Wednesday, 25 June 2008

Courteeners fancy festive Duffy duet

The Courteeners singer Liam Fray has said that he would like to collaborate with Duffy.

Fray claimed the Welsh soul singer is a "dangerous talent" and proposed that his band record a Christmas duet with her.

"I wouldn't mind doing something with Duffy," he told Orange. "She's got a fantastic voice.

"She's a dangerous talent. We're labelmates as well so we're not ruling anything out at this early stage. Christmas single perhaps."

The Manchester band release their new single 'No You Didn't, No You Don't' on June 23.



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Wednesday, 11 June 2008

Tributes Pour In For Sydney Pollack

Tributes from Hollywood's biggest names have poured in for director and actor Sydney Pollack, who died of cancer on Monday (May 26) aged 73. Publicist Leslie Dart made the announcement, explaining that the Oscar winner was diagnosed with cancer about nine months ago. Pollack, who started his directing career in 1965, recently directed and starred alongside George Clooney in 'Michael Clayton'. "Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better. A tip of the hat to a class act. He'll be missed terribly," Clooney said. Sally Field also paid tribute to her 'Abscence of Malice' co-star, saying, "Having the opportunity to know Sydney and work with him was a great gift in my life. He was a good friend and a phenomenal director and I will cherish every moment that I ever spent with him." Pollack, who won the Best Director Oscar for the 1986 film 'Out of Africa', also featured in an ongoing role in television's 'Will and Grace' as the father of Will Truman (Eric McCormack). The Directors Guild of America paid tribute to one of their own in a statement, saying, "Sydney let the dialogue and the emotion of a scene speak for itself. Not given to cinematic tricks, his gentle and thoughtful touch and his focus on the story let us inhabit the world he created in each film." Pollack passed away in his Los Angeles home, surrounded by his wife Claire and two daughters Rebecca and Rachael.Photo courtesy of THINKFilm. 

Thursday, 5 June 2008

Weezer's power pop reaches higher but does the job on self-titled album

"Weezer"

Weezer (Geffen/Interscope)

Rest easy slacker geeks - Weezer have gotten it right once again.

Plowing through another set of snarky power pop, Weezer's self-titled sixth studio disc is a bit audacious without skimping on what makes this band great - popping riffs, infectious choruses and an almost silly nostalgia for youth.

Frontman Rivers Cuomo relinquishes lead vocal and songwriting duties here and there, which may turn off some fans, but Weezer remain smarter than most acts and Cuomo and his mates still pen some of the best power pop ditties you're likely to find.

Opening track "Troublemaker" is a kicking tongue-in-cheek knock on rock star misconceptions: "I'm gonna be a star and people will crane necks/to get a glimpse of me to see if I am having sex/and studying my moves to try and understand/why I am so unlike the singers in the other bands."

Lead single "Pork and Beans" is already pleasing fans of previous hits, "Everybody Get Dangerous" tackles the risks of youth that we manage to survive and "Heart Songs" is Cuomo's sweet ode to his myriad influences that references everyone from Gordon Lightfoot and Bruce Springsteen to Rob Bass (yes, really) and Kurt Cobain.

Other standouts include an homage to boyhood escape on "Dreamin'," diverse, pulsating rockers in "Thought I Knew" and "Automatic," and the gloomy synth freak-out of "Cold Dark World."

With their most challenging disc since 1996's "Pinkerton," it would seem Cuomo and Weezer have grown up a bit - but thankfully not too much.

Check out this track: "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" may be the most ambitious song in the Weezer canon. Piano, acoustic and electric guitars, choir chants and Beach Boy-esque falsetto harmonies (among other elements) propel continual switches from punk, folk and metal over the course of six jaw-dropping minutes.










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