Belinda Carlisle "Voila"

Voila is the seventh studio album by the American singer Belinda Carlisle, released in 2007. It was Carlisle's first studio album in over a decade, and is a covers album of "classic French chansons and pop standards", much different from Carlisle's previous English language pop records.

The album was critically praised however did sell moderately. Although all of the songs are sung in French, many of the musicians featured on the album are Irish. The album features keyboard arrangements from Brian Eno.

In an October 2006 press release describing the album, Carlisle said "After I moved to France, I became familiar with the classic French chansons and a lot of French pop music. I realized there was a whole world of artists and singers I was not familiar with. As I discovered all these amazing songs, I came to love this music and wanted to record some of them with a playful, contemporary feel."

Describing how music can transcend any language barrier Carlisle stated, "You don't really have to know what's being sung to know that 'Avec Les Temps' [sic] is a devastating love song. When I heard that song the first time, it broke my heart."

Upon the album's initial release, a limited edition version was available with a bonus second CD featuring four additional tracks sung in English. Despite the favourable reviews, Allmusic wrote "... not just a rewarding detour but one of her best album", in the US, the album sold a modest 3,000 copies in its first two weeks.

Track listing

1. "Ma jeunesse fout le camp" Guy Bontempelli 3:16
2. "Bonnie et Clyde" Serge Gainsbourg 5:15
3. "Avec le temps" Léo Ferré 4:06
4. "Sous le ciel de Paris" Hubert Giraud/Jean Dréjac   4:42
5. "Des ronds dans l'eau" Pierre Barouh/Raymond Lesenechal  2:55
6. "Pourtant tu m'aimes"  Françoise Hardy/Jimmy Cross/Johnny Cole  3:27
7. "Ne me quitte pas" Jacques Brel 3:17
8. "La Vie en rose" Édith Piaf/Louis Guglielmi  4:23
9. "Contact" Gainsbourg 2:57
10. "Merci Chérie"  Udo Jürgens/Thomas Horbiger/Baker Cavendish   3:34
11. "Jezebel" Wayne Shanklin 3:18

Roxy Music "For Your Pleasure"

For Your Pleasure is the second album by English rock band Roxy Music, released by Island Records in 1973. It was their last to feature synthesiser and sound specialist Brian Eno, who would later gain acclaim as a solo artist and producer.

The group was able to spend more studio time on this album than on their debut, combining strong song material by Bryan Ferry with more elaborate production treatments. For example, the song "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" (Ferry's sinister ode to a blow-up doll) fades out in its closing section, only to fade in again with all the instruments subjected to a pronounced phasing treatment. The title track fades out in an elaborate blend of tape loop effects. Brian Eno remarked that the eerie "The Bogus Man", with lyrics about a sexual stalker, displayed similarities with contemporary material by the krautrock group Can.

Of the more upbeat numbers on the album, "Do the Strand" and "Editions of You" were both based around insistent rhythms in the tradition of the band's first single "Virginia Plain". "Do the Strand" has been called the archetypal Roxy Music anthem, whilst "Editions of You" was notable for a series of ear-catching solos by Andy Mackay (saxophone), Eno (VCS3), and Phil Manzanera (guitar).

Eno is very present in the final song from the album "For Your Pleasure", making it unlike any other song on the album. The song ends with the voice of Judi Dench saying "You don't ask. You don't ask why" amid tapes of the opening vocals ('Well, how are you?') from "Chance Meeting" from the first Roxy Music album. A live recording of the song has been used in 1975 as a B-side to "Both Ends Burning".

The original UK LP cover credits "Produced by Chris Thomas and Roxy Music" for the entire album, but only the side one label repeats that; the side two label credits "Produced by John Anthony and Roxy Music". Various foreign editions and reissues have confused the matter with random variations.

For Your Pleasure was originally released by Island Records in the United Kingdom and Warner Bros. Records in the United States. It has been subsequently reissued by Polydor Records in the UK and Atco Records and Reprise Records in the US.

As with the debut Roxy Music album, no UK singles were lifted from For Your Pleasure upon its initial release. The non-album single "Pyjamarama", backed with "The Pride and the Pain", was issued in advance of the album in Britain, peaking at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. "Do the Strand", backed with "Editions of You", was released as a single in the US and Europe; it was finally issued as a UK single in 1978 to promote Roxy Music's Greatest Hits album, released in December the previous year.

The cover photo, taken by Karl Stoecker, featured Bryan Ferry's girlfriend at the time, singer and model Amanda Lear, who later became Salvador Dalí's muse. Original pressings of the album featured a gatefold sleeve picturing all five band members posing with guitars.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bryan Ferry.

Side one

1. "Do the Strand" 4:04
2. "Beauty Queen" 4:41
3. "Strictly Confidential" 3:48
4. "Editions of You" 3:51
5. "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" (LP editions of the album incorrectly listed the song's timing as 4:25, due to its "false fade" referenced above) 5:29

Side two

1. "The Bogus Man" 9:20
2. "Grey Lagoons" 4:13
3. "For Your Pleasure" 6:51

Roxy Music "Roxy Music"

Roxy Music is the debut studio album by the English rock band Roxy Music. It was released on 16 June 1972.

