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]
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [13] | Gold | 35,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
"Over the Rainbow", also known as "Somewhere 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, David Hasselhoff, and Hamish & Andy.
"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, stage name Missy Higgins, is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. Her most popular singles include "Scar", "Steer", and "Where I Stood". Her Australian number-one albums are The Sound of White (2004), On a Clear Night (2007) and The Ol' Razzle Dazzle (2012). Higgins's fourth studio album, Oz, was released in September 2014. In 2018 she released a greatest hits album called The Special Ones, and in September 2024 released the album The Second Act.
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.
"Where I Stood" is the second single from Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins' second album, On a Clear Night (2007). The single was released on 4 August 2007 and reached No. 10 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. In the United States, it became Higgins' second song to appear on the Billboard charts, reaching number 10 on the Adult Contemporary ranking. In a similar promotional scenario as her previous single "Steer", Higgins gave her fans the opportunity to purchase a signed single along with signed lyrics. The song appears in the TV Shows 'Ghost Whisperer' S05E12 - Blessings in Disguise and 'Smallville' S07E04 - Cure
"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.
Daniel Leo Sultan is an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, actor and author. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 he won Best Male Artist and Best Blues & Roots Album for his second album, Get Out While You Can. At the 2014 ceremony he won Best Rock Album for Blackbird, which had reached number four on the ARIA Albums Chart. In 2017, Sultan's record Killer was nominated for three ARIA awards: Best Male Artist, Best Rock Album, and Best Independent Release. Sultan's debut children's music album Nali & Friends was named Best Children's Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2019.
The discography of Australian singer-songwriter and musician Missy Higgins consists of five studio albums, two extended plays, thirty seven 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"
"Was There Anything I Could Do?" is a song by Australian indie group The Go-Betweens that was issued as the second single from their 1988 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"(Glenn Albrecht 2005).
"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.
The 32nd Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards are a series of award ceremonies which include the 2018 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA Hall of Fame Awards, ARIA Fine Arts Awards and the ARIA Awards. The ARIA Awards ceremony was held on 28 November 2018 and broadcast from the Star Event Centre, Sydney around Australia on the Nine Network.
"Cemetery" is a song performed by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins. Higgins premiered "Cemetery" at "A Weekend in the Gardens" on 19 November 2017, and released on 13 April 2018 as the second and final single from her fifth studio album, Solastalgia. The song peaked at number 49 on the ARIA Digital Singles Chart.