On January 1, 2012, I was happily surprised by a New Year’s Day posting from Katt Wade. She had covered the first 90 seconds of “Wayfaring Stranger” in the one-take style of Ed Sheeran. After a speedy positive response from her fans, she stayed up late to deliver a full version of the song she recorded using Garageband. Check it out!

So, that being Katt‘s fourth or fifth Ed Sheeran cover, I figured it was time I looked into this Sheeran guy a bit more closely. I loved his SBTV version of “You Need Me” on YouTube, and knew he was suppose to have released an album in the UK last summer, so I figured I should see how well he did on “Wayfaring Stranger”. I found his “Wayfaring Stranger” video on YouTube, and was quite impressed! There’s a link under it to download the track for FREE by signing up for a newsletter on his website. (He does NOT spam you, BTW.)

The One Take EP is the free download, and it has an AMAZING song on it called “U.N.I.”. We Americans need to know that what we call “going to college”, the British refer to as “attending university” or, “uni” (pronounced “you knee”) for short. So, U.N.I. in the song is an abbreviation for uni, or “going to college.” I actually like the one-take version of “U.N.I.” better than the album version, but maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, after that, I ordered a slew of Ed Sheeran albums from Amazon, and paid out the nose to have them imported to the U.S.A. It was worth it! His album “+” is amazing, and is coming to the U.S. in June. Everyone should check it out! So, most of January, I listened to the following Ed Sheeran songs:

Grade 8
The City
Small Bump
The A Team
Drunk
Lego House
You Need Me, I Don’t Need You
Let It Out
Little Lady (with Mikill Pane)
So
Cold Coffee
Fall
Homeless
Firefly
Wake Me Up

Okay. I think you get the idea,…. I like me some Ed Sheeran. 🙂 So, I bought concert tickets to see him soon. Woo Hoo!! 🙂 Every now and then, someone comes along and changes your entire musical world. For me, that was Katt Wade and Ed Sheeran. I think they are AWESOME!

I figured, since I was going to see Ed Sheeran, I may as well make 2012 the year of the tours, and go see EVERYONE I enjoyed. Thanks to my sister, Angie, informing me about the concert, I was able to get V.I.P. tickets to MEET The Pretty Reckless. I wanted to hear some of their live stuff, so I started listening to the following LIVE tracks:

Criminal (A Fiona Apple cover.)
Make Me Wanna Die
Zombie
Since You’re Gone
Miss Nothing
Just Tonight
Forget You (A Cee Lo Green cover.)
Islands/Love The Way You Lie (A The XX/Eminem & Rihanna cover.)

By mid-month, I was still searching for more music, and decided that Katt steered me in the right direction with Ed Sheeran, so I should search out some other artists she had covered. Before her YouTube account was senselessly hacked and deleted last year, she had a recording she posted YEARS ago called “Golden Touch”, originally by the band Razorlight. I enjoyed her version so much, I sought out Razorlight, and ended up buying their album “Up All Night”. The following were the best three tracks, in my opinion:

Golden Touch
Stumble And Fall
Somewhere Else

Then, on January 18, 2012, I saw that Katt Wade had posted a brand new recording of her untitled song that I named the best song of 2011. I refer to it as “Staring At The Sun”, and I think it’s AWESOME! Then, the very next day, another Katt Wade posting…. this time a Circa Survive cover of “Imaginary Enemy”. I was BLOWN AWAY!! You have no idea how much I like this song. I searched for the original version, and thought it SUCKED. My friend, Monica, told me that maybe it was a song that just sounded better acoustic. So, I found an acoustic version by Circa Survive, and I STILL thought it sucked. Katt Wade REALLY showed off her talent in this one. I honestly like her version better than the original. She is truly talented! It was like having my own little Katt Wade single, with the two tracks together.

