Precious (soundtrack)

Precious: Soundtrack, was released, first as a digital download, prior to the release of the film of the same name on November 3, 2009. Nearly three weeks later, it was released to stores on November 23. The soundtrack consists of various artists (Labelle, Donna Allen, Jean Carn, Sunny Gale, and MFSB); with some artists having recorded songs that were covers and other songs that were recorded specifically for the album. The album received positive praise; mainly the song "I Can See In Color" - which was released as a single - that was recorded and co-written by Blige. The trailer features the song "Destiny" taken from Blige's 2001 album No More Drama. A song titled "My Good Lovin' (Back Like That Remix)", featuring Da Brat and Lil' Mo, was featured in the film but exempted from the soundtrack.

Track listing

Reception

Rolling Stone praised the album, and described the song, "I Can See In Color" as being "...a knockout song...expressing the goal of Precious to see the world in color." Allmusic a majority of the album and its artists. Allmusic described the album as featuring "solid offerings from both contemporary and classic", crediting the contributions from Latifah, Hightower, Jackson and LaBelle, and stated that the album resulted "in a solid and empowering collection that (in the words of [the film's director Lee] Daniels) "resonate not only in Precious' world, but speak to your soul no matter who you are."

Precious (Depeche Mode song)

"Precious" is Depeche Mode's forty-first single, and the first single from the album Playing the Angel. It was released on 3 October 2005 in the UK by Mute Records and 11 October 2005 in the US by Sire/Reprise. The single reached No. 4 in the UK, No. 71 on the Hot 100, and No. 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart.

It was the band's first single of original music in more than three years. "Precious" was released to international radio stations and as a digital download on 22 August 2005. Since its live debut, "Precious" has been played at every Depeche Mode concert between 2005 and 2014.

Meaning

Although the meaning of almost all of Depeche Mode's songs are not revealed because Martin Gore prefers people to find their own meanings for each song, he made an exception with "Precious", revealing that the song is written about his children and what they must have been going through when he was getting a divorce from their mother.

Music video

To accompany the new single and album, a program called the Depeche Mode Receiver was released. The video for "Precious" received its worldwide premiere via this program on 12 September 2005.

Precious (Pretenders song)

"Precious" is a song written by Chrissie Hynde that was first released on the Pretenders' 1980 debut album Pretenders. It was the opening track of the album. It was also released as a single in some countries. A medley of "Precious" with "Brass in Pocket" and "Mystery Achievement" reached #28 on the Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart.

Allmusic critic Stewart Mason described "Precious" as Hynde's "true calling card." He also describes it as "a poison-pen valentine to Hynde's home city of Akron, Ohio."Allmusic critc Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised James Honeyman-Scott's "phased, treated guitar" playing for how it supplements the "pounding rhythm." Music critic Simon Reynolds described the lyrics as a "strafing stream of syllables" mixing "speed rap, jive talk, baby babble," and the song as "punk scat, all hiccoughs, vocal tics, gasps and feral growls, weirdly poised between love and hate, oral sensuality and staccato, stabbing aggression."

Mason notes that the music of "Precious" maintains some restraint, but still sounds more threatening than other songs which sound angrier. The climax of "Precious" comes when Hynde sings the line "But not me, baby, I'm too precious/Fuck off!"SPIN critic Charles Aaron noted that Hynde's singing this line "over whipsaw guitars" made it clear that Hynde "was more than a bewitching pout."Rolling Stone Magazine critic noted that he gets "startled and shivery when Hynde rejects a would-be lothario" with this line. According to Mason, the restraint until that point makes this climax "more explosive." According to Rolling Stone critic Bud Scoppa, the line was actually supposed to be "But not me, baby, I'm too precious/I had to fuck off" but Hynde swallowed the words "I had to." Scoppa also notes the "fearlessness" with which Hynde sings this line. Ariel Swartley wrote in Mother Jones about the cathartic effect of this line for women in dance clubs:

Bill (weapon)

The bill is a polearm weapon used by infantry in medieval Europe. The bill is similar in size, function and appearance to the halberd, differing mainly in the hooked blade form. Other terms for the bill include English bill, bill hook or bill-guisarme.

Design

Derived originally from the agricultural billhook, the bill consisted of a hooked chopping blade with several pointed projections mounted on a staff. The end of the cutting blade curves forward to form a hook, which is the bill's distinguishing characteristic. In addition, the blade almost universally had one pronounced spike straight off the top like a spear head, and also a hook or spike mounted on the 'reverse' side of the blade. There were many types of bill. English bills tended to be relatively short, with broad chopping heads, while Italian bills (ronche) often had very long thrusting points. The English distinguished between several varieties of bill, including the black, brown and forest bills, but the differences between them are currently not fully understood.

List of unidentified decedents in the United States

An unidentified decedent, or UID, is a deceased person whose legal identity is unable to be determined by law enforcement. Although the majority of UIDs are identified soon after their bodies are recovered, it is not uncommon for bodies to remain unidentified for years or even decades. There are approximately 40,000 unidentified decedents in the United States at any given time.

A deceased body can be identified in several different ways. Most commonly, a relative of the deceased identifies the body by sight. However, if a body is heavily decomposed, skeletal, or unrecognizable due to severe facial trauma at the time of recovery, other methods must be used. Some other common modes of identification include fingerprints, dental records, chest x-rays, and as a last resort, comparing the deceased's DNA to the DNA sequence of a genetically close relative such as a parent or sibling. In some cases, circumstantial evidence can be used to formally identify a body; for example, if the deceased has a driver's license on their person, or is found deceased on their own property after going missing, those context clues can be used to make an identification. Since identification of a deceased individual is a legal matter, officials require a high degree of certainty in order to make a formal identification.

Bill (Bill Cosby album)

Bill (1973) is a compilation album of previously released material by Bill Cosby. All the routines are edited down compared to their original appearances on previous albums, some slightly, some considerably.

Track listing

References