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| Artist : Nikka Costa |
| Album : Pebble To A Pearl |
| Bitrate : VBR kbps |
| Label : Gofunkyourself Records |
| Year : 2008 |
| Genre : Soul |
| Rip date : Oct-09-2008 |
| Store date : Oct-14-2008 |
| Size : 70,2 MB |
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+--------------------------------[Track List]--------------------------------+
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|Track Listing: |
| |
| 01 - Stuck To You 03:43 |
| 02 - Can't Please Everybody 05:06 |
| 03 - Pebble To A Pearl 04:30 |
| 04 - Someone For Everyone 03:47 |
| 05 - Cry Baby 05:10 |
| 06 - Keep Wanting More 04:48 |
| 07 - Keep Pushin' 03:47 |
| 08 - Love To Love You Less 04:26 |
| 09 - Without Love 04:24 |
| 10 - Damn I Said It First 06:52 |
| 11 - Loving You 05:28 |
| 12 - Bullets In The Sky 04:37 |
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| |
| 56:38 min |
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+----------------------------------[Notes]-----------------------------------+
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| ôYou canÆt please everybody No, you canÆt please everybody, No matter |
| how hard you try.ö û ôCanÆt Please Everybodyö (Pebble To A Pearl) |
| |
| If youÆre going to make soul music -- joyful, authentic, modern yet |
| classic soul music -- it really helps if that music is allowed to come |
| straight from your soul. |
| |
| Pebble To A Pearl -- the latest radiant gem by the gifted |
| singer-songwriter and performer Nikka Costa -- is far and away her most |
| direct and convincing musical statement yet. If this is CostaÆs most |
| pleasing album to date -- and it clearly is -- then itÆs exactly because |
| the woman singing to us so powerfully has finally found the creative |
| freedom to first and foremost please herself. |
| |
| ôIÆve never felt so proud of an album,ö says Costa who earned rave |
| reviews and devoted fans around the world with her kinetic live |
| performances and distinctively funky albums 2001Æs EverybodyÆs Got Their |
| Something and 2005Æs CanÆtneverdidnothing. ôObviously, I want people to |
| hear the album and love it,ö explains Costa. ôBut, when it comes down to |
| it, I donÆt care because this is a totally unfiltered expression of who |
| I am and what I do. |
| |
| Pebble To A Pearl is the uplifting sound of an artist unbound following |
| a difficult period with her previous record company -- sadly, an all too |
| common story in recent years. ôThis was a totally different experience |
| and one that felt emancipating,ö Costa says. ôFirst, I got out of the |
| old label, which was major. Now IÆm just so happy not to be caught up in |
| that big machine thatÆs breaking down. For a while, it felt like I was |
| on deck of the Titanic, and I was just supposed to play the violin for |
| myself on the ship as it was going down. I know that I was feeling that |
| way -- and could tell the people at the company were feeling that too -- |
| but no one could admit it. There was bullshit going down all around me, |
| and I was extremely happy to get out of it all. Of course, then I had to |
| figure out what the hell to do. I knew I wanted to make another record, |
| but how?ö |
| |
| As Pebble To A Pearl demonstrates brilliantly, the answer to that big, |
| lingering question was to do it fast, do it for yourself and do it for |
| all the right reasons. And so it was then that Nikka Costa began |
| recording her album on her own dime for her own new label, the |
| wonderfully and fittingly named Go Funk Yourself Records. |
| |
| After a few years of getting no shortage of frequently contradictory |
| record company input, CostaÆs greatest motivation came when she realized |
| exactly what sort of album she wanted to make. |
| |
| ôBefore long I had an epiphany because I even reached out to other |
| writers, and it wasnÆt working,ö Costa explains. ôI thought maybe IÆm |
| not being specific enough about what I want. Finally, I just went with |
| my gut instinct. Keep it up, soulful, happy and real. I donÆt want to do |
| anything but that. I donÆt want to try to accommodate what I think other |
| people want. So I was super clear to myself and from that moment, |
| everything flowed.ö |
| |
| Costa and Justin Mitchell Stanley, producer of Pebble to a Pearl, made |
| up what she calls ôour dream bandö including the great James Gadson on |
| drums, Shawn Davis on bass, James Poyser and Keefus Green ..boards, |
| Jason Falkner and Chris Bruce on guitars. |
| |
| ôWe decided to get back to the roots of recording. We all set up in one |
| room and communicated with each other rather than playing to something |
| that had already been laid down to tape. So in five days we had fifteen |
| songs down. Leave the mistakes and keep the vibe,ö Costa recalls. ôWe |
| completed the whole album in basically three weeks. IÆm so excited in a |
| way I havenÆt been in a long time. It feels like so much has come |
| together right this time and I think itÆs because IÆm not trying to |
| prove anything anymore.ö |
| |
| That sort of assurance is on display throughout the new album, from the |
| infectious opener ôStuck To You,ö to the clearly autobiographical ôCanÆt |
| Please Everybodyö, the cheeky humor of ôLove to Love You Lessö to the |
| concluding, politically charged ôBullets In The Skyö. |
| |
| Pebble To A Pearl is clearly a breakthrough effort from a woman who |
| literally grew up in music. Her father, legendary producer, conductor |
| and arranger Don Costa, has a profound influence on her life though he |
| suddenly passed away when Nikka was ten years old. By that point, Costa |
| was already a successful recording artist. At eight years old, Nikka |
| released her first album, with her version of ôOut Here On My Ownö from |
| Fame. This was the beginning of many albums and tours throughout Europe, |
| South America, Australia, and more, which led to a nomination for ARIA |
| Breakthrough Artist in 1996, Best Female Artist in 1997, and the MTV |
| Best New artist in 2001. |
| |
| Now with her latest album, Costa feels like a whole new artist in the |
| best possible way. ôEverything seems based on fear at the big labels |
| today, and you canÆt get music made like that. You canÆt do anything |
| like that. This was the opposite of that.ö |
| |
| Ironically, after Costa, Stanley and their friends recorded Pebble To A |
| Pearl, they were approached about a new and more productive record |
| company relationship. ôWe were going to put it out ourselves solely |
| through Go Funk Yourself Records,ö Costa explains. ôThen Concord got |
| word of it and that we were doing it ourselves and approached us about |
| going through the newly re-launched Stax Records. So we invited them |
| into the studio and played them a few things and they were like, ..We |
| have to have this.Æ And it was so nice to hear enthusiasm coming from a |
| company based on what we were doing, not based on what we could be |
| doing.ö |
| |
| For a lifelong soul music lover like Costa, making her album and now |
| having it affiliated with the legendary Stax Records, whose roster |
| included some of the best in soul music like Otis Redding and Isaac |
| Hayes, is the fulfillment of a dream. ôHow perfect is that?ö Costa says |
| with a huge, winning smile. ôStax is the epitome of what IÆm about û |
| that was the original, integrated soul music. ThatÆs the vibe that moved |
| me about soul music when I was twelve, and it moves me still.ö |
| |
| After playing some warm up dates in the summer, she says that when |
| Pebble To A Pearl comes out in September, she wants to hit the road |
| hard. ôI want to get on the bus and just go for it. Playing live is when |
| it all comes together, itÆs my thing - the part I love the most.ö |
| |
| Look forward to Nikka Costa pleasing crowds -- and herself -- in a venue |
| near you. |
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