Deny the X-Factor and choose the greatest Hallelujah

The late, great Jeff Buckley is a great hope for us all! He may well posthumously save us from another commercialised x-factor Christmas…

The Jeff Buckley version of “Hallelujah” is regarded as one of the greatest renditions of Leonard Cohens “Hallelujah”.

Now I like Leonard Cohen – He’s a great song writer, but vocally he but he is very much Marmite – you either love him or hate him. Leonard does make funeral music seem like energetic pop/disco, but that is his style – love it or hate it!

I’m not one to say the original is the best, and in Leonards case, he wrote a great song here that Buckley really did wonders with.

But once again X-Factor takes a cover of a successful song and runs with it to try and get yet another Christmas number one.

Sure, Alexandra Burke has a good voice for certain songs – but the music and vocals are far, far too powerful for this wonderful song.

Rufus Wainwright did a very good version too – and like Buckley, it is kept simple – and better for it. You may remember it being used in “Shrek”…

Buckleys Version is already getting a lot of sales and is a contender to keep us free from yet another X-factor whitewash Christmas. If you were thinking about getting Burkes version, then think again…try Buckley, and then make your choice.

Please note though – if you are buying off of the net (this from a Facebook site wanting a Buckley Number 1) –

To make this as easy as possible we have posted the download links below:

http://www.7digital.com/artists/jeff-buckley/hallelujah-1/ – unencumbered high quality 320k mp3 89p (that’s what I’m getting next week).

http://www.tunetribe.com/product/index.html?id=604507 – cheaper but semi-crippled WMA (windows file) only 49p

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=254578201&s=143444 – 79p but DRM AAC file from Apple

HMV
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/digitalSearch.do?simpleSearchString=jeff+buckley&simpleSearchString=jeff+buckley&pGroupID=8&searchUID=&btnSubmitSearch.x=17&adultFlag=false&btnSubmitSearch.y=4&primaryID=8#
Near the bottom, 69p.

PLEASE DONT PURCHASE FROM AMAZON AS THEY DO NOT COUNT TOWARDS THE UK CHARTS…

P.S: I hope the links I have added don’t get messed up and seem to imply things other than they were intended…

Before anyone says it – I know Cowell owns the rights to Hallelujah, so whatever one you buy, you put money in his exceedingly high trouser pockets – but at least with a purchase of Buckley’s version we stand a chance of having a non-X-factor, non-commercial tat Christmas.

Gillette and the screw – Not all sharp things are good

What goes “Click click click click click click click pffffffffffft….?”, originally uploaded by L.B.

I’ve been singing the praises of the King of Shaves Azor recently – It’s sharp, inexpensive, light and makes me feel a lot better…… but not all sharp, inexpensive and light things have the same effect…

Whilst out in the car earlier I had the windows down and could here a “click click click” noise that matched the car speed. It had to be a stone or nail in a tyre – It happened before several years ago…to my Supra and my old mk2 Range Rover (The Old Dog). The meaning of the noise is quite obvious, although sometimes you can get lucky and it’s just a stuck stone…

I drove home cautiously. The tyre was still fully inflated, so there was a chance the tyre was fine and the screw was really short. Once parked up and safe I removed the screw….

Fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffttttt……longer than I had hoped….

It’s a company car, so a quick phone call and the garage will be out to fix it shortly.

Not all sharp things are good….