Wednesday, September 29, 2010

TOMORROW ON BUSTED HALO: ANNIE LENNOX'S MUSIC

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, I am an occasional contributor to SIRIUS XM's Catholic Channel, on the very cool Busted Halo show. Tomorrow night is Father Dave Dwyer's birthday (I think he's thirty-something) and since he once mentioned to me that he really enjoys Annie Lennox, I figured I'd feature her music for the show. Plus, I figured that would make this episode 33% easier to prepare for than the usual epsodes - it is a no-brainer that I had to include "Why," which I think is her finest moment (in a career of many, many great moments).

As No Expiration readers know, I really love watching great artists grow up in a way that makes sense. Meaing that I like young artists addressing youth, and older artists addressing what it means to grow old (Bruce Springsteen is especially good at this, and John Lennon was as well). I love looking at the below album covers together: The Eurythmics' Touch from 1983 and Annie's Bare from 20 years later, 2003. No more hair dye, no more mask, she's looking straight at you and saying, "this is the deal."Annie had such a distinct and inconic look, sound and vibe in the '80s with her group The Eurythmics, and she could easily have fallen into the "I Love The '80s" category. Instead she kept developing as an artist and as a person, and she has sort of created her own genre.   Maybe not her own genre, but she is certainly unique. I've selected a bunch of songs (not all of them famous songs) but call in and tell us about your favorites.

By the way, one of the songs will be "Sing," which is her song about the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa.  The song features lots of great guests (all female) including Sarah McLachlan, P!nk, Faith Hill, Celine Dion, Shakira, Isobell Campbell, Beth Gibbons, Beth Orton, Gladys Knight, Joss Stone and even Madonna. You can learn more about Annie Lennox's activism, and find out what you can do, at Annie Lennox Sing.

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