Cher, Willie Nelson & Paul Simon in great new albums

Released within only a few weeks of each other last month are three albums by three very important American artists. I do not know how much these recordings matter in the Drake and Cardi B dominated world of today’s regular music buyer. But I was glad to find out that these living legends have taken the trouble to record these sets of truly beautiful music.

Cher must have had a really had a grand time filming Mamma Mia! Here we Go Again that she also fell in love with the music of ABBA. The pop goddess played Meryl Streep’s mother and Amanda Seyfried’s grandmother in the sequel to the film version of the stage musical. She sang Fernando and instantly owned the song. She also joined the rest of the cast in Super Trouper and also loved it.

Not one to pass up the chance to sing the classic tunes that seem to have been written especially for her, Cher was in the studio recording an entire album of ABBA songs at the same time that the picture hit the theaters. And now here it is, titled Dancing Queen, a fun confection for everybody to enjoy. I just wonder how ABBA feels about it. Cher did the songs so well in her own style that ABBA now has to share ownership with her.

Released into the market last week, Cher’s Dancing Queen is made up of Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight), The Name Of The Game, SOS, Waterloo, Mamma Mia, Chiquitita, Fernando, The Winner Takes It All, One Of Us and the title track. All of the songs are compositions by Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus.

Forty years after his great album of classic ballads Stardust was released, country music legend Willie Nelson has come up with another collection. And it is not just another line-up of standards from the great American Songbook. Titled My Way, it is made up of songs popularized by Frank Sinatra and is Nelson’s way of paying tribute to his departed friend.

Nelson and Sinatra? That is a rather odd combination but both artists have their own way of approaching a song and the way Nelson interpreted these Frankie tunes is simply incredible. Nelson’s Stardust is one album I never tire of listening to. And now I can say the same of My Way, too.

My Way includes Fly Me To The Moon, Summer Wind, One For My Baby (And One More For The Road), A Foggy Day, It Was A Very Good Year, Blue Moon, I’ll Be Around, Night And Day, What Is This Thing Called Love featuring Norah Jones, Young At Heart and of course, My Way.

Paul Simon officially bowed out of performing last week after a long tour that took him around the US of A. He said he has played his last song, Homeward Bound, of course, and will now be retired enjoying his life away from the limelight. But he not only gave his fans a chance to watch him live for the last time, he also coincided his retirement with the release of a unique new album he calls In The Blue Light.

The songs were written by Simon for solo albums he recorded these past 40 years. Maybe he decided to do these re-recordings because he felt he could do them in another style or because he was not satisfied with his initial renditions. Some came off truly different. Others, just a bit. But this album really whets the listener’s appetite to give another listen to the originals and in the process rediscover the music of Simon, certainly one of the best and most popular songwriters of the pop era.

No The Boxer is not included. Neither any from his Simon & Garfunkel period. These are lesser-known tracks getting another chance to become a hit. These are: One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor from There Goes Rhymin’ Simon; Love, The Teacher Darling Lorraine and Pigs, Sheep And Wolves from You’re The One; Can’t Run But from The Rhythm Of The Saints; How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns from One-Trick Pony; Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War from Hearts And Bones; Some Folks Lives Roll Easy from Still Crazy After All These Years; and Questions For The Angels from So Beautiful Or So What.