Posts tagged Jason Mraz
The Friday Five: August 7, 2009
Aug 7th
Friday Five : \ˈfrī-(ˌ)dā,-dē ˈfīv\ : On the sixth day of every week I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.
The Five:
Jason Mraz – “Life Is Wonderful” (from Selections for Friends, 2006)
Originally from his largely (and criminally) ignored Mr. A-Z, “Life Is Wonderful” is a beautiful bit of alliteration.
Wilco – “It’s Just That Simple” (from A.M., 1995)
A fine country ballad from the bands debut.
Chet Atkins – “Steeplechase Lane” (mp3) (from Chet Atkins: Guitar Legend: The RCA Years, 2000)
Originally from the long out of print Chet Atkins Picks on Jerry Reed.
Estelle – “No Substitute Love” (mp3) (from Shine, 2008)
Complete with a tongue in cheek quote from George Michael’s “Faith” this is pure pop bliss.
Bryan Adams – “Heaven” (from So Far So Good, 1993)
It’s not “All I Need” but it will have to do.
What’s up next on your shuffle?
The Friday Five: July 10, 2009
Jul 10th
Friday Five : \ˈfrī-(ˌ)dā,-dē ˈfīv\ : On the sixth day of every week I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.
The Five:
Foo Fighters – “My Hero” (from The Colour and the Shape, 1997)
One of, if not my absolute favorite Foo Fighters track.
Warrant – “Heaven” (mp3) (from The Best of Warrant, 1996)
We all have our musical skeletons, mine just happen to have lots of hair… 20 years (!!!) later I still love this tune.
Jason Mraz – “Butterfly” (from We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., 2008)
Don’t let his sensitive singer-songwriter facade fool you, Mr. A-Z can write some downright dirty tunes. Our example today: a romantic ode to a lapdance…
Wilco – “I’ll Fight” (from Wilco (The Album), 2009)
I just got around to listening to this record yesterday and am looking forward to listening to it again.
Lazlo Bane – “Overkill” (mp3) (from 11 Transistor, 1997)
I vividly recall the first time I heard this… catching the video (when MTV still cared enough about the ‘M’ to do so) and being glued to the television. Opening on the familiar chord progression followed by Colin Hay in a bellboy outfit and giving to what, to this day, is one of my favorite covers ever. Mr. Hay even comes in after the bridge to lend his signature vocal to the final verse. Brilliant finish to today’s five!
Lazlo Bane – “Overkill” (YouTube)
Okay, I’ve shown you mine, now show me yours!
A Truly Beautiful Mess
Dec 13th
Jason Mraz – A Beautiful Mess (feat. Norwegian Radio Orchestra) (YouTube)
From the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway. This is quite possibly one of my favorite songs of 2008 let alone Jason Mraz’s catalog. The power of the vocal performance combined with the orchestra provided for the perfect combination.
Buy We Sing, We Dance. We Steal Things Expanded Edition (2 CD/DVD): Amazon | iTunes
Links: Official Site | on Last.fm | on MySpace
Review: Jason Mraz at Radio City Music Hall
Oct 14th
Despite listening to him since his days at Java Joes, Friday night was my first experience seeing Jason Mraz live. I was not alone in my first experience as it was Mr. A-Z’s first show at the legendary Radio City Music Hall, a that fact did not seem lost on him as he pulled out all the stops for what was one of the most entertaining and memorable shows I’ve attended in the last few years.
The evening started with Irish chanteuse Lisa Hannigan. I was really only familiar with her in the context of her work with Damien Rice and really enjoyed her solo set. With a 4 piece band of multi-instrumentalists to back her up, she performed a selection from her debut Sea Sew. “An Ocean and a Rock” was simply beautiful and captivating. “Lille” was delicate and lovely, which seems to be the essence of Miss Hannigan. I will definitely be picking up the record based on this performance.
After a brief intermission it was time for Mraz. The night started with the full 7 piece band taking the stage for “Make it Mine” the lead track from his latest release We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. Wasting no time, the band segued directly into a fresh (and lively) take on Mraz’s first hit “The Remedy”. This was the first of many times that the crowd would fill the hallowed hall with their voices in unison with Jason and he wasted no time in using it to his musical devices and creating a live mash up with the ladies singing the chorus and the boys (what few were in attendance) layering Oasis’s hit “Wonderwall” over top to great effect.
Jason Mraz – The Remedy (Video)
The band slowly began to recede during “If It Kills Me” and a quiet “You & I Both” and whittled down to the core trio of Ian Sheridan, Toca Rivera and Mraz for the stark and utterly heartbreaking “A Beautiful Mess”. Sheridan even broke out the stand up bass for the occasion bringing to mind the small club feel and making this one of the moments that Jason managed to make Radio City seem like an intimate club for five minutes. This feel continued with the simple and lovely “Life Is Wonderful”.
The rest of the band returned as well as four additional microphones as the back drop took on a decidedly religious slant. It was clear that it was time to go to church! “Live High” came to a grand crescendo with the Broadway Inspirational Voices choir joining in to bring the house down. The choir stayed on for an uplifting rendition of “Oh! Happy Day”. I should mention here that over the band, the crowd, and the choir Jason maintained a presence and a quality of voice that was astounding.
“Dynamo of Volition” brought the crowd to it’s feet for some well choreographed dance moves. It’s interesting to see 5,000 happy fools raising the roof in unison at Radio City. The crowd stayed on its feet for the remainder of the show as Jason kicked into “I’m Yours” to a crowd ready to make a joyful sound. I’ll let the video do the talking on this one.
Jason Mraz – I’m Yours / Three Little Birds (feat. Broadway Inspirational Voices) (Video)
After and incredibly short encore break Mraz brought Lisa Hannigan back out to play Colbie Caillat’s part in the duet “Lucky” and from there it was non-stop from the rave up of ”Build Me Up, Buttercup” to the beautiful finale of ”Song for a Friend” the significance of how grand a night it was long on nobody in the room. This was a perfect cap to the concert season and for my wife and I a beautiful way to celebrate our first year of marriage.
Pre-Order A Thousand Things: MusicToday
See the full setlist and the rest of the tour dates after the jump.
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