This week the 12 albums shortlisted for the prestigious Mercury Prize were announced. One of those is the Jessie Ware album ‘Devotion’. I like her Sade-esque brand of leftfield soul. ‘Running’ is one of my favourite tracks of the year. 'Still Love Me' and 'Wildest Moments' are good too as his her rendition of Bobby Caldwell’s ‘What You Won’t Do For Love’- which wasn’t on the original album, but was on the Deluxe edition that came out a little while later. You can also find that track as a free download via a Facebook page. She faces stiff competition, not least from Plan B who has also been nominated for his soundtrack to the film 'Ill Manors'.
David Guetta’s album ‘Nothing But The Beat’ is on its way to being certified double platinum. Now, he has a new album out - well new-ish. called ‘Nothing But The Beat 2.0’ and contains hits from the previous album plus a handful of new tracks. Two of the new tracks have entered the UK top 40 this week. First there’s ‘She Wolf’ featuring the vocals of Sia (who sang on Titanium) and is a real club banger that Guetta is quite capable of making, then there’s ‘Play Hard’ which is dross europop that owes more than a little to the big club hit ‘Better Off Alone’ by Alice Deejay from the late 90s.
Otto Knows is a Swedish DJ/Producer and charts this week with his club hit ‘Million Voices’. This has already been a big record in clubland. It’s the one that goes ‘eh eh eh eh eh ah ah ah ah ah…’
Last Monday saw a successful concert put on at the Hotel Puerte Romano Marbella in aid of those affected by the recent devastating fires on the Costa del Sol. The concert was put together at short notice and dubbed ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. Coincidentally, a week later, Gerry & the Pacemakers are back in the UK pop chart with ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ following an online campaign by Liverpool fans to raise awareness for those that lost lives in the Hillsborough tragedy in England 23 years ago. Well done to all those that were involved in the Marbella concert.
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