1993 in music: Houston and Young fight back on behalf of soft rock

 

The Bodyguard is a property that I always felt that I knew enough about without ever having watched the movie or listened to the soundtrack. I guess I just figured that there weren't going to be any surprises in either one for me. I think I was right. 

I appreciate how they front-loaded all of Houston's songs on the CD, or what would have been Side A, and left the rest of the semi-heavy hitters like Lisa Stansfield, Kenny G, and Joe Cocker (with Sass Jordan!) to vie for your attention on the flip side, hoping you won't just fast-forward or skip back to the mega-hit at track one.

I instantly feel bad about including Joe Cocker in a list of semi-heavy hitters, but by 1993 we all gotta be honest with ourselves. 

I'm Every Woman (also released as a single?) and Jesus Loves Me are my stand-outs. 

I guess now I might as well watch the movie sometime.

Neil Young is a fascinating guy. My introduction to him was with The Shocking Pinks when I was around ten years old, only to learn later on that it was not really a serious band or album, and in fact this Young guy, now screaming about the Free World with some crazy strings on his guitar, is hard to put a label on.

Then another few years go by and I hear him singing Harvest Moon, a beautiful track from his Juno award winning album, which stuck with me and is often revisited. Eventually I found my way to his older (see: pre-Shocking Pinks) era, and the fascinating journey continued.

I haven't listened to the whole Harvest Moon album in a long time but I find it as soothing as ever, with my attention now really focused on the lengthy finale Natural Beauty.