Keira Knightley Singing "Blue Tahitian Moon"

Remember when I wondered if Keira Knightley would be singing for real in the film "The Edge of Love?" It appears that yes, she is singing for real! "I did some lessons with a voice coach because I can't sing," the actress recently said. "It was live. There were 100 extras and John [Maybury, the director] was like, 'Now you're going to sing.' I've never been so frightened in my entire life." I must say, I'm much impressed! It really does that have retro-feel in her voice, nothing modern, and her singing voice is higher and, dare I say, a much sweeter sound than her speaking voice. Take a listen. :)

The Edge of Love

While summers are about blockbuster films, I am a big fan of period dramas, and until I saw this trailer, I must confess I wasn't that excited when I first read about it, but this film looks potentially interesting. (OK, is it me, or were some of the lines and scenes lifted straight from "Atonement?!?!?!?!")




"The Edge of Love" stars Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller (I barely recognized her in the trailer), Cillian Murphy, and Matthew Rhys. According to Wikipedia, "originally titled The Best Time of Our Lives, the story concerns the famous Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (played by Rhys), his wife Caitlin MacNamara (played by Miller) and their married friends, the Killicks (played by Knightley and Murphy)." I don't know the story (I avoided reading the plot on purpose), or how it ends, but the trailer promises a lush film about love and maybe even some tragedy?


In the meanwhile, Amazon UK already posted an early link for the movie's soundtrack. I love the song in the trailer, but not sure if it will be on the CD. Hope to hear a sample soon when the soundtrack comes out.


Here is the discography:

1. Lovers Lie Abed
2. Overture/Blue Tahitian Moon
3. Underground Shelter
4. Hang Out The Stars In Indiana
5. After The Bombing/Hang Out The Stars In Indiana
6. Stranger Has Come
7. Fire To The Stars
8. Careless Talk
9. Careless Love
10. Love
11. Careless Talk
12. Drifting And Dreaming
13. Home Movies
14. Under Fire
15. Maybe It's Because (I Love You Too Much)
16. Vera Begs Dylan
17. Vera's Theme
18. Holding Rowatt
19. Careless Love
20. Caitlin's Theme

With all the promo shots of Keira as a singer, I wonder if she will actually sing on the soundtrack?


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second single from Sex and the City movie soundtrack

Jennifer Hudson's new song, "All Dressed in Love," was just released. This is the 2nd original song from the "Sex and the City" movie soundtrack.



I don't know, I'm not really feeling the 70's disco vibe of the song. It doesn't feel like it ties in with the series itself in terms of musical context. Not only that, but this is so far removed from the Fergie single that I have a bad feeling about the overall soundtrack as an album. Am I the only one confused by these diverging song styles?

new single from Sex and the City movie soundtrack

Fergie's "Labels or Love," the movie theme for the film version of "Sex and the City" was just released, and you can hear it here.



Have to say, it took a couple of hearings for the song to grow on me. It's nice that they did an homage to the original theme score, but I don't like it when Fergie talks through portions of the song. It's somewhere between a marching chant and rapping in slo-mo. I'm usually very polarized when it comes to Fergie's music. Having seen her perform live at a BEP concert once, she can definitely sing, but her music choices are never very reflective of her talent, and anyhow, maybe I'm getting old, but this song started to give me a headache half way in.

What do you think?

The entire discography for the soundtrack is below, and it's slated to be released on May 27th.

Sex and the City Original Motion Picture Soundtrack:
1. "Labels or Love" -- Fergie
2. "All Dressed In Love" -- Jennifer Hudson
3. "The Look Of Love" (Madison Park vs Lenny B Remix) -- Nina Simone
4. "New York Girls" -- Morningwood
5. "All This Beauty" -- The Weepies
6. "I Like The Way" -- Kaskade
7. "It's Amazing" -- Jem
8. "How Deep Is Your Love" -- The Bird & The Bee
9. "The Heart Of The Matter" -- India.Arie
10. "Auld Lang Syne" -- Mairi Campbell & Dave Francis
11. "Kissing" -- Bliss
12. "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" -- Al Green featuring Joss Stone
13. "Walk This Way" -- Run-D.M.C. featuring Steve Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith
14. "Sex and the City Movie Theme" -- The Pfeifer Broz. Orchestra


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in love with TVB themes

Every few months I go on a Cantopop CD frenzy and buy them in batches from sites like YesAsia. While everyone has gone the age of technology and either d/l their music or buy from iTunes, I still like having the original hardcopy in my hands. Esp. for Chinese CDs, I never really know what's good out there as I'm out of touch in terms of the latest music charts, but places like YouTube are a great place to sample music before I commit, and I generally like to support the artists.

