Music Review: Britney Spears - Femme Fatale (No Faux Pas)

Britney Mania is about to be unleashed like a circus freak show. Britney Spears new album “Femme Fatale” was just released, which is Ms. Spear’s seventh album. The much anticipated album is considered by many critics as her strongest album to date.

Yes, Britney did it again with Femme Fatale, a nonstop straight forward no holds barred dance album.  The production polished club album smells like fantasy perfume, with deep bass thumping dance songs. Like most of Britney Spears' songs, it is digital techno or as you might now it, modern day disco.

Britney has teamed up with some top industry producers for her latest album. Dr. Luke, Max Martin, will.i.am and Claude Kelly are the producers and songwriters on the latest release. Although Britney does not have any songwriting credits on the album, she does bring her brand and persona to the table. 

Max Martin and Dr. Luke are the executive producers of Femme Fatal, and they both bring their talent and abilities to the album. It is considered by many as one of the most exciting digitally produced album of the year. Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas also contributed and produced the song “Big Fat Bass” for the album. 

Femme Fatale (Deluxe) Track Listing:

• Till The World Ends
• Hold It Against Me
• Inside Out
• I Wanna Go
• How I Roll
• (Drop Dead) Beautiful (featuring Sabi)
• Seal It With a Kiss
• Big Fat Bass (featuring Will.i.am)
• Trouble For Me
• Trip To Your Heart
• Gasoline
• Criminal
• Up N' Down
• He About To Lose Me
• Selfish
• Don't Keep Me Waiting. 

 

Many critics have criticized the album for being extremely polished, as well as manipulation of Britney Spears vocals. In my opinion it is a straight up dance album, which is what Britney is known for, and is part of the Britney brand. I also believe Femme Fetal is a pause on the stepping stones of something far more critical to come because pole dancing in black garters has become passé and a cliché that has been done from everyone from Madonna and Lady Gaga to Keisha.  

Femme Fatale is not a faux pas for Britney; overall it’s her best album to date, and nothing that is disappointing.  The album will wet the appetite of Spear’s fans, which will start the buzz for Britney Mania, n’est ce pas? After all she is America’s pop princess.

Britney has announced a summer tour in North America to support Femme Fatale. 

By George Luker (C) Copyright 2011 Krule Music

Duran Duran: All You Need Is Now Tour Schedule

Duran Duran just started their All You Need Is Now Tour, to support their new album.

The tour started on March 07, 2011 and will run finish on August 21, 2011. The world tour has 46 shows in 17 countries. Complete tour schedule is listed below.

 

Throughout Duran Duran’s 30 year career the band has gone on tour 18 times to promote past album releases. The last tour the band did was the Red Carpet Massacre Tour (2007-2008).

 

You can read the CD review here. Music Review: Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now

 

Duran Duran kicked off the All You Need Is Now tour in with a special performance for The "American Express Unstaged" music series, on March 23rd at the Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles. The Amex Unstaged performance was a live stream broadcast, which was produced and directed by Award-winning filmmaker David Lynch.

North America Tour Dates:

 

Date:	City:	Country:	Venue:	Tickets:
April 02, 2011	Mashantucket, CT	USA	MGM Grand at Foxwoods	Tickets
April 04, 2011	Atlanta, GA	USA	Center Stage Theater	Tickets
April 06, 2011	Houston, TX	USA	Warehouse Live	Tickets
April 08, 2011	Monterrey	Mexico	Banamex Auditorium	Tickets
April 10, 2011	Guadalajara	Mexico	Telmex Auditorium	Tickets
April 11, 2011	Mexico City	Mexico	National Auditorium	Tickets
April 14, 2011	Pomona, CA	USA	The Fox Theatre	Tickets
April 16, 2011	San Francisco, CA	USA	The Fillmore Theater	Tickets
April 17, 2011	Indio, CA	USA	Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival	Tickets
April 20, 2011	Denver, CO	USA	Ogden Theatre	Tickets
April 22, 2011	Minneapolis, MN	USA	Epic Club	Tickets
April 23, 2011	Chicago, IL	USA	House of Blues	Tickets
April 25, 2011	Toronto, ON	Canada	Phoenix Concert Theatre	Tickets
April 27, 2011	Boston, MA	USA	Royale Theatre	Tickets
April 28, 2011	La Romana	Dominican Republic	Altos de Chavón Amphitheater	Tickets

European Tour Dates:

 

