Sunday Sounds 61 - The Year-end Edition, featuring Annie Lennox

So there's only a day and a bit of 2012 left, and it's time for the last Sunday Sound of the year... but what to choose?

Well, one of my presents this year was (finally) Annie Lennox's 2010 album, A Christmas Cornucopia. It's a sublime album of carols, which ends with today's track: Universal Child, the album version of which features the African Children's Choir who have more recently sang on Gary Barlow and Lord Lloyd-Webber's Diamond Jubilee song, Sing. You can hear that song on the link above, and find out more about the choir itself by clicking "About Us" button.

Universal Child is a hymn to the human spirit - and an exhortation to personal action to help the children of a continent to have a brighter tomorrow and a real stake in a world where we take peace, rights, freedoms and  possessions for granted.

This version is taken from Red Nose Day coverage in 2011 and that point in the night when Annie Lennox is introduced and you know that you are going to be treated to something special. Even without the appeal video footage in the background, this performance is spell-binding and tear-jerking.

Andrew

Sunday Sounds 50

I'm not a particular fan of Queen - them having been somewhat before my time (or at least before I listened to pop), although I can remember seeing at least some of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert as we did have a telly by that point.

I'm also one of those people who hears the opening bars of Under Pressure and can't help but think of Vanilla Ice. Not Good.

Putting all that to one side, though, I found these videos while trawling You Tube for Annie Lennox performances. First up, Lennox, David Bowie and Queen in rehearsal with, amongst others, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley also around.

And here is the actual performance:

Andrew

Sunday Sounds 49

It's Sunday Afternoon (just). Why don't you go and pour yourself a Brandy, don your Smoking Jacket, light a Cheroot and - when you're quite ready - settle back and enjoy Herbie Hancock and Annie Lennox performing Every Time We Say Goodbye?

Andrew

NOW! That's What I Call A Tune! 24

I wanted to post The Bluebells' Young at Heart this week but to tie it in with the Volkswagen commercial on which it featured. Unfortunately I couldn't find that, so The Bluebells will have to wait for another day...

Other leading contenders were Ugly Kid Joe's Cat's in the Cradle or k d lang's Constant Craving but the artist I eventually chose is no stranger to these pages. It's the divine Ms Annie Lennox and the haunting Love Song for a Vampire:

Andrew

The Male Model Edition (and so much more)

Inspired by Stephen, I decided to find this video which I can remember watching streamed live on Facebook last year. To the casual eye, it's the Dolce & Gabbana Spring/Summer 2011 collection. To the discerning ear, it's the divine Miss Annie Lennox with a fantastic performance of two of her biggest hits, accompanied soley by a piano.

Sit back, close your eyes, relax... and enjoy.

Andrew

Desert Island Discs

One of my favourite wireless programmes is Desert Island Discs which, like most of my radio listening, is now done via podcasts... My iPod Shuffle being a vehicle for producing my own personalised and remixed Radio 4 (with the odd programme from Radios 1, 3, 4 extra, 5 live and Scotland thrown in for a bit of variety).

But back to DID... in the days before my Shuffle it was a programme that I only caught now and again but now I listen every week - and have also downloaded many of the archived episodes which are now available. It is one of those great Radio 4 institutions which has the ability to surprise and delight on a regular basis whether you know of the guest or not. 

(If you're not aware of it, the format of the programme is simple; the guest picks eight records which mean something to them and which they would like to have if abandoned on a Desert Island. These are shared throughout the programme during which the guest is interviewed and tells us something of their life story. Castaways on the island are given the Bible (or Qu'ran, Torah or other scripture as appropriate) and the complete works of Shakespeare, a book and a luxury of their choice.)

Sometimes you learn new things about the Castaway you thought you knew a lot about and sometimes you're introduced to a unknown person whose life is of particular interest. This week it was the latter, the guest was Lord Victor Adebowale, whom I must confess I knew nothing of. He's a former chief executive of Centrepoint and now heads up Turning Point, a Social Care enterprise in London.

One of the records he picked was The Tourists' version of I Only Want To Be With You. Although a big fan of Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics, I hadn't come across this version of one of my favourite songs of all time. Whilst I'm not convinced this is a great version (how can anyone, even the fabulous La Lennox, beat Dusty?), I do love the video:

DID is repeated tomorrow morning at 9am on Radio 4 and is also available as a podcast here.

Andrew

It's Friday...

...but it's also Christmas Eve! If all goes well, this post will go live just as my flight from Bristol to Edinburgh takes off, bearing me homewards to the bosom of my family, via the shops of Edinburgh where I will be completing my Christmas shopping!

No doubt when I'm out and about I'll hear lots of Christmas songs and maybe the odd carol, like this one, sung by the peerless Annie Lennox:

Andrew

An A-Z of my CDs: L

Although there were a number of candidates, there could only be one choice: Annie Lennox. Well done to Stephen for his correct guess.

As it's World AIDS day today, and as Annie is almost as known now for her campaigning work as for her music, I have not featured music videos this week Instead, we have two videos  - this  one in connection with a Rankin exhibition in London's City Hall raising awareness of AIDS in London:

AIDS is, of course, one of the causes Annie feels strongly about. Another is Africa; this video was produced for Comic Relief and features a project for woman living with AIDS in Uganda:

You can find more on World AIDS Day here.

Andrew

The Power of Fopp

Everyday I pass a branch of Fopp and do not go in, with very good reason: it is far too easy to spend money there.

Yesterday, however, I had some time to kill, so I went in... and, quelle surprise, I spent money! Now, the thing with Fopp is that there are so many bargains it can get easy to get carried away. A bit like when you're at IKEA and you keep adding little things to your yellow bag because they're only a couple of pounds.

In the past (before they were rescued from administration by HMV) it was the cheap art books that were my biggest weakness. Now it can be almost anything! I've previously mentioned Paolo Nutini on this blog - his album Sunny Side Up only cost me £5.

Yesterday I succumbed to purchasing Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, which has been on my reading list for ages. It's 1000 pages long, and cost me a whole £2!!

Not content with that, I then found Annie Lennox's Songs of Mass Destruction which is her only solo album I didn't yet own - £3 and it was mine!

Now £5 may not be a lot, but I could have spent a lot more - there were a series of re-issued Eurythemics albums with bonus tracks at £3 each, for example - and I could easily spend that and more everyday if I didn't have the willpower to walk past.

So, I look forward to reading my book in due course and reviewing it here, and I'm sure Annie will get another mention too!

Andrew