Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
The holiday season is now in full swing and the BC Music Goodie Bag is celebrating by delivering a virtual stocking full of goodies for all music fans. Take a peak at and amend your wish list for Santa accordingly.
Elvis Presley and Martina McBride – "Blue Christmas"
This year holiday music could be heard over many radio stations and in every store you visited weeks before anyone sat down for Thanksgiving dinner. While it runs the risk of becoming old news before mid-December, most still turn to these CDs to get in the spirit whether we're relaxing in front of a fire, making out our holiday cards, or trimming the tree.
Thanks to technical advances and digital editing, we have a special treat for readers of this feature: A duet with the King and a princess of country music. Check out the YouTube video of Elvis Presley and Martina McBride singing "Blue Christmas."
You'll most likely recognize the original clip that was used to make this montage; it's been around for quite some time. The single is off the album, released last month by Sony BMG. Elvis Presley Christmas Duets will give you ten of these after-the-fact duets and three bonus Christmas songs by Elvis alone. The Amazon page (found by clicking the ad below) has a related-media video, or you can look at photos, behind the scenes footage, and the album's EPK at splash cast.
Jamie Foxx – "Just Like Me" (feat. T.I.)
The video to "Just Like Me", the latest single from Foxx's upcoming album was made available to YouTube viewers today. There's no need to go hunt it down, however, we have it embedded below.
Directed by film director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour), the video is a modern day twist on the classic song "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better." In the end, of course, Foxx comes to realize his co-star is more like him than he wanted to first admit.
Intuition, which carries the single, will be released December 16 and is Foxx's third album.
The Fray – "You Found Me"
"You Found Me" is the lead single from the upcoming album from the Fray. The self-titled release will hit stores and internet outlets February 3. 2009, but this single is already available via Amazon, iTunes, and the band's website.
Scroll down to check out the video for this song, which made its premiere as the backdrop for the promo video for the upcoming season of Lost.
James Morrison – "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You"
James Morrison is following up his first release, Undiscovered, and its five hit singles with Songs for You, Truths for Me and the lead track "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You."
The album and song both feature his soulful and signature sound; you won't mistake this for anyone but Morrison. It is a collection of heartfelt, emotional songs that touch something deep inside the listener, because they are obviously very personal glimpses into the life and soul of the songwriter.
About the new album, Morrison said, “I’ve called the album Songs for You, Truths for Me because that’s what I feel it is. It’s songs for Gill and everyone else. But for me they’re truths. They’re how I feel. I’ve got a song called "Love is Hard." In fact, there are three songs with ‘love’ in the title – and I never thought I’d do that, but that’s the way it went. "Love is Hard" is about when you’re deep in it and it hurts a lot of the time. You’re fighting, or not always agreeing, you might be away from each other and you’ve still got to be strong. So the album’s a collection of truths I’d learnt in the previous year. It just turned out that way: I knew I didn’t want to write about being on the road. I can only write about what I feel.”
Check out the video for "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You:"
More information on James Morrison and this release can be found on his official website, his Imeem page, and on his MySpace profile.
The Bad Eliots – "Cat's Meow"
Certainly you remember this song from Snapple's Antioxidant Water campaign that aired in early 2008. Now, in cooperation with Snapple, M80 is bringing you this new video and we have it right here at the Goodie Bag for your viewing pleasure.
The Bad Eliots consist of four talented musicians from the New York area: singer and multi-instrumentalist Roto (a.k.a. James Rotondi), Drummer Ant Cee (a.k.a. Anthony Citrinite), Bassist Jony Matias, and Paul Riario.
So far the collaboration between Snapple and The Bad Eliots seems to be working as the song has been sought out and download by numerous fans since debuting in the commercial, leading to the creation of the video below:
