by

Song of the Day #4,983: ‘Tera Surroor’ – Himesh Reshammiya

When writing recent posts about Michael Jackson and Meat Loaf, I had a chance to peruse the list of the world’s all-time top-selling albums. Most of the entries made sense, but one jumped out at me.

Apparently, the album that is second only to Jackson’s Thriller, with more than 55 million copies sold, is a 2006 release titled Aap Kaa Surroor by Indian actor/singer Himesh Reshammiya. It seems just about every one of those 55 million copies was sold in India, which explains why this is news to me. The album was Reshammiya’s first, and was followed up by his debut acting performance in a film of the same name.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,982: ‘The Book of Numbers’ – Sting

I wrote about Elvis Costello yesterday, and now here’s another old-timer with a new album out. Sting released The Bridge in November, a month after his 70th birthday.

I have not kept up with Sting’s discography over the past 23 years. The last album of his I listened to was 1999’s Brand New Day, a triple Platinum hit in the U.S. that capped off a run of six excellent solo albums.

I never found time for the follow-up, 2003’s Sacred Love, which managed to go Platinum despite not producing a hit. After that came a grab bag of novelty releases, including two collections of alternate releases of his own material, a Christmas album, and an album heavily featuring a lute.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,981: ‘The Difference’ – Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello released a new album a few weeks ago, and I still haven’t listened to it all the way through.

There’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d ever write.

Once upon a time, a new Elvis Costello album was a major event in my life, like a Christmas day that happened every three or four years. But somewhere along the line, I stopped getting excited about Costello’s new music.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,980: ‘Paradise by the Dashboard Light’ – Meat Loaf

When singer/actor Meat Loaf died last month at age 74, reportedly from COVID-19 complications, I was intrigued by the references to his 1977 album Bat Out of Hell as one of the top-selling records of all time.

Indeed, the prog rock opera is the fourth best-selling album worldwide, behind only Michael Jackson’s Thriller, AC/DC’s Back in Black, and Whitney Houston’s soundtrack to The Bodyguard.

And here I am, purportedly a music fan, having never heard it.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,979: ‘Burn This Disco Out’ – Michael Jackson

To help appreciate the astounding popularity of Michael Jackson, consider that 1979’s Off the Wall sold more than 20 million copies worldwide… and it’s his fifth best-selling album.

What’s nuts is that the four albums Jackson released before this one, all between 1972 and 1975 on Motown Records, barely made a dent. Those records, recorded by a teenaged Jackson in a style very much like his work with the Jackson 5, showed few hints of the R&B/disco juggernaut to come.

Continue reading →