Oz | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 19 September 2014 | |||
Recorded | 2013–2014 | |||
Genre | Baroque pop, adult contemporary | |||
Length | 55:07 | |||
Label | Eleven Warner Bros./Reprise | |||
Producer | Missy Higgins, Jherek Bischoff | |||
Missy Higgins chronology | ||||
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Singles from Oz | ||||
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Oz is the fourth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, and was released by Eleven on 19 September 2014. It is Higgins' first cover album, which is accompanied by a book of the same name that collects a series of essays by Higgins; using each song title as a jumping off point. The album's title refers to each of the artists covered being from Australia, as well as being a reference to the land of Oz as established in The Wizard of Oz . [1]
Upon release, Higgins said “I wanted to try something different this time around. I couldn’t decide between making a covers album or writing a book so I decided to do both at once. Musically it’s intended to be a real mixed bag of lollies.” adding “I like the idea of songwriters being like the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz. Some people think we're special people who have special powers but really we're just scared little people hiding in a backroom somewhere, working like crazy to make sure we don't get found out.” [2]
The album was originally conceived by Higgins and her manager, John Watson, as a circuit-breaker during the several years of depression and writer's block that preceded the singer's third album, The Ol' Razzle Dazzle in 2012. Higgins successfully persisted with writing her own material, but came back to the idea of interpreting some of her favourite Australian songs in 2013. [3]
The album's lead single is "Shark Fin Blues", originally released by The Drones on their 2005 album Wait Long by the River... . It was released via SoundCloud on 7 July 2014. [4] A music video for the song was released on 11 August 2014. [5]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
The Guardian | [6] |
The Music | [7] |
Renowned for Sound | [8] |
Everett True from The Guardian said: "Having Missy Higgins cover a series of widely disparate songs in her trademark style leads to an unintentional levelling off, a flattening of variety. Whether this is to the album's detriment will come down to how much you like Missy Higgins." [6]
Carley Hill from The Music said: "Higgins has made these much-loved tracks sing with a bold, new voice", adding, "Higgins' lush symphonic rendering of The Drones' guttural "Shark Fin Blues" is arguably the best on the album." [7]
Helena Ho from Renowned for Sound said: Higgins transformed "each track based on her own musical style, so that it is worthy to be critiqued as a new song altogether." adding "Oz is a tribute to some of the country’s greatest music artists." [8]
Ali Birnie from Beat Magazine said: "Higgins has made these songs shine with her unique and beautiful style." [9]
"Over the Rainbow" is a ballad by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg. It was written for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, in which it was sung by actress Judy Garland in her starring role as Dorothy Gale. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Garland's signature song.
The Sound of White is the debut studio album by Australian pop singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, released 6 September 2004 by Eleven. It won the 2005 ARIA Music Award for Best Female Artist. Higgins had secured recording contracts with Eleven and Warner Bros. while still in high school, after winning a competition for unsigned artists run by radio station Triple J. Her winning song, "All For Believing", is included on this album. After a backpacking trip in 2002, Higgins toured and wrote songs during 2003. She wrote most tracks alone and collaborated on three songs, with Kevin Griffin, Jay Clifford and Clif Magness respectively. The Sound of White was recorded in 2004 with producer John Porter.
"Ten Days" is a song by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, written by Higgins and Jay Clifford of Jump, Little Children. It was the second single released from her debut album, The Sound of White (2004), on 15 November 2004. "Ten Days" peaked at No. 12 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. The Australian Recording Industry Association awarded the song a gold disc for selling over 35,000 copies. It was also voted No. 6 song on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2004. The video features Higgins travelling to various places and many of the shots were filmed in Adelaide, South Australia.
"The Special Two" is a song by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins and the third single released from her debut album, The Sound of White. The song was also included on her 2003 debut EP, The Missy Higgins EP, although re-recorded for the studio album. Higgins said of the lyrics, "Basically I made a big mistake [...] I fell into a lump of depression, locking myself out the back in the bungalow. After a couple of days I came up with the song. I played it to that person and it was therapeutic. It was a good sorry letter." In June 2018, Higgins revealed in The Weekend Age that the song was an apology to her older sister, who also liked a boy that she liked but ended up going out with Higgins.
The 19th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 23 October 2005 at the Sydney SuperDome at the Sydney Olympic Park complex, thus continuing the previous year's innovation of televising the awards on Sunday evening. A varied cast of presenters included Merrick and Rosso, stand-up comic Dave Hughes, Gretel Killeen and David Hasselhoff.
"From Little Things Big Things Grow" is a protest song recorded by Australian artists Paul Kelly & The Messengers on their 1991 album Comedy, and by Kev Carmody on his 1993 album Bloodlines. It was released as a CD single by Carmody and Kelly in 1993 but failed to chart. The song was co-written by Kelly and Carmody, and is based on the story of the Gurindji strike and Vincent Lingiari as part of the Indigenous people's struggle for land rights in Australia and reconciliation.
