Some of you might know of William Orbit from his Grammy Award winning production of Madonna’s, Ray of Light album. Others may know of him from his work with Seal, Prince, All Saints, Sugababes, Pink, Finlay Quaye, and U2. He’s certainly prolific!

If you’re new to his music, here’s my list of must have albums / tracks are:

As artist / producer:

• The Best of Strange Cargos
• Strang Cargo – Hinterland
• William Orbit – Pieces in a modern style

As producer:

• Ray of Light – Madonna
• Pure Shores – All Saints
• Electrical Storm (William Orbit mix) – U2
• Black (William Orbit mix) – Sarah McLachlan
• Faith will carry – Beth Orton
• Beautiful Stranger – Madonna (from Austin Powers: Spy who shagged me)
• Be careful – Ricky Martin & Madonna

I’m in the process of buying all his music

The track below is called ‘Spiral’, from the album “Hello Waveforms” — available as a free download from William’s blog

You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She’s not perfect – you aren’t either and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can.

She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break – her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there

- Bob Marley

I was surfing around YouTube last night and found some classic songs I grew up on.

Here’s a classic from the Little River Band.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5RDn5Y0D_0

Some of the other great songs I happened across are:

• Little River Band -- Cool Change
• Little River Band -- It’s A Long Way There (1976)
• Cold Chisel -- Ita (1980)
• Cold Chisel -- Forever Now (1982)
• Cold Chisel -- When The War Is Over (1982)

Enjoy.

Derek Trucks is one of the most talented guitarists around. I first heard him at the Eric Clapton concert in Melbourne a couple of years ago.

His style has evolved from blues to an eclectic mix. You can clearly hear influences from jazz, Latin, Eastern Indian and other world music.

The Derek Trucks Band official site has more information about the album.

Already Free album cover

Music fans, particularly bass players, should check out Tal Wilkenfeld. I discovered her recently whilst perusing the jazz section in my local record store chain.

Born in Sydney Australia, Tal has now resided in the US for 5 years. She originally set foot on American soil as a guitar player, and less than four years ago, she started playing the bass guitar. Instantly, she was offered an endorsement with Sadowsky guitars, and since then, has played bass behind Hiram Bullock, the Allman Brothers Band, Kenwood Dennard, Geoffrey Keezer, Russell Ferrante, Eric Lewis, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Adam Deitch, Eric Krazno, Oteil Burridge, Leni Stern, Susan Tedeschi, Dave Kikoski, Jade Macrae, John Beasley, and Yossi Piamenta. One year ago, Tal recorded her first album, where she composed, arranged, produced and played bass on 7 intricate tracks with Wayne Krantz on guitar, Keith Carlock on drums, Geoffrey Keezer on Piano, and Seamus Blake on tenor sax. Tal has worked with Rickey Minor in Los Angeles, done a clinic at bass day 06 alongside Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke and Victor Wooten, and recorded on Pat Monahan’s up-coming solo album (lead singer of the band “Train”) with legendary Pat Leonard producing. In May, Tal will be coming to Australia to play a series of gigs with Chick Corea, followed by two nights with her trio here at the basement, with Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, and Geoffrey Keezer on Piano.

Source: Waterfront Records

Drifting
On a sea of forgotten teardrops
On a lifeboat
Sailing for
Your love

Sailing home

Drifting
On a sea of old heartbreaks
On a lifeboat
Sailing for
Your love
Sailing home

– Words and Music by Jimi Hendrix

Here’s a video of my cousin (Andrew Robinson) in his school band. He’s playing drums.

You can also view this on YouTube here

Enjoy

A friend of mine has recently launched this cool t-shirt shop.

Check out theNeedForTees.com

Here’s one I like…

Nice.

It’s been a long time between posts so I thought I’d quickly pass on the latest goodness from Apple

Yes, I’m talking about the iPhone and Apple TV

I hope the phone is available in Australia before 2008 but we’ll have to wait and see

Happy New Year!

Lately I’ve been listening an album called “What’s Going On” by the great Marvin Gaye. Released in 1971, it’s still very relevant in today’s climate of fear and war. I’ve posted the lyrics below the video.

There’s an excellent review on Wikipedia here, which gives you an insight into the album.

If you tune your ear to the bass, you’ll hear the awesome talent of James Jamerson.

– Lyrics
Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today

Father, father
We don’t need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today

Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what’s going on
What’s going on
Ya, what’s going on
Ah, what’s going on

In the mean time
Right on, baby
Right on
Right on

Father, father, everybody thinks we’re wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today

Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
What’s going on
Ya, what’s going on
Tell me what’s going on I’ll tell you what’s going on
Right on baby
Right on baby

- Enjoy