People don’t think of Billy Ocean as a political artist. “Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)” isn’t an anthem of change, it’s a cool, tight, wonderful little pop song. But Ocean, who came up idolizing Sam Cooke, Bob Marley and Marvin Gaye, has written a handful of songs that seem to celebrate the social and racial justice movements taking place across the globe.
Ocean’s first album of new material in over 10 years, “One World” opens with “We Gotta Find Love,” a breezy, synth-heavy pop jam calling for global unity. Later he comes back to the theme on the ska-touched “All Over The World” and the title track. Even the love songs and dance tunes call for more trust, joy and togetherness — the standout is “Daylight,” which nicely recalls Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long (All Night).”
“Nothing happens without a reason, nothing happens without a season,” Ocean said. “These songs were written (before 2020) and so is it just coincidence or was this supposed to happen like this? The songs were written before but they have meaning now. … They are very much related to the political climate we have now.”
Maybe the problems of the world and Ocean’s music have been on a collision course for a while. As justice movements have been building, Ocean revisited a few of his heroes’ landmark statements on civil rights, cultural change and hope. On 2013 greatest hits package “Here You Are,” Ocean included a covers disc featuring a towering version of Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” and a sweet, strong take on Marley’s “No Woman No Cry.”
“When you write songs you have a benchmark, a standard you want to achieve, and in that sense, of course these songs and artists influence what I write,” Ocean said. “I still listen to Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, and if you write songs you have to try and match their standard. You might be bang on, but you have to try.”
Of course, a Billy Ocean album can’t happen without a lot of love songs. Between his pleas for peace, he woos and shouts, doing an old-school soul number with “Can’t Stand the Pain” and the ’80s-evoking “When I Saw You.”
To push forward and capture his classic sound in one set of songs, Ocean co-wrote all 12 tracks with producer Barry Eastmond. A longtime collaborator of Ocean’s, Eastmond helped pen “When the Going Gets Tough” and “There’ll Be Sad Songs (to Make You Cry).”
“Barry knows exactly what he wants as a producer and gets the best out of me,” Ocean said. “When I started to record again, the first person I called up was Barry. I told him what I wanted to do, he said, ‘Let’s do it,’ and that was it.”
When he gets back on the road in 2021, Ocean wants a set list that reflects the old and new — “Daylight” could be a killer live track — but says having so many hits means space is tight.
“My show is made up of hit songs and at the same time I want to put some of these in there,” he said. “I’d like to have at least three new songs but I can’t drop ‘When the Going Gets Tough,’ I can’t drop ‘Suddenly,’ I can’t drop ‘Caribbean Queen,’ I can’t drop ‘Get Into My Car,’ I can’t drop ‘Sad Song.’”
“It’s hard,” he said with a laugh. “But it’s a nice problem to have.”
"current" - Google News
August 28, 2020 at 04:55PM
https://ift.tt/34E2A7S
Current themes run through Billy Ocean’s new album - Boston Herald
"current" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3b2HZto
https://ift.tt/3c3RoCk
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Current themes run through Billy Ocean’s new album - Boston Herald"
Post a Comment