Paula Cole sounds earnest and goopy on comeback album

COURAGE/ Paula Cole/ Decca

"Please forgive me all my seriousness/My so-called spirituality,'' Paula Cole sings on Courage, her first new album since 1999. "I'm just a mess.''

Cole has always teetered between high-mindedness and insecurity, and that hasn't changed on Courage. Neither has her voice, rich and tremulous with more than a touch of Joni Mitchell. And neither has her fondness for plush pop.

Lonely Town, with Herbie Hancock on piano, aims for the delicacy of a jazz standard. Love Light climbs like a Peter Gabriel song, with its anthem-tinged melody underpinned by a plucked Moroccan lute. Its lyrics begin with a bird thinking its reflection is its perfect mate; it dies crashing into a windowpane.

Cole made three albums in the 1990s and won the 1997 Grammy Award as best new artist after her plaintive hit Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? She completed an album after her 1999 release, Amen, but it was rejected by her label, and Cole largely dropped out of the music business, occasionally releasing songs on her Web site. She has been raising her daughter, Sky.

The songs on Courage trace a storyline from a bitter breakup -- "I stop talking and fade to bleak/Feeling insignificant, atrophied and weak'' -- to a new start: "I wanna stop the conversation/I wanna kiss you.'' While many of them were written with seasoned studio musicians, they sound heartfelt. But as the self-help bromides pile up and the arrangements thicken, all the seriousness gets mighty goopy.

Inspiration is key, says songwriter

World music singer/songwriter Angelique Kidjo said inspiration is the most important ingredient for creating good, lasting art.

Angelique Kidjo is performing Friday at the Utah Arts Festival.

"The first thing that needs to happen when you write music is to be inspired," Kidjo said by phone from New York. "You can't write music to please anybody. And don't compromise. That's what I learned when I was singing with my mother's theater troupe as a child. If inspiration comes, you can't get me out of the studio. But let me tell you once I write a piece of music, it isn't mine anymore. It becomes everyone's."

Kidjo, who will headline Friday's Utah Arts Festival performances, began her singing career at age 6 in Africa. "My mother had a theater troupe and they would come to my house to rehearse. When I came home from school, I would hear all this singing. And found that I was right in the middle of it. Everybody looked so happy doing what they were doing and I wanted to mimic them. So I did. One day my mother saw me mimicking their movements and trying to sing along and she asked me, 'Do you want to do this, too?' I told her I did and I became a part of the troupe."

Kidjo learned a lot of lessons while under her mother's professional direction. "One thing I learned was to make sure you enjoy what you are doing. If you can't feel like you can give 180 percent on stage, don't bother. You will be wasting your time, and you will waste your audience's time."

When Kidjo decided to embark on her own career, she knew she would have plenty of challenges to overcome. "One that I still face is trying to get people to see that I am an artist first and an African second. There are many people who still don't give African artists the recognition they deserve. They think we belong in a museum. And when someone like me tries to expand the boundaries of art, they don't accept us. Let me tell you, that there are many good artists in Africa. We need to be recognized. We are not monkeys in a tree. We are artists."

Earlier this year, Kidjo released her 11th album, "Djin Djin." The title is the sound a bell makes that welcomes the day in Africa. She recorded songs with Alicia Keys, Branford Marsalis, Joss Stone, Peter Gabriel, Carlos Santana, Ziggy Marley and Josh Groban, to name a few.

"Recording with those other artists is my way of reaching out to the world and calling for unity," said Kidjo who has been awarded the Prix Afrique en Creation in 1992, theDanish Music Award for Best Female Singer in 1995 and the Kora Music Awards for Best African Female Artist in 1997.

"I wrote songs, without having certain singers in mind, and just let them choose which ones they liked," she said. "It was a good thing that no two artists liked the same song. I would have been in trouble. Just you try to say no to Peter Gabriel."

