Hello,
Today's blog is about James Blunt's debut CD, "Back To Bedlam". Blunt is yet another musician who peaked with his first CD. "Back To Bedlam" was released October 11th, 2004. From Wikipedia, Blunt recorded this CD while staying at Carrie Fisher's (Princess Leia!) house. He recorded "Goodbye My Lover" in her bathroom. He recorded most of the album at producer Tom Rothrock at Rothrock's home studio. Also Fisher was the one who suggested the album's title, which is a reference to an "infamous psychiatric institution"(quote from Wikipedia's "Back To Bedlam" article) in England.
After a slow start "Back To Bedlam" went on to be a big seller. It has sold over 3.2 million copies in England, which is the 16th best selling CD in England's history. The CD has sold over 2.5 million copies in the US and over 11 million copies worldwide.
As I always say, a true measure of a musician comes out when performing live. I was a fan of Blunt before seeing him in concert a few years ago, it was a couple years after "Bedlam" was released. However after seeing him in concert I became a big fan. He out performed the show's headliner Sheryl Crow, who wasn't bad at all. Blunt was a swirling burst of energy even going out in the crowed a couple of times. Blunt is a great singer, his voice sounds even better live, and his band was very good. They put on a great show.
Although "Back To Bedlam" is a classic, sadly Blunt's career has gone downhill since then. His second album "All The Lost Souls" is a solid CD. It's anchored by "1973", "Give Me Some Love" and "I Really Want You". However his third CD "Some Kind of Trouble" was a big drop in quality. And sadly the descent continued with 2013's disappointing "Moon Landing". (Thanks to Wikipedia for many details in this blog.)
Here's James Blunt in concert on May 9th, 2007 in London:
The full video for "Back To Bedlam". Enjoy:
Here are the individual songs for the band's 10 tracks:
1) "High" (James Blunt first single, which didn't do very well when released. However it's a very good song.):
2) "You're Beautiful" (The third single released from the CD and the song that finally got Blunt some attention, and of course went on to worldwide acclaim.)
"You're Beautiful" (Live):
3) "Wiseman":
4) "Goodbye My Lover" (Not only one of the best songs on "Bedlam", but one of Blunt's best songs. This song features one of my favorite Blunt lines: "I saw the end before we begun":
5) "Tears and Rain":
"Tears and Rain" (Live):
6) "Out Of My Mind":
7) "So Long Jimmy" (Is that a Doors homage near the end of this song?) This is my favorite James Blunt song, although it took me awhile to figure it out. I have the lyric video for those of you who might be a bit dense like me. Listen to the song and tell me what you think.
Well at least I thought I had figured the song out, I thought the song was sung from the perspective of a woman saying "so long Jimmy". But some people suggest this is a tribute to Jim Morrison, which would explain the "Riders On The Storm" tag.
"So Long Jimmy" (Live):
8) "Billy":
"Billy" (live):
9) "Cry":
10) "No Bravery" (A heart breaking song and video, I had no idea what this song was about before writing this blog.):
themusicaddict
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