why are you here?

[mcconnellsteve]

my wife just downloaded k.d. lang's version of leonard cohen's "alleluia" for our ipod. if i could capture that kind of raw honesty and emotion in just one of my recordings, i would be eternally grateful. i think i just heard why i bought all this gear....

how about you?

steve

ps -- you've probably heard this song before -- jeff buckley and rufus wainright both have versions of it but i've never been so shaken up by a performance like this one...

[jetson]

Is that the same song (performed by someone else) that was featured in the movie "Shrek"?

[mcconnellsteve]

yes. but i'm not just talking about the song -- which is brilliant. i've heard 3 versions of it -- all of them are great. but this one -- how was the producer able to ensure THAT performance? she (k.d. lang) is incredibly talented and can certainly interpret a song with the best of them (tony bennett IS the best of them in this regard, IMHO), but this recording is on some level what i think it's all about. something's been captured that is really worth aborbing over and over again.

there are other recordings that hit me something like this. there's a version of "shenandoah" by van morrison with the chieftans on the album "long journey home". it's truly magical.

richard schindell does a version of james keelaghan's "cold missouri waters"/"13 crosses" that is captured perfectly on "cry, cry, cry".

i'm going to try to put together a list. there are just some recordings that do justice to really well written songs -- these are a few that make me want to do this well...

how about you?

steve