It was generally well received by contemporary critics and made it to number 10 in the UK Albums Chart.

The opening track, "Re-Make/Re-Model", has been labelled a postmodernist pastiche, featuring solos by each member of the band echoing various touchstones of Western music, including The Beatles' "Day Tripper", Duane Eddy's version of "Peter Gunn", and Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries"; the esoteric "CPL 593H" was supposedly the license number of a car spotted by Bryan Ferry that was driven by a beautiful woman. Brian Eno produced some self-styled "lunacy" when Ferry asked him for a sound "like the moon" for the track "Ladytron". "If There Is Something" was covered by David Bowie's Tin Machine, and was later featured quite extensively, almost as a central figure, in the British film Flashbacks of a Fool.

Several of the album's songs were thematically linked to movies. "2HB", with its punning title, was Ferry's tribute to Humphrey Bogart and quoted the line "Here's looking at you, kid" made famous by the 1942 film Casablanca; "Chance Meeting" was inspired by David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945). "The Bob" took its title from Battle of Britain (1968) and included a passage simulating the sound of gunfire.

Discussing the music, Andy Mackay later said "we certainly didn't invent eclecticism but we did say and prove that rock 'n' roll could accommodate – well, anything really".

The band had been rehearsing and re-working the songs for a couple of months before they finally found a recording place, after which the entire album was recorded in the space of a single week. This was necessary because there was no record deal as yet, and their managers at EG were financing the sessions themselves, paying £5,000 in recording fees. The album was produced by King Crimson's lyricist Peter Sinfield, who had recently left that band. In May 1972, a few weeks after the recording sessions, a contract was signed with Island Records and in June the album was released.

The band's penchant for glamour was showcased both in the lyrics and in the 1950s-style album cover. The photographer Karl Stoecker shot the cover, featuring model Kari-Ann Muller, who later married Chris Jagger, brother of Mick Jagger (a stylised portrait of Kari-Ann Muller also graces the cover of Mott the Hoople's 1974 album The Hoople). The album was dedicated to Susie, a drummer who auditioned for Roxy Music in the early days.

Roxy Music, particularly the album's LP incarnation, has been released in different packages over the years. The album's original cover, as issued in 1972 by Island Records, featured a gatefold sleeve picturing the band (including original bass guitarist Graham Simpson) in stage attire designed by Antony Price,[4] and did not include the track "Virginia Plain". The album's original US release, in late 1972 on Warner Bros. Records' Reprise subsidiary, included "Virginia Plain", which had since been issued as a single in the UK. The original US release also featured a gatefold sleeve, but replaced Simpson's photo with that of Rik Kenton, who played bass on "Virginia Plain" following Simpson's departure from the group.

US distribution of Roxy Music was transferred from Reprise to their affiliated company Atco Records in 1976, and back to Reprise in the mid-1980s. LP editions of the album pressed in these timeframes were without the gatefold sleeve and band photographs, instead providing liner notes on the rear album cover.

The original LP release did not contain any singles. In July 1972, a few weeks after the contract was signed, Roxy Music recorded two more songs, "Virginia Plain" and "The Numberer", that were released as a single. It peaked at No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart and helped push sales of the album, which itself went to No. 10. In most later repressings of the album, including CD versions, the song "Virginia Plain" has been included.

Versions of all nine tracks of the UK album were recorded by the BBC for the John Peel show on 4 January and 23 May 1972, with the earlier session featuring David O'List on guitar.

Track listing

Original UK release

All tracks are written by Bryan Ferry.

Side one

1. "Re-Make/Re-Model" 5:10
2. "Ladytron" 4:21
3. "If There Is Something" 6:33
4. "2HB" 4:34

Side two

1. "The Bob (Medley)" 5:48
2. "Chance Meeting" 3:00
3. "Would You Believe?" 3:47
4. "Sea Breezes" 7:00
5. "Bitters End" 2:02

Dido "Safe Trip Home"

Safe Trip Home is the third studio album by Dido. It was released in the United Kingdom on 17 November 2008. The album features collaborations and production with Jon Brion, her brother Rollo Armstrong, Brian Eno, Mick Fleetwood, Citizen Cope and Questlove. The album was the 44th best-selling album worldwide of 2008, according to IFPI and has sold 1 million of copies since then. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

The album's cover artwork and track listing were revealed by Dido's official website on 5 September 2008. The album was originally due to be released on 3 November, but was delayed for two weeks due to manufacturing delays. In the UK, the album launch was heralded with a special listening party, which fans can win an invitation to through the Nectar loyalty card points scheme.

The album cover features a photograph of astronaut Bruce McCandless II during a spacewalk, as part of space shuttle mission STS-41-B. McCandless later sued Dido, Sony Music Entertainment and Getty Images over violating his publicity rights. The case was settled under undisclosed terms on 14 January 2011.


On 27 October 2008, it was announced that eleven short films were being produced to accompany the tracks on the album, based around the theme of home.