May 18, 2011	Newcastle	England	Metro Radio Arena	Cancelled
May 19, 2011	Glasgow	Scotland	SECC	Cancelled
May 21, 2011	Birmingham	England	LG Arena	Cancelled
May 22, 2011	Nottingham	England	Capital FM Arena	Cancelled
May 23, 2011	Liverpool	England	Echo Arena Liverpool	Cancelled
May 26, 2011	Berlin	Germany	Admiralspalast	Cancelled
May 28, 2011	London	England	The O2 Arena	Cancelled
May 30, 2011	Brighton	England	The Brighton Centre	Cancelled
May 31, 2011	Bournemouth	England	Bournemouth International Centre	Cancelled
June 01, 2011	Cardiff	Wales	Cardiff International Arena	Cancelled
June 03, 2011	Manchester	England	MEN Arena	Cancelled
June 04, 2011	Sheffield	England	Sheffield Arena	Cancelled
June 10, 2011	Paris	France	Le Grand Rex Theater	Tickets
June 11, 2011	Den Haag	Netherlands	ADO Kyocera Stadion	Tickets
June 12, 2011	Brussels	Belgium	Forest National	Tickets
June 14, 2011	Copenhagen	Denmark	Tivoli Gardens	Tickets
June 15, 2011	Gothenburg	Sweden	Lisebergshallen	Tickets
June 16, 2011	Stockholm	Sweden	Cirkus	Tickets
June 18, 2011	Helsinki	Finland	Kaisaniemi Park	Tickets
June 21, 2011	Moscow	Russia	Megasport Arena	Tickets
June 23, 2011	St Petersburg	Russia	The New Arena	Tickets
July 14, 2011	Dublin	Ireland	The O2	Tickets
July 16, 2011	London	England	iTunes Festival	Tickets
August 06, 2011	Schaffhausen	Switzerland	Das Festival	Tickets
August 20, 2011	Staffordshire	England	V Festival	Tickets
August 21, 2011	Chelmsford	England	V Festival	Tickets
Oct. 01, 2011	Valley Center, CA	USA	Sky Theater	Tickets
Oct. 04, 2011	Broomfield, CO	USA	1ST. Bank Center	Tickets
Oct. 06, 2011	Grand Prairie, TX	USA	Verizon Theater	Tickets
Oct. 07, 2011	Baton Rouge, LA	USA	River Center	Tickets
Oct. 08, 2011	Mobile, AL	USA	Bayfest	Tickets
Oct. 10, 2011	Clearwater, FL	USA	Ruth Eckerd Hall	Tickets
Oct. 11, 2011	Hollywood, CA	USA	Seminole Hard Rock Hotel	Tickets
Oct. 13, 2011	St-Augustine, FL	USA	St. Augustine Amphitheater	Tickets
Oct. 14, 2011	Atlanta, GA	USA	Chastain Park	Tickets
Oct. 16, 2011	Washington, D.C.	USA	Constitutional Hall	Tickets
Oct. 17, 2011	Philadelphia, PH	USA	Tower Theater	Tickets
Oct. 19, 2011	Cleveland, OH	USA	Playhouse Square Theater	Tickets
Oct. 21, 2011	Chicago, IL	USA	Chicago Theater	Tickets
Oct. 22, 2011	Windsor, ON	Canada	Cesear’s	Tickets
Oct. 23, 2011	Montreal, QC	Canada	Bell Centre	Tickets
Oct. 25, 2011	New York, NY	USA	Madison Square Garden	Tickets
Oct. 27, 2011	Toronto, ON	Canada	Air Canada Centre	Tickets
Oct. 28, 2011	Boston, MA	USA	The Wang Theater	Tickets
Oct. 29, 2011	Atlantic City, NJ	USA	Borgata	Tickets
Nov. 13, 2011	Paulinia, Sao Paulo	Brazil	SWU Music and Arts Festival	Tickets
Nov. 30, 2011	Brighton	UK	The Brighton Centre	Tickets
Dec. 01, 2011	Bournemouth	UK	Bournemouth International Centre	Tickets
Dec. 02, 2011	Birmingham	UK	Birmingham LG Arena	Tickets
Dec. 04, 2011	Glasgow	Scotland	Glasgow SECC	Tickets
Dec. 06, 2011	Nottingham	UK	Nottingham Capital FM Arena	Tickets
Dec. 08, 2011	Cardiff	UK	Cardiff International Arena	Tickets
Dec. 10, 2011	Liverpool	UK	Liverpool Echo Arena	Tickets
Dec. 12, 2011	London	UK	London 02 Arena	Tickets
Dec. 14, 2011	Sheffield	UK	Sheffield Motorpoint Arena	Tickets
Dec. 16, 2011	Manchester	UK	Men Arena	Tickets
Dec. 17, 2011	Newcastle	UK	Newcastle Metro Radio Arena	Tickets
Dec. 20, 2011	Dublin	Ireland	O2 Arena	Tickets

 

The tour also marks the bands 30th anniversary, in which Duran Duran would have some special planned for some of the concert dates. What could Duran Duran possibly do for their 30th anniversary?

