NOW & THEN 20/4/12 NEW ALBUM

[thebraff (Braffy)]

Damien has his new album NOW & THEN being released on 20th April, 2012.

Here is a video from Damien

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs3sFnQP9jk

Pre order here

www.sanity.com.au/products/2209301/Now__Then_SIGNED_COPY

[2011 was an incredible year for Damien Leith. His album ‘Roy: A Tribute To Roy Orbison’ climbed the ARIA album charts to #2 and went on to achieve platinum sales. On top of this Damien went on a national theatre sell out Roy tour, was a finalist on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ and hosted his own TV program. Continuing on from last year’s success Damien returns with his new album ‘Now & Then’, which picks up from where ‘Roy: A Tribute To Roy Orbison’ left off. The new album will consist of original songs and covers from each of the Travelling Wilburys and one classic Wilburys track ‘End of The Line’. The album ‘Now & Then’ showcases singer song talents of Damien whilst continuing to pay homage to Roy Orbison.


JB Hi Fi

www.jbhifionline.com.au/music/pop-rock/now-then-signed-copy/665121

Competition:
www.jbhifionline.com.au/images/assetimages/cat_damien-leith570.jpg



Tracklist:

End Of The Line
Beautiful 2012
Got My Mind Set On You
Maybe Someday
Here Comes The Sun
Let Me Be Your Rescue
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
I Won’t Back Down
500 Reasons
Leah
Run
Can’t Get It Out Of My Head
Unless You Say So

[thebraff (Braffy)]

Having heard a preview of the album on here:

www.damienleith.com.au

I must say how anxious I am to hear all the songs in full.

I am liking what I am hearing of the original songs and of the covers I think Leah originally performed by Roy Orbison is a stand out.

10 more days to wait.

[plugger]

I can't wait to hear them all either Braffy, and it is sounding good!

[thebraff (Braffy)]

ONE WEEK TO GO UNTIL WE HEAR ALL THE SONGS IN FULL


7 DAYS TO RELEASE DAY

[belinda]

Only four days to go now .... so excited ~ can't wait!!!

[thebraff (Braffy)]

This is the thread that we will use to discuss the different tracks on 'Now & Then' and all things about the album.

I hope my pre orders arrive today, since I won't be home tomorrow when the post arrives. If they don't arrive tomorrow I will be having to wait until Monday.

[Spud]

On iTunes, it says that Beautiful 2012 is the "Stuart Crichton Mix" (except they spelt it 'Crighton'). That definitely sounds cool!

Has anyone seen the video for Beautiful yet? I found a link to it (well, it's a link to video called "Damien Leith - Beautiful", anyway) but it says the video isn't available in Australia.
www.dailymotion.com/video/xq6z7g_damien-leith-beautiful_music

[Roxy]

yeah I saw that Spud, Damien also posted about that Vevo on his facebook page, and no-one has heard the single yet!!! Makes it hard to request something that you haven't heard or even know which stations it's been serviced to? I presume all of them?

Oh well, we'll hear it tomorrow if you get the album. ;D

[shimmery]

Looking forward to going shopping in comfort on iTunes tomorrow morning first thing for NOW AND THEN!!!

[thebraff (Braffy)]

Unfortunately a few people on Facebook have said they have already bought the album. Also, one person has said they heard his new song on 2 CH. She didn't say which song, I assume it is Beautiful.

[belinda]

I can't wait for my pre order to arrive, but in the meantime, I'm going to do the same as Shims and download it from iTunes first thing in the morning. (Smart thinking Shims )

[shimmery]

Enjoying my shiny new copy of NOW AND THEN straight from iTunes this morning, OMG loving it!!!! Couldn't wait to come on and post early thoughts from first few listens as a way to celebrate the day, and looking forward to seeing Damien on Sunrise in a couple of hours!


The covers are fab, I'll go more into them too but at the moment just absolutely blown away and excited about the new originals!!!!!

Damien more than proves his songwriting abilities here once more. Alongside his own style there's so many new influences coming in that he's also building on, his songs stand alone tall and proud amongst the others here - by songwriting giants!!


Going to focus then first and foremost on Damien's own songs - Maybe Someday!! I was jumping out of the chair on first listen - WOW!!!!! From a beautiful spare opening lead in with a piano arrangement and Damien's voice telling the story it builds and builds to such a glorious full blown emotive epic - it's almost got an Abbey Road sound to it in the first part of the song, love the full rich sound of it, the changes into the chorus (DIVINE) Then the change at the end.... ARE YOU KIDDING!!! WHAT WAS THAT!!! OMG!!!! Totally unexpected and incredible impact!! Big ELO style crescendo in the arrangement sitting somehow so naturally beside such a Jeff Buckley vocal influence in this part of the song, reminds me very much of when Damien just exploded into an amazing jaw-droppingly high vocal singing "Everybody Here Wants You" back in 07 at the Jeff Buckley tribute. Stunning song!!! THIS SHOULD BE A SINGLE!!!!!!

(lyric) "We were so close to getting it right" - well, not close in this case Damien - YOU GOT THIS SONG 100% RIGHT!!!


Let Me Be Your Rescue is another favourite even though the favourites are starting to jump around in my head a bit already as I'm liking different things through the album. Big story, big sound, big song - power song! This song is so beautifully crafted, again I just love listening to the build and changes through it - again this could also be a single!!!


