Rock My Heart

One of the most romantic sounds in the world for me is electric guitar singing. Rock ballads are the perfect way to say ‘I love you’ and to tug heart strings. Even macho rock stars can show their softer side with ballads. Here are four of my favourites.

Ugly Kid Joe: Cats in the Cradle (1992)

The Cranberries: Ode To My Family (1994)

Bon Jovi: Always (1994)

Scorpions: Still Loving You (1984)

Which ballads touch your heart, rock or any genre?

Dancing in the 80s

Last month A-Z Challenge kicked off with a party and a lot of bloggers featured older music from their youth. Being a child of 80s, I was instantly reminded of Music Television and how important it was in giving us an exposure to the hits of the world.

Madonna, Michael Jackson and later Bon Jovi were steady producers of hit videos but I remember playing with my two friends and pretending that we were three popular female phenomenons of mid-eighties. I was Sabrina, Tiina was Sandra and Tiia was Samantha Fox. We were about 6 and then their music sounded really good.

Sandra: In The Heat Of The Night (1985)

Sabrina: Boys Boys (1986)

Samantha Fox: Touch Me (1986). This version is a modern remake with Euro Pop star Gunther. As you can hear, Europe has been well primed for Lady Gaga style music since the 90s.

And last a fresh of breath air, some good ol’ rock: Bon Jovi and Keep The Faith (1992)

Do you recall these songs? And did you watch Music Television when you were young? Which songs do you remember dancing to in your childhood and teenage?

Kickstart The Week With Feel Good Music

Music has the power to evoke feelings, and the right kind of music takes us to our happy place. To celebrate the Monday, I’ll share four of my feel good songs. Enjoy.

To start with a cheery pop tune, Natasha Bedingfield’s Unwritten has some good lyrics for writers. “Today is where your book begins. The rest is still unwritten.”

The classic is James Brown’s soul song I Got You (I Feel Good).

An old favourite is Groove Armada’s hit My Friend from year 2001. The video takes you from a boring office to the beach and partying with friends. Ah! Do you remember hearing this song?

I tried to include a mandatory Monty Python song but unfortunately it couldn’t be embedded. So click here to listen Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life from Life of Brian.

What songs get you to good mood? Do you listen to music that reflects your feelings? Or do you use music to cheer you up or otherwise change your mood?

Let The Music Carry You Away

“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” -Berthold Auerbach

If I had to choose which of the five senses I’d lose, sight and hearing would be the last to go.

I listen to music mostly for background ambience when I write or do something on the computer. Classic music and movie soundtracks are perfect for that purpose.  Soundtrack music can be especially powerful since it was composed to bring the listened to a certain mood and to enchance the scene it ties to. And many classic music pieces were supposed to create a whole ‘movie’ in the listener’s mind. No wonder that Disney based it’s film Fantasia (1940) on classical pieces like Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet.

One of my favourite movie composers is Thomas Newman who has done the scores of Meet Joe Black, The American Beauty and Road To Perdition among others. The American Beauty soundtrack is perfect chill out music but I picked Whisper of a Thrill from Joe Black because I loved the movie.

Wojciech Kilar did wonderful job with the soundtrack for the Dracula movie. Love Remembered reflects the melancholy of the scene where Mina refuses to meet Count Dracula at the restaurant.

I meant to choose something more upbeat for the last piece but in the end I had to go with Tango Roxanne from Baz Luhrman’s musical Moulin Rouge. It’s melodramatic but so are jealousy and lost love.

How about you? Which songs touch you? When do you listen to music? Do you find the lyrics or the tune more powerful?