When it was announced that multiple albums were on the way featuring music from the unreleased vaults of Michael Jackson, I was a bit worried. Further was the fact that they were going to modernize the songs (a concern, if you recall the album that followed The Notorious B.I.G’s death). The first fruits of this, “Love Never Felt So Good,” has been released in advance of the album “Xscape,” and it’s pretty good.
Karen Carpenter was still a vocal powerhouse when she passed away, way too young, in 1983 at the age of 33. The New Haven, Conn.-born singer struggled with anorexia for a large portion of her adult life, and eventually it became too much for her body to take. Her legacy stands strong more than three decades later, with a number of stellar efforts recorded with her brother, Richard, as the duo The Carpenters. Continue reading
In my introduction to the Christmas Present series, I panned Christina Perri’s attempt at covering Karen Carpenter’s “Merry Christmas Darling” for playing it too close to the original, but without having the vocal warmth of Carpenter. Fortunately, Perri’s “A Very Merry Perri Christmas” (ugh, the rhyme), released this year, has a gem of its own. Continue reading