Kyle Kerr

There Are Times I Can’t Breathe…

01/8/08 | Music, Samples | 2 Comments

I’ve been doing something lately that I haven’t done in a long time… buying random CDs because they just look good.  This is something I used to do when I was younger, when I didn’t have rent and credit card payments to worry about.  But, thanks to a few generous people over Christmas, I got a nice chunk of change in iTunes gift cards, which has allowed me to experiment and have a little fun.  In the past, I have discovered some of my favorite artists in this fashion… and, I have to say, it happened again.

LISTENED

Various Artists – Dreaming Wide Awake: The Music of Scott Alan

This album is the work of composer and lyricist Scott Alan.  Listening to a 30 second sample of one song on iTunes was enough to get me to buy the entire album.  It’s put together sort of like a musical, with each song telling its own amazing story… which fits, because Scott grew up with musicals.  He’s even written two critically acclaimed musicals himself: Detour and Piece.  Dreaming Wide Awake is a sampling of his music through the years, sung by some of Broadway’s best musical talent, including Baby‘s Liz Callaway, The Pirate Queen‘s Stephanie J. Block, Wicked‘s Shoshana Bean, Brooklyn‘s Eden Espinosa, Xanadu‘s Cheyenne Jackson and many more.

This really is an amazing album.  I clicked on the first song, I am a Star, sung by Eden Espinosa, and I was immediately hooked.

My favorite song on the album is Now, sung by Jonathan Groff.  It’s a really haunting piece about a man who loses the love of his life, and the pain he’s feeling is almost unbearable.  I’ve listened to it about 110 times… and I bought the album about a week ago.  Here is a sample of that song:

At only 29, Scott has accomplished something incredible.  He’s young, and hopefully he’s going to have a very, very long career.  Check out samples of the rest of the songs off his debut album, Dreaming Wide Awake:

I’m a Star - Sung by Eden Espinosa

Surrender - Sung by Cheyenne Jackson

Magic - Sung by Adriane Lenox

Let Love Begin - Sung by Tracie Thoms

Home - Sung by Shoshana Bean

Never Neverland (Fly Away) - Sung by Stephanie J. Block

At Seventeen - Sung by Carly Jibson and Jackie Hoffman

If I Own Today - Sung by Shayna Steele featuring Michael McElroy and Capathia Jenkins with guest Pianist Dave Cook

Kiss the Air - Sung by Danny Calvert

Say Goodbye - Sung by Katie Thompson

The Journey - Sung by Josh Strickland and Jill Zadeh

Goodnight - Sung by Liz Callaway

There are two easy ways to purchase the album: iTunes and CD Baby.

Check it out… you won’t regret it!

Until next…

Kyle W. Kerr