“Staring At The Sun ’12”
Imaginary Enemy

… and on the same night, I stumbled onto an awesome video by 8-year-old Juliet, called “My First Hardcore Song”. This song ROCKS! Within a few hours she had MILLIONS of views on YouTube. The next day, they were selling t-shirts, and the digital download of the song. She started gaining radio airplay around the world! I even own one of the t-shirts myself. 🙂

Aerosmith‘s Joe Perry recorded a track for Amnesty International. It’s a cover of the Bob Dylan song, “Man Of Peace”. It was great to hear Joe doing his thing, and getting back to his roots! I’m extremely excited for the Aerosmith album due out this summer. I’ve been waiting on it since it was first announced 6 years ago!! I’m sure it will rock!! 🙂

Near the end of January, the rock band Royal Bliss released their new studio album. If you read my 2011 postings, you’ll know that they made quite an impression on me last year. I knew their album would be good,… but I had NO IDEA it would be THIS good! The entire “Waiting Out The Storm” album is consistent, which is a rarity. The thing just plainly ROCKS. I didn’t expect them to musically progress that far, that fast. I mean, this thing is a MASTERPIECE. It’s mixed well, it’s performed well, has wonderful arrangements,… even the order of the tracks on the album promotes maximum rockage! If you’re into hard rock, you’ll love this album. Here is a pleasant sampling of some of the tracks:

Wake Up (Acoustic)
I Got This
Crazy
Bleed My Soul
I Love You

Around this time, I stumbled onto a band called Ten City Nation. They have a track called “TDK 90” which got stuck in my head somehow, and made me examine them further. I listened to most of their “At The Still Point” album, which has a great musical sound. I’m not entirely happy with the lyrics, or the vocal delivery, but the guitar work and other instrumentation is fabulous.

And last, but certainly not least, to wrap up the month of January 2012, I was hand-delivered an amazing album right to my doorstep at the end of the month….. an autographed CD, hand delivered by the artist’s daughter, as the artist herself waved to me from her van. 🙂 Benita Swick grew up across the road from me, so I’ve known her pretty much my entire life. She recorded an album recently, and I must say, it’s VERY impressive! “One Life To Live” features Benita, with her voice in top form, generating a sound so pure and clear that she could put ANY of the innocent, Disney, singing princess vocals to shame. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m just trying to emphasize the purity of her vocals. There’s NOTHING childish about her voice. She sings with sincerity and strength. In fact, on her cover of “Unto The Lamb”, she hits and holds a powerful note at the end, that would make MANY of today’s rock artists jealous! … and she does it all without missing a beat. 🙂

Some people may be surprised that I am mentioning a Praise & Worship CD. I listen to A LOT of different music. My background is mainly country, top 40, and rock,… but I’ve had a fair share of gospel, rap, folk, and even classical blare through my earphones, so PLEASE don’t judge an artist based solely on their genre. When someone is truly good, people notice, no matter what genre they perform.

Benita’s vocals are AMAZING! There’s a hint of country in there if you listen, and perhaps it’s all in my head, but in her voice I can hear MY NEIGHBORHOOD! I’m serious! I can hear my grandmother’s authoritative inflections and projection. I hear Benita’s mother and grandmother’s soft kindness, warmth, enunciation, and emotion. I hear our neighbor, Ruth’s, enthusiasm and zeal. I also hear the patient understanding of a caring mother, as if explaining a topic to a child, and ensuring they gain a full understanding of the situation. I’d like to think that this blend of characteristics creates a sound that is unique to this neighborhood. All I can say for sure is that I’ve never heard another vocal that immediately made me think of home.

Perhaps I’m biased? Praise & Worship doesn’t dominate my music collection, so I figured I should ask some people more familiar with this type of music. I played the album for two people who listen to this genre frequently. After one minute of the first track, “This Is Your Song” (possibly my favorite track on the album), the first listener said in disbelief, “This is your neighbor?!?!” After listening to three tracks, he was hooked, and suggested that Benita send a copy of the CD to “He’s Alive Radio” because it sounded BETTER than the songs they normally play on that station.

My other friend listened to both Benita AND Ed Sheeran’s album, and also some tracks by Katt Wade. All she could talk about was Benita. 🙂 I had to actually ask her about Katt and Ed. It was like she had forgotten about them! She said that she liked Katt, and that Ed was really good, but Benita was AMAZING, and she went on talking about her for quite a while. 🙂

The tracks I liked best seem to be, “This Is Your Song”, “Senses”, “Jesus (1-2-3 Shout)”, and “Unto The Lamb”. But, the most impressive thing about this album is that (with the exception of “Unto The Lamb”) the entire album was written by Benita and her husband, Howard. Now THAT is talent. 🙂

I’ll leave you with one that Benita wrote herself called “Joy”, in the hopes that you all find joy in hearing it. 🙂

Thanks, and keep an eye out for February’s music update!! Take care!

–Thumper