 

UPDATE October 2011: The Wild Boys are Back!

 

By George Luker © Copyright 2011 Krule Music

Music Review: Duran Duran - All You Need is Now

Duran  Duran release their new album “All You Need Is Now” which many critics are claiming to be the follow up of their successful second album “Rio”. The new studio album does have a mystique aura about it, as it is their 13^th album. The number 13 is historically a significant number through the ages, so for Duran Duran with their back to basics sound on “All You Need Is Now” it fits the groove perfectly. 

Duran Duran  come full circle, and go back to their roots, with what made them successful as a band and recording artist in the first place, the music. There is even a sense of the visual artistic style that had eluded the band since the early 80’s.

The band minus a founding member Andy Taylor, come back with a smash hit album that is nothing shy of a miraculous reincarnation of their original sound and style,  including the romantic love affair of poem with dance pop music. 

Mark Ronson who produced “All You Need Is Now” is a well known English DJ and producer, and avid Duran Duran fan since his childhood. Ronson takes Duran Duran and brings them back to their sound, and style of music and songs, which really makes this album the follow up of “Rio”. 

Simon Le Bon’s vocals soar with conviction, energy and style on every track, which makes the album a true Duran Duran album. John Taylor is back as a Bass player, with those funky bass lines, that were heard on early Duran Duran albums, backed up with Roger’s solid drumming rhythm.  Last but not least is Nick Rhodes with the pioneering electrified synthesizer sounds of the early days. 

Duran  Duran is back and stronger than before, “All You Need Is Now” is the next best album after “Rio”.

Track listing of All You Need Is Now:

• All You Need Is Now
• Blame The Machines
• Being Followed
• Leave a Light On
• Safe (In the Heat of the Moment)
• Girl Panic !
• A Diamond in the Mind
• The Man Who Stole a Leopard
• Other People's Lives
• Mediterranea
• Too Bad You're So Beautiful
• Runaway Runaway
• Return to Now
• Before the Rain

Duran Duran's new album "All You Need Is Now" is available now, released on Tapemodern Records, which is the bands own record label.

Duran Duran are about to go on tour to promote All You Need Is Now, and this tour marks the 30th anniversary of their debut album release "Duran Duran (1981)", which had one of its biggest singles "Girls on Film".

See Duran Duran: All You Need Is Now Tour Schedule.

By George Luker (C) Copyright 2011 Krule Music

Music Review: Braids - Native Speaker

Braids is an indie band, but in reality more of an undercover complex social music unit. The band is from Calgary, Canada and is currently based in Montreal. Braids just recently released their debut album “Native Speaker”, which is a surprising, unique and refreshing musical sound. 

The band’s sound, is hard to label and pin point, but if words had to describe, the sound, style, and music of Braids, it would be experimental, techno social culture pop. The songs on Native Speaker are well written, conscientious songs, with a light flair and wave of digital techno engineering. This is in no way a dance album; it is a social awareness album with a new youth sound. Although it is an Indie experimental band, the songs are interesting and captivating to listen to.

Free MP3 Download:

Braids is giving a Free MP3 Download of the song “Plath Heart” 
The band is giving away a free download of their song Plath Heart, this download is available from Amazon MP3. You can download the song its self, or get the album and the song as well.

Title Tracks of Native Speaker:

• Lemonade (Explicit Lyrics)
• Plath Heart (Free MP3 Download)
• Glass Deers
• Native Speaker
• Lammicken
• Same Mum
• Little Hand

The songs on the album have a very polished production and timing, which makes Native Speaker stand out against other indie releases. A great debut album overall, never boring and worth listening to. As the young band matures more, it is quite possible they could be the next Arcade Fire.

Native Speaker is released by Flemish Eye in Canada and Kanine Records in the United States. 