After Kidjo performs at the Utah Arts Festival, she will take a jaunt up to Canada to receive another music award. "It has been announced that I am to be awarded the Antonio Carlos Jobim Award on June 28. I am the first woman to receive it. And to me, it's a big deal."

The Jobim Award honors world-music artists who influence crossover music and jazz, said Kidjo. "The award is the epitome of what I've been trying to do all my life."

Peter Gabriel and themusic.com are proud to annonce...

Peter Gabriel and the Encore Series team at TheMusic.com have joined forces again to create THE PETER GABRIEL ENCORE SERIES 2007. Each show of the Peter Gabriel’s The Warm Up Tour will be recorded LIVE OFF THE SOUNDBOARD, mixed by Peter’s ‘Front of House’ Engineer, Ben Finlay, and pressed into high-quality manufactured 2-CD sets (not CD-Rs). Shows can be purchased separately, or for the ultimate fan, can be purchased as a complete set (all 22 shows) in either our Collectors Edition Box Set or Deluxe Limited Edition numbered Road Case.

For those unable to attend one of the concerts on this tour, the Encore Series offers a chance for you to experience Peter Gabriel from home, and for those of you that do see a show, an opportunity to relive the experience again and again...

As a special bonus, we are offering Full Moon Members a 10% discount on all Peter Gabriel Encore Series items (2007 Peter Gabriel Road Case not included). Please click here to sign-up with the Full Moon Club.

Items available from this Encore Series:
* Deluxe Numbered Road Case
(Europe)
* Collector's Boxes
(Europe)
* 2CD Sets
(Europe)
* Related Peter Gabriel items from the Groove Shop

Catherine Bell massage therapist of PG ?

With an extensive military career spanning nine years as fiery Marine Corps attorney Lt. Col. Sarah ("Mac") MacKenzie on "JAG" (1996-05), it seemed only natural that Catherine Bell would be approached by the producers of the television series "Army Wives."...

...The daughter of an English architect and an Iranian-born nurse was born in London, but raised in Los Angeles from the age of 2 with her mother and grandparents in the wake of her parents' divorce. Bell is fluent in Farsi because of the Iranian household, but attended a local Catholic school where she was taught by nuns. A very bright student, she matriculated to the University of California Los Angeles with every intention of becoming a biomedical engineer or studying medicine.

Bored, the beautiful Bell dropped out of school a year or so later and was immediately snapped up as a print and catalog model on the Los Angeles scene. A four-month modeling assignment in Japan opened her eyes to a strange new culture where she was frequently groped on Tokyo streets by short men. She was "very homesick," and was angry and fast enough to turn on unknown assailants with punches to the nose and elbows to the ribs.

Tired of long runways and hot photo studios, the 5-foot-10-inch Bell soon turned her attention to acting by enrolling in classes taught by heavyweight teacher Milton Katselas at The Beverly Hills Playhouse.

Eventually self-employed as a massage therapist (singer Peter Gabriel was among her clients) while auditioning for parts, she finally made her professional debut with one line on "Sugar and Spice" (1990) - a tasteless little sitcom with the 30-second shelf life.

Over the years she has played a number of aggressive military women, including her role in the feature film "Men of War" (1994) with Trevor Goddard - a strange Englishman passing himself off as an Australian in the U.S. who wound up playing Bell's off-and-on love interest Mic Brumby on "JAG" a year later.

"We had amoebic dysentery at the same time while shooting in Thailand and became friends," Bell said about her first meeting with Goddard.

Goddard - who lived a lie, claiming among other things to have been a professional boxer - died of an accidental drug overdose in June 2006. In the throes of a divorce, he left two young sons behind.

The announcement of his death, according to Bell, "was horrible. I was very shocked, very surprised - I think we all were. What a wonderful, sweet human being. I just adored him. But I knew he liked to party ...."

