Last week's WOW!
I just spent 15mins thinking and collating, only to find I've missed the deadline.
Never let it be said that rules and deadlines were obstacles to Layman1
I'll do the new WOW later in the week, but I feel these lovely, mellow, warm songs are too good to consign to the the dustbin of missed opportunities and hopefully you'll agree and hence overlook the tardiness
First up, a song I first heard in my teens I think, back when we all listened to entire albums as a matter of course
For some reason, I always mentally associate this song with a cosy feeling of coming in from snow and cold to a warm house with a log fire or similar!
It's U2, with a remastered version of 'A Sort of Homecoming' from their seminal album 'The Unforgettable Fire'.
I was too young to appreciate it at the time, but as a kind of former punk-type band, I'd imagine their Brian-Eno influenced switch to this more ambient and acoustic kind of music was a bit of a 'Bob Dylan playing electric guitar' moment for them and their fans?
NB: this is from the U2 official channel, so it may be blocked in other countries? Hope not!
Next, Jasmine Thompson.
Not such a fan of her recent offerings; I don't know if she's had voice coaching or the way she has her singing recorded and edited has changed, or her voice simply matured in this way, but she just sounds to me a bit too much like most other generic female pop artists now.
But this is from back when she was 14 or so, and sang like an angel, also with a curious accent and vocal inflections that made her really unique.
Her cover of the song 'Home':
Finally, from an album I love, 'Folkways: A Vision Shared', an album of true roots Americana, where a diverse range of artists cover songs by Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, covering the roots of songs that helped develop the country and blues genres respectively.
This is one of two songs on the album performed by Bruce Springsteen; this one is "I ain't got no home"
I love, love, love this song and album. Been listening to it now for at least a couple of decades