The Queen of Denmark
I hope you know that all I want from you is sex
To be with someone who looks smashing in athletic wear...
Dette er min korte hommage til John Grant og hans nydelige plate "The Queen of Denmark". Finner ikke bladene jeg hadde med noen fine intervjuer med ham der han snakket om sin homofili, sine psykiske problemer og tida med the Czars (musikkinteresserte vet hvem), og sine selvmordsforsøk. Ganske rørende og trist, selvsagt. Husk at plata kan og BØR kjøpes på iTunes.
Her er litt mer om John Grant, rett fra Wikipedia! (eple+copy/eple+paste)
John Grant is a Denver-born solo artist and former lead vocalist with The Czars.[1] He released his debut solo album Queen of Denmark on April 6, 2010. It was recorded in collaboration with Midlake and will be released on Bella Union.[2] John has previously performed as a back up to American rock bands Midlake and The Flaming Lips.
Queen of Denmark is the debut solo album by former The Czars frontman John Grant, released on April 19, 2010 on the Bella Union label.[1] Queen of Denmark is a collaboration between Grant and American folk rock band Midlake and produced by Grant himself in collaboration with Midlake members Paul Alexander and Eric Pulido. It was recorded over two four-months periods, July to October 2008 and May to July 2009, in Midlake's recording studio in Denton, Texas.[2]
In the May 2010 issue of Mojo, the album received the seldom-awarded Instant Classic label. FollowingJoanna Newsom's Have One On Me, it is the second album to receive this honor since Fleet Foxes in 2008. The reviewer wrote: "If Queen of Denmark were only comprised of ... self-lacerating ballads it would still be a work of transcendent beauty, but the second half of the album finds Grant confronting romantic loss with astonishing depth of feeling."[2]
The BBC Music review website described the album as "One of the most deeply satisfying debut albums of recent times", and concluded: "Queen of Denmark transcends the sum of its influences by concentrating on the irresistible appeal of sad yet optimistic love songs, classy arrangements and a dark and handsome croon. Midlake’s only mistake is making John Grant’s startling debut better than their own records."[4]
Mark Edwards wrote in The Sunday Times, "One listen to 'Where Dreams Go to Die', for example, and you’ll realise that while Grant can’t attain perfection in his actual life, he gets pretty close in his art."[10]
The Guardian reviewer wrote that "after descending into a personal hell of booze, drugs and giving up music for waiting tables, the Coloradan [John Grant] has emerged with a colossus. Backed by superfans Midlake, these are songs of impossible love, near-suicide and redemption, with an air of vastness and contemplation recalling Dennis Wilson's masterpiece, Pacific Ocean Blue."[5]
In The Independent, Andy Gill, wrote of the album: "a near-perfect marriage of his warm baritone with their lush woodwind and keyboard textures, bring to tender life Grant's tales of growing up gay in the midwest."[6]
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