The empty sidewalks of my block are not the same

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Has it really been almost a week since we put some MP3s on Poptimists? Goodness! No WONDER people have been listening to Low.

LAPTOP - "Nothing To Declare": I've got nothing to declare - EXCEPT MY LONELINESS, mutters Mr Laptop as the synthesisers MOCK him with their pop tunes.

BOOM! - "Falling": killer idea on paper, do a boy/girl group with those then-fashionable garage beats, swoon! The public never went for it, which is a shame cos this is a lovely light thing, a frothy blend of Sweet Female Attitude, Steps and Frazier Chorus - HONEST.

VANILLA - "True To Us": a curio here, Vanilla of course were the post-Spice Girls girl group whose "No Way No Way" was either deliciously unschooled or a fvcking mess or both, depending on who you talked to. "True To Us" was their second single, which I'm not even sure got released, and it's kind of charming!

LORI AND THE CHAMELEONS - "Touch": A quite odd record, '79 or '80 on Bill Drummond's Zoo label, a weird stab at orientalist pop with schoolgirl vox. The presence of Bill Drummond, and the whole faux-naif thing frankly, suggests some kind of master plan. But what? What??

THE FOUR TOPS - "Walk Away Renee": lungbusting soul translation of the Left Banke's fey mid-60s hit, completely trounces the original as far as I'm concerned in its expression of the world-cracking absurd agony of teh TEENAGE BREAK UP.

As ever gmails can be available for particular poptimists readers.