Record At Real World For Free

mi7.com launch competition to win 3 days of recording at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios

mi7.com, one of the fastest-growing communities on the internet has announced a new music contest in conjunction with Peter Gabriel's world-famous Real World Studios. MI7 is offering one lucky artist or band the chance to record in this legendary world-famous studio.

Musicians throughout the world can enter the contest for free by simply creating a profile at mi7.com, upload some songs, and let the other members vote on them. The artist judged most deserving of the chance to record at Real World will be flown to London, chauffeur-driven to the beautiful English countryside of Wiltshire, and enjoy three days to record their music in the Big Room of Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios with a world-class producer - all expenses paid.

Per Larsen, CEO of MI7 told us, "At MI7 we've always believed in giving musicians the best tools they need to make their music. We're now taking it to the next level and giving them free access to one of the most legendary recording studios in the world. We're proud to be able to offer this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a great new band to live their dream!"

Real World Studios was founded by Peter Gabriel and is one of the finest studios in the world. The Big Room is why Real World is justifiably famous. It offers space and versatility on a grand scale for live recording and tracking. Equipped with a 72 channel SSL 9000 XL K series console together with a varied array of outboard equipment (including a large selection of vintage Neve modules), it offers the potential for truly state of the art recording and mixing.

About MI7

MI7 is a pan-European and Japanese partnership company staffed by professionals with many years of experience in all areas of the media industry. Representing a new concept in the distribution of media and music production products, MI7 brings competence, passion and results to both its customers and the industry. Plus, a bit of spice! Working in close cooperation with a selected range of manufacturers, MI7 has an extensive customer base that includes both media professionals and enthusiasts. In addition to offering distribution and customer service, MI7 also provides answers and solutions that make it easier for the customer to focus on what is really important, namely the creative flow.

Pricing and Availability:

The Real World Studios contest is now accepting songs and will run through October 31, 2007. As an added bonus, all entries submitted before June 30, 2007 will automatically be entered in a random drawing to win one of the world-class microphones available at Real World Studios, the SE Electronics Gemini. No purchase necessary. Official contest rules and details can be found at community.mi7.com/contests

More information: www.mi7.com

Rock Stars on Wheels

Maybe you’re familiar with Peter Gabriel. He was lead singer for the band Genesis from 1967-1975, preceding Phil Collins. He has been successful as a solo artist in the 1980s as well, with hits like “Sledgehammer,” “Shock the Monkey” and others. Apparently Gabriel also enjoys an occasional bike ride. Check out this YouTube video where he grabs a folding bike and cruises around and around a spinning circular stage while performing Solsbury Hill at a recent concert. No word on if he sings like that when he’s just pedaling around the neighborhood back home. Watch the video

Paula Cole's 'Courage'

New album is her first offering in 7 years

Paula Cole has a rich, resonant voice that seeps inside you, lending a feeling of warmth, intimacy and strength. She's also gifted with a finely tuned, grown-up compositional skill, creating anthemic pop and breezy jazz-tinged songs that likewise express our innermost feelings of romantic longing, disillusionment, resilience and triumph.

That's where Cole took us in the 1990s with her hits "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" and "I Don't Want to Wait" (the theme from "Dawson's Creek"). And it's how she'll be bonding with listeners anew with "Courage," (Decca, A), the artist's first album in seven years.

Somewhat autobiographical, this album fills in the gaps of Cole's seven-year absence from the "hamster wheel" of the music industry. During the period she faced up to career rejection, gave birth to a daughter, broke up with the girl's father and delved deeply into meditation.

There's more than a hint of philosophical/spiritual awakening in object lessons like "Lovelight," which is evocative of her early collaborations with Peter Gabriel.

Also telling the tale quite well, are the bossa-nova-flavored "Hard to Be Soft" and the pop-rocking "14," which delves into the concerns of a woman conditioned to repress her emotions. But there's light at the end of the tunnel with songs like the reggae-tuned "Safe in Your Arms" and Cole's take-charge "I Wanna Kiss You.