By George Luker (C) Copyright 2011 Krule Music

Commentary: Clay Aiken Album Sales

Rumor has it that Clay Aiken has been dropped by his record label Decca, and speculation is due to poor album sales. Decca and officials for Clay Aiken have not made any comments as of yet. Clay did make a statement recently, that he has no immediate plans to record a new album, and that he was going to put all of his energy and focus on his current Tried and True Tour. Clay made this statement a few days before word hit the street about Decca dropping Clay from the label.

So let’s look at what happened. Tried and True was released in June 2010; the album is a great album full of classic songs, and songs everyone knows, including songs that Clay had sung on American idol (Season 2). Tried and True is a solid album from start to finish, music is spot on, and the songs Clay sings showcases his talent as a singer. In theory this was a well made and well planned album, which should have sold extremely well. One thing I will say though, it did not seem that marketing was high priority on Decca’s part. 

Tried and True album sales to date 63,000 copies sold. 

Did you see that? Let me repeat that statement, 63,000 copies sold. There is something wrong with this picture. If Tried and True was an album with original material, or songs written by songwriters for him, and the songs were not strong, then I would think, yes 63,000 sounds right. But that is not the case here, Tried and True is an album of classic cover songs, songs like the album title states are tried and true songs. 

Where are Clay Aiken’s Fans?

This is where I have a problem comprehending, that Tried and True sold only 63,000 copies. Clay Aiken has legions of fans worldwide, and very loyal fans. “Hypothetically I am going to say Clay has 10 million fans worldwide.” (Please feel free to correct me on my figures, by making a comment).  So if out of 10 million fans only 20 percent like the new album, this would be 2 million fans. Now let’s say that from 2 million fans, only 30 percent bought the album. By simple arithmetic, that would mean the album should have sold 600,000 copies. 

My estimate would have been that Tried and True should have sold between:  750,000 to 1.5 million copies worldwide within 1 year. By the calculation above 600,000 copies should have been sold, to date only 63,000 copies have been sold.  Did I miss something here? 

How many fans does Clay Aiken have? I will guess again and say 10 million fans worldwide, and I am going to make an assumption, and I bet that at least 2 to 3 million die hard Clay Aiken fans have a copy of Tried and True on their iPhones and laptops, but only 63,000 copies were sold.

How did this happen? Illegal file sharing could be the culprit, downloading songs and albums for free destroys an artist, and the recording industry. Clay Aiken’s Tried and True album is classic example.

Maybe now fans will realize why Clay was dropped from his record label, and he was dropped purely from a business standpoint, which was the album had poor sales. This is sad, because Tried and True is a great album, and from this point on, will be known as a turning point, and or the continued decline of legal album sales, due to piracy.

This is a commentary and this view is my own personal opinion, and does not reflect the views of Decca, or Clay Aiken.  

I am very passionate about my music, and always buy my music to support the artists and bands that I like. I became a fan of Clay Aiken, when I bought his Tried and True album to write a review for this blog, and it’s a CD I play quite often.

There is a link here to Amazon, where you can purchase the album, now would be a good time to show some support to Clay, and hopefully he will record a new album in the future.

Clay is currently on tour to support his album Tried and True.


By George Luker (C) Copyright 2011 Krule Music

Music Review: Linda Eder "Now" Nostalgic Romance

New music releases for March include the latest release from Linda Eder titled "Now". The new album can be described as easy listening and retro 60's Broadway musical. Linda reunites with a former musical partner Frank Wildhorn, who is the main songwriter and composer on her latest album "Now".

The mood and theme of Now is 1960's musical complete with the big band sound and nostalgia. Eder's vocal style on this album are very similar to Barbara Streisand, and the style of music just adds to that notion. The songs that Wildhorn has written back up and solidify the style of the album, with its throw back to 60's pop, with string orchestrated standards. Ironically the album's title "Now" does not reflect the actual time period of the music, but does give the indication that it's release is  current.

The style of Linda Eder's album is hopelessly romantic and lush mood music which gives it a romance themed CD.  Like all easy listening music, you could enjoy a glass of wine and listen to the whole album in its entirety, with a loved one of course.

Title Tracks:

1. Not Gonna Fall This time
2. No Finer Man
3. Ordinary People
4. The Heart of the Night
5. What Did You See in the Stars
6. Now
7. The Mad Hatter (From Wonderland)
8. A Woman In His Arms
9. Good bye
10. What's Never Been Done Before
11. More Than Heaven
12. Living In The Shadows

Overall a great album to listen to that transforms you to the romantic and nostalgic feelings of love, love and lost and reunion. Linda Eder covers all the emotion with her album "Now"

By George Luker (C) Copyright 2011 Krule Music