Move over Neil.

I have a very short list of people that can get me to buy their albums before I hear even the first single.

Neil.
Enrique.
Jason.

Neil Diamond. No secret around here that I love me some Neil. But Neil's not getting any younger and the last couple of albums he has put out just aren't the kind that I can listen to over and over. It's okay. I still buy them and I'm still a huge fan. It's just that I don't listen to him as much as I used to.

Enrique. It has been a while since he came out with some new music. Sure, he teased us with an album of number 1 hits but I've got them all. It is hard not to be a fan of the son of Julio Iglesias. In 1984 my grandma had the Julio Iglesias Bel Aire Place tape in her car and we listened to it all the way from Pasadena, CA to Ogden, UT and back. Me va, me va, me va, me va, ME va. When my grandma passed away in 1993, that tape was all I wanted. Three years later I was in Mexico serving a mission for my church and it was hard to ignore Enrique mania in my area. I bought his tape months before I was coming home and just kept it in my suitcase. I knew I had to have it. I was good and didn't listen to it before I came home (against the rules) but I've been a fan ever since. I used his songs to teach my students back in the day. I'm sure JennieO has some super fond memories of this, right? I even celebrated his birthday with my students. Even with all of this, he could not take the place of Neil Diamond as my all time number one favorite. I think it may have something to do with not writing all of his own music. Sure, he writes some of them--but he isn't a quintessencial singer/songwriter.

Enter, Jason Mraz. Oh dear. I know I've blogged about him before, too. I went with Wendy to his concert here in Lincoln for my birthday in 2007. His first album got me through my great exodus from Indiana to Nebraska. It is full of great driving music and his lyrics are always so clever that you can keep finding funny things in them even after you've heard the song a million times. Even his webpage is full of fun stuff. Check out his tour page and listen to his song (it comes on after a minute or so). Unfortunately, I won't be able to see him this year. He's not going to be anywhere close--darn it. I don't know what else to say about Jason Mraz except that after just 6 years of amazing music, I'm ready to put them right next to Neil. Dare I say BEFORE Neil? Let me just say that I had a very hard time coming up with a video to embed on this post. I love all of them. I've been watching them for over an hour so I finally had to decide. Here is Jason's video for I'm Yours. It is his latest single.



If you have time to click around youtube, some of my other favorites are You and I Both, Wordplay, and Geek in the Pink.

It's official.

Jason. Neil.
Enrique.

Do you have any Neils or Jasons?

Move over Neil.

http://craftyconservative.blogspot.com/2008/10/move-over-neil.html