Teruah - Jewish Music is a new Jewish music blog written by a Conservative Jew living in a very Christian Michigan farm town. He asks: "Where's the good frum music?"
The Jerusalem Post reviews "Acharit Hayamim" and Dudu Fisher's latest.
Fisher's new CD, Standing Where You Are, is a collection of covers, almost all of them classic rock tunes from the Sixties and Seventies. He's backed by the Jerusalem Orchestra in a manner that is the stuff of crooners' dreams. The title track uses a choir to add a gospel feel that comes out a bit cheesy, while "Song for You" channels fellow cantor-gone-showman Neil Diamond.Kallah Magazine nails one of the Jewish "magazines" that often publishes J-music "articles" in misrepresentation.
Burt Bacharach territory is explored frequently here as well, while punchy bass lines and violin- and woodwind-heavy orchestration dominate versions of Randy Crawford's "I'll Fly Away" and Boz Scaggs' "We're All Alone."
The disc's only Hebrew song - and only overtly Jewish selection - is the closing "Shir Hamalot," presented as a medley of symphonic Grace after Meals sing-alongs.
Arutz Sheva is having an 18th Anniversary celebratory concert in NY next month. You'd think they'd feature Israeli artists, but, with the exception of Chaim David, it's just more of the usual.
Finally, here's a James Brown update. He's still not buried and people are shoting each other in arguments over how tall the late singer was.
