Being a singer/musician is hard. No wait, I take that back. Maintaining longevity as a singer/musician is hard. The quest to always have a hit single or album, maintain a fan base, and come up with new source material has to be so draining. Sure Madonna is succeeding but you know she's tired and don't even get me started on The Rolling Stones. [Love em to death but wow who would have thought they'd stil be kicking after all these years.]
I guess that's why some people stop altogether and move on or open revues in Vegas or stage countless Farewell Tours. Other artists choose to keep kicking and opt out of writing new material altogether and insteaed dig deep into American song books rehashing Peggy Lee, Cole Porter, Nat King Cole or anything created between the 1900 and 1950.
Why? I don't know, but goddamn it do I get sick of seeing this occur. Tony Bennet, Bette Midler, Rod Stewart, Michael Bolton, and now even Clay Aiken. [Which must make the folks over at Idol happy cause despite my ambivalence on the projects they do tend to sell well]
The thought of making money, dollar, dollar bills y'all had to be running through the mind of Jody Watley when she decided to join the bandwagon. I didn't even know she even made music anymore. [and I can't even name a hit or song from catalogue]Cut to Monday morning when the unthinkable happened. Regis and Kelly. Thin, older black woman with Erykah Badu neo-soul wi-I mean fro stands on stage captivating an audience with a slow jazzy rendition of, get this, Madonna's Borderline.
WTF? I immediately left the room not even knowing it was Watley until today when I came across an ad for her album. It seems her remakes are martinis with a twist offering something new and never done before. At least that is what is being said over at amazon.com:
JODY WATLEY’S ninth solo album, appropriately titled ‘THE MAKEOVER’ (Avitone Recordings), puts a pop-tronic spin and proverbial twist on the concept of "the cover record". The result is a groove-laden odyssey of fresh sounds that find the Grammy Award winning artist doing "makeovers" of contemporary classics such as Bob Marley’s "Waiting in Vain", Diana Ross’ "Love Hangover", Chic’s "I Want Your Love" and Madonna’s "Borderline" in addition to inspired new material, including "A Bed Of Roses" with the UK’s sublime powerhouse Drum and Bass outfit 4 HERO. The lead single from the project, "Borderline", is an ambient slow jam that flips the original, bringing new depth and poignancy to the song. Feauring collaborations with world renowned DJ/Producers, KING BRITT, 4 HERO, DJ SPINNA, RON TRENT, and CHRIS BRANN and MARK DE CLIVE LOWE, creating the feeling of a contempororary yet sophisticated mixtape. Single Disc. 13 songs. This CD also comes with 12 page descriptive booklet of anecdotes for each song, and stunning photographs.
"Depth and poignacny" is brought to the original? Please, she sounded like she was offering a watered down jazz number in some happy hour spot or on board a cruise. I mean I gotta say kudos to her for trying something new [ironic I know]. But I must also say enough is enough with these American Songbooks. -Sigh- Damn...longevity is hard.
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