovery during a 1,600-km wilderness hike.
