Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

  “Amy Winehouse At The BBC”, a 3xLP/ 3xCD collection chronicling the many remarkable performances by arguably the greatest and most genuine talent to emerge in British music in decades, will be released on May 7th 2021 through UMC/Island. For the very first time this updated release offers audio-only versions of the songs featured on ‘A Tribute To Amy Winehouse by Jools Holland’ and the ‘BBC One Sessions Live at Porchester Hall’, and so a high proportion of these tracks will be completely new to DSPs. “Stronger Than Me”, “Tears Dry On Their Own” and “You Know I’m No Good” will be available on streaming services from March 24th while the video for “Stronger Than Me” being available on YouTube. This comprehensive collection captures the strong and enduring relationship that Amy enjoyed with the BBC and is further proof of quite what an extraordinarily talented, completely original, and truly engaging performer Amy was. “Amy Winehouse At The BBC” includes Amy’s earliest BBC Radio se...

Easy Life have unveiled the video for latest single ‘Nightmares’, which is available now on Island Records. The idiosyncratic Leicester five-piece recently made their TV debut on ‘Later…with Jools Holland’, and continue their sold-out UK tour - featuring an intimate date at London’s Moth Club on November 21st – this week. Directed by Greg Barth (Blink Productions), ’Nightmares’ perfectly captures the confidence, charm and charisma of Easy Life (with the track also receiving a surprise shout-out from Emma Thompson when she was made a Dame this week). Blending hip-hop swing, jazzy horns and the band’s innate ear for pop hooks, ‘Nightmares’ itself originated– says lead-singer, Murray – “with a trumpet sample that we loved from Dionne Warwick’s version of Burt Bacharach’s ‘Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets’. This instantly gave us the feels, and the rest just kind of fell into place.” The result is a positive, uplifting take on a young generation – as the lyrics to ‘Nightm...

‘Sucker Punch’ cements the Norwegian star Sigrid’s rise to pop prominence. The singer, songwriter and arranger today releases the colossal video to the single, working with acclaimed directors AB/CD/CD to create a confident, spontaneous, authentic pop-tastic visual. The 22-year-old progressive talent says: “The video is a bit mad, and that’s the whole point, as there’s a lot going on in the song. It’s filmed in London and the set design was so good, what a team. I hope people have fun watching it; and dance, sing and laugh. If you’re wondering if you can buy the Sigrid Tacos...we should make that happen!” Sigrid was catapulted into the public consciousness last year with the zeitgeist defining Don’t Kill My Vibe; with the certified-Gold Strangers, A-List record ‘High Five’ and critically lauded RAW EP following. The pop prodigy will now play her biggest sold-out headline to date on 12 November, as she takes on O2 Brixton Academy and tours the UK, as well as being chosen to perform at...