What the fluff are midnight gems?
Somewhere lost in time, trying to escape out of the rabbit hole back into the rat race there is a vacuum..... that´s the place where midnight gems are found.
Midnight Gems will be a series that will try to uncover & recover those beautiful songs that nobody ever noticed, or might have been forgotten.
Today I will go back to my roots, both as a DJ and a Dutchie starting with a cover done by Nightwish Singer Floor.
1. Alone - Heart (cover by Floor Jansen)
This song represents how my DJ career got started as I played 80´s parties and Goth Gig´s in the same startup period.
That takes me back to the origin, the true start of that female voiced ethereal goth trend. And no it´s not that other Dutch band (I will cover that one in song 4).....the origin for me is
2. The Gathering - Strange Machines
If that is a bit to much for you. The singer Anneke grew up and made this little gem.
3. Agua De Annique - Come Wander With Me
Are you still able to keep up with me switching between 1st and 6th gear, because here we go again?
4. Within Temptation - Ice Queen (lyrics)
I knew these guys back in the days, the guitarist often visited the bar dancing where I was working as a DJ and bartender.
They performed this song prior to the single release at the Mundial festival (2001) in Tilburg (Netherlands). They were so proud, they played the song twice and it was even better the second time around.
Okay I will take my foot of the gas paddle now. By the way did you notice that Floor Jansen´s video setting has similarities with a world famous album cover......?
That album cover will make us leave the Netherlands, so I thought this song would make an appropriate goodbye.
5. Tori Amos - Little Amsterdam
Oh my goodness, I still so love Tori and it brings back so many memories. Many of my musical memories relate back to ex girlfriends.....
And in this case it´s the girl that sang Tori for me at midnight sitting behind me on the luggage carrier of my bike. She loved this next song.
6. Melissa Etheridge & Joan Osborne - Bring Me Some Water
And what is not to love...that is the way that song should be played. Nice & Rough...but sometimes I do play a song that´s Nice & Easy. Like the next song, as this was around the same time that Jewel had her first break through.
7. Jewel - Little Sister
After vol 1. I was thinking about turning track 8 into my cover Fetish track. So let´s see if I can make that work.
8. Kaizad Gherda - Foolish Games
There is such beauty in that cover, his voice takes me to a place deep inside. And once I reach that place I wanna stay there a while and listen to these guys.
9. The War On Drugs - Thinking of a place
Not sure if anybody made it till here, but if you did I hope your trip was as good as mine.
Who the fluff am I?
Being a former DJ playing about everything and having a uncompleted study of radio journalism I have been wanting to do this for years....Thought about it many nights and guess now it´s time to finally take it to the streets.
If you enjoyed this vol.2 please follow me for vol 3. of Midnight Gems coming soon. And I promise that it will be more Pianissimo than Vol.2😉
If you missed vol.1 here´s the link so you can continue the journey