DARK SKY ISLAND

ENYA
SONGWRITERS: EITHNE NI BHRAONAIN; NICKY RYAN & ROMA RYAN
COUNTRY: IRELAND
ALBUM: DARK SKY ISLAND
LABEL: WARNER RECORDS
GENRE: CELTIC MUSIC
YEAR: 2015
 
          Enya Patricia Brennan(Irish: Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin/ˈɛnjə/; born 17 May 1961) is an Irish singer, songwriter and musician, known for pioneering modern Celtic and New-age music. Regarded as the "Queen of New Age", Enya is the best-selling Irish solo artist in history, and second-best-selling overall behind U2. Born into a musical family and raised in the Irish-speaking area of Gweedore, County Donegal, Enya began her music career when she joined her family's Celtic folk band Clannad in 1980 on keyboards and backing vocals. She left the group in 1982 with their manager and producer Nicky Ryan to pursue a solo career, with Ryan's wife Roma Ryan as her lyricist. Enya developed her sound over the following four years with multitracked vocals and keyboards with elements of new age, Celtic, classical, church, world, pop, and Irish folk. Thus far, she has sung in ten languages, most notably English, Irish Gaelic(Gaeilge), Latin, and Welsh.
          Enya's first projects as a solo artist included soundtrack work for The Frog Prince(1984) and the 1987 BBC documentary series The Celts, which was released as her debut album, Enya(1987). She signed with Warner Music UK, which granted her artistic freedom and minimal interference from the label. The commercial and critical success of Watermark(1988) propelled her to worldwide fame, helped by the UK number one and international hit single "Orinoco Flow". This was followed by the multi-million-selling albums Shepherd Moons(1991), The Memory of Trees(1995), and A Day Without Rain(2000). Sales of the latter and its lead single, "Only Time", surged in the United States following its use in the media coverage of the September 11 attacks. Following Amarantine(2005) and And Winter Came...(2008), Enya took a four-year career hiatus before she resumed in 2012 and released her eighth studio album, Dark Sky Island(2015).
         Dark Sky Island is the eighth studio album by Irish singer, songwriter, and musician Enya, released on 20 November 2015 by Warner Bros. Records. After the release of her previous album, And Winter Came...(2008), Enya was unsure of her next career move so she decided to take a break from music, which lasted three years. In the spring of 2012 she started to write and record new material for a new album with her longtime collaborators, producer and arranger Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. Enya gained inspiration for the title track and the album from the 2011 designation of Sark in the Channel Islands as a dark-sky preserve and a collection of Roma Ryan's poems on islands.
        Dark Sky Island received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success upon release. It peaked at Nº 4 in the UK Albums Chart, Enya's highest position on the chart since Paint the Sky with Stars (1997), and Nº 8 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. Elsewhere, it reached the top five in nine countries. A deluxe edition features three additional tracks. Enya promoted the album with a worldwide media tour that included performances of some songs from the album. Dark Sky Island was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album.
Listen to the waves speak up
The blue voice of the sea
And they whisper as they touch the shore
Come back to me
Come back to me
 
Boat by boat upon the waves
All come to find the light
In the darkness of the sky above
Come back to me
Come back to me
 
Capella, Auriga
Eta Carinae, Sagitta
Aquila, Alpha Centauri
 
Twilight comes to close the day
And let the night break free
And from deep blue skies the heavens rise
Come back to me
Come back to me
Come back to me
Come back to me
 
Capella, Auriga
Eta Carinae, Sagitta
Aquila, Alpha Centaurii
 
Moonlight brings the ocean's storms
Like waves upon the sea
And the midnight shore calls out once more
Come back to me
Come back to me
Come back to me
Come back to me
 
Come back to me
Come back to me.

SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT

BARRY MANILOW
SONGWRITERS: RICHARD KERR & WILL JENNINGS
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: EVEN NOW
LABEL: ARISTA RECORDS
GENRE: POP
YEAR: 1978
 
          Barry Manilow(born Barry Alan Pincus, June 17, 1943) is an American singer with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "I Write the Songs", "Can't Smile Without You" and "Copacabana (At the Copa)".
          He has recorded and released 51 Top 40 singles on the Adult Contemporary Chart, including 13 that hit number one, 28 appeared within the top ten, and 36 in the top twenty. Manilow has released 13 platinum and six multi-platinum albums. Although not a favorite artist of music critics, Manilow has been praised by entertainers including Frank Sinatra, who was quoted in the 1970s as saying, "He's next."
           As well as producing and arranging albums for himself and other artists, Manilow has written and performed songs for musicals, films, and commercials for corporations such as McDonald's, Pepsi-Cola, and Band-Aid, from the 1960s. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award (winning once) as a producer, arranger and performer a total of fifteen times (and in every decade) from 1973 to 2015. He has also produced Grammy-nominated albums for Bette Midler, Dionne Warwick, Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughan. Manilow has sold more than 85 million records as a solo artist worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists.
         Even Now is the fifth studio album by singer-songwriter Barry Manilow. It was recorded at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California and released in 1978. The album reached triple platinum and spun off four hit singles in 1978 and early 1979: the title song, "Can't Smile Without You", "Copacabana" and "Somewhere in the Night" (which had previously been a hit in 1976 for Helen Reddy).
Time
You found time enough to love
And I found love enough to hold you
So tonight
I'll stir the fire you feel inside
Until the flames of love enfold you
 
Laying beside you, lost in the feeling
So glad you opened my door
Come with me
Somewhere in the night we will know
Everything lovers can know
You're my song
Music too magic to end
I'll play you over and over again
Loving so warm
Moving so right
Closing our eyes and feeling alive
We'll just go on burning bright
Somewhere in the night
 
You'll sleep
When the morning comes
And I'll lie and watch you sleeping
And you'll smile
When you dream about the night
Like it's a secret you've been keeping
Laying beside you lost in the feeling
So glad you opened my door
You're my song
Music too magic to end
I'll play you over and over again
Loving so warm
Moving so right
Closing our eyes and feeling alive
We'll just go on burning bright
Somewhere in the night
 
We'll just go on burning Bright
Somewhere in the night.

HOLD ME OH MY DARLING

MARVIN GAYE & TAMMI TERRELL
SONGWRITER: HARVEY FUQUA
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: UNITED
GENRE: SOUL
YEAR: 1967
 
        Marvin Gaye(born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr.; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of successes, earning him the nicknames "Prince of Motown" and "Prince of Soul".
       Gaye's Motown songs include "Ain't That Peculiar", "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". Gaye also recorded duets with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Tammi Terrell, and Diana Ross. During the 1970s, Gaye recorded the albums What's Going On and Let's Get It On and became one of the first artists in Motown to break away from the reins of a production company. His later recordings influenced several contemporary R&B subgenres, such as quiet storm and neo soul. He was a tax exile in Europe in the early 1980s; he released "Sexual Healing" in 1982, which won him his first two Grammy Awards on the album Midnight Love. Gaye's last televised appearances were at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, where he sang "The Star-Spangled Banner"; Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever; and Soul Train.
  Tammi Terrell(born Thomasina Winifred Montgomery; April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye.
     Terrell's career began as a teenager, first recording for Scepter/Wand Records, before spending nearly 9 months as a member of James Brown's Revue, recording for Brown's Try Me label. After a period attending college, Terrell recorded briefly for Checker Records, before signing with Motown in 1965. With Gaye, Terrell scored seven Top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By". Terrell's career was interrupted when she collapsed into Gaye's arms as the two performed at a concert at Hampden–Sydney College on October 14, 1967, with Terrell later being diagnosed with a brain tumor. She had eight unsuccessful surgeries before dying of the illness on March 16, 1970, at the age of 24.
        United is a studio album by soul musicians Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, released August 29, 1967 on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol produced all of the tracks on the album, with the exception of "You Got What It Takes" (produced by Motown CEO Berry Gordy, Jr.) and "Oh How I'd Miss You" (produced by Hal Davis). Fuqua and Bristol produced "Hold Me Oh My Darling" and "Two Can Have a Party" as Tammi Terrell solo tracks in 1965 and 1966, and had Gaye overdub his vocals to them in order to create duet versions of the songs.
         United yielded four Top 100 Billboard chart hits, including the two Top 10 singles "Your Precious Love," "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You," the Top 20 single, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "If This World Were Mine". United peaked at #69 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart and #7 on the U.S. Billboard R&B albums chart upon its release. The album was the first of three collaborative albums by Gaye and Terrell.
I want you to hold me, oh my darling
& never, never let me go
Oh kiss me & tell me you love me
Yeah yeah because I, I I I I I, I I love you so
(I I love you, I love you so)
 