I purchased 6 new CDs online awhile ago, and they just arrived over the weekend, so will be listening to them and maybe sharing some thoughts I have about the songs in the coming weeks.

The first CD I started listening to was the compilation album "In Love With Drama (TVB Latest Theme Songs)." This album is sort of a joke because the way it's done is that in order to save money, TVB will have their own acting artists sing the theme songs instead of hiring real singers. There is usually a mixed bag of talent in there. If the actor/actress is also an established artist, then great, the vocals and arrangements are of much higher caliber. Then there are the wannabes, the ones forced by TVB to expand into music, whether or not they can sing. As a studio album, that can pass w/ some muster, but I absolutely cringe when they try to sing live. I have to make absolutely sure that there is at least 50% of songs that I like before I buy the CD, or maybe, a really good song that I love that I can't find anywhere else for albums like these.


01. 講不出聲 (溏心風暴 主題曲) - 關菊英 : Speechless ("Heart of Greed" theme) - Susanna Kwan
02. 只得一次 (同事三分親 主題曲) - 關淑怡 : Only Once ("Best Selling Secrets" theme) - Shirley Kwan
03. 最美麗的第七天 (最美麗的第七天 主題曲) - 鄭嘉穎 : The Most Beautiful Seventh Day ("The Seventh Day" theme) - Kevin Cheng
04. 禁戀 (鳳凰四重奏 插曲) - 佘詩曼 : Forbidden Love ("Maidens' Vow" subtheme) - Charmaine Sheh
05. 明成皇后 (明成皇后 主題曲) - 汪明荃 : The Last Empress ("The Last Empress" theme) - Liza Wang
06. 心領 (溏心風暴 插曲) - 林峰/ 鍾嘉欣 : Appreciated ("Heart of Greed" subtheme) - Raymond Lam/Linda Chung
07. 灰色錯對 (奪命真夫 主題曲) - 林保怡 : Right or Wrong's Grey Area ("Misleading Track" theme) - Bowie Lam
08. 第幾天 (賭場風雲 插曲) - 黃宗澤 : Which Day ("Dicey Business" subtheme) - Bosco Wong
09. I'm So In Love With You (舞動全城 主題曲) - 廖碧兒 : ("Steps" theme) - Bernice Liu
10. 金剛 (男人之苦 插曲) - 吳卓羲 : Golden Strong ("Men in Pain" theme) - Ron Ng

Songs performed by real singers (sang before TV ever came along) are tracks 1, 2, 3, and 5. The rest are performed by actors/actresses.

Songs I Most Enjoyed:

Track 6: I can't stand Linda's singing, but Raymond really saves the song, and I enjoy his singing in this very upbeat song. I wish I could just take out Linda's vocals and make it a solo piece. She has no air when she sings, she's reaching for those notes all the time, it's very annoying to listen to. That's the only thing I can't stand in the song, but I kept this as a fave 'cause I really like this song on its own.



Track 8: I could barely tell that this was Bosco singing, but I like that he tried to inject some emo in the song. In the past, I really raised an eyebrow when he tried to sing, but this is a big improvement, and the song is enjoyable.



Track 9: Bernice's Spanish-flavored song sounds perfect as a romantic ballad, and even though she's not a real recording artist, I think she should have her own album, her vocals are so strong.



Track 10: This song was the main reason I bought this CD. I think Ron's singing has improved a LOT since he first started to sing, and while I didn't like his first album (the songs and singing were really subpar there), I think he's worked really hard to be less nasally and although I don't know if he can perform live well yet, this was a song I listened to over and over again.



The worst of the bunch, in terms of vocals and just plain crappy song, has to go to tracks 3 (sorry, Kevin!) and 7.

Track 3: OK, I love Kevin, but he really needs to stop singing these slow, absolutely dreary tunes that are not aligned with his image or persona at all. Why couldn't he get a recording contract like Raymond? He's a real singer, and can perform live, but he isn't given the hip, romantic songs that would get him more notice. This song is absolutely depressing to listen to, the tempo at a turtle's pace.



Track 7: Bowie can't sing!!! Skip this piece of crap. It sucks! It's horrible. He can't project, the song is a throwaway track, don't even bother. I hate this song. It's like he's talking through this song. Horrible, bad, terrible, gross. :p



That being said, I would say that the overall album is not bad. I think the song choices could have been better, as there are many TVB themes that I love but were never released. Obviously, this compilation was based on the popularity of the artists, and less about the quality of the music. Take a listen and rate for yourself.

Up coming posts on my other CDs include a different TVB compilation album that came out several years ago, and solo albums by Raymond Lam, Alex Fong, and Janice Vidal. Stay tuned!

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