500 Reasons This one feels to me like a road trip through a personal landscape, liking its broad open sky feel, it sounds like a song that would be perfect for a soundtrack to a movie or tv series, it has an upbeat let's go on this road together momentum that takes you along with it, great feel in this one!


Run - WOW!! Run to Track 11 and check this one out!!! I LOVE this duet!!!! Just wish I had the liner notes so I could read all the credits but think it's correct that this is the one sung with Sinead Burgess and with Stuart Crichton producing - WOW It's another broad, sweeping song, and another that could also easily be perfect for a soundtrack to a movie! DEFINTELY ANOTHER SINGLE!!! Loving the "Don't Dream It's Over"/"Whiter Shade of Pale" burst of organ sound into the chorus, it definitely has fingerprints of Remember June all over it and builds on that legacy!!


Unless You Say So - What a finish!! There's so much going on in this song, it's dazzling!!!

Damien seems to have been very strongly inspired here from the forms & harmonies of songs like The Auld Triangle from his show at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, it's very exciting to see him building that experience & tradition into his songwriting!! The words are gorgeous, "Without you I'm just words searching for a melody". The song bursts out of the more sonorous opening into an exhuberant almost céilidh feel, Damien sounding like he's rejoicing in his songwriting heritage while at the same time coming into mature assurance - the structure and arrangement of this song is amazing, more enjoyable and more riches discovered on each listen!


BEAUTIFUL 2012 - Really LOVE the opening to this one, this song tells itself best in the quiet spare moments of the arrangement I think, with the purity Damien's voice and the piano in highlight. BEAUTIFUL was always one of the best songs Damien has written and is such a signature work of his and flows so naturally from him every time he sings it, it's almost a part of him - it deserved to be given its due respect and it's so great to see it listed as the first of his originals to appear in this collection!!


Now to the Covers!


Of all the Covers, I think "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" is still my favourite, as it was from the snippets. Love the vocals and arrangement of it, it's got that soft, rich late night lullaby feel of being amongst the last ones stumbling out of a club as they're shutting down the bar and putting away the instruments - LOVE it!!!


Amongst my other favourites of the covers would be Leah - that sounds just as divine as it did live in concert during the Roy tour, those beautiful beautiful harmonies!!!!


Here Comes the Sun is one of my fave George Harrison songs - gently chilled out acoustic & delicate interpretation here, & very lovely!


Got My Mind Set on You is fabulous and fun! Damien even sounds quite a bit like George here, & he definitely seems to be using some different techniques with his voice as he did on the Roy album, it's very interesting hearing his vocals developing in new ways as he's studying these other artists! Love the arrangement and can imagine it being great live with the band getting right into it & punching it out at the shows.


Again, I wish I had the liner notes to know what the instruments are in "End of the Line" - is that a banjo? A charango? A ukelele? I love that sound highlighted in the arrangement, will have to check later exactly the details. Really love the original Wilburys song and the way Damien's done it - it's a very very upbeat song and you just can't help dancing/singing along.


So enjoying hearing the new album at last and it's going to be on repeat!!!! It's great that Damien's own work has so much presence here & the originals certainly leave you wanting MORE! And MORE into the future!!

[belinda]

Shims I just loved reading your detailed opinion of each song and have to agree with you on all his covers!

Damien's originals have really struck a chord with me. They are beyond brilliant and amazing! I just love them. Maybe Someday .... oh my goodness! Goosebumps all over when he reaches those high notes (I'm not up on the technical terms lol). His voice is just perfect. Run really struck a cord with me on a personal level and I had tears streaming down my face. Still have a lump in my throat over that one! I love Let Me Be Your Rescue and 500 Reasons. Unless You Say So is a perfect blend of his voice and the instruments - oh my goodness, it gives me goosebumps! He's outdone himself with his originals in my opinion and I love them. Absolutley love Beautiful 2012 and hope everyone gets to hear it. I will be listening to this album on repeat. Love it, love it, love it! He's done a fantastic job of the covers as well. Not sure which song will be my favourite on the album (at the moment it's Run), I'm enjoying all of them and notice different things each time I replay them. Anyhow have to type now, but really amazed by this album and it's more than what I expected. Well done to Damien. His voice is just amazing and his talents are just endless, his songwriting skills really touch your heart!

[Trilly]

OK, I'll say this in all caps:

BOY, WAS I WRONG ABOUT THIS ALBUM!!!

ABSOLUTELY LOVING DAMIEN's ORIGINALS!!! Cannot stop listening to them. Like everyone else I am in love with Maybe Someday.. That Jeff Buckleyish massive falsetto finish is so Then, but it's BRILLIANT!

Let Me Be Your Rescue is amazing listening to the entire song. It's awesome!

Not fussed on 500 Reasons though.. Way too country for me..

But then we get the Irishy sounds of Unless You Say So! Loving the lyrics too..."without you I'm just words searching for a melody"...

More later, but my first impressions were Off the mark. The snippets made this sound more
countrified than it is. The vibe is there, but it is broader than that, sorry D, you were right, of course!! I'm loving the production. Stu has done it again...Beautiful builds so gorgeously...

God, I LOVE being pleasantly surprised! Love
it when D ROCKS, but I can so hear us belting out some of these songs live with him!!

and his cover of Here Comes The Sun is my fave of at the moment, loving the ending Damien, it works so well.

[Trilly]

Shims,hadn't read your comments when I wrote mine,but I was soooo back at JBT listening to Maybe Someday too!