A is for Adele
Its just over a year since I first scrambled through my dictionary for the words to describe the wonder of Adele, and finally some of that magic is about to be captured and released in the form of a limited edition 7″ and free download. Jamie T’s Pacemaker records has the privilege of releasing “Hometown Glory” on October the 22nd, and youre advised to pre-order it quick as they’ll only be 500 copies (cue people buying 10 each and flogging them on ebay for £50, as with Lily/Monkeys etc etc).
London has had its fair share of love songs over the years but rarely as beautiful as “Hometown Glory“. As Adele skips the cracks in the pavement, her chorus soars over the piano proclaiming all the wonders of this world… a woman asks if she is lost, “no and thank you madam, I ain’t lost, just wandering“. The lyrics “I love it in the city when two worlds collide“, or “Shows that we’re united, shows that we ain’t gonna take it” could be taken as a tribute to the multiculturalism of the capital, or as a rebuttal to the London bombings. Alternatively just listen, draw your own conclusions, your own meanings, and enjoy that shiver down the spine.
Obviously this blog making “Daydreamer” its track of 2006, and raving about her live show got her a few dozen fans, but since then its all gone a bit nuclear. She wowed on Jools Holland with a mesmeric version of “Daydreamer”, Lily Allen bigged her up in Rolling Stone, and she was on the cover of The Observer music monthly. Make no mistake this girl will make James Blunt put his khakis back on, leave Melua counting bicycles, and achieve the rare feat of appealing to Norah Jones fans while not actually being anodyne or bland. Of course she sounds nothing like these acts, having more in common with her influences, which range from Jill Scott, Etta James and Billy Bragg (and if those three names aren’t recommendation enough I don’t know what its).
Adele – Myspace / XL artist page
Listen:
Adele – “Hometown Glory (Radio edit)” (MP3 – removed)
Visit BRIT School (Class of 2005) to grab an early MP3 of her performing “My Same” – then visit her myspace to hear how much the songs changed.
Live:
Enter a Q-Magazine competition to see her live.
Watch:
Adele – “Hometown Glory (Live in Lancaster Library)” (Youtube)
Adele – “Daydreamer (Live on Later with Jools Holland)” (Youtube)
Popularity: 9% [?]
And where exactly would one buy one of these limited edition 7″s? Or have they already sold out?
brendan – I get 90% of my music from Piccadilly records (http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/) – they’re really reliable, and stock almost everything. They only really put stuff up on the site a week in advance though. I would imagine they will have the Adele record in stock when it comes out (ill be getting mine there). Its the best online record shop in the uk. (IMHO)
Alternatively I just noticed Puregroove (https://www.puregroove.co.uk) have the Adele single for pre-order so you might want to use them? Another very good shop, I prefer Piccadilly but nothing bad to say about Puregroove either.
Thanks, those are actually really good shops and I’ve never heard of them. Thanks for the heads up, time to go on yet another shopping spree for more records I don’t need.
i was wondering, for the song hometown glory, where could i find the piano for that? its an amazing song and i would love to play it
thanks (:
haunting truly. what a voice come on the world support this rare individual talent buy and down load the track home town glory on the 10th october and lets get this gal to no.1
first robyn and now adele – great tastic in music my friend
randomly caught her on jools holland, wish i could have caught her live before it all started selling out. wish i could get a free version of daydreamer.
off topic – have you heard of wallis bird?
Hi all
Hometown Glory is available as a free download
(EDIT) on this site or alternatively Zane Lowe (who’s never more than 6 months behind the times) has a free in session version of Hometown Glory that you’d be mad not to nab (EDIT)
Danielle, you can also get a Free Download of daydreamer at her own site it is Hi-Res Real Player version 24mb so very superior quality
(EDIT) I couldnt get this to work on either Firefox or Safari – maybe the site works with Internet Explorer??)
Of course I will buying her records and seeing her live too.
We seem to be blessed with a wonderful crop of great women singers this decade.
hi
i was just wondering where i could get the piano music from.
I’ve been really into adelle for a while now and now its great that she is getting the media coverage she deserves.
xx