Back in the
70s there were so many wonderful piano singer songwriters. There is something
quite special about piano melodies as opposed to guitar composed songs.
There was
Paul Simon's Bridge over Troubled Water (while
he composed mostly on guitar), McCartney's Long
and Winding Road, Elton John's Your
Song, Carole King's Tomorrow and
of course Joni Mitchell's songs.
The only high quality younger piano singer songwriters I can think of are all female - Adele, who had to fight to have ONLY piano on her massive hit Someone Like You; Emeli Sande and her lovely Clown and River songs; and Canadian singer songwriter the irrepressible Sarah McLachlan and her very moving piano song Answer (new album next year). She sings songs of understanding that are haunting and questioning.
The only guy I can think of is Chris Martin's piano songs with his Coldplay band (Fix You).
Sarah McLachlan, is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. Known for her
emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano
vocal range, as of 2009, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide.
McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy
Awards (out of four nominations) and four Juno Awards.
The Right Arrangements
I watched Lana del Ray’s 'National
Anthem' video trailer with its' strong black and whites and it moves at just
the right pace. I also watched Lana's gig at Hackney weekend where the crowd
was singing along and clearly into the music. This was very good and touching
too her joy of the crowd and lovely to see after the poor reviews for her Saturday Night Live performance - when
the rock band backing her didn't work with the style of her music and I posted
that she needed simply 'strings and piano.' So why do label people always think
'to be cool' the artists needs a rock band when it all depends on the type of
music.