When I'm alone, alone & troubled
& my life seems dark as night
All I ask, I'll ask you please
Yeah yeah, baby won't you be, won't you be be be, be my guiding light
(Won't you be be my guiding light)
 
You know I get such a strange sensation
Every time I hear your name
Now all of my friends & my relations
They say I'm loving you (loving you) loving you in vain
Yeah yeah
 
Snuggle, snuggle on my shoulder
Come on & tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me that you care
& as my love, my love, my love, my love grows older
Yeah yeah, tell me that the flame, that the flame flame flame
Flame will still be there
(That the flame flame will still be)
 
Yeah yeah (darlin', wo oh)
Hold me baby (darlin', wo oh) hold me.

HEART OF GLASS

BLONDIE
SONGWRITERS: CHRIS STEIN & DEBORAH HARRY
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: PARALLEL LINES
LABEL: CHSYSALIS RECORDS
GENRE: POP
YEAR: 1978
 
      Blondie is an American rock band co-founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the American new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York. Their first two albums contained strong elements of these genres, and although highly successful in the United Kingdom and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the United States until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next five years, the band achieved several hit singles including "Heart of Glass", "Call Me", "Atomic", "The Tide Is High", and “Rapture”. The band became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles, incorporating elements of disco, pop, reggae, and early rap music.
        Blondie disbanded after the release of it’s sixth studio album, The Hunter, in 1982. Debbie Harry continued to pursue a solo career with varied results after taking a few years off to care for partner Chris Stein, who was diagnosed with pemphigus, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin. The band re-formed in 1997, achieving renewed success and a number one single in the United Kingdom with "Maria" in 1999, exactly 20 years after their first UK Nº 1 single ("Heart of Glass").
        The group toured and performed throughout the world during the following years, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Blondie has sold around 40 million records worldwide and is still active. The band's eleventh studio album, Pollinator, was released on May 5, 2017.
    Parallel Lines is the third studio album by American rock band Blondie, released on September 23, 1978, by Chrysalis Records to international commercial success. The album reached Nº 1 in the United Kingdom in February 1979 and proved to be the band's commercial breakthrough in the United States, where it reached Nº 6 in April 1979. In Billboard magazine, Parallel Lines was listed at Nº 9 in the top pop albums year-end chart of 1979. The album spawned several successful singles, notably the international hit "Heart of Glass".
Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind
 
Once I had a love and it was divine
Soon found out I was losing my mind
It seemed like the real thing, but I was so blind
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind
 
In between
What I find is pleasing and I'm feeling fine
Love is so confusing there's no peace of mind
If I fear I'm losing you. it's just no good
You teasing like you do
 
Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind
 
Lost inside
Adorable illusion and I cannot hide
I'm the one you're using, please don't push me aside
We coulda made it cruising, yeah
 
La, da, da, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, da, da, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, da, da, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
Yeah, riding high on love's true bluish light
 
Ooh, oh, ooh, oh
Ooh, oh, ooh, oh
 
Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind
 
In between
What I find is pleasing and I'm feeling fine
Love is so confusing there's no peace of mind
If I fear I'm losing you it's just no good
You teasing like you do
 
La, da, da, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, da, da, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, da, da, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
 
La, da, da, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, da, da, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, da, da, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.