by Aaron Latham
As the girl who just wants to have fun, Cyndi Lauper became an '80s music icon with her flamboyant style, powerful baby-doll voice, and quirky songs, but as time and tastes moved on, her playful persona wore thin and attempts at becoming a more serious artist failed to regain her dwindling audience. With At Last, Lauper steps even further away from that playful image to become the girl who just wants to sing as she tackles a set of pop standards that showcase her underrated voice. Although occasionally shrill and reckless, Lauper's forceful tones can be quite moving and awe-inspiring when corralled into the proper setting, as with her bluesy take on Etta James' "At Last." With its lazy tempo and minimal arrangement, Lauper is able to relax and convey the lyrics in one of her most mature and affecting performances. Even more low-key is the whisper quiet of "Walk On By," in which she turns Dionne Warwick's midtempo gem into a dark tale of mourning by sadly singing the lyrics over a crawling tempo. Getting a Tori Amos-style ballad treatment is the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," which lets Lauper's rock roots rise to the surface with her edgy performance. While some of her song choices work, others fall flat, like "La Vie en Rose," in which her slightly ragged reading is too rough for the delicate song. Also misfiring is her corny duet with Tony Bennett, "Makin' Whoopee," where the voices of these two New Yorkers clash like stripes and plaids. Lauper also has a little too much fun with Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs' "Stay," as she reverts back to her boisterous voice of yesteryear and disrupts the mature tone of the disc. Although the results are mixed, At Last does focus on Cyndi Lauper's best asset — her voice — and may help to rejuvenate a career in which the personality unfortunately overshadowed the talent.

假设之前没有确定这是 “朋克教父”Iggy Pop新专辑的话，刚开始听这张《Preliminaires》，或许会以为唱歌的人是Tom Waits或者Leonard Cohen。的确，Iggy Pop这次出其不意地将音乐风格转向了Jazz和Blues，他那历经沧桑的声线本就带着厚重的历史感觉，这次再配上这些慢悠悠的旋律，属于苍老的深邃味道，就这么被Iggy大叔带出来了。
人们总说爵士和电子是音乐人最终会步入的两个领域，而时年62岁的Iggy Pop，看来已经是欣欣然进入到了爵士这其中一个范畴当中了，再回想年轻时那个造出一片朋克、硬摇滚声浪的他，这种归隐似的转型显得平静又颇让人遐想。Iggy Pop的上张录音室专辑是2003年的《Skull Ring》，尽管那会儿的Iggy大叔年纪也不轻了，但还算鲜活有力地玩着朋克，拿《Preliminaires》对比之前的这张《Skull Ring》，那么显然《Preliminaires》就安静得多了。
当然，这张专辑的十二首歌曲并非都由Iggy Pop操刀，在最后一曲当中，Iggy Pop翻唱了相当著名的一曲Jazz歌谣《Les Feuilles Mortes (Marc's Theme)》

Deutsche Grammophon is excited to announce the November release of Arrival (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) with music composed and produced by Johann Johannsson.
The Paramount Pictures film Arrival, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, is the composers third cinematic collaboration with French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, following on from last years crime thriller Sicario, which garnered Johannsson an Oscar nomination for best original score. As recently announced, their next joint project will be the much anticipated sequel to the legendary science fiction film Blade Runner.
Arrival stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker, Adams playing the lead role of a linguist who attempts to communicate with the alien intelligence controlling a fleet of spacecraft that has suddenly and ominously appeared at sites all around the globe. As mankind teeters on the brink of global war, she and her team embark on a race against time to find out why these craft have come to earth. More than a conventional sci-fi thriller, this is a thoughtful, intellectual drama with a genre twist.
Arrival is a very unique science fiction film and I decided early on that the human voice would feature prominently in the score, says Johannsson. It seemed a natural choice, given that the story is very much about language and communication.
Johannsson worked with several singers and vocal ensembles and combined both classical and avant-garde elements in his compositions, augmenting his already unique approach of combining orchestral writing with digital sound processing. Among those appearing are the prestigious Theatre of Voices, conducted by Paul Hillier, and artists such as Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe and Hildur Guonadottir, known for their unique musicianship. Johannsson also integrated some found sounds from the legendary avant-garde vocalist Joan La Barbara into his score. The soundtrack was recorded in Prague, Copenhagen and his native Reykjavik.