Melissa Morrison Higgins is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. Her Australian number-one albums are The Sound of White (2004), On a Clear Night (2007) and The Ol' Razzle Dazzle (2012), and her singles include "Scar", "Steer" and "Where I Stood". Higgins was nominated for five ARIA Music Awards in 2004 and won 'Best Pop Release' for "Scar". In 2005, she was nominated for seven more awards and won five. Higgins won her seventh ARIA in 2007. Her third album, The Ol' Razzle Dazzle, was released in Australia in June 2012. As of August 2014, Higgins' first three studio albums had sold over one million units.
On a Clear Night is the second studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, released by Eleven on 28 April 2007. Higgins started work on the album straight after finishing her 2004 debut, The Sound of White. She spent six months of 2006 in Broome, Western Australia, writing new material. She composed songs inspired by the landscape, and by past relationships. She wrote more material while touring the US and at the end of the year travelled to Los Angeles to record with Mitchell Froom.
"Shark Fin Blues" is a double A-side single taken from Australian rockers the Drones' second studio album, Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By. The single was released on 25 September 2006. It also appeared as a limited edition, 7" picture disc, together with the band's fourth album, Gala Mill.
Emma Louise Lobb, who performs as Emma Louise, is an Australian indie pop singer-songwriter from Cairns. She is best known for her 2011 debut single "Jungle". Two studio albums, Vs Head vs Heart and Supercry, have reached the ARIA Albums Chart top 15. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2013 she was nominated for Best Female Artist.
"Blackfella/Whitefella" is an Australian rock song written by Neil Murray and George Rrurrambu, recorded by their Aboriginal rock group, Warumpi Band, and released as the second single from their 1985 album, Big Name, No Blankets on Parole Records and Powderworks Records. While not a chart success, the song drew attention to issues of racism in Australia through lyrics that encourage harmony and co-operation by people of all races. The song received national airplay and attention in 1986 when politically charged rockers and Powderworks Records founders Midnight Oil accompanied the band on a free concert tour of remote Aboriginal communities as the Blackfella/Whitefella Tour.
The discography of Australian singer-songwriter and musician Missy Higgins consists of five studio albums, two extended plays, thirty three singles and one download-only live album. In 2001, Higgins won the national Unearthed radio competition for unsigned artists with her song "All for Believing" and shortly after signed a recording contract with Eleven. The following year she signed an international contract with Warner Bros. She released a self-titled EP in November 2003. Her debut album, The Sound of White, was released 6 September 2004. It reached No. 1 on the Australian albums chart and was certified nine times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). It contained the singles "Scar", "Ten Days", "The Special Two" and "The Sound of White".
The Ol' Razzle Dazzle is the third studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, and was released by Eleven on 1 June 2012. Higgins began work on the album after a quiet retreat from the industry to refocus her life on other pursuits, including attending University and living in a share house. After playing Lilith Fair in the summer of 2010, Higgins decided to come back to music and worked with fellow singer/songwriter Butterfly Boucher, who helped co-produce The Ol' Razzle Dazzle with Nashville producer/engineer Brad Jones. The album was made available for pre-order on 26 April 2012.
"Everyone's Waiting" is the second single from Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins' third album, The Ol' Razzle Dazzle. It was the most commercially successful single from the album, peaking at No. 11 on the Australian ARIA Chart and was certified platinum. Higgins performed the song at the 2012 ARIA Awards, where the single won the award for "Best Video"
"Unashamed Desire" is the first single from Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins' third album, The Ol' Razzle Dazzle. The song made its worldwide premier on Triple J in April and the single was released digitally on 23 April 2012
"Was There Anything I Could Do?" is a song by the Australian alternative rock band The Go-Betweens that was issued as the second single from their sixth album 16 Lovers Lane. The song was released 3 October 1988 by Beggars Banquet Records in the UK and Mushroom Records in Australia but failed to chart in either region. It was released as a promotional single in the US by Capitol Records and charted on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks charts in the United States, peaking at No. 16.
Solastalgia is the fifth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, released on 27 April 2018. The album's title references an "existential distress caused by environmental change, such as mining or climate change".
"Futon Couch" is a song performed by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, released in February 2018 as the lead single from her fifth studio album, Solastalgia.
Tropical Fuck Storm are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, formed by Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin from The Drones. Lauren Hammel, from the band High Tension, plays drums, and Erica Dunn, from the bands Mod Con, Harmony, and Palm Springs, plays guitars, keyboards, and other instruments. Their sound is characterised by elements of art punk, noise rock and experimental rock.
A Laughing Death in Meatspace is the debut album of Melbourne-based supergroup Tropical Fuck Storm, formed by members of The Drones, Palm Springs and High Tension. The band, wishing to step away from the more rock-centric sound that The Drones were known for prior to their final pre-hiatus album Feelin Kinda Free, utilized a range of obscure digital guitar effects, synthesizers, drum machines, and DAW software such as ProTools to create the music. Finished less than eight months after their first few live performances, the speed at which the album was recorded also had a heavy influence on its idiosyncratic sound, which combines genres such as punk blues, art punk, psychedelic rock and noise rock with influences from pop and electronic music. Written by Liddiard with contributions from other members, the lyrics have been described as apocalyptic and darkly humorous; tackling subjects such as technological advancement, political polarization, socioeconomic inequality, xenophobia, culture wars and many others. The album title links a Silicon Valley slang for the physical world with the neurodegenerative disorder of kuru found in the Fore people of Papua New Guinea.