‘The Lion the Beast the Beat’ by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (TMR 32)
It has the best song you had damn well better know by now
--
There I was in 2012 watching The Voice when the unthinkable happened. Contestant Amanda Brown sang a rousing rendition of the Grace Potter and the Nocturnals song “Stars,” and judge Christina Aguilera didn’t recognize the song! Given the sheer volume of music out there, it’s understandable, but I was scandalized. Some part of me believed, deeply, that a talent like Grace Potter must be known to other musicians of immense talent. On The Lion the Beast the Beat (Hollywood, 2012), the band moved to a bigger and more experimental sound compared to the stripped yet delicious rock of its self-titled release. The lack of a core sound leaves the album without a striking identity and easy to neglect as the years pass, but the ballad “Stars” is unforgettable. Check out every version you can:
Studio: Grace Potter And The Nocturnals — Stars
Acoustic: Acoustic — Live From CMT Studios
Piano: VEVO Presents
Amanda Brown: The Voice Performance
Mary Kate Connor: The Voice Blind Auditions | NBC
Note: I wrote this for Medium.com. If you are reading this on another platform, it has been pirated. I quit the Medium Partner Program, so I’m not doing this for money. It is nice, however, to know someone’s reading, so please clap or comment to let me know somebody’s out there. Gladius adhuc lucet.
