Word: albums
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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They’d been born The Unicorns; they were reincarnated as Islands. Traces of their past life are scattered throughout their third album, “Vapours,” and the ebb and flow of these remnants shape a strange topography; the result lies somewhere in between the new and the old and meshes the two in a vaguely discordant harmony. Islands’ predecessors, The Unicorns, released only one LP in their short lifespan: 2003’s critically-acclaimed work of uniquely sweet synth-pop, “Who Will Cut Our Hair When We?...
Most songs off of Mika’s new album, “The Boy Who Knew Too Much,” could have been plucked directly from a musical; in fact, both of his albums, with their kitschy, infectious melodies and impressive vocals, could be described as show tunes for people who don’t listen to show tunes. The overdramatic, theatrical quality of Mika’s music renders it as appropriate for a Broadway stage as for a packed dance club or rowdy road trip sing-along. Characteristic of Mika’s style, this degree...
...this lush pop opera was released, once again as a concert album. Nearly four hours long and containing a staggering 39 songs, the piece was staged in Stockholm in 1997 and ran for nearly four years. The three-disc CD topped the local charts but was never issued abroad. Herbert Kretzmer, who had anglicized the French musical Les Misérables, worked with Andersson and Ulvaeus on an English translation, yet despite the seismic success of Mamma Mia!, the new show never left Sweden...
...nearly a hundred singers and musicians gathered on a famous stage to present a work that deserves to be renowned. Sung in English and trimmed by about an hour (losing a few favorite numbers in the process), this Kristina may not have the sweep and sonic magnificence of the album, but it's still likely to be the definitive reading of the new version...
...1840s and '50s, it focuses on the lives of Kristina (powerfully sung here, as on the original album and on the Stockholm stage, by Helen Sjoholm) and her husband Karl-Oskar (Russell Watson, the Salford factory worker known in England as "the people's tenor"). Nearly starved by crop failures in their native Smaland, Karl-Oskar and his brother Robert (Kevin Oderkirk, who earned vigorous shouts with each of his numbers) resolve to leave the land their ancestors have farmed for a thousand years and go to America. Despite Kristina's severe reservations, that's what